That's What Jenni Said

Note: I suppose that for those who struggle with self-discipline, this morning's post will provide a measure of empathy. For those who are masters of self-discipline, my comments will likely seem alien in nature and sad/entertaining/baffling. Additional note: I don't suffer from tragic self-esteem *all* the time, I don't *really* hate myself (I just say hurtful things when I am mad), and yes I really do have these kinds of silent conversations with myself.   Actual internal dialogue that took place this morning at 6am in my head between "Good Me" and "Bad Me": (alarm rings) GM: Time to get up! Time to go running! Time to tackle the day! BM: It's cold. Going back to bed. GM: NO! We are going running. Let's go. (gets out of bed and turns off alarm) BM: It's cold. I don't want to go. And I'm tired. GM: I'm tired, yes, but we need to get up and get going. BM: Why don't we just sleep in till 6:30am and then go running t...

Well after a month and a half of sharing one car in our family (hubby's car is in the shop till the end of Sept because a part we need is on backorder due to the SAAB bankruptcy), I am here to update you on the benefits of the arrangement. Yes, benefits. Can you believe you just read that? It didn't seem like it was going to provide any benefits at first and I spent the first week or two complaining and whining about the suffering I was forced to endure. But I've changed my tune and I'd like to sing it for you now. 1. I have always been a person lacking self-discipline who got up whenever I felt like it (i have flexible work hours).  This has caused problems for me because fitness regimens, breakfast schedules, making time to walk the dogs, and lunch making (to save $$) all depend on a reliable and consistent morning routine. And yet it's so hard for an undisciplined person to gain discipline unless it's imposed from the outside for a time (during which it event...

  I started running in June 2010, working the c25k program. I am still working it (never quit!). Below is the visual representation of my progress, with the program week on the vertical axis and the date on the horizontal axis. The first drop in fitness represents the injunction of my program following a new job (hired at CSC) and the stress that comes with such a major life change. The stagnation over early 2011 represents the grief period dealing with my father’s death. The sudden drop at the end of the summer in 2011 represents the tendonitis injury I suffered by running the Chicago half marathon without adequate condition. The November 2011 stagnation represents the grief period dealing with my sister’s unexpected death. The minor blip in progress this spring represents a bout of bronchitis. I WILL ACCOMPLISH THIS PROGRAM. I WILL NEVER GIVE UP. I post this to show that the road to fitness for some can be very bumpy. You are not alone. Don’t give up! I encourage you to k...

  Several of you have emailed me to ask how my running regime has been going. I started c25k in June 2010. Way back in 2010! I made it to one week shy of graduation (I chose the distance goal versus time so for me graduation= running a 5k) and it took me something like 12 weeks to get there. I felt so good about my progress and about myself. And then...when I was so close...I let life get in the way. I lost my job (govt contract rebid lost by my employer), got depressed/anxious about that and stopped running consistently which kept setting back my progress. THEN I landed a  job and was super busy learning the paces of  the new environment and used that as an excuse to not run consistently. THEN in the winter my elderly parents fell ill, Dad came to live with us, was very sick and eventually died in March of 2011. Between the stress and grief my running was sporadic at best. I was determined to start running again in March after his death but something just wouldn't sn...

Spring will pass in less than 25 days. The spring of my 35th year. The spring of my 15th wedding anniversary. The spring of my father’s death. Looking back over my entries I notice that they stopped soon after my father’s death and the only updates since have been more details on his death and a short note about a prior winter trip to Austria. On my father The first two months were very difficult. I was unable to make it longer than a couple of days without crying over my father’s death. This month there have been no tears but his death still hits me at unexpected moments. I’ll be in the car on the way to work and suddenly it occurs to me as if it were new information: my father is dead. Or I’ll be at the office in a meeting about to present and a voice inside reports with panic: my father is dead! I never know when it is going to bubble up and knock the wind out of me, but I’m learning how to deal with it. The guilt is fading (my mantra: I did my best to be a good daughter and w...

I don’t subscribe to the common thinking surrounding the practice of yoga. Some eastern religious traditions use yoga in an attempt to empty the mind and quiet the thoughts. There is nothing in our Christian tradition that validates this as a desirable goal. God created us as active thinkers, not passive vessels that need to be emptied. There is no model of mind emptying in our scriptures and attempting to empty the mind leaves one more susceptible to brainwashing. In India, yoga is prescribed as a method to facilitate communication with the Hindu gods. As Christians we are explicitly  told to abandon the worship of false Gods and turn to the one true God only. Many new age philosophy adherents claim that regardless of attempts to empty the mind or fix it on the supernatural during yoga, just by putting the body in certain postures and breathing in certain ways can open the physical body up to other dimensions/spiritual realms. This spiritual awakening is why they turn to yo...

