Hi all,
Nice to check-in after several months. For the past 31 days I have been running every day for at least 25 minutes.
But why, Sara?
In public health we always talk about how exercise and diet can help prevent obesity and other chronic health conditions. The CDC recommends 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week of exercise to promote health and wellness. https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm
If we are going to be effective public health practitioners, we should practice what we preach and have something to back up our claims.
Also, in recent months I have been a bit disillusioned with road races. They are fun, but they are expensive and a bit stressful. I guess I’m just less interested and the novelty has worn off a bit.
My husband’s tech company usually does a contest every February (the shortest month) for the entire company including retail to work out using the company’s wearable wrist device. The winners get a pin and an accessory for the device. However, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, they have postponed it indefinitely.
We decided to try and run for the entire month of February. We both took different approaches.
I promised myself if I ran every day I would get a new Garmin watch to replace my four year old one with a heart rate monitor
I woke up early every morning to run. Usually at 6am. Once I woke up at 4am before I flew back to SoCal to go to a television taping in Los Angeles before my classes started for the week. By waking up every morning I had no excuses. I just put on my running clothes and got out the door.
My husband took a different approach and tended to run later at night after he got home. He was sometimes scrambling to fit in his workout but he made it work.
The Good:
Every morning I felt like I accomplished something difficult and I was grateful. This has been a bit of a stressful year during my PhD journey as I transition to advance to candidacy and am taking less classes. Much like my Peace Corps experience, I am having to find additional coping strategies to deal with the stress.
Waking up early means you can do more stuff
I think I lost weight? I definitely feel better and like I have more energy.
My resting heart rate has gone down to 57, so that’s a good thing
The not so good:
Some days I would peter out before 11pm. It could be hard to get work done later at night
Also, there was this one time when I was running at 6:30am where a guy drove up to me in his car and said I ran really fast (lie) and asked if I lived around where I was running. I lied and said I was just visiting.
In conclusion, I think it is a good challenge to undertake, and I got a new watch out of it. I’m glad I accomplished something outside of knitting and school, and hopefully, this will help keep me grounded for the rest of the year
The Adventures of a Returned Peace Corps Violist 