Monthly Archives: October 2009

Why Run?

10/07/2009
Why Run?

When I started running, it was so I could compete in triathlons. I was really looking for a race vehicle where I would be able to swim, something I consider myself pretty good at. It was the running that would be the tricky part. It took me the better part of a year to get to a point of running (very slowly) a distance that would be considered respectable in the race world (5K, 3.1 miles) but I can do it now. It took the rest of the year to get to a point where I didn’t dread running 3.1 miles. Surprisingly, I can run that distance now without too much dread. And finishing any distance always feels like an accomplishment. I was worried though that after race season ended (Sept. 13 for me), I wouldn’t run again until February…a couple of months before my next race season starts....

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Keep Your Eye on the Ball

10/06/2009
Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Last week, I started working with a fitness trainer. I’ve got the cardio thing down pretty well, but now, since race season is over, it’s time for toning and strength training combined with the cardio to get even better at this triathlon thing for next race season. My target areas for strength training are my core and upper arms although toning all over is obviously the ultimate goal. Along comes Jen, my personal trainer. You can find her at ActivPersonalTraining. Jen doesn’t train with traditional weights. Instead, she lets me play (in controlled movements). We use a rebounder (little trampoline), yoga balls (really big beach ball) and medicine balls (I never did quite get what these were for when we threw them to each other in elementary school), balancy things. foam rollers and resistance bands. It’s fun. I mean, it’s hard work, yes, but I get to roll around...

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A Note Of Thanks To My Body

10/05/2009

At my heaviest weight, I was 267 pounds. That was 15 years ago. Through the years, I dieted, stopped, exercised, stopped, dieted some more, and stopped again. Any of us who has a substantial amount of weight to lose can probably say the same thing. We rarely get it right the first time, or the second or the third time. When I started on my latest and last fitness journey in 2008, I weighed 230.2 pounds the day I stepped on the Weight Watchers scale. I happen to know that I’d managed to drop about 5 pounds before then. I weighed 167.2 this morning. That’s 100 pounds from my heaviest weight to now. Yesterday I ran 4 miles. Running 4 miles is something that I wouldn’t have attempted or believed I could do….ever. Certainly not when I was 267 pounds or 230 pounds. Not even when I was 18...

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Running On Empty

10/01/2009

Dark mornings. Crazy work days. Night-time meetings and obligations. There’s a shift that happens at this time of year that requires a shift in the old exercise routine too. And shifts can be tough. As a result, I haven’t done any exercise since Monday night, when I went running after work and then to a personal training session. I have no excuse for not doing ANYTHING. I can do resistance training at home. I can put my bike on the trainer and cycle my little heart out in the dark, in the cold…in the comfort of my living room. I can do jumping jacks or go out on the back deck and jump rope. But what I’ve wanted to do is run. Outside. In the bright sunshine and crisp weather. I plan to go running tonight after work tonight provided I escape my cubicle before it gets too dark....

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