by Judy Heller
The summer relays are over; the time for marathons is past, and the seasons are changing.
America’s favorite minimalist, Henry David Thoreau, wrote “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each....”
How can you as a walker ‘taste the fruit’ of the upcoming winter and nourish yourself for next year’s triumph? What can you do in this gray and wet Oregon winter, or the cold & dry of the midwest and east, to strengthen yourself, to maintain your motivation and emerge in spring as a better athlete?
Look to ‘mother nature’ to provide some clues. Winter is a time of sparseness, of economy. A time when acorns stored in autumn are used to get animals through the cold. A time when plants and grass are working underground. Winter gives us a hiatus from competition, the opportunity to re-group and use our heads, the chance to go “underground” to improve our walking.
Make your fitness resolutions for 2009 before the holidays. Take stock of your progress over the last year. Did you have goals? A goal is an aim or purpose with a time line. Did you meet your goals? If not, what kept you from achieving them? If you didn’t set goals last year, now is the time to write them out for next year.
One of the best ways to motivate yourself to maintain your walking is to set specific goals for your walking program. Setting goals enables you to visualize where you want to be, to prepare upcoming events, adventures, or desired changes. Set long term goals as targets, and short-term goals to help attain them. Perhaps you want to do a marathon or do the Portland Marathon faster, maybe race walk it. The Willamette Valley 30K can be a long term goal or an intermediate goal to a marathon. About 30 years ago, Yale University did a study of its graduating class regarding goals. Approximately 3% of the graduates had written goals; thirty years later, when the classmates were again studied, those 3% had more wealth than the entire remaining 97% of the class. An impressive testament to the power of goal setting.
Fall and winter are the time to plan as the training cycle begins again, unless you have a specific winter goal. Your walking program may consist mainly of building a mileage base, have fun, focus on form and technique, and incorporate resistance training to increase muscular strength. Do not neglect your flexibility or stretching routines. Get outside, reduce stress, feel good about yourself, and enjoy the time you spend walking or exercising.
If you would like more information about personalized programs,
contact Judy at 503.282.1677 or judy@erofit.com.
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