UPDATE: Blues reader and friend Dr. Renée passed along the program she used three years ago to get started running. Like the one below, it emphasizes easing into running, but it focuses on time rather than distance. The goal sounds a lot more realistic for me: taking ten weeks to work up to running 30 minutes straight. The first week’s sessions consist of five cycles of running two minutes and walking four (for a total of 30 minutes), and the running time gradually increases each week. I can’t find it online, but if you’re interested, send an email to birminghambluesATbellsouthDOTnet, and I’ll pass it along.
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Yeah, that’s singular. Just one. It’s the same one pretty much everyone makes every year — to get into better shape. In my case, it’s motivated not only by the usual first of the year fervor but also by the knowledge that we’re taking a family trip in the spring that will require lots of walking.
I happened across a running program in Monday’s paper that was designed by an old church acquaintance. He’s now a running coach who apparently has quite the track record (sorry, couldn’t resist) of getting couch potatoes in shape to run races in ten weeks. His trick, which makes so much sense that most people — including me — usually ignore it, is to start slowly. Of course, when he talks about starting slowly, he refers to people who decide to take up running and go three miles on their first attempt. They end up exhausted and sore and just give up. Three miles? Really? I’d drop over before I made the first quarter. I could walk three miles, but I’ve never been a runner.
Which is supposed to make me a prime candidate for his program. Not being the group activity type — and knowing just how crazy our schedules are — I decided to try the online program on my own. Today, 11YOD and I headed out to complete the first day of Week 1. The directions were as follows: find a ¼-mile track and then alternate walking and running half a lap until you complete a mile. Then, no matter how good you feel, go home. Good? Yeah, right. Not an issue. But I didn’t pass out or throw up, so I count it as a victory.
If all goes as it should, I’ll be running two miles without stopping by Week 3. Yes, I’m skeptical, but it’s worth a try.
So, Blues readers, what resolutions did you make? Here’s hoping we achieve all of them.
Well, in addition to the usual ones about healthier eating, more exercise, and more writing, less surfing, I would like to try and get ready for death. Not in a “prepared to meet my Maker” kind of way, but just in a very practical sense, with orderly closets and files and stuff. If I get shot dead in the mall parking lot one day (and the odds on that do seem to be increasing) I don’t want the husband and kids to have an incomprehensible mess to dig through.
I’ve always found the “imagine the worst case scenario, then how you’d deal with that” method of coping with worries to be very effective. So I figure if I can get this managed, it will give me a lot of peace of mind.
Getting shot in the mall parking lot? Yikes! Yet another reason to shop online.
We’re doing some of that preparation ourselves. Updating the wills, etc. I don’t think orderly closets are in my future, but maybe I can get everything filed where it belongs. Maybe. Success with the running program is a lot more likely.
There was a recent incident where a lady got held up at gunpoint in the Wal-Mart parking lot at like eight o’clock at night. It got a lot of discussion, media and otherwise, I suppose because it generated an almost universal “that coulda been me!” shudder. After that we saw what DH calls the Fascist Towers show up in parking lots all over town. You know, those things that scissor up off the truck to give the cops more visibility. I don’t know why they creep him out so much, but they sure do.
But yes, online shopping is the answer. To everything!
And best of luck with that running program. A friend of mine who had never run in her life started training for triathlons when she turned 50. So I know it can be done.
I made a resolution not to make resolutions. I never keep them anyway. Although whenever I get the January magazines with their articles about the 350 pound woman who lost 200 pounds (and kept it off!) with the hot water/bran cookie/flax seed/eurasian purification diet, I do get an urge to try the weight loss resolution. I almost always come to my senses, though, and eat a twinkie.
Jennifer, I love how the magazines and TV shows start on the weight-loss stories in the midst of the holiday season. And they’re usually just before or after recipes for holiday sweets. (Oh, you forgot one part of the hot water/bran cookie/flax seed/eurasian purification diet — I’m sure it includes the added benefit of no exercise. Don’t they always?)
Kathy, I can’t find it online either. I adapted the page I sent you as a handout from a book. Feel free to send it on if anyone asks you for it.
Good luck!