a lie: speed is the way of the runner.

[jazzfish]

So, I'm running again.

I started running in spring 2006 for reasons that can only be described as Awful. Thing is, even if the reasons are bad, the health benefits are real. People tell me exercise is good for fighting depression. Plus I like being able to fit into certain shirts, and I like being able to sprint back to the game store to pick up my hat when I forget it.

The big obstacle has always been my lungs. In cold weather they freeze up during any sort of exercise. (In humid weather I sweat like a beast and overheat, which is also no fun.) In 2006 I worked my way up to the point where I could run for about 20 minutes at a stretch without stopping to walk, and then it got too cold to go out, so I fell back off the wagon. Later years had a similar but less effective trajectory, usually interrupted by high summer, Lyme disease, or other factors beyond my control.

I never even got started this spring. I blame apathy. Or I would if I could be bothered to care.

Now I'm back to the condition I was in during spring 2006 when I started all this. And like then, I've reached the point where I hate my physique more than I hate getting up in the morning.

So, I'm running again. Living a quick walk from Lost Lagoon helps: it's got a nice dirt path which is nicer on my knees and hamstrings, it's basically flat so there are no hills to struggle with, and it's very pretty. After a week and a half I'm running five minutes at a stretch, which originally took me three months to get to. So that's something.

I have goals, both performance- and apperance-based. I have no idea if they're at all reachable. Since my inherent response to reaching goals is "obviously i didn't set them high enough," that's okay. At least I'm doing something.

(And yes, I'm familiar with The Fantasy of Being Thin.)

Comments

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

I finally put the pull-up* bar back in the doorframe after languishing under my bed for many months... I think seeing the Olympics was the motivator for that. (Also, Riss cleaned the bedroom and ousted said bar toward storage, so I decided to put it to use instead.)

* also pushups, dips, and crunches, when at floor level

I've also thought about running, but I want to get into barefoot-style running, and I can't afford good barefoot shoes (Merrills, VFFs, etc.), and haven't gotten around to buying or making huaraches.

[jazzfish]

Ha, that works. I've thought about pull-ups but every time I try when I'm hanging out at a playground, my bad shoulder objects loudly.

Surprisingly enough I'm going the complete opposite direction. I have special shoes that are supposed to shape my stride so that I'm not killing my hamstrings by stepping too much on the balls of my feet. Stepping on the balls of your feet is supposed to be good for you but I apparently take it to extremes.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

I haven't worked out a workout plan or anything yet, but if it's in the hallway doorframe into the office, I can do a few pullups any time I happen to walk by or into the office, or pull it down to do a few pushups. Should do some good -- it's more work than my arms and chest generally get. :)

I've never had a problem walking on the balls of my feet -- but as I recall, you prefer All Barefoot All The Time, which one would think would be Natural And Good, but apparently that's not always the case. :D

[jazzfish]

It's more that my posture sucks and has sucked from time immemorial, leading to leaning forward while standing/walking, leading to tight hamstrings. The walking on the balls of my feet is mostly a happy accident.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

I can see where that could happen.

I was complimented on my posture once, by a male ballet dancer, back when Shauna was regularly dancing. I don't even exercise! (http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0003792/quotes) :)

Meanwhile, we occasionally have to comment to Tim about his thudding around the house like an elephant, almost any time he's walking around barefoot, heel-striking to beat the band bass drum. :]

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't running indoors solve all of your issues?

[jazzfish]

It would, but it adds in the problem of 'finding a place to run indoors,' which runs up against my inherent laziness. There's not anyplace within walking distance with an indoor track. And I have a mild opposition to using the gym with stationary bikes / treadmills / etc, partly because there are other people there (they're outside too but not next to me ALL THE TIME) and partly because I can't get over the mental sense of not getting anything out of it. At least if I'm running not-in-place I have movement and sun and air and a nice view and all that.

If it gets too cold here in the winter I may have to start looking into one of those options, though.

[rainbowk.livejournal.com]

The most popular running groups in town start training at the beginning of January. I've done one of those (a Sun Run training program, 0-10K in 12 weeks) and I can assure you that it basically never gets too cold to run. Running in winter is probably nicer, really.

[jazzfish]

It /is/ a lot nicer to run when it's chilly out, especially for a heat source like me. Trouble is, my lungs insist that Too Cold starts at around 10 degrees C, so I expect Dec-Feb will be Too Cold. But that's still a much longer running season than I'm used to from DC.

(I am somewhat terrified at the thought of running /with/ other people.)

[(Anonymous)]

Have you seen a doctor about the lungs thing? Sounds like exercise-induced asthma to me ( always worse in the cold), in which case there's (cheap! safe!) inhalers for that. Silly, and perhaps dangerous, to ignore the simple solution here.

Rainbowk

[jazzfish]

... ish. I was informally tested in high school and came up just shy of the 'exercise-induced asthma' threshold. And not being big into exercise until recentlyish, I never got around to being retested for reals. But yeah, it would be worth looking into, thanks.