I don't know what happened to October as far as fitness goes. Actually, I do know what happened. I barely exercised and I wonder why I only lost a pound this month. You have no idea how disappointing it is to realize that in one month I lost a pound. I know that I need to get back to tracking. I was successful in September in losing weight. That month I lost 12 pounds. That was a combined effort of tracking & working out.
I realized that one of the reasons that I wasn't successful in reaching my exercise goals is that they were pretty loose goals. My goal for October was to achieve 1,000 minutes of exercise. However I didn't set a plan to achieve this goal. But that will be no more. If you follow me on
Tumblr, I posted that I am thinking of committing to doing Bay to Breakers in May 2012 with my friend
Karen. B2B is a 12K race that takes place in San Francisco and people participating dress up in costumes.
Right now, I honestly don't think I could run all of it in 7 months. My goal would be to partially
jog some of it and walk the rest. But that won't happen if I don't prepare for it. It's never too early to start and I have a plan. After some research online, I came across
Hal Higdon's Half Marathon Walking Guide.
Here's what he says about his plan:
Most reasonably fit individuals should be able to walk 13.1 miles in around four hours. Doing so is fun. It is also exciting to set goals and achieve them. But before starting to train for a race that long, assess your fitness level. Realistically: can you do it? The following 12-week walking program assumes you currently have the ability to walk for 30 minutes, three to four times a week.
The program lasts 12 weeks and begins at a fairly easy level. In Week 1, you walk only a half hour on most weekdays. Two days are for rest. One day on the weekend, you stroll at an easy pace. The other weekend workout features a prescribed distance: 3 miles the first weekend. As the program continues, the weekday walks gradually increase to a maximum of 45 minutes. The weekend walks also lengthen to a maximum 10 miles in Week 11, the week before the half marathon. Because the increases are gradual, you should be able to accommodate them without excessive strain. You will become a fitness walker and achieve an ability to complete a 13.1-mile walking event.
I don't consider myself reasonably fit
yet but I know that I can easily walk 30 minutes, three to four times a week. I am going to follow this 12 week guide starting today through the end of January. My goal as of right now would be to walk a half marathon under 4 hours. I can do that, right? Gulp!
For the first four weeks, even though it says to walk during the week days between 25 to 40 minutes, I'll be committing to walking 60 minutes 4 times a week plus the assigned milage on the weekend. I know that I can walk for 60 minutes so why only walk 30? Setting this plan will definitely help me n reaching my 1,000 exercise minutes for the next couple of months. I needed a structured plan and I think I found it.
Even typing this out I am freaked out at the thought of even walking more than 5 miles. That's the farthest distance I've ever walked and I remember feeling extremely shaky afterwards. What gives me comfort is that there is no deadline. If by week 5 I don't think I can walk all of 6 miles, I can go as far as I can and redo that week again. I hope that by the end of the 12+ week training I will know whether I can see myself finishing B2B.
Along with this exercise goal, my weight loss goal for the rest of the year is to lose 18 pounds by January 2, 2012. That means I have to lose an average of 2 pounds a week. It won't be easy but I will try my hardest to do it.
