Burn With Us

I generally like to be a creature of habit, no surprise there. But when it’s come down to exercise, I’ve been pretty lax over the past few years. And, to my chagrin, I recently found myself falling into the old habits and had to squish them quickly. I spent two weeks solid where I didn’t go out even though they were BEAUTIFUL mornings for jogging (my current exercise routine is to get up at 6am and jog for nearly an hour). And when I found myself sleeping away the mornings and not getting up, I said “so what?” I just couldn’t get the motivation to get up.

I needed to find that motivation and find it quickly to overpower the need to hit the snooze button. But finding that motivation took a little while. Why?

Well, I’m not a self-hater. My self-esteem is very healthy, thank you very much. I think some people would agree I’ve no need of help in that department. And that squashes one of the biggest motivators you can use on yourself: Hating yourself. “I hate the way I look so I’m going to get fit”. “I’m ugly.” “I’m fat.” Whatever. I’m just not that into image to hate myself to the point where I feel the need to change.

The doctor’s been trying to guilt me into wanting to see my children grow up. I hate to break it to him that my relatively fit father died of cancer at the age of 52 and he never smoked or drank. So, basically, God has stepped in and showed me with His glowing hand that life is a big dumb ball of luck and the only deciding factors in it are where you are when the big bouncy ball comes through and squashes you.

So, what have I found to be my best motivator?

Guilt. But a rather special type of guilt. Money guilt. I purchased myself a new pair of sneakers to go jogging after I made sure I would stick with it for a month. After that, I waited until I was with it for 2 months before I decided that the Chocolate Phone I have was an inadequate mp3 player and bought myself the fanciful Sansa 4GB Clip to pour hot liquid metal into my ears while I bounce around the town in the morning. I purchased a few new running shirts and shorts that are made of special sweat-absorbing material (which, my friends is complete crap—my undies are still an ocean when I’m done). So, for your enjoyment, I’d like to present to you my motivation when I cringe at the alarm at 6am.

New running shoes to cushion my guilt-laden soles: $45.

New mp3 player to bury the guilt-ridden voices in my head in an avalanche of 80’s metal: $75.

New clothes to wipe away the sweat of guilt: $40.

Getting fit : priceless. (But my wife has the receipts, if you’d like to review them)

-Jack

PS – http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/  —-  AWESOME!!!! (Thanks to my friend George for pointing that one out)

My morning run this past week has been a total of 3.3 miles in just over 42 minutes. I just projected out that I could hit 4.1 miles tomorrow if I labor myself around one more block. Try it out, it’s probably one of the neatest uses for Google Maps (aside from seeing your car in your driveway). Oh, and I’d just like to add in that Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” is the best album to jog to that was EVER made. (especially up hills) If you don’t think so, you must be Kip Winger.

I had a good run tonight. I’m repeating Week 3 of the <a title=”Cool Running” href=”http://www.coolrunning.com”>Cool Running</a> <a title=”The 5k running program” href=”http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml”>Couch-to-5k-Run Progam</a>, and as I burned through the first 200-yard stretch tonight I thought I was toast. I got my head right by the end, though, and pushed through the last 400 yards and stacked on a few extra yards for good measure.

The problem is my right leg is killing me. My left’s a little achy, but my right is hurtin’. It might be shin splints, but I’m starting to worry it’s skeletal rather than muscular this time around. Each impact brought a zap of pain, so I started concentrating on the way my foot hit the track. I’m not 100% sure, but it feels like I’m landing flat-footed and rolling onto the ball of my foot a little too quickly.

I’ve read a few sources discussing the proper stride, but my question is how do you <em>train</em> that stride. I try to alter my stride on the track, but it’s tough; I keep falling back into the bad habit. That makes me wonder if I’ve got tight muscles or screwy joints that are preventing me from doing it right. If so, what should I be doing to correct this?

I let an ingrown toenail get out of control a decade ago, and I dealt with it for far too long by limping around. Then I did it again with the other foot a year or so later. That screwed up my gait for a long time. I caught myself walking on the outside edges of my feet and not rolling off the front of my foot, and I’m worried this may be a lingering problem.

So, again, any trainers in the house?

Just wanted to throw up a quick note saying that I hit the 45 minute mark last Wednesday!

I’ve been quiet about it because before it, I hadn’t jogged in nearly two weeks due to weather and the fact we’ve been pouring a lot of sweat into the house. But last week, I finally got out and hit 45 minutes and it’s been that ever since.

Warmer weather slides ever nearer, folks! Hang in there and keep it up!

(Later I’ll post an interesting note about mp3 players, playlists and how they affect your pace.

-Jack