WICKED Coolness! :)

I am sitting here grinning like an utter fool!

What, pray tell, has me all excited?

Two things, actually!

The first cool thing is that that just now, after looking up a sports nutrition article on a blog called "Frayed Laces", I decided to do a quick search for my own blog. In doing so, I found that my blog, this blog, has been reviewed! On the blogged.com directory of obesity websites in the health/nutrition group, my blog, which I admittedly am quite lax at updating, was reviewed at a 7.9 "Very Good"! I'm #13 on the list! I was so excited, I ran over to show Kent. He was very proud of me too! So I will count that as a "publish", along with the book review of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle that I wrote for the New England newspaper last May. That makes me feel quite accomplished!

The second cool thing has to do with my running. No, I didn't run today. Or yesterday. However, I did swim...50 lengths, 34 minutes 1 second. That was fun...and totally off the subject.

What I am excited about is that I FINALLY BOUGHT A NEW TREADMILL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yippee!

Aren't I odd? To get that excited about a TREADMILL? LOL! I mean, really. You would think I had won a trip to Hawaii or even a new Felt, Cervelo, or Aegis bike or something (the trifecta of perfect TRI bikes, in my opinon...).

But no, I am psyched and jumping around like an idiot because I finally bought a treadmill.

I missed my treadmill. I don't know if I told this story before, but when we moved from Maine, we gave our treadmill away to our friend Lisa. Why, you ask? Because first of all, hers was making a hideous screeching noise. Second, other than me and Shanna, she is the only other person that I knew that actually used her treadmill. Third and finally, we were afraid of what 5 months of storage and a cross-country move via moving van would do to the already-hinky LCD displays.

No, I did not give away a failing treadmill. The LCD dots on the progress display didn't light up properly. Everything else worked fine. Plus we'd just had it serviced.

Anyway, so we gave it away, assuming we'd buy a new one in California.

Five months later, when we finally bought a house, we realized it was too small for a treadmill. There wasn't a single place to put it--the way the house is laid out, there is either a window or a closet, door, entryway, or fireplace in every blank section, except the family room...and that has shelves, because it's long and narrow. Not a good place for a treadmill.

I tried to go to the Y. I really did. But when you just want to get up and run, it's a hassle to go get in the car, drive over, find parking, go in, run on a treadmill in the middle of a huge room where it's hot and the oscillating fans don't work properly, then go back out and drive home again.

I know, I could have run outside. However, when it's over 80 and it's barely even 7 a.m., I wimp out. I ran last summer when it was 100 degrees out, even doing 6 miles at a time, but I had a park with a rather good water faucet to go to and that made a huge difference.

Excuses, excuses. I know. I totally get that. I realize that I'm just being lazy. I KNOW I could do it if I wanted to, but frankly, I don't like running in this town, nor do I care for the Y, and I really dislike the heat. And I just missed having a treadmill. I wanted to be able to go for a run when the baby went down for a nap after lunch, and that's the hottest part of the day. (Whine, whine.)

It all comes back to motivation. And I just like the cold better. That's why Eureka is one of my favorite places to run (see my last blog for more info on that).

So anyway, I we scoped out treadmills at Sears, Sports Authority, and Costco--the only three places in this town where I could find Treadmills for sale.

I liked Costco's; it's a good one--$900, Nordic Track. It got good reviews on the Treadmill Doctor website, too. However, they don't deliver, nor do they set up. I can't have Kent bring it in by himself, not with his bad back...and he doesn't "do" putting stuff together. I do. And at 43, I'm less inclined to put stuff together when I can pay someone else to do it. Laziness or old age? You be the judge! :)

At Sears, they would do delivery and setup, for about $30 cheaper than Sports Authority, but I didn't care for their treadmills. Yes, they had Nordic Tracks too, but the ratings on the three that I looked up were not as good as the Sports Authority treadmill...even though the company that makes Nordic Track, ProForm, and Healthrider is all the same one--Icon Health & Fitness.

