Two Weeks to a Habit (Running Style)

Today's Google Search

Seems like I have always heard that it just takes two weeks of doing things for them to become a habit. So I thought I'd see who said that first. The image to the left is my attempt at answering that question.

Today is the 20th day of the year. We've just about finished 3 weeks so anything you (or I) started as a New Year's resolution could (and should) be, now, a habit. How are you doing?

Yesterday I went to the track and completed day one of the 4th week of the 5K 101 Program. I have run this program 3 times a week (Sun/Tue/Thu) for three straight weeks. I also do a couple mile run (if you can call it that) each Saturday. That run is done without stopping to walk like the schedule in the 5K 101 program and is done around our local community college campus.

It used to be that I "wouldn't lace 'em up for less than a 3 mile run." Now I'd kill to be able to run, really run, 3 miles.  I started running because of the Navy physical fitness requirement while I was in college. And, from my 19th birthday until sometime in my early 30's I did dozens of 5K's, 10k's, Half Marathons and Marathons. I wasn't fast, but I could average better than 8 minute miles for any distance less than 20 miles.

Now I'm on the long road back to running for fun. Yes for fun. I used to love running. I'd wave or nod to everyone I passed by and I'd sing to myself while listening to whatever music was coming through my headset.  Now it's more painful than fun but something interesting happened yesterday on the track. I smiled. And I didn't spend time looking down at my feet (embarrassed for being so slow and so fat). My time per lap wasn't any faster than last Thursday but there was something different about this run - I was (almost) enjoying myself.

Two weeks to a habit.  My 4 day per week running plan is now a habit. As a matter of fact I'm looking out the door at this beautiful day and wishing I didn't need to take the day off from running (my 60+ pounds of excess tonnage isn't good for my joints).  But I'll definitely go for a walk later. I need to keep those legs moving.

I hope each of you has found that one thing that you have made a habit this year. If you haven't, yet, found something to create a habit around remember - it only takes two weeks to become a habit (or is it three?....)

A Workout For The New Year

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ms4denmark/

     You get home and you are exhausted or you want to get up and do something but don't have a lot of time before getting ready for school.  If you want to walk and/or run as part of your workout then this might work for you.  I did mine at lunch today to start the new year right.

     I started doing this workout a couple of years ago to get myself back into running.  When I started I had a hard time running a lap on the track and I was 70 pounds overweight.  Today I'm not much better but I do try to do a monthly 5K and I'm only about 50 pounds overweight.  So you can do this.

     This will get you through 2+ miles (if you can run at least one lap) and will get you about a mile and a half if you can only walk a lap.  The goal is to keep moving for about 30 minutes.  So, if you are faster then adjust by adding some distance to this and I'll explain that at the end.

Here's the workout and I'll explain after:

          1.  Jog (or walk) one lap on a track (or for 4 or 5 minutes) at an easier pace than you do for a 5K.(Note 1)

          2.  Do 10 pushups concentrating on form. (Note 2)

          3.  Walk a half of a lap (or for 3 minutes).

          4.  Run (or walk at a quicker pace) to the end of the lap (Note 1)

          5.  Do 9 pushups concentrating on form. (Note 2)

          6.  Walk a half of a lap (or for 3 minutes).

          7.  Run (or walk) the straight part of the track at faster than a 5K pace (Note 1) then walk to the end of this lap.

          8.  Do 8 pushups concentrating on form. (Note 2)

          9.  Run (or walk) the straight part of the track at faster than a 5K pace (Note 1) then walk the curved part of the track.  Then run the second straight and walk the final curve to the end of this lap.

        10.  Do 7 pushups concentrating on form. (Note 2)

        11.  Repeat steps 1 - 10 with decreasing pushups at the end of each lap (6,5,4,3 pushups).

        12.  At the end you may want to walk one complete lap as a cool down.  Total time should be between 25 and 35 minutes depending on your speed.

NOTE 1:  The running/jogging/walking will be at various speeds. I try to do this on a track.  I run the first lap at a slower than 5K pace and I start at the beginning of one of the straight-aways.  My "formula" has you run a complete 1st lap, run half and walk half for the 2nd lap, run only the second straight-away on the 3rd lap and run both of the straight-aways on the final lap.  The straights are done at a faster than normal 5K pace.  I like to run in lane 1 (or 2 if there are faster runners) for the 1st  and 5th lap, lane 2 for the 2nd and 6th lap, etc.  This will help you keep track of the lap you are on.

NOTE 2:  The pushups are done at the end of each lap or at the end of every 3 to 5 minutes (depending on the speed).  You start with 10, then decrease by one for each lap.  This may be a lot in the beginning but is a small enough number that you can really focus on good form.  You may always increase the number once you can do them all with great form.  At the end you will have done 52 pushups.

     Finally, once you are comfortably doing this workout with all of the pushups and you are consistently below 30 minutes you will want to add distance to complete a full 30 minutes.  I like to add full laps at a 5K pace.  If you get to the point that you are running 3 miles and completing all of the pushups start adding additional pushups or some other exercise to work your upper body or core.

     Happy New Year and hope you find this useful.  I'll be back talking about PBL in the next post.