One year ago I was frustrated with my body. I had let my weight creep up until it was approaching my pre-delivery pregnancy weight. I decided to make a change, and one year ago today, I joined Weight Watchers.
I'm sure that if anyone would have told that "Michelle" of early 2011 what this Michelle is doing, she would have laughed and said, "No way".
One year ago, I could barely run for a few minutes at a time.
Today, I ran 9 miles. I ran for 94 minutes -without stopping (for those calculating...that's a 10:30 pace).
To be fair, it's taken a year for all of these changes to be fully realized. I started out with the weight loss. I had always exercised, but I was going through the motions at the gym, and not really challenging my routine. It wasn't until I had lost 30+ lbs that I really became inspired to push myself to a new fitness level to go along with the weight loss. I challenged myself to train for a triathlon, and set forth on this course in the summer. It was frustrating, agonizing, and frankly, annoying at times. But I kept going. By the fall, I had reached a nice routine. Bike 1x a week, swim 1x a week, and run a couple of times a week. The run was my biggest challenge - both a physical and mental obstacle to over come. I know I'm not alone when I say that I've never liked to run. Even now that I've become a regular runner, I'm still not in love with it. But I can see and feel the benefit to my body, and I do love the sense of accomplishment that I get when I push myself to a new distance.
I set myself a mini-goal of running in at least three 5K races in the fall, and I accomplished that goal. I had an average finish time of ~ 28:30 for all three races - not too bad. After getting so comfortable with the 3.5 mile distance, I decided to push and try to run further. A month later I was running 5-6 miles at a time. I always wondered how runners could easily go for such long distances, but after doing it for a while, I began to see that pushing myself just one more mile was getting easier. By early December I had made it up to 8 miles, and I decided to set myself a new goal. To run a 1/2 marathon in the spring. But I also started to feel a few aches and pains associated with pushing my body to lengths it had never been pushed before. I had never followed a training guide - I just put some gear on and went for a run. But the nagging ache in my knee told me that I needed to get some advice before I pushed myself into an injury. Luckily my neighbor is a super-athlete and trainer - she competed in the Ironman in Florida this past November. She gave me some great advice, as well as a training guide and schedule. I've also been spending more time reading at Runner's World, picking up some tips here and there. I learned what a Fartlek is, and I've been trying to use them to improve my pace.
And I've followed through with my goal. I'm registered to compete in the Tobacco Road 1/2 Marathon on March 18 (http://www.tobaccoroadmarathon.com/). I'm following the training guide, and hope to be at 14 miles a few weeks before the race, so I should be well prepared for it. I haven't given up my original goal of competing in a triathlon - there are two sprint triathlons in the spring, the Granite Falls Triathlon (http://www.setupevents.com/?fuseaction=event_detail&eventID=2065) and the Ramblin Rose event for women only (http://www.endurancemag.com/raleigh-home). I'm actually leaning towards doing both tri's this spring, so I'm really planning on punishing myself.
All of this has led me to a new goal. In only 6 months time I've gone from running for only 5 minutes at a time, to training to run a half marathon. If I can push myself that far within in a few months, than by the age of 40, I would like to compete in a full marathon (FYI - I've got 2 yrs until the big 4-0). Maybe next year I'll do the full marathon at the Tobacco Road event - a full 11 months before that big birthday. I do feel empowered to set myself these goals and know that I can reach them - it's not a lofty dream. I suppose at this point I should consider myself a runner, because it is the discipline that I spend the most time working on. I still don't feel like a runner - I don't feel like I'm a good runner yet, but I'm working at it.
I know I don't have a lot of readers, but I hope that those of you who do see this and have struggled with weight or fitness or just want to do something new this year understand that you can do it. Start with little goals, the accomplishment you get from them will propel you towards even bigger ones.
