Ramblings mostly about fitness without a purpose

Ok so there is always a purpose to fitness. If one defines fitness as minding your overall health, physical & mental well-being. My title, of course, refers to not having a goal event on the horizon. For me, the net effect has been positive. As I stated in an earlier post I can pretty much do what I want when I want and how I want. My only “goal” right now is to exercise regularly but I have no need to do any specific things. Still, there are some very odd disconnected emotions floating around as well.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the battle over whether or not to give up a workout. Without an event to plan for, I’d have thought the decision would be easier. I’m struggling with that today. It’s hot and humid. There are air quality and excessive heat warnings posted all up and down the I-95 corridor. I’m tired and I have a minor sore throat. Yet, I’m fighting with myself about whether to go for an after work bike ride. Well not really fighting it anymore. I’ve already decided not to but I’m still suffering from the internal battle as to whether it was a proper decision or a wimpy one. I guess I should take comfort in knowing that I don’t have to have an event goal to make exercise a valued part of my life. J

30 Days of a New Habit

So today marks day 30 of trying to eat healthier. The day is not over yet but I'm confident I'll make it. :).

Was I perfect. Heck no!! A co-worker went to Ireland this month and brought back Irish chocolate caramels. So yeah, I had some. Proud that I had three over three days instead of three in one day. Also, I didn't stick to giving up creamer in my coffee. Wawa Dark Roast with a splash of Irish Creamer is good. I am being careful to keep it to a splash though. Just enough. This past Friday I had a totally "off the wagon" dive into the M&M jar at home.Not going to shoot myself over it but definitely not proud of that!

The key to that one is trying to figure out why it happened. Can't say for sure but this past week was the most disorganized of the 4 weeks. During the first three I was careful to plan out my three meals. What each would consist of and shop accordingly. I got out of whack this week, got a little cocky and tried to wing it. While I did keep the grains off my plate and I did manage to have protein, veggie and fruit at each meal I don't think I had enough. I was still hungry and Friday came and I lost it. And yes I know I should have gone for a veggie or fruit based snack. *Shrug*. Stuff happens.

Bob Potts is Calling Me

Not the man himself. He is dead and although I do believe in ghosts I don’t think his is haunting me.

The Bob Potts Marathon keeps popping up on my radar. I’d considered running it in 2011 but ended up at the Gettysburg Marathon instead. I bounced on the idea again for this year (2012) but after a dismal fall training season in 2011 (due in large part to the hip flexor injury I didn’t know I was nursing at the time) I decided to stick to half marathons in 2012 to try to rebuild my confidence. And now once again I find myself thinking about Bob Potts for the Spring of 2013.

There are a pros and cons and one coincidence. The coincidence is that it would be my 5^th Marathon and the 2013 edition will be the 5^th running of the Bob Potts Marathon. That alone makes me really want to do it. And should everything else come out equal I’ll probably use that to push me over the edge. Truth be told, I’ve probably already made up my mind but I have to analyze it anyway. It’s what I do. So here are the things to consider (as of today):

Keeping up with myself; Lessons learned on a hilly 10 mile course.

Today, after much back and forth in the week leading up to it I finally settled on running the Quakertown Rotary Run for Youth. It is a 10 mile run that Maggi suggested - or as more appropriately HELPED Julius and I decide to run. I'm glad for her help.

I wanted to treat this as a training run. It was the right amount of miles; the race fee was for a good cause and given the weather conditions it was more likely I could run with people if I attended the race. As it turned out the rain pretty much stopped just before we started and the sun came out for my last half mile.

So as a training run I set my goal at anything under 2 hours. About 2/3 of the way through I was convinced I wasn't going to make it. I did not have my watch (I don't race with it) and being a local race there were no timers at the mile markers; only at the end.

This hills on this course made the 8th street hill in Media, the Audobon Loop and the Valley Forge loop look like child's play. We also had some nice long slow downhills and one 11% grade downhill but the ups got me. Good news is that the got my legs more than my cardio. I was also pleased that I didn't let the hills get into my head. I walked more than I would have liked but I still made it in less than 2 hours so all is good.

Maggi and Julius eventually (about halfway) put some distance between us and ultimately were a good half mile ahead of me. If it wasn't for Julius' tallness and Maggi's bright  colors I would have lost sight of them completely. It was after our separation that I heard footstesp behind me. Despite that this was supposed to be just a training run I couldn't help thinking I did not want to be passed or left in the dust by anyone else. This got me to pick up the pace for a bit and I'm happy to say it didn't hurt to do so - for a little bit anyway. I finally backed off again not wanting to risk not having anything left for the final hill. So the feet and the gentleman attached to them pulled up beside me and he said, "I'm having trouble keeping up with you". I replied "I'm having trouble keeping up with myself". We ran and walked side by side for another mile and then he too moved on ahead.

