I started my journey to "get strong" after 40 one year ago. At this time last year I weighed 260 pounds. I was achy and sluggish. Running - even on a treadmill - for any period of time was hard. One year later and I've changed a lot!
I'm happy to report that over the past year I've lost about 55 pounds, I've run a half marathon and a whole bunch of shorter races, running 3 miles is an easy distance for me now, and I feel great! It sounds so cliche I know, but gosh I wish I had done this years ago!
The best part of this journey, however, isn't about where I've been and what I've achieved so far. Nope. The best part is that I'm still excited and I'm still trying to reach new heights in my personal fitness quest. I'm not ready to rest on my past accomplishments when I know I've got a lot more I can do!
Setting goals has been one of the keys to my success. My second year of "getting strong" then will necessarily have a bunch of them to keep me fired up.
But before I share any of the goals I want to make one thing very clear. All of this effort is about more than just a vanity trip. Seriously, I'm not deluded enough to think that running an 11 minute mile is impressive in the grand scheme of things. I'm doing all of this because (1) I want what ever time I have left on Earth to be energized and active, (2) I want to teach my kids to be fit by living that lifestyle, and (3) a healthy body is an integral aspect of being a spiritually whole person.
Okay, so now we move on to the goals! Goal # 1 is to run 3 half marathons in 2011! The first half marathon I've signed myself up for is on May 15th, the second one is on July 23rd and the third one is on September 11th.
Running 13.1 miles last November was hard, but it was also invigorating! It was a distance that really pushed my body to its limits in a way that the 5Ks and 10Ks I had done prior never did. The half marathon forced me to add miles to may weekly training regimen and got me running outside on the street and in the forest preserves. I could do all of my training for the shorter races on a treadmill but I felt compelled to hit the pavement in preparation for the half marathon.
I trained for about 9 weeks for my first half marathon. It took me about 2 weeks to fully recover afterwards. Given the amount of prep and recovery time involved, I want to try to do more this year. I know I can do 2 halfs in one year and that's why I chose 3 as my goal.
Goal # 2 is to drop down to 185 pounds by September 11, 2011. That is the day of my third half marathon. It's a special race. I'm running that half marathon with friends from literally all phases of my life - people from high school, college and from my professional life and we're running it on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 to raise money and awareness for the reintegration of wounded U.S. veterans returning from war (we'll be running as Team Red White and Blue which is a charity based in Ann Arbor, MI). Because its a special race with a special group of people at a time that will be quite solemn for us all, I want to be in the best shape possible. Being lean is a critical component of being in great shape!
Goal # 3 is to run a total of 600 miles in 2011. Even with races on the horizon it can be very easy to miss runs. Since I don't run for time, once I build up a certain level of stamina, I can skimp on my training and still survive the races. The solution? Set a big enough aggregate goal for the year to keep me focused month to month.
To cover 600 miles in one year, however, requires that I run about 50 miles per month. I need to cover 150 miles per quarter, and so on. This keeps me going day to day. When I miss a few workouts, I know that I'm falling behind in my miles. But for the 600 mile goal those missed miles wouldn't really be missed.
So that's it for now! I've got 3 big fitness goals for 2011! Of course I'll running in other races (Shamrock Shuffle 8K on 4/10 in Chi-town, Race to End the Silence 8K on 4/23 in DC and Race Judicata 5K in Chi-town sometime in July) and I'll be lifting weights and all that other good stuff too!
Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted!
No comments:
Post a Comment