![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Anyone who's read this blog for any time knows that I jog. I have three reasons for doing this:
1) I don't want to wind up like my father - bedridden by a stroke for 8 years.
2) I'd like to stand some chance of asking a woman out and having her say yes.
3) If I should wind up in bed with said woman, I'd like to have the stamina to last for more than thirty seconds. And I don't mean premature ejaculation.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
garething about my jogging back when he was still living in Vancouver. This would make it something on the order of seven years ago. We were walking to the A&B sound on SW Marine from his apartment on W 71 Ave. I even told him my list of three and ended it with the same little bit of joking dialog as I've recreated above. Sometimes my mind latches onto the weirdest things to recall perfectly. I'd be surprised if he remembered the exchange at all.
The journey has been a long one, with many setbacks. At first I thought I'd simply run home from work. This was when I lived downtown, so it was about 7.5 Km from my job at Research Park to Ggothic Towers. The first time I figured I'd take it easy by running a block, then walking a block and repeating until I got home. After the first kilometer or so I managed to give myself a case of shin splints that lasted a good solid month. Ouch.
After that I did a little research. Turns out you should start out really slowly and work your way up. Unfortunately my research wasn't sufficient to tell me how to do this. I started by jogging for 1 Km straight, three times a week and upping the distance by 10% each week. It compounded, so the distance doubled every 7 weeks. Little did I know that I was hurting myself. After several months of this I went to run 8 Km straight, got about 1 Km, then had two of my vertebrae smack together. Not fun. I spent a week flat on my stomach taking Robaxacet like it was candy, and another month hobbling around waiting for my back to heal. It's never been quite right since, but 15 minutes of deliberate stretching every morning takes the pain and stiffness away. I also resolved to learn how to do run properly.
I took a 13 week course from the U of C for beginning runners. The text of the book was The Beginning Runner's Handbook, which I recommend to anyone who's interested.
For me, the thirteen weeks took several years to do. I was sidetracked by illness (both physical and mental), injuries, the ass-biting cold (can't run lower than -20, you start to freeze your lungs). If I missed a week I would go back one. Miss three weeks and it was back to the beginning. My weight was right on the threshold where it interferred with my ability to run. Weight Watchers managed to drop my weight below that threshold so that I could finish the program. Something I'd only done once before (I managed to finish the program about five years ago and run the Forzani's road race with only one interruption - and that was due to traffic.
It's not for everyone though - if you have problems with any of the lower joints, or you find running tedious, find some other thing to do.
Today was a breakthrough of sorts. I ran 10 Km non-stop and I did it in under 1 hour. Specifically, I did it in 56:15!
There was no race, just me and the 1 km markers along the Bow river pathway. The temperature was cool without being cold. There was a slight wind, but not so strong that it dragged the breath from my mouth. All-in-all a very good day for running. Also one of the last before our six months of winter.
Strangely, my pace has not changed any - it's more-or-less always been 160 paces/minute. But my stride has become longer. I'm about ten% faster due to a 10% increase in pace length. Of course, I'm also 17% lighter than I was when I started, which helps.
I'm officially healthier at 37 than I was at 27. Better looking too!
For those interested, here is the (allegedly) thirteen week program that will get you from no running whatsoever, to running a 10 K road race non-stop:
( Go on, give it a try... )
1) I don't want to wind up like my father - bedridden by a stroke for 8 years.
2) I'd like to stand some chance of asking a woman out and having her say yes.
3) If I should wind up in bed with said woman, I'd like to have the stamina to last for more than thirty seconds. And I don't mean premature ejaculation.
"You're not done already are you?"I've been on this journey for a long time - I remember telling
"Nope... (pant pant) Just... (pant pant) give me... (pant pant) a few... (pant pant) minutes... (pant pant) to catch... (pant pant) my breath..."
garething about my jogging back when he was still living in Vancouver. This would make it something on the order of seven years ago. We were walking to the A&B sound on SW Marine from his apartment on W 71 Ave. I even told him my list of three and ended it with the same little bit of joking dialog as I've recreated above. Sometimes my mind latches onto the weirdest things to recall perfectly. I'd be surprised if he remembered the exchange at all.The journey has been a long one, with many setbacks. At first I thought I'd simply run home from work. This was when I lived downtown, so it was about 7.5 Km from my job at Research Park to Ggothic Towers. The first time I figured I'd take it easy by running a block, then walking a block and repeating until I got home. After the first kilometer or so I managed to give myself a case of shin splints that lasted a good solid month. Ouch.
After that I did a little research. Turns out you should start out really slowly and work your way up. Unfortunately my research wasn't sufficient to tell me how to do this. I started by jogging for 1 Km straight, three times a week and upping the distance by 10% each week. It compounded, so the distance doubled every 7 weeks. Little did I know that I was hurting myself. After several months of this I went to run 8 Km straight, got about 1 Km, then had two of my vertebrae smack together. Not fun. I spent a week flat on my stomach taking Robaxacet like it was candy, and another month hobbling around waiting for my back to heal. It's never been quite right since, but 15 minutes of deliberate stretching every morning takes the pain and stiffness away. I also resolved to learn how to do run properly.
I took a 13 week course from the U of C for beginning runners. The text of the book was The Beginning Runner's Handbook, which I recommend to anyone who's interested.
For me, the thirteen weeks took several years to do. I was sidetracked by illness (both physical and mental), injuries, the ass-biting cold (can't run lower than -20, you start to freeze your lungs). If I missed a week I would go back one. Miss three weeks and it was back to the beginning. My weight was right on the threshold where it interferred with my ability to run. Weight Watchers managed to drop my weight below that threshold so that I could finish the program. Something I'd only done once before (I managed to finish the program about five years ago and run the Forzani's road race with only one interruption - and that was due to traffic.
It's not for everyone though - if you have problems with any of the lower joints, or you find running tedious, find some other thing to do.
Today was a breakthrough of sorts. I ran 10 Km non-stop and I did it in under 1 hour. Specifically, I did it in 56:15!
There was no race, just me and the 1 km markers along the Bow river pathway. The temperature was cool without being cold. There was a slight wind, but not so strong that it dragged the breath from my mouth. All-in-all a very good day for running. Also one of the last before our six months of winter.
Strangely, my pace has not changed any - it's more-or-less always been 160 paces/minute. But my stride has become longer. I'm about ten% faster due to a 10% increase in pace length. Of course, I'm also 17% lighter than I was when I started, which helps.
I'm officially healthier at 37 than I was at 27. Better looking too!
For those interested, here is the (allegedly) thirteen week program that will get you from no running whatsoever, to running a 10 K road race non-stop:
( Go on, give it a try... )
