It would be too easy to say that the only thing that runs in
me is my nose, nor can I say that I like my eggs runny since I don't eat eggs
anymore. In the past month since I've become unemployed, I've had the runs, or
rather, I started running again. Not very much - just a couple of times a week
on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus a walk/run at Signal Hill on Saturdays with the Long Beach Area Walking Club. The weekday runs only lasts between 30 and 45 minutes which are
substitutes for indoor cycling the rest of the week. I'm able to try running
again because even though I might overstretch my ankle tendons, I don't have to
go to work and dodge potentially violent psychiatric patients. Here is what I
found out: all the muscle memory from decades of running has developed
Alzheimer's Disease or at the very least, amnesia. My body has forgotten how to
run and it feels like I have tired legs all the time. You know - the way your legs
feel the day after a very long run or a hard interval workout. When I was
forced to stop running due to PTTD a few years ago, my aerobic capacity was way
ahead of the slow pace my legs were capable of doing. Nowadays even when I
force myself to run the slowest pace possible, it still makes me breathless and
I don't seem to be able to get into a steady state anymore. Maybe if I run a
couple more times a week, I might get my running legs back but twice is all
that my muscles would allow due to my year long statin-induced muscle pain. I'm
not sure whether it's only my muscles that can't go longer or if it is my brain
that gets tired more quickly. The mental toughness I once had when training for
marathons is also now gone. Am I complaining about losing muscle and mental
endurance? It's certainly understandable for me to lament it, but since I wasn't expecting
much, I'm pretty content on being able to do my 30 to 45 minutes of the slowest
possible jogging that my body allows. I don't foresee myself running in races
anymore or training with the AREC running club, but once in a while I might challenge myself with a very long walk like
the birthday walks I do, or maybe in 2014, it might be a run/walk combination. In the meantime, I'll ride this running wave as long as I possibly can.
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