Amy Reinink

This blog aims to answer a question any active person who wishes to stay motivated to remain active should know a sincere, thoughtful and immediate answer to: Why run and swim and lift on a regular basis when it would be easier to sleep longer in the morning, head right home for dinner, or spend lunchtime reading or yapping rather than working out?

One day after returning from a two-week vacation that involved backpacking through Spain, France and Germany, I offer the following answers:

So that you can hike through the loveliest mountain valleys and scale the steepest peaks of the Pyrenees—and keep plowing through tough ascents when the guidebook you’ve followed is a bit too optimistic about your route:

So you can make like Janet Evans, Summer Sanders, Anita Nall or another childhood swimming idol from circa 1992 in Barcelona’s Olympic pool, which is now open to the public (that’s me doing just that below):

So you can copy French and Spanish beach-goers and swim lap after lap around the buoys set up along Mediterranean shorelines for just that purpose, scoping out dozens of varieties of fish through the crystal-clear blue water:

And so you see your running buddy’s new hometown on the French Riviera with via a running tour, after which you can rest your legs on the patio of her lovely Toulon chateau:

These adventures in the Pyrenees and Mediterranean came courtesy of long runs in the hot D.C. summer sun, and courtesy of Sunday afternoons spent doing laps in public pools. Stay tuned for in-depth posts (next post on Friday) about how to replicate some of these adventures if you’re lucky enough to find yourself on vacation in or around Spain or France.

If the reasons above aren’t compelling enough motivators to work out, I offer one other reward for running, swimming or lifting on a regular basis: You can order that extra glass of sangria on the beach post-swim without any guilt!

What’s motivating you this week?

Weeks seven and eight of my Virginia Beach Half-Marathon training will take place overseas. I will be backpacking through Europe until August 31. I will not be bringing my laptop (gulp). Look forward to lots of photos—and stories about attempting a camping trip and a long run in a foreign country—when I return!

Sunday: Run 10 miles, at roughly 9:30-minute-mile pace

Monday: Swim 3,000 meters, straight through

Tuesday: Run Sligo-Ritchie hill loop, 4.7 miles at 8:30-minute-mile pace; .78-mile warmup and a .76-mile cooldown (6.24 miles total)

Wednesday: Swim 3,000 meters: 1X1600; 3X400 IM; 4X50 sprint

Thursday: Lift, hard, for 45 minutes; run 4 hilly miles at 9-minute-mile pace

Friday: Swim 3,200 yards (no more 50-meter lanes until Wilson Aquatic Center reopens in mid-September!): 800 free, 800 pull, 200 IM, 400 kick, 200 IM, 400 kick, 200 IM, 4X25 sprint, 4X25 no breath

You know it’s going to be a tough workout when the e-mail outlining your running route concludes with a cheerful reminder that “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!”

The route in question on Tuesday: the Sligo-Ritchie loop, which my running group tackles on a semi-regular basis. The Sligo part is fine—Sligo Creek Trail is pretty, and pancake flat. Ritchie Avenue is the killer. My Garmin tells me it gains 110 feet of elevation over .4 mile—an average grade of around 5 percent (check out this calculator to compute grade). My quads tell me it’s closer to leg-presses or squats than running.

This hill sucked the life out of me when I first ran it last summer. It killed me again when I ran it last week. So I decided to do hill repeats on it last Friday, to conquer the hill mentally—and to increase my leg strength, boost my aerobic capacity and burn way more calories than I would on a flat route of the same distance (yep, more calories—keep reading).

In the September issue of Running Times, running coach Greg McMillan touts hill repeats as among the best workouts for half-marathoners, as they improve both aerobic capacity and your body’s ability to clear lactic acid after a hard effort.

And you can count on a 10-percent increase in calories burned for each degree of incline when you’re running hills, Dr. Jana Klauer, a weight-loss expert, told Runner’s World. This means running on a 10-percent incline actually doubles your calorie-burn.

Here’s how: Find a short, steep hill that takes about a minute to run up; or a medium hill that takes about two minutes to run up. Run uphill, jog downhill. Repeat. Check out this Running Times story for more specifics.

My hill workout Friday hasn’t translated into actual fitness gains yet, so the hill was as physically exhausting as ever on Tuesday night. But when I got to the top, I got a serious mental boost from knowing I didn’t have to turn around and run it again! Despite the hill, and 90-plus degree temperatures, I averaged 8:30-minute miles  for the 4.7 mile route, which doesn’t include a .78-mile warmup and a .76-mile cooldown (6.24 miles total).

How do you incorporate hills into your training?

I was going to make this the “back in the saddle” edition of Motivation Monday, in a reference to me trying out my new bike seat, new helmet and new wrist on my first post-wrist surgery bike ride on Saturday. I’ve always been a skittish cyclist, so even once my doctor cleared me for all activities last month, I was flat-out scared to get back in the saddle, lest I re-break my wrist, or break something in my body that isn’t titanium-reinforced.

