2008 Exercise Review

2008 Review

Few steps after the finish line in 2008 ING Taipei International Marathon (credit: Wayne; Thanks to Wayne for capturing the moment.)

My thoughts at the end of the year:

Finishing a full marathon became my history on the morning of December 21st. Now, I can say that I am a marathoner! It was such a proud moment when my feet passing the finish line in front of Taipei City Hall. Achieving this moment from a dormancy at the end of 2007 had taken time and a "mental" decision.

Moving to Taipei was a change that I quickly acclimatized and pushed myself back on exercise routine after relatively inactive months at the end of 2007 (but I had been busy with the move). Leaving this dormancy took me about two weeks for my first run in Taipei (inside the gym [วิ่งไม่หยุด: First Run in Taipei]) and a month after for a run outside [วิ่งไม่หยุด: First time running outside]. Then, my running groove started to kick in. In parallel, biking between office and apartment (~2.35 miles/4.8 km) has been my regular since the first week in the city. I have biked this route in rain or shine: no holidays, except during Typhoon or sickness. My bike and I have gone to almost every part/district of the city. We even journeyed with friends to neighboring towns or mountaintops during our weekend biking tours. In addition to these running and biking activities, I enjoyed walks and hikes with friends as well as strength training and stretching routine.

Running and biking has made me new friends who joined me in these year races, walking and biking trips. It has been great to get some friends to run with me: some started to train for and completed their first race (or even second and third), while some ran for a brief period. I give a special thank to Yu-Hsiang for organizing the races this year. These were the great moments of 2008!


Races:

Events Date	Distance	Record	Brief remark
Nike+ Human Race 2008/08/31	10K	47:41	First 10K race
2008 Taroko Gorge International Marathon (2008 太魯閣國際馬拉松) 2008/11/01	Half Marathon	1:59:53	Ran up & down hill on a beautiful course
2008 ING Taipei International Marathon (2008 ING 台北國際馬拉松) 2008/12/11	Full Marathon	4:00:51	I did it!

Questions considered:
(adapted from Farres, Laura. 2003. The beginning runner's journal.)

1. What did you learn about yourself over the past year?
   Learned that I had shuffled the training often, that I usually replaced my weekend long run with bike ride (not substitutable) and that I could dug myself out of dormancy in a reasonable time.
   
   
2. What did you learn about your motivation over the past year?
   My motivation has been high most of the time except for a very rainy or stressful day.
   
   
3. What were the main highlights? What were your biggest accomplishments?
   I put my full marathon to be the biggest accomplishment of the year!
   
   
4. What were the factors that contributed to your highlights and accomplishments?
   Frequent runs (but often lacked on long runs).
   
   
5. What were your biggest setbacks?
   I could not stick with the training plan especially the long runs, which are very important for the full marathon training. Another thing was that a small uncomfortable right key after the half race in Taroko [A Rest Period after Taroko Half; 2008 Taroko Gorge International Marathon (2008 太魯閣國際馬拉松)] created a setback for a brief period of time (and hope it is not a persistent one).
   
   
6. What were the factors that contributed to your setbacks? How did you try to overcome them?
   An desire to enjoy weekend bike rides was the most contributing factors to the missed long runs. I was trying to run during the night time, but I could not run for that long because of weather issues (raining or coldness). For the injury, I should have studied and learned how to run downhill. "Advice and study on the race plan should be obtained during the training process! Ask veteran runners!"
   
   
7. What things about yourself do you feel improved over the past year?
   I could estimate and assess my readiness and capability for a race. Importantly, my mental preparation for a "big" race was the most improvement.
   
   
8. What things about yourself do you think still need to work on?
   Keep up with the training program, especially weekend long runs.
   
   
9. What is your vision of yourself now?
   At a full marathon finish line in less than 3 hours and 35 minutes. :D Dream big!!!
   

Re-evaluate your personal motivation plan

Vision/Mission
Be able to integrating training routine in my daily life and achieving the above mentioned marathon time.

Handling obstacles
Get some advice and carefully think through for a "good/suitable" solution. Never quite!

Thoughts and feelings
Keep record of these very seriously and everyday!

Social support
"Thank to everyone for supporting so far." But welcome more!! Write down your comments and thoughts, please.

