Kyle Daigle

When I saw this video last night, it so beautifully summed up my...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:05:30 -0500

When I saw this video last night, it so beautifully summed up my family’s new feeling about food. We all can at least be aware of the choices we make on a day to day basis. It isn’t easy (and it isn’t cheap) but your health is one area that you can’t ignore.

Every Tweet Could Be Your Last

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:26:41 -0500

For the past several weeks, I’ve been pretty quickly re-evaluating my social media intake. It’s one of the moves I’m taking to stop consuming so much and start producing more.

I started off by using Unsubscribe (an awesome service) to remove myself from a metric-crap-ton of newsletters I’ve been receiving. I’m as close to Inbox Zero as I have ever been.

Then came Twitter. I love Twitter. I use Twitter the most out of all the networks I’m on. I’m pretty passive on Facebook and basically non-existant on LinkedIn. But Twitter? I love my Twitter. But I’ve decided to essentially look at every tweet and evaluate it with the following process:

Did reading this tweet do anything for me at all?
If yes, continue to follow this person.
If no, can you remember the last tweet the person/company did? If yes, continue to follow this person.
If you can’t remember the last tweet and this tweet isn’t doing anything for you, it’s likely the tweet is one of the following: social media/self promoting bullshit, something that I do not need to/want to know about, your original content to retweet ratio is far too high, or “who are you again?”

If you’ve made it to step 4, you’re getting un-followed. Please do not take it personally (I know thats basically impossible if we actually know each other in real life). We all consume far too much information: let’s at least make the information we consume worthwhile.

How to Get to Inbox Zero

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:40:51 -0500

Log into Google Mail and choose the “Select All” option by clicking the selector box and choosing all.
Click on the link that says “Select all conversations in Inbox” (the number will vary).
Choose “Archive”.
Profit!

(Listen: Archive lets you search your messages later. And if you are nervous of “I should get back to some of those people”, get over it. You won’t.)

"Hopelessness is a real cause of failure."

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:19:23 -0500

“Hopelessness is a real cause of failure.”

- How To Practice (His Holiness the Dalai Lama) by https://findings.com The Dalai Lama His Holiness, Jeffrey Hopkins Ph.D. (via Findings.com)

How bad do you want it?

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:54:55 -0500

How bad do you want it?

What will save your life?

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:22:09 -0500

What will save your life?

Make Knowledgable Food Choices

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 19:14:38 -0500

My buddy Jeff sent me a tweet earlier today from OMGFacts that got me thinking (and probably not in the way you’d expect):

Yes, the Snickers fact is true and so is the cheeseburger fact. This actually comes from a NY Times article that annoyed me just as much. It completely misses the point.

When I started my diet, I used a book called The Best Life Diet which is ultimately a set of rules on what to eat. I followed up with Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules” which covers some simple rules on what to eat. But ultimately it all boils down to a few facts:

A calorie is not a calorie is not a calorie.
You need to know what is in your food and their key nutritional facts.
Make the best food choice you can make given a situation.

Several studies came out this year describing that the normal thought of “calorie is a calorie” is not longer true. You cannot measure only calories in your fight to lose weight or get healthy.

While the McDonald’s oatmeal (which I do eat when I travel) has roughly the same number of calories as a Cheeseburger from McDonalds, I do not recommend you just have a cheeseburger instead. Why? Look at the nutrition facts: the cheeseburger has way more fat, a bunch more saturated fat, far less fiber, no vitamins from the fruit, but… equal calories. Given a travel choice, the Oatmeal should come out on top every time.

The McDonald’s oatmeal does have some weird issues with it though. For example, the light cream that they put into the Oatmeal has a ton of ingredients that aren’t actually… well… cream or dairy. Yes, you can leave it out, but my point here is to be informed. McDonald’s oatmeal could be just oatmeal. One ingredient: whole food oatmeal. So making oatmeal at home is better for you than going to McDonald’s but if you’ve looking for a good travel food, the oatmeal is a good example of making a knowledgeable choice while traveling.

Not all good-for-you food is created equal though. Dunkin Donuts has a Multigrain bagel that actually has more calories and a few more worse-for-you ingredients compared to a normal bagel. A breakfast bagel from Dunkin could cost you about 450 - 500 calories with cream cheese. Or a Subway lunch: take a read on your meats and bread. Their bread has high fructose corn syrup in it which really bothers my stomach. Its important to learn a lot about the food you eat just so choosing the “healthy thing” doesn’t turn out being the a worse-for-you.

