Shoutin’ from the Rooftop

Yesterday I made it to the Y. I pushed myself to go the 4 miles on the elliptical.  I just was bored. Oh, how I want any own elliptical with a TV. A  girl can dream. Anyway, I digress. I really made myself go faster than I had in the past. I wanted to push my body. 11 minute mile average wasn’t too bad for not doing any exercise except running for the past 5 weeks or so. As I was finishing up, I was thinking that I need to get a personal training. Thoughts of cost & time swirled around in my thoughts.

As I was finishing up the end of my elliptical workout, I got this crazy idea that I was going to hop on a treadmill and go for a run. I think the heat in the gym must have short-circuited a wire in my brain. Seriously. What was I thinking? I just finished pushing myself on a faster four mile stint on the elliptical. I drank some water, cooled down a bit and then jumped on a treadmill. 

Now, I have to mentioned that in my entire training for the Mini, I never went to the Y to run on their treadmills. I either 1) ran on my treadmill at home 2) ran outside 3) ran on the track at the Y. Imagine my shock when I started running on the treadmill to make a discovery. The treadmills at the Y have a much harder landing than my treadmill at home. “My” treadmill (my brother-in-law has loaned his treadmill to me) has a much cushier landing. The treadmill that I ran on was much more realistic to running outdoors on the pavement.  The run actually felt good except for the harder surface. I can see how running on the Y treadmills (when not able to run outdoors) would be beneficial in training for race.

Last night I received an email from my friend, Jenni. Several points in her note I thought would be good to comment for everyone to read. These were points that I was just pondering earlier in the day during my workout.

Good for you for getting back with it!  The last few years after the Indy Mini I would completely drop off from a consistent exercise regimen struggling to get maybe one or two runs in a week and even those were of poor quality and then in the fall/winter I would start training again.  This year I really want to try to stay up with it, but I’m going to have to sign up for another race–I need to have something that will keep me on a plan.  Last week I got a total of 15 miles as kind of a “recovery week” and then this past Monday night I ran 12.5 miles and felt pretty good.  I think for me being over 40 the key is going to be to incorporate some x-training and weights (which I don’t do, but know I should!).  Do you do weights/strength training?

OK. I don’t know how Jenni was reading my mind.  First, I know that a lot of runners struggling with the same pattern. Run a race, stop running or greatly reduce the amount & distance of running for several months and then about six months before the race, start training again. Pattern repeats. Chris actually was the one that brought my attention to this and made me want to make sure that I avoid this mistake that is so common. Chris’ solution for this hurdle was to sign up for a race half way through the twelve month cycle. So that was the way Chris keeps his training up and doesn’t lag. Chris has to go to Las Vegas once a quarter for his job. It just works out that his meeting in December can be scheduled while he is out there for the Vegas Half Marathon.  So that is one of my main reasons for contemplating the Vegas race. I am still tossing around the idea.

Secondly, cross training. As I was working out the elliptical, I was thinking about my desperate need to work on my core strength and find time for weights. Time. If only I had more. Don’t we all find time a major issue for exercise. I would love to get a trainer. But the time and money issue is the present obstacle. Chris is really good about doing crunches and other exercises in the evenings. Me. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. I know that it would help my running. So I will find a way to start working that in to my schedule some how some way.

Thanks Jenni for the email. You brought up some great points.

Tags: limitations, training

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