Starting slowly

[davidn]

Let's be optimistic about this and open a "gym" tag - why not. I've now been there twice over the past week, which counts as the most regularly I have ever attended a gym (but then, so does being in one twice over the past year). It's a sort of intimidating environment, being surrounded by people who are obviously fitter than you and know what they're doing. The main floor of the gym is laid out in areas with names like Core Strength Alcove and Cardio Arena, and these are populated with treadmills and twisted machinations for healthily straining very particular muscles like a Fisher-Price Spanish Inquisition. There's also a weights room on the lower floor I've never entered, but you see occasional men with the physical characteristics of Liono going into it with some snatches of Eye of the Tiger audible through the entranceway.

I started with the first routine in the couch-to-5k beginners' running schedule rather than being overambitious like last time - I followed a couple of stretches given on the site while trying to look like I knew what I was doing and didn't feel stupid, then found a free treadmill. I still felt out of place at first taking a stationary stroll with Whitney doing her much more stressful routine on the elliptical machine behind me, and with the two people on the neighbouring treadmills going at it so hard that in the event of a sudden powercut they would lurch forwards and tear a wormhole through reality.

After the warmup walk, though, I worked out how to set the treadmill to toggle between two speeds, and alternated walking and jogging with my 80s motivational music from 2011 to encourage me along. I actually did a slightly more stressful routine than the page recommends at the start - it says to cycle between 90 seconds of walking and 60 of jogging, but I did 60 seconds of each (by mistake at first and then just because it was easier to count).

And I reached the end of the 25-minute timer without distress! Apart from when I finally got off the treadmill and the entire floor seemed like it was moving backwards, like your eyes adjusting to stationary things again after watching scrolling credits - I had to lean or move constantly forwards to stop myself falling over. I will also have to work out a better position for the iPod, because a slot is provided on the machine for it in front of you, but if you catch the headphone wire with your arms then it flies out of it and goes pinging away over your head unprofessionally. And I don't really know what walking and jogging speeds are and I think I actually underestimated myself this time - I think I had walking at 2mph and jogging at 4.5, and could easily stand to increase both of those by .5mph next time.

It only feels a bit strange that I'm going to a specific building where I walk in place for twenty minutes when that energy could be used for forward momentum, but it feels good to have made a resolution to go there together - and I'm very glad of the indoors arrangement now that the weather has turned to volcanic once more. Perhaps if I keep this up, when the weather cools down, I could start running to work a couple of times a week. But it would look a bit silly with my briefcase.

Comments

[ravenworks.livejournal.com]

Did your stomach wind up feeling better, then..?

[davidn]

Both times (Sunday and Tuesday), my stomach hasn't been too happy in the evening afterwards... I don't know if it's some sort of sympathy to muscular pain or if it just isn't used to being moved about that much. I'm hoping that the severity of the stomachaches will diminish over time - if they don't, then I'll ask for advice. Even just now, they're not on the same level as the 'chainsaw' aches that I occasionally wake up with for no reason.

[kjorteo]

And I don't really know what walking and jogging speeds are and I think I actually underestimated myself this time - I think I had walking at 2mph and jogging at 4.5, and could easily stand to increase both of those by .5mph next time.

I realize that a lot of one's running speed comes from factors not actually related to fitness and not within their control, such as height and how much of that height specifically is leg length, but ... you do realize I walk 4mph and jog 7.5 (bumped up to 8 for the last two and a half minutes just to finish strong.)

Still, the best part about running is that that honestly doesn't matter, since it's all a relative matter of how hard one is working versus an absolute measure of performance; if you and I both run as fast as we can for the same amount of time, and I happen to be twice as fast as you, that's completely irrelevant and the fact that we're both going near-100% means we should both be getting a comparable workout. (I think. Admittedly it's been a while since I specifically researched and fact-checked that claim.) And the fact that you're already ahead of their recommended starting point is a good sign! That's actually an impressive start; well done.

