In Training

I am currently in training. For what am I training, you might ask? It's a complicated question. I just ran the Vermont City Marathon on Sunday, and I did train for it, but I wouldn't say I exactly train for the events I sign up to run. After all, while I ran a respectable 3 hours and 26 minutes, I'm not breaking any speed records. No, I sign up for the events to make myself train. I know that if I don't train for a marathon, I am going to get hurt, so marathons are motivation. Shorter races -- 5Ks, 10Ks, and half-marathons -- when I run in them, are like training runs themselves. Add other competitors, spectators, timing chips, and start and finish lines, and suddenly I run just a little bit harder than on a normal morning jog on a dirt road.

What I'm in training for is to maintain my physical and mental well-being. If I force myself to run in the morning, although it might hurt and although I might not feel like it, I always feel better physically and I feel better about myself. Like I accomplished something and did something good for myself. So much of it is mental. For example, if I eat a cookie on a non-exercise day, I swear I can feel the calories and fat going right to my stomach and my mid-section expanding. However, if I run, I feel like I can eat three cookies, and they don't touch me.

Is this all in my head? Maybe it is. I don't just run, though. I play pick-up ice hockey, and I rock climb. All of them have the same effect on me. At hockey, I always play as hard as I can. In fact, I usually keep score; I noticed that everyone else plays a bit harder too when there's something on the line. Last night, the white team won 8-7, and -- let me tell you -- people were scrapping at the end trying to lift their respective team. Hockey complements my running, because it serves as a tempo run and a speed workout. When I run, I just run. A good clip, but the same steady pace. Hockey is all about short, explosive bursts. You skate at full-speed for two minutes, then rest. Meanwhile, at the end of a hockey session, many players are sucking wind. Not me; my running endurance makes me a third period player.

And, finally, rock climbing is the glue that holds it all together. The yoga session of my weekly workouts. Climbing is a full-body strength, stretching, and balancing workout, and it's the exercise that keeps my muscles and my body toned. It's like doing the trim when you paint a room; it's a small piece, but it makes everything look sharper and more complete.

I am a strong believer in cross-training. Maybe I'll never be "great" at any of my big three sports, because I never fully dedicate myself to any of them. But because I regularly exercise -- and all of my workouts complement each other -- I feel great... and I can have two helpings of everything each night at dinner.