Written by It’s already the middle of January, the year is still new but for some their New Year’s Resolutions have already been forgotten. You know what I’m talking about, those resolutions that sound good between Christmas and New Years Eve. The resolutions you talk about during the New Year’s Party with so much conviction. This year, I’m going to lose weight, join a gym, or start a new diet.
I, like everyone else, set goals for this New Year. A few were to start a fitness blog, lose a few pounds, run two marathons, do a century ride on my bike, and to learn how to swim. This blog went live yesterday, and while I have a many ideas for it, my HTML skills are a bit rusty, so it might take shape a little slower than I would like, but it’s going.
On New Year’s Day, Esther, my fiancé, and I stepped on the scale as we plan to do every Saturday morning to track our weight loss. We then went out for a quick bike ride, covering 16 miles in North Queens. New Year’s Day is a great day for rides and runs, depending of course how you feel when you wake up. Traffic was pretty light — since many people are sleeping in or watching the college bowl games or The Honeymooner’s or Twilight Zone Marathons. So far, this year, Esther has lost 3.8 pounds and I am down 4.6. I’ll keep you posted on this in future posts.
I am in the middle of training for the Sun Trust National Marathon in Washington DC on March 20th. Although the weather has been cold, I have managed a nice balance of outdoor running, indoor cross training on the treadmill, elliptical machine as well as taking several conditioning classes. I’m determined not to let bad weather keep me from my workouts. The recent break in the weather has been great; I managed a five-mile run before work on Friday.
We have a Century Ride, a one-hundred mile bike ride, planned for July 18th. It’s the Hudson River Ride; we set it up through Active.com, a great site for information on all things active. The ride is set up by Glen, “Your tour director and humble servant.” We found about Glen’s bike tours last summer on the website Bicycle Tours US, while looking for new activities. The light-hearted tone of the website initially caught our attention, but it was the amazing bike rides he offers that managed to keep it. The rides vary in distance from 35 miles, 66 mile, and 100 miles. Last August we signed up for the 66-mile Ride to Montauk and had a blast, despite the fact half the ride was in extremely heavy rain. We liked it so much we rode for 70 miles; ok we missed a turn due to the rough weather and had to backtrack, but that’s a minor detail. If you want more information on The Hudson River Ride, you can check it out at http://www.hudsonriverride.com/Home_Page.html or http://www.bicycleshows.us/
Swimming provides an amazing low-impact full-body workout, that I have not been able to benefit from, for one reason, I don’t swim very well. This past Christmas Esther signed us up for swimming classes, she figured it would be great cross training, and a new challenge. It is something we always wanted to do. To practice we joined the public pool. My initial image of a public pool was not flattering, that was until I found out about the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Aquatic Center. This new facility holds an Olympic Size swimming pool and an regulation-sized hockey rink. The Aquatic Center was built as part of the failed attempt to bring the 2012 Olympics to New York City. It’s next to the Al Oerter Recreation Center down the road. Both are new facilities run by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, where an annual $75 membership gives you access to the pool and the recreational facility. The facility has a weight room, indoor running track, basketball courts and cardio room, they even offer martial arts and salsa aerobics classes. If you want more information about the aquatic center you can find it at: http://www.usapools.com/flushingmeadows/ If you want more information about the recreation center you can find it at: http://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/recreationcenters/Q099-NMD01
As for me, I’m trying to keep busy and make sure my New Year’s Resolutions do not fade way come February.
Hey Frank,
I loved your blog. It was inspiration! Keep it going and I will keep reading and hopefully be inspired enough to start running finally. I have always wanted to. Any thoughts on how someone can start today?
Agnes
Thank you, Agnes. I’m glad I was able to inspire you, it’s one of the reasons I started this blog.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when they start any new exercise program is trying to do too much too quickly. My advice is to start slow. See if you can do a light jog for maybe five minutes and then walk for another five. Try to see if you can keep doing this going for 20 to 30 minutes, if you can’t jog the whole time, that’s ok just walk at a pace that is comfortable for you until you have completed this. The next day take the day off and try to repeat this the day after. The initial goal is to complete 30 minutes of movement. With time you will be able to jog for the full 30 minutes. Speed is not important go at a pace that is comfortable for you.
My advice to anyone considering a new exercise program is to make an appointment with your doctor for a check up first to see if you are healthy enough for physical activity.
Please keep me posted on your progress.
-Frank
Your page ranks highly in the Google search for “Hudson River Ride”. Better be careful, the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services (http://www.jbfcs.org/) might sue you.
Glen’s explanation: http://bit.ly/aTWwiD
Hi Lawrence,
I’m sorry for the delayed reply. I did see Glen’s post on this. Thank you for the update.
Please come back to this blog for safe non-offensive content. I write about running, riding, walking, swimming and any other types of physical activity.
Thanks for your email,
-Frank