Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

He quit his job and screwed up his plans to meet his friends in New York for a business meeting. They were killed in the September 11th Attacks and he was home, alive and stunned.

• A Trail Runner’s Blog – A thank you to my fallen 9/11 comrades

It has been a hard couple of weeks here in the U.S. When things seem like they are closing in on you, exercise is a release that can heal you and calm your mind. Scott’s story is just one of many. We have been emotionally healed by sweat and muscle soreness.

I find it fascinating that any blog that starts with the phrase:

“I ran in the rain today and it was g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s!”

Could end with the phrase:

“I must thank God no one was there at the end to witness my 30 second dry-heaving episode.”

• A Passion for Running – get outta my way!

Running has never felt like that for me. There are times after a race that I have felt like I was going to faint because of poor planning on the part of the race directors, but I have never run so fast that I want to barf afterward. I wonder if that means that I’m reasonable or that I’m not pushing myself hard enough.

Running is a joyful thing to me. Pushing myself so hard that I get dry heaves just doesn’t sound appealing. It actually seems like a punishment. It seems like abuse. I know Mark was doing a time test to see if his times have improved since his recovery, but I don’t know if I could ever get to the point where I can say, “The run was glorious,” and “I almost threw up,” in one breath.

I guess we’ll see.

When I read about this, I got really excited. It’s an online user-written system for logging and finding good places to go for a run. I didn’t even finish reading the review of it before I clicked over to see what was there.

• Welcome to Run The Planet

It is a really good idea, but the software leaves it poorly executed. I would have liked to see a spot for real addresses to log where to start and where to park. I would have liked to see maps showing where to run and how many miles the run is. Instead, the few runs that have been posted are vague descriptions with unclear directions.

I think I’ll stick with the Google Pedometer when I find myself in a strange city and need to go on a run. Shucks, it was such a good idea…

Via: Really Useful Fitness Blog – Find Local Running/Walking Trails

I was driving to work and feeling guilty for not waking up early enough to ride my bike. I was stopped at the corner of 2100 South and 700 East when I saw her. She was about my height and looked like she weighed as much as I did when I started exercising. She ran for about ten steps and then walked. Then she ran again for about ten more steps and then walked. She was breathing heavily and my mind flew back to when I first started running.

The light changed. She turned the corner, running ten steps and then falling back into a walk. I drove through the intersection, filled with the memories of running. I remembered looking ahead of me and thinking, “I’ll run to that tree.” I would push as far as I could. Sometimes I would make it to the tree, sometimes it was just too much for me and I had to walk before I reached it. I felt so horrible because I couldn’t just run the entire time.

I couldn’t run every minute of every day, so I spent more time reading about running than actually running. Most of the articles in Runner’s World made no sense to me. They talked about splits and other runner’s jargon. Sometimes I found helpful things, other times I just turned the pages and looked at the pictures of the pretty runners. “That’s what I’ll look like when I run,” I thought to myself.

I remember reading a beginner’s guide to running book that said to run slow. It said to run even slower than that. I tried that on a run. It was one of the few times where I was able to run most of the way. I was working just as hard, but I felt so much better about myself because I was able to run more than I ever had before.

The first time I was able to run without walking was during my first 5K race. My goal was to keep running for the entire race. That was my only goal. I had no time goal. I had no other expectations except to run the entire race. I was able to do it and I felt such a joy at the end. It didn’t matter that a couple of people in the Walker division beat me. All that mattered was that I ran the whole way.

Now, I can run throughout my entire workout. When I’m tired, I run slower. When I’m energized, I run faster. I just feel good that I don’t have to walk. I don’t have to say to myself, “I’ll run as far as that bright yellow fire hydrant.” I can just run.

I felt like screaming, “Run slower,” out my car window at the girl running on 2100 South. I wanted to take her under my wing and tell her that she can do this. She can run every day and someday she will be able to run the entire route. I wanted to tell her to slow down and if she thinks that she is running slow, to run even slower than that. I wanted to tell her the key, but I just drove on past. There’s a whole big world out there waiting for her. I hope she is persistent enough to see it.

