The last three days I have been so excited about starting the walking marathon training. At 5:30 I entered the Field House to sign in and gathered with new people. There were runners, walkers and pacers gathering together and giving each other pep talks. I was having a super great time. I had purchase a new hat, new cool max material tops, checked my shoes and socks, had my gloves on (The weather was 34 degrees) and my excitement kept building.
Finally, it was time for our group to start walking. When we got outside one of the leaders said “We can do this – Let’s go”. Everyone cheered, including me, and the group took off like they were flying with the wind! I had worked and planned for this moment. At the quarter mile marker, I was at the back of the pack, along with one of the pacers who was appointed to bring in the back end. I asked him “are they walking the 15 minute mile or are they going faster than that?” He told me they were walking the right pace and speed to accomplishment the goal. I was shocked. I could not keep up with them! We got so far behind I told him I learned so much tonight and I have to spend this week working on SPEED! I did not have the speed to keep up with them.
This week I have to work every day on Interval and Power walking to build my speed. We were to walk 3 miles last night and I had done that many, many times. It is obvious I had not walked my path with any type of speed or I would have been more prepared. The thing I like about walking is there are always athletic challenges and I am in one right now. I will do this!
Tags: Healthy Walking, marathons, never give up, Rosalie Lynch, staying focus
Why do we stop and start in reaching our goals? So many people achieve their momentum and a crisis in life stops our momentum. It is almost impossible to get started again and re-gain our momentum.
Gaining momentum in our lives runs into difficulty when we run hot and then run cold. Let me explain it this way. I was reading an illustration on “not stopping” in our efforts in reaching our goals and it involved water.
If you want to boil water you will do three things: 1) put the water in a kettle; 2) put the kettle on a stove; 3) and then turn the heat on. If the heat is turned off, even for an instant, the water will not boil, even though the heat is turned on again later. If one continues to turn the heat on and off the fact remains that the water will never boil.
To relate this to real life when we want to achieve a goal we 1) create our business plan; 2) plan our action steps; and 3) and then implement. All of a sudden we experience a set-back or failure. It is not advisable to go back and re-do what we have created; it is time to “adjust” and create an alternative plan or action step or the method of implementation. Unfortunately many people just give up and say something like “well, that didn’t work” and throw the project out the window.
No one had a greater commitment and staying motivated to a walking exercise program than I. My father died and my world shut down. My motivation and commitment disappeared. My energy evaporated. After a few months a friend told me that my past walking program is “out of the window” so I had to create new ways of walking so that I would look forward to a new adventure in my life. Upon research, I discovered there are 22 different walking styles to choose. My kittle of boiling water had been turned off so I had to get a fresh kittle of water and heat it up; which is what I did. With making a few adjustment and adding new ways of walking, my commitment, motivation and enjoyment came back.
In the same way, if there are gaps in all of our lives that stop the momentum it is important to create a new plan of action and get started with renewed commitment and motivation and maintain your concentration.
Tags: change plans, Gaining Momentum, motivation process, never give up, Rosalie Lynch, staying focus
We are intelligent people who know that:
- doing regular exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health.
- it can have a big effect on cutting your chances of disease, and also on how much you enjoy life.
- it isn’t always easy to fit exercise into a busy day.
- Increasing the amount that you walk can be a good way of doing this, without having to find time to go to the gym.
Many goal driven people find that having a target, and being able to see how you’re doing, helps keep them focused. They have trained their brain to exercise 5 days a week or they keep an Action Journal writing down what they have accomplished in their exercise program. I am aware that runners and walkers can purchase pedometers that record their miles and steps and you can download them into your computer. This particular software produces colored charts and helps you set your goal for the next day. This is extremely helpful to keep people focused and motivated to advance to the next goal.
You might want to start by measuring how much you walk in an average day. Then you can set yourself a target beyond that. The usual advice is to aim for 10,000 steps a day. Recording your daily total may help you achieve your target. You can then make walking 10,000 steps part of your usual daily routine.
Many years ago my personal trainer designed an exercise program especially for my development. Everytime I did an activity I would have to put a check mark by the activity or write down how many repetitive action steps I took. She would check over my record and increase my production.
Find your way to keep with your exercise program and vary your method of exercising by cross training. It will make your work-out more enjoyable.
Tags: goals, health, Rosalie Lynch, staying focus, walking
