Category: Running Log

A little on the cool side this morning. Who left the fridge open?

Went out for an easy jog this morning with the dogs. Don’t want to push myself too hard. Being someone who used to run quite a bit back in high school and university, and then not doing it for a long long time makes getting back into running a little challenging. The brain remembers being able to run a lot faster and harder than the body is capable of. The brain says “hey, this feels good, let’s go out a little faster” and makes the body go out harder than body is ready for. Then body ends up getting injured, which means no more running.

This has foiled some of my previous attempts at getting back into running in the past, so I try to make myself take things easy for the first few weeks. I’m not too concerned that I haven’t gone out in a few days. Those days of obsessing and gnashing of teeth because I missed a day of running are long past me now (yes, I used to be one of those runners). My main goal is to be able to get back to a point where I want to go running regularly, and that means not getting myself injured.

Plus, I have a goal this time. I’m on an i5k team (go vote on a t-shirt design for our team)! It would be embarrassing to do all this training, and then get myself injured so I can’t run in the race.

Temp: 11°C
Distance: 2.4 km/1.5 miles
Time: ~30 min
Pace: ~20:00

Another light breeze this morning kept things nice and cool, which was very welcome once I started warming up from the jog.

Living at the end of a cul-de-sac, the road makes for a nice out and back route. Conveniently, from my house to the end of the road is almost exactly 3/4 of a mile (1.2 km) so it’s pretty easy for me to tell the distance I’ve gone.

Took the pace up just a little bit today and felt pretty good about it. Made it all the way to the end of the road and back, so I’ve already increased my distance 50%! Woohoo!

Temp: 14°C
Distance: 2.4 km/1.5 miles
Time: ~25 min
Pace: ~17:00

A slight breeze made things a little bit cool on the way out, but once I got going the cool air felt good. The jog felt good, and didn’t seem quite as hard as it was last week. I made it to my target spot before stopping, and I think I probably could have gone on a little bit farther.

Now that I don’t have a foster dog (for now), taking both of the dogs out running with me is much easier. Nala isn’t really much of a running companion. She likes to run, especially chasing after balls at the dog park, but I think going out for jogs, she gets bored because she can’t sniff any of the interesting smells along the way. After the initial excitement of getting outside, she ends up lagging behind for most of the jog, going fast enough to keep just a little bit of tension on the leash. She’ll go faster if I up the pace a little, but always maintaining that small amount of tension.

Simba on the other hand makes a great running partner. He happily trots along beside me, and could definitely go on for a lot longer than I can right now. I’m sure once summer and the 30°C mornings hit, that will change.

Temp: 11°C
Distance: ~1 mile
Time: ~20 min
Pace: ~20:00

As part of my effort to make myself exercise more (and hopefully shed a few kilos in the process), I decided to join some of my fellow bloggers in the i5k run coming up next month.

Today was the first day I got out jogging in a couple of weeks. Now that it’s warmer out (not equipped to run in anything cooler than about 10°C), the dogs and I went for our usual jog/shuffle (they jog, I shuffle) up and down the street. I made it further than I expected before having to stop, considering how long it’s been since I was last out. This is good. It means that while I’m still an out of shape pile of goo, I’m not as much of an out of shape pile of goo as I thought I was.

Temp: 15°C
Distance: ~1 mile
Time: ?
Pace: ?

One of the things I hate about running on a track is the monotony. Even back in high school when I was running track, the most I could manage was 4 or 5 laps around the 400 m track before I got so bored out of my skull I had to stop.

Still running on the somewhat smaller track at work, still doing the 6 laps (1 mile). It’s become much easier now than when I first started. Still sucking wind at the end of 6 laps, but recovering much faster. I’d probably be farther along if I was a little more consistent in my running.

Now my challenge is to break that 6 lap barrier, the point where my mind and body have become used to stopping. That mental and physical barrier can be a tough one to get past. When you’re first starting out, you can barely make the distance, and when you do it feels so good to stop. Then after your endurance has reached the point where you can make the distance without collapsing into a puddle of goo, you’ve become used to stopping at n laps. The legs shut down and Brain thinks “Ok, done! Finally!”. Running in 28°C+ weather doesn’t help things much either.

I’m ready to up my distance a bit now, so I think it’s time to get back on the road now and leave the track behind.