Spring Forward

A few weeks ago, on one of those unusually warm February days, my brother in-law and I drove past an obese woman jogging on the side of the road. I commented, “That’s awesome.” Apparently, he thought I was making fun of her, as he replied, “Hey, at least she’s trying.”

“No, I’m serious, it’s awesome. It brings me great joy to see fat people running. She won’t be fat for long if she keeps that up!” was my exact response.

It’s officially spring and this is a time when chubby suburbanites all across the country flood the streets and the gyms to shed off their winter weight in preparation for summer. And you know what? It’s a beautiful thing.

I think seasonal exercise habits are a great idea! If you remember last winter I recommended a muscle building phase to coincide with your holiday eating schedule. It makes sense; more muscle requires more calories, and increased calories usually means an increased waistline. So you put a little flab on over the winter – so what?! That’s a small price to pay for enjoying a little holiday gluttony with your family.

But now, the weather is warming up and the clothes are coming off. If your butt is bigger than it was the last time you had shorts on, I hope that’s because you’ve been squatting heavy the last couple months and you have well developed glutes. If so, it’ll be that much easier to shed your winter coat and your legs will be that much stronger to do what I’m about to recommend… and that is to get out and run!

No gyms, no machines, no non-sense; just you and a pair of running shoes (I recommend www.vibramfivefingers.com) out in the fresh air. Run your neighborhood, hit the trails or find a good hill to do sprints on. No experience necessary. Just go out and enjoy the weather and be thankful that you can run.

Like anything else, start off gradually. Try to establish a habit of running before you attempt to break any records. As soon as you find yourself in a routine, I’d recommend that you start trying to run faster, at least on occasion. Sprints and high intensity intervals. There are many additional benefits associated with higher intensity (increased metabolism, better muscle building, improved work capacity, etc) and by keeping your heart rate elevated you can reap all of the aerobic benefits of longer duration steady-state exercise as well.

Err on the side of caution

As a fitness professional and experienced trainee, I knew the idea of entering the Baltimore Marathon and trying to run 26.2 miles was a foolish one. A half marathon would have been doable and I was actually still planning on doing that until other things took priority.

Sometimes life gets in the way of training. Work, kids, social events and other responsibilities are all valid reasons to miss workouts. I've got a fairly large home improvement project I am working on right now and it is one that requires immediate attention. Remodeling a 60sqft bathroom is not a huge task but it is a job that would take one man at least a week. And being that this is the upstairs bathroom and the one I use while I am half asleep in the middle of the night, I need to get this done ASAP! Commode downtime has to be kept at a minimum!

Anyway, back to the marathon bit, I'm not going to do it. Not even the half marathon. I may go out and hit the neighborhood route that day but we'll see how everything is feeling first. Pulling up the old floor this week had me on my knees and anyone who has done any floor work knows how tough that can be, even with knee pads.

This was definitely an unforeseen circumstance... but so was my run and the idea to run a marathon.

I just finished writing the article "Big Man Running" where I warned my fellow largemen not to increase their mileage too quickly. I actually found myself writing "do not go out and try to run a marathon". I figured it would be a good idea to take my own advice.

I am in no hurry to be anywhere or do anything when it comes to running. I think I'll err on the side of caution and get the idea of long, long distance running out of my head for now.

Just a few weeks ago I posted a blog asking the question "What is long distance?"... a week later I ran 10 miles. I think I found the answer to my question. Although I am new to the "blogosphere" I am finding some interesting things happen when you put your thoughts out there on the inter-net.

What is "long" distance?

In my last post I mentioned that a 1.5 mile jog was considered long distance for me. I say that because I have only on a couple of occasions went farther than that and I have only on a couple occasions been physically able to go farther than that.

After thinking about it, and after saying to the world (or really to just the few people that read this blog:) that a 1.5 mile jog is what I consider long distance, I felt kinda pathetic. 1.5 miles isn't long! I work with an 82 year old man who runs marathons and here I am all happy and proud that I can run a mere 1.5 miles without stopping to suck wind! That's BS.

So even though I had a few too many drinks and far too much to eat at a wedding the night before, I got up Sunday morning, did a quick JM warm up, took a sip of Gatorade and went out for a jog. I ran my route twice, only stopping for a couple seconds to retie my shoe (which I think hurt my rhythm) and still sprinted the final straitaway!

3 miles in 30 minutes... and to be honest, I could have kept going were it not for the chaffing on my thighs :(

I have only once before attempted a 3 mile run, and though that was 6 or 7 years ago, I don't think I performed as well as I did yesterday. I'm very pleased with my running ability right now, especially considering that I haven't been running.

I'm planning to see just how far I can take this. My next run will be a personal record that will shatter my previous best. Stay tuned.