Finally, I want to apologize for not posting much the last few months. I've actually written about 100 posts in my mind while running or biking, but I never got around to typing them out once I got home. I resolve to be better about blogging, and hope that I have a lot of great new experiences to share in the coming months.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Sunday, September 11, 2011
I'm still at it
Okay, I admit it, I haven't been so good about keeping the blog up to date. But honestly, there hasn't been much for "news", and I don't want to blather on and on about nothing. Actually, I've written quite a few blog posts in my mind while I've been jogging, but since there isn't yet a technology that will translate my thoughts directly into the computer...nothing has been posted. It's been about a month since I last updated, so here's what's been going on.
I went back to northeast Ohio for 2 weeks at the end of August. It was a nice vacation for many reasons, but I also really enjoyed exercising outside while there. I went jogging in the afternoon several days - and it was pleasant, in fact, absolutely enjoyable. A nice mid 70s with a breeze. Even if the temps got into the 80s, it wasn't a humid and miserable 80s. I loved it! I actually did my best distances while running outside up there - I did 3.6 miles in 35 minutes of running one time. Without stopping! That is a huge accomplishment. It did help that the greenway I was running on was relatively flat. In fact, I've always thought of that area to be quite hilly, but the greenways are pretty flat as a pancake.
I took my bike along with me, and that experience was mixed. I did a Sunday morning ride along some country roads, and it was just not enjoyable. There is very little shoulder along the roadways up there, making it difficult to share the road. But even worse was the condition of the roads. The roadways suffer from the temperatures and freeze/thaw cycles in the winter, and the 3 ft space along the shoulder - where I primarily ride - was in ridiculously terrible shape. It was not enjoyable at all. I never did motivate myself to go for another ride on the roads because it was so horrible. I did, however, have a LOVELY ride with a friend along a greenway one evening. We rode and talked for about 15 miles - still relatively flat, but nice for a more casual ride. I am happy to see that there are a number of trails up there for running and biking. The triangle area is lagging a little behind in that department, but I know that there are projects being worked on. There is a greenway trail along the Neuse river that is slated to open this fall, and there are a number of small greenways in Wake Forest (~ 1 mile) that are proposed to be connected together and to connect to the greater Raleigh system.
I think the biggest lesson I've learned in the last month is that I prefer to run outside. I tried to run on the treadmill last week, and it sucked. I barely went 2.5 miles before my body was screaming to stop (and I almost fell off the thing trying to push myself further). I just didn't have the heart to do it. But yesterday morning I took advantage of our cooler mornings and did a 3.5 mile run through my neighborhood and it was awesome. Both kids will be in school by mid week, and I'm looking forward to having some time in the morning to run and bike outside.
With all the travel, I haven't been in the pool for about 3 weeks, but before I left I was doing quite well. It's taken a lot of conscious effort, but I've finally re-trained my stroke to the 'proper' method. I haven't done a time trial in a while, so one goal soon will be to assess how I'm doing in the swim. Since this is probably my strongest discipline, I'm not too worried about being prepared.
I did set a goal of doing at least three 5K races this fall, and I think that will be easy to accomplish. My daughter's school is sponsoring a Race for the Cure event on October 1, and we are signed up to do that race - my husband and school aged daughter want to participate as well. And two days ago we agreed to participate in another benefit 5K for my husband's hospital on September 24. It won't be hard to find a third - or perhaps more - event to run in. I might even look for a biking event this fall. We are planning on taking a biking 'vacation' in late October. It's a two day biking tour of the North Carolina wineries. Since the wineries are located along the edge of the Blue Ridge mountains, we're sure to get a workout.
I went back to northeast Ohio for 2 weeks at the end of August. It was a nice vacation for many reasons, but I also really enjoyed exercising outside while there. I went jogging in the afternoon several days - and it was pleasant, in fact, absolutely enjoyable. A nice mid 70s with a breeze. Even if the temps got into the 80s, it wasn't a humid and miserable 80s. I loved it! I actually did my best distances while running outside up there - I did 3.6 miles in 35 minutes of running one time. Without stopping! That is a huge accomplishment. It did help that the greenway I was running on was relatively flat. In fact, I've always thought of that area to be quite hilly, but the greenways are pretty flat as a pancake.
