Running Outside For the First Time

Monday’s weather was absolutely gorgeous and I couldn’t wait to leave work so I could go running outside for the first time. I had been reading on different blogs and running forums that the transition from running on a treadmill to running outside was, for quite a few new runners, unexpectedly difficult. One person said something about the treadmill doing most of the work by moving under our feet, making it easier to run, and running outside we have to do the work of trying to move the earth under our feet. Well, I found out just what he meant!

I ran W1D3 outside in my neighborhood, on the flat concrete sidewalk, and was very surprised at how difficult it was for me. Running on the treadmill felt pretty good and fairly easy. I definitely had a false sense of how well I was doing. I thought I should probably run that particular day of training again on Wednesday.

While running, I listen to a training podcast that a young woman (Suz) created using hip hop music. I couldn’t wait for her cue telling me it was time to walk, and I actually groaned when I was cued to begin running again. I’m sure I went at quite a slower pace than I had been doing on the treadmill (which is pretty slow). This workout definitely made me huff and puff.

After I had completed all eight of the walk/run intervals and the five minute cool down, I walked an extra 10 minutes just to enjoy being outside in the sun and the slightly cool breeze. I did feel it was a good work out, and my lungs felt pretty good after (not immediately after!).

Wednesday, surprisingly, I wasn’t feeling very sore from Monday’s tough run and decided to run W2D1 around the lake by my house. I did the five minute warm-up walking to the lake from home. The trail (concrete walk) I chose to run on had some slightly hilly parts that I had forgotten about and were possibly the equivalent of an incline of three on the treadmill.

I tried not to think about the hills by focusing on the music I was listening to. Half way through the intervals, when a particular song came on, I realized I was running to the training session for W1D3 again! I guess my sub-conscious decided I needed to repeat it after all.

Friday (or possibly Saturday) I’ll really start Week Two of my training.

Its 52 Degrees, The Sun is Out and So Are The Hunks!

I’m feeling much better today, the sniffles have all but disappeared and so has the coughing. I knew the weather was supposed to be partly cloudy with a high around 55, but as the clouds disappeared and the sun climbed higher in the beautiful blue sky, I got really antsy to get outside.

My plan was to wait until the temperature hit 50 and for the wind to die down a little. But, as soon as the weather service on my computer displayed the temp at 45 and I felt the warmth of the sun come through my window, I couldn’t get my running shoes and jacket on fast enough. I just couldn’t stand being cooped up in the house one more minute and headed up the street to the trails at the lake for a nice brisk walk and maybe a few short running jaunts.

It was fantastic being outside and fee in the sun on my face! The wind was a bit brisk and I could feel it through my fleece jacket, especially walking across the damn, but I soon worked up a bit of a sweat and had to unzip my jacket some.

There were men and their sons sitting along the bank of the lake with their fishing poles and gear, some were out on the water in their small fishing boats. There were moms and dads with their young children on bikes with training wheels wearing their pink and purple helmets. There were couples riding bikes together, and couples doing some easy runs together. But my favorite was the gorgeous hunk, a guy in his late twenties to early thirties, that was doing a slow jog, no shirt on, with a physic to make any woman drool! (You could tell this guy works out religiously with the weights). He flashed me a smile and said hello. Of course, I gave him a polite hello back. Now I really understand the term ‘eye candy’.

Anyway, I had a wonderful hour long walk with three very short jogs thrown in just for good measure, on a gorgeous, sunny afternoon.

Yep, spring has sprung and I’m feeling so much better!

Testing My Resolve … Pass The Tissues, Please

It feels like someone or something has it in for me, health wise. No sooner than I feel like I’m well enough to begin running and exercising, I come down with another (fill in the blank) cold! I feel like my resolve to become physically active and healthy is being tested.

Last Tuesday, I began having the sniffles but didn’t think much of it and decided to start the running program that evening so I did Week One Day One (W1D1). It actually felt good to do some physical activity and sweat a little! It was pretty easy doing the walk/run intervals for thirty minutes. Of course, I did this on my treadmill. I’m sure if I had run outside it would have been much more difficult.

Anyway, Wednesday morning I work up to a stuffy but very runny nose, feeling very tired, almost exhausted. I just couldn’t believe it. I had just finished the last round of antibiotics a few days ago. But, after thinking about it, I really shouldn’t be surprised. I hadn’t gotten much sleep or eaten very well over the weekend.

I had a family reunion to attend (I wouldn’t have gone but my brother-in-law has cancer and isn’t doing well) that was five hours away. Friday I drove the entire way, stayed in a hotel with my family during the weekend, didn’t sleep very well, was around a million people and their little kids (well, maybe just 60 or 70) and drove the five hours back home Sunday night. Plus, I then had to drive two hours each day for work meetings this week. It’s no wonder I got this cold, my immune system is still trying to recover from the pneumonia and my stamina is pretty low right now.

