April 3, 2009
· Filed under New Year's Resolutions 2009, Running, exercise · Tagged audio books, GO! St. Louis Half Marathon, half marathon, Running, Stephen King, Team in Training, training
I’m planning to run the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon on April 19. I’ve done it twice before, plus I’ve done two full marathons, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Except, I haven’t really trained for it.
I run almost everyday (I’m now officially failing on my New Year’s Smart Goals/Resolutions). But I typically only run between four and six miles. I’ve been doing some speed training, lowering my average from my lifelong 10-minute to about a 9-minute mile. That’s a good thing, I guess.
Still, I haven’t done any runs that take longer than an hour. Part of my problem is that I’m not training with anyone. For all of my other distance runs, I’ve had running pals. I trained for my first half marathon and my first marathon with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program. I highly recommend this program for anyone who wants to do a longer event for the first time.
I’ve also trained for events with one of my best friends from high school and one of my former neighbors. We’d all complete our shorter weekday runs alone on our own time, but we’d meet on the weekends on the Katy Trail or another local park to do our longer training runs together. We’d talk the whole way, so even the dreadful 20-mile training run was bearable for at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours. After that, no one is good enough company to keep your mind off your discomfort.
This time around, I’m on my own. My neighbor moved and my friend is busy with home remodeling projects.
My favorite way to keep keep myself entertained while running alone is to listen to books. I absolutely love audible.com, the digital version of books on tape. I used to carry a cumbersome cassette player, and then later, a CD player as I jogged for miles and miles. I’d rent books on tape, and later books on CD, from the library for free. But then I got a first-generation iPod Nano for Mother’s Day several years ago and a whole new world opened up. I’ve listened to all of Stephen King’s new books since then — Duma Key & Lisey’s Story & Stationary Bike — on my iPod while running.
My amazing church, Windsor Crossing, also uploads video and audio podcasts of its weekly services to iTunes, so when I miss church, I download the podcast and listen while I’m running.
Tomorrow I’m headed out for a 10-mile training run, and I’ve got about three hours left on my latest book from audible.com – “Redeeming Love” by Francine Rivers. It’s a decent book, but not so engaging that it keeps my mind off the monotony of running 10 miles. I really wish Stephen King would’ve been kind enough to write something new for my current training regime. Anyone have a King-ish type book to suggest?
January 3, 2009
· Filed under New Year's Resolutions 2009, Weight · Tagged exercise, jog, marathon, New Year's resolutions, resolutions, run, Weight Watchers, yoga
One thousand sixty-seven miles is the approximate distance from my home in St. Louis, MO to Sarasota, Florida. It’s a little further from my home to New York City and it’s just under the distance from my home to Ontario, Canada. It’s also exactly the number of miles I ran/jogged in 2008.
I run/jog for exercise and I do it almost every day. In fact, I ran/jogged all but 72 days in 2008. (I say run/jog because sometimes I’m running and sometimes I’m jogging – it just depends on the day). As you can probably tell, I kept a rather detailed exercise log in 2008. And I love running/jogging. It’s easily my favorite form of exercise. If I’m not training for a distance event, I run between three miles and six miles each day. You get that feeling of “cardio accomplishment” faster with running or jogging than you do with most other forms of exercise, and I feel like I get more bang for my buck, so to speak. I can run for 30 minutes and really feel like I’ve done something, but I have to do other things, like aerobics or walking, a lot longer to get the same feeling. I’m not what you would call a patient person.
So here’s the problem: although I was very committed to my exercise routine in 2008, and although I lost all my “baby” weight (via Weight Watchers) and am back into all my clothes, I’m probably flabbier than I’ve ever been except when pregnant. I’m at least less toned than I’ve ever been. Running/jogging is just not a toning type of exercise. It takes and helps keep the weight off, but it doesn’t keep the back-fat away, nor does it tone the arms or abs. And as I get older, I find myself limping to the bathroom in the morning and becoming less and less flexible. Thus, my New Year’s resolutions:
- Incorporate strength training into my exercise routine 2-3 times per week
- Incorporate yoga and/or pilates into my exercise routine once per week
- Continue running and train for the 2009 Chicago marathon
- Keep my new (used, but new to me) Honda Odyssey clean by vacuuming and wiping down the inside every Friday and washing the outside every other time I fill up. (I know - this has nothing to do with exercise, but it is a resolution of mine).
I wanted to write this post and have it up by New Year’s Day, but I’m actually glad I didn’t because my friend, former co-worker and fellow blogger Marijean of STLWorkingMom.com wrote a great post about making SMART goals versus resolutions. Smart is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Reasonable and Time-bound. After reading her post on SMART goals, I tried to write my resolutions like SMART goals. I think I did so.
There. Now it’s all in writing and it’s way more public than any of my resolutions have been in previous years. So far, I’ve kept to all four of them (the yoga class starts this Thursday). But, it’s only Jan. 3.
On another note: I’m secretly, selfishly hoping most of the “newbies” at my YMCA start falling off their resolution wagons soon because the crowds at MY Y are a pain and I expect they will be even worse this week. And I KNOW that’s a bad thing for me to wish for, because the increased numbers are good for the Y, and exercise is good for everyone, but I can’t help it.