I took my bike along with me, and that experience was mixed. I did a Sunday morning ride along some country roads, and it was just not enjoyable. There is very little shoulder along the roadways up there, making it difficult to share the road. But even worse was the condition of the roads. The roadways suffer from the temperatures and freeze/thaw cycles in the winter, and the 3 ft space along the shoulder - where I primarily ride - was in ridiculously terrible shape. It was not enjoyable at all. I never did motivate myself to go for another ride on the roads because it was so horrible. I did, however, have a LOVELY ride with a friend along a greenway one evening. We rode and talked for about 15 miles - still relatively flat, but nice for a more casual ride. I am happy to see that there are a number of trails up there for running and biking. The triangle area is lagging a little behind in that department, but I know that there are projects being worked on. There is a greenway trail along the Neuse river that is slated to open this fall, and there are a number of small greenways in Wake Forest (~ 1 mile) that are proposed to be connected together and to connect to the greater Raleigh system.
I think the biggest lesson I've learned in the last month is that I prefer to run outside. I tried to run on the treadmill last week, and it sucked. I barely went 2.5 miles before my body was screaming to stop (and I almost fell off the thing trying to push myself further). I just didn't have the heart to do it. But yesterday morning I took advantage of our cooler mornings and did a 3.5 mile run through my neighborhood and it was awesome. Both kids will be in school by mid week, and I'm looking forward to having some time in the morning to run and bike outside.
With all the travel, I haven't been in the pool for about 3 weeks, but before I left I was doing quite well. It's taken a lot of conscious effort, but I've finally re-trained my stroke to the 'proper' method. I haven't done a time trial in a while, so one goal soon will be to assess how I'm doing in the swim. Since this is probably my strongest discipline, I'm not too worried about being prepared.
I did set a goal of doing at least three 5K races this fall, and I think that will be easy to accomplish. My daughter's school is sponsoring a Race for the Cure event on October 1, and we are signed up to do that race - my husband and school aged daughter want to participate as well. And two days ago we agreed to participate in another benefit 5K for my husband's hospital on September 24. It won't be hard to find a third - or perhaps more - event to run in. I might even look for a biking event this fall. We are planning on taking a biking 'vacation' in late October. It's a two day biking tour of the North Carolina wineries. Since the wineries are located along the edge of the Blue Ridge mountains, we're sure to get a workout.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
I miss my bike
It's been ridiculously hot around here. Well, not ridiculous...just typical summer temps...but unbearable for bike riding (I'm not that hardcore yet). I haven't gotten out to ride since the first week of July, but this weekend the temps are dipping down to the high 80's, so I have hope to get a good ride in.
I haven't been slacking on the other disciplines though. Actually, I'm starting to feel like the training is taking over parts of my life. Almost every morning is devoted to gym time lately - it's a mixed blessing. I am enjoying it, but there are times that it makes for a hectic day.
You never know what will happen when you change up your routine. I had been swimming on Thursday mornings, but two weeks ago I needed to move the swim to Wednesday to accommodate a prior obligation. I ran into a parent from my daughter's preschool class in the parking lot of the Y, and she mentioned that she was doing an endurance swimming class that morning. I decided to jump in and try the class, and it has been a great experience. The class is taught by my neighbor - who happens to be a triathlon coach and is training for the Ironman right now. Most of the people in the class are tri newbies (or those with some tri experience, but not much). In the last two weeks I've learned that the way that I was swimming freestyle was about 15 years out of date - the stroke mechanics had changed significantly. It's been hard to re-train my stroke, but I'm really enjoying the class - a good mix of drills and sprints, along with tips for open water and pool swims.
I've also spent quite a bit of time focusing on the run, and I have to confess - I've finally broken through that wall. I can now run for 20+ minutes without being tired, out of breath, frustrated and hating every minute of it. I've shaved 4 minutes off my time, and I've even been able to increase my pace (on the treadmill) a little bit. I can't say that I love running. I still get bored by it - thank goodness for TV's to distract me from the monotony of the run. But it's not as horrible as it was even a month ago. I've set myself a goal of running 3 different 5K races this fall - which shouldn't be too hard to do.
