3-Day For The Cure: Making Time To Train
Jun. 6th, 2011 10:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jayfurrLast week I walked a total of 33 miles spread out over three training walks. I did ten miles one night, six the next, took a couple of days off, then did 17 on Saturday.
And I have to tell you: by about halfway through my training walk on Saturday, I was really feeling it. It's not that Saturday was an especially hot day; it was warm, pleasant, sunny: basically your ideal walking weather. I was just tired. I don't know if it was the result of having done ten and six earlier in the week, or what. Or because I'd been moderately stressed out at work the previous couple of days. Or because I didn't drink enough while walking. It's hard to say precisely why I was tired.
And yet it never crossed my mind to look at my wife, Carole, who was training with me that day, and say "Honey, let's cut this walk short."
It's not as though we really had to walk that day. We're trying to follow the training schedule for the Boston 3-Day in July... but we're not actually signed up to walk that event. We're signed up to crew. And our crew responsibilities will not include walking. Driving a rental truck and picking up tons of garbage? Yes. Walking? No. Carole and I are actually not scheduled to walk in a 3-Day until San Francisco the second weekend in September. We've got tons of time to train.
But we're training now anyway. Why?
Because I've never ever had to cut an actual 3-Day short because I physically couldn't hack it. And because I want to keep that streak going.
Short digression: I'm far from being a jock; I was one of the absolute nerds in high school and the only time I stepped foot on an athletic field was when I had a saxophone in my hands. Marching band, REPRESENT! And today, I work in the software industry as a trainer and programmer... not exactly the kind of occupation that one automatically associates with a Marine drill instructor level of fitness. (Apologies to my co-workers, especially those of you who leave work for an hour each day at work to run. You're the exception to the rule, and I salute you!)
But despite my utter nonjockitude, I've never ridden a sweep van or a sag bus at a 3-Day. Blisters? Yes. I had bad blisters during my first 3-Day in 2008 because I stupidly wore hiking boots instead of running shoes. But even then, I never got swept.
What's my secret?
I DO THE TRAINING. Do I do every mile listed on the recommended training schedule? No. My work schedule doesn't allow me to do exactly the miles specified on exactly the days of the week listed. But in the end, I do get the miles in. I started my training months earlier than I technically needed to because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I spent all summer fundraising, went all the way to San Francisco, and then got so footsore on Day 1 that I got red-carded and had to watch the rest of the event from a sag bus.
Some people think it's okay to show up at a 3-Day and walk 15 miles -- and it is, if you did the training and you had some sort of misadventure that couldn't be helped. But if you told your donors how you were going to do something really incredible, you were gonna kick major butt and walk sixty miles in three days, wouldn't it be kind of lame if you didn't actually do much training and only walked 12?
We all know that the walking is not what cures breast cancer. It's the programs and research paid for by the fundraising that we do. But the determination and drive to walk all those miles is symbolic of how much we care. I believe that it's not enough to talk the talk. I want to walk the walk, too.
But it's easy to talk about the importance of training. It's another thing entirely to cram training into your busy life. Let's face it: it's not easy to find time to train.
If you've got little kids, how do you fit it in? Well, one suggestion is that you swap baby sitting. You get a friend who's doing the 3-Day to watch your kids while you train, and vice versa. I've heard of groups of walkers who take turns being the one who sits out. For that matter, you can use it as a hook for fundraising. I've heard of walkers who raise a lot of their funds by babysitting -- making it clear that they're walking the 3-Day. People can be surprisingly generous when you're sitting for a cause.
What if you've got a long commute home each day? Can you walk for 45 minutes at lunch each day? Could you park your car five miles from home at the end of the day and walk the rest of the way home, then get your spouse to drop you back at the car in the morning? I've done that. Five miles isn't enough for a weekend walk... when you walk on Saturdays your mileage should be steadily increasing as your event gets closer. But it's fine for a Tuesday night.
On Saturdays, heck, you've got chores to do, errands to run, and you don't want to lose your whole day doing a training walk. Why not try getting up early and leaving the house at 6:30 (or earlier, if you can stand it), then walk six miles to a breakfast spot, then walk back again? I've done that too. It was very liberating knowing that I could get the Belgian waffles utterly without guilt because I'd be burning off all those calories, and then some, just walking back home.
There's no end of ways to get your training in. I'd be grateful if those of you reading this would share your 3-Day training tips - I'm always grateful for advice myself, and maybe some other reader will see and benefit from your advice.
Training takes planning and it takes commitment. Tomorrow I'm scheduled to fly from Vermont, through Chicago, through Houston, to scenic Tucson, Arizona. I'll be there for two days, and then I'll retrace my route and come home on Friday. But when I packed for my short trip, I made sure to pack a water bottle, a cap, my heart rate monitor and GPS doodad, good socks and shoes and a wicking t-shirt, and basically everything I'll need for a training walk. It's going to be NINETY NINE DEGREES on Wednesday with a nighttime low of 65. But I'm going to train. I may only do four miles in a loop near my hotel so I can bail if I get too hot, but I'm going to walk.
If I want to kick butt in September on those San Francisco hills, I've got to train now. Ultimately, those tired days will become fewer and fewer and the days where the miles just fly by will be more and more the rule.
And I have to tell you: by about halfway through my training walk on Saturday, I was really feeling it. It's not that Saturday was an especially hot day; it was warm, pleasant, sunny: basically your ideal walking weather. I was just tired. I don't know if it was the result of having done ten and six earlier in the week, or what. Or because I'd been moderately stressed out at work the previous couple of days. Or because I didn't drink enough while walking. It's hard to say precisely why I was tired.