Home-made oatmeal is better than McDonald’s oatmeal but don’t try to tell me that instead of the McDonald’s Oatmeal I should eat a Snickers or a McDonald’s Cheeseburger

ING Hartford Half Marathon: Complete

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:59:55 -0400

After starting in March of this year, I wanted to set (what I thought) was a semi-impossible goal: run a half marathon this year. After a few 5Ks and a cancelled 10K, today I was able to sock away basically the perfect-for-me performance on my first half marathon in Hartford.

We got in a bit early because we were concerned about the road closures. That gave me more than enough time to get read. I forgot, though, I didn’t have a coffee! We tried to go up to Dunkin Donuts in two locations but… alas, no coffee. How is this even possible? I took a few caffeine Sport Beans instead.

Got up to the starting line and I wasn’t as nervous as I usually am. The last two months of training have been complete trash. Work travel wreaked havoc on my training so I probably should have been a bit more nervous than I was.

Off the start, felt great. The first few miles were amazing. It really hit me that running is such a unique sport. Yes, there is a first place, second place, and third place. But all the runnings, logistical staff, and residents all support the runners. Even in little old Hartford.

I knocked out the first 5K at a pretty easy pace that was a lot faster than my race plan. I was lucky to really add to that over the next 7 miles or so. At about 10 miles, we were coming out of Elizabeth Park and I had to fight a little hard for those near 9 minute/miles. But I was able to hold it together and get it done. I fought by a few groups of people and tried to really turn it on toward the last mile.

I knew that I was going way faster than my race plan which had me getting in at between 2:15 and 2:20. I didn’t click my watch to the actual time until I only had about .75 mile to go. I realized I *might* be able to sneak away for sub-2:10 but I didn’t quite have it in me. I fought all the way down the hill and into the arches at 2:10:43. I was ecstatic with that time.

This was my first half marathon but I was really impressed with the race logistics compared to my other races. ING did a great job of getting the crowd excited, almost all of the water/Gatorade stations were well staffed, and there were a ton of signs and ING staff/volunteers at our disposal. My wife was also happy with the overall organization and it wasn’t too boring for her given they have a 5K and a Half Marathon. She had more than enough to watch.

This November I have a 10K and a 5 mile road race. Then I have a bit of downtime (will probably pick up a few small races) before what may be one of my A races which is the Ragnar in May in Cape Cod.

Thanks for everyone’s support while training, running, and organizing for this race!

Run, Run, Running

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 09:28:02 -0400

Well, its been a bit since my last running post but I think its about time to add some more.

Susan G Komen 5K in Hartford

This was my first ever 5K and boy was it fun. The race had thousands of people (which, later, people told me isn’t a good idea for your first 5K). I found myself trying to just get into a stride for the first mile because there were so many people of different skills and speeds. I got into my stride after the first mile but… I realized I’ve only been training on completely flat surfaces. So when I got to my first hill, then second, then third… I realized I wasn’t mentally or physically prepared for hills. But, thankfully, because this was a Breast Cancer fundraiser with survivors all over the place creaming my time I felt like it was impossible to go slower than them.

My second big mistakes was that I didn’t really know the course before I started. This led me to thinking that we were coming into the finish line when we actually have another .75 mile loop to do. I was so defeated on that last loop… I gave everything I had way before that so it was a lot tougher than I wanted it to be.

I ended up finishing in an all out sprint with a final time of 34:57. My coach was happy, I was ecstatic that I even finished, but I went back to training.

A special note to everyone that helped me raise money for this cause: thank you SO much from the bottom of my heart. As a first 5K, I wasn’t even sure I was going to finish but I’m happy to have finished and supported such a great cause. We raised $670.01 and it all went to Komen CT!

GE Petit 5K

This was my next race but SO much hotter than the last one. Luckily, the residents of the area were super nice and put out sprinklers and hoses to cool everyone off. Before I did this 5K, my Coach at www.prsfit.com told me to essentially “run as hard as you can until you puke”. Well, thats basically what I did. I memorized the course before I left and it was relatively flat which helped.

I ended up coming in at 29:23 totally obliterating my previous 5K. This was my second 5K so I was so excited to kill my previous PR.