I got a lift at mile 8 because I never saw the number 7 on the road. Each mile was marked in green  chalk on the street in rather large numbers. Not sure how I missed it but it was nice to go from thinking I had 3 miles left to only having 2. :)

So today's lesson is DO MORE HILL WORK. Not that I didn't already know that deep down. I was pleased with my finish and pleased that I felt comfortable most of the time.

My schedule had 11 on it for today. I am happy with the 10 however and it's likely i'll do more than the planned 5 with the trail gang tomorrow so I'll still manage my mileage for the week. 21 down 6 to go.

7 miles on a weeknight

I am determined to keep with this new plan. Part of that plan is to presrve my weekly mileage. Wednesday night it rained buckets and then some. It was also very cold. If it's going to be cold and precipitate it should snow (but that's a rant for another time). Needless to say I bagged Wednesday  night's run.

I really wanted to make up those miles. A group was meeting at Oaks last night to run the Audobon Loop (4 miles). I was not excited about doing 4 with them and then 3 more. Fortunately it occurred to me (smack in the head occurred to me) that I could run 3 BEFORE the rest). And I did just that.

I'm not sure what was wrong with me last night. My comfort level for both sets was a 12 minute pace and recently I've been doing much better than that. It's ok that it was that way but I just wish I knew why. The only thng I can think of is that I did not sleep very well the night before. And now that I think some more my nutrition was not all that great on Thurday either. It could be something as simple as that.

Regardless, I managed 7 miles on a weeknight and including the travel time home and a 30 minute break between the first 3 and the last 4 (waiting for the gang to show up) I was finished before 7:30. This is good to know. There will be no excuses later when my mileage increases and I may need to do 7 on a weeknight to keep up.

Happy Friday :)

A New Plan

This running thing definitely keeps me busy and thinking. The past 2 weeks (maybe longer I tend to be obsessive about these things and lose track of time) I've been working on a new plan. I read a lot and as you may imagine some of that is about running. As with anything else I take in all the 'advice' and keep what makes sense to me and put the rest aside. Some I throw out but most I keep tucked away on the chance that it just doesn't make sense in my current mindset but might later on. But I'm digressing... surprise surprise.

I've started on a plan of tracking weekly mileage. I know that I must do the long runs if I'm going to survive the races I've entered but there are weeks when the long run is tricky because of my schedule. So I've opted for tracking weekly mileage and with some advance planning I can make up for lack of long run by adding the missed miles to my weekday runs. I'm also back to taking Mon and Fri off from running and going back to running back to back Sat and Sun whenever possible.

I looked at what I had been doing recently and settled on 25 miles to start. I also switched my view of the week. I was used to putting Sat and Sun at the beginning (ala Phillyfit) but switched that. This works better with my way of thinking which is that the week starts on Monday.

So this week, which began Feb 20 looked like this:

5, 3, 5, 0, 0, 8, 3.5 = 24.5

I only managed 3.5 and ran on Monday anyway because a) it was a holiday and b) I had been slacking prior to this. I'm working in 4 week cycles so the next three look like this:

0, 2, 4, 2, 0, 11, 6 = 25 (same total as week 1)
0, 2, 4, 2, 0, 13, 6 = 27 (10% increase over weeks 1 and 2)
0, 3, 7, 3, 0, 0, 0 = 13  (Half of week 3, and the weekend off)
The next 4 week cycle will start with week 3's total for two weeks then increase by 10% followed by 1/2 again. And so on. Stay tuned.

Ultimately I'd like to keep my long run mileage up and going up. Instead of "starting over" after every race. My goal race in 2012 is the Philly Half. I have other races planned but I'm going to treat them as training runs and keep up my mileage for those weeks. Somewhere I plan to work in a week off from running. Probably every 3 months. I'll talk about that more later when I have it figured out.
Today's run was 3.5 miles on the Rocky Run trail in Middletown Twp by the Wawa dairy. My ankle didn't like it, but I did! :)

30 days. What I’ve Learned; What I’m proud of; and What’s next?

I had to go back and count again. It’s hard to believe it’s been 30 days. I started on December 18th and sure enough, today is day 30. So here goes,


I learned any workout is better than no workout. I kind of new that already, but it really hit home these 30 days. There was more than one day in this 30 – today included – where I did not feel all that great. Because of this create-a-habit thing I went out anyway. And although it was a struggle it felt good to get the blood moving. I may spend most of the rest of today on my couch reading a book and napping, but I will feel less ‘sick’ and less like a slug because

I learned that the difference between a 5 and a 6 on the clock in the morning is mind boggling. My normal wake up on a work day is 6 a.m. On two days out of the 30 I had to complete the run before work. Those days the 1 mile minimum came in handy. I figured I could set the alarm for 5:45 – just 15 minutes earlier than usual – getup, put on running clothes, run 1 mile and be back in the house by 6 when I would normally get up. Sounded like a good plan and I’m happy to say I made it. Convincing myself to get out of bed with that 5 on the clock was difficult. Once I got past that – something I was only able to do because I refused to give up on the habit – I was fine. In fact, my whole morning seemed to go smoother with that 1 mile wake up.

