Week 1 Day 3

[lavendersparkle]

I completed week 1 on Thursday, but I've only now had time to post about it.

I went to work in my running gear. I got in at about ten past eight, dumped my bags and then went out to do my run in the park next to the building I work in.

It was really nice. I heard a theory somewhere that the colour of light soon after sunrise helps people wake up and it felt lovely being out in the morning sunshine. I also liked seeing all of the ducks and other creatures in the park and the other runners. According to Google maps I covered 4.1km including my warm up and warm down. Each run is definitely feeling easier. After the warm down walk I did some muscle stretches and I haven't had any aching after this run apart from a little ache in the arch of my right foot when I'm not wearing shoes. It doesn't feel worrying and hopefully it will go away as my feet get more used to running. I had a shower and got changed in the changing rooms in my work building. I was pleased to find that the showers at work were nice, hot and not too busy, so running at work is definitely an option.

I rewarded myself for completing week 1 by buying myself another sports bra so that I don't have to be so careful about timing laundry and runs. I think if I complete week two I'll buy a work backpack so I can try running to or from work. I've been excitedly poring over maps planning potential routes. I'll have to try them out to see which ones are doable and which involve crossing too many roads. How have you found crossing roads during your runs?

Tomorrow morning I'm planning to do the first run of week 2. I think I'll run in my local park.

Week 2, Day 2, walking again

[ewt]

Thursday I had another go at Week 2, Day 2. Shin pain was quite bad again right from the start so I ended up walking. Heart rate afterward was 93bpm, not as high as when I run or row, and not as high as Tuesday's walking. The route I took was different, and very wet, so that I had to pick my way quite slowly across some bits to avoid getting soaked. I think that's probably the reason for the lower heart rate.

I walked an additional four miles on Thursday in the course of getting where I needed to be and when, and my shins have been hurting since. If they're still like this on Tuesday, running is going to be right out of the question.

I find the beeping of my phone to tell me to start the next interval does mean I walk faster than I would if I were just ambling around, and so I think I will keep using SimpleC25k even if I eventually decide that running is entirely out. If I do that I will probably also start using something like RunKeeper to log my distance. If average walking speed for adult humans is 5km/h I don't see why I couldn't aim to do 5k in thirty minutes, eventually. I do have long legs, and race walkers do much faster speeds than that, albeit with a rather strange gait.

I've been having other leg problems, and they seem to get worse when my shins are particularly sore. I think this is a hypermobility-related thing. I now have a testable hypothesis as to what is going on. Sadly testing will take some time as it involves various physio exercises which will likely take a few weeks to make any difference.