Julie Says... Aslan's Bite

We're just getting started and already I feel like a negligent blogger. You'd think someone who wanted to be a writer her whole life would be more interested in writing than fiddling with the technical stuff. But I can spend hours tweaking code, playing in Gimp, or exploring widgets. I'm sure there is something to be learned there; I don't feel like thinking about it today. (As a side note... while I write this, I can hardly concentrate on what I mean to say for obsessing over such details as "it's not proper to begin a sentence with a conjunction, or is it?" or "is that the best use of a semi-colon?" Hmm).

I thought I'd follow-up Beverly's post with my own disclaimer. In the interest of full disclosure, I know Beverly isn't going from the "couch" fitness-wise, and I have been flirting with yoga for about a month now, but neither of us are currently runners, and I in no way can consider myself to be fit. Although I spent a good decade of my life being forced to run, I have never thought of myself as a runner. As a matter of fact, I have almost always completely despised it. HOWEVER. This is a part of the therapy. Did you know the first time I ever ran with headphones was last week? I'm nearly 30 and worked out with music for the first time in my life excepting the random aerobics class and jodies.

In Book 3 of the Chronicles of Narnia, "The Horse and His Boy," the proud war horse Bree, despite the urgency of their mission, refuses to go as fast as he is capable. Despite Bree's experience and great ability, it is noted that "one of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you any more you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself." Let's just say I can relate.

Which brings me to my current training plan... the heart rate monitor. Through a fortuitous accident, I own a Polar heart rate monitor. Genius! All I have to do is strap it on and off I go with a completely objective measure of my effort. Today, I set out to do 30 minutes of effort at 85%-95% of my MHR (about 160 to 170 beats per minute). Notice I said "effort" -- not "running" not "walking" not "jogging" -- just effort. How this works out in reality is that I start off at a moderate run until my heart rate is in the target area and try to keep it there. Inevitably, my heart rate creeps higher and higher, so I back off to a trot or a walk. When my heart rate starts to dip into the low end (160), I start running again. When it gets above my target (170+), I walk again. I don't have to care about how far I run or how fast I run. I just watch my wrist. Amazingly, I feel much less worn out after running than ever before in my life. No bargaining with myself ("if you sprint to that telephone pole, you can walk for the next 3 telephone poles"). No slacking off. No pushing myself to the point of puking. And no guilt. Hey, research says this is the most effective way to workout. Working above my target heart rate is a waste of effort, so I don't have to feel guilty about walking in the middle of my workout... as long as I keep the heart rate in the set range.

Beverly says... Okay so now what?

Well we have agreed to do this thing, check. Accountability to each other and the world about our training, check. So now what?

I have a couple of ideas about my accountability. I think I will post my "training" schedule on here every Sunday and then at the end of the week we can see how I did and if I stuck to it.

Where to start... well I am not completely starting from scratch because I am moderately active. That does not mean that I am fit and thin. I am not. I will not tell you how overweight I am, this is not a weight loss blog but I am trying to lose weight. I have heard that training for a marathon is no weight loss plan and I believe it. So, I will continue my low calorie menu plan and my regular exercise plan and will just add the half-marathon training on top of it all. Worse thing that could happen is I get fitter, stronger, and thinner. Darn. But, I repeat, this is not a weight loss plan. I don't expect that to happen from this training alone.

My beginning platform: I am currently logging in about 350-400 minutes of exercise a week. I go to the gym and my "go-to exercises" are the elliptical machine (30-45 minutes depending on the crowd) followed by 30 minutes on the treadmill or Arc trainer. I aspire to do 60 minutes of cardio 5 times a week. I probably only do 4 times a week. I try to do squats, lunges, shoulders, biceps, chest, triceps, and sit-ups at least twice a week. I want to do this more but I have only been doing this for 3 months so it was a starting point. I also take several group exercise classes: Zumba (it deserves it's own post), Pilates (love!), and have and will occasionally take Urban Rebounding (the most evil class of all time), Yoga (otherwise known as leaving me alone with my mind - never a good idea), and African Dance class (a little too unstructured for my taste). I want to start taking Spin classes but I am afraid.

In addition to the gym I will occasionally go Swing dancing with a friend. I am signing up for Tap dance class in a few weeks, and I walk everywhere. I walk .7 of a mile each way from my home to the train stop plus I work on a large campus where I have .5 mile walks from my office to meetings each way. The walk home from the gym is 1.1 miles. I average about 3 miles a day. At work I am on a "get fit" team. We compete with other teams by logging in exercise minutes. There are minimum requirements each week and different goals to meet each week. Several of the group members will walk during the work day to ensure that we are getting our minutes in. We walk about 40 minutes and do that 2-3 times a week. The most surprising thing about this walk is it is pretty aggressive and I burn about 350-400 calories which is better than the treadmill.

My point is that while I am no athlete I also don't have to start from scratch. That being said, I am no runner. Heck, I am no jogger. This will be a huge challenge for me.

Julie Says... The Why

Oy. This is where I'm supposed to explain what possessed me to recommend running thirteen miles all at once... well, you know, one step at a time... all the way to thirteen miles. Surprisingly, I'm not that intimidated. Yes, I've basically sat in a recliner all day long for the past three years, but no, not all that intimidated. I'll start with the possession, er, inspiration. I read the post "Upcoming Marathons for Walkers" at FitSugar. You read that right. Walkers. As in walking. Perusing the list I saw Myrtle Beach Marathon, followed the link and one thing led to another... which led to an impulsive moment of asking my sister to do the half-marathon with me. Damn Oracle. A truer reason is that I'm disappointed and frustrated with myself at the moment. I've been needing to feel a sense of accomplishment. I thought that getting a graduate degree and starting a new career would do that, but noooo. The economy tanked and despite my education, I am far too inexperienced in this employers' market to find employment. I'm not very good with feeling out of control, and this is certainly a situation where I cannot figure out how to get control. I'm stuck sitting in a recliner reading job ads all day and setting myself up for rejection -- over and over and over and over and over (ad nauseuum) again. Add to that a rough year health-wise and an upcoming "0" birthday -- you get the picture. Doing this is my way of taking control. Here goes nothing.

Beverly Says... The Why

So I went to Greece the 3rd week of March. Yeah, the trip was great, thanks for asking. Two points of interest for this story: first, the tour group learned about the origins of the marathon and why it is 26 miles and 385 yards (named after the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens). I learned something new, cool. Second point, my group went to Delphi, location of the famed Oracle. So of course I thought I would ask the Oracle a question. (I was confused if I could ask more than one question and I am now confused if it is like a birthday wish, you shouldn't tell anyone your question.) Basically I asked the Oracle to show me what I can do next in life that would be good for me and others. Like a project. What can I focus my efforts on that isn't completely selfish. Fast forward to my return home where I check my email after a week of neglect. There is an email in my inbox from my sister suggesting an idea: we should run a half-marathon together! Ok, Oracle, I hear you. Julie sent that email approximately 24 hours after I asked my question. Weird. Fine, I will run a half marathon. It is good for me, good for my sister, and well, I will figure out how it benefits mankind in general. So here we are. We have almost 11 months to train for 13 miles, 192.5 yards. I will document my efforts here. I haven't figured out how to tackle this training but I think I will start with the Couch to 5K training program and try my hand at running a 5K this summer.