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Category: Fitness, Health, Happiness

March. Half Marathon Training. It’s the New “New Year’s Resolution”
Hoe while it is spring, and enjoy the best anticipations.

It is not much matter if things do not turn out well.

-Charles Dudley Warner

I read somewhere recently that March is the New Years’ Resolution of fitness. That is, more people newly commit to the idea of a fitness regimen, particularly when it comes to running, in March— presumable because the weather is turning, making it more inviting to be outdoors and reminding folks that shorts/ tank top/ bathing suit season is in the not-so-distant future.

It does seem to bear out in practice— this past week was the busiest I’ve ever seen my gym. There was, and I kid you not, NOT A SINGLE MACHINE AVAILABLE. I’ve never seen that happen before.

Since I did such a craptastic job of adhering to my New Year’s resolutions in general, I’m thinking of Daylight Saving as a reboot, New Year 2.0, try again, friend. My resolutions had less to do with fitness than they did with time-management and trying-new-things, but hey, this seems as good a time as any to post an update on what I’m planning for the next few months.

The big, red letter THING is the Delaware half-marathon on May 12th: Mother’s Day. The point is to finish; I don’t have any time aspirations. This time last year I was really worried about doing the Dirty Girl 5k, since I hadn’t run any kind of distance since maybe the one-mile trials for the Presidential Fitness test in junior high. You’ve come a long way, baby.

I can’t say I’m excited, or that “I know I can do it!” or any of that stuff. I just want to do it to prove to myself that I can. It goes through Wilmington, so I’ll be running through my old neighborhoods, which I can truthfully say I look forward to.

Everything between then and now is scheduled around my need to prepare so I don’t hurt myself/look like an idiot. The training looks something like this:

Running 3x a week: one long run, one easy run, one interval/tempo run. One of those happens on trails with hills that I curse a blue streak at (in my mind).

Strength 45min 2x a week: gym circuit or kickboxing class, which incorporates strength training

Cross-train 45min 2x a week: swimming, yoga, ice skating, biking

In practice, that works out sort of like this at the moment:

Monday: 3 miles easy, 30min swimming drills

Tuesday: kickboxing

Wednesday: yoga in the morning, 3 miles intervals, 30min skate

Thursday: kickboxing and/or 45min laidback gym circuit/bike

Friday: yoga in the morning, 45min gym circuit/bike/elliptical

Saturday: long run, 45-60min swimming with kids

Sunday: 2 hour skate, trail hiking with kids

It sounds like a lot, and it kind of is, but I think of it the same way as I do nutrition: it’s the sum total of my week, not a strict daily routine. I don’t get to everything every day. Sometimes I’m not feeling it. Sometimes I can’t make kickboxing class. Sometimes the gym is crazy crowded. Sometimes life gets in the way.

Sunday is technically my “rest” day but yesterday I hiked 3 hilly miles with Jeff and the kids and raced the kids across the pool for 45 minutes.

I skate when Cass is at the rink for lessons; I hit the gym when she’s taking her swimming lesson. My kickboxing classes are a chance to meet up with a friend, so I think of them more as a sanity saver than as exercise (even though it pretty reliably kicks my butt). Yoga helps me decompress after a day hunched over a laptop and relax after a hard run, and I’m so thrilled by my new ability to move across the water without dying that my classes fly by.

It’s not really training (for now, talk to me again when I’m running 10miles on Saturdays), it isn’t work, it’s a more active life in general. I kind of keep my eye on how much activity I should be doing for the week to keep progressing, but for the most part all I’m strictly regulating is increasing mileage so I’ll be able to run 13.1 in May.

And it’s making a difference. I can feel how my stroke is stronger; I’m not completely incapacitated after kickboxing anymore; my ankles don’t kill after a skating session. I took some time off from running during the darkest of winter, and then got hit by the flu right when I should have been beginning half-marathon training, but I’m transitioning back into a running routine fairly easily. That’s an awesome feeling to have, right there.