Finally, I have to give a shout out to my husband. He's entertained the idea of participating in a tri with me, but he was not a swimmer. He had never learned how to swim, and barely tolerated putting his head in the water. Well, that's all changed. He's been taking swimming lessons this summer, and is making tremendous progress. The kids have been taking lessons this summer as well, so we've all practically lived in the pool the past month. I'm so proud of him for finally taking the plunge and learning how to swim. He's no Michael Phelps yet, but he's also not laying at the bottom of the pool.
I haven't been slacking on the other disciplines though. Actually, I'm starting to feel like the training is taking over parts of my life. Almost every morning is devoted to gym time lately - it's a mixed blessing. I am enjoying it, but there are times that it makes for a hectic day.
You never know what will happen when you change up your routine. I had been swimming on Thursday mornings, but two weeks ago I needed to move the swim to Wednesday to accommodate a prior obligation. I ran into a parent from my daughter's preschool class in the parking lot of the Y, and she mentioned that she was doing an endurance swimming class that morning. I decided to jump in and try the class, and it has been a great experience. The class is taught by my neighbor - who happens to be a triathlon coach and is training for the Ironman right now. Most of the people in the class are tri newbies (or those with some tri experience, but not much). In the last two weeks I've learned that the way that I was swimming freestyle was about 15 years out of date - the stroke mechanics had changed significantly. It's been hard to re-train my stroke, but I'm really enjoying the class - a good mix of drills and sprints, along with tips for open water and pool swims.
I've also spent quite a bit of time focusing on the run, and I have to confess - I've finally broken through that wall. I can now run for 20+ minutes without being tired, out of breath, frustrated and hating every minute of it. I've shaved 4 minutes off my time, and I've even been able to increase my pace (on the treadmill) a little bit. I can't say that I love running. I still get bored by it - thank goodness for TV's to distract me from the monotony of the run. But it's not as horrible as it was even a month ago. I've set myself a goal of running 3 different 5K races this fall - which shouldn't be too hard to do.
Finally, I have to give a shout out to my husband. He's entertained the idea of participating in a tri with me, but he was not a swimmer. He had never learned how to swim, and barely tolerated putting his head in the water. Well, that's all changed. He's been taking swimming lessons this summer, and is making tremendous progress. The kids have been taking lessons this summer as well, so we've all practically lived in the pool the past month. I'm so proud of him for finally taking the plunge and learning how to swim. He's no Michael Phelps yet, but he's also not laying at the bottom of the pool.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Over the mountain
I've done it. Finally done it. I'm actually making progress with my run.
I usually bike on weekends, but this past Sunday I traded my usual bike session for an extra run session, and it truly did help. We had a rare July weekend - high temps only in the mid 80s, and it was pleasantly in the 60's in the morning. BEAUTIFUL! I got up early Sunday and helped out with the kids triathlon (that was a lot of fun and so amazing to see over 100 kids out having a blast and racing). I was done by 10:00 am, and it was still very nice out, so I went for a run instead of a bike ride. Outside!! I did my longest run yet - 21 minutes straight. And I walked for 15 minutes after that and ended up finding a circular route through my neighborhood that is 3.1 miles - a 5K distance. I felt pretty good after that - I have never, ever run that long in my life.
Instead of swapping the run and bike (logistically hard to do since I don't have a sitter to watch the wee one), I did my usual run workout inside on the treadmill today. I didn't have a plan in mind, except to go 3.1 miles. After a brief warm up, I ran for 15 minutes straight, and then alternated walk/run for the remaining time. I sincerely didn't push myself too hard because I wanted to see where I would be if I were to try a 5K today. I finished the distance in 36 minutes 20 seconds. I have a lot of room for improvement, but I feel like I'm finally making progress in this discipline.