[davidn]

Well, I'm taking 'jogging' to mean... at a fast but still manageable pace, as opposed to head-down 100% running-from-bees sprinting! It is definitely worth bringing up that you're ten feet tall and must have quite a stride anyway, whereas I'm the size of a hamster and a bit of a fatty - my pace will likely increase (the values I put in at first were a complete guess at first and I actually kept bumping them up every time I switched modes this time), but likely not to yours!

[kjorteo]

That is my fast-but-reasonable pace! Keep in mind that I'm keeping it up for 25 minutes uninterrupted (with the extra .5 boost on the last 2:30.) Oh, and at a 1% incline (raised to 1.5% on the last 2:30) too, because, you know, why not. Anyway, the last time I tried to do an all-out running from Shuu LaBeouf sprint on a treadmill, it was 9.5 or something, I think? It probably well over a year ago and I might be able to do better now, but I'm honestly afraid to take treadmills literally as fast as I can go, because, you know, the whole falling off of them at high speeds thing.

But yes, I have the whole being built like Faust from Guilty Gear thing as an excuse, so I'm not saying I expect you to do that or anything.

In other news, the fact that you are freely able to do something as friction-inducing as jogging speaks volumes about how well you're managing with your other recent change.

[davidn]

I'm in a darkened room, just before sleeping - I'm not in a position to turn on the sound just now, and even just twenty seconds of that video has made it clear that it would be... unwise to continue.

I was actually surprised myself at how I was able to do this without discomfort - I'm still using the... extra support (I try my normal underclothing occasionally, but it's still not very comfortable), but I still remember when moving about at all was a huge painful effort...! It's... nice to have that as a metric of healing.

[kjorteo]

Make sure to go back and listen when circumstances are more favorable, then! It's just a joke song about Hollywood Superstar/Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf with a sort of old timey radio drama-sounding spoken word narrative and a surprisingly catchy chorus.

And yes, I you used to need a cane just to move around at all, and now you're jogging. That's hard-to-deny progress, right there.

[davidn]

It's incredible how much the mood of that video changes with the audio - in silence, I had been picturing something more like this.

[kjorteo]

Well, that was unnerving.

[crassadon.livejournal.com]

what are we talking about here?

Oh yes, running. Running fast.

[davidn]

All right, so... walking at 3mph and jogging at 5mph made a world of difference! This combined with the way that I'm told that the third time is the hardest. I started off alternating between each for 60 seconds again, but had to fall back to the recommended 90-60 halfway through - it definitely made my feet and ankles ache much more than last time. I managed the required 20 minutes and no more, although the majority of the discomfort happened when I switched back to walking rather than while I was running (I think that that walking speed is too fast - I thought I walked quite fast under normal circumstances, but the feeling of walking on a treadmill is so different that it's difficult to tell).

[kjorteo]

Unfortunately, I don't have nearly as fancy or detailed statistics about my performance today, since it was an outdoor track day, rather than the treadmill. (I alternate because both have their pros and cons; the treadmill eliminates all the "I'll just do however many laps as fast as I can I guess" nebulousness by giving you exactly whatever precise speed I specifically enter, lets me work with an incline, and lets me avoid the hellish Summer temperatures, but the track ... well, you know why I like the track!) All I know is that apartment staff has estimated one full lap around the track to be a little bit shy of a mile (0.8 miles, give or take .1? I don't know the exact figure) and I just did three laps in almost exactly 20 minutes (plus or minus the fact that I was looking at the time on my phone in minutes and had no convenient way of telling seconds.)

But hey, if your workout was too easy, they wouldn't really be much of a workout. Well done for persevering and completing it. :) And it takes a bit for someone who's never fiddled with a treadmill before to figure out what their exact MPH pace is supposed to be, so you're actually doing fine for making it this far and already having it (more or less) figured out!

[kibet.livejournal.com]

Easy way to run to work... Briefcase in left hand and right hand waving frantically to get attention of the bus driver. Nobody will look twice until they realise you are chasing a non existent bus. :D