23 posts tagged “fitness”
When's the last time you looked at your feet? I mean, really looked at them?
On Sunday, I ran my second half marathon. While my first was plagued with knee pain, my second was relatively pain-free. In fact, the day after, I feel almost no soreness whatsoever... except for my right foot.
It's not so much an ache, but rather a pain, like something is broken or fractured. But I'm having a very hard time believing that's the case, since during and immediately following the race, I felt no pain at all. (Well, no pain beyond what is normal after running 13.1 miles.)
Then, this morning, I glanced down at my feet, and noticed the bunion on my right foot seems significantly larger than the one on my left. (I've always had wide feet, they run in the family.) Thing is, I have no idea whether this is related to the pain, or it's just always been this way. Like I said, how often do you look at your feet?
I think I'll see how I feel tomorrow, and call my doctor if the pain hasn't subsided.
Last November, I took a reading from my personal trainer's body fat monitor. At the time, I weighed 160 lbs, 27.68 (17.3%) of which were fat. After a year of regular exercise and watching my diet, I was now officially "fit."
I'm determined to get myself back into shape in the new year. Call it a resolution if you must, but I'm tired of being tired, and I want my clothes to fit better. To that end, I've recommitted myself to running on a regular basis. I joined the New York Road Runners and signed up for my first race: the NYRR Gridiron Classic, a four-mile run on Superbowl Sunday.
The distance had me a bit concerned at first. After completing the Couch-to-5K program, I had settled in to a comfortable routine, a routine that included no more than three miles. My times steadily improved, but at the end of each run, I was spent. How the hell was I going to squeeze out an extra mile?
Turns out, adjusting your pace a little can go a long way. A week ago Sunday, setting out to run four miles for the very first time, I slowed down a bit from my 5K pace and, to my surprise, I finished with energy to spare. Tuesday, I ran six miles. Thursday, six and a half. After each workout, I still had energy left over.
Thursday's run had me both excited and curious to see how much distance I actually had in me. I decided to pick a number that, until a week ago, seemed absurd: ten miles. Sunday, I will run ten miles.
And I did it. Yesterday, I ventured out into the twenty degree morning and ran ten miles.
As soon as I got home, I asked Google for a bit of information about the pain I was experiencing in my right knee. Turns out, increasing the mileage one runs by, say, 233% in the course of a week, is an extraordinarily Bad Idea. Based on my years of medical training--and a paragraph I found on the internet--I believe that I have Chondromalacia of the patella, also known as Runner's Knee.
Thankfully, it seems this is a fairly common, and easily treatable injury: a bit of time off, an ice pack and ibuprofen after running, and not pushing myself so damned hard.
Boing Boing recently posted a link to Spark Fun Electronics' Nike + iPod Sport Kit sensor autopsy. They claim the device is powered not by an accelerometer, but rather a piezoelectric sensor, essentially making it a sophisticated pedometer. It measures how long your weight is on your foot to determine your speed.
But, Apple's website contradicts this claim: "The sensor uses a sensitive accelerometer to measure your activity, then wirelessly transfers this data to the receiver on your iPod nano." To further confuse the issue, Apple has posted a tech doc that implies that the piezoelectric sensor is an accelerometer: "A sensitive piezoelectric accelerometer monitors your footstrike when you walk or run and determines the amount of time your foot spent on the ground. This contact time is directly related to your pace."
I raise this question because, after yesterday's run, I mapped out my route on gmap-pedometer.com, and found that my shoes are over-reporting my mileage to the tune of about 20%. I recognize that this most likely a calibration issue, but the Spark Fun report has me wondering how accurate the Sport Kit sensor is in the first place.
It's been a while since I've run, but I'm getting back into the swing of things. I eased back into things on Tuesday, and this afternoon I ran a full 25 minutes, my farthest and longest run yet. (And yet, no props from Lance or Paula. Wtf?)
Tuesday: 1.90mi, 20 min
Today: 2.47mi, 25 min
Back in the saddle again. The "b" is for "because I've been sick, and need an extra run to get back in the swing of things." I just didn't have the extra five minutes in me. I'll be back on track this Friday.
2.04mi, 20 min.
The relatively brisk 62° temperature this morning was welcome, but it got me thinking: at what point do I want to throw on a pair of running pants, or a jacket? Further down the road, is there a point where it's simply too cold to run outside?
The Couch-to-5K plan has been put on hold until I shake this summer cold. Nothing major, but I need the extra rest. Hopefully, I'll be back up and running (ha!) later this week.
This morning's run was a bit of a struggle. I had planned on continuing my straight twenty-minute runs, but in the end I took the three-minute walk at the ten minute mark that my schedule allotted. I tried to keep my pace at under 10'/mi, but I just didn't have it in me today.
2.13mi, 23 min.
On Sunday—yes, I ran on Sunday, so fuck you magic eightball—I took the 6 train up to 86th St and ran the Reservoir Loop in Central Park. The air was fresh, the cinder pathway was easy on my joints, and not a car or oblivious pedestrian in sight. Still, beautiful though the view was, it quickly grew stale. Street running is far more stimulating, in my opinion.
This morning, I forgot to review my schedule, so I decided to do away with the intervals altogether and run another solid 20 minutes. Felt great. One more of these, and I crank it up to 25 minutes.
Sunday: 1.99mi, 20 min
Tuesday: 2.06mi, 20 min
A late run this morning, due to a faulty alarm clock (really!). Only two more interval-based runs remaining, and Sunday's my first non-stop workout. Progress!
1.98mi, 21 min.
Today, Lifehacker posted a link to Traineo, a "weight loss and fitness tracker designed to keep you motivated to achieve your fitness goals." It's very well executed, though the design follows the Web 2.0 stylebook to the letter. I signed up for an account, and in the process of filling out my profile, I dug through my self-tagged Flickr photos and found this shot from April of last year.
The guy in that photo is at his peak weight of 165 lbs. His clothes fit well and he had lots of energy. In the year and a half that followed, events in my life made regular workouts difficult. Frequent trips—and an eventual move—to New York meant lots of eating out. And my body has suffered the consequences.
Enough is enough. Running is a good start, but without a healthy diet and weight training, the best I can hope for is to tread water. I achieved my ideal weight once before with the Body for Life plan, and I can do it again.
Want to follow my progress?