So why exactly am I doing a triathlon if I've never even done a 5K race before? What on earth would posses me to jump into something like this? To be honest, I've tried to do the couch to 5K training program before, and I usually would crap out somewhere around week 3 or 4ish. I wouldn't feel like I was progressing, I hated doing it, I didn't want to do it, I had no motivation to keep trying. I really do enjoy doing the biking and the swimming - I'm really loving getting back into the swimming especially, and I'm looking forward to spending quality time with my husband doing long rides in the future. I know that pushing myself in those two sports has increased my overall fitness level so that I am finally seeing results beyond where I'd always stopped before. Two of the three disciplines keep me going, keep me sane, give me hope. But I know that accomplishing all 3 will be a personal triumph.
I usually bike on weekends, but this past Sunday I traded my usual bike session for an extra run session, and it truly did help. We had a rare July weekend - high temps only in the mid 80s, and it was pleasantly in the 60's in the morning. BEAUTIFUL! I got up early Sunday and helped out with the kids triathlon (that was a lot of fun and so amazing to see over 100 kids out having a blast and racing). I was done by 10:00 am, and it was still very nice out, so I went for a run instead of a bike ride. Outside!! I did my longest run yet - 21 minutes straight. And I walked for 15 minutes after that and ended up finding a circular route through my neighborhood that is 3.1 miles - a 5K distance. I felt pretty good after that - I have never, ever run that long in my life.
Instead of swapping the run and bike (logistically hard to do since I don't have a sitter to watch the wee one), I did my usual run workout inside on the treadmill today. I didn't have a plan in mind, except to go 3.1 miles. After a brief warm up, I ran for 15 minutes straight, and then alternated walk/run for the remaining time. I sincerely didn't push myself too hard because I wanted to see where I would be if I were to try a 5K today. I finished the distance in 36 minutes 20 seconds. I have a lot of room for improvement, but I feel like I'm finally making progress in this discipline.
So why exactly am I doing a triathlon if I've never even done a 5K race before? What on earth would posses me to jump into something like this? To be honest, I've tried to do the couch to 5K training program before, and I usually would crap out somewhere around week 3 or 4ish. I wouldn't feel like I was progressing, I hated doing it, I didn't want to do it, I had no motivation to keep trying. I really do enjoy doing the biking and the swimming - I'm really loving getting back into the swimming especially, and I'm looking forward to spending quality time with my husband doing long rides in the future. I know that pushing myself in those two sports has increased my overall fitness level so that I am finally seeing results beyond where I'd always stopped before. Two of the three disciplines keep me going, keep me sane, give me hope. But I know that accomplishing all 3 will be a personal triumph.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
It's been quiet in blog land - but no fear, I haven't given up. It's just been a busy 10 days. My daughter finished up Kindergarten the last week of June and starts 1st grade tomorrow (year round school - LOVE it). During her short week off we traveled to western NC to visit some old friends. I did manage to get a couple of workouts in though.
We took our bikes with us on the trip, and the morning of the 4th we got up and in the thick haze of humidity took off on a ride. We had drawn a route map on a piece of paper, with no idea of how long it was (or how difficult). Didn't take us long to miss a turn and end up off our map, but we were enjoying the ride and kept going. Handy dandy google maps told us that there was an alternate road we could take (we were trying to take a circular route back to the home of our friends), so we rode on. The next turn was a road called Icard Ridge - we have learned that from now on we should avoid any road with 'ridge' in the name. It started with the steepest incline I've ever biked up - it seemed like a 20 degree incline. That was the first time that I sincerely thought I was going to have to get off and walk the bike up, but we made it. Rode a short distance, and then uphill again. A short distance, and uphill again. At this point we came to a cross street that would take us back to our original road. We stood at the crossroads, in what felt like 100 degree heat (it was only in the upper 70's + humidity, but felt worse), and decided that we didn't like what Icard Ridge had shared with us so far, so we took the easier route home. We managed to do 16.6 miles, so not a bad ride, but it's definitely harder when you have no idea what the road is going to be like.