Cues in the environment


Rewards
--NOT YET DECIDED-- but something nice :D

Maintain the gains
I will continue my running along with other exercises for the coming year. I would like to expand cross training activities, such as hitting squash once in awhile or starting swimming practice. To achieve my goal of finish another marathon within 3 hours and 35 minutes requires a well planed program and "stick-to-the-plan attitude!"

My program goals for the next three months:
Be able to do a short race.

Now prepare yourself to start by setting your action goals for the month ahead.
Keep up with regular running as well as find and plan for a good training schedule and activities.

Short-term action goals:
Start NOW!! The rest period after the marathon race was expired long ago!

Continue reading the rest...

Week 13 Review

Take some time to think about the past 13 weeks. Consider your accomplishments, the obstacles you have overcome, your goals and your personal motivation plan.

Begin by writing anything you would like in the space provided--just let your mind and your pen wander. (If you would prefer to write about a specific topic, describe what stands out for you about the past 13 weeks.)

My thoughts at the end of 13 weeks of training:

>Running moves me into a solitary moment. Though it is just an hour a day, this hour really energizes and refreshes, at least, my mind up. It is undeniable that it is hard to stick on the task. Though I have been doing it pretty well except for some weeks of travel or heavy workload. This partly proves that I can overcome myself: from being inactive to actively running. A piece of Buddish proverb says "อตฺตา ห เว ชิตํ เสยฺโย ชนะตนนั่นแลประเสริฐกว่า," which means "the top of all the best is self conquest." I always tell myself that "you have to beat yourself until you cannot." Not only running but also tennis and biking are my favorite weekend activities. Especially summer months bless me with many nice weekends. Also does squash take at twice a week.

Now examine your journal entries for the past 13 weeks and answer the following questions.

1. What have been your biggest lessons over the past 13 weeks?
   Self-discipline is a key to training, but you don't have time for everything. Thus, choose wisely.
   
2. What is your vision of yourself right now?
   Active and be able to push myself more harder (though balancing with work)
   
3. Which of your action have moved you towards your goals or helped you overcome obstacles?
   I believe that writing these entries helps me aware of my actions and what I have done. For example, some weeks I did not run many days in a row. Writing down a journal entry reminds myself that fading starts creeping in, and I should get back on track.
   
   
4. Which of your actions have not been helpful or have discouraged you?
   Cross training and enjoying bike tour or architecture tour in downtown.
   

Celebrate your accomplishments
Accomplishments can relate to outcomes (e.g., running farther and faster) or to the training process (e.g., consistently following your program). They can also relate to other aspects of your life. Be proud of what you have done. It is much easier to remember your accomplishments when you celebrate them.
List your accomplishments in the space provided and read them over to develop a vision of yourself, your successes and your abilities.

My accomplishments:

Get a personal best record from Crazyleg
Be able to continue running during travel
Get on training schedule for some weeks.
Hydration watch

Analyze the obstacles you overcame
Over the past 13 weeks you have probably experienced a few challenges. It is good to explore these to gain a better understanding of yourself. Describe these obstables, how they affected you and how you overcame them.

Obstacles to achieving How these affected me How I overcame them My fitness goals


Re-examine your program goals
Take a moment and refer back to your program goals and the end points you identified--the ways you would know if you achieved your goals. Answer the following questions.

1. Did you achieve your program goals?
   Yes, to keep up with running every week. Actually, I cannot stop it. For some days that I could not run made me feel guilty.
   
   
2. Did you give yourself the best chance for success possible?
   Yes.
   
3. What factors supported your achievements?
   Friends' supports
   
4. What role did your personal motivation plan play?
   
   
5. What actions could you take to continue to move towards your long-term goals?
   Get into a race....
   

Re-evaluate your personal motivation plan
Consider your personal motivation plan and how it worked for you throughout the program. What actions could you take to improve the following parts of your plan?
n/a
Vision/Mission

Handling obstables

Thoughts and feelings

Social support

Cues in the environment

Rewards

Maintain your pace
You have had an opportunity to work on your fitness goals for 13 weeks. You aim now should be to maintian your pace. In order to make fitness a routine part of your life you need to be consistently active for a minimum of six months. Right now you are halfway there and a lot farther along than you were three months ago. Good work!

