Make the miles count

I’ve been a ‘jogger’ for fourteen years now but it wasn’t until recently that I could actually say that I exerted myself.  Well, unless you count the year 2005 when I jogged up until the very day my middle child was born.  I’m guilty of being a little tenacious at times but that might have taken it to the max.  I’d buckle my first born into her stroller and run my big ol’ pregnant belly all over town. I was determined to not gain a single extra pound with baby #2, but I will say it ended up working to my benefit in several ways, including labor which only took about three hours from start to finish.  But back to my point…. Most of the time my jogging was at a nice, steady pace and even though my average distance was around 3 miles each time, it was taking me an hour to do it.  Granted that was better than sitting on the couch for an hour shoving Doritos in my face, but all it did was cause me to just be an overweight runner.  My body adjusted to the work load and didn’t really burn any extra calories.  I could carry on a regular conversation while jogging and I never really saw any changes in myself.  It wasn’t until the last year that I realized what I had been doing wrong so I set my mind to becoming a faster runner.    The best thing I found was to alternate.  One distance run, one short run, one distance run…. And so on.  On my short runs I would focus on running a half mile as fast as I could.  Not gonna lie, this was excruciating.  It made me want to throw up and not to mention the first few times killed my legs.  Every two weeks I would add a lap around the track until I got myself to a mile and a half.  I’ve lingered at this distance and focus more on getting faster.  This works different muscles than when you’re jogging long distances and I promise you will feel it.  On my long runs I would find a steady pace that was just to the point where conversation was too difficult, and if it started to feel like I wasn’t going to make it much farther, I would slow down just a hair until I caught my breath and then pick the pace back up again.  The intervals are actually really good for calorie burning =) I started this training exactly a year ago and in the past 12 months I’ve lost 34 lbs.  Also, I was able to run my first 10k (in the time it used to take me to run 4!) and have now built up my miles to where I will be able to do a half marathon this year!  So if you feel like you’ve been doing the same miles for a little too long, maybe this will help?  I would also encourage finding a running buddy.  Not only does it help the miles go by faster, but you can encourage each other on those days where you just don’t feel like getting out.    Happy running!