It's been several weeks since I've posted about my couch to 5k progress. I have been on the mat so to speak wrestling with the program. It took me 6 tries to nail w5d3 and that was my hardest goal to accomplish in terms of number of tries up to that point. On to week 6, I switched from the time goals to the distance goals so that I could master a 5k by graduation. D1 and D2 of W6 went by smoothly but it took 7 tries to succeed at D3. Seven tries! The distance goal was 2.25 miles and took me approx 28 minutes of running. Still, I refused to give up and I faced each session with a new dose of determination. It never occurred to me to consider quitting. Then....then I went out to tackle W7d1 (2.5 miles) and failed spectacularly. I cramped up before even a mile. I was going backward in progress! So I tried again and made it just 1.5 miles. And again going 2 miles. Just the week before I'd done 2.25 miles and now it was a struggle to even get to 2! What was going on?! I was...

  Cardio Flexibility Strength Mon Run ------------------- ------------------- Tue Kickboxing or Swim or Power Step ------------------- ------------------- Wed Run Pilates (week A) Weight Machines (week B) Thu --REST-- Yoga (week B) Weight Machines (week A) Fri Run ------------------- ------------------- Sat Zumba or Spin or Bike Ride ------------------- ------------------- Sun Run or Swim ------------------- Weight Machines

Consolidating these here for the many people that have asked my advice for going from couch potato to runner on the C25k program: 1. Make sure you have decent running shoes. Other equipment that I have AND LOVE: wicking socks [asics], running skirts to look good while running and prevent chafing or riding up [skirtsports.com], wicking sports bra and tops [any sports store], garmin fr60 watch with heart rate monitor and shoe pod [the only way to objectively measure gains in cardio fitness- as you move through the program your resting hr should go down, your ability to stay below 170bpm during cardio should increase, your return to resting hr after workout should quicken, etc. also tracks mileage, pace, time, etc. you can buy on amazon.com] 2. Make sure your form is anti-injury: midfoot landing [versus heel strike] and try not to push off with your feet so much as lift them up using your leg muscles for each stride. 3. Make sure you stretch stretch stretch before each run. I do ...

From Zechariah Chapter 1, verse 4: ‘ Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty .’ I read this verse last night (I’m making my way through Zechariah) and it really jumped right off the page at me. After everything God’s people had done to each other and to him he extended this invitation. They murdered, they blasphemed, they lied, they cheated, they worshipped idols and turned their backs on God stubbornly. And yet, God wanted them to know it was as simply as turning back to him and he would respond with love. It’s the most beautiful love story. Aside from reading scripture verses that get me emotional, I’ve been filling my time as of late with work, exercise, and trying to manage my very hectic to-do list. The government contract of my primary employer’s ends at the conclusion of this month, so there is a lot of tasks to be completed related to that, e...

This morning my husband and I both ran our first 5k race together. (Technically he ran a race or two as a kid but that was a long time ago). With regard to the c25k program, I am currently on week 6, able to run 2 miles with a 3 minute break in between, or able to run 1.75 miles straight through. We got to the race location and I had a bit of anxiety that I wasn’t expecting. Before arriving, I just assumed it would be like any other run session; I didn’t know I was going to feel jittery and nervous about the race. I hadn’t seen anyone write about that before in the running communities (maybe it’s unique to me then?). The net effect was that my heart rate was up to 125bpm before I ever started running!  (Normal resting hr is 74 for me). My second surprise was the pace at which everyone took off from the starting line. From reviewing previous year’s race results I *knew* I would not be the slowest in the pack, but when I started off with everyone else and saw my Garmin was repor...

As a reminder, W6D3 of the couch to 5k training plan is a 2.25 mile run. I successfully completed W6D2 (1mile run; 3 min walk; 1 mile run) on Friday 8/27. I was scheduled to run next on Tues Aug 31st to attempt day 3, but I let packing for the trip and other last minute errands that day get in my way. Wed was out for running b/c we were traveling all day to Sydney, AU. Thurs disappeared into the vortex of time zone differences, never to be seen again. So I finally ran again a week later in Sydney on 9/3 and only managed to squeeze out 1 mile of running before I had to switch over to walking the rest of the session (did 2.92 miles total). The rest of the days in Sydney  were jam packed with very little sleep and sightseeing and at least 4-6 miles of walking per day (seriously!). Although Jon had the self-discipline to get out and run every morning I did not. I was too busy trying to manage metric to standard conversions, walking on the left instead of right, adjusting to the 14 h...

Went out to run at 5am this morning to attempt W6D2 again. It took a little bit to find my groove during the first mile even though I had my standard stretching and warm-up, probably b/c it was early in the morning and I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. This time when I started the second mile I was sure I was going to be able to finish. My confidence and the ‘fun’ of the run persisted until a half mile into the second run and then it was getting hard and I wasn’t sure I could make it, although it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why. My heart rate stayed below 175 except for the last couple of minutes [which is fabulous, I’ve made more consistent gains in cardiovascular conditioning then any other part of my progress], so it’s not that I was running out of breath. And my legs were not aching or anything. I just felt tired-like my energy battery was drained. Still, I pushed through and I made it. I felt so good about the accomplishment that after I walked for a few minutes at the end ...

