A little bit more running, or
jogging, or shuffling, well anything a bit faster than a brisk walk anyway. A
couple more attempts at this addictive exercise were made in the past week or
so. First was a round trip to Walmart to buy some small things that I could
stuff in my jacket pockets thus freeing my hands. I even considered carrying a
small backpack but I figured the pockets would suffice. Off I go jogging for 4
minutes and walking for 1 minute, and because of how slow I have become, it
took almost half an hour to get to the store when it used to take me about 22
minutes. No matter, after all, the goal was to try to run again regardless of
my ankle ailments. I was going to stop at 45 minutes but managed another 5,
then walked about a half mile back home. Nowadays, I would consider that a
successful run because it freed me from the stationary machines at home.
Several days later, it was back to
the treadmill. I’ve never liked running on the treadmill as much as on the road
but I’m beginning to change how I feel about that. The cushioning really helps
lessen the impact of my very heavy stride and thus enables me to run
continuously without the walk breaks. In this case 45 minutes of non-stop
jogging/shuffling. Another major accomplishment for someone who is not supposed
to do this type of exercise any more.
After I wrote the draft of this
post, I managed a three more runs. The first was last Thursday and lasted a
whole hour of the 4 minute:1 minute run/walk. The next run last Saturday also
lasted an hour but in a different way. I planned to skip the first walk break
but ended up skipping the next and the next and the next until I reached 30
minutes. I did the run/walk the rest of the hour. Surprising that I was able to
do that but even more surprising was that the pace for the 30 minute run/walk
was about 15 seconds per mile faster than the non-stop jogging. Perhaps I was
trying to protect the ankles too much or maybe the second half hour was faster
because I was already warmed up. Oh, I also got caught in a 5 minute shower on
that cloudy day. Last but not least on Tuesday afternoon, I shuffled for an
hour and eight minutes non-stop on the treadmill. Whoa! Easy boy! Remember:
shorter! No wonder my ankles were burning afterwards.
When I run/shuffle/jog nowadays, I have to be
very mindful of my stride, i.e. constant awareness of how I plant my feet upon
landing so my inner ankle pain is minimal. That means no more pushing the pace
even if my breathing feels good, be satisfied no matter how slow I run, and
keep the distances a lot shorter than what I’m used to. If that’s what it
takes, then so be it. So much for citius, altius, fortius. Hmm, I wonder what the Latin version of slower and shorter are. Anyone???
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1 comment:
I had to google PTTD, and I thought I knew of all the running injuries out there. I think after reading your post I will stop whining about my aches and pains, about being slow, about not hitting my distance targets and so on. It should be about having fun and recently I have not been enjoying my running at all.
I may even reconsider my feelings towards dreadmills.
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