Me me MEEE~! *Crowds applause and roars enthusiastically*
Who wants to work very hard for it?
... ... *silence*
It is so easy to be fat here in NYC. I went to the pharmacy to get some healthy whole grain cereal for breakfast, only to walk out of the pharmacy buying 10 candy bars. I can't help it lah! How much is one Snickers bar in Singapore nowadays? SGD$1.50 or so? It was selling here for USD $0.44 a bar during a sale leh… cannot resist stocking up on some.
And my hubby has a weakness for ice cream, and he has to have ice cream every weekend, and usually a few times on weekdays too (so unhealthy! :-P). How much is a 14 oz (414ml) tub of Haagan Dazz ice cream in Singapore? It costs USD$3 here during a sale, and look at how much ice cream I’ve stocked up in the fridge… … :-( uh oh… 
And not just the sugary stuff, there are many other fatty foods we could include in meal times too.
A few weeks ago, Ronald and I went to the park, and we saw a half marathon taking place that morning. A half marathon is about 13 miles I think (20 something kilometers). And I was inspired. I hope to join the New York Road Runners one day!
There was this time when I was 16 years old, and an unremarkable runner. My musical hobbies were the mainstay of my childhood, and I was not the atheletic sort. My brother was an army commando, and I picked up lots of tips about running and especially mental perseverance from him. I slowly trained a few months for our school’s 5km run at Mc Ritchie Reservoir. I ran and guess what? I beat one of my school’s famous long distance runner by gaining 6th place (she got 7th) in the Sec 3 + Sec 4 catagory!It was amazing to achieve something I did not think was possible for me, and I am thankful for my brother helping me, sometimes physically using one hand to push me from my back as he ran behind me, telling me to persevere and not stop. He was there for me until I could independently train for long distance running on my own.
I desire to be fit and healthy, but I’m aging and getting fat instead. How?
I’ve got to start somewhere, and have some kind of guidelines for myself. But hmmm… what can I use as a standard for myself? Hahaha… I thought of one fitness standard… one that I’ve been following for at least a decade since Primary School days. NAPFA! (a.k.a. National Physical Fitness Award a.k.a. NS’s IPPT)
I’ve all along been a bronze and silver level… and the first thing I want to test is my cardio-vascular-muscular ability: the 2.4km (1.5 miles) run! I used google maps to map out a route in the park, where I’ll time myself running forward for 0.8 miles, and run back the same route for 0.7 miles, thereby I’d even out uphill and down hill times. I need to run all 1.5 miles within 17 minutes 30 seconds to pass my NAPFA test.
So how did I do…?
FAIL!… absolutely over time man! I ran 1.5miles in 24minutes. According to google maps, I should be able to WALK 1.5 miles in 29 minutes! After all that effort and sweat, I’m only 5 minutes faster in running compared to someone walking the same path? Haha LOL! I guess that might be true, there was a few times this lady who was brisk walking who kept over taking me…*Gasp*
Anyway, I’ve taken the first step, and if I continue on, it shouldn’t get harder than this right? So my new aim is to run 1.5 miles within 17.5 minutes! And to motivate me, I will log my runs in this blog with the panel on the right to track my improvements. I aim to run at least once a week, so please encourage me leh! *sob*
For interest, here are the NAPFA standards for both males and females:
You would probably want to consider how long have you been away from running.
ReplyDeleteCorrect me if I'm wrong.
You probably want to get a heart rate monitor to take note of your BPM at rest and when you are running.
Too slow, nothing happens. Too fast, lose muscle instead of fats.
Jiayou Ah Ma!!!