The Weapons Platform: Shut Up, Get Dressed, and Get Moving
For those of you who have done the basics already, congratulations!
For those of you who haven't, here's the checklist:
1) Get a complete physical, including a cardiac stress test. Tell your doc you are starting a fitness program, and ask him also to update your immunizations.
2) Get an eye exam, including glaucoma test, and replace those old lenses with your current prescription.
3) Go to the dentist, get an exam, and get started on the patches you need in your choppers. No sense dying of some funky bacteria that move from your nasty teeth or gums to your heart valves.
4) Lay out a rolling two-mile road course near your home.
We're going to start slowly and build a little each day. To do that, a stopwatch will be very helpful.
Go on and get suited up. I'll wait here.
Let's deal with the whining first.
A) It's gonna hurt: Yup. That's what OTC pain relievers are designed to aid. Get some, take a dose 30 minutes before working out, and drink lots of water - before and after.
B) I can't run two miles: Yup. But you can walk at a brisk pace - count cadence as "left one-thousand, left one-thousand" and you'll be moving right along.
And I'll bet you can even run 100 yards, then brisk walk 200 yards, then run another 100 yards, then walk again, and so forth.
Look at you! You're doing fartleks and you didn't even know it.
C) What's the point? I'll spare you the Red Dawn scenarios, which frankly don't motivate me on a "get your butt out and run" level, even though I know the Crunch is coming.
What does motivate me is a near-term risk of public humiliation, so I arrange such things so as to give me an incentive to do what I don't really like to do.
In this case, it's the Atlanta Half-Marathon on November 23, 2007. I have not been in running shape in more than a decade (I completed the full NYC Marathon in 1995), and the only difference between starting for the first time and now is that I know that it can be done.
The public humiliation part begins tonight when I share that my time for 2 miles (1 mile downhill, 1 mile back up) was a stunning 27:53 - mostly brisk walking.
But I did it.
And I will do it tomorrow night.
And I will keep on doing it until that damned rubber tree plant falls.
So should you.
Make the commitment today to getting your weapons platform in better shape for what is coming.
Only you can do it. And unfortunately, there's no way to buy a more capable platform - you have to build it yourself, over time.
Here's how I'll be training on the running side. The miles will increase after the first six weeks as I build up my fitness base.
You don't have to go and start training for a half-marathon.
But you should commit to moving as fast as you can along your two-mile course at least three times a week.
We'll have some other thoughts soon on other forms of physical training you should consider as part of your preparations.
At most, it will take 6 hours a week.
You might even like it.
posted by Concerned American | 1:10 AM
5 Comments:
Note on pace. The founders knew something we have forgotten about increasing the pace without running or jogging. Skip the power walking and try this:
jog 2 steps walk 2 steps. it's a 50% increase in your walking pace and it wont wear you out like joggin will. it may feel a bit goofy, but you can darn near do it all day and really cover some ground in the process.
another piece of revolutionary wisdom from history!!
Jack A Sol
It's been almost 4 decades, but if I listen carefully, just before dawn, I can still hear the sounds as they echo through the cement and gravel courtyards of Ft. Campbell- "More PT Drill Sgt!! - Delta Demons D-9-2 WETSU- WETSU-
HOOAH.
I've been doing my 2 miles a day for the past 3 months and it does get easier. We don't have any inclines where I live, but I'm down to 15 minutes a mile. I've been thinking about adding some light hand weights.
TC
It's pretty easy to add interval training to even a walking program.
Use power poles or other markers to give yourself a 3:1 steady/sprint ratio.
Walk three units, sprint or fast walk one unit, resume the walk, etc.
We will need both endurance (the distance training) and power (the sprints) in the coming festivities.
Hear-hear on fartleks!
They make a good game for running with a buddy too --- you can take turns picking the next marker to sprint to. i.e. as you're jogging along, you say "ok when we get that fire hydrant, let's sprint to the street sign" ... you do that, then back to jogging, then your buddy says "sprint at that tree to the next bench we see."
I like using "the next ____ we see" because it could be a really short distance and it could be quite a long ways to that next bench. :)
- Jared
After reading this post(this morning) I thought I would give this "fartlek" thing a try (3.5 miles). Except with a twist - I brought along my rifle simulator (60"x2" pipe). And Wow! What a great workout. I'm incorporating this approach into my daily exercise routine. Note: If you're not carrying your rifle during exercise you're only hurting yourself. What will you do when TSHTF? Have Jody carry it for you?
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home