I’m also really happy and relieved that my family is joining in with weekend swimming, skating and hiking, so I’m getting that extra exercise in without it taking me away from them all the time. And now that the days are longer, they’ll be more willing to go to the park after school.

Funny how you can see exercise as a selfish thing when you’re doing it on your own.

Along those lines, I’m looking for more ways for us to be active as a family without spending a fortune. I don’t begrudge our Y membership or buying an annual state park pass at all, but skating sessions can get pricey fast. Rock-climbing, CrossFit, gymnastics etc all seem like fun options (not to mention the circus school in Philly!) but the fees add up when the kids are taking lessons and playing sports to boot. Heck, even race registrations add up quickly, especially when there’s more than just me running.

Speaking of which, here’s the tentative run schedule for now:
- ShamRock and Roll 5k in Newark May 16th. Just to establish a baseline 5k time for the year.
- Cherry Blossom 5k. March 30th.Will do this one with Cass just for fun if the weather is nice. Free zoo admission after, with the Easter Bunny and all that.
- Run for the Ages 10k. April 13th, my first 10k.
- Healthy Kids Day 5k. April 28th. I ran this one with Jake last year, it’s a fundraiser for our local Y.
- and then the May 12th half.
After that, it’ll be mud runs and fun runs for the rest of the year, unless my half experience is good/bad enough to prompt me to sign up for another in the fall. We’ll see.

LBI has a sprint tri with a relay option that looks tempting, as well as an island-length 18miler. Both of those options scare the bejeezus out of me today, but I don’t know how I’ll feel come September/October.

…and that’s where I am with all that right now.

And now excuse me. I’ve pretty much stopped drinking coffee most days, but the time change always screws me up and I think I’ll need at least another cup to get me through the day.

New much-needed mug from The Universe Knows.
Check out the selection, it’s awesome.

Gonna give your resolutions a March reboot?

How long does it take you to recover from Daylight Saving?
March 11, 2013
It’s Not Too Late to Get the Flu (Shot)

Sometimes you have to get sicker before you can get better.
― Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle

I’ve been AWOL, and that’s for a number of reasons, but most recently it was because I was completely, utterly incapacitated by the flu.

Prior to that, it was that general seasonally triggered malaise that I get every year. I was overwhelmed, anxious, tired, unhappy, and it wasn’t until a long-term reader (who sees me go through this every year via these virtual pages) checked on me to see if I was all right that I recognized it for what it was.

And then the flu hit, and I completely couldn’t function. My younger kids got it first, whittling away at my already probably insufficient sleep, wearing down my immunity. It hit me like a Peterbilt truck: chills, headache, muscle ache, nausea, sore throat, unrelenting cough, unfightable fatigue. I hurt everywhere. Even my scalp hurt.

During my waking moments I feverishly caught up on work-related tasks. During my sleeping moments— and those were unquestionable the bulk of my hours for about a week— I feverishly tossed and turned and hacked up lungs and, apparently, repeated directed my youngest child to bring me bratwurst.

But the whole time I was composing blog posts in my mind. I missed being here.

So, I’m back. I can breathe again, and I can stay awake for more than 20 minutes at a time again, and I can talk without dissolving into tearful coughing fits again, and it’s funny how this is enough to snap me out of my previous mild depression. I am a human being again! I feel like I have So! Much! Energy!

You can take my word for it, though. Trust me, you do not want the flu this year; it was no joke. I am very fortunate in that I work from home and have a fair amount of flexibility in the hours I keep; I was doubly fortunate that Jeff took on all things parenting over the weekend, from soccer games to grocery shopping. Not everybody is so lucky, and I wouldn’t wish having to drag a flu-ridden self into a car and to work or a double-header on anyone.

I know many people are very anti-flu-shot, and that’s not a debate I’m looking to have. I’m just going to say I wish I’d had the flu shot this year and if you haven’t fallen yet, I’d play the odds and go ahead and get the shot.