My new bike seat and helmet, purchased in January, finally used on Saturday.

But getting back in the saddle is boring and cliched, and represents kind of a lukewarm attitude, begging the question of what happened once I was actually *in* the saddle. In addition to a new bike seat, I also got to use my favorite old bike shorts, by a brand called Shebeest, which is exactly the kind of persona I channeled when I made a conscious effort to do something that scared the crap out of me.

Looking dweeby but victorious in my Sheebeests after our ride Saturday.

It started with a simple ride to the Silver Spring Farmers Market. I wore my splint there, shed it for the ride home, and had so much fun, I recruited Steve to join me for a longer ride in the place of my scheduled swim. We both enjoyed zooming through the sunny, arid, 80-degree weather on a 10-mile trek on the Rock Creek Hiker-Biker Trail. I enjoyed getting to unleash my inner Shebeest—an occasional necessity in training and in life.

Here’s what else is motivating me this week:

• A painful, but ultimately successful, 10-mile run Sunday morning. After being so smart about pacing last week’s 10-miler, I fell into the same trap that’s defined most of my longer runs this training cycle: the “but 8:30-minute miles *do* feel easy and conversational!” trap, which left me sputtering through my final miles on Sunday. I felt like crap chugging up the last, long, uphill mile, but was pleased to find that I still averaged right around 9:30-minute miles, about par for the course this training cycle.
• A nice quote, courtesy of Michelle at Running Down Dreams: “When we understand the privilege of what it means to be an athlete, we are in touch with, and rejoice in, our physical, mental and emotional strengths, and our endless possibilities.” – Gloria Averbuch
• Kara Goucher’s blog. I had no idea this existed. Now that I do, it’s totally rocking my world.
• Another new race idea: The Battleship Half-Marathon in Wilmington, N.C. It’s on Sunday, Nov. 7, and it’s flat and fast. Best of all, it’s only $58, compared to the $100 I’d shell out to run the Philadelphia Half-Marathon on Nov. 21. Just a thought …

What’s motivating you this week?

As Fozzie Bear and Kermit once said, I’m moving right along on my Virginia Beach Half-Marathon training. My longer runs are feeling better, I’ve got a good swimming routine established, and a tough lifting workout no longer leaves me sore for days after I’ve put down the dumbbells. I’m following my half-marathon training plan to a T, and it feels tough, but do-able.

Below is my last week of training. Next up: a hill workout today, a long swim tomorrow and a long run on Sunday.

Saturday: Swim 4,750 meters

Sunday: Hill workout – 6X Park Valley Road, a super-steep .2-mile hill (plus three miles of warm-up, cool-down)

Monday: Swim 3,000: 2,000 warmup, 1,000 timed (15 minutes even)

Tuesday: Run 4.62 miles in 39:56, 8:30-minute miles. Nailed killer hill in middle (thanks, hill repeats!).

Wednesday: Lift, hard, for 45 minutes.Drop weight to 55 pounds on the fake pull-up machine, meaning that, if I weighed 70 pounds, but had the same strength I did now, I could do three sets of 10 pull-ups, easy!

Thursday: Off

Friday: Run: 3X1 mile, or hill workout

I don’t do moderation so well. Actually, more accurately, I don’t do moderation. Period. It’s a personality flaw I’m working on—running three days a week rather than pretending I have the running mechanics/talent/time/resources of Kara Goucher, considering a second half-marathon in the fall rather than trying to force a full 26.2, and generally trying to behave like less of a Type-A, perfectionist jerk.

Don’t underestimate the power of that Type-A personality. It can even ruin yoga—ironically, one of the only things I’ve found to calm my sense of chaos and impatience. I’ve taken enough yoga classes to know about 30 to 45 minutes worth of poses that make me feel strong and relaxed, and I have a great yoga DVD. But I usually feel like I don’t have enough time to devote to a whole routine, so I skip it altogether.

Enter All Over Yoga, courtesy of Healthy Ashley’s terrific blog. She explains the idea this way: Yoga is not “some secret club reserved for expensive studios and self-proclaimed yogis.” Instead, “Yoga can be child’s pose in your living room. Yoga can be five minutes of deep breathing.”

For me, this means yoga doesn’t have to be the bikram class in Takoma Park I keep wanting to take, but can instead be plank pose before I run, tree pose while I’m waiting for water to boil for tea or boat pose before bed. I’m sure more committed souls reap far greater benefits from their hour-long yoga breaks. But for me, just doing *something* each day makes my frenzied mind calmer.

Know who else is doing yoga? The University of Maryland’s football team, as described in this Washington Post story.

Are you sitting at a desk, counting down the minutes until you can run or swim or walk or do whatever it is you do that stretches your lungs and soothes your soul? Check out Yoga Journal’s Yoga at Your Desk feature. Because a little bit really is better than nothing.

Mandatory minimum usually refers to punishment. This week, though, it served as a motivational strategy that led to a few workouts that were longer and more intense than I thought I had in me.

