I had one of the best payoffs for all the running last week. I was getting dressed for church and spotted a pair of light tan pants in my closet. "These will work," I said as I shrugged.
When I came out to the kitchen, Amy was beaming when she saw me in the pants. She knew what I hadn't realized. These were my old 42s, which I had not worn in years. They fit!
Later on, I tried on my old 42-inch jeans. Even better! They were more comfortable than the tan pants, which still seemed to crimp on my stomach when I sit down.
All week, I've had a little more pride in myself as I walk around in my 42s. It's given me even more of an incentive to keep running. Now, I'm wondering if I will be able to manager to run in the winter. Maybe at least on days when the roads are clear?
The other day, I headed out for an hour run, but started to feel raindrops at about the 24 minute mark. I decided to turn around and head back early. But I still got caught out in a steady rain for the second half of the run. However, I managed to not melt. My hat kept the rain off my glasses, and it was not such an uncomfortable run.
So, maybe I may be a big whiner about my "not running in the rain" policy. Heavy rain and T-storms I will still avoid, but a light rain should be OK. I think.
I'm noticing very, very slight knee pain on some runs. I need to increase the use of the exercise bike.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Getting some good runs in
Let me just say, that as much as I love the summer, I am now thrilled to have cooler fall weather. It is just much easier to run.
Yes, I've had two good runs this week. On Wednesday and today (Saturday) I ran for a full hour for a reasonably good distance and each time I got back a few seconds faster than I went out. I was about 10 seconds early on Wednesday and about 15 seconds early today. So, what I did each time was to keep running down the street until I hit the full hour. On Thursday, it was raining, so I skipped the day. On Friday, I had a schedule twitch and didn't get to run in time before Liam came home, so I used the exercise bike for 45 minutes instead.
On today's run, a squirrel ran along side me for a while on Oriole Drive. It was only for about 20 feet, but it was kind of funny. I ran along on the left edge of the road and it ran along on the right edge. Then when it got to some bushes, it jumped off.
But I am happy for the cooler weather. For one, it allows me to run at any time during the daylight. During the height of the summer heat, I would get up at 6 a.m. and start running by 6:30 to catch the coolest part of the day.
However, when I got home, I was so drenched in sweat that not only was my shirt and shorts soaked through, but when I changed into a new shirt that one would be soaked through within an hour. Then I would change again, and shirt No. 3 would only be moderately wet. Only then was I able to take a shower. It didn't make sense to shower before my body cooled down and my sweat glands shut off.
My plan had been to stop running in early November. I've decided I will try to keep running at least through November, depending on how the weather goes. We'll see.
OK, gotta go.
Yes, I've had two good runs this week. On Wednesday and today (Saturday) I ran for a full hour for a reasonably good distance and each time I got back a few seconds faster than I went out. I was about 10 seconds early on Wednesday and about 15 seconds early today. So, what I did each time was to keep running down the street until I hit the full hour. On Thursday, it was raining, so I skipped the day. On Friday, I had a schedule twitch and didn't get to run in time before Liam came home, so I used the exercise bike for 45 minutes instead.
On today's run, a squirrel ran along side me for a while on Oriole Drive. It was only for about 20 feet, but it was kind of funny. I ran along on the left edge of the road and it ran along on the right edge. Then when it got to some bushes, it jumped off.
But I am happy for the cooler weather. For one, it allows me to run at any time during the daylight. During the height of the summer heat, I would get up at 6 a.m. and start running by 6:30 to catch the coolest part of the day.
However, when I got home, I was so drenched in sweat that not only was my shirt and shorts soaked through, but when I changed into a new shirt that one would be soaked through within an hour. Then I would change again, and shirt No. 3 would only be moderately wet. Only then was I able to take a shower. It didn't make sense to shower before my body cooled down and my sweat glands shut off.
My plan had been to stop running in early November. I've decided I will try to keep running at least through November, depending on how the weather goes. We'll see.
OK, gotta go.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A good run today
This morning, I ran for an hour. I didn't get near the five-mile mark, but it was a respectable distance. It was probably the best run I've had in a couple of weeks.
Again, I'm not going to stress about covering five miles in an hour. I figure that as I lose weight, I will gain fitness and be able to run faster.
In other news, I had a dream the other night about doing chin-ups. Perhaps my body is telling me it's time to start working on my upper body again.
I suppose I really don't know how well I'm doing on a run until the second half of it. If I can keep up the energy on the return trip, I'm doing well. This time, I actually got back a few seconds early, so I ran several feet past the finish line until I hit the official 1-hour mark.
My strategy of not letting myself take it easy on my first run after a lay-off paid off.
I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow. Either 48 minutes or an hour.
