back in "training"

Wednesday 20th. Morning. Deb goes for a training run. Today, it's an intervals variation.

I decide that I will go to the same park -- and jog.

This is a big step! I collapsed during the fun run because -- indirectly because -- I was running. Am I safe to run again? So far I have walked. Up to 4km, but walking. Quite slowly.

How do I know that I am safe to jog? I will jog!

Okay, it's not a "Proof" that I can safely jog. But an actual training "run" will prove that I can run without *necessarily* collapsing. Run without collapsing at least once, anyway :-)

I select some clear paths around the park. Paths which are always in sight from a driveable road. I will stay on these paths, go to no other. I tell Deb which are the paths that I will follow.

We set off on our individual training runs.

I follow my standard pattern for a training run: ten minutes warmup walk, jog the training distance, cooldown walk for another ten minutes. (With today's addition of VSE, of course.) This standard pattern -- particularly today -- has a benefit:

I have clear memories of past training runs -- following this pattern -- on days when I have had a cold. I will be able to compare "then" to "now".

With a cold, I follow a standard pattern: I don't want to go at all :-( Deb is going, I may as well go, I can always stop if I'm tired :-(  I start off feeling weak and tired but now I'm warming up :-| I'm starting to run more smoothly, easier, a bit faster :-| That was fun, I feel better, I'm glad I went for a run :-)

So today I walk. Jog. Jog a little faster! Walk again. And the entire process follows the pattern of, I'm running, even though I do have a cold :-) The only differences are, I jog at the same level of physical -- heart, lungs & legs -- physical effort. Yet my speed is much slower.

But when I say "jog" I do mean "jog". Sure I'm slower. But I know that faster is -- or was -- possible.

I can train again!

No, I'm not some form of dedicated athlete. I'm a couch potato who only trains because my wife trains... Deb is going for a run, I suppose I should go with her and do my own run...

I'm no athlete. Yet it's clear that years' of training -- even at my low, don't-push-it there's-no-hurry level of effort -- have been of benefit to my body. (Again: It's not "an athlete's body". But it's fit and healthy except for the cancer :-) With the benefit of regular training, my body works well enough for me.

I'd like to keep a fit -- all-except-the-cancer -- body. So... I'm glad that today's test shows that I'm ready for some training.

Or, at least, I now know that a little training really won't -- or, at least, didn't -- kill me immediately.

Which is good :-)

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It took me 25 years to get from puffing couch potato to completing my first marathon. Perhaps I will target another marathon, for 25 years from now?!  Though -- as per an earlier post: My training plan will run for no more than Three Years, One Calendar Month and an Unknown Number of Days...

... from Today.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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​"No matter where you go, there you are." ... Confucius ?

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Now much more than a clever name for a holiday journal:

 https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/  :-)