The one I ended up buying was a Healthrider Club Series H140t treadmill, from Sports Authority. Originally listed at $3000 (not that I think it ever sold for that), it was marked down to $1999, then $1399, then $1299, which is what we bought it for. Yes, it's more than I wanted to spend, but after looking at the treadmills, and knowing how we use them, and reading the reviews on Treadmilldoctor.com, there was no way I was going to buy anything else...especially since we needed them to deliver it and set it up as well.

The control panel of the Healthrider H140t

It looks good. I thought it had a 3.0 HP motor, but now I'm reading online that it really has a 3.5HP. That's even better, if it's true. If not, I still wanted at least a 3.0, so I'm happy.

Specificiations card from the store

The deck is 20" by 60", plenty long and wide enough. Some people say you can't tell the difference, but I definitely can. I think our old Horizon Fitness treadmill was a 22" deck, but I'm not positive.

My treadmill--the front one!

The reviews I read were pretty good overall. Some people don't like the bells & whistles, as extra technology is just "one more thing that can break"...but for me, they weren't what I was interested in anyway, and with the price darn near what we paid for our "stripped down" (by comparison) Horizon model 3 years ago, I didn't really pay for them anyhow.

Another look at the specs card

Here's what I was looking for:

* If it didn't have a 3.0HP at least, I wasn't interested.

* If it didn't include at least a 20" x 60" deck, I wasn't interested.

Those were my "musts", but the power was the definite selling point. If I am going to use this puppy to train for the Honolulu Marathon--assuming North Korea doesn't nuke it first, ha ha--I need to know that it's going to be up for the workouts. Before we left Maine, I'd throw on a video and run a half marathon for my long runs on the weekend. When I did speed training, I'd do 8x30-second strides at 10MPH. Granted, I'm nowhere near that speed right now, but I will be, and I need to know that my treadmill can hold up to that kind of effort.

So I'm very excited about it. I can't wait for it to arrive! That will probably be Wednesday, as we are going to be travelling for the 4th of July weekend; first we'll be in Willow Creek, then we go to Eureka to set off fireworks, as Maddy and Kara have never seen the kind you light yourself (they're illegal in Maine). Then on Sunday, we head off to Gualala in southern Mendocino County, where friends of ours own a beach house. We'll be with them for a couple days before heading back home. Maddy has horse riding lessons Wednesday morning, and clarinet lessons Wednesday afternoon, so we'll be home by then for sure. I imagine our treadmill will arrive that day.

It's a good thing it won't come tomorrow (Friday, July 3), as I imagine you wouldn't be able to budge me out of the house at all. :D

The only drawback that I can see is that we will probably have to put it in our front window. There is really no other place to put it in this house. It's either that or the garage, and that's as bad as running outside. So I guess I'll get to look outside, or watch TV, while I'm running. Thankfully it's a north-facing window so I won't be blasted by sunshine, anyway.

Thank heavens. I don't think I'll ever want to go without having a treadmill again. This was just not fun at all.

Have a lovely evening, and a fabulous 4th of July!

Flagging Motivation

It's been a hideous three months.

Our friend Mark passed away at the end of March; at that time, I was up to running four miles at a shot and feeling pretty good about it. But then he died and I fell apart, along with my husband.

Needless to say, I haven't run much at all since then. A couple miles here and there, but I'm all messed up inside. My days are swapped with my nights; I get all motivated and charged up at 1:30 in the morning (well, 1:42 a.m. is what it is right now), but then in the morning I can't move. Worse yet, I caught Kent's and Sylvia's cold, or whatever it was, that causes crushing headaches. I've been battling that for almost a week now.

So right now, at 1:42...no, 1:43... a.m., I'm fired up and ready to run. In seven hours, I'll just want to sleep, and my head will be exploding.

That is, if the pattern follows that of the past week.

