www.lynngrieger.com

This year the weekend of August 21-22 is the third annual, nationwide Run/Walk for the Fallen to honor our soldiers killed in the Middle East. The BattenKill Valley Runners are hosting a 1-4 mile free, noncompetitive run or walk in West Arlington at the covered bridge off Route 313 at 9am on Sunday, August 22nd. The group who started this nationwide event is producing a video:  http://www.tothemthatsgone.com

You have nowhere more important to be on Sunday, August 22nd at 9am than at the covered bridge in West Arlington. See you there.

My alarm went off at 5am Wednesday morning. For a minute I thought:  I really don’t want to run today. It’s raining, it’s cool outside, I’m tired. My back hurts, my legs are sore, and I really want more sleep.

Then I got out of bed, ate breakfast, got dressed, stretched, and headed out for what turned out to be a fantastic run. Maybe even the perfect run.

Instead of rain, I ran through a fine mist. My wool long-sleeve shirt and glow-in-the-dark water repellant vest kept me warm and dry. After a warm-up walk/jog up my dirt road, I found my stride on the pavement. My goal was a tempo run:  hitting a faster pace for a solid 7 miles to build endurance and speed. My last couple of tempo runs have been difficult and slower than I’d like.

This time, running was effortless. I loved striding through the early morning light, listening to the birds and watching the mist over the mountains. The air smelled cool and fresh, with a hint of lilacs. Running back up the hills on East Manchester Road I felt strong and energetic. I kept looking at my watch, thinking I can’t be running this well, this fast.

As I finished up the run down my familar dirt road, I thought how glad I was that I got myself out of bed that morning. Had I stayed in bed, I would have missed the rain, the birds, the feeling of effortless running. How often do we take the easy way out; how much joy do we miss?

I’m setting my alarm for early tomorrow morning, if nothing else to capture another joyful late-spring Vermont morning.

Yesterday my Training for More group faced a challenging weather situation:  wind, rain, sleet, snow - just about everything you might expect with a mid-March storm warning in southwestern Vermont.

Guess what - the women won!

18 of us headed out to walk or run 10 or 12 miles on our way to partcipating in the Great Bay Half-Marathon in Newmarket, NH on April 11th. We might have been soaked, but our spirits certainly weren’t dampened by the weather. We all learned something important today:  a positive attitude, the support of friends, and a firm goal make it possible to overcome any obstacle.

As one of the women in the group put it afterwards:  Sometimes you run with your body. Sometimes you run with your mind. Sometimes you run with your spirit. Today we did all three!

Which would you rather do to decrease your risk of developing a chronic illness such as diabetes:  make some changes to your lifestyle, or take medication?

A new 10 year follow-up study from the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) trial followed 2800 adults at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The results, published in the October 2009 issue of The Lancet, show that lifestyle changes work better than medication.

Just what are lifestyle changes? We’re talking about healthier eating habits, maintaining a healthy weight, regular daily activity and exercise, not smoking, and finding healthy ways to deal with stress. The folks who utilize these methods reduced their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 34%. Only 18% of the people who took medication (in this study, the medication used was metformin) reduced their risk of developing diabetes.

Sure, making changes to your usual eating, exercise, and stress management habits takes some time and effort. Popping a pill is comparatively easy. However, if you truly want to decrease your risk of chronic disease, making even small changes to your daily habits will give you vastly improved results.

This is where coaching can help. Set long term goals, and then break those goals down into realistic and achieveable 3-month goals. Develop a weekly strategy to meet those 3-month goals, and then set new 3-month goals. Personal coaching helps you through this entire process, giving you support, encouragement, and accountability. If you want to live a healthy, active, fulfilled life; don’t you owe it to yourself to get started, today?

Have you ever wanted the luxury of a personal trainer, someone who can give you individualized workouts, help you develop a healthy eating style, and works with you to meet your goals?

Now you can get all of this - online! I’m one of the trainers at www.fitorbit.com, a comprehensive website that gives you the opportunity to connect with a personal trainer without ever leaving your house. Not sure what exercises to do at the gym to maximize your time? Curious about the best way to strengthen your core? Having trouble dropping weight? All of these goals can be reached by working with me through FitOrbit.

For more info, go to http://trainers.fitorbit.com/personal-fitness/LynnGrieger

Have you ever set a goal, worked really hard, but fell short of your expectations?

The women in our 2009 Training for More group experienced this first hand this year. On race day the end of April, the weather was hot and humid, to protect the participants the race director did not time the race, and everyone went slower than expected. We were ready for snow, but not temperatures in the high 80’s.

