Tuesday 21 September 2010

How to plan a plan or why

after four days of planning to plan my training plan I still have no plan?

Seriously, I had this point of planning my training ("a plan that I will stick to" does something like this even exist in this universe of the multiverse?) on my tasklist for four days now. And while I finally do some strength drills again (yes, I stopped. Again...), I still haven't sat down to write down a training plan that I will stick to (or not).

I mean seriously I have some high goals (Ironman Hawaii, remember?), yet I don't get my b... moving. Instead I ate tons of chocolate, over the day, not in the evening, so the thing my doc did works well. Unfortunately I said nothing about no sweets for the whole day. Whoops.

Maybe I'm just in a phase of high self-sabotage?! Could be true.

So here I'm standing more or less on the same spot I started last year. Well, if that isn't an accomplishment. Yada, yada, yada.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD! (ahhaaa, as if I would!)

2 comments:

  1. This is what I tell people who ask about training plans, especially ones that are not currently training regularly.

    The way to start is to build the habit of being active. Until you have a month straight of daily activity, writing down a plan for being active is a waste of time. Get out and walk, every day, rain or shine. At first it doesn't matter how far or how fast, but aim for a half hour. It's best if you do it about the same time every day, and preferably in the morning. Then it's done and if the rest of your day goes downhill, you've still got your workout done.

    If you're in position to be running rather than walking, that's fine, but run less, much less than you think you can, and walk very briskly for the remainder, for that first month. Adding other activities such as swimming, biking, strength workouts is fine, but the important thing is to build the habit of being active. Every day, for a month. No matter what else is going on in your life. No matter what the weather is. No such thing as bad weather, only poor clothing choices.

    After a month you can see how things are working out. Then start building a plan that revolves around running, biking, or swimming a couple of times each during a week. Spread them out so you don't do too much in one day. Even now, you're still building the habit. Don't worry too much about how far or fast you're going at this point. Build the habit. You are far, far, FAR better off to have 6 hours of activity spread over 6 days, than 6 hours of activity jammed into 2, or even worse, 1 day.

    If you're a journal or note taking person, write down what you did, and how it felt. Later, you'll be able to look back and measure your progress. Remember, slow and steady, starting at a slower pace than you think you can do.

    Many people complain about the time, or rather, the lack of it. Here's a super blog post about finding time, except that she doesn't find it by looking under the table.
    http://elizabethfedofsky.blogspot.com/2010/09/working-it-out.html

    Having a goal of going to the big dance in Kona is a super long term goal. But the only way to get there is a step at a time, starting today. Building an every day workout habit will help you get through the days you don't want to work out. Several times I've found myself putting on my shoes and jacket when I wasn't sure I was going to. Every day, at first. Yes, I know I keep saying that, but until you do that, nothing else will happen. Later, when the intensity starts picking up, you'll drop one day a week and call it a rest day. You'll need it then. Not now. Every day, starting today. I'll look to see your name on the registration list at Kona in 5 years.

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