After my initial discovery that I could, in fact, make myself a better runner, I was excited to keep running. I was running after work at the gym, and even ran a few times around my neighborhood soccer field on the weekends. It was on one of those runs that I injured my foot.
I didn't do anything too strenuous during that workout, and to this day, I still don't know what went wrong. All I knew, I was running along fine, and then one misstep caused a sharp pain in my foot. At first, I thought it was just a temporary ache, and tried running through it. After another minute, I decided it was a little too painful.
I still don't know what happened to my foot exactly - likely a sprain or strain of the ligaments - but it derailed my progress for at least a month. I rested my foot, iced it and waited, albeit rather impatiently. Finally, I decided to run, seeing as it was feeling better and I couldn't wait any longer to get back on my running plan. That first run was exhilarating.
I gradually worked myself back into some sort of schedule, although by this time, I'd fallen off the Couch to 5k plan. I was doing intervals of running and walking, a strategy which I believe caused the marked progress I kept seeing. I pushed myself a bit more each week, finally getting to around 1 and half miles near the end of April.
April is the month when my gym puts on their 'Spring Games,' which is simply a series of different events - tennis, volleyball, running, swimming - where members can create teams and have some friendly competition. The last week of April, I walked in to see that the event for the day was a 5k, with the course marked along the nearby road. The temperature wasn't too bad, and I thought, "Why not try it?" I told myself I could walk after the first mile if I really needed to.
I started off strong - a good solid first mile. I don't know the time, because I forgot my watch that day. In the second mile, I started having to walk for intervals, and I barely finished the third mile. The key word in that sentence is 'finished' - because I did actually complete a full 5k! My time was nothing to brag about - 38:00 - but I considered finishing to be winning for me.
My plan was derailed after that success by a month and half-long business trip, where the treadmill was broken. I tried not to eat too much, and walked as many stairs as I could, but I knew I was losing ground. I returned and slowly got back on track, though.
The last two weeks, I've run a minimum of 2 miles every day - which makes 10 miles a week! - with a personal best mile time of 10:19! My goal now is both to increase my stamina to run three miles, while also increasing my speed to get to a 10-minute mile pace. Considering how far I've come already, I know I can do it. It's just a matter of time now.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Running Commentary (Part 1)
I am a runner now. In January, I never thought I would say that. It's been a slow journey to get here, but I'm glad to have made the effort. Let me briefly tell you my running story.
It started in January of this year, when I returned from a business trip and stepped on the scale to see the largest number I had ever seen. Moderately motivated into action by this, I resolved to start working out. O the naivete of the New Years' resolutions!
I decided to take on something I had never been able to do before - run. I had been ashamed for years that I couldn't even run a mile, and just chalked it up to not being "a runner." "I can do other things," I told people, but it was an excuse, because I didn't really even try to run.
So why pick running, if I hated it so much? I chose running mainly because I wanted to have a solid goal to progress towards - a specific achievement to attain - because the ambiguous idea of "losing weight" had never been enough motivation for me to stick with any exercise much past the first week.
When I began that year, I tried to run, just to see where I was. I signed up at the gym where I work, which has a quarter mile track behind it. I put on my old tennis shoes and headed out with trepidation to see where I stood - namely, just how bad I was at this.
I barely made it around the track once before giving up. It was that bad. Granted, I have never been a great runner in the past, but I used to be able to do better than that! I was quite dejected at the end of that workout. I needed a plan.
A few days later, I stumbled upon something: the Couch to 5k running plan, over at Cool Running. I read the name and thought, 'Couch, huh? I'm pretty much on the couch. This sounds just about right!' The program lays out a true beginner's running schedule - rather than some so-called beginner's schedules, which have you at a mile by week two! The first week starts with intervals of running (or easy jogging, if you like) that are only 60 seconds, followed by 90 seconds - a whole minute and a half - of walking to catch your breath.
Even I can run for one minute, I thought. No problem. So I bought myself a cheap digital watch for time, and started puffing my way around the track. It wasn't all that fun to start with, but I managed to actually DO what the schedule said the first two weeks, which was encouraging. So I kept slogging along, trying to at least run a bit more each day, even if I couldn't quite keep up with the suggested schedule after a week or two.
And something amazing started happening: I noticed myself getting better. It didn't happen within the first week, or even the second. It was closer to the end of the third, or the fourth week that I thought, 'It wasn't hard to run for 1 minute. Actually, that's kind of easy now. I wasn't even breathing hard!' I felt a tiny bit of pride that I had stuck with it, and was actually noticing a difference. And so it began.
