Just a minute

On Fridays I head to Ra’anana to go jogging with my sister Dalya who is doing the training program with me. We sadly live in different cities, so running together is not always practical, however I make the effort twice a week to go to her so we can practice together. When we met on Sunday it was the first day and the Weigh-in. Now it is Friday and the first day we are going to jog a minute. I think I described the general jist of the schedule, however just in case I didn’t I will recap.

The training schedule begins with walking for 30 minutes 5 days a week. Within the first month this changes to walking and jogging for 30 in alternates of 5 minutes walking and 30 seconds jogging, rising within the first month to equal time walking and jogging. I’ll explain the second month when we get there.

So, in keeping with the training schedule, Friday was the fist day that we walked 5 minutes and jogged 1 minute. We called it the minute run. Now one minute does not seem like that much more than 30 seconds. It is normal to say phrases like, ‘just a minute’, ‘in a minute’, ‘it will only take a minute’. Only a minute! I now have second thoughts about the true meaning of a minute. A minute when you are rushing to finish off a paper before your time runs out can seem like second, but when you are jogging; when you are learning to jog, a minute feels like forever.

Dalya had the watch and pretty soon took on the role as personal trainer. This was fine by me. I just did as I was told… seriously who would have though I of all people would enjoy this! Anyway, not having a watch to watch the minute pass by was painful. At first I simply waited for Dalya to tell me when the minute was up, but after 45 seconds I would get all John Mcenroe on her and should, “You can’t be serious! The minute must be up!” Then as I did not believe that she was checking the watch in time I decided to count myself to test her. Of course once I got to 50 seconds I could barely concentrate on breathing never mind counting as well. So I gave up and decided that the boss was right.

By the penultimate rotation of walking and jogging my sister turned to me and asked me if I wanted to vomit. I didn’t really want to vomit. I just had the most almighty stitch going through my side. Come on Channah you can do this! Yes I can!

So I pinched it in, took deep breaths, walked for 5 minutes and then as the 30 minute training session came to a close I ran.

“Channah I am very proud of you.” I am kind of proud of me too… Oh lord how am I going to run 2?

Making Plans

So I had done my research, asked all the right people and now I had to put it all together into a training programme. The only problem is every website I got to when I Googled ‘Marathon Training’, ‘Marathon Training for beginners’ or ‘How to start running’, I found that the average training schedule was aimed at someone a lot further down the fitness road than me. In the words of one website, “It takes on approximately 26 weeks to train for a marathon. It can take longer depending on fitness level.” 26 weeks? 26 weeks! Talk about over-estimating my discipline and under-estimating how out of shape I have become. There is no way I am at that level. I cannot even run!

I needed a training schedule that would start me at the very beginning… walking. So I searched and searched and searched and after thinking perhaps this was so crazy a challenge that not even the internet could help me, I came across a site called Running Planet. Finally a website that acknowledged that people who want to learn to run, by and large have not run before.

On the contrary this site embraced those like me and I found the “8 week Program for Beginning Runners.” The Learn To Run program aims to take you from walking 30 minutes a day to running 2 miles. Just think in 8 weeks I could be running 2 miles! Ok so it is not quite the 26 miles I am aiming for, but before you run you have to learn how to walk/jog. I had found my schedule and so on Friday afternoon Dalya and I sat down and made a calendar for the next two months. We are going to be walk/jogging for 5 days a week for 7 weeks until the last week when we will be running the full 30 minutes. The thought that I could get there so quick makes me nervous, scared and the fear factor is a constant on my mind, but I have made a commitment. I have told enough people that I cannot back out and there is this blog and then there is my PR friend who is getting me to write letters to magazines, charity organisations and even Oprah. No this is one thing I cannot back out of

So instead of thinking of a way out I am instead doing as I am told. I am simply following the program. I am doing no more and no less than is required of me and in that way I am learning discipline and, of course, how to run. Training starts on Sunday… wish me luck!