A Running Mom

Photo Credit: _e.t

It’s true!  YOU can train for a 5K and be ready in just 5 weeks — without being a runner!  It’s all about taking the time to train, and, making sure your doctor agrees it’s a good idea for you, of course.  Plan on training three days a week.  For this article, we’ll say M, W, F.  Ready?

Here’s how:

Week 1:

M, W, F - Find a 5K course and walk the entire distance.  It should take you about an hour.  Walk this course of 3 days this week.

Week 2:

M - Begin walking the same course for 30 minutes, jog for 10 minutes and walk the rest of the way back.  You should be back to your starting point before an hour is up.

W - Walk the entire 5K minute course.  Are you hankering adding some jogging now?  If so, that is a good sign.

F - Begin walking the same course for 30 minutes, jog for 20 minutes and walk the rest of the way back.  If you get back to your starting point before the 20 minutes is up, be sure to walk for about 5 minutes to cool down.

Week 3:

M - Begin walking the same course for 20 minutes, jog for 20 minutes and walk the rest of the way back.  You should be back to your starting point before an hour is up.

W - Begin walking the same course for 20 minutes, jog for 20 minutes and walk the rest of the way back.  Are you wishing to jog more now?  If so, you are rockin’!  If not, hang in there!

F - Begin walking the same course for 15 minutes, jog for 25 minutes and walk the rest of the way back.  Always be sure to walk for about 5 minutes to cool down.

Week 4:

M - Begin walking the same course for 10 minutes, jog for 30 minutes and walk the rest of the way back.  If you return to your starting point before the 30 minutes is up, be sure to walk 5 minutes to cool down.

W - Begin walking the same course for 10 minutes, jog for 30 minutes and walk the rest of the way back.  If you return to your starting point before the 30 minutes is up, be sure to walk 5 minutes to cool down.

F - Today’s a big day because today you will run the entire 5K course.  This will be the hardest day of your training.  But you are ready. Try to avoid walking - take your jog down to its slowest for a few seconds or walk if you need to but then try to resume your jog.  When you’re done, say to yourself, “I’ll never feel this tired again,” because it’s true!  Next time you run this course you will have stronger stamina and muscle tone.  You did it!

Was it easy?  Good for you!  Keep up the good work!  Don’t you feel amazing?

Week 5:

M - Jog the entire 5K.  Be sure to walk 5 minutes to cool down.  You should feel stronger than you did at the end of the run last week.

W - Jog the entire 5K.  Be sure to walk 5 minutes to cool down.

F - Jog for 10 minutes and then walk 10 minutes.  You are ready for your 5K race.  You are going to soar!  Good luck!

Let me know how this program works for you!

May your next run be a good one.

Rebecca

Photo Credit: KitAy

Tip 8: Do It For A Reason!

Ok. I’ve been on vacation, traveling and I took a break from my blog.  But surely time has brought more discipline and focus to our running, right?  We are running more regularly, with more passion, regularity and intensity.  Yes? No?

Ok. Still, we need motivation.  Here’s where Tip 8 comes in.

Tip 8:  Stop running just for you.

Choose a purpose for your running. Choose a cause; an organization; a benefactor; a friend. Choose something or someone who could benefit from your running and commit to them; him; her.

The people in this picture are paddling for peace.

Powerful, yes?

If the caption read: a group of fun-loving friends enjoying padding along the river. This would not have carried as much clout, right? This is the point of Tip 8.

We had our first child in June 1997. We had lost our first friend that year, too. I needed motivation to carry on and care for myself and do a simple thing called running. So, a friend and I decided to sign up for the Paris Marathon. We ran it for our friend. I ran it for him and me. Committing to that run made me commit to more than just training. It made me focus on doing something bigger than something just for me. At the end of that race I felt like a special person. I had endured tough circumstances as a nursing mom to get those miles in — no need for details here — it was challenging! So crossing that finish line meant so much on so many levels. I loved it. It became a lifelong memory.

Crazy? Maybe.

Worth it? Definately.

May your next run be a good one.

Rebecca

Photo Credit: by UNC - CFC - USFK

Tip 6: Run B4 You Think!

This tip is so funny, but true, that you ought to just try it. You know how you wake up and start thinking about the day, what you need to do and all that’s challenging you at the present time? Try this! Wake up and go run. Don’t think. Just get out there and start running!

Before you know it, the run is completed and you can go about your day with absolute clarity.

This is exactly what I did today. Before I could gather a cohesive thought, my feet were passing each other on the road. By the time I returned to my house, I had calculated the day and my to-do list to a point that actually made sense, not stress. It was a great day. Best of the week.

May your next run be a good one!

Rebecca

Photo Credit: pillotgirl

Check out the runners in this picture. It’s a great shot of the Freihofer’s Run for Women. Aren’t they inspiring? Let them get you psyched for a week of running! Get off your couch and plan to join me for these 5 days of running this week.

It’s easy! Just plan to go out for these 5 great runs with me. Check in and let me know how you did!

