Week 8 and beyond… the Fitness Update

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OK – sorry this is coming so late! I’ve been busy (well, as unemployed life goes) these past few weeks. The report on the running is that I’m not making the progress I wish I was – that is to say, I’m doing the “slow and steady” bit, and so far, am not improving time-wise, but seem to be improving endurance. This is great for the long haul, but I wish my success was instantaneous. The good news is that I’m still doing at least three sessions per week, and I’m mixing it up with some inclines because this is Seattle, long flat stretches just don’t come often, and get boring after awhile.

I’m considering entering a 5k fun run at the end of the month, just to give it a shot. I know that I might end up walking part of the way, but maybe I should just do it. I’ll consider it after next week.

So, what’s been keeping me so busy? Continue reading “Week 8 and beyond… the Fitness Update” →

The Week in Fitness: Week 7

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This week I paid a lot more attention to my heart rate monitor, and less to the distance. This means that the day after yoga, I was a lot slower. Yesterday (see above) I went farther than usual thanks to my accidentally setting a program on my heart rate monitor. Instead of it beeping at me when I was at 76% of my max hr, it was waiting until 84%, which was a lot harder on me. I’m happy that I got a good distance at the end of the week, but it was exhausting and not terribly enjoyable. I set my hrm back to the moderate pace, so next time I hope to not be so strained.

I was thinking of switching my running to 3x/wk instead of 4, but I think I’d miss it. I also want to do yoga at least 1x per week, if not 2, but I need to get my body warmed up to that idea. Then there’s scuba, which I’d like to do at least once every two weeks. We did a brief dive on Saturday, but the viz was horrible and at 68 ft, when it started to clear up, it was dark enough to need a light (this was during midday).

So this week, I try another yoga class, continue to jog with my hrm and train a bit better, and mostly just try to relax.

Today’s Lesson in Fitness

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75 minutes of yoga is powerful stuff. I went to my first real yoga class in many years last night at a local studio, 8 Limbs Yoga. I was able to do a lot more than I feared, and came out feeling fantastic. My muscles were a little sore today, but felt good. I decided to do my regularly scheduled 30 minute jog and found that I went the shortest distance I’ve done in a month.

I was a bit annoyed by the short distance, then I came home and read up on using my heart rate monitor for training, realizing that I maybe just need to throw this distance thing out of the window once and for all. Here’s another clue – my muscles were sore BEFORE I went out. Maybe going a shorter distance was expected by my body, if not exactly what it needed. Then there’s the thought that maybe I should have skipped my jog today because right now, I hurt!!

Today’s lesson, in sum, is yoga is a lot tougher than it seems and overworking my muscles does nobody any good.

Ouch.

Reflection: Road to Running

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Now that I’m over half-way into this walk/run program, I thought I would reflect a moment on where I am right now with running.

It’s unbelievable, in some ways, that I’m going out of the house, four times a week, and instead of hiding on an eliptical trainer in the corner of a gym, jiggling and jogging past neighborhood people for thirty minutes. Even better, I’m doing this with shorts that show my flabby thighs and shirts that expose my flabby arms. This, I’m finding, is the side-effect of weight loss. Much as with my venture into scuba and the wetsuit, I respond to my fears of judgment from others with a, “Well, I don’t see YOU daring to do what I’m daring to do.” What I’m choosing to do isn’t easy – either diving or running. People much thinner than me can be just as unable or fearful to be out in the world and do what I’m doing.

I’m finding that sometimes, on my “off days” from running, I really just want to go out there anyway. I jogged yesterday, and I try not to run two days in a row except on Saturday and Sunday just to give myself a rest. The thing is, though, is that I enjoy going out and going around the neighborhood. Yesterday I tried a new route. It’s tricky to find a mostly flat route in Seattle, but luckily where I’m at there are a few north/south streets that run parallel, and aside from *getting* to those streets, they stay fairly flat.

This past Saturday, Jon and I went to Green Lake Park, an Olmstead designed park about 5 miles from where we live. The trail around the lake is about 2.8 miles around, and features a gravel and asphalt path for both walking/running and wheeled bipeds. Jon and I just walked about a third of the path to check it out. Driving to a park to run seems wasteful to me, but the was something just absolutely lovely about the area that may make the trek worth it.

Continue reading “Reflection: Road to Running” →

Week 6 – Slow and Steady?

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Frustrating week for jogging. I only did 3 of my usual 4 days this week because I spent one day this week diving, and was in a fair amount of pain the next few days afterwards, so I gave myself a break. Diving, it turns out, works out most of my backside, whereas running seems to do more to my front. At least, this is where I experienced the muscle pain.

Yesterday’s run (above) was disappointing distance-wise. I’m not seeing much improvement in speed or endurance, but yesterday was also a day where I was really stressed mentally, and had about 5 hrs sleep the night before (new noisy neighbors!) I’ve mostly switched to the heart rate monitor letting me know when I need to slow or speed up. A good chunk of the time, I’m wanting to go faster than it says I should. I know from the book that my muscles will be able to do more than the rest of me, so I have to have patience with the cardio-training.

I’m realizing that I really want to not just run a 5k, but also do really well when I do it. If we’re in town Thanksgiving weekend, I’m thinking of doing the 5k that accompanies the Seattle Marathon. It’s also the weekend of my birthday, and I think that a good way to celebrate one step further into my third decade is to do something fitness oriented. Next year, I’m thinking 10k, but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself.

This week, I’m just going to keep on paying attention to my heart rate monitor, and hope that by keeping mindful of not over-exerting myself, I may just get where I need to go faster. 🙂