Wednesday, January 17, 2007

A great big thank-you …

to the recent commenter who recommended Marathoning for Mortals to me. That link takes you to Amazon, where you can order it. This link takes you to a website for the book, with FAQs, the authors' backgrounds and non-Amazon ordering information.

[I looked through half a dozen old posts, searching for the person's name who recommended it to me, and still haven't found it. You deserve more credit than I'm able to give you here!]

It came in the mail yesterday, and I've only read the first chapter and am hooked. Bingham calls himself an "adult-onset athlete," and that's exactly how I feel. Well, today, anyway. Heh.

Of course this means yet another training decision. The MfM half-marathon training lasts 14 weeks and includes two rest days per week. I think to meet my weight-loss goals I need to do some kind of exercise every day. Perhaps they talk about that later in the book. Perhaps I'll just do something crazy like, oh, not rest on a rest day. Gasp. So I'm in the process of deciding whether to switch regimens yet again. The race is 101 days from today; 14 weeks is 98 days. Opinions?

I'm getting kind of a late start – for me – this morning because I actually slept all night. From 10 p.m. until 7 a.m. Gasp again. I've had such trouble sleeping lately and am more likely to be up at 4 or 5 a.m. than I am to be sleeping. I was surprised when I opened my eyes to find the dawn of a new day already breaking over the mountains to the east. Since what I tried last night seemed to work, I'm going to try it again.

The one thing I took away from the Oprah-and-Bob-fest Monday was their advice to stop eating two hours before bedtime. Well, that was Bob's advice. Oprah declared that her rule was to stop eating at 7:30 p.m. Debbi decided 7 p.m. was late enough which, essentially, means the kitchen closes after dinner.

I've been gradually sliding into snacking in the evening over the past couple of months. It started out just a couple times a week, but lately has become a regular habit, and one I want to stop. Since the first reward was a good night's sleep, you can bet I'll be trying it again.

I feel like a scientist. Heh.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Don't run every day, but your "rest" day could be walking or yoga or swimming if you want it to be.

Running too many days a week WILL destroy your body. Too many days varies by individual, but it's safe to think that you need at least two days off running per week, maybe more. Take it from someone who gave herself tendonitis trying to train for a marathon.

Anonymous said...

Stopping eating 2 hours before bed is some advice I got for treating heartburn or GERD. Actually, the advice was to not eat for at least 2 hours before bed, and to sit up straight, and not lean too far back or slumped after eating. All to protect the espohagus from gastric juices.

A good relaxing yoga session really isn't working out hard, but it also isn't resting. A good alternative to doing nothing.

Kit said...

That was me! :) Glad it is encouraging you; I started the program but life got in the way, dagnabit - maybe next year. It is excellent but they do say that on rest days you are to REST, so your body can recover. If you really want activity on rest days, probably some yoga or pilates would be good - nothing too strenuous.

keep at it, I'm rooting for you!