I struggle with depression. Some people don’t know this about me. I am on medication. I work really hard to be as healthy mentally as possible. But, it is a struggle. No doubt about it, it can wear me down.
However, I have to say that the past year or so has been a lot better. There have been fewer really bad days. And that is a good thing. And I think that there is one thing that I am sure that has helped me and that is running. I can’t say that I wake up and itch to jog or anything crazy like that. But, I do feel better after a jog. It gives me time alone. It pumps the endorphins. And, I hear it’s good for weight loss (although, you really can’t tell by looking at me).
One of the things that I *need* if I want to keep going as far as running is a goal. Last year, it was my first half marathon. After that one, I signed up for a couple more so I couldn’t slack on the training. Now, I’m working towards being able to jog all 13.1 miles next November without doing intervals (for the ones I’ve run so far I’ve done 8 minutes of jogging, 2 of walking throughout the whole course).
And I am very excited that the husband has now signed up for his first half early next year!!!
While I’m working away, my mom actually asked me about training, too. She’s considering doing her first half 🙂
So, I wanted to share a few links that I use.
First, to find a run near you check out www.active.com
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Ack!
I just re-read this post and saw that half of what I’d typed is missing. I am guessing I was a victim of myself–not saving my changes.
Anyhow, there are a few things that were left out!
If you’re just starting to jog/run, I highly reccomend a program called “Couch to 5k”. If you google, you’ll find a bunch of hits and sites that talk about this program. It’s 9 weeks long and uses intervals to build up to being able to run 30 minutes straight. If you jog with a ipod or MP3 player, search for podcasts and you’ll find a bunch that will guide you through each workout. Now, I know I *just* said that it’s 9 weeks long, but I encourage you to make it your own. Personally, I’ve always been able to skip the first couple of weeks–even though I’ve not always been a runner, I’ve always done some cardio so I was able to skip ahead. Also, you may find that some weeks are just too tough. It’s just fine to repeat a week. I fall back on the intervals for nearly all of my long runs and used intervals for all of my half marathons (I’ve jogged 8 minutes walked 2 for the whole 13.1 miles!). So, go take a look–http://www.c25k.com/
After you’ve mastered the 5k you can move onto a 10k or start your marathon training 🙂
For marathons I’ve always been told that Hal Higdon is “the man”. Don’t ask me his story or anything like that (I don’t research these things, I just go for it! Ha!).. But, he has some awesome training plans. Check out his site (http://www.halhigdon.com/) for his training plans.
Now, as I built up my distances I needed more info.. I’ve turned to a few running magazines and blogs.. I don’t think it really matters where you look as long as you trust the source and make sure that you’re not taking on more than your body can handle.
I would love to hear if you are doing any races or runs or resources that you use for your training!
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