(Remember, before you ever start a new fitness routine, it’s always good to check in with your physician to make sure it’s right for you.)

5. An easy 30 minutes. For this run, just go out and run for about 30 minutes without worrying about your pace. The idea for this run is to loosen up after the weekend and get your breathing in check.

4. Intervals! Break up your course in 4 sections. For me, I’m going to for 40 minutes for this run. You should plan to run a distance you know you can cover, but that you can really deliver some speed, too, and that you can easily break up into 4 intervals.

Interval 1: easy
Interval 2: slightly faster
Interval 3: race pace
Interval 4: easy

This run will challenge your muscles, your breathing, and of course, your endurance. Make sure your “easy” intervals do not become a walk and that your form does not break down. If you feel like you need to walk, then you probably are running too fast during the quicker intervals, so make sure you don’t overdo it.

And make sure that your “slightly faster” interval doesn’t become your race pace. This is a nice drill on controlling your pace and identifying “faster” vs. “race.” So if you realize you’re not nailing the right pace, know that we all do this. It’s part of what this run is designed to teach you!

3. An easy 20 minutes. For this run, just go out and run for about 20 minutes without worrying about your pace. The idea for this run is to loosen up after the interval run.

2. Hills! Find a course near you with 3 nice hills. If you live in a flat area of the country, then consider a treadmill that allows you can alter the incline. Hill running is an incredible help for fitness, endurance and strength. I’m going to plan on a nice 5-mile run with about 7 hills. They are rolling hills, so I won’t have to worry about training for them. Remember to always use your arms on the uphill, and to be sure not to land on your forefoot on the downhill. Form on the downhill is important so you don’t get hurt.

1. An easy 20 minutes. For this run, just go out and run for about 20 minutes, but this time, give yourself a nice “stride” in the middle of it. You will feel able to run faster, so enjoy a nice 4 minutes or so with an increased pace. But make yourself stay loose and at an easy pace for the majority of it. The idea for this run is to loosen up after the week of running.

Good luck and let me know how it goes!

May your next run be a good one.

Rebecca

So one day, about a year ago, I went for a run. I had been working for a strategic planning agency out of NYC, and I found myself traveling a ton. I wouldn’t have minded the travel if it wasn’t for my 4 children and their busy and fun lifestyles, with which I was and still am thoroughly involved. So the traveling had become a bit problematic. But what else could I do? Start a business?

I had always toyed with starting a magazine that supported character development in girls. But in a cool way, not an educationally-minded way. I started writing a business plan for it and realized very quickly that the upfront investment was too much for my liking.

At about the 4-mile mark of this run, I had one of those odd, kinda freaky, moments of clarity. And I felt like I could run forever. Shazam. It hit me: START A WEBSITE INSTEAD!

So, I sat down with some truly remarkable and smart people. We discussed the mission of the site: to build character in today’s tween girl. This would be accomplished via a challenge-driven site full of unexpected content and the chance to connect with friends.

They loved it. I loved it. And with funding from Innovation Works’ AlphaLab, yesterday, we launched it.

Introducing iTwixie.com. The ultimate online hangout for today’s savvier tween girl.  It’s officially in public beta. We’re working out a few things, but we’d love for you to send your daughter to the site and check it out. You go girls!

May your next run be a good one.

Rebecca

Do you know someone who constantly surprises you with incredible feats of brilliance, strength or character? I do. I feel lucky to know him, let alone be married to this guy for 14 years, tomorrow. 

This weekend, he overcame a bunch of obstacles which would have become a deal-breaker for most people, and he finished the Pittsburgh Marathon! He was hardly sore the next day. He’s amazing.  

Hats off to all runners who participated Sunday. You all rock!

Let’s all use these inspirational people in our lives to achieve something great. Maybe we’ll inspire someone else! And you can see how that goes… : )

May your next run be a good one.

Rebecca

Just ran a fabulous, hilly 4 and I feel wonderful. This song is stuck in my mind. I love it. And it bears a significance to me right now, as I reflect on the past few months in the life of our daughter, a 6th grader.  She’s found “the greatest love of all” this year. Maybe you’ll understand better when you read the story.

Over the past few months, my husband and I have learned about our daughter’s struggle to confront a bully in her school. Good news is that she did it. Now she’s establish herself with a group of happy and helpful friends who believe in the goals she’s setting for herself for the end of the school year. Her strength to move away from the bully didn’t come from watching role models of mean girls on tv or today’s mean girl movies. She didn’t read about what to do in the “chic lit” stories that the bully loves to read. And candidly, she didn’t follow any specific advice from me or my husband. We had no idea that she was even being bullied. But something we’ve been saying did help to spark her inner voice. This, coupled with a few anti-bullying initiatives at her school, seemed to help her identify the bullying problem.

