I love having goals. Goals make me do what I need to do, even when I don't want to do them. I don't meet every goal I set, but for some reason goals for exercise really work for me. Especially in the running department.
Last week I ran 20.06 miles over 5 days. I had two days where I only had about 25 minutes to workout. I could have easily shucked it & not run. Both days I had to drive to the gym to go running (one day was Sophie's swim class, so I was there already, but it was still on the treadmill). I ran 2 miles on each of those days. Not much, but they helped give me a mental boost and since I ran them fast I burned a fair amount of calories.
Something is better than nothing, any day.
The other three running days were 3.4, 8.5, and 4. The 8.5 mile run was on Saturday. The 4 mile was on Sunday.
I'm taking today off.
My May mileage is 72.32 miles. That's the most miles I've run in ANY month. Ever. Even without the 13.1 miles from the Half Marathon on May 2nd, it's a decent running month.
As I've said before, my goal is to run 20 miles a week for several months to get ready to train for next year's marathon. I know I can do it. I've succeeded now 2 of the past 3 weeks.
But, you know, I have to wonder if this 20 miles a week thing is a good idea.
Primarily because I haven't lost any weight from the increased mileage. I know, I know. Weight loss is absolutely, positively 80% diet, 20% exercise (in the real world, anyway. I don't have 6 hours a day to workout like they do on The Biggest Loser). And my diet has been far from where it needs to be if I want to get these pesky 10 pounds off.
And I'm not lifting weights or doing any resistance workouts. It truly takes 5 days a week--at least for now--for me to get in 20 miles. I need those two rest days. But I need to build my muscles, too.
I want balance in my exercise life. All running & no other exercise to round out my fitness is not balance.
Obviously, if I want to do all that I want to do, I need to make time to workout more than once a day on some days. The idea of that is quite appealing. I'd love to do a pilates DVD or Jillian's 30 Day Shred in the a.m. and then run in the afternoon. Or vice versa, since the temp today is going to be (gulp) 91 degrees.
It's that a.m. workout that is going to be the problem.
Mornings & me don't mix. And unless it's for a race, mornings & me & exercise don't mix.
I'm going to have to figure out a reward of some kind that's motivating enough to get my butt out of bed at 5 a.m. to do something about this dilemma. Fitness for fitness sake would be nice, but I'm not there yet. I need something else, I think. I need a goal & I need a reward.
Any ideas?
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Thank you for all your comments to my past two posts. I'm waiting to hear back from a couple of people on recommendations, then I'll make that tough first call. "Yes, hello, I'm broken & I need to be fixed." It's okay though. I know I could be broken into a thousand little pieces, and I'm not. Maybe just 5 or 6. It would be really great if I could get into one solid piece. Hopefully I'll find the help I need to get there.
10 comments:
Good luck finding a motivator. I still haven't found one...
Great job on getting in those miles though!
Are you sure you want to do a marathon? If your primary reason for doing it is to lose weight, doing another, faster half might be a better goal. Slowing down enough to do the extra miles means you have to drop your intensity.
I hate getting up early, but the only time I have enough energy to run is in the morning. So, I get up at 4:30 in the morning and run. Am I tired? Do I hate it? Sometimes. But, more days than not it feels pretty cool to know I've done more exercise by 5:30 in the morning than some people do in a week!
Hey Laura, Good luck with finding a good motivator for getting up at "O-Dark-Thirty" to get your run in. I signed up this spring to run with a women's running group. They run early, early (meet at 5:30 or 6) 3 days a week. So far, I only go on the long Saturday run with them. When I asked about the group and heard the time, I must have gasped or something, because (the leader) Sandy said, "well, nobody loves getting up early, but it's worth it!). I can tell you that I haven't missed a week. I don't love rolling out of bed, but the weather is perfect, and I find I love being out on the trails early, before they are jammed with weekend traffic--you know, moms walking and talking on their cell phones while their toddler zig-zags across the trail on a big wheel, manic bicyclists, . . . .The prime benefit of early running, though, is the super good sense of accomplishment and virtue I get from having finished a long run before 8 am. It sets me up for the whole week. I haven't convinced myself to add T and Th to my routine yet, but maybe committing to one early morning long run would work for you, too.
I hope you can crack the "Not a morning" person label and prove it wrong - me, not gonna happen. I tried for many years to get up and exercise but never could do it so I'm rooting for you!
Congratulations on all the running miles. Very impressive.
I have two phone calls out - have not heard back yet - will let you know when I do.
Good luck dear Laura... just catching up on all your posts, hope you're hanging in there.
I'm trying to become a morning person too! Trying it in stages - this week my aim is simply getting out of bed half an hour earlier, not actually doing the exercise yet, just pottering around. Baby steps :P
I kinda agree with Jen's thinking - intensity is what seems to drop the weight, distance/endruance not so much. i've never known anyone who's lost weight training for a marathon, alas.
Have you tried those tabata intervals, Laura? Its not a complete answer, but they really do get your heart going, and its only four minutes. When I think I can't do anything in the morning...4 minutes!
If you find something that motivates you to get up at 5am to workout (or to do anything really) let me know, because I still haven't found the secret. I finally concluded that I'm not a morning workout person. Great job on the 20 miles - that very good.
I heard back from my psychiatrist and he does not know anyone in your area - it is not that he says he doesn't know anyone that he would recommend - it is that he literally doesn't know any of them. I have given up hearing from the other source that I tried. Any luck from your end?
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