10 Weeks

Now that I have made it through swim lessons, I am on to my next training phase of the year. This past Saturday marked the start of my 10 week training program for the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini-Marathon. This is the 2nd year I will be running the Mini and my third half-marathon. Last year I was disappointed with my time and hoped to have a huge improvement this year. Based on my first 5 mile training run Saturday, I doubt I can improve my time as much as I had wanted. I'm still very slow and that's something I'm trying to learn to live with while just concentrating on the fact that I do actually enjoy running now.

That said, I do have a better running plan this year. Last year, I only did long runs. This year, I'm adding speed work and tempo runs. Monday was my first speed work session and it went great. I met all my targets and actually increased my pace each quarter mile. Today will be my first tempo run. I'm not sure how it will go and I think I might have my goal set too fast, but I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

In addition to running 3 days per week, I'm going to be taking Body Pump once a week, swimming once a week, and taking cycling class or riding my bike twice a week. The cross-training will help prevent injuries and give me better cardiovascular endurance. My goal for this half-marathon is to not hit a wall. I want to be able to complete the race without needing to walk a lot at the end. I know my time will improve by running more of the race, although I'm not sure how much. I guess I'll find out in 64 days.

You Don't Have to Plan the Whole Year

Is anyone else sore today? As I discussed in my last post, my workouts in December were sporadic. So I greeted 2011 with the same idea as many people, let's get moving. I haven't developed full New Year's Resolutions and I'm not sure I will. I really don't know what's going to happen in some areas of my life this year and don't feel like I can commit to a long term plan. Instead I am going to break the year into sections and develop goals and schedules to support those goals. The first part of the year started Jan 2 and goes through Feb 12.

We changed our gym membership to one with a pool, mainly because I want to learn to swim. Since I did a triathlon last year, you might think I can swim, but really, I only know how not to drown. While I can move forward slowly, I want to be comfortable and efficient in the water. I'd also like to not be afraid to put my face in. So, starting next Saturday, I'll be taking swim lessons. It's an adult class and I'm excited to see how it goes.

Sunday I ran on the treadmill, which I've decided is tolerable for about 20 minutes. I can push myself farther, but don't really enjoy it. After the run I realized that the new gym has an indoor track. I'm planning to try it out later this week. Yesterday was time to start my other fitness goal for the 1st part of 2011 - weight lifting. I took Group Power, a weight lifting class off and on in 2010, but haven't done it at all since October. The new place has Body Pump instead, which I've done before. Having re-started weight-lifting multiple times, I knew I'd be sore, so I kept my weight light and scheduled today to be a rest day. This was a good decision since getting out of my chair kinda hurts. I also know the key to not repeating this pain is consistency so I'll be back next week.

For the first 6 weeks of 2011, I'll be focusing on swim lessons, weight lifting, running, and cycling. I may work in a few fun aerobic classes, like Zumba or belly dancing, but I don't want to introduce too many new challenges at once. At the end of these 6 weeks, I will be able to swim 800 meters comfortably and take Body Pump without needing a complete day off from exercise. Then I'll decide what my next challenge will be.

I hope your 2011 is off to a great start. And, if the thought of a New Year's Resolution is overwhelming to you, I hope you'll join me in developing goals for a shorter time span.

Don't Wait Until Jan 1

I overdid it on the sweets and junk last week. The combination of my birthday, Christmas, and cold encouraged me to eat too much, drink too much, exercise too little, and stay up too late. I didn't feel terrible, but I was very tired. I knew I needed to make some changes to feel better and I didn't want to wait until New Year's Day to start. So I decided to have a "recovery" before the New Year's Partying began. Starting Sunday night I followed these rules:

In bed by 9:30, lights out before 10.

Exercise for 60 minutes each day.

Drink water.

No sweets or alcohol.

These 4 goals aren't anything new or exciting, but I knew achieving them would improve my energy. I like these goals because they aren't about giving up a bunch of stuff. The only things I'm giving up are sweets (real ones) and alcohol. I didn't give up caffeine because I usually only have 1-2 cups of coffee a day and other than that I've been drinking water.

For exercise, I've been to the gym everyday so far. I took spinning Monday and today. Tuesday I went to Zumba. My muscles have that happy sore feeling. I'm thinking I'll take tomorrow off and Friday it looks like it will be nice enough to run outside. Yay! I haven't done that since the day after Thanksgiving.

And the best part is, it's working. I've been up since 4:40am and worked a 9 hour day, but I'm feeling great tonight. With some modifications, these goals will be a part of my New Year's Resolutions.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year. And remember, while it's never too late to start, it's also never too early. Take care of yourself.