Saturday, January 22, 2011
5am: Constellations, Snake Skins and PR's, Oh my!
So, I know that it's been a while since I last posted, and I should probably apologize for not keeping up. But I'm not going to. I've been busy running my first Half Marathon (San Antonio Rock and Roll on November 14, 2010), falling in love with my Greek God, getting engaged (to my Greek God), trying to plan a wedding and deal with a long-distance relationship, working, tutoring after school, and training for the Houston Half Marathon on January 30 and the Surfside Beach Half Marathon on February 26.
Moving on to some important lessons I've learned. Scientists say that the species that survive are those that learn to adapt to their ever-changing environments. The same can be said of anyone who wants to make physical fitness a lifelong commitment and priority. When I first started exercising a year ago, I would come home from work and immediately head to the fitness room at my apartment complex to run on the treadmill. My friend would often come over and work out with me, which was a huge motivation. Some days, I was able to leave right after school was over, and we'd be running by 5:30 pm. Other days when I stayed late to tutor, we didn't get there until closer to 6:30 pm. But this schedule worked beautifully for me, and I successfully managed to get in 3-4 work outs each week.
Fast forward to last fall, when I was training seriously for my first half marathon. I wasn't even tutoring after school at that time, but I found that I was having a very hard time working out in the evenings. I often had meetings after school, and by the time I got home, I had no energy, mental or physical, to hit the gym. I started missing workouts. I was in a slump and didn't know how to re-energize myself.
One day, about mid October, I was reflecting on how much I enjoyed my Saturday morning runs. Since I needed to log more miles on the weekend, I would get up early Saturday morning (because even in October, it was bloody HOT here in Texas), head to a nearby subdivision lake, and run for an hour or more. Weirdly, after the first week or two, I found that I actually looked forward to getting up early for these runs. I even found myself going to bed early Friday nights so as to be prepared to wake up at the crack of dawn when all "normal" people were enjoying their day to sleep in.
So, I started doing some calculating. I recognized that I liked running in the morning and felt that I actually ran much better at that time. But, not being independently wealthy and having to work during the week, I figured that if I were to exercise in the morning before work, I'd have to wake up and the awful hour of 5am. Yikes! Just the thought of getting up that early made me tired. But I resolved to give it a shot, just to see what would happen.
That first week, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings came and went, and 5am found me still sleeping in my bed. Finally, on Thursday, I managed to drag my weary bones out of bed and get moving. I laced up my Brooks running shoes, strapped my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch to my wrist, put my iPod on shuffle, and headed out. Man, it was dark! But as I headed down the road by my apartments (the one with NO sidewalks and NO streetlights), I looked up and realized that I could see stars--not just a few specs of light in the sky, I mean, serious clusters of brightly twinkling stars! They were beautiful! They totally energized me to keep going.
As I was trotting down that unlit road, I started to wake up, body and mind. My limbs loosened, my breathing regulated, I felt the fuzz of sleep leave my brain and for the first time in a while, I had a clarity and sharpness of mind that I liked. Maybe this 5am thing wasn't so bad after all! A few miles later, as I was just about to reach the 1/2 way mark, I noticed a shape ahead; as I got closer I realized it was a SNAKE! I squealed and found that despite the early hour and the fact that I'd already run 2 miles, my legs were nevertheless able to LEAP away with amazing speed and agility. Upon closer examination, I found that it was actually just a snake skin that some slithering serpent had so kindly left behind to scare the daylights out of me!!!
By the time I got back from my morning run, I was feeling GREAT! And my times were faster than what I'd been running in the evening! In spite of the early hour, I felt refreshed and energized and ready to take on my day. While I was at work, I kept thinking how great it was that I had already finished my workout and wasn't trying to figure out how to schedule it into my already busy evening. By 8 o'clock that evening, I was tired--my early morning run had caught up with me and I was ready for bed!
Since October, I have been doing something that I never thought I'd do--getting up at 5am to go running. I've never been a "morning person," but I have found that at least right now, the best time of day for me to workout is in the wee smaas of the morn. And I LOVE it! Now, I've had to really prioritize some things, like going to be early, in order to facilitate this. But I have once again found a way to organize my life so that I have time to be physically active.
