I've had an epiphany today. For all these weeks, any number of my friends that have given advice have said "just take it easy at first" or "go slow". Well I thought that meant... don't try to do all 3 miles of running right off the bat... build it up slowly. So I've been trying to sprint for five minutes & walk for five minutes. Until today.
Let me back up... About two weeks ago I had to take some antibiotics. I don't do very well with any kind of medication and I was SO TIRED all the time. We went on a little vacation around the same time to Cedar City to watch the Shakespearean Festival. While there my Husband and I were like "Hey! We're on vacation!! Let's eat anything and everything that we would never eat at home" My diet was mostly carbs, grease and sugar while there. I came home feeling like crap. I felt physically ill. I think my body just couldn't function with all the drugs & the awful food. Lesson learned... I'm not garbage so I shouldn't put garbage in my body. Of course, I HAD to take the antibiotics but the food? Not necessary, I need to be kinder to myself.
Well, when I came back I couldn't even run for 3 minutes. I had really gone backwards. I was so frustrated so I just kept pushing harder. I was trying to power through the run. I read an article that said I should just try to relax while running. I tried really hard to relax my upper body while I was running. Relax my arms and my neck, shoulders, etc... It did seem to help a little. I wasn't as tense and I seemed to use less energy.
Then yesterday I went walking with my Mom and she said that she had read that it's easier on your body and you go faster by taking smaller strides. Hhhhmmm... I'll have to give that a try.
I also read an article that was about the biggest mistakes that beginning runners make. One of the things that stuck out to me is that I should be running slower, jogging. Well I thought I was jogging. I didn't really know the difference between a jog and a run other than one is slower. I'm running slow. I assumed I was jogging. Then the article explained how I should feel. It said I should feel relaxed, my breathe should be easy and not strained, I should be able to talk while I run. I thought about how I feel when I run and I wouldn't use any of those words to describe my feelings while I run. In fact... kind of the opposite.
I decided to give "slowing my run down" a chance. So this morning I warmed up in front of my house and started running... slowly... I guess this is what jogging is... Side note: I feel pretty cute this morning because I just bought some new exercise clothes yesterday. My old ones were to big and to my delighted surprise I was 2 sizes smaller than I thought I was. OK, back to this morning: I came around my corner and I mentally tried to make my strides small, I relaxed and went slow. Hhhmmm... I wasn't losing my breathe yet. I wondered how long I could go? I jogged nearly a third of my route before I thought that maybe I should go into my walk. The part that I ran usually takes me about 15 minutes to walk so I think that I might have been jogging for TEN MINUTES!! I was pretty excited. I think I could have kept going but I wanted to make sure I wasn't over doing it with my new found comfort of running.
I started walking. Now, usually by the time I start walking after a run I'm gasping for air and I feel like grasping hold of something to try and catch my breathe. Not today! Going in and out of walking was easy and such a smooth transition. I walked for just a couple of minutes and started my jog again. I'm sure people could visually see the little cartoon light bulb click on over my head. "OH!! Go Slow!!" Everyone was telling me the whole time but I somehow misunderstood! I thought I was such a smart girl! Maybe I was over analyzing what everyone said, who knows why it didn't make sense until just now.
I'm confident that I could run/jog my whole course. It almost seems easy to me now. Of course I can't sprint the whole thing, what was I thinking? Running doesn't have to be sprinting. I enjoyed it so much today, it was so awesome to be able to run and breathe all at the same time. hahaha I'm laughing because you wouldn't think you would have to explain how to "run" to someone. Like I said at the beginning though... I've never done this before. I'd bet that I'm the most un-athletic person you'll ever meet... but THAT is changing.
I'm impressed! I don't jog OR run. I shuffle. Which is barely over a walk, but I'll take it.
ReplyDeleteI had a jogging class at WSU years ago and the teacher told me that I was wasting energy if I didn't relax and always have my arms at a 90 degree angle. I could NOT do it and he yelled at me all the time.
One day I just got frustrated and started running like a kindergartener on speed everytime I passed him. He finally gave up on me. Whatever. He had a HUGE beer gut, so what did he know?