Once A Runner…

Hello… Again

Yeah, I’ve been absent for a bit.  Nobody to blame but myself, of course, but here I am, back again.

It was pleasantly cool this morning when I woke up a little after 6:30 a.m., so I put on the shoes and shorts, grabbed my Nike+ iPod and took a 20-minute walk.  NaNoWriMo is on the horizon and I’m starting to think about story again, but I also figured I’d better get a little more air into my lungs so I can not only survive NaNo for another year but have enough oxygen in my brain to think and actually write something worth a damn this time.

Am I really, really returning to tackle getting back into running shape again after giving in to gaming and laziness such that I’ve pretty much ruined all my progress?  (I weighed 192 pounds after my walk this morning!) Time will tell, I guess. But I think that maybe if my theory about oxygen to my brain proves successful in helping me to turn my story idea into a solid novel, then I’d have to be an even bigger idiot than I’ve already been to not continue this time, wouldn’t I?

The Road Back So Far (Week Nine)

It’s been a topsy-turvy week. My weight is stable at 180 pounds, despite my falling off my diet for a few days where I was drinking more diet cola than I should and I snacked on some candy lying around from Easter. The workouts, on the other hand, have been hit-or-miss.

I’m supposed to be working out at least every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, with an optional longer workout on Sunday. However, several trips to the home improvement-gardening store(s), getting home late from work, and other details have made it too easy to skip and leave it for tomorrow. And, we all know, tomorrow never comes!

Saturday was a pleasant run — though all the while I had to keep one eye on some rather nasty-looking storm clouds gathering in the distance. There was a little trouble with my left knee paining me a bit during and after. It persists, but it’s not terrible. I know this is a long road. Can’t get there any faster than my body will adjust to things, but I’ve made it worse by not keeping up the schedule regularly enough to permit my body to adjust properly.

Add to that a slip back into the gaming side of things, since my player character in World of Warcraft is a Paladin (Protection spec for tanking) and is needed for my daughter, her boyfriend, and my two oldest online-gaming friends to run more challenging instances we’ve all talked about running forever. His gear is finally shaping up for the more moderately advanced instances that provide access to the gear they all want — not to mention it all being a bit more challenging and fun than the routine content — so I’ve been putting in a little more time in getting him set for that. It’s far too easy to play a little longer than I intended, robbing me of the sleep I should get instead.

So, Spring has arrived here. Lawn maintenance is back in the mix. Gardening is back in the mix. Gaming is back in the mix. I’ve just got to get a handle on it all and bring everything together, prioritized appropriately, and make it all work. The workouts have to fit in, regardless. I have to make that piece of things work, or I’m looking at falling back into the less healthful habits and patterns of before.

The Purple Runner Is Home

My librarian friend has worked her book preservation-restoration magic and The Purple Runner is back in my hands. There was very little she could do to make it much better, but it’s serviceable and fit enough for reading. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for a copy in better shape in the future, but this copy will suffice for reading the story –finally!

I’ve only just started reading it and I like it fine so far. I’ll have a bit more to say on it as I go along, I’m sure.

The Road Back So Far (Week Eight)

I’ve got a ways to go with the weight loss, but it’s going well so far. I’m going to obviously hit a little plateau or two here soon and have to work to get through it (or them) on my way down to my goal weight. I just think I’ll generally be much better off, and especially able to run better, when I get down to a weight closer to what I used to be at.

I’m not having much difficulty with the transition to jogging for most of my workouts now. I’ll still force myself to keep to a walking warm-up, then jogging for what should normally be 2/3 of my workout time duration, and finish with a walk for a cool-down. This is progressive enough for me at this stage, and the full-day’s rest as recovery is working well for me, too.

Though I’m feeling stronger and my joints — especially my knees — are giving me less and less trouble, I still have a little trouble with them. Mostly, that comes a bit after my workouts or later in evening. Nothing like before, so this is a good sign.

Overall, I think I’m still making good progress. I’m pleased.

Too Far, Too Fast, Too Soon — Just DON’T Do It!

For the time being, as I start the transition from a predominately walking program into more jogging, I’ll be taking a day off between workouts. This is contrary to what I desire to do, or what I want to settle into for the long term in the future. But it’s the prudent thing to do — increasing stress progressively with adequate rest between sessions is generally regarded as the best way to make progress with less risk of injuries.

However, I already note a tendency to try to “race” myself. I want to push more already, and I’ve only just started! This is kind of dangerous and could lead to a major setback if I don’t reign myself in constantly. It’s not that I’m not strong enough — I do feel much stronger. It’s that testing the limits of those gains in every workout is totally foolish and counterproductive.