Well, my resolve hasn’t been that great since Tuesday night, but I didn’t cave in altogether. This morning, in spite of not feeling all that great, I made myself get on that treadmill and did W1D2 a few hours ago and I’m feeling pretty good right now! As long as the bronchitis doesn’t come back, I think I’ll keep on track with this program.

Exercise and good nutrition really are the best medicine.

Another Set Back and Thank Goodnes for Pain Killers!

After my last post I went for a nice 30 minute walk around my neighborhood. It was a bit breezier than I thought it would be and of course I forgot to put on my hat or anything to cover my ears. But I really enjoyed getting outside. I've had to hibernate all winter because of the asthma/bronchitis/pneumonia episodes.

Anyway, during my last big round of being sick I coughed a lot. I mean forceful, difficult to breath bouts of coughing. The kind that keeps you up all night and have to sleep propped up. One weekend, during one of those coughing episodes, I felt, and heard, a pop in my left chest. It was quite painful. The next day, it happend to the right side, but worse. Since then, I've had continuous pain whenever I cough, sneeze, raise my arms, or basically just move. Some days it hurt more than others. Last weekend, however, I was feeling pretty good, no coughing and very little pain, so I assumed whatever it was that caused the pain was going away. Unfortunately, this past week the pain got worse and the coughing was coming back.

On Friday I couldn't stand the pain anymore, and worrying that maybe I had cracked a few ribs from the coughing (a co-worker had that happen when she had bronchitis), I called my doctor to see if I could get in. Fortunately, he had an opening. After describing to him the popping that caused the pain, and him pressing on my chest (and having to peel me off the ceiling because it hurt so bad) and the sides of my rib cage, he determined the ribs aren't fractured, but thought I might have a collapsed lung. So, he sent me to get a chest x-ray. Luckily, it isn't a collapsed lung or craked ribs. The pain is from strained chest muscles and sprained ligaments and cartilage between the rib bones.

I was given three prescriptions - an antibiotic for the bronchitis that hasn't completely cleared up, a narcotic pain reliever for the chest pain and an anti-inflammatory for the inflamation of the chest muscles and ligaments. The pain reliever makes knocks me out for a few hours. I don't know how I'm going to work while taking it.

So, needless to say, I'm not able to do the C25K training that I was hoping to start today. I'll just keep walking on my treadmill and hopefully outside a little now that the temperatures are above freezing. Wednesday it's suppose to be sunny and a high of 55!

I will be a runner some day - just not this day.

Feeling Healthy and Ready to Begin Again

It has taken a while to feel well enough to get back into my daily activities and to begin my fitness journey to better health. I'm still feeling a bit tired from being sick, not to mention that I had to go to San Antonio (which was pretty chilly!) for a conference earlier this week and experiencing the plane trip from hell (maybe I'll vent about that in another post). But, today I have some energy, the weather today is looking good - some rain this afternoon but a high of 45, woo hoo! and I'm feeling antsy to get outside.

I've decided to spend about a week of walking for 30 minutes before actually getting into the C25K training of running/walking intervals. I was pretty sick this last time and want to be sure I don't get sick again, so I'm going to go at a snail's pace to slowly work my way into it.

Tonight the grandkids (all six of them) are spending the night. I haven't been able to have them around since January 17th because the bronchitis got so bad. That's a long time for me not to see them. I usually try to have them over night twice a month or, at the very least, once during the month. I haven't seen much of anyone outside of work for a few months.

Anyway, now that I'm feeling much better, I'm determined to become more physically active and develop a healthier lifetstyle of exercise and good nutrition. It's currently 40 degrees so I'm headed out the door for a nice 30 minute walk!

Will This Never End?

Monday I woke up feeling absolutely horrible! The bronchitis had definitely gotten worse. I also had a cold! My nose was congested and running and the coughing was the worst it's been since early January. In fact, I've never had such a bad case of bronchitis before.

I went to my asthma doc to get something to help with the cough. He put me on three more inhalers! I can't take prednisone (we didn't know that when he put me on it last August) because it causes terrible heart burn and because I have another medical condition that it could make worse. I was also put on a strong antibiotic because the cough had become quite productive, I started running a low temperature and the docs were afraid the bronchitis was on the verge of becoming pneumonia. I felt absolutely miserable all week and couldn't go in to work at all. Luckily, I can work from home.

Today I'm feeling much better, although I still have the productive cough, it just isn't quite as bad. I'm hoping that by the time I'm finished with the antibiotics I'll be able begin the C25K training. I hate having asthma and chronic bronchitis.

I just want to start running in the hopes of improving my health. Does anyone have any words or widom or even encouragement?

Still Sitting On The Sidelines

Well, its been a week since I watched the 5k run that got me motivated to begin the C25k training again. The problem is the bronchitis hasn't cleared up yet. In fact, it's getting worse. Besides the painful, productive coughing, I have a very noticable wheezing and rattling in my chest. It looks like I'm going back on the antibiotics and postponing the training for a while.

Will this crap ever clear up so I can start exercising to improve my health?