Day 11
Remember back when Street Fighter II was popular in arcades? There was always one 8 year old kid that hung out by the machine and kicked the crap out of all comers. He was good. Drove everyone batshit. So, you watched him play, thought about the moves he used, formulated a strategy, picked out Chun-Li, who you kicked ass with, threw a quarter in while he was playing, began a match…and still got the crap kicked out of you, after all that preparation.
Today was that 8 year old kid.
Jog 2 minutes/walk 1 minute x 3
Jog 1 minute/walk 2 minutes x 2
Jog 2 minutes/walk 1 minute x 2
And then I had to stop, because I felt winded, and woozy in that way that I felt last week when they took blood from me in the hospital. Yes, I ate and drank something before I ran. Yes, I was hydrating properly. Yes, I had a phone with me as I always do, in case of emergency. No, I wasn’t overdoing the speed. The combination of the extra minute’s jog I tacked onto the total by accident Monday, that I stuck with today, the week I took off because I was sick, and the new shoes I’m still getting used to just did me in, so I stopped, took about an 8 minute break to catch my breath, hydrate a little, and assess things, and when I stood up to walk up to the road again, my shins and calves had stiffened up some because of the break, so I walked the rest of the course (and over to the clubhouse in my complex, to see that they don’t have shit in their “exercise room”) and went home.
Total time: 21 minutes before break, 8 minute break, then 20 minutes of walking to the clubhouse and home at a measured pace.
Total distance: probably about a mile before I stopped, then about .7 miles walking afterward. Before things blew up, I’d made it further into the course than I had previously, once again. Still gotta find that fuckin’ pedometer. This weekend, I tear the room apart.
I actually feel pretty good about the fact that I got my ass kicked today, for a number of reasons. First off, I’m not sure if I went past the point where anyone knowledgable would have recommended that I stop, but when my body told me to stop, I didn’t get macho, I listened, and I stopped. That makes me feel like I did an ok job of taking responsibility for myself, even though I screwed up a little by adding an extra minute each of the past two days. Second, it took me 11 workouts before I hit a wall and was legitimately gassed. Third, I realize that, had I been able to continue, there only would have been one more tough minute of running before I hit easy street. That minute? Yep, the one I tacked on by accident on Monday, and decided to try and tough out today. So, really, I don’t feel like I slacked. I just feel like I got ahead of myself a little, and (hopefully) only paid for it a little. My shins were sore while I was walking home and showering, but 10 minutes after the shower, they feel alright. I’m not winded per se, but again today, as it was with Monday (because I added a little too much to the workload, I think), I’ve got a little of that burn in my lungs that I’ve gotten in the past when I’ve had to run faster or further than I was used to, and it’s making me cough a little. I’ve felt a lot worse after runs that I’ve actually finished, as has been documented here.
What I think I’ll do from here, as I usually do, is see how I feel on my next scheduled running day, which is Friday. If the lungs and the shins are still a bother, I’ll do the run on Saturday instead as a precaution. I will stick with the current program, though I’m not going to go to the next step in the program until I feel comfortable and confident with five 2 minute runs in there. I won’t go backward, but I’m not going to be going forward, either. No biggie. I’m still on pace.
The other thing I decided today, as I was walking home with my tail between my legs, concerned my first intermediate goal on the path to NYC. By the end of September, I’d like to run and finish my first 5K run without hurting or embarrassing myself. I’m actually not that far off from doing it comfortably. I’m doing a little over half the distance in walk/run already after a month (today’s blowup aside), but I want to give myself a little time to be able to handle the distance comfortably, and also, if at all possible, avoid having my first race as part of a pack in really hot weather, so sometime in September, I’ll have my first crack at it.
Onto Friday (or Saturday, conditions permitting). I’m totally gonna knock that 8 year old kid’s head off next time.