The Beginning
JJ and I ran a Warrior Dash on 6-10-12. Our overall time was 1:08:03. While not spectacular, we finished with our goals (finish, no major injuries, stick together) intact, and with something we didn't expect: a weird love of these ridiculous obstacle races. We decided that we wanted to do it again, and that we wanted to use our love for these as motivation to train ourselves into some good shape.
I don't love running. At all. I figure part of this is because I'm really bad at it. I bought some awesome new shoes that I was fitted for, so I'm hoping that will help, and I'm working on building up to it. I don't think I can currently run a mile at a steady pace. I can walk at a good pace for a very long time, but that's not my goal. I also have quite a bit of hip pain when I run. I'm hoping that building up the muscles around my hips and losing weight will help my hip joints feel better.
I have decent lower body strength, but I also hold my weight in my lower body. I have very poor upper body strength--I can't even do one push-up. Okay, that's not quite true; I can do 12 or 15 from the knees.
My overall fitness goals are to be able to do a pull-up (I'll settle for a chin-up or neutral grip pull-up, I'm not picky) and to run an 8 minute mile.
I'm working and taking summer classes, and also have several trips planned for this summer. This fall I will be working 32 hours a week, taking a full load of grad school classes, and doing 17 hours a week at an internship. All of that to say that I'm intending to eat well, and to take exercise where I can get it: every time I get up to go to the bathroom I'll do pushups, squats, and run a set of stairs. I've also bought a 10 lb kettlebell and will do 20-30 minutes of kettlebell exercises at home 2-3 days a week, and run 3 days a week, building up to run a 10K non-stop using Couch to 10K.
My first day home I walked 2.5 miles (to the library, then to dinner and the grocery store, then home) and gave myself some solid blisters on the bottom of my feet. Yesterday I took it easy, and today I'm working on strength building. If I finish my homework, I'll go for a short run this evening.
-JH