That was seven months ago, and although I haven't progressed in a linear fashion, there has been gradual upward progress. Despite setbacks of knee pain and shin splints, even through the business trip for a month where I didn't have much opportunity to run, my steady progress has kept me on track and positive that I can do this.
Even though at this point, I've fallen completely off track with the suggested program, what I learned is that I DO have the determination to stick with this, make progress, and actually enjoy myself along the way. Those were the first lessons I needed to learn along my journey to become a runner.
It started in January of this year, when I returned from a business trip and stepped on the scale to see the largest number I had ever seen. Moderately motivated into action by this, I resolved to start working out. O the naivete of the New Years' resolutions!
I decided to take on something I had never been able to do before - run. I had been ashamed for years that I couldn't even run a mile, and just chalked it up to not being "a runner." "I can do other things," I told people, but it was an excuse, because I didn't really even try to run.
So why pick running, if I hated it so much? I chose running mainly because I wanted to have a solid goal to progress towards - a specific achievement to attain - because the ambiguous idea of "losing weight" had never been enough motivation for me to stick with any exercise much past the first week.
When I began that year, I tried to run, just to see where I was. I signed up at the gym where I work, which has a quarter mile track behind it. I put on my old tennis shoes and headed out with trepidation to see where I stood - namely, just how bad I was at this.
I barely made it around the track once before giving up. It was that bad. Granted, I have never been a great runner in the past, but I used to be able to do better than that! I was quite dejected at the end of that workout. I needed a plan.
A few days later, I stumbled upon something: the Couch to 5k running plan, over at Cool Running. I read the name and thought, 'Couch, huh? I'm pretty much on the couch. This sounds just about right!' The program lays out a true beginner's running schedule - rather than some so-called beginner's schedules, which have you at a mile by week two! The first week starts with intervals of running (or easy jogging, if you like) that are only 60 seconds, followed by 90 seconds - a whole minute and a half - of walking to catch your breath.
Even I can run for one minute, I thought. No problem. So I bought myself a cheap digital watch for time, and started puffing my way around the track. It wasn't all that fun to start with, but I managed to actually DO what the schedule said the first two weeks, which was encouraging. So I kept slogging along, trying to at least run a bit more each day, even if I couldn't quite keep up with the suggested schedule after a week or two.
And something amazing started happening: I noticed myself getting better. It didn't happen within the first week, or even the second. It was closer to the end of the third, or the fourth week that I thought, 'It wasn't hard to run for 1 minute. Actually, that's kind of easy now. I wasn't even breathing hard!' I felt a tiny bit of pride that I had stuck with it, and was actually noticing a difference. And so it began.
That was seven months ago, and although I haven't progressed in a linear fashion, there has been gradual upward progress. Despite setbacks of knee pain and shin splints, even through the business trip for a month where I didn't have much opportunity to run, my steady progress has kept me on track and positive that I can do this.
Even though at this point, I've fallen completely off track with the suggested program, what I learned is that I DO have the determination to stick with this, make progress, and actually enjoy myself along the way. Those were the first lessons I needed to learn along my journey to become a runner.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Fresh bread!
I decided to venture into the realm of bread, which is slightly foreboding to me, what with all the worry about water being the right temperature and dough rising. So with trepidation, I typed into Google "simple bread recipe," hoping for something relatively fool-proof. The seventh (or so) result caught my eye: "Simple Crusty Bread" from the New York Times. I tried this recipe, and although I managed to flub the proportions the first time, I still had a wonderfully satisfying, hearty bread with a crusty outside. Here is the NY Times recipe, with proportions modified to yield only 2 loaves, rather than four. However, since the dough can be refrigerated for up to two weeks, it pays to invest the three hours or so on a Sunday afternoon to make the dough, so fresh bread can be baked easily any time during the week. The 'loaves' that I baked turned out medium sized, around half the size of a loaf from the store.
Ingredients:
3/4 tablespoons yeast
3/4 tablespoons kosher salt
3 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, extra for dusting dough
cornmeal
Enjoy your fresh bread!
Ingredients:
3/4 tablespoons yeast
3/4 tablespoons kosher salt
3 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, extra for dusting dough
cornmeal
1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).
2. Bake at this point (or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks). When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on sheet pan sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough (or refrigerate it).
3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.
4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 20 minutes. Cool completely.
Yield: 2 loaves.Enjoy your fresh bread!
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