So Jenny suggested the half-marathon two years ago. We registered for it in March this year. We began a 9-week training plan in September. We ran it in November.
So now what? Without an event looming, and the potential to embarrass ourselves in front of thousands, there isn't quite the same impetus to train. How do we keep up our running fitness? Or more accurate: how do we maintain motivation?
Dave's found his answer: train for another event. He says having an event to work toward is key for his motivation. He's lost a lot of weight and gained good ground cardio-wise, so wants to keep going. Plus, he actually looks forward to running now. He just needs that little extra push to put on the headband and rock some miles. So he plans to run a race in NYC while I'm there for SCBWI-Winter.
Unfortunately, the conference schedule precludes me from running, so I'm not training for an event right now. My running's fallen off dramatically since the half-marathon (now 1-2 times a week - 1 long, 1 short). Even my walking's decreased, due mostly to colder temps. But I've found over the past two years that no type of exercise has helped me drop extra body fat as much as running has. Now I'm facing winter, and the carb-cravings and fat gremlins that come with it, and one thing's for certain:
I'm gonna kill me some gremlins.
Dave and I both want to work on our speed and try some shorter-distance events, mainly 10K races. So that's where I'll start. Our half-marathon training plan didn't have any specific hill or tempo workouts in it, so I need to incorporate both now. Changing things up will benefit my running fitness and give me a mental boost as well.
So: adding workout elements, changing distance focus.
I gotta say it's awesome to face these decisions in December because I'm usually reviewing accomplishments and setting next year's goals right now anyway. And, as you may imagine, such planning involves spreadsheets and graphs.
Sweet.
How do you keep your motivation up? Is seeing results enough for you? Do you need events (races, reunions, conferences, bikini vacations)? Or are you able to stick with exercise once it's a habit?
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Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Now What? Beyond the Event
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2 ate pie:
After training for my first half-marathon alone, I joined a training group at the Y. From that experience, I learned that I won't/don't train alone. I've had some fantastic training partners and, as I was training for the second half-marathon, I discovered that the interwebs have information about local running clubs for whatever city you may be traveling to. It's a good way to meet people and get a local's view of the area. Generally, everyone's super-friendly.
I typically need races to keep me motivated, but the grad school thing has kept me from competing for the most part. So now my motivation is to get away from research. It doesn't always work, but there's always the motivation to continue to fit into my jeans. I don't have time to shop.
...there's always the motivation to continue to fit into my jeans.
WORD.
Good idea to check on running clubs local to an event. We haven't joined the road runners here (or the hash runners, which may be more our crowd), but they have open runs at the city's largest park, so we may check those out. For the most part, Dave's my training partner. We don't always run together, side by side, but we do about half our runs at the same time. It's nice knowing he's running nearby.
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