Now take the lessons you have learned from the past 13 weeks and apply them to a new challege Choose one of the following options and set some new goals for the next 13 weeks.
Option 1: Try the 13-week run/walk program again. Circumstances may have prevented you from doing the program (see Appendix A) fully. Or maybe you realy enjoyed the program and would like to see if you can do it again.
Option 2: Try the 13-weel run/walk maintenance program. The maintainance program (see Appendix B) picks up where you left off with the walk/run program. By continuing with three workouts a week you can maintain the level of fitness and activity that you have already achieved.
Option 3: Try another program offered in your community or join a training group. See what your local fitness centre or running store has offer. You may be ready for a more chanlleging program or you may aspire to greater running pursuits.


My program goals for the next 13 week:
>Training for the 1/2 in October (yes, this one is serious); see my last previous training program failed.

Now prepare yourself to start by setting your action goals for the week ahead (Week 14).
>Set a schedule and make some plan

Short-term action goals:
>keep watching for hydration
>do a long run at least twice a week before the training program
>update entry regularly; recently let the entry be out of date too long

Continue reading the rest...

Week 11 Friday

Activities/Actions:

• Ran a short Jackson Park route

Stat:
Started 7:25p; ~15 mins.
Course condition:

How I felt:
(the 5-point scale)

• Physically 5
• Mentally 4
• About my nutrition 4
• About my sleep 2

How hard did I work? 7
(the 10-point scale)

Note and reflections:
Think about what make me return to running two years ago, I recall one of the reasons. Then, I had gained many pounds during the first two years of my graduate career. At the end of the second year makes me realized that I could not let this continue and had to do more exercises. Since I celebrated my 25th Birthday, I noticed the change in my metabolic ability. It has reduced. It used to be that not much weight gained regardless of how much I consumed. Not only I saw the change, but also did my grandma, and her remark had me think about it more seriously. At that time, it had been two years since the last time she saw me. She said that I looked older and heavier. It is true that more pounds on my waist line, older I look. Since then, I've returned to running not just for the look but, importantly, for the health. This is only a reason.

Below is excerpt from Lance's book (I think it will be an interesting book to read) that I come across accidentally by browsing book stack in the library today. I am not sure how this relates to anything I write above, but it makes me think of something....

"... Good, strong people get cancer, and they do all the right things to beat it, and they still die. That is the essential truth that you learn. People die. And after you learn it, all other matters seem irrelevant. They just seem small."
Lance Armstrong. It's not about the bike: My journey back to Life.

Continue reading the rest...

Week 10 Highlights

Highlights/accomplishments for the week:
I have done many activities this week. This is great. Specifically, I follow my trainning schedule after left that alone for awhile.

Actions for next week:
Follow the next week training and watch RHR.

Continue reading the rest...

Week 4 - Highlights

Highlights/accomplishments for the week:
I started recording morning resting heart rate. It will be very good to keep doing this and not forget. I often forget to do when I wake up.

Actions for next week:

• Need to keep a record of my heart rate
• Hydration watch needs to be effective
• Morning run is desirable!!!
• Start the first week of a Marathon Program for a novice; this has been pushed off.

Continue reading the rest...

Week 3 Highlights - A rainny week

Highlights/accomplishments for the week:
Though the week's weather has not been that nice (3 days of rains), I still run for 6 days. The most importance is illustrated by the morning run! I am really happy though this was the only one in the week!

Actions for next week:

• Need to keep a record of my heart rate
  
• Hydration watch needs to be effective
• Morning run is desirable!!!
• Start the first week of a Marathon Program for a novice.

Continue reading the rest...

Week 2 Highlights

Highlights/accomplishments for the week:
The weekend activities are the highlights of this week. The enjoyments are my rewards to my last week accomplishments. This week seems to be a light week due to sickness. I manage to get over this every quickly. I believe that it is an allergy rather than a cold. However, a possibility of a cold cannot be ruled out.

Actions for next week:
I feel that I should manage my schedule better than this. I should decide what schedule should be followed. Another thing is hydration watch. Sickness may be a cause of this incosistency for dehydration watch.

Continue reading the rest...

Week 1. This Week Highlights

Highlights/accomplishments for the week:
Crazylegs and the Jackson Park Paths highlight this week run. The former offers a fun race and an opportunity to see some friends and the latter gives a nice running trail. I set a new recorded pace at 7:33 mins/mile at Crazylegs, which is the accomplishment of the week!


Actions for next week:

• Continuing training at my regular pace and probably add some new speedwork.
• Thinking of joining SF half marathon with P' Kor. This will be a fun time in SF to run over the Golden Gate Bridge. Think about this.
• Keep track on Hydration
  

Continue reading the rest...