Moving Forward

My big “A” race as people call it is the Hartford Half-Marathon. I’m going to be working up to a 10K in August and then the half in October. So far its been pretty great. I’m hoping that the heat will give me an advantage so when it (hopefully) cools off in October I’ll be better prepared.

Also, today marks 197 lbs for me. I’m just so excited about this that I have to keep writing it down. I have 17 more lbs to go for my goal weight as given to me by my Doctor. I started this March and its just been a huge ride losing about 50 lbs so far. Between my exercise, lifestyle changes (brought on by The Best Life Diet), and perseverance I’ve been able to get into the best shape of my life. Thanks to my wife Jamie and my coworkers James for helping me push along when I’ve wanted to give up.

Pizza on the Grill

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 20:29:24 -0400

My friends Peter & Christine suggested we try to make our home-made pizza on the grill instead of the pizza stone. It was a great success! I’m going to replicate their strategy here to share but ultimately it is their recipe (so thanks to them).

Grilled Home-made Pizza

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (pre-made; ours is from Whole Foods)
Olive Oil (we did flavored Oregano Olive Oil)
Your toppings (cheese, tomato sauce, veggies, meats, etc.)

Heat up your grill on low or medium-low depending on the grill.
Before putting it on the grill, allow your pizza dough to come to room temperature. Spread it out nice and thin. I did it on a cookie sheet. If you have a pizza stone, it should be larger than it (probably rectangular). You only want it about 1/4” or less in thickness. Spreading it out to cover the entire cookie sheet worked well.
Spread olive oil on the top of the dough.
Place your pizza dough on the grill, oil side down. Shut the grill and allow it to crisp for 4 minutes.
Flip the dough over on the grill. On this side, place your ingredients. For us, that was tomato sauce, cheese, and prosciutto (in that order). If you do cheese, you do want it to be on as early on in the process as possible (so it melts well).
Allow it to finish cooking and crisp for 4 to 5 minutes. Be sure to watch the bottom of the crust so it doesn’t get too brown. Keep the grill closed as much as possible so that the cheese melts.

We thought this was absolutely delicious and can’t wait to try it again. Thanks again to Pete & Christine for the great suggestion.

Help Me Run For Breast Cancer

Sun, 29 May 2011 16:20:00 -0400

(I’ve emailed this to close friends and colleagues. I’m hoping that, with social media, a few more my “digital friends” will help too.)

Its extremely rare that I would ask for help in my fundraising efforts so I’m hoping that you’ll read this email.

In my quest to get fit and lose some weight, I’ve been looking to run a 5K race. After a little inspiration from my colleague James Elwood, I’m going to be running the Komen 5K Run for Breast Cancer this coming Saturday, June 4th in Hartford. As some of you may know, cancer in my side of the family is an unfortunate common occurrence. The cancer fundraising organizations hold a special place in my heart as does Feeding America. Because the race is on Saturday (only 5 days away), I’m hoping I can reach my modest fund-raising goal.

I’ve decided to raise $250 dollars but would love to raise more. I’m hoping that, if its right for you, you can help me by donating towards my goal. Susan G Komen has a webpage specifically for me. Go to http://transaction.komenct.org/goto/kyledaigle and click on “Make a gift” on the right hand side. Any size donation will help me reach the goal by this Saturday.

I want to thank you in advance. Please feel free to share this with friends and family if you think it’ll be right for them. You can look at this blog for an update about my efforts after the race. I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.

Diet For The Rest Of Your Life

Tue, 24 May 2011 23:03:00 -0400

Thats the question I think you need to ask yourself when you start a diet or fitness program. Most people think to themselves, “Oh I can do diet X for the next 4 months to lose my weight.” The first major problem with this is obvious: diets don’t produce results when you aren’t on them.

If your diet is a temporary choice, you will lose weight (most likely) up until you stop doing it. Then when you go back to your normal eating habits, you’ll regain the weight and lose all your gains.

Thats why diets don’t really work for most people. “No carb”, “High protein”, “All liquid” diets can work temporarily (at this point, I’m ignoring the nutritional issues with some of these) but if you do “no carb” can you really tell yourself you’ll never have bread the rest of your life? I doubt it.

The same goes for your fitness strategy. I’ve had several friends do P90X and fall off the wagon. I think this, again, is relatively simple: while a program like P90X can provide rapid results do you have the willpower to do it the rest of your life? I’ve personally never done the program, but it sounds like after doing a day of it you wish you were at the end of your life.