I did another bike ride this morning. I set out on one of my regular routes - it's about 14 miles - which starts with a couple of smaller hills in succession. After two weeks back to back with rides that were more grueling than I had done previously, my regular route seemed quite easy. There are several sections of hills that usually wipe me out - today I was able to bear down and climb the hills quite easily. I am amazed by the change in fitness - since I wasn't expecting it at all. I decided to ride a bit further than usual since I was enjoying the ride and not feeling too fatigued, and ended up doing 17.2 miles. I have gotten a lot more comfortable on roads with a lot of traffic (they tend to have a larger shoulder for cycling anyway), so I will have to look at the map and come up with some 20+ mile routes.
I've also seen significant improvement in my swim. I swim at the local YMCA, and there is a swim team of middle school aged kids that practices regularly there. I've been using the workouts posted on their wipe board for the last 2 weeks, and I'm pleasantly surprised to say that I can do about 80% of the workout. I usually swim for about an hour, and about 2/3 of the way through I will do a practice sprint swim of the 250 yd distance, and my time for that event is steadily decreasing. I'll have to look back at my post from a few weeks ago to compare the time, but I'm now swimming 250 yards in 4 minutes 52 seconds. A full triathlon is usually a 1200-1500 yard swim in open water, and I'm not quite ready to swim that distance without stopping, but I am working towards that goal as well.
And that brings me to the run....which I didn't do this week. Okay, it was easy to cross that workout off my list when I didn't have time to get all 3 in. I know that in the long run, since it's my worst event, I should be practicing it more often. I intend to do that this fall, when the weather is more cooperative and I can exercise outside (and not just first thing in the morning when the temperatures are barely reasonable). I am curious to see if my improvement in cardiovascular fitness in the bike ride will cross over to the run - since that is my weakness. I guess I'll find out on Tuesday.
And as a final note, there's a kids triathlon here next weekend. My kids are not participating (one is too young, the other has yet to master riding her bike without training wheels), but perhaps they will be inspired to try in the years to come. There is a 5K race that I am planning to run this fall, and it has a kids race along with the adult race. My oldest daughter has expressed an interest in doing a race, so I might get them to do it with me. My husband and I are ridiculously happy with our new healthy lifestyles, but I am even more delighted that my children are learning fitness and healthy lifestyle habits from our example. I don't have hopes of training a future athlete - I only wish to teach them to eat well and move often.
We took our bikes with us on the trip, and the morning of the 4th we got up and in the thick haze of humidity took off on a ride. We had drawn a route map on a piece of paper, with no idea of how long it was (or how difficult). Didn't take us long to miss a turn and end up off our map, but we were enjoying the ride and kept going. Handy dandy google maps told us that there was an alternate road we could take (we were trying to take a circular route back to the home of our friends), so we rode on. The next turn was a road called Icard Ridge - we have learned that from now on we should avoid any road with 'ridge' in the name. It started with the steepest incline I've ever biked up - it seemed like a 20 degree incline. That was the first time that I sincerely thought I was going to have to get off and walk the bike up, but we made it. Rode a short distance, and then uphill again. A short distance, and uphill again. At this point we came to a cross street that would take us back to our original road. We stood at the crossroads, in what felt like 100 degree heat (it was only in the upper 70's + humidity, but felt worse), and decided that we didn't like what Icard Ridge had shared with us so far, so we took the easier route home. We managed to do 16.6 miles, so not a bad ride, but it's definitely harder when you have no idea what the road is going to be like.
I did another bike ride this morning. I set out on one of my regular routes - it's about 14 miles - which starts with a couple of smaller hills in succession. After two weeks back to back with rides that were more grueling than I had done previously, my regular route seemed quite easy. There are several sections of hills that usually wipe me out - today I was able to bear down and climb the hills quite easily. I am amazed by the change in fitness - since I wasn't expecting it at all. I decided to ride a bit further than usual since I was enjoying the ride and not feeling too fatigued, and ended up doing 17.2 miles. I have gotten a lot more comfortable on roads with a lot of traffic (they tend to have a larger shoulder for cycling anyway), so I will have to look at the map and come up with some 20+ mile routes.