Fern and Patty (in the photo with me above) decided they wanted to bring closure to their goal of running a fast half-marathon this Spring. Patty found a half-marathon in Utica, NY, only a 3-hour drive. We rearranged our schedules, drove to Utica, and completed the goal. Everything fell into place:  the weather was cool, the race was well-organized, the course was beautiful (and flat), and the volunteers were enthusiastic.

Fern and Patty smashed their goals and had an awesome race. They took a disappointing situation and turned it around, putting their goal of a fast Spring marathon behind them. We did it together, the same way we trained throughout the Winter.

Lessons learned:
-  things don’t always work out the way we want
-  there are always alternatives to consider
-  disappointments can be overcome
-  setting goals with friends makes the entire experience more fun

What goals are you working toward? How can you turn a disappointment into a victory?

The More half-marathon didn’t end up to be the race we planned on.  

Temperatures in NYC were in the 70’s early on race morning, and climbed to almost 90 before noon. When the 43 women in my training group arrived in Central Park at 7am, the race directors had already cancelled the marathon portion of the races. The half-marathon was still on, but it wasn’t timed. The race director encouraged everyone walking, or who couldn’t finish the 13.1 miles in 3 hours, to do just one loop - about 7 miles - of the 2 loop course.

The weather is obviously beyond our control. We trained in below freezing weather when the roads were covered in snow and our eyelashes froze. We ran and walked in the rain. We wore face masks, 2 layers of gloves, Yak Trax, and long underwear to get in our miles. We never planned on one of the hottest days of the Spring - and we hadn’t trained in hot weather.

We were disappointed, but no one gave up. We started off at a slow pace, drank water and Gatorade at every rest stop, searched out the shady spots of the course, and encouraged each other to do our best. We can’t control the weather, but we CAN control our attitude.

I’m proud of the women in the Training for More group who stuck together through cold weather and steaming humidity. Each and every one put out her best effort that day, and while the day didn’t turn out as planned, we all met the challenge. 15 weeks of training came down to one hot morning in NYC’s Central Park. Just like every other training session, we laced up our shoes, stretched our legs, and started out for the day:  together.

You bet! A new study from the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology in the Department of Medicine at Stanford University in California shows that moderate to vigorous exercise decreases risk of disability and death as we age.

The researchers followed a group of age 50+ runners in California for over two decades. After only 19 years, 15% of runners had died, compared to 34% of controls. It also took longer for runners to become disabled compared to controls.

Here’s the take-home message:  get off the couch and get moving, especially as you get older. Run, walk (vigorously, meaning that you’re working hard enough that you can’t sing, but you can still talk in phrases), play basketball or hockey, hike, snowboard or ski. You get the idea. Instead of thinking of middle age as the time when you kick back and watch TV or the grandkids running around, join those grandkids and get moving!

Arch Internal Med, 2008, Vol. 168, No. 15, pp. 1638-1646

Here’s what happened:  I planned ahead to fit in exercise on Monday, and my plans blew up in my face. What to do? I figured I had three options:

1.  Throw up my hands and retreat to the couch with a book.
2.  Come up with an alternative plan for exercise.
3.  Call myself a failure and other names I won’t type here and feel horrible for the rest of the day.

In this particular case, I planned on exercising later in the day. My morning appointments went later than expected, so I didn’t eat lunch on time. My the time I did eat lunch, I was so hungry I ate more than planned and was too full to go for a planned hard tempo run. By this time it was 3:30pm and it gets dark by 4:30.

I chose option #2. Instead of a planned tempo run, which would not have settled well with my too-full stomach, I went for a power walk with my Nordic walking poles. If you’re not familiar with Nordic walking poles, check them out here:  www.nordicwalkingonline.com I power-walked up Bromley Brook Road, a beautiful dirt road that heads up into the Green Mountains. 45 minutes later I was back at home, just as dusk was starting to settle in.

The benefits:
-  I got some fresh air and exericse.
-  Instead of feeling like a failure, I felt empowered. Life threw me a curve-ball, and I recovered with a hit.

I’m a big fan of planning ahead, but just as big a fan of being flexible. The next time your plans blow up in your face, how will you react?

BONUS:  I have an extra pair of Nordic walking poles. If you want to go out for a “test walk”, I’ll be happy to give you a lesson! Contact me at Lynn@LynnGrieger.com and set up an appointment!
-