Announcing A Goal - 45 for 50

On Monday, I had decided to establish a tough goal for myself regarding getting into shape. Since consistency is one of the keys to fitness, I decided to set a goal of that involves consistent workouts. Thus, I chose to set the goal of exercising 45 of the 50 days beginning on Monday. That means seven weeks and a day with a maximum miss of one day in 10.

Some people will tell you that establishing a habit takes 30 days. Others will say that basic conditioning takes 6 weeks to achieve. This goal meets both of those criteria.

Here I sit on Wednesday morning, a bit sore and fatigued, puzzled about last night's workout. I had gone to a park, which is supposed to close at dusk, and when I arrived, there was a cop there. He pointed his searchlight at my car, and when I rolled down my window, he asked, "Are you going to walk a dog?" I replied, "I was hoping to walk myself." He said, "Go ahead." So, off I went. I wanted to walk 3 laps of the park, which is 2.4 miles, and expected that it would take about a half-hour. That would give a roughly 12 minute/mile pace. When I finished, I looked at the clock, and it had taken 42 minutes. I was puzzled - Had I walked an extra lap? Had I walked really slowly? I just don't know.

While I doubled on Monday (a workout, followed by a race), that counts only as a single day, thus while I've finished 3 workouts in two days, it counts only as 2 for 2 by my system. (I can't bank exercise.)

A Few Goals

The new year brings a chance to look at ourselves, and I felt that there were a few fitness goals that I need to achieve.

Goal 1: In shape to walk a marathon in April. I'm going to try to wangle myself an invite to walk Boston (there are ways). If I can't manage that, then NJ Shore will probably be my backup. My goal will be low-5 hour range. I'd like to say under 5, but don't think I'll be able to be in that kind of shape by April, so I'll identify my goal as 5:15.

Goal 2: In shape to run a marathon in the fall. I'd like to try to BQ for 2008, but will probably choose to run Steamtown, which I've wanted to run for years. Steamtown has a reputation of being fast, but I've spoken to area people who've run it, and they note that it's a hard marathon unless you're very comfortable with hills. If I come through OK, but don't BQ, then I'll probably try to double with Philly. The five weeks between will likely be adequate to recover IF I pull the plug early if Steamtown starts to come apart.

Those are my fitness goals for 2007. I'd also like to add some upper body strength, and will try to do exercise at least 2x/week.