After a somewhat passionate affair in late 2010, throughout this year I have barely flirted with fitness. Time to get back on track. I have decided to embrace the cliche of starting a new fitness/healthy living regimen at the start of the new year. I also have a wedding that I will be attending later in the summer that I would like to look and feel amazing for. The loose goals that will soon solidify:
Tracking what I eat. While sometimes tedious and dreadful, I swear it works and makes a huge difference. Also, making food look beautiful and taking pictures of it, even if its just a sandwich.
Running again. After a knee injury during the summer and a horrible 5K experience in September (due to that injury) running and I have not been on speaking terms. Time to pull out my sneakers and try again. I always tend go too fast too soon, so as far as running goes I’ll be sticking with the couch to 5K plan to ease my way back in. Just so happens that the Celtic 5K is about 10 weeks away. Perfect, no?
Strength Training. I used the 30 Day Shred in the past, and will be dusting of my Jillian DVDs and starting with that. The fitness center on campus also offers free circuit training classes so I may check those out as well.
Here’s to a productive 2012!
Today I dusted off my sneakers after being out of the game for about 2 weeks. I don’t know where my motivation went but I’m trying to get it back. Now that I have sorted out other areas of my life (deciding to go to school instead of tirelessly and unsuccessfully looking for a job) I feel like I can refocus on my fitness goals. I’m looking for another race to sign up for because I think that’s really what kept me motivated before and I’m also watching what I’m fueling my body with as well… not counting calories but sticking to fresh foods and being aware of how much (and when) I’m eating. Also my sister comes home from school next week so I’ll have a good workout buddy.
I turn 27 at the end of the month and I’ve had a secret goal that I’ve been working toward. Probably not going to make it, but I will give it my darnedest effort for the next 25 days. I haven’t quite nailed down my goal for this month (calm down, I have until tonight) but I’m preparing to make April mine.
For today: Headed to city with my sister who’s home on spring break. Hoping the weather holds up so we can go to Christopher Columbus Park and walk a bit of the the Harborwalk… my favorite place in Boston.
mr365hunts190:
Go to church at least once a week? You’re 50% more likely to be obese by middle age!
Or maybe one more reason not to be a statistic… I’d prefer to keep mind, body and soul in shape thankyouverymuch. :) Not to mention the actual study doesn’t say that attending services is fattening, nor does it explain why weight might be related to faith.
I can run intervals like a champion. Sprint for a 60-90 seconds, then ease up on the pace for a few minutes, then turn it up again. I like intervals. I feel like a badass when I sprint. As I learned today, tempo runs are such a different beast.
A classic tempo or lactate-threshold run is a sustained, comfortably hard effort for two to four miles.
Since I’m still a baby runner and my distance is the 5K, my tempo runs will generally be 2 miles. Comfortably hard pretty much describes my run this evening. Emphasis on the hard. After a short warm up, I cranked it up to a 11’32 pace. Made it a 1.25 before thought I was overreaching* and I scaled back down to a 11’55 pace. Kept that up for another .25 mile. For most of this time, I felt like I was just slogging along and I wanted to stop. Then I actually did stop. I proceeded to have a little conversation with myself about how I had nothing left and this was ridiculous. Why the hell are you pushing yourself so hard? What do you have to prove?
To which myself replied, “That’s major BS about you having nothing left because if you didn’t have anything left then you would be laying on the ground and whimpering instead of having this mandatory I-can’t-go-on-but-I-know-I-will-in-the-end conversation with yourself. Pull yourself together. The real question you should be asking is What have you got to lose?” I then turned this song on my iPod, and amp it back up to 11’07 for the last .5 mile. With sweat dripping down my face, I finished my run triumphantly.
Tempo runs will not be the death of me. They will actually make me faster. I obviously can’t get faster with out pushing myself so they will henceforth make an appearance in my running.
Tomorrow’s beast: HILLS.
(*to find your goal tempo pace you should at 30-40 seconds to your 5K pace. My “official” 5K pace is 11’11.)
(original post)
Tempo runs just might be the death of me. More in a moment…
mr365hunts190:
Mr. 365, Wes’field, Massachusetts
Celebrate the first TRULY NICE day of the year in New England by reblogging and letting us know where you are in the region!
New England, represent!
Heather, Holden (wishing I was back in Boston!), Massachusetts
