As you know, I’ve been trying to make some healthier changes lately in the spirit of spring. Meaning…. I really need to get back into shape after taking the winter off.

Who would have thought that it is HARD to get back into shape!? Makes me wish I had put a little more effort in during the winter. But whatever, I’ll just have to put the effort in now.

In pursuit of training with more effort – I also want to trainsmarter. I have been constantly re-evaluating my training priorities of what works – but what is also realistic (for me).

The Gym Sitch:

For starters, I haven’t been to the gym in months. (When I run, I have been running outside.)

When my outdoor run last week was nixed due to a crazy downpour, I decided I needed a better plan B to outside. Though I could drive to my gym before, it was still about a 10-15 minute drive away – and let’s be honest, that can seem like a pretty big hurdle when on the couch. 😉

I moved in November and now in my new neighborhood there is a gym right down the street from me. So last week, I finally bit the bullet: quit my old gym and  joined the new one! And it’s $10 bucks cheaper than my old gym, so that’s not another pro! I’m already so glad I joined the new gym because I can walk right to it and there’s tons of cool classes. Plus, outdoor runs may be coming to a close soon as the pollen reveals its evil self…

The Goal Sitch: 

I say goal instead of race…because I get weirded out about races. I am a slow-ass-runner, and races stress me out. As far as running goes, I still have a lot to learn after the handful of races I’ve done in the past two years. After my last half marathon, I was beginning to lose sight of why I started running in the first place: for my health (both physical AND mental).

When I started to resent training on an exact schedule and beating myself up for not being an Olympian speedster, I swore to zen running.  I needed to stop obsessing over the lap times on my Garmin and just have fun. I thought that would happen when I took races out of the equation.

The problem is – when I take races out of the equation, I don’t have a goal. And when I don’t have a goal, I don’t run.

Luckily, my friend Stephy reminded me that the Capitol Hill 10K is coming up next month.

I loved running it last year and am thinking it is the perf race goal to get me back into the running groove. My goal is the usual: run the whole thing and don’t die!

In the meantime, I have been running 3 miles several times a week and and plan bumping up the mileage each week according to Hal Higdon’s novice 10K training plan.

 

 

Here’s to getting back into shape this spring!

Do you have any races coming up?

Is your gym close by to where you live?