I just finished the session. The last ten minutes were extremely tough. I found it helpful not to worry about when my two minute jog was up as focussing on the time seemed to make me more tired. I did manage to keep up with the session and really appreciated the 4 minute walk in between jogging. I needed the full recovery time.
My body is certainly feeling stronger. I struggled with indigestion last night (I had a baked potato with cheese and bacon, and it kept me up for most of the night) which I'm sure didn't help. Although I'm keeping up with the training, my diet doesn't always look like the healthiest. I may need to pay more attention to it.
It's interesting to see how my body is responding to all this. I'm so much more aware of it and what it's doing. I can also feel my body tightening and toning. My knees didn't ache as much during the training, but I have had some pain in them in the evenings.
The next jogging session is on Sunday. I may go swimming on Saturday as another counter-exercise, or I may do some more yoga. It all depends on how my body responds to the session that I did today.
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Training 3 - alternative exercise
Day 3 dawned with me feeling strong. It was a choice between yoga or rest and I decided to go with yoga. I am a great fan of yoga and belonged to a great club in Dallas called American Power Yoga. I have yet to find a club as wonderful as that here in London, but I do have a trusty DVD which I used today.
One of the great lessons I learned in yoga class was to go as far as my body would let me. I had intended on doing an hour, but only managed 45. Yoga is a good counter-exercise from running because it puts less pressure on my joints and it stretches me out. It also really does relax my mind in a way that few other exercises do.
My knees are sore today, so I'm a little concerned about training tomorrow. I begin running for two minutes alternated with 4 minutes walking. We'll see how it goes.
One of the great lessons I learned in yoga class was to go as far as my body would let me. I had intended on doing an hour, but only managed 45. Yoga is a good counter-exercise from running because it puts less pressure on my joints and it stretches me out. It also really does relax my mind in a way that few other exercises do.
My knees are sore today, so I'm a little concerned about training tomorrow. I begin running for two minutes alternated with 4 minutes walking. We'll see how it goes.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Training 2
Yesterday was my day of rest and I took it seriously! My muscles were quite tired, esecially my left calf (the former injury) and for some reason a muscle along the right side of my abdomen. I was quite worried that hitting the road again would be very difficult for my body, but, much to my suprise, it wasn't.
If anything my body feels a little bit stronger today. My legs wanted to take the deeper strides (which my muscles must remember from my running a few years ago) and my ab muscles wanted to take a bit more responsibility for holding my core strength. In fact, today I didn't feel like Mrs Potato Head at all. I did feel stronger. My knees weren't ready for the larger strides, I think because I have about 5kg of extra weight on my frame (which for my short body is quite a lot), but I didn't feel as exhausted as I did two days ago.
My verdict about the day of rest is that something is still going on even if I'm not exercising. My mind was awash with thoughts and I could feel my muscles sorting themselves out. I also definitely noticed a difference in my training today. I still walked for one minute, ran for one minute, but I wanted to try and run a little longer than that (which is good because Thursday's training is run for two minutes, walk for four repeated five times). That will be interesting because it also increases the actual running part of my training by ten minutes. I'm stretching at the beginning and end of my sessions which I'm sure is helping too. Today I ended with ten minutes of yoga.
Tomorrow is another day of rest and I will follow what my muscles are telling me, although I do think I'll do some yoga just to try and keep my muscles relaxed and stretched ready for Thursday.
All in all my feeling after today's training is one of excitement. I felt healthier today.
If anything my body feels a little bit stronger today. My legs wanted to take the deeper strides (which my muscles must remember from my running a few years ago) and my ab muscles wanted to take a bit more responsibility for holding my core strength. In fact, today I didn't feel like Mrs Potato Head at all. I did feel stronger. My knees weren't ready for the larger strides, I think because I have about 5kg of extra weight on my frame (which for my short body is quite a lot), but I didn't feel as exhausted as I did two days ago.
My verdict about the day of rest is that something is still going on even if I'm not exercising. My mind was awash with thoughts and I could feel my muscles sorting themselves out. I also definitely noticed a difference in my training today. I still walked for one minute, ran for one minute, but I wanted to try and run a little longer than that (which is good because Thursday's training is run for two minutes, walk for four repeated five times). That will be interesting because it also increases the actual running part of my training by ten minutes. I'm stretching at the beginning and end of my sessions which I'm sure is helping too. Today I ended with ten minutes of yoga.
Tomorrow is another day of rest and I will follow what my muscles are telling me, although I do think I'll do some yoga just to try and keep my muscles relaxed and stretched ready for Thursday.
All in all my feeling after today's training is one of excitement. I felt healthier today.