Again, I'm not going to stress about covering five miles in an hour. I figure that as I lose weight, I will gain fitness and be able to run faster.
In other news, I had a dream the other night about doing chin-ups. Perhaps my body is telling me it's time to start working on my upper body again.
I suppose I really don't know how well I'm doing on a run until the second half of it. If I can keep up the energy on the return trip, I'm doing well. This time, I actually got back a few seconds early, so I ran several feet past the finish line until I hit the official 1-hour mark.
My strategy of not letting myself take it easy on my first run after a lay-off paid off.
I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow. Either 48 minutes or an hour.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
My Achilles Heel
My achilles heel -- the figurative one, not the actual one -- is the rain.
Ever since I started running again, it has been my kryptonite. As a 17-year-old cross country and track runner, I never let anything stop me. I ran in the rain, in major snowstorms. I ran in the remnants of hurricanes that sometimes visited the Jersey Shore. When I was sick and had to stay home, I would run up and down the stairs for as long as I could. Sometimes I would go to the basement, put my hands against the wall or the staircase and run in place as hard as I could.
But those days are behind me.
As a 46-year-old trying to regain my health, I have different rules. I don't run in the rain because it is difficult to see through the raindrops on my glasses. It's a safety issue and to a smaller extent, an annoyance. I didn't used to need my glasses to run, but now I do. If I can't see the traffic and environment around me, I don't feel safe.
If I ran to regain my health and then got run over by a car that I couldn't see in the rain, that would be called an ironic death.
So, anyway. I don't run in the rain.
Remember Labor Day? It rained. I didn't run.
But the next day, Tuesday, ... it rained, and I didn't run.
Wednesday was the first day of school. It rained, and I didn't run.
By Thursday, the region was being inundated with water. The constant rain had filled up rivers and reservoirs. Binghamton was flooded. Broome County was evacuating. Bridges were washed out in Pennsylvania.
I had no idea how bad it was until Jack came back from the bus stop. The bus was late. I told him to go back and wait for it. If it didn't come at all, I would drive him to school.
He came back a little while later and told me someone had driven by and said the school was on two-hour delay.
I checked the TV. WETM had no scroll on the bottom announcing school closings. But then Amy noticed the time it was posting: 5:19 a.m.
They had a technical problem and were re-running the broadcast from earlier in the morning. When we flipped over to WENY, we finally saw the school closings.
So, anyway, on Thursday I didn't run.
By Friday, I had every intention of running, but found that I couldn't. I was tired and unmotivated. My rhythm was thrown off by the rain and the new schedule.
I get up with Jack at 6:30 so that he can catch his bus at 7 a.m. Liam gets up a little later to catch his bus at 7:50. My thought had been to go for my runs after Liam got on his bus, but it didn't work out that way on Friday. I learned that I needed to blend my pre-run routines with the rhythm of getting the kids out the door. I needed to psych myself up for the run.
On Saturday, about a week since my last run, I was determined to have a good workout. I set out to run 48 minutes, and although the 24-minute outward board trip was OK, getting back was another matter.
As I made the turn back onto Oriole Drive, with dogs barking at me on all sides, I just felt all the energy sap out of me. It's happened before, especially after a long lay-off.
Usually what happens is I walk home.
Not this time.
This time, I realized that if I started walking, it would make it harder and take longer to get back to the level I need to be, which is to run for 1-hour, five days a week.
So, I forced myself to keep running. That worked for a while, but then on Wygant, the energy drained out of me again. I lost all momentum and found myself walking.
Fine, I said to myself. Walk for a minute, then run for a minute.
I did, and when I started running again, I told myself that after a minute of running I'll try running two minutes.
After two minutes, I tried for three. I kept going like that. I wasn't going to set a record, but at least I was moving again.
I kept running like that -- except for another very brief stop on Greenridge -- until I got home. I made it in about 50 minutes.
I tried running with the boys, but Liam had some leg pain, so I didn't push him. Jack, however, ran on his own and I think he did a mile in under 11 minutes. I'm not sure because I stopped my watch when Liam stopped and then restarted when I realized Jack didn't have a watch. But it was a good run for him. He's making progress.
Liam seems to be having trouble with foot and leg pain. I suspect it may be because he has the weak ankles and feet that I inherited. I will be teaching him some of my foot therapy exercises to see if that helps.
On Monday, I kept up a good mental focus and psyched myself up to run. I got out and stretched and prepared myself to run a full hour. Unfortunately, when I reached Greenridge Drive, a couple of blocks away, I noticed some knee pain. It didn't go away, so I followed my cardinal rule for running as middle-aged man: When I feel pain, I stop.