Its important to choose small steps that you can continue doing for the rest of your life. If you make incremental improvements, you can build and build and build until you reach the point where you answer “this is the most I can do for the rest of my life”.

For me, this ends with two choices: following the Best Life diet (a list of healthy eating guidelines essentially) and upping my activity levels. As I’ve written in my other post, I knew that running too much would likely kick me off the wagon. So I took small jumps… run a few more this week and then lift a few more the next week. At some point, I’ll realize that I’ve reached my fitness plateau. I can blast a bit more in the short term to make gains I won’t be able to sustain more than that plateau.

So now that we’re coming up to beach season, think about your diets as a choice during those hard times: holidays, five years from now, vacations. While its OK to bend the rules, these aren’t rules until you meet your goal they are rules for your best life.

How to Start Running: The Molasses Method

Fri, 20 May 2011 21:04:00 -0400

A lot of my co-workers have been asking how I’ve started running again. Aside from working with my coach, I’ve been working on my own running plan.

I hypothesize that most “unfit” people who start running completely overdo themselves (I can say this because I was one too). You go to the gym, choose a number of miles you want to do, and turn up the treadmill to some speed you equate to running. For the first minute, you feel like a champion. After that, you feel like death.

I think, personally, the Couch to 5K program (C25K) is overdoing it for a completely beginner runner. Especially if you’re a digital worker like myself, after doing five 90 second runs ends up teaching you the wrong thing.

I started off by doing a Nike + Walk to Run program. At first it seemed like a joke: I was walking pretty fast but I was becoming a little bit breathless. I thought the only way that I could get fit was just by running right away. What that doesn’t address is the mental side of things: if your running workouts are horribly painful or you get an injury you are unlikely continue your plan.

If the goal is to get in shape, you need to make a life long change. You can’t think that you’re going to start running a 5K in a month and then keep that going forever. I’ve taken my experiences and put them in this “Molasses Method”.

Please note: I am not a fitness professional. Please check with your doctor before starting any exercise or diet plans. These have worked for me but results may vary.

The main points of this plan are:

Focus on getting fit: not a mile number.
Don’t push yourself to the point of huffing and puffing.
Make incremental improvements that you can keep doing.

If you have some running experience or are doing something now:

Focus on keeping your perceived exertions. Thats a fancy way of saying “how you feel while you’re running”. The gold standard is you should be able to talk while running. I’ve personally found this near impossible. But I think a good way to explain it is that you shouldn’t be huffing and puffing for breath. You may have a pretty standard breathing cycle but you shouldn’t feel out of breath at all. If you feel yourself gasping every few breaths, you’re running too quickly. (Note: slow might feel REALLY slow if you’ve been over-doing it).

If you are a beginner and haven’t done any running:

Start off with a simple plan like the following. You should have a rest day between the runs. Please note that I’m not using weeks, I’m saying stages. You can stay in a stage until it feels comfortable. It shouldn’t be “easy” but it should feel doable.

Stage 1 (3 times a week): walk 5, run 1; repeat 4 times

Stage 2 (3 times a week): walk 6, run 2; repeat 4 times

Stage 3 (3 times a week): walk 6, run 3; repeat 4 times

Stage 4 (3 times a week): walk 6, run 3; repeat 4 times

Stage 5 (3 times a week): walk 6, run 4; repeat 4 times

Stage 6 (3 times a week): walk 4, run 4; repeat 4 times

Stage 7 (3 times a week): walk 2, run 5; repeat 4 times

Stage 8 (3 times a week): run 5, walk 1: repeat 4 times

The focus with all plans should be time running and NOT distance. You want to focus on staying in your aerobic zones where you will get the most benefit from cardio. One person doing this plan may get do 3 miles while you may only get up to 1. Its OK. The goal is to get personally fit.

Let me know how you think these tips work for you and what your personal experience has been. For me, these plans have been do-able and I’ve seen some great benefits.

The Way Newspapers & Digital Media Should Collide

Sat, 07 May 2011 10:27:04 -0400

The Way Newspapers & Digital Media Should Collide:

A brilliant article about how “Freemium” should work in the digital newspaper space.

The End of Journalism As We Know It

Sat, 07 May 2011 10:24:39 -0400

The End of Journalism As We Know It:

A great looking documentary about a “A Year Inside The New York Times”. Sometimes some things are meant to die. Rebirth is then newspaper’s only hope.

