Thursday, September 10, 2009

Anybody want to go for a run?



As part of my mission/plan to lose weight, I need to start exercising. Lately, I just haven't felt like it. I've been lazy. To my credit, though, it's really hard to want to go and sweat when it's 100 degrees outside! However, the time has come. I need to break my lazy ways.

I came across this running plan at Women's Health. Running is something I've never been good at. I've kind of tried it in the past, but never really got to the point where I'd actually tell somebody that I jog or run for exercise. I might admit to "run-walking", or short bursts of jogging interspersed with lots of fast walking. But running is wonderful exercise, burns lots and lots of calories, and best of all - it's free! So I'd really like to give it another shot. This plan seems easy enough to follow and the goals attainable:

Week 1: Run 2 min, walk 3 min; repeat 6 times
Week 2: Run 3 min, walk 3 min; repeat 5 times
Week 3: Run 5 min, walk 2 min; repeat 4 times
Week 4: Run 7 min, walk 3 min; repeat 3 times
Week 5: Run 8 min, walk 2 min; repeat 3 times
Week 6: Run 9 min, walk 1 min; repeat 3 times
Week 7: Run 30 minutes

Since fall is almost here (it's Texas, and still hot), I've thought about trying to wake up early to exercise in the morning when it's nice and cool. However, as I'm a notorious night-owl, this may not happen. So, I may be out pounding the pavement at night - we'll see. But I hope to start this plan next Monday. And don't be surprised if I repeat week 1 twice. Just giving you fair warning!

Any tips out there from runners for me?

7 comments:

tracy said...

I love running! My advice is just don't push yourself to run too much too fast. It's fine to run/walk. Some days I am just "off" and end up walking a lot and I have to remind myself it's still good exercise. I love it mentally too -- if I don't run in a few days, I can't wait to get out there. Basically my point is just have fun with it, don't get too stressed about times or anything.

Linda said...

I'm not a runner. But I need to increase my exerise from zero to some. I'm going to use you as inspiration!

JennyLee said...

I'm with Tracy, don't be afraid to start slow. Otherwise you could injure yourself or burn out. I think that plan looks like a good one. Good luck!

Mrs. M said...

That sounds like a great plan, but my advice is to follow it. You might want to run more but it will make you a stronger runner using the intervals.

Anonymous said...

I`m not a runner but I am debating starting running in the morning to guarantee that I get exercise everyday. I ran almost every morning while I was on Vancouver Island for about 20-25 min and man, was I stiff. (But that could have also been the rowing I did as well.)

My suggestion is to find a place where you like running (like through parks, etc) so you feel more inspired to run. I liked running on Vancouver Island because of all the pretty houses, beautiful gardens and everything was just so green!

style-for-style said...

wow great advice, I hate running too, but this plan seems doable

Unknown said...

I just started running too! I do the run walk thing as well. I push it by doing more of a sprint type thing. Running as fast as I can to a goal point, a flight of stairs that I run up and down about 10 times. I take my dog to a 15 acre grassy area here in Scottsdale. It's empty and fun to just run and run and do the stair all the while my dog doing it with me. I love it now. have done it everyday for about two months.

 
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