Knee pain for me means I need to work on the exercise bike. I admit I didn't do that on my layoff, and I should have. So, I put in about 50 minutes on it Monday morning.
I figured I would have been ready to run today, Tuesday, but Liam is home sick today with a stomach bug. So, I'm staying home, but I plan to try again Wednesday.
So long as I keep trying, I figure I'm doing something right.
Ever since I started running again, it has been my kryptonite. As a 17-year-old cross country and track runner, I never let anything stop me. I ran in the rain, in major snowstorms. I ran in the remnants of hurricanes that sometimes visited the Jersey Shore. When I was sick and had to stay home, I would run up and down the stairs for as long as I could. Sometimes I would go to the basement, put my hands against the wall or the staircase and run in place as hard as I could.
But those days are behind me.
As a 46-year-old trying to regain my health, I have different rules. I don't run in the rain because it is difficult to see through the raindrops on my glasses. It's a safety issue and to a smaller extent, an annoyance. I didn't used to need my glasses to run, but now I do. If I can't see the traffic and environment around me, I don't feel safe.
If I ran to regain my health and then got run over by a car that I couldn't see in the rain, that would be called an ironic death.
So, anyway. I don't run in the rain.
Remember Labor Day? It rained. I didn't run.
But the next day, Tuesday, ... it rained, and I didn't run.
Wednesday was the first day of school. It rained, and I didn't run.
By Thursday, the region was being inundated with water. The constant rain had filled up rivers and reservoirs. Binghamton was flooded. Broome County was evacuating. Bridges were washed out in Pennsylvania.
I had no idea how bad it was until Jack came back from the bus stop. The bus was late. I told him to go back and wait for it. If it didn't come at all, I would drive him to school.
He came back a little while later and told me someone had driven by and said the school was on two-hour delay.
I checked the TV. WETM had no scroll on the bottom announcing school closings. But then Amy noticed the time it was posting: 5:19 a.m.
They had a technical problem and were re-running the broadcast from earlier in the morning. When we flipped over to WENY, we finally saw the school closings.
So, anyway, on Thursday I didn't run.
By Friday, I had every intention of running, but found that I couldn't. I was tired and unmotivated. My rhythm was thrown off by the rain and the new schedule.
I get up with Jack at 6:30 so that he can catch his bus at 7 a.m. Liam gets up a little later to catch his bus at 7:50. My thought had been to go for my runs after Liam got on his bus, but it didn't work out that way on Friday. I learned that I needed to blend my pre-run routines with the rhythm of getting the kids out the door. I needed to psych myself up for the run.
On Saturday, about a week since my last run, I was determined to have a good workout. I set out to run 48 minutes, and although the 24-minute outward board trip was OK, getting back was another matter.
As I made the turn back onto Oriole Drive, with dogs barking at me on all sides, I just felt all the energy sap out of me. It's happened before, especially after a long lay-off.
Usually what happens is I walk home.
Not this time.
This time, I realized that if I started walking, it would make it harder and take longer to get back to the level I need to be, which is to run for 1-hour, five days a week.
So, I forced myself to keep running. That worked for a while, but then on Wygant, the energy drained out of me again. I lost all momentum and found myself walking.
Fine, I said to myself. Walk for a minute, then run for a minute.
I did, and when I started running again, I told myself that after a minute of running I'll try running two minutes.
After two minutes, I tried for three. I kept going like that. I wasn't going to set a record, but at least I was moving again.
I kept running like that -- except for another very brief stop on Greenridge -- until I got home. I made it in about 50 minutes.
I tried running with the boys, but Liam had some leg pain, so I didn't push him. Jack, however, ran on his own and I think he did a mile in under 11 minutes. I'm not sure because I stopped my watch when Liam stopped and then restarted when I realized Jack didn't have a watch. But it was a good run for him. He's making progress.
Liam seems to be having trouble with foot and leg pain. I suspect it may be because he has the weak ankles and feet that I inherited. I will be teaching him some of my foot therapy exercises to see if that helps.
On Monday, I kept up a good mental focus and psyched myself up to run. I got out and stretched and prepared myself to run a full hour. Unfortunately, when I reached Greenridge Drive, a couple of blocks away, I noticed some knee pain. It didn't go away, so I followed my cardinal rule for running as middle-aged man: When I feel pain, I stop.
Knee pain for me means I need to work on the exercise bike. I admit I didn't do that on my layoff, and I should have. So, I put in about 50 minutes on it Monday morning.
I figured I would have been ready to run today, Tuesday, but Liam is home sick today with a stomach bug. So, I'm staying home, but I plan to try again Wednesday.
So long as I keep trying, I figure I'm doing something right.
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