How Losing Weight Is Easy (If You Do It Right)

Sun, 01 May 2011 21:07:54 -0400

I started this adventure when I realized I was overweight. Well, overweight is how I like to say it as technically I’m obese (thanks, BMI). I initially started with a *very* aggressive diet plan that I won’t name. At the time I was telling myself that I wasn’t going for the get think quick plan, but I really was. I found the rules VERY difficult to follow especially when it comes to traveling for work. So I inevitably lasted about a week… and then had to give up.

Then on some advice of my wife, I found an amazing diet plan. I’m going to spend the rest of this post covering some of the amazing tools that I’ve found that have worked really well for me, but also share some of the insights I’ve come to learn.

The Best Life Diet (about $6)

This diet plan has been absolutely amazing. While calling it a diet is sort of a misnomer (its really just healthy eating), it was able to do what a lot of other books, diets, plans were unable to do for me: create a realistic set of goals. The Best Life Diet is broken down into three phases: Getting Started, Digging Deeper, and Life Long Maintenance. It has a set of simple rules that are laid out like “no white bread” or “no soda” to start with. To start with in Phase One, there are only 6 rules you need to follow.

I personally love “rules”. I think its much easier to make healthy food choices when you have a set of guidelines instead of merely telling yourself, “I’ll just eat healthier.” The book breaks down how some “healthy” foods sneak around as very un-healthy ones. (Did you know that even if a box says 0 g trans-fat it can have up to .49 g of trans fat?)

Run Your Butt Off (about $12)

I thought this book was quite helpful. Part of the “Best Life Diet” is to increase your activity. What I usually do when it comes down to this is to start running… too much. I’m not physically fit as it is so running for a mile or two all of a sudden will do me little good but tire me out and make me stop faster. “Run Your Butt Off” covers a bit of a “walk to run” program: the idea that getting active is the most important part of a new exercise routine. Don’t set unrealistic goals for yourself, thats the easiest way to fail. Instead, set very realistic goals… walking for 5 minutes, then running for 1, all the way up to running for 45 minutes straight. I’ve also used other plans online but this is the best book I could find that covers the process.

In another post, I will cover a few of the devices and iPhone apps that I’ve been using as well.

Amazing video of the coffee bean: from roasting to brewing....

Sun, 01 May 2011 11:59:48 -0400

Amazing video of the coffee bean: from roasting to brewing. Really great.

The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We're All Going To Miss Almost Everything

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:22:17 -0400

The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We're All Going To Miss Almost Everything:

Really excellent post about how, as much as we try, we are finite.

"Quit the “Cold Turkey” approach. If you had enough willpower to do it that way, you..."

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 11:46:38 -0500

“Quit the “Cold Turkey” approach. If you had enough willpower to do it that way, you wouldn’t gotten yourself into trouble in the first place.”

- I see a lot of people this time of year trying to ditch their social media: Facebook, Twitter, etc. That won’t help you once you go and add an account again. Try and find the balance first by creating a simple routine instead.

Persistence as a Skill

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:04:21 -0500

As I was working on my creative project on Sunday, I began to realize something as I was banging my head against the wall. I reached a point where I was getting nowhere. I couldn’t figure out why the piece of code I was working with didn’t work the way I expected. Every fiber of my being was telling me to just stop. Stop, take a break, it isn’t worth it, deal with it later. That’s when it hit me.

Persistence and perseverance are skills to train.

When I say it and read it, I think it probably makes a ton of sense. But I think we’re forced to deal with a ton of situations throughout the day where “I’ll just stop for a few minutes” sounds like a great way to do deal with your problem. But some of the biggest triumphs and breakthroughs come from pushing that giant boulder back up the hill.

I love the story of Sisyphus pushing the bolder up the hill. My immediate reaction when I started getting annoyed with the task in front of me was to actually start adding distractions. I can recognize this now that I’m done. I turned on the TV, I started poking through email every few seconds like somehow that would help. But I remembered one of the main points of my Analog Conversion Manifesto was to simply add more focus. So I did.

I shut off my desktop computer. I shut off email and nearly every application except the two I was using. I put some music on I was very familiar with and dug back in. A few moments later, BAM, breakthrough. I got what I needed and was totally in the zone.

So the next time you’re totally befuddled by a piece of code, a task at work, or a handy-man project at home, try to focus your efforts further by removing even more distractions. It won’t always help, but its one step in the right direction.