It started on Friday, when I woke up early to squeeze in my weekly long run for my Virginia Beach Half-Marathon training. I needed to run somewhere between eight and 10 miles, so I told myself I had to run a minimum of four miles out before turning around, with an option for another mile out if I felt good at that point.

On Saturday, during a relaxed afternoon swim, I told myself I had to swim a minimum of 3X300 free as the main set, followed by a minimum of 4X100 sprint, leading to at least a 3,000-meter workout including a warmup and other sets.

And on Sunday, I told myself I needed to run at least three hill repeats on Park Valley Road, a super-steep .2-mile hill off Sligo Creek Trail, before shuffling—ahem, jogging—home.

The net result: the first 10-miler of my Virginia Beach Half-Marathon training; a 4,750-meter swim that included 7X300 free, sprinting the first 10 strokes of every 50; and six sprints up the steepest hill I’ve found in this area, for a total of one mile—and more than 500 feet in elevation gain—of hill work.

My mandatory minimums took the pressure off each workout. It’s the same idea as telling yourself you only have to make it to the next telephone post on a difficult run— you know you’ll likely be able to run farther once you make it there, but focusing only on a small micro-goal makes the whole run feel less overwhelming.

This is a useful life skill, too. Former OMB director and marathoner Peter Orszag put it this way in my interview with him (in case you missed my Runner’s World interview with him, check it out here):

“Being in a job like this is very similar to running a marathon,” Orszag said. “If you focused on how far you have to go, it would be so stultifying and demoralizing, you would never actually do it.”

What kind of mental tricks do you employ to make workouts seem less overwhelming? And what’s motivating you this week?

I’ve been training for four weeks for the Virginia Beach Half-Marathon. The good news: My swimming feels fabulous, and I’m actually motivated to head to the pool for this often-dreaded form of cross-training. The bad news: I had a small setback running-wise when I re-twisted my gimpy ankle last week, so I don’t feel like I’ve made much progress as far as actual running is concerned. And I’m told I won’t be able to swim the half-marathon.

My one saving grace, running-wise: My decision to wake up early this morning and squeeze in my long run for the week, a 10-miler I decided to start slooow. See, I’ve been falling apart in the final miles of my long runs, and I needed an ego-booster this morning more than I needed to hit any certain pace. So I jogged about five miles from home, then turned around and ran back. The amazing thing: I still averaged roughly 9:30-minute miles, about the pace I’ve averaged in my other long runs.

Saturday (July 24): Lift, hard, for 30 minutes

Sunday: Long swim (sub for the long run I would have done if not for the ankle trouble): 4,500 meters, a post-wrist-surgery distance PR!

Monday: Swim 3,000 meters: 1,000 warmup, alternate 100 free, 100 back; 1X1,800 pyramid set; 4X50 butterfly, sprint

Tuesday: Run 3.7 miles in 32:09, or 8:41-minute miles. Elevation gain of about 200 feet. Felt good, but kept it short to baby my recently re-twisted ankle.

Wednesday: Randomly big cross-training day. I had an eye doctor appointment early Wednesday morning, at which the doc dilated my pupils. I felt a little too blurry to drive at the end of the appointment. My gym was within walking distance, so I just lengthened my workout: 1.5 hours of lifting, including about 30 minutes on the Dara Torres core workout in Shape magazine. Stationary bike 30 minutes later in day.

Thursday: Off. Abs, quads sore to the touch.

Friday: Run 10 miles! Ankle felt fine with the help of some KT Tape. Post-run nutrition note: I rewarded my exhausted muscles with a Starbucks Vivanno immediately post-run. It has four simple ingredients: a banana, bittersweet cocoa, skim milk and protein powder (I get a shot of espresso, too). With 270 calories, 18 grams of protein and 48 grams of carbs, it serves as a pretty decent protein recovery drink when you’re in a rush.In other news: My “I’m a Runner” interview with outgoing OMB Director Peter Orszag went live on Runner’s World’s website today! A sneak preview: “Being in a job like this is very similar to running a marathon,” he says. “If you focused on how far you have to go, it would be so stultifying and demoralizing, you would never actually do it.”

It’s hard to go wrong with a core workout that includes what Olympic swimmer Dara Torres describes as her “favorite moves.” But this workout, from Shape magazine’s August issue, was even more of a killer than I expected. Just *try* to do the slow-ball rollout and corkscrew back-to-back without grunting, wheezing or otherwise embarrassing yourself.

I especially love its focus on the BOSU, which I’ve found to be a great tool for those of us with cranky IT bands—or just about any kind of running injury.

The workout is excerpted from Torres’ new book, “Gold Medal Fitness,” in which she shares her strategies for goal-setting, diet and exercise, including 35 days of simple menu plans and her actual workout moves. Yes, it’s on my wish-list.

Check out my other favorite core workouts here and here.

Have you found any fantastic core moves lately? If so, share them by posting a comment!