Went out to tackle day 2 of week 6 today. I made it 1.5 miles total. The first mile was cake and I ran it on average faster than I ever averaged a mile before- 5mph. (I’ve run faster than that plenty of times  but not sustained for a full mile).  I felt great during that mile, spring in my step and very happy. I could do anything! The second mile was harder, and I only made it halfway before I needed to stop. My abs were screaming at me a lot during the second run b/c they are sore from swimming yesterday (I did 10 single laps x 25meter pool=250meters). Here’s the conversations I had with the two me’s: critical me: Wow you are pathetic. People are out there running marathons everyday and you can’t even do two miles with a 3 min break in between.  You are never going to be able to run a 5k! Loser! caring me: Hey you know what Jenni, you are now following distance instead of time, which explains why it seems so much harder. Instead of just running 20 minutes total (whic...

This morning I woke up and felt the push to move even though it’s my running rest day. Not to meet any deadlines or tackle another running goal or anything, but just because my body wanted to be active. I didn’t really feel like biking and I don’t have a pool membership so I did what I’ve come to know lately- run. I figured perhaps I am at the point in my fitness regimen where I don’t have to take a rest day from running every other day anymore. After all, Jon runs 3 days in a row before he takes a rest day. So I ran. My first mile was moderately easy- I really enjoyed the run and my heart rate was in a good place. Since I ran a mile I thought why not take the 3 min walk break and then try to run another. Then I could actually cross W6d2 off my list a day early. My mind was all “yes!” but my body (especially my right knee) was like “um, no thank you, not today”. When I realized it wasn’t going to happen (another mile I mean) I finished up with a 45 second all out sprint (6 min pace w...

Today was the first day I began following the distance goals for the program instead of the time goals. The goals only overlap perfectly if you run at a 6mph pace, which is not feasible for me at this time (I’m running anywhere from 4.7mph to 5.7mph depending on whether I’m running without walking breaks or with them). I’d been following the time goals (run 20 minutes for example) this whole program but hubby pointed out I would not actually be running a full 5k upon graduation unless I started following the distance goals instead. So I’ve switched over. Today’s session consisted of 1/2 mile run, 3 min walk, 3/4 mile run, 3 min walk, 1/2 mile run. So 1.75 miles of running total and I had no problem completing it. As expected, I ran faster than when running without breaks between the intervals. I think also paying attention to the distance instead of time pushes me to run faster b/c I realize on some level that the faster I run the sooner I am finished. Also the distance represented a...

I just ran 1.64 miles in 21 minutes without a stop, averaging 4.7 miles per hour. Not only did I finally make the goal, but I did it without a rest day (I ran yesterday). I DID IT. Took me 6 tries, or two week, but I DID IT. my running stats for the session: Garmin Stats Now onto week 7!

Today I made it 16 minutes and 1.33 miles in my first run interval. I just did the one today; in retrospect it might have been useful to do a 2 or 3 minute walk interval and then do 4 more minutes of running for a total of 20 but I was pretty excited about adding 3 more minutes and 0.33 miles onto my run that I just lost the focus to do anything more. I know I could have done 1 more minute but it would have been at the expense of total muscle fatigue and I felt i didn’t need to prove anything to anyone so I let myself stop before the point of exhaustion. I enjoyed my run emotionally today which is good too. I’m still running at a pace of 4.7mph pretty steadily and I’d like to improve that but I suppose i should focus on one thing at a time.  I just know that when I am finally able to run a 5k I don’t want to be in the bottom percentile. Today I looked at the results of more than thirty 5k runs across the country and in every one, running at my pace (about 12:50) would mark me slo...

When I started c25k I could not run more than three 60 second intervals. Today I ran over a mile without a stop. For the first time in my life. Ever. Ever! My speed during the run segments was 4.7mph-4.9mph. Not at all close to the 5.5mph I could manage when limiting myself to just 8 minute runs, but a step up from the 4.5mph run I did just on Friday during a similar time-length interval. With hard work and perseverance each future run can build on this one, increasing my run interval time slowly up to 20 minutes. I will get there! There’s a million little criticisms I could pour over myself – my cadence has slipped back down to 80 (85-90 is optimal target for max efficiency), my total run time went down 2 minutes (because I put so much of myself into the first interval to make the mile), etc. But I’m not going to do that. I’m going to celebrate my victory. I ran a mile.  I ran a mile. I ran a mile! I am running away from heart disease and diabetes and an early death. I...

I’m going to stop writing w5d3 repeat (fail) as my subject line for these 20 minute run attempts because it’s too discouraging otherwise. Instead I’ll just increment the try count- today was my 3rd try toward a 20 minute run. On this day, my first run was just a shy of 13 minutes. Then I eased into a 4 minute walk followed by a 4 minute run. Objectively I am making progress on several fronts, even though I’m nowhere near making the goal of of 20 minutes yet.  I progressed in both my run length (up to 12:50 from 11 last attempt) and my recovery requirement between run intervals (only a 4 minute walk instead of 5 minute walk). I also made progress in my total run time – up from 16 minutes in w5d2 to 16.60 minutes today. Finally, I am gaining in my average speed over the entire session (incl walk and run segments) when I view the trends over the past few weeks (excluding the treadmill sessions I’ve done b/c as expected you can run faster on a treadmill and excluding the few sessio...