Goal #1....

My first goal is to increase my flexibility and overall mobility. My plan to achieve this is to enroll in a basic yoga class and attend once a week for one hour. I will also practice at home 2 times a week for at least 30 minutes.

I really like yoga. Last year I did a three day retreat at a Yoga center on Salt Spring Island. It was awesome. I felt spriritually and physically connected. I think that I need to create this openess in my body in order to be a strong runner.

The class runs from January until April so my deadline for increased flexibility and mobility will be at the end of this course.

This will be an important element of my training and I am definitely looking forward to it!

Executing a Game Plan...

According to Greenberg et al. (2004), achieving fitness goals is dependent on taking the time to first identify your goals. Physical Fitness & Wellness goes on to to identify two important components of goal setting; being realistic and periodically assessing your progress. When I teach goal setting to my first year massage therapy students I expand on this formula to give them the following criteria for goal setting:

1)A goal should have a specific objective

2) A goal has a specific outcome

3) A goal has a targeted deadline

4) A goal should be re-evaluated periodically

5) A goal should not be overly rigid

It is these principles that I will apply to my postpartum fitness program. I am over the next week going to introduce one goal each day. These initial goals are to carry through into the month of March 2007. At this point I will need to reassess my fitness and adjust my goals according to my capabilities and my desire to compete in several road races in the coming months.

Running Hot & Cold

Today I am thinking a lot about motivation. What makes me tick as a person and "athlete". Since I am one of those people that has been "blessed with the gift of guilt" I use my so called shame to get me out the door on days when I really don't feel like training. Today was a prime example. It is boxing day (the day after Christmas for those of you who don't know) which was the first strike against getting out there. I mean who wants to go for a run after twenty four hours of eating rich but tasty food and lazing about the house? Strike two? I am so tired!! Not only am I waking every three to four hours to feed my new baby at night last night we were treated to a puking two year old. If I wasn't nursing a hungry newborn I was mopping up vomit and consoling a very freaked out toddler. Strike three, you ask? My six year old gave us all the gift of a Christmas cold which she contracted courtesy of her germy peers at school. I have been blowing my nose constantly and feeling a little congested. Not ideal physical conditions for a workout and the final nail in the coffin. Suffice it to say I really did not want to go to the gym today.

So I didn't.....

When my husband came home from enjoying a post Christmas shopping spree at the hardware store he reported that it was absolutely gorgeous outside. No wind and very mild. A rarity in this city. So I opted for a nice outdoor run with my favorite jogging partner; our black lab aka Balin.

The run was to say the least not one of my best. I could feel my nose leaking and with my overly exuberant doggie pulling me along I found I had to do lots of intermittent walking to fend off a stitch. Instead of the 5km I planned on I shaved the run down to a very modest 4km at a VERY slow pace.

So what is the point of this? I guess I am still happy that I went. There are good runs and bad runs. Quick paces and slow days. Workouts when I feel on top of the world and others when I feel like I'm at the bottom of the barrel. But the moral of this happy little tale is that regardless of what kind of run I have it is always better than nothing. So God Bless my guilty conscience. It's kept me going when I have one excuse too many to stay home.

Eye Spy

In academic research a confounder is something that makes it difficult to proceed with your research. Yesterday I stumbled across just such a variable that is going to slightly impair my ability to stay on task with my postpartum return to training & fitness.

I had what I thought would be a routine eye doctor's appointment yesterday. I am quite nearsighted and have relied on the magic of contact lenses for 17 years now. Well I was pretty surprised to learn that the brand of contacts I have been using for the past two years are considered "old school" technology and actually harming my eyes. I have an eye infection and some scarring on my cornea. The optometrist assures me that both are temporary and reversible but meanwhile I am stuck wearing my ancient and ineffective glasses to give my eyes a rest. I suppose I could get some kind of nerdy looking strap to secure them on my head while I train but I know I am just not going to be comfortable working out in my specs. Anyway I am slightly delayed with my training plans. I am going to continue with abdominal work and stretching at home while I heal but this feels insignificant.

Looking on the bright side this unavoidable detour on my path to retraining will give me some more time to revise and perfect my training goals. I am hoping that this blog will serve as a record of my attempt to train to run a marathon by this July in spite of the confounder of having a new born baby to care for. If I'm meticulous enough with my goal setting and documenting my progress I just might be able to craft this little project into a great independent study toward my exercise science degree.

I want to be followed....

I love being a mother and am especially thrilled to have 3 girls. Like all parents I have dreams for my daughters as they grow up. One of these dreams is that like me, my girls will grow to love running. I look forward to sharing with them the thrill of a run at dawn on a summer morning or during a gentle spring rain. I want the pictures of the 4 of us in our running clothes and race bibs smiling together. Most of all I hope that they will learn to love running as a means to a healthy lifestyle. I think all parents want their children to grow up and live a healthy lifestyle. Running is something that I do for myself but I also do it with the hope that my girls will follow my lead and set off on a path to a long & prosperous life. Whenever I'm feeling unmotivated I try to remind myself that there are three little people watching me. This above all else keeps me going

Runnin Fool

I am famous for my love of running. I have even sparked an underground movement of running minions here in Lethbridge. My friend Heidi has immortalized me with the "Jenny Davis running program" and is now religiously recruiting new initiates with cult like zeal. Given this you can just imagine how hard it was for me to slow down and take time off during the last trimester of my pregnancy.

Yesterday marked my return to running with my first postpartum workout. At 26 days postpartum I knew I had to take it easy but once I had my ipod cranked up and started to feel the first thrill of that runners high, my quick 20 minutes on the treadmill grew to 35 at a moderate pace.

I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that I wasn't gasping for breath or doubled over with a painful stitch. Apparently my weeks of sitting on the couch and scarfing fudgeeos wasn't as detrimental as I anticipated.

Now I am really looking forward to getting back in shape for the spring running season. I have already committed myself to two runs (a 10km & 8km) and completing the run during a local triathlon as part of a team. Brad says that I should be happy with the fact that I am back doing what I love but I can't help but allow my competitive tendencies to shine. I think competing with my PRs is one of the things I love best about this sport.