running is hard
I'm not much of a runner. The first time I can remember going for a serious, self-motivated, coach-isn't-making-me run was my freshman year in college, when I decided to give the gym across from my dorm a try. After lurching a pathetically slow mile I staggered off the treadmill in a daze. Then my nose spontaneously started to bleed. That pretty much set the tone for my running career.
I stuck with it, though. As the cardiovascular wall around one mile receded it was replaced by the equally formidable problem that running is incredibly fucking boring. So I never made it much farther than a mile and a half, but I did ramp up the speed considerably and managed to haul myself to the gym four or five times a week. I especially liked waking up early on Sunday mornings, too nauseous for breakfast, mouth tasting like an ashtray into which someone had spilled half a case of beer, and dragging my carcass up the street to where they kept the treadmills. Atonement, baby. I think I must have some Catholic blood in me.
Anyway, all of that slowly stopped after graduation, as my amazingly poorly-designed knees began to self-destruct. I cut the running down, and then, with the advent of the DC YMCA, replaced it with the elliptical machine. Which, although somewhat emasculating, is a lot kinder to my knees. I just try to hide my copy of Shape inside a Sports Illustrated. It's fine.
But in the last couple of weeks I've realized that I need to start running again. The first hint came at the beach, when Jeremy bought a skimboard and he, Kriston and I proceeded to make asses of ourselves on it. That was to be expected. What I didn't anticipate was how incredibly sore I would be the next day. And not just from bruises and scrapes. No, it was apparent that while the muscles necessary to trace ellipses with my feet were probably pretty well taken care of, the ones responsible for twisting, skidding and falling on my ass had become dangerously atrophied.
The second indication came while building the deck. Last Thursday evening I spent a couple of hours sawing, drilling and, when absolutely necessary, measuring stuff. It didn't involve anything strenuous but still, the next day I was sore. This kind of thing didn't happen in the past. I figured I needed to get back to the the total body workout that you can only get by bouncing up and down on a treadmill like a sweaty paint can.
So yesterday marked my triumphant return to running. As soon as I topped 3 miles per hour I was struck by the thought, "WOW this is bad for my knees." But I pressed on. Turns out this wasn't such a good idea. On the bike ride home I heard a quiet but constant creaking and popping coming from below, like I'd stepped out onto too-thawed lake ice in the spring. And like on that metaphorical lake, I got the distinct sense that something bad was about to happen.
Today I'm not exactly in agony, but it's pretty clear that my plan to resume running needs some fine-tuning. Speed-walking, perhaps?
Comments
dude - fuck running. it's for the birds. if it's not your knees, then it's your shins, or your ankles, or some obscure tendon issue on the sole of your foot.
swim laps at the pool, or do interval training on a bike at the Y (30 sec bursts of 90% biking with 4 minute coasting at 60-70%). Doing the 4 pairs of that is the equivalent of 3 separate 1 hour straight runs:
http://aolsvc.health.webmd.aol.com/content/article/106/108360.htm
(article refers to running but transposing it to biking works the same)
For achey muscles, try yoga. it'll have you using & limbering up muscles you never used before.
you know what, i'm really worried about myself, because lately i've been wanting to try a yoga class. can you recommend any?
Boo on yoga; lifting large pieces of metal until you can't move your arms/legs/neck/back/cloits/droits is where it's at.
well since you do DDR, I think you should pop in a Kathy Smith aerobics video. lo-impact on the knees yo.
You know, you could solve all of this by simply getting a real job.
hah! no scott, I don't think I'll be doing that. And anyway I'm much better at hitting keys in the correct order than doing actual useful things.
I think john's right -- I need to ramp up the swimming. I just need to get over my aversion to sharing crowded lanes (I hate making people wait).
And I'm with you, Kanishka. I prefer lifting. The only reason I do any cardiovascular exercise is because I feel like I ought to. And I usually bike/run/do the elliptical at the end of my workout, when I'm tired. So the effort is pretty well destined to be half-assed.
(Never heard of this Kathy Smith woman, Na, but DDR isn't too kind of the knees either, to be honest)
Swimming is supposed to be great for your endurance and the whole total body work out thing. It definitely works on your lung capacity (assuming you aren't as lazy as I am and take a breath ever other stroke). The only problem is that after the first couple laps you're just as bored as if you were running. And there's no taking your iPod into the pool with you (unless you've got special waterproofing like this guy).
In terms of yoga studio recommendations, not sure if I'd be much help there. since I live in arlington, I pop into sun & moon every now and then but mostly just utilize the classes offered at my gym and/or at work. I remember Missy (listenmissy.com) and Mihow (mihow.com) use to really like two separate studios, I think one was up around 13th & U and the other was on Columbia RD somwhere. I'd reach out to them for their opinions.
I've always lifted and threw cardio here and there since hs & college, but after a few years, found out that I was just building muscle in a very limited, constricted way, since mostly all of the lifting excericises lock your muscles into very specified movements. I've found that I was building a few muscles, but neglecting others, which over time tightened and became constricted themselves which led to a slew of nagging joint injuries. throw in some non-weight activities, like yoga, pilates, martial arts, etc. - it really opens your body up. no more hunching over keys and fewer old man aches and pains
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