See, we always discuss with our kids how important it is to choose good friends. We’ll ask them, “Which friends are helping you become the best ‘you’ that you can be?”  Well, this year, as our daughter started to meet some new girls in middle school, she found herself thinking about her friends. She started to evaluate which ones were helping her become the best kid she could be. I find this amazing. But this is what she tells us. Then, her school started to educate the kids on what it means to be bullied.  So she found herself struggling with her friendship with a girl who, unbeknownst to us, constantly degraded her, insulted her, and started even physically pushing her. Sometimes she was nice. Most of the time she created havoc. Our daughter came to realize that this girl who she had known for years, wasn’t a friend at all. Our daughter realized, on her own, that she was actually being bullied. She told me that she thought to herself, “I don’t have to put up with it anymore.” And she spoke with her school counselor and made arrangements to be moved away from the bully. My husband and I did notice a dramatic change in our daugher: She became happier. More fun. Nicer to her siblings. Started doing better in school. Wearing more creative clothing. And now she’s even taking better care of herself. Unbelievable.

Now that we know the whole story, we’ve gotten involved with the school, with our daughter’s ongoing interactions with the girl, and to an extent, even the family. It turns out, this girl had been bullying more girls than just our daughter. The parents seem incredibly surprised at their daughter’s behavior. And since we all agreed that it does no good to allow anyone to continue behaving this way, the family responded quite pro-actively. Hopefully this experience will end up having a positive impact on many more than just our daughter.

So you see, it’s been an amazing few months.

May your next run be a good one.

Rebecca

happy friends make us happy

Photo Credit: www.entrepreneurthearts.files.wordpress.com

I love it when a study comes out that kinda makes you go “hmmm…” This is exactly the case with a recent study that shows that if you have sisters, you’re likely to be a happier person. How ’bout that? I think about me, as the youngest in my family, with 6 sisters, and I have to wonder, is this why I’m a happy person?

When I look back at growing up with 6 sisters, I cannot say it felt like a party. I often felt like I had 6 mothers. But according to a new study from England, growing up with sisters makes you happier and more optimistic. Professor Tony Cassidy from the University of Ulster explains:

Sisters appear to encourage more open communication and cohesion in families. However, brothers seem to have the alternative effect. Emotional expression is fundamental to good psychological health and having sisters promotes this in families.

Cassidy says that this may be because boys are taught not to discuss things the way girls are. Those who scored the lowest in terms of happiness and optimism were boys who had only brothers. Only children scored somewhere in the middle.

My sisters may have made me a happy person, but I bet there’s a study to be found to suggest that close, female friendships make you a happy person, too. I look at my life today and fully realize that I have a wonderful group of women in my life that inspire me, push me on and make me laugh on a daily basis. And isn’t that what happiness is all about?

It’s why I’m running in the morning around a little lake with hills, with a friend who makes me laugh.

Maybe she’s like a sister. Maybe I’ve been lucky enough to forge some great friendships that have become to me like a bunch of sisters who just keep making me happy.

In any case, I’m considering myself lucky. And happy. How do you find ways for emotional expression so you can enjoy “good psychological health.” Do you have sisters? Friends who are like sisters? Do you think this makes the difference for you?

May your next run be a good one.

Rebecca

Photo Credit: www.cfserve.org

I feel happy! Ecstatic! Clear-headed! Free!  

I RAN TODAY!

Ah. And the world has become a brighter, happier place indeed.

I owe it to a friend who rang this evening to catch me for a quick run, if I could join her. I had to ask my sick husband (yes, now he has the dreaded bug) to hang in there for a while longer and let me fly out the door. I had been wearing my running clothes all day long, hoping to sneak out for a quickie. But this one was sick… again… and that one needed that and before I knew it, it was SEVEN PM!  

When the phone rang, with that happy voice on the other end, begging me to steal out for a bit, I couldn’t resist. My poor hubby said he could manage (isn’t he the best ever?) and I bolted. It was just about 3 miles or so. But it was perfet. I had my happy, fun friend at my side. We told stories, complained, celebrated and pushed each other to run a little bit faster up that last hill, and shazam! I’ve got it back, baby.

I’ve got the power back! 

Not sure what’s next. But it just doesn’t matter sometimes, does it? I’m basking in the goodness of a good, honest run. It even felt a bit challenging, since I’ve been off my mileage for a few weeks now. Those 3 miles, with its few, long hills, will actually will leave me with a bit of soreness tomorrow. And you know what?  I will relish every slight twinge to the full. I ran. Boy, I needed that.

Here’s to you! Are you in a lull with your running? Have you found yourself in a bit of running cement? Don’t despair. You will overcome. You will get the power. Hang in there!

May your next run be a good one.

Rebecca

Photo Credit: downartimages.com

Can you say stomach bug? GADZ! My family fell victim to the strangest illness… sharp stomach pain, chills, feeling light-headed, no fever, and no other symptoms. Odd. We were down with it for 2 days.

Today we all woke up feeling fabulous. Beautiful day. Lots of great traditions in the works. Fun with friends.

Bad news? Today marks a full week of no running for moi.

Good news? My guys and I have a full week of bonding on the couch, relaxing, watching old movies and telling silly stories.  We’re in a rage for terrific performance this coming week!  Bring it on!

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

May your next run be a good one.

Rebecca