The Athlete

I  have been a county employee for almost 10 years. My favorite exercise is running – it’s quick and efficient and works my whole body. I had a baby 4 years ago, so my time to run has been cut down. For the last 3 years, I’ve been running at lunch time. My goal is to run 4 days a week, but I’m satisfied if I get out 3 times. Even if it’s raining I go for a run, and once I ran in the snow. It’s my way to relax and get myself back together after a stressful morning fielding customer requests. And then when I get home, I’m ready to be a mom and wife again instead of obsessing about when I can get my run in.

I’m doing the WebMD online program and I chose the exercise planner. I know I’m going to run anyway, so this way I can track how many days a week I get my run in and how long I’m able to run. I can look at my weekly total calories burned, and compare notes from week to week. When I enrolled in the program, I said my favorite cardio exercise is running ,and that I’d like to run Monday - Friday , so the program auto-populated the planer with a run every weekday. I just check the box next to the running cardio activity every time I run. It feels like a little reward for my run. Each time I check the box, it counts as one of my 3 weekly activities. So on the weeks when I only run twice, I make sure to check a box for another activity I did that week. That way I can get credit for my weekend hikes and bike rides. It’s interesting to see how my activity varies from week to week.

I may try to customize the planner a little as I get more familiar with it – I can add activities to my planner for that day only, or for every day going forward. My husband wants us to compete in a triathlon this summer, so I can track my training rides and swims too.

• Weekend warriors – just add new activities to the planner each time you do something new. Remember you need to check 3 activities a week to earn the gold out-of-pocket expense level. So for instance, if on Saturday you bike to the gym to lift weights and then kayak on Sunday, remember to enter and check the box next to each activity.
• New athletes – the program will offer suggestions for weight bearing, cardio and stretching exercise. If you want to learn what an exercise is, just click the orange box to the right of the exercise name for a demonstration.
• Weight lifters – the program offers lots of choices for strength-training activities and will give you a structure for your training.
• This probably isn’t the right program for the über-athlete. The planner won’t allow you to enter notes on your training such as weather conditions, what you ate that day or other notes you may be tracking. Try the stress management planner, or convert your activities into steps and use the walking planner for a simple program that won’t interfere with your demanding training schedule.

• If you’ll be taking any time off for vacation, start the planner before April 23rd to give yourself flexibility to miss a week. Better yet, start as early as you can for the most flexibility.
• You’ll need to enter a goal of at least 20 minutes for cardio training on at least 3 days a week. But remember, the Centers for Disease Control recommend at least 150 minutes of activity each week. So for better health benefits, aim for at least 150 minutes of activity a week.
• If you need motivation, enroll in the full exercise program and read the phased reading. You can either read an entire phase (7 steps plus a quiz) for one point, or use the planner to earn your points (click the box next to an activity you performed, one point for each activity) and use the readings to help motivate you when you need inspiration.