If you do get the flu, I’m hearing that my 7-day duration was a short one compared to pretty much everybody else. I slept every moment I could, drank a TON of hot tea, and watched a healthy amount of Doctor Who (the David Tennant years). That sounds like an awesome prescription for a healthy happy life, doesn’t it? Maybe it will work for you. 🙂

Stay healthy, be grateful for your health today, and I’ll be back to a regular posting schedule tomorrow. Promise.

March 4, 2013
Ready to #getafterit in 2013 (or, But Asian Girls Wear Red)

I may not be as strong as I think,
but I know many tricks and I have resolution.

―Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

I don’t do red.

The last item of red clothing I owned was in 1989 from a store called Deb. It was a slimcut button down shirt that was cut high on the sides. It was part of an outfit on the mannequin in the window, and my mother bought me the cropped black blazer with fringe and paperbag-waist acid wash jeans the mannequin was also sporting.

I’m not sure who could carry that outfit off, other than an optimally proportioned store mannequin with no head and a whole lotta sass. Not the wholesome tween star of a sitcom, but perhaps her wisecracking, fashion-adventurous, morally questionable best friend. It was a hot mess on this 13-year-old gawky, coltish, flat-chested beanpole.

Actually, I wasn’t even a beanpole. I was still really short then.

ANYWAY, I never bought anything red after that. OTHER people used to buy me red all the time, and I wouldn’t wear their gifts, and they would ask why, and I would say, “I don’t do red.”

“What? But Asian girls wear red.”

Sigh. I have no idea where this concept comes from or why people say such things but count me out.

I know red is a power color, it signifies passion and strength and confidence, and fashion mags and well-meaning reality shows are always encouraging red for these reasons. I always saw those same reasons as more evidence I don’t do red. When I think power and passion and strength and confidence I don’t think of me.

And yet.

I’m a big believer in dressing up. I think you alter your movements and your moods to fill the shoes, so to speak. When I’m not feeling well I put on makeup and I feel better. My new thing is when I don’t feel like doing a chore I put on high heels and a party dress. Put on a smile, and studies show you’ll actually feel happier. And changing into badass fitness gear and gathering up my high-tech accessories, I’m ready to be an athlete. Fitness is my sport.

So, admittedly I was a little eh when I pulled the CrossFit Racer Long Bra Top out of the box Reebok sent me. RED. And tops with built-in bras don’t usually work on me since I don’t, strictly speaking, need the support.

You know what? Sometimes it’s really, really nice to get random things to try out. Because I never in a million years would have given this top a second glance, it’s not “my style,” and it’s now one of my absolute favorites.

It’s a flattering length. It holds in what it should. It covers what it needs to. It’s soft and the seams aren’t noticeable. It doesn’t move during a workout. Afterwards I still look pretty neat and fresh, but when I take the shirt off it tends to be soaked on the inside. It does an incredible job of wicking away the sweat so it doesn’t interfere.

It’s like zen in tank top form.

And I think I look pretty damn good in it. Even if my back has gone a little soft these past few months… I’ll get to work on that.

Look at that. Maybe Asian girls do wear red.

And maybe I do feel powerful. And strong. And confident. And passionate.

Some of that is the top. And some of that is just me. I grew up. I grew.

Dang it, why was I letting a 13-year-old girl call the shots?

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You may have noticed I didn’t do any New Year’s Resolution posts.

They’re coming.

I wrote some, and then I had some serious revelations on New Year’s Day, as I ran alone for 8.5 miles, the longest run I’ve ever done (by a lot. Like, 3.5 miles). One of which being the fact that I still make decisions influenced by the fears and insecurities I held as a kid.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, but mainly in 2013 I think I’ll be doing.

I’m ready to get after it this year. You?

Any ideas where the whole “Asian girls wear red” thing comes from?

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Update:

I just googled “Asian girls wear red” and I came up with pretty much NADA. So quite possibly this is just a very weird coincidence, as I know at least half a dozen people have said this to me. Possibly just to get my goat after I didn’t wear the gifts they gave me after being scarred by dubious late 80s fashion.

January 5, 2013