What to do, what to do?

I couldn't sleep--again--so I got up and looked online for triathlons. Nothing like signing up for a race to get you charged.

I found one in Boise in August. I emailed Pam, and asked if she wants to do it with me. If she says yes, I'm signing up. Then I have to start getting serious.

Just...the past few months have been difficult. Kent was pinkslipped, and we didn't know if he'd be rehired. It wasn't until this past week, after school was already out, that we found out that his job was saved, and he will be rehired next year. However, then he'll be pinkslipped again. His district in Maine wants him back, though, so we'll probably return to Maine--for good this time--in July of 2010.

Thank goodness. I miss Maine, and my house. I can't wait to go back to it.

Plus of course Kent's depression over Mark's death has been difficult for everyone. I didn't know how to help; truthfully, there's not much I can do. He'll have to get through this somehow. I can't fix it for him. You aren't essentially brothers with someone for 33 years and then get over that loss overnight. As a friend said recently, "Grief isn't linear." Some days he's fine; others, he falls apart. I'm sort of that way too. It's been hard to want to move. Sometimes I simply want to watch TV or play on Facebook or read until I grow so still, moss creeps along and covers me up.

So. Motivation. What I miss is my own treadmill. It's an excuse--but I do miss that ready place to run. Sometimes it's hard to get out the door. I want to, but then I don't. And I find excuses, and the next thing I know...I'm sleeping in, or my headache plants me in one place.

But I remember the running, the feeling of strength, feeling like I had all the oxygen in the world when I was running along and felt like I was flying. No shortness of breath, no tightness in the chest...just strength and breath and life.

And I so miss that.

So this is supposed to be a blog about how I "fixed" myself, and went from obese to athlete. Except it has turned out to be a bit of a treatise on how a crappy life situation can sideline you instead. And I'm still struggling with that.

I know I can fix this. I just need to get moving and do the hard work I need to do to get back to my fit self.

The first steps: sign up for a triathlon. Hopefully with Pam. Also, sign up with the local running shop's 10K training program. That starts on Tuesday. I have to do something; if I'm forced to go, beause I paid money and people are expecting me, I'll do it. And I know myself. Once I get started, I won't be content with a little run here and there. I'll want to improve my stamina. After all, the ultimate goal is the Honolulu Marathon this December.

Actually, that's not true. The Honolulu Marathon is A GOAL. The ultimate goal is my fit, healthy, happy self. Back in Maine. I don't want to go back as I am; I want to go back as I was.

Running is the key. It just takes the first step.

Then again, all the greatest journeys in life always start with that first step.

As John Bingham would say, "Waddle on, my friends." I guess I'll be doing that literally, starting this week! :)

Go, Me!!!

Finding the Motivation

Today I did something I haven't done in two months.

I read Runner's World online.

To say I haven't been running puts it mildly. I haven't been doing ANYTHING.

But something I read on John "The Penguin" Bingham's blog got to me. I decided I'd post his blog (with the appropriate link), and the reply I added. I think it kinda sums it up.

Job 1: Get over my cold.
Job 2: Get running again.

Take care,
Karina
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Finding the Right Distance
"Ask the Penguin" Blog
John "The Penguin" Bingham
Runner's World, Feb. 6, 2009

Dear John,
I am 42, female, and a runner/gym enthusiast. I tried for many years to run a marathon but kept getting hurt during training. Then I decided to join running groups to help me train properly. The first time I trained with a group, in 2006, I made it to the fifth month of training but developed knee pain. Day of the marathon, I started hurting at the 6-mile mark, so I cut my race in half.

The second year of training with another running group was better. I finished five months of training without incident. But on the day of the marathon, I started cramping at mile 17. The rest of the way was very painful, with me unable to move at times and in tears.

I was tired of not finishing anything, so I just grit my teeth and kept going. I ended up finishing the race an hour over my goal with both hams, quads, and calves cramping.

