It was Friday the 13th when I ran for the first time since. . . let me look . . . since Thanksgiving 2008.
After the Cake Day Incident of 8/1/10, on which I gorged myself on waaaayyyyy too much retirement party cake, I sat down and identified some eating, workout, and weight loss goals. Given the heat, I decided I would run once a week (indoors until the weather is cooler) and do a yoga workout dvd two days a week.
So, on my first day back, I decided to see just how long I could run without stopping, and whatever I could get in within 20 minutes was good. I was running on the indoor track of my local gym, which is 1/16 scale of a normal track, and was enjoying the air conditioning. Then, all the sudden, I was exhausted. I stopped.
5:40. That's how long I had run. I decided I would walk just one lap.
9:50. I stopped again. I walked two laps.
17:05. I stopped again.
I really really really wanted to spit. Really badly. I think I may have mentioned how much I spit when I run? Maybe? It's the only constant other than music. There's nothing worse to me, besides running without tunes, than swallowing hot workout saliva! For serious. But as I was indoors, I was forced to be civilized and not spit. Oh, the things I do for air conditioning!
I walked one lap.
20:30. 20 minute goal reached. I walked a cool-down lap.
My legs felt rubbery. My shoulders ached from tensing them up. My head pounded. My shins felt splinted. But. . . I felt good!
I ran again the following Wednesday. This time, I ran for 15:45 before stopping. Now, don't get me wrong, I was wicked tired and wanted to stop several times, but I slowed my pace and pushed through.
I walked a lap (or two?) and then ran again until it was 20:30.
Head? = less poundy
Shoulders? = less tight and achy
Legs? = less rubbery, but still splinty
Another thing I miss about running outdoors (besides the ability to spit at will)? The fact that I have the white line of the bike lane to help me push through fatigue. At the gym, I'm always worried I'm going to get too tired and run into a wall or a support beam or another person.
Also? I can't easily track my distance. The track is 1/16. Meaning I'd have to go around it 16 times before I run a mile. Given that it only takes me about 50 seconds to run it and about a minute ten to walk it . . . .(hold on while I do the math) . . . I ran about a mile and a half. Best guess. (because it could really drive a person mad counting laps! and I utterly refuse to try it.)
I decided that if I really want to ramp it up a notch, I could add another run in per week. That would definitely get me back to a 5k by Labor Day (hey! that rhymes!). I might really need that after my crash and burn food day yesterday. There were chips. There was candy. Both were in obscene amounts. (there were also carrots and nectarines, but not nearly enough!)
Either way, I can't wait to do it again next week!
2 comments:
i so get the spit thing! when i was training for my 1/2 marathon I would put clips in my hair and pull them out and put them on my the bottom of my shirt every lap or mile or something so I wouldn't have to keep track of the gazillion laps I had to do in order to run 9 or 1o or whatever miles it was on the track. so maybe you could do it every 4 laps so you know that 4 clip is 4 miles or something.
Uh! I hate running, so any that you did is amazing to me!
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