Whenever I think of Los Angeles, I think of beautiful, thin people rollerblading by the beach. The idea of being able to go outdoors to exercise whenever I want sounds appealing to me. That’s why I’m floored by the finding that people in states such as mine exercise more than those in tropical climates.

• SportsGeezer: People in Cool Dry Climates Do More Exercise

• The American Journal of Health Behavior – Climate Conditions and Physical Activity in the United States

Ironically, Utah made the top five along with Montana, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Vermont. The least active states: Hawaii, Puerto Rico, North Carolina, Kentucky and Mississippi are all tropical climates. Of course, California didn’t make that list. Probably because of all those bikini-clad rollerbladers on the boardwalk.

I have to shout out an amen to this weblog entry:

• Mary’s fitness blog – What To Do Between Sets

There are times when I go to the gym and every machine I need for the day is filled with someone who is resting. 24 Hour Fitness has a special set of machines in a line that are supposed to be used for Circuit Training, yet I see people using them as regular machines and just sit there, staring off into space, between sets.

I like to get my weight training done quickly, just like Mary. Remember proper gym ettiquette and give someone else a go when you are resting.

This fabulous article goes into depth about the reasons why you may be on a plateau.

• About.com – 10 Reasons You’re not Losing Weight – by Paige Waehner

Here are the basics, but for every item, there is a complete explanation and options to rectify the problem.

1. You’re not exercising enough
2. You’re not getting enough sleep
3. You’re too stressed out
4. You’re eating too much
5. You’re not consistent with your exercise and healthy eating
6. You blow it on the weekends
7. You haven’t given yourself enough time to see results
8. You have a medical condition
9. You’ve hit a plateau
10. You don’t need to lose weight

This is a truly inspiring StrengthCast and well worth the thirty minutes of your time to listen to it. It is an interview with a New York school teacher whose job was to teach physical fitness to his students without a gym. How did he get the aerobic training for his students? He took them into the stairwell.

• Strengthcast – Virgil Aponte

Of course, this program is completely useless to 85% of the listeners in the United States because we live in cities where the buildings rarely exceed three stories. They talk about taking the stairs instead of the elevator as if this were a decision that many of us had to make every day.

Don’t let the inspiration of this StrengthCast get lost in those details, though. The moral of this story is that this man was able to help his students without all that fancy equipment that most of us have access to at the local health spa or recreation center. Where there is a will, there is a way. Don’t let a silly thing like lack of equipment stop you.

This is a great article if you are a regular runner who wants to run faster or longer. They have 21 days of rest and workout for you. It is also supposed to get you in the habit of running, but anyone that can do these workouts is already a regular runner. I wouldn’t recommend these for a beginner.

• 21 Days to Better Running – Runners World – by Doug Rennie

I used to subscribe to Runners World and I found it very useful when I was training for my first 5K. I’ve found that my Treadmill Workout Spreadsheet is more helpful to me now, but I do find the articles and pictures motivating. It’s a good magazine that doesn’t overload you with advertisements.

Via: Fitness News – 21 Days to Better Running

Update 08-28-06: It looks like Runner’s World has pulled this article. It’s a shame because it was a kind of a good one.

The YMCA is helping a lot more than “young men” now. They have devised a fitness plan that forces new participants to start out slow. Instead of hurting and being unable to walk after each workout, new clients are slowly taught the habit of exercise. I think it’s a great idea!

• CNN.com – Program aims to prolong exercise habits – Associated Press

When I started out exercising I just jumped in gung ho. Nothing could stop me. I didn’t care that I was hurting because the only thing that was important to me was losing weight. It took me a long time to learn that exercise is more about making myself healthy so I will live longer. If I’m in pain, that means I overdid it and I need to rest the next day. Taking the softer approach has kept me injury free and able to run, bike and play as much as I want.

Via: About.com – Stick With Your Exercise Program – by Paige Waehner