Work has to be followed by rest if you’re to make any gains in strength and endurance, and rest by work if you’re to continue to make any progress, but work intensity has to be increased progressively, added to in manageable increments. Going too far, too fast, too soon is a recipe for disaster. It just takes ramping one of those up too quickly to tip the intensity of the work effort too far and start a chain reaction that could wind up setting me back to the beginning all over again.

Yesterday, I set out on my normal 30-minute Nike+ iPod workout setting, complete with the walk for five minutes, then start jogging, with the intention of walking the last five minutes. However, I did go farther and a little faster than I had intended. No ill effects this time — other than a little soreness.

But hearing Tiger Woods in my iPod headphones telling me that I’ve just turned in my fastest mile — three workouts in a row — tells me I need to watch it. This isn’t the time for all that. This is the time to build up slowly and gradually, to follow a system, not choose what to do by whim. I need to settle into a rhythm and increase rate and intensity progressively. I’m still going to have to constantly remind myself of what has sort of become my motto: Patience and perseverance.

On the weight-loss front, I weighed in at 181 pounds this morning. I’ve added a sidebar item to track my progress. I’ve also gone ahead and declared a goal weight.

I’m making good progress and I’m happy with how things are going so far. I need to try not to get too happy and so carried away with how well it’s going that I sabotage my progress by being foolish.

“Major Milestone” Achieved!

Saturday, I managed about a mile at a slow jog, but yesterday I actually maintained a slightly faster pace for about two miles.

More or less the usual routine.  Set the Nike+ iPod for a 30-minute workout and started.  This time, however, I only walked the first five minutes, started jogging at around an 11-min/mile pace and slowly picked it up (averaged 10:22/mile), and then walked when the voice announced “Five minutes remaining.”

Of course, I’m a little sore today, but it’s worth every bit of soreness to me!

It’s nothing all that special, but it represents damned good progress.  And I’m pleased to get this far.  Finally.

The Purple Runner — Gone to the “Book Doctor”

The copy of The Purple Runner I found on Amazon was supposed to be in “Used - Good” condition, but my estimation of “Good” for even a paperback never includes a broken spine and pages taped back in to keep whole sections from falling out while you’re reading. Also, the spine has been torqued in a couple of places so that it’s in sorry shape structurally. The pages are clean and the print is in good shape, though.

Regardless, I now have a copy where I didn’t before, so it’s all good in the end.

Before I read it, though, it’s going to be “restored” so I can be certain that it will be in shape after one reading to be read again and again. That’s where a librarian friend stepped in. (She’s the one who alerted me to it being available on Amazon in the first place.) I delivered it to her on Thursday and she’s promised to soon have it in good, serviceable condition for years of reading pleasure.

Now, to find a copy of Long Road to Boston…

The Road Back So Far (Week Seven)

I wound up taking off nine straight days to let the ankle get better. I wasn’t very optimistic when I laced up to go for a walk Friday, but it turned out well. Today, on the other hand, was much better. I walked about half a mile and then, for no other reason than because I suddenly felt like I both wanted to and could, I kicked it up into a slow jog that I was able to easily manage for over a mile before slowing back to a walk to cool down a bit.

Overall, it felt great. Almost no problem with the ankle injury. Nearly nothing at all from the knees. Almost no knee pain or ache in either knee the whole way. The pace was very slow, of course. I remember reading somewhere the poet Odgen Nash saying something like, “…when I jog, I joggle.” And I do joggle, what with some extra weight still on my frame, while jogging — not running really yet — but the weight will come off someday and I might be able to actually run again… without the joggle.

I guess an initial adjustment period is to be expected. I forget how these things should go — even though I read what others have written and should expect certain things — but it’s easy to simply not remember how the body has to adjust progressively to increased physical stresses. So long on the couch or in front of the keyboard and not out on the roads. Yeah, I forgot what it’s like.

And — just to be sure I can stay on track from here on out — I’m going to try to keep in mind that there really is some wisdom to taking days off to recover. I’m taking Sunday off. I think I may alternate days of only walking with days of mixed walking and jogging. When I can manage something faster than about 11 minutes or so a mile, I may be able to cut down the walking and slowly build up from jogging to some faster running. At least for a while, I believe, I’ll have to be a jogger until I can get to the point where I can run easily and comfortably without much trouble.

It’s going to be a long road. I knew that before I started, but I think I wasn’t clear on how long it could really be this time around. I’ve got a lot of time to travel it, though. There’s no hurry. Not really. Patience and perseverance.