Sunday, February 15, 2009

A New Plan

I've always done better at sticking to a work out plan when I'm training for a specific event. The last event I trained for was my second degree black belt test. I worked out pretty hard for six weeks, and although I did see some improvement in my cardiovascular fitness, I didn't see the numbers on the scale go down any.

Right now, I'm the heaviest I've ever been (about 176 give or take, depending upon the scale I use), and I'm tired of it. I still want to continue to improve my fitness and lose weight. So I need a new plan.

The other day, my yougest sister gave me a flyer for the 3rd annual local marathon, which also includes a half marathon and 5-K and will be held on July 12. A friend and I had talked two years ago about trying to run the half marathon. 13 miles is twice as far than either of us had ever run, but we figured we could easily do a combination of running and walking and still finish in the time allotted. And then nothing came of it.

This year is different. The half marathon is going to be my goal. I have five months to train, and I'm going to sign up for an inexpensive group training program offered by a local running group that starts in three weeks. The minimum run length, according to their web site, is 2 miles. I can get up to that in three weeks.

My ultimate goal will be to lose 20 pounds and finish the half-marathon in under 3 hours.

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