Now, I recognize that not everyone is going to be willing or able to get up at the crack of dawn to exercise. But the lesson I've learned is that if we want to be physically active then we have to be willing to move things around, maybe go to bed earlier, or whatever it takes to MAKE exercising fit into our schedules. There is always going to be something you'd RATHER be doing--there will ALWAYS be an excuse, if you're looking for one. The REAL challenge is to look past the excuses, find what works for you and JUST DO IT!
For now, though...I'll see you at 5am!
Moving on to some important lessons I've learned. Scientists say that the species that survive are those that learn to adapt to their ever-changing environments. The same can be said of anyone who wants to make physical fitness a lifelong commitment and priority. When I first started exercising a year ago, I would come home from work and immediately head to the fitness room at my apartment complex to run on the treadmill. My friend would often come over and work out with me, which was a huge motivation. Some days, I was able to leave right after school was over, and we'd be running by 5:30 pm. Other days when I stayed late to tutor, we didn't get there until closer to 6:30 pm. But this schedule worked beautifully for me, and I successfully managed to get in 3-4 work outs each week.
Fast forward to last fall, when I was training seriously for my first half marathon. I wasn't even tutoring after school at that time, but I found that I was having a very hard time working out in the evenings. I often had meetings after school, and by the time I got home, I had no energy, mental or physical, to hit the gym. I started missing workouts. I was in a slump and didn't know how to re-energize myself.
One day, about mid October, I was reflecting on how much I enjoyed my Saturday morning runs. Since I needed to log more miles on the weekend, I would get up early Saturday morning (because even in October, it was bloody HOT here in Texas), head to a nearby subdivision lake, and run for an hour or more. Weirdly, after the first week or two, I found that I actually looked forward to getting up early for these runs. I even found myself going to bed early Friday nights so as to be prepared to wake up at the crack of dawn when all "normal" people were enjoying their day to sleep in.
So, I started doing some calculating. I recognized that I liked running in the morning and felt that I actually ran much better at that time. But, not being independently wealthy and having to work during the week, I figured that if I were to exercise in the morning before work, I'd have to wake up and the awful hour of 5am. Yikes! Just the thought of getting up that early made me tired. But I resolved to give it a shot, just to see what would happen.
That first week, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings came and went, and 5am found me still sleeping in my bed. Finally, on Thursday, I managed to drag my weary bones out of bed and get moving. I laced up my Brooks running shoes, strapped my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch to my wrist, put my iPod on shuffle, and headed out. Man, it was dark! But as I headed down the road by my apartments (the one with NO sidewalks and NO streetlights), I looked up and realized that I could see stars--not just a few specs of light in the sky, I mean, serious clusters of brightly twinkling stars! They were beautiful! They totally energized me to keep going.
As I was trotting down that unlit road, I started to wake up, body and mind. My limbs loosened, my breathing regulated, I felt the fuzz of sleep leave my brain and for the first time in a while, I had a clarity and sharpness of mind that I liked. Maybe this 5am thing wasn't so bad after all! A few miles later, as I was just about to reach the 1/2 way mark, I noticed a shape ahead; as I got closer I realized it was a SNAKE! I squealed and found that despite the early hour and the fact that I'd already run 2 miles, my legs were nevertheless able to LEAP away with amazing speed and agility. Upon closer examination, I found that it was actually just a snake skin that some slithering serpent had so kindly left behind to scare the daylights out of me!!!
By the time I got back from my morning run, I was feeling GREAT! And my times were faster than what I'd been running in the evening! In spite of the early hour, I felt refreshed and energized and ready to take on my day. While I was at work, I kept thinking how great it was that I had already finished my workout and wasn't trying to figure out how to schedule it into my already busy evening. By 8 o'clock that evening, I was tired--my early morning run had caught up with me and I was ready for bed!
Since October, I have been doing something that I never thought I'd do--getting up at 5am to go running. I've never been a "morning person," but I have found that at least right now, the best time of day for me to workout is in the wee smaas of the morn. And I LOVE it! Now, I've had to really prioritize some things, like going to be early, in order to facilitate this. But I have once again found a way to organize my life so that I have time to be physically active.
Now, I recognize that not everyone is going to be willing or able to get up at the crack of dawn to exercise. But the lesson I've learned is that if we want to be physically active then we have to be willing to move things around, maybe go to bed earlier, or whatever it takes to MAKE exercising fit into our schedules. There is always going to be something you'd RATHER be doing--there will ALWAYS be an excuse, if you're looking for one. The REAL challenge is to look past the excuses, find what works for you and JUST DO IT!
For now, though...I'll see you at 5am!
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