I've also seen significant improvement in my swim. I swim at the local YMCA, and there is a swim team of middle school aged kids that practices regularly there. I've been using the workouts posted on their wipe board for the last 2 weeks, and I'm pleasantly surprised to say that I can do about 80% of the workout. I usually swim for about an hour, and about 2/3 of the way through I will do a practice sprint swim of the 250 yd distance, and my time for that event is steadily decreasing. I'll have to look back at my post from a few weeks ago to compare the time, but I'm now swimming 250 yards in 4 minutes 52 seconds. A full triathlon is usually a 1200-1500 yard swim in open water, and I'm not quite ready to swim that distance without stopping, but I am working towards that goal as well.
And that brings me to the run....which I didn't do this week. Okay, it was easy to cross that workout off my list when I didn't have time to get all 3 in. I know that in the long run, since it's my worst event, I should be practicing it more often. I intend to do that this fall, when the weather is more cooperative and I can exercise outside (and not just first thing in the morning when the temperatures are barely reasonable). I am curious to see if my improvement in cardiovascular fitness in the bike ride will cross over to the run - since that is my weakness. I guess I'll find out on Tuesday.
And as a final note, there's a kids triathlon here next weekend. My kids are not participating (one is too young, the other has yet to master riding her bike without training wheels), but perhaps they will be inspired to try in the years to come. There is a 5K race that I am planning to run this fall, and it has a kids race along with the adult race. My oldest daughter has expressed an interest in doing a race, so I might get them to do it with me. My husband and I are ridiculously happy with our new healthy lifestyles, but I am even more delighted that my children are learning fitness and healthy lifestyle habits from our example. I don't have hopes of training a future athlete - I only wish to teach them to eat well and move often.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Ride of my life
I had a special treat yesterday. Dave, my husband, and I got to cycle together. Usually we take turns going for rides because one of us has to stay and watch the kinder, but we had a mini-weekend together while their local 'grandparents' watched them for us Sat night. We got up Sun morning, and instead of our old usual (going to a local breakfast joint and eating a big breakfast while reading the Sunday papers), we left the house at 8 am and did a 23 mile bike ride. Dave has been cycling a bit longer than me, and definitely has more endurance, but stayed back with me at my 13.5 mph pace for the ride. The countryside was beautiful, there was very little traffic, the hills were grueling, but it was fun to do it together.
We're going to the NC mountains to visit with some friends for the weekend of the 4th, and we might get to do another ride together, so we're taking our bikes with us. This necessitated another trip to the bike store to purchase a rack carrier for my car. I think we've definitely crossed over to enthusiast lately as we spend time in the bike shop every couple weeks. It is wonderful though to have an activity that we both enjoy and can do together (since we don't golf, fish, camp, play tennis or any other team sport).
Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who has offered words of encouragement - I do appreciate the support. I bought myself a heart rate monitor and I want to try to use that for training (especially for the run) for a while and see if it helps, especially since cardiovascular fitness is my weakness. I wore the monitor for the bike ride yesterday, but I'm still trying to figure out how to access all the data. I've been reading some guides that offer training programs using heart rate, so I am going to try to focus on that rather than distance or time for the moment.
We're going to the NC mountains to visit with some friends for the weekend of the 4th, and we might get to do another ride together, so we're taking our bikes with us. This necessitated another trip to the bike store to purchase a rack carrier for my car. I think we've definitely crossed over to enthusiast lately as we spend time in the bike shop every couple weeks. It is wonderful though to have an activity that we both enjoy and can do together (since we don't golf, fish, camp, play tennis or any other team sport).
Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who has offered words of encouragement - I do appreciate the support. I bought myself a heart rate monitor and I want to try to use that for training (especially for the run) for a while and see if it helps, especially since cardiovascular fitness is my weakness. I wore the monitor for the bike ride yesterday, but I'm still trying to figure out how to access all the data. I've been reading some guides that offer training programs using heart rate, so I am going to try to focus on that rather than distance or time for the moment.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
It's hot out there
I'm two weeks into this new goal, and I've learned a couple of things.
A. It's hot and humid out there
2. I hate running (okay, I already knew that)
I wrote this part last week (I haven't yet figured out how to date posts by when I post them, not by when I start writing them.)
I know I just started on this journey, but I have to whine a bit.
Why is running so hard? Is there something that I'm doing wrong? I know that it's June, I live in the south, it's hot and humid, but I've been exercising indoors.
I tried to run this morning, hoping to at least match last weeks endurance run of 12 minutes of continuous running. Despite the AC, the gym did feel a bit humid. I noticed it while I was doing weight training for the first 30 minutes of my workout. I hopped on the treadmill, walked for 3 minutes to warm up, and then started to run. I didn't even make it 5 minutes of running before I was DYING. Goodness gracious! I could barely breath. Why? Why can't I go the same distance that I went 7 days ago? I walked for a bit and tried again - nope. Seriously painful. I know I don't have a lot of followers yet, and I don't know if any of them are fitness experts, but this does seem to happen to me semi-regularly. Some days, despite my intentions, it's just impossible to push myself to complete what I wanted to do as a workout. I don't have similar issues with biking, it's really just the running. Is this something I can improve? How? Any ideas?
So, I gave it a try again today. I still really could only do about 5 minutes at a time. I ended up doing sort of interval workout to get the distance in - run 5/walk (and I try to crank up the incline and walk at a decent clip). I did do 1 minute at my goal pace (8 minute mile) - and it burned, oh man did it burn. I can still feel that in my lungs - but maybe that's what I need.
I do feel like I'm making progress with the swim and bike, but the run is still my weakness. At the moment I am just doing 1 intense workout a week with each discipline - I should probably add an extra run in there, but we've got busy schedules the next couple weeks, so it'll have to wait for a while. And I'm not running outside right now.
Any experienced runners are welcome to comment w/ tips!
A. It's hot and humid out there
2. I hate running (okay, I already knew that)
I wrote this part last week (I haven't yet figured out how to date posts by when I post them, not by when I start writing them.)
I know I just started on this journey, but I have to whine a bit.
Why is running so hard? Is there something that I'm doing wrong? I know that it's June, I live in the south, it's hot and humid, but I've been exercising indoors.
I tried to run this morning, hoping to at least match last weeks endurance run of 12 minutes of continuous running. Despite the AC, the gym did feel a bit humid. I noticed it while I was doing weight training for the first 30 minutes of my workout. I hopped on the treadmill, walked for 3 minutes to warm up, and then started to run. I didn't even make it 5 minutes of running before I was DYING. Goodness gracious! I could barely breath. Why? Why can't I go the same distance that I went 7 days ago? I walked for a bit and tried again - nope. Seriously painful. I know I don't have a lot of followers yet, and I don't know if any of them are fitness experts, but this does seem to happen to me semi-regularly. Some days, despite my intentions, it's just impossible to push myself to complete what I wanted to do as a workout. I don't have similar issues with biking, it's really just the running. Is this something I can improve? How? Any ideas?
So, I gave it a try again today. I still really could only do about 5 minutes at a time. I ended up doing sort of interval workout to get the distance in - run 5/walk (and I try to crank up the incline and walk at a decent clip). I did do 1 minute at my goal pace (8 minute mile) - and it burned, oh man did it burn. I can still feel that in my lungs - but maybe that's what I need.
I do feel like I'm making progress with the swim and bike, but the run is still my weakness. At the moment I am just doing 1 intense workout a week with each discipline - I should probably add an extra run in there, but we've got busy schedules the next couple weeks, so it'll have to wait for a while. And I'm not running outside right now.
Any experienced runners are welcome to comment w/ tips!
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