Running to catch up with the wagon

Since I set out upon this goal...yesterday...I've done quite a bit of research into what needs to be done. And by research, I mean half-heartedly perusing websites on a half-marathon training program before deciding that I will use them as a guide as opposed to an absolute.

The first order of business was to get some new kicks since I couldn't remember the last time I bought new running shoes, which just proves how much I've cared about my running in the past. As I should be in the market for a little menisectomy, I decided that new shoes would be cheaper than knee surgery.

Next was to decide what diet I was going to do first. I looked into the Blood Type Diet (although I'm a little miffed that I will have to buy the whole book even though I only have one blood type), and since I'm not ready to give up bacon (yet, as it calls for the complete relinquishing of delicious salty pork), I decided I'd jump start this whole eating right thing with a modified 3-day detox. As the traditional detox calls for nothing but juice and fruit, and I need my protein, I decided to cut out red meat, cheese, sweets, alcohol (SERIOUSLY), and just stick to chicken, salads, veggies, fruit, and brown rice. My chicken is brining right now, we'll see how adventurous I get with cooking it. I'm not cutting out coffee totally, but definitely going to try to insert more tea into the diet.



Onto the workout. Like I said, I haven't really been a runner before. I ran track in high school, if you call "running track" doing the first and last race of the day and spending the rest of the time flirting with the pole vaulters. I am known to run every now and again, but not consistently. Since it was a beautiful day here, I decided to walk to the gym (not run, because I don't want to get shin splints). The walking distance to the gym is a half-mile. Once there, I hopped on the treadmill and ran for 1 mile at a 10-minute mile pace. I could have probably done more, but I just wanted an idea of where my baseline was. I also weighed myself, and topped out at 136.4 lbs (with workout clothes and shoes on). This isn't a bad weight for me, but there are parts of my body I'm hoping will change.

I can't give up my weight workouts completely, but I am very tired of my traditional 4 exercises per body part, one body part per day. There is no rhyme or reason to my workouts, although I traditionally incorporate pyramiding. Since I'm looking to increase my endurance, I opted to do German Volume Training which is basically 10 sets at 10 reps each. Again, I modified it to fit my needs, doing only two exercises for my back, but mixing up the grips or weight placement. Of course, I kept forgetting which set I was on, which is one of the difficulties of this workout.

Here was my workout:

Lat Pulldowns on the cable machine
Overhand wide grip- 5 sets at 10 reps, 40 lbs
Underhand close grip- 5 sets at 10 reps, 50 lbs

Seated Rows on the Hammer Strength machine
10 sets at 10 reps, 50 lbs (moving the weight from the outside in)

Plie Squats and Deadlifts Supersets
5 sets at 10 reps each, 20 lbs

Crunches
5 sets at an average of 22 per set (as part of the 200 situps program on the iPhone)

Bridges
5 sets at 20 reps each.

All and all, not a bad start, although we'll see how I feel tomorrow after my first full day of the detox, which started at 4 p.m.