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My fantastically talented girlfriend really hit one out of the park here.
Her first article published as a freelance writer is for largest broadsheet in the country, the Daily Telegraph!
Last Sunday, I went on my first run since the injection. I’m taking it slow: about 2.5 km and 20 minutes of running. My ankle was fine, my knees were mildly creaky, and my pride was only mildly offended by my absurdly slow pace. I wish I could say I was thrilled to be running again, but really I felt paranoid. “Am I hurting myself?” I wondered with every step. At the same time, I missed the care-free days of 5 milers down Town Lake on sunny Austin Sundays. But things change.
Today I went for run #2. This time, I alternated running with walking for 5km and about 40 minutes. The run-walk was, without a doubt, the way forward. I was able to cover more distance while keeping my heart rate up, plus it alleviated most of my paranoia around injury. I also felt great. Gone were the creaky legs and stiff joints of last weekend. I could almost recall what it feels like to run. If you’ve done much running, you know what I mean - it’s that feeling of lightness, where the run feels completely natural, the legs are fluid, and it’s easy to breath - to me, that’s running.
But for now, run-walking will do. Though he hesitates to admit it, Jeff Galloway agrees. From his Book on Running:
Our bodies weren’t designed to run continuously for long distances… Sure we can adapt, but there is a better way to increase endurance than by running continously. By alternating walking and running, from the start, there’s virtually no limit to the distance you can cover… Once we find the ideal ratio for a given distance, walk breaks allow us to feel strong to the end and recover fast, while building up the same levels of stamina and conditioning that we would have reached if we had run continuously.
Link to Jeff Galloway’s website
Link to Galloway’s Book on Running 2 Ed
I just stumbled across a really great series from Outdoor mag. circa 2002.
The series is called The Shape of Your Life and it presents what looks like a really sensible and long term fitness programme.
Over the months you work from building endurance to strength and on to flexibility before moving on to speed and power and then finally balance and agility.
Many of the exercises are functional in nature, the writing supporting the programme is informative, inspirationally straight-foward and sometimes funny.
The endurance programme starts with building an aerobic base through heart rate training, a topic, er…, well… close to my heart? (sorry) Speaking of which, my running is going well now that I’m back from my travels.
Take a look and see if you find some inspiration.
Link to series index
Link to series introduction
Link to month one training plan
If you stumble across something great on the web and you think the SmarterFitter community might be interested in reading about it please let us know.
The long run is your training program for the marathon or the half marathon.
What is a long run?
The long run starts with the longest distance you’ve covered within the last two weeks and increases by one mile on a weekly long one up to 8-10 miles. At that point, you’ll shift to running long every other weekend, increasing by two miles each time. For the marathon, once you reach 18 miles, increase by three miles every third week. For the half marathon, once you reach 8 miles, increase by two miles every third week.
I’ve read a couple of Jeff Galloway’s books about running. He is realistic, low key and explains concepts well. Jeff is a big, possibly the biggest, proponent of mixing walking into running early on in any training or race because it lets you run further with a smaller chance of injury.
I just found this article about long slow runs and why they belong in your running schedule.
My top tip for long slow runs: stop at a corner shop every so often and buy a sugary drink or a banana to help keep some fuel in the tank.
It’s the little things that inspire me. This week has seen some small but powerful milestones for a few bloggers out there charting their path to smarter-fitterness.
NCN of No Calories Needed wants to learn how to enjoy running. Inspired by his sister, he walked-ran a mile last Monday:
Did I have fun? Ummmmm..
Kinda, sorta? I almost died, but now I feel great!
So, thank you little sister, for inspiring me and pushing me forward.
JoshP of fitfilter kicked his candy habit… and shares a priceless photo of him “cramming half a package of peeps into [his] mouth”. His advice:
What small tweak can you make to move you closer to your goal instead of further away? Start small and start today. Make a commitment just to do it today. Then try again tomorrow.
JD of Get Fit Slowly started the Body For Life program AND took up writing full time. Today was his first interval session:
I had forgotten how good exercise can make a person feel. An hour of intensity can produce a day of good vibes.
Inspiration comes in big giant steps, too. Rosie Swale-Pope is running around the world. From her website:
On 2nd October 2003 my 57th birthday, I’m going to set off to run around the world. Making my dream come true… My dearest wish anyway, is just to do a complete circle of the earth…
The death of my husband Clive from prostate cancer last year, taught me more than anything about how precious life is; How short it can be, that you HAVE to grab life, do what you can while you can, and try to give something back.
Give something back, eh? If only Josh could give back all those Peeps… in a way he is I suppose. Who ever thought a sugary blob of fluorescent marshmallow could re-manifest itself as inspiration? It’s pure genius!
The sinus tarsi is “the eye of the foot”, an opening on the outside of the foot between the ankle and heel bone. This canal contains ligaments which can become inflamed if put under undo stress such as high-impact running, jumping, or simply running with bad form. The pain associated with this is called “sinus tarsi syndrome”.
I know all this because I went to have my left ankle looked at by my GP who diagnosed me with sinus tarsi syndrome, apparently very common among sporty people (like me? hah!). Last night he injected some steroids into my sinus tarsal to calm down the inflammation. The procedure was painless, until he said “I’m very deep in the sinus cavity now”, at which point I became a little nauseous. I recovered quickly after a short rest on the couch and a large glass of red wine.
If all goes well I should be able to run again in 10 days time. Here’s to hoping…
Link to Sinus Tarsi Syndrome on Orthoteers
I let three weeks of international travel, a trip to NZ for a friend’s wedding, thoroughly disrupt my training schedule but I’m now back in London so on with it… I walked Saturday and Sunday and went out for my first run back this morning.
The run felt really good, up before everyone else and had to climb over the fence into the park with the sun just beginning to rise.
I felt no noticeable effect on my fitness after 3 weeks “holiday” but we’ll really see tomorrow when I strap on the HRM and slow down to 70% maximum heart rate and I can concentrate on the numbers.
A few wise words (among many) from Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project on learning to love exercise:
Any work-out “counts.” Give yourself credit for the least effort. My father, a runner, always said that all he had to do was put on his running shoes and close the door behind him. Why does this work? Because if I know I can quit after five minutes, I get started—and once I start, I usually follow through with my usual routine. Getting out the door is by FAR the toughest part.
Link to 10 Tips to Change Yourself From a Dedicated Couch-Potato to a Gym Enthusiast
Quick update, very happy with today’s run. Ran the whole course and managed to stay under my recovery ceiling.
This means:
1) I’m getting better at running slowly (12.5min/mi!!!!),
2) I’m getting measurably fitter at the start of week three and
3) I’ve still got a long way to go.
It is really rather nice having objective metrics like these with which to track progress.
Link to the index for this series.
Just wanted to call out a few interesting paragraphs from an article that M added to our Fresh from the Interweb feature in the right hand sidebar.
The study, conducted by Paul Williams of Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division, found that the key to staying trim is to remain active year-round, year-after-year, and to avoid seasonal and irregular exercise patterns. Most of all, don’t quit. Failure to do so may be a contributing factor in the nation’s obesity epidemic.
The study found that this only applies to runners running under 20 miles a week, at levels above that the weight gains were reversible.
“Many scientists attribute the obesity epidemic to excess calories rather than exercise, because dieting has been shown to produce more weight loss than exercise,” says Williams. “My findings suggest that calorie intake and body weight may be self regulating in active individuals.”
So there’s another good reason to hang in there for the long haul with exercise. Or to not bother starting at all?
Fresh from the Interweb