Sunday, 26 July 2009
Training
My friend Linda ran a 5K a few months ago. We were chatting about it together and she explained what a great motivation it was for her to start exercising. It planted a seed in my own mind that resulted in me signing up for my own 5K run yesterday.
The reasons are simple. Since getting married and relocating I have gained half a stone - 7 pounds - and mostly around my middle. I am veering dangerously towards looking like one of the potato heads. As anyone who reads anything about women's health knows, all this weight around my middle is not at all good, and as anyone who knows me would know, dieting is not good route for me. I end up eating more when on diet - and more of the chocolates, chips and ice creams that have been my comfort friends for years. I know that exercising is a good route for me, but have not managed to get a routine going here in England. So, with the summer holidays upon me, it seemed like a good time to start. The fact that I happened to find a 5K run at the beginning of September (which co-incides perfectly with the school term) gave me little excuses to not sign up.
I spent most of yesterday planning my training and researching on the internet. I found two good sites for my 5K challenge: www.coolrunning.com and www.runnersworld.co.uk . I've taken both of their schedules and adapted them to my needs and also adopted some of the stretches.
This morning at about 8am I woke up and began my first session (I know, I know, it's not a dramatic 5am start, but that would have killed this sensitive project before it even had a chance to breathe!). I searched out my gym clothes, my knee support (necessary because of an injury about 6 years ago when I was at the height of health) and my sneakers and began with the stretches.
It wasn't too bad. Day one asked me to run for one minute, jog for one minute. This meant that as soon as my legs were about to collapse from the burden of my potato head stomach (which was jumping up and down like jelly on the run) I was given a chance to walk. I'm doing the same thing on Tuesday. (This plan allows for a day of rest in between training, which seems insane with six weeks until a race, but I'm going to trust the people who know better than me. My last personal attempt at exercise resulted in a bad knee injury which has been more damaging to my health in the long term than a day of rest in between training will be).
The tough thing was the barrage of negative thoughts that hit me as I was heading back home after my exercise. I had just done a good thing, but all I could think about was the reasons why I had let myself go like I had and how bad I was for doing that. My husband pointed out that this seems to be becoming a pattern whenever I try to exercise, and of course, has prevented me from keeping on going with it. Hopefully this 5K goal at the end will prevent me from quitting.
I'm going to attempt to keep up a blog while I do this. Right now, after a good shower, some encouraging words from my husband and a cup of coffee I feel fine. My body feels worked out, but not sore and I feel optimistic.
The reasons are simple. Since getting married and relocating I have gained half a stone - 7 pounds - and mostly around my middle. I am veering dangerously towards looking like one of the potato heads. As anyone who reads anything about women's health knows, all this weight around my middle is not at all good, and as anyone who knows me would know, dieting is not good route for me. I end up eating more when on diet - and more of the chocolates, chips and ice creams that have been my comfort friends for years. I know that exercising is a good route for me, but have not managed to get a routine going here in England. So, with the summer holidays upon me, it seemed like a good time to start. The fact that I happened to find a 5K run at the beginning of September (which co-incides perfectly with the school term) gave me little excuses to not sign up.
I spent most of yesterday planning my training and researching on the internet. I found two good sites for my 5K challenge: www.coolrunning.com and www.runnersworld.co.uk . I've taken both of their schedules and adapted them to my needs and also adopted some of the stretches.
This morning at about 8am I woke up and began my first session (I know, I know, it's not a dramatic 5am start, but that would have killed this sensitive project before it even had a chance to breathe!). I searched out my gym clothes, my knee support (necessary because of an injury about 6 years ago when I was at the height of health) and my sneakers and began with the stretches.
It wasn't too bad. Day one asked me to run for one minute, jog for one minute. This meant that as soon as my legs were about to collapse from the burden of my potato head stomach (which was jumping up and down like jelly on the run) I was given a chance to walk. I'm doing the same thing on Tuesday. (This plan allows for a day of rest in between training, which seems insane with six weeks until a race, but I'm going to trust the people who know better than me. My last personal attempt at exercise resulted in a bad knee injury which has been more damaging to my health in the long term than a day of rest in between training will be).
The tough thing was the barrage of negative thoughts that hit me as I was heading back home after my exercise. I had just done a good thing, but all I could think about was the reasons why I had let myself go like I had and how bad I was for doing that. My husband pointed out that this seems to be becoming a pattern whenever I try to exercise, and of course, has prevented me from keeping on going with it. Hopefully this 5K goal at the end will prevent me from quitting.
I'm going to attempt to keep up a blog while I do this. Right now, after a good shower, some encouraging words from my husband and a cup of coffee I feel fine. My body feels worked out, but not sore and I feel optimistic.
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