Saturday, December 26, 2009

Forever Young

Today I ran slowly. I didn't run slowly by accident. I set out to run slower but longer. I've been doing half hour runs and I wanted to do 40 minute run, but I wanted to do it more slowly than usual. I don't have a great training reason why so don't bug me OK? I just wanted to run longer and slower today, so I did.


So. I went to the gym, pretty fantastic blizzard hit here on Christmas Day so it's not worth trying to run out there really (unless you have YakTrax, but more about those later!)

The gym was busy and I did it anyway. Being out of shape it's hard for me to run in front of other people. I'm not as out of shape as I once was though. I didn't mind running while other people could see. And there weren't lots of people laughing or pointing when I was doing it or done either so it was OK. I wondered how it'd be to run with a room full of people. It was nothing. A big old nothing.

That's a good hurdle to be over.

A couple other notes about today's run.
  • First, I was listening to Phedippidations, my favorite running podcast and it occurred to me while I was doing the C25K I ran listening to music and I got a lot more thinking done. Listening to the podcasts is cutting into my thinking time because I'm listening to him. I may alternate days listening to audiobooks/podcasts and listening to music. I like the time for my brain to unwind and it doesn't feel like it is unwinding when I listen to podcasts.
  • Second, varying the incline on the treadmill while I run may help me with the uncomfortableness of running on a treadmill. I wasn't sore afterwards. My legs didn't hurt at all.
  • Zensah compression leg sleeves are worth every penny. Seriously. I put them on right after the run and I feel like a million bucks. I feel better after the run than I did before I ran. These things are great for the legs. I recommend them VERY highly. If you run and have any soreness at all get a pair and put them on after a run. If you wear my size and don't like them let me know and we'll see about my buying them from you if you hate them. (No, I won't pay full price, your sweaty, hairy legs have been in them... but I can see myself paying half-price so you're not out the full price of them. I'm pretty sure everybody will love them.)
  • While listening to Phedippidations Steve Runner, the host, was talking about the body's rejuvenating itself every so often as cells replace themselves etc. He said we were forever young. JUST as he said that, like one beat later, they said it on the radio because Rod Stewart's song by that name was playing. I got goosebumps. If it were in a movie I wouldn't have believed it. It would have stretched my credulity. It happened today for real though.
I told you I'd tell you about YakTrax. They slide onto your shoes and when you walk on packed snow or ice you walk as if it were dry dirt. I ran up the hill in front of my house that's packed snow and ice that my car couldn't go up if I didn't have a running start. They're thick rubber and the bottoms have a heavy gauge metal spring looking material on the bottom. You wouldn't wear these in a house. They're not for that. But seriously. It changed the way I walked outside. I couldn't feel that they were on my feet and instead of that learned Iowa Winter Walk that we all do when on ice I could stride. I could walk, jog, turn abruptly. I didn't have to make wide turns. I could jog in a tight circle around my car. Try that on ice in normal shoes without these.  If you're outside at all in wintery conditions with ice or packed snow you should own a pair of these. Mailmen should all have them. Seriously. Absolutely astonishing product. I'll be able to run outside in a much wider range of conditions now.

As you may have noticed from this post there were two running gear endorsements. Yeah... there's a third review coming as soon as I get a chance to use it. I got a Garmin 305 for Christmas. It's a GPS for runners that you wear like a watch. I'm so excited I can't stand it. It's got a heart rate monitor on it as well. Soon, oh yes, soon. So... Christmas was good for me in the running gear department and I really am enjoying it all. The advantage of the amazon wish list is that it lets people know what I want without them having to guess if Model X is the same as Model Y.

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