After training for two marathons two years back to back, I had difficulty maintaining fitness. It seems that after I run these races, my body just bonks. Three weeks post-race, I can hardly catch my breath running just one mile, depression sets in, my resting heart rate is elevated, and I just do not have any energy. This lasts seven to 11 months. I am scared now to train for another marathon.

I have just now recovered from one of these post-marathon "bonks" a year after I ran. Needless to say, I have gained weight and lost fitness. I tried several times to get back to running, but the desire and energy were just not there. I want to get fit again. Can you help me out? - Eileen

Hi, Eileen. Thanks for writing. Some of what you’re describing is fairly typical. There is a “post marathon syndrome” in which we are mentally, physically, and emotionally drained. I’ve run 45 marathons. I’ve had the exact sensation of trying to run a week or so later and wondering how in the world I ever ran 26.2 miles and how in the world did I get so out of shape so quickly.

So, as uncomfortable as you may feel, it’s not something to worry about.

Marathons have become what one writer described as “the great urban Everest.” They seem to have become the standard by which contemporary runners judge themselves. It’s unfortunate, really, because there are so many other great distances that might suit many runners better than the marathon.

The question you need to answer for yourself is, what’s your ideal race distance? What is the distance that you can enjoy both training for, and participating in? Maybe you’re a 5-K runner. You like the full-on, go-for-broke, go-hard-and-hang-on feeling that you get in a 5-K. Maybe you’re a 10-K runner. You like the artistry of finding the razor-edge between too fast and too slow.

I’ve found that I really like the half-marathon distance. It’s far enough that someone like me, who is terminally slow, can feel like we’ve accomplished something special, but no so far that I put too much stress on my body, mind, and soul.

So, find your own joy. Find the distance that gives you that joy and focus on it. My guess is that you’ll be a happier, healthier runner if you do.

Waddle on,
John

John “the Penguin” Bingham, Runner’s World columnist
Author, The Courage to Start, No Need for Speed, Marathoning for Mortals and Running for Mortals.

Have a question for John? E-mail it to thepenguin@johnbingham.com.

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My reply: (dated Feb. 25, 2009, 5:05:24 p.m.)

I too am 42 and female...LOL there's a lot of us...and I haven't run since last December. We made a move to California from Maine which ended up being a mistake, but we're trying to deal with it...meanwhile, the upheaval of living five months out of a suitcase then the actual unpacking in December when we got a house put running dead last. Now I cannot drag myself out the door.

Prior to the move I had completed my first 20-mile run in four hours, and felt fabulous during and after. I know I can do it. So why aren't I? I would imagine some form of depression or sadness is part of it (from this horrendous relocation), stress (the daily threat of my husband losing his teaching job due to CA politics), tiredness (I have a history of anemia...but I didn't think of that as a potential cause of it), and anxiety (two houses in two states and the worry over upkeep and paying my taxes).

I know if I run, I'll run the chaos out of my brain and it will give me energy, clarity and focus...so why am I not doing it? I'm blessed because I've always run injury-free--probably because I'm also slow (and proud of it). So why can't I get out there??

Anyway, the point of this long ramble is that Eileen, you're not alone, each of us has our own running battle to fight from time to time, but in the end, running is worth it. Your email reminded me of that. I forgot how much I loved to run and that, truly, the only thing holding me back is my head. Even my toddler isn't an impediment: I've been running with her since she was 4 months old.

I would agree that you should play around and find your distance. I found that I love long distances--I can go for a couple hours and be happy as a lark--but I cannot stand 5Ks because I'm so slow and the race is over too fast. I always said that I may not be fast, but I can plod on forever.

Anyway, you can do it--and I know I can also. Time for us both to get out there and take our first baby steps! Good luck!

Posted by: Karina | Feb 25, 2009 5:05:24 PM

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Truly a good answer to myself. Now I just need to listen, and learn.

As John says, Waddle on, my friends!