Tracking my wanderlust need to get out of town once a month

Track my O progress here

SIX MONTH EVALUATION

May 3rd was half way to my goal: the US Champs are only 6 months away. I thought it would be a good time to evaluate how my physical training is going.

Six months ago, I was barely exercising. I thought I could get in good shape in one year. I thought I had increased my exercise time, so my fitness should be improving.

An objective look at the data, however, is disappointing. The Bad News: Last October, I exercised/O'd for 730 minutes for the month. This April, I exercised/O'd for 636 minutes. No improvement. I ran a 5K last October in 35 minutes; I ran one today in 38 minutes. I haven't lost one pound of weight. The Good News: I have seen some modest improvement in my resting HR and the Step Test results. I can run, rather than walk, at times during O races. I recover faster than I used to. Overall, however, I would have to give myself a "C" grade for the past six months.

What do I need to do to improve?

1. Increase exercise time. My average minutes per week has not changed since October. It's still around 155 minutes. I have decided to stop tracking weekly time, and switch to monthly. My goal now is to increase monthly exercise time by 10% each month. My goal, then, for May is 700 minutes. So far, my Monthly Time (MT) = 72.

2. Do more long, slow exercise sessions. I think I did too much hard training this past few months (mostly O races). I'd like to get a good base of fitness in the next few months, so I'll concentrate on longer sessions at lower HR (65-75 % max). This should be easier, since the local O season is over.

3. Lift weights.

4. Evaluate my progress in three months. I think I would have changed my training if I had looked at my stats three months ago. Six months is too long to wait for feedback and modification of a training program.

5. Get other people's feedback. If any reader has other ideas/opinions/viewpoints on my training and plans, I'd love to hear them. Please send me an email at maprunner@juno.com.




posted by Mary 5:06 PM [edit]