Swell Fitness: I Walked and Walked and Walked

The date on my last post was August of 2011. I miss writing, but my focus has been on my outside jobs for the past almost-year. I'd like to get back into the swing of things, make regular post updates. Today is the first....

Yesterday, I was looking at Pins and I saw one that said something along the lines of  "Tomorrow is June 1st. Start it strong." I somehow lost track of the page that held the pin (dang!), but the idea stuck in my head. I spoke with my girl, Sarah, about getting busy with the fitness and she was game.

Cut to today.... I work a number of jobs. One of them is landscaping at a nearby ranch. My husband is the ranch hand and sometimes I help with the ranch end, rather than the landscaping end. We have an outbreak of Marlahan Mustard in our area. It's an invasive, noxious weed that crowds out the plants that are supposed to be in the area (as in hay or grain). My job was to walk the ranch (it's a good-sized place) with a shovel and cut the plants "crown" off. I did this for 5 hours, walking up and down each field, in close-ish lines, in order to not miss any of the mustard plants. I'm estimating that I walked at least 12.5 miles in that time. With a shovel in my hand. I was walking at a decent pace, but I had to stop and dig the plants out over and over, so it slowed me down a bit. I was so proud of my hard work - heck yeah, I started June strong..... then my husband called me. He said our puppy was lost (I was home, eating lunch), and he needed me to come back to the ranch and help him search for her, plus the cows got out and we needed to move them as well. Ouch.

It took us almost 4 hours, but we finally found her and put the cows back where they belonged. I'm estimating that I walked close to 18 miles throughout both the mustard and puppy searches, but I entered in 15.5 at Daily Mile.com.  I like to be conservative with my mileage estimates, because it's important to me to earn each and every mile.

Okay, so this was a post... maybe not the most exciting, but it's a step in the right direction. Have a great day!

Swell Fitness: Siskiyou Century

I'm a lapsed runner and a sometimes biker. I'd like to get back into both in the next month, as the weather starts cooling down around here (I'm in Northern California). My first goal will be completing the short leg - 37 miles - of the Siskiyou Century ride, which runs very close to my house.

I've found that having a goal helps to keep me on track.  I used to keep running notebooks, just your average cheapo single theme spiral-bound book, and I'd staple my race numbers inside. It felt good to keep a running count of my mileage, thinking, wow, that's almost all the way to Sacramento, etc. 

One of the easiest ways to keep track is DailyMile.com.  I've probably mentioned it before, but that's because I find it to be a great tool. You can connect it with your Twitter and Facebook account which I find helps to keep me accountable as well as helping to connect me with friends who have similar interests.

Are you active?  If so, what motivates you? 

Swell Fitness: Running Mantras

I've mentioned before that I'm a runner. I'm sure that I've also mentioned that it's never easy for me. I have few truly "easy" runs, but at the end of the run, that feeling of accomplishment makes each and every one truly worth it.

To deal with the challenges of running, I've found a few things that work well for me. For example, I like to measure a run in short laps or short distances, hit repeatedly, in order to make my way through the miles. That way I can tell myself, I'm a 1/10 of the way there, 1/4 of the way there, etc. Another trick I use is I repeat mantras to myself.

Deepak Chopra explains the way a mantra helps here.......

You can use a mantra (sound) to increase the benefit of exercise. Research with instruments such as the electroencephalograph or EEC, which measures electrical activity in the brain, has shown that certain mental states are beneficial to both physical and mental health. Specifically, researchers have found a very beneficial condition of “restful attention,” which is typically observed during meditation.

Simply put - a mantra is a form of meditation.

I'm not sure how "restful" my mantras are, as one of them is AC/DC's "T.N.T., I'm Dynamite." Another is from Trapt's song, Headstrong that goes, "Back off I’ll take you on, Headstrong to take on anyone," (I run better when just a tiny bit pissed).  I also like to think of Steve from Blues Clues saying, "Just keep going." That may not be totally accurate, but that's what I think I remember him saying. Doesn't matter - it works even if it's wrong.

The last mantra that I use works well with my concept of short laps. I tell myself when I start out, "I can do anything for an hour." Then, it turns into, "I can do anything for 30 minutes," "I can do anything for 12 minutes," etc. And I'm 100% correct - I can do anything for an hour. I gave birth to three babies and I had long, long labors with each. Running for an hour is most definitely no big thing.

Do you use any sort of mantra when you exercise? Do you find that giving yourself a pep talk mid-workout helps to increase your energy?