Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Up In Our Bedroom After The War

Happy 2008!
I am also behind on Christmas presents. Lest my procrastination fool you, 2008 will be a year of BIG CHANGES around these parts. First and foremost, I intend to post chronologically top-to-bottom. Also, I hope to run.

January 1
No running. Attended Gentle Yoga. There were lavender eye pillows. Big, ahem, changes.

January 2-4
Days Off. Busy watching Die Hard and caring about football and game hunting and not supporting Hillary and her lavender eye pillows.

January 5
5min walking WU, 2xMile (9:30, 8:55; 5min walking R), 5min walking CD. Hamline Treadmill. Went about as well as could be expected. There was some pain during the first mile, but it seemed to loosen and the second mile was almost entirely pain-free. Did all of it at a slight incline, which I think helped.

January 6
Day Off.

January 7
"4xCircuit" a la Nick Willis. I'd planned something like 4x(4min run, 1min PU, 1min SU, 1min Obliques, 1min Chair Dips, 1min Lats, 1min Supermans). The running part was OK. Not only am I not Nick Willis, I am not an upper body. So this deteriorated very quickly and I sort of floundered around on the floor of the Hamline track in between my 4min runs. I was close to 8min-pace for those and that was too fast.

January 8
4xCircuit a la Twiggy. 4x(run, 45situp, 20ea oblique, 12PU, 15CD, Supermans).The run intervals were 3, 4, 5 and 6min. I took 6min to complete the upper body stuff each time giving me just over 40min of continuous activity. It was still difficult, but hopefully this will be more sustainable. I like the circuit format because it keeps the runs from being too intense even if I don't do a good job monitoring my pace, and it forces me to pay attention to my neglected-for-5yrs upper body. The pace was better today, probably between 8:30 and 9:00. I opened my stride a little for a couple of laps and my right side still feels restricted. I hope that developing some basic core strength and, later, doing some range of motion exercises will correct that.

It feels really great to run. Rest and caution obviously govern, but stereotyping injury stereotypes won't help me heal.