... to redeem myself.
Still trying to get back on the wagon and I'm not going to give up. I always feel energetic and motivated on the weekends after I've had a good sleep so I do well and go for a run or a bike ride, and then things start to fall apart during the week when I'm so tired again.
So the new plan:
I have joined the November Challenge on Beginner Triathlete to do 30 minutes of exercise EVERY SINGLE DAY this month. So why should I even TRY to meet this challenge when I have barely been able to get up the energy to work out once a week for the last 8 weeks? I dunno, I'm just willing to try anything I guess. I usually find that challenges like this motivate me a lot so this just might do the trick. And it doesn't mean I have to run, bike, or swim every single day. I can do strength, yoga, and core work as well. That could be my saving grace, because by being able to do the low key stuff as well, I just might be able to get back into some form of discipline and a regular pattern of fitness. That in turn can help me sleep better and give me more energy.
So I've started: :)
Nov. 1 - Run 40:49 5.54 km
UPDATE: One of my Twitter buddies, Runninghooiser, has challenged me and we have a $10 bet going. Anyone else want to join in the challenge, feel free to let me know in the comment box. I'm not betting anyone else money though. I couldn't afford to pay everyone off if bailed. :) If you don't read this until a few days later, don't worry about it. Start on any day within the first week of November.
Also - I am telling you ahead of time, I have laser eye surgery next Thursday and probably won't do ANY sort of exercise on Saturday which will be my big pain day and I may only do stretching etc on Friday.
Acceptable exercise:
Running
Biking (indoors or out)
Swimming
Pilates
Strength / Core work
Pushups Challenge
Yoga
Stretching
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Jeff Galloway
I have been reading more about Jeff Galloway's running plans and have decided to try them out for awhile. It all started with this link to his blog where he talked about the importance of warming up and using walk breaks to ward off injury, especially with older runners.
Here's what he wrote about the warm up specifically.
Start slowly. Most exercisers know that they need to warm up. I have my runners walk for 3-5 minutes, and then alternate a 20-60 second run with a 60 second walk for 10 minutes. At that point, most can ease into the pace for that day.
Because I've been plagued with shin problems for months, and then lately, knee pain after running anything further than 3km, I decided to try his warm up today.
I walked for 3 minutes, then did a 1 min walk / 1 min run for 10 minutes before I went into regular running. Amazingly, I did not have any knee pain at all at the 3 km mark and I was able to run steadily for the rest of the 5 km. He also talked about the importance of the warm down so I finished off with a 5 minutes of walking to bring my total up to 5.5 km in 40:49 and I did 5-10 minutes of stretching before I went into the house.
I think I will take a look at his half marathon plan and try that for awhile. It's not far off from what I've already been doing with 3 runs a week and cross training in between. It's a 17 week program which would take to me March if I started now. I can cycle or walk on XT days and start swimming again in January. According to his plan, I should run 3 min, walk 1 min - but I'm now quite sure how that would translate into a 10 min mile because if I walk for a min every 3, I'll slow down. I guess I'll have to do some more reading first.
11 comments:
I am with you on this one. In fact I would like to put out a challenge to you. This is also to motivate myself on getting back on the wagon. We will both commit to do 30 minutes of exercise EVERY SINGLE DAY this month. Honesty will be very important here. The one that fails to do so must confess and send the other a $10.00 gift card to a restaurant. Hopefully we have some similar restaurants. Let me know.
Aw gosh, send money to a Republican? Don't know if I could do that! Hee hee, just kidding! OK, you're on. I probably shouldn't respond to this after I've had a couple of glasses of wine - I have a feeling this is gonna cost me. :)
Believe me I had my reservations when thinking about this, How if I did, could I admit I lost to a (d)emocrat (notice no cap, done on purpose). LOL. So we begin the contest on Monday, giving us both time to psyche ourselves up for the challenge.
Well! Here I went back and put a capital R on republican for you! And I take exception to being called a democrat. I'm a Socialist. :) You go ahead and start on Monday if you like. The weekends are easier for me and I have to start today for the other challenge anyway.
I'm not joining in. I need the rest days on the Hal Higdon Marathon schedule that I am using.
Good luck, though...
I am totally all over this. Nothing like a little competition!
I'm in for it. Probably running on most but thinking cross with bicycling.
oh yeah. sign me up. I NEED a challenge!
I'm in! I'm have a half-marathon coming up and need rest days, but I've been needing a kick to start incorporating more biking, yoga & core training. I like running more than anything, but the lack of cross-training is killing me. It's already the 3rd, but I'm in!
4 days down - i'm feelin' the roll now!
Great job on the challenge! I need my rest days though so I'm going to have to sit it out. Considering I have 9 or 10 different workouts during the week I figure I should make full use of my rest days.
Definitely give the Galloway program a try. I started following him when it was more of a 4:1 philosphy and I wound up stretching the running segments out to 9:1 eventually, now 19:1 because I feel like I lose the rhythm too much otherwise. But, I do think the walk breaks are a good idea. Not so sure that I agree with hitting up the full race mileage during training though. I've typically cut out around 16K on a half marathon training program and I made it through the races just fine.
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