Monday, April 28, 2014

Exercise Diary: I want to say I hopped like a bunny...

But unfortunately my run today was another crawl.

I had set two goals for my running today:

  1. To run two extended laps around the pond.  That's about 2.5 miles.
  2. To run the whole way, as slow as necessary.
Well, needless to say I broke both rules.  I didn't have the guts to do the extended route for the fear of being seen, which in retrospect seems like a silly reason but the decision to turn to a more familiar route  as you are running was just so easy.  I did, however, end up running three normal laps around the pond.  That and my warm up walk made up my total of 3.12 miles, which I did in 45 minutes.  

Not quite a 5K, what a shame.  If I didn't end my workout before my cool down walk was over I could've had an official record of a 5K.  Oh well.  But one thing I am hopeful after today is that I am confident that I can complete my 5K on Saturday in a reasonable time.

As for running the whole way, well.  I did start slow, deliberately choosing a much slower pace to start me off so I don't run out of breath during the first quarter mile.  That seemed to work somewhat, because I was able to run a lot longer before I stopped (still didn't last a mile, but oh well).  And I stopped because I was really tired, instead of being bored of running.  And I did two more running stretches, both quite long.  My last stretch was especially long.  I almost completed the entire loop.  And what was great was that I could just keep going for much longer than I expected and for a few minutes I had this wonderful feeling that I could keep running forever.  Despite the thigh muscle aches, despite the lurking shin splints, despite the alarming knee pains, I just kept going.  I only stopped because the right side of my stomach/belly was spasming.  I wasn't sure what it was.  It wasn't appendicitis, since I barely ate anything all day.  It couldn't've been my kidney, although I wouldn't even know what it would mean.  I concluded that it was a spasm of one of my back muscles.  Didn't feel like a muscle, but whatever.  I stopped running, walked a bit, and the pain went away.  All in all it was a successful and happy workout.  

And as I was walking back it started to rain.  Lucky!  It had been cloudy for over an hour before I went out but during the entire run it wasn't too windy and it was the perfect temperature to run.  I technically didn't need a hat since there was no sun, but it was still a godsend for keeping sweat out of my face.

Next time I run this loop (not for another week at least, since it's going to rain all week) I am going to bring my camera again.  I see life on the dead branches around the pond.  I see flowers already blossoming.  I finally see spring~

I also noticed that I'm definitely the slowest one on course.  When I began my run I saw a man running toward me from a distance, and I ran on the same side of the road as he is (facing the traffic).  After a while I could hear him getting nearer and passing me.  As he passed by I realized that he is a much older man than I expected, with gray hair and everything!  Oh shame.  There were several other guys running the opposite direction as I was.  One was pretty good but I only saw him for one loop.  The other wasn't running as effortlessly but still going fast.  His form was all messed up and his arms flailing around.  But he seemed to be going faster and faster for the two times we crossed.  

My biggest disappointment was being passed by this one guy who looked equally out of shape as I was.  He probably weighs more than me but he's also taller, and most of the weight looked like fat and not muscle.  He was panting just as hard, and the way his feet moved suggested that he hasn't read up on the proper form (not that I have great form but at least I think I know how it should look).  And his pace wasn't really fast either.  But he passed me, and kept going.  I made one infinitesimal effort to at least catch up to him but realized that it was a lost cause.  It made me hopeful and sad at the same time.  Hopeful that I'm not the only novel, terrible runner on the road, but sad because so far I'm still the last one of the bunch.  

Yoga tomorrow.  I need to stretch my body, take a break from running, and take the chance to work on other aspects of my body.  A lot of the exercise I saw that are helpful with back, core, hip, and glute muscles are familiar yoga moves, so it's time that I go back to the studio.  Off Wednesday, and maybe an indoor run on the treadmill on Thursday.  Off Friday because of the race on Saturday.  I'm not ready, I really am not.  But my goal for this race is to finish in 45 minutes or less, which seems to be a practical goal at this moment.  And I try to focus my attention on the more fun stuff, namely the free T-shirt and the after party burger deals.  

So that's all~~

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