And yet it never crossed my mind to look at my wife, Carole, who was training with me that day, and say "Honey, let's cut this walk short."
It's not as though we really had to walk that day. We're trying to follow the training schedule for the Boston 3-Day in July... but we're not actually signed up to walk that event. We're signed up to crew. And our crew responsibilities will not include walking. Driving a rental truck and picking up tons of garbage? Yes. Walking? No. Carole and I are actually not scheduled to walk in a 3-Day until San Francisco the second weekend in September. We've got tons of time to train.
But we're training now anyway. Why?
Because I've never ever had to cut an actual 3-Day short because I physically couldn't hack it. And because I want to keep that streak going.
Short digression: I'm far from being a jock; I was one of the absolute nerds in high school and the only time I stepped foot on an athletic field was when I had a saxophone in my hands. Marching band, REPRESENT! And today, I work in the software industry as a trainer and programmer... not exactly the kind of occupation that one automatically associates with a Marine drill instructor level of fitness. (Apologies to my co-workers, especially those of you who leave work for an hour each day at work to run. You're the exception to the rule, and I salute you!)
But despite my utter nonjockitude, I've never ridden a sweep van or a sag bus at a 3-Day. Blisters? Yes. I had bad blisters during my first 3-Day in 2008 because I stupidly wore hiking boots instead of running shoes. But even then, I never got swept.
What's my secret?
I DO THE TRAINING. Do I do every mile listed on the recommended training schedule? No. My work schedule doesn't allow me to do exactly the miles specified on exactly the days of the week listed. But in the end, I do get the miles in. I started my training months earlier than I technically needed to because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I spent all summer fundraising, went all the way to San Francisco, and then got so footsore on Day 1 that I got red-carded and had to watch the rest of the event from a sag bus.
Some people think it's okay to show up at a 3-Day and walk 15 miles -- and it is, if you did the training and you had some sort of misadventure that couldn't be helped. But if you told your donors how you were going to do something really incredible, you were gonna kick major butt and walk sixty miles in three days, wouldn't it be kind of lame if you didn't actually do much training and only walked 12?
We all know that the walking is not what cures breast cancer. It's the programs and research paid for by the fundraising that we do. But the determination and drive to walk all those miles is symbolic of how much we care. I believe that it's not enough to talk the talk. I want to walk the walk, too.
But it's easy to talk about the importance of training. It's another thing entirely to cram training into your busy life. Let's face it: it's not easy to find time to train.
If you've got little kids, how do you fit it in? Well, one suggestion is that you swap baby sitting. You get a friend who's doing the 3-Day to watch your kids while you train, and vice versa. I've heard of groups of walkers who take turns being the one who sits out. For that matter, you can use it as a hook for fundraising. I've heard of walkers who raise a lot of their funds by babysitting -- making it clear that they're walking the 3-Day. People can be surprisingly generous when you're sitting for a cause.
What if you've got a long commute home each day? Can you walk for 45 minutes at lunch each day? Could you park your car five miles from home at the end of the day and walk the rest of the way home, then get your spouse to drop you back at the car in the morning? I've done that. Five miles isn't enough for a weekend walk... when you walk on Saturdays your mileage should be steadily increasing as your event gets closer. But it's fine for a Tuesday night.
On Saturdays, heck, you've got chores to do, errands to run, and you don't want to lose your whole day doing a training walk. Why not try getting up early and leaving the house at 6:30 (or earlier, if you can stand it), then walk six miles to a breakfast spot, then walk back again? I've done that too. It was very liberating knowing that I could get the Belgian waffles utterly without guilt because I'd be burning off all those calories, and then some, just walking back home.
There's no end of ways to get your training in. I'd be grateful if those of you reading this would share your 3-Day training tips - I'm always grateful for advice myself, and maybe some other reader will see and benefit from your advice.
Training takes planning and it takes commitment. Tomorrow I'm scheduled to fly from Vermont, through Chicago, through Houston, to scenic Tucson, Arizona. I'll be there for two days, and then I'll retrace my route and come home on Friday. But when I packed for my short trip, I made sure to pack a water bottle, a cap, my heart rate monitor and GPS doodad, good socks and shoes and a wicking t-shirt, and basically everything I'll need for a training walk. It's going to be NINETY NINE DEGREES on Wednesday with a nighttime low of 65. But I'm going to train. I may only do four miles in a loop near my hotel so I can bail if I get too hot, but I'm going to walk.
If I want to kick butt in September on those San Francisco hills, I've got to train now. Ultimately, those tired days will become fewer and fewer and the days where the miles just fly by will be more and more the rule.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
great post!
Date: 2011-06-07 11:13 am (UTC)I try to plan out my walking for the week each Sunday. It's my way of reflecting on my priorities for the coming week, and figure out how I can squeeze in the mileage I need that week. Right now, we're walking early on Tuesdays and Thursdays (out the door at 5:40 a.m.) and doing longer walks on Saturday and Sunday (leaving closer to 8 a.m.). But we do try to get in what we can, when we can ... my sister's able to get in a quick two-mile walk during lunch some days; I like to get in a quick walk at the gym on Wednesday.
some things that have helped me train
Date: 2011-06-07 01:58 pm (UTC)- Failing that, an iPod or similar.
- MapMyRun.com for mapping out/saving routes and recording exercise.
- Accepting that the perfect training weather rarely occurs, sucking it up, and training anyway, with the promise of a lovely shower or bath afterward.