I learned – I think – that running every day makes my long run weekends less stressful. I say “I think” because I’m not entirely sure it’s because I’m running every day or because I’m just having a good training fit right now. Maybe a little bit of both.

I finally understand “recovery run”. On Monday last week, I ran with The Running Place group. I ran faster than I usually run, pushing myself to stay with new friends. I followed this up the next day with a workout on the Art Museum Steps (preceded by a 1 mile run to be sure I got it in). We did new stuff at the AM workout and I hadn’t been there in months. By Wednesday morning my legs were feeling the effects of both days. Stiff. These are conditions where I would have skipped running in the past. I’d have convinced myself I had ‘earned’ a day off. Instead I went out for 1 mile both Wednesday and Thursday. Since these were the same two days that I knew time was an issue, it would have been even easier to bag it. I started out slow and in no way broke any speed records on either day. But after a few steps the legs loosened up and by the end of each I was actually feeling pretty good. By Friday morning the stiff and soreness was gone.

I’m most proud of starting this over the holidays and not waiting until the “New Year”. Doing so meant having to get out on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve; both days where it would have been just as easy to say forget it. I ran more than a mile on both days . Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day were covered thanks to group runs with my wonderful Phillyfit friends.

Somebody asked me how long I was going to do this. The goal is to create a habit where there are no excuses for not running. If successful it should be a self renewing thing.

So what’s next? There doesn’t have to be anything. I could just keep going as I am. I will keep going but I’ve decided to add another element to it. I’ve given this a lot of thought (are you surprised?) over the past few days as I realized I was approaching day 30. I came up with and discarded several things. The secret was to come up with a logical next thing without breaking the spell. In other words, baby steps.

So I’ve decided to take my success at getting up early and commit to going out before work three days a week; Monday, Wednesday, Friday. In the interest of full disclosure I have to say that Mondays is kind of cheating since I don’t have to be at work on Mondays until 9 (instead of 8). But since that means I have to work later on Mondays it’ll be nice to get home from work and no I’m done. Friday is a good day to go out early since we tend to have date night on Friday and since I have to have things in balance I’ll throw in Wednesday.
The challenge here will be that I do not want to cop out to 1 mile on M-W-F. The 1 mile minimum was supposed to be when I needed a break; either from fatigue or schedule constraints. So, right now I’m going to try to commit to at least 30 minutes each of those days; and I give myself permission to cop to just 1 mile if necessary.
Day 31 here I come.

Day 15; Why am I doing this?

Today was day 15. I ran 4 miles with friends to start off the New Year. I had planned to do 3. Funny thing about running with a group. I did 4 and felt great. Had I been alone I probably would have struggled through the 3.

I have been asked several times since I started, "Why are you doing this?" (the consecutive days of running). There are several reasons. (If you've been reading this blog you may find a lot of this post repetitive.) First, after the year I had in 2011 I knew I needed a 'no excuses' approach to running. I needed to create a habit so that no matter how cold, rainy, hot or yukky it might be I would go out for at least something. I've set the threshhold at 1 mile. Even on my worst day I can run a mile in less than 13 minutes and usually average about 11.5. I figure how hard can it be to get out for 11.5 -13 minutes a day. I've joined the 100 Days Challenge on FB (John Bingham's page) so on the days I only go out for less than 3 miles I will have to find other things to do 'intentionally' to make up the time.

Another reason for wanting to get a running habit started is my goal of getting to under 2:17 for the half marathon. I did that in 2009 at the Philadephia Half Marathon. I've not come close since. So what was different then? Simply put, I was running more. I had signed up for the 2010 Goofy Challenge and I was so afraid of not making it that I pushed harder. I wasnt getting out every day back then but I was running more and harder than I did in 2011. I felt better too. I was in better shape and weighed less.

I am currently signed up for 2 half marathons and I have a total of  5 (maybe 6 ) that I'd like to do this year.

Lehigh Valley Half - April 29 (with Emma) - already signed up
1/2 Saur 1/2 Kraut - June 29
Pennsbury Half - End of August. This is the maybe race.
Rock N Roll Phlly Half - September 16 - already signed up
Ocean City NJ Half - September 29
Philly Half - November 18