Regular readers of this blog know that I am not a fan of running. This is ironic considering that running is my primary form of cardio, but I blame this on my contrary nature. (My mother likes to say that the best way to get Li’l Toddler Maggie to do what she wanted was to tell me to do the exact opposite. :lol:)

My lack of enthusiasm was born on the physical education fields of Casselberry Elementary where the administration’s idea of healthy exercise was yanking dozens of clueless midgets out of their air conditioned class rooms and chucking them outside in 98 degree heat to engage in such edifying sports as tetherball, kickball, soccer, and the ever-popular running-around-the-PE-field-for-30-minutes. As an itchy little black-haired kid prone to severe cases of heat rash, none of these activities was particularly appealing.

Fast forward to high school, where the one required PE class, Personal Fitness, might as well have been called “Run/walk around the track for 2 miles or 40 minutes every day.” My PF class, by the way, took place around 2 pm every day, right at the height of the afternoon heat. If you ran the two miles, you got to sit down in the shaded area of the bleachers. If you weren’t so fast or motivated and had to walk, well, you got to go around and around for the entire 40 minutes.

I was neither fast nor motivated.

I spent that entire semester walking around the track with my friends Chris and Rachel, talking about random things and griping about how stupid Personal Fitness was.

Fast forward again seven years. I am now in the U.S. Army and running becomes a regular part of my existence after over half a decade of sitting on my slowly-expanding ass. It takes me nearly 30 minutes to run/walk the two miles in my first diagnostic PT test. The drill sergeants count only 9 of my full push-ups because my form falls to pieces after that. Gradually, I get better at the running, but I am still not fast or motivated.

All my life I was told I had to run, and that little contrary brat inside me dug in her heels and fumed about the unfairness of it all.

Part of the problem was my perception that I’d been “forced” to run all of my life. I didn’t choose it myself, and so, just as I automatically hated any book that was required reading for my English classes even though I was a voracious reader on my own time, I developed an automatic hatred of running as an exercise.

The other part of the problem was my own perfectionism. I wasn’t genetically cut out to be an efficient runner. I have a long torso with a small rib cage and short, muscular legs and arms. This translates into 1) smaller lung capacity and 2) heavy, short strides. Most good runners I’ve seen have the opposite body configuration: spindly limbs attached to a more substantial trunk. It takes more effort to move my legs, and I draw in less oxygen to fuel that effort. I would never excel at running, and I hate not being good at something.

Have you noticed the common thread in both of my objections?

They are both psychological barriers, not physical. I have no health problems that prevent me from running. I have never suffered any serious injuries from it either, not in the 25 years I’ve been doing it. I may never win any races, but I can run 5k with almost no preparation time in under 30 minutes.

The only thing holding me back from admitting that running is just another cardio option, no worse or better than cycling, swimming, or rowing, is my own stubborn mind.

I’m tired of proclaiming my dislike of running to all and sundry. In many ways, I know that just saying “I hate running” demotivates me on cardio days. I’ve turned those words into a self-fulfilling prophecy even though the factors that kicked off my aversion–hot weather, my inability to run even one mile continuously, being lapped by all of those $#!$!! jocks and jockettes in high school in Personal Fitness–are no longer applicable. I run in an air-conditioned fitness room on a treadmill now, I can keep going for an hour or more without stopping, and I am in competition only with myself.

I just need to wake up every cardio morning now and declare, “Yippee! It’s HIIT run day! I get to kick some ass again!” Maybe after 25 more years or so, I’ll actually succeed in convincing myself that I really feel that way.

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Nutrition: Training Day Menu
(SGX nutrition details omitted by request of trainer)

1: 2×1 omelette, 1/4 c. oatmeal, 2 T. raisins
2: PWO Dex/Whey shake
3: Turkey patty, 3/4 c. mixed veggies, 1/4 c. oatmeal
4: Kashi Crispy bar
5: Thai chicken pasta salad
6: 40 g soy TVP sauteed with 1 c. cauliflower and shitake mushrooms

Daily Supplements: multivitamin with iron, calcium 500 + D, 1 T. flaxseed oil or natural peanut butter, 1 t. GNC Creastack
Water: 16 cups minimum

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Workout:
12:00 PM SGX Lower Body
8:00 PM Run (6-7 mph / 0% incline / 20 minutes)
8:20 PM Stationary Bike (20 minutes)

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The Awful Truth:
1. Went about 400 calories over target yesterday in mostly protein as my system decided it wanted all of the iron I leaked away back immediately. :eekb:

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Brownie Points:
1. Filed latest batch of paperwork in brand new file box.

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Short-term Goals:
1. Do one chapter of character modeling book.
2. Read two chapters of NASM book.
3. Send care package to sister in Boston.
4. Tidy apartment.
5. Pick up eggs, fruit, and spinach at grocery store