Running

I am sending this message out to all you runners. Some of you already know Trent Willmon, who is a country singer-songwriter living in Nashville. He is also a runner!

Well, right now he is in a contest being held by Country Weekly, where people can vote for the “sexiest man in Country Music”.

He’s a Heart graduate (for those of you in Klemmer) and also happens to be my stepson.

If you’re into country music, you may have heard Montgomery Gentry’s song “Back When I Knew It All”, which he co-wrote, and which was recently a #1 country hit. But whether or not you like country music, can you please vote for him?

Here is the link:

http://www.countryweekly.com/sexiest_man/vote/survey/494

Thanks for your support, and keep on running!

(BTW, you might enjoy his music — check out trentwillmon.com).

I have been traveling a lot lately and unable to keep up my
running

Today, I finally got back to it and, after the initial agony, it
felt great. I congratulate myself on being sensible about it.

You see, when I come back to running after a layoff, the
temptation is to run hard and fast. You know by now this is not
brilliant. So do I, but the temptation is always there.

What I do is force myself to take an easy run after a layoff.
That way I’m even more motivated to go out hard the next day.
Also, my muscles feel better for it.

So tomorrow I’ll go out hard. But I like to keep my schedule
flexible, so I’ll decide later what I’ll do. I’ll see how the
weather is, how I feel, and then either do a long run, a pace
run, hill repeats, intervals or a tempo run.

I generally work out my schedule a week or two in advance, but I
still like to keep it flexible. Some days I’m pumped, some days
I’m low on energy. Since no-one’s forcing me to follow a
schedule, I let it vary according to how I feel.

Let’s say my schedule shows hill repeats, but when I get out
there I realize my energy is low that day. Instead of forcing
myself to do hill repeats and hating them, I may switch to a
tempo run. I can still make it hard enough to feel I’ve achieved
something, but it fits better with my lower energy.

Another time, I might go out intending to do a tempo run and
decide that I’m feeling pumped. After my warmup, I’ll switch to
intervals, a pace run or hill repeats. The first ten minutes, my
warmup, gives me time to decide.

A rigid schedule may be important if you’re training for a
special event, but if you’re just running for health and fitness
it can be a hindrance. So be flexible. You’ll enjoy it more.

And if you enjoy it, you’ll want to keep running!

I just got this link from an author I know.  This woman is amazing!

Read what she’s done.  She’s one of my co-writers in the upcoming Wake Up Women. See what she’s doing for other women running.

Help me promote my new book by voting for MaryKayat http://abcnews.go.com/abcnewsnow/pictureofhealth.

Alan

Sunday was a great day for running — mid 60s with light rain
showers to cool me off! That was the day for the Capitol 10K.
Here are a couple of pictures taken after the race, and a copy
of the newsletter I sent out to my subscribers.

Capitol
10K

Yesterday I hit another of my goals! I ran the Capitol 10K in
Austin, Texas. There were 6,566 timed runners, and I was not
last! (I was #6,355, so there were 211 slower than me.)

I don’t know how many total runners there were, as there were a
bunch more fun runners, many in costume. All I know for sure is
that they were still finishing some time after I had stopped for
refreshments, so I felt really good about that. Since this is my
first race in nine years, I was excited, and it turned out just
great!

For those interested in statistics, my time was 1:34:27.8 and I
was 10th out of 18 in my age group. I don’t know if he was the
oldest runner, but a 97-year-old crossed the finish line about
20 minutes after me. The winner’s time, by the way, was just
over 30 minutes; his pace was exactly 5 minutes per mile. (I
console myself by noticing that he is my junior by almost 40
years!)

If you’re thinking about a race, you’ll find a big race is a
wonderful way to boost your enthusiasm. This was the biggest
race I have run, and I have found that the bigger the race the
better my chance of not being last! Not that it really matters
– the last person to finish gets cheered by the crowd almost as
much as the winner.

My wife took the photo of me finishing — I had a great kick at
the end and passed the finish line before she saw me! They
announced my name just as I crossed the line, so the shot is a
little late.

Remember, today is the last day of the Road Runner Sports
sale.

One of the great things about them is that you can run in their
shoes for 60 days and then return them if they don’t work for
you. Where else can you get a deal like that?

Sincerely

Alan
Jenkin Fitness Runner with a Beginner’s Mind

Huntsville,
Texas

alan@gettingstartedrunning.com