Within the past month, I’ve seen several of my running buds make comments on Facebook about beginning to train. And it got me thinking about when I should start training. I have been running pretty regularly, but I would call that exercising, not training.
And then I began to ponder the difference. I finally concluded that training just means you’re taking it seriously, following a plan, tracking your progress, and working toward a goal.
With that definition in mind, I decided to make this past week my first official week of training. And now I have a few more differentiators between exercising and training:
1. I am always tired. I love it when I am in bed before 10 at night. Because I run early. I could sleep 8 hours a night, take a mid-morning nap, and an afternoon nap if my schedule allowed. Fortunately, I work from home just about every day, so on some days I do manage a 20-minute power nap.
2. My body hurts in all kinds of places. My arms, my legs, my shoulders, my legs. I blame CrossBoot for the upper-body soreness. That class is one I love to hate. I took it on Friday morning, and I am still not completely back to normal. Some of that will go away, but not the sore legs. Man, do I remember back in the day when I was training for Chicago, and then Boston. I would run before work and as I walked into the office EVERYBODY passed me. I could barely move some mornings after a good track or hill workout. And don’t even talk to me about legs after a long run. Just thinking about that upcoming goodness makes me question my insanity for embarking upon this again.
3. I truly love mealtime! And it’s really difficult not to snack in between meals now that I am burning more calories. But when I do, I simply recall how hard I am working so that I don’t wreck it all with the wrong food choices. Fruit, veggies, yogurt, and eggs are a big huge part of my diet once again. Oh, and bananas. They should be in a food group all on their own. So versatile and so delicious!
4. I am happier. Training gives me a sense of accomplishment. I ran seven miles this morning. SEVEN! That’s a long way. I will be running much greater distances as I get closer to the Ragnar (Ultra) Relay. But for now, for me, seven was a big deal.
Looking forward to week #2 of training and can’t wait to see how I progress from one week to the next. It’s on!
