I'm changing the purpose of the blog slightly. I do still intend to complete a marathon at some point within the next few years. However, at my current weight and fitness level, with my current diet, it's just not gonna happen. So, for a time, this will evolve into a weight loss blog of sorts. There will be food journaling, accounts of workouts, analyses of my eating habits, tales of my adventures in cooking for myself, links to health articles I find, etc.

So, to start.

I'm living in Washington, DC for the semester, off-campus. It's a pretty good area for running- lots of wide sidewalks and little parks, and I'm actually pretty close to the Mall. That said, I've actually only been out maybe 5 times the entire semester. I did have a bit of a breakthrough, though. Whenever I read Born to Run, I get so inspired to go running. It seems like it will be the most amazing feeling. Then I get out there, and while I'm jazzed that I actually got my butt out of bed and into my running gear, I'm mainly just going through the paces (as it were). Then, one day, as I was out running home along the Mall, I saw that a light was about to change. Another runner and I both kicked it into high gear and sprinted across the street just in time. I found myself actually giggling out loud as I leapt to the sidewalk on the other side. I figured it out! Before, I was out jogging. Jogging is kind of boring. But in that sprint, not only was I bonding with my fellow runner, but I was actually running. I guess I'd never really run before. Running is AWESOME. Jogging, not so much.

Now, this does present some issues of its own. The greatest of which is my cardiovascular system. It was starting to actually develop with regular use of my bike a year ago, but then some lowlife miscreant STOLE my beautiful precious bike literally the night before I was going to move it inside the dorm. So, no more bike riding for me. And my cardio plummeted. All of which is to say, I can't sustain full-out running for very long. And by very long I mean more than about 25 seconds at a time. Jogging, I could eek out 1 minute if I had to. So it might take a little/lot longer to rebuild my cardio system.

Especially with my general lack of motivation to work out. I made an attempt at fixing this early on in the semester. As I am living off-campus, I have limited access to the gym. If I wanted to trek for 50 minutes to get there, yes, I could use the campus gym, but frankly... no. Just no.

Aaaaand it's 1am, so I'm going to sign off for now, and finish this up tomorrow. Night, y'all!

Born to Run

THIS BOOK CHANGED MY LIFE. Go read it. Now.

First of all, it explained why my feet always fall asleep and my calves hurt and what have you when I try to go running- it's the shoes! Also taught me a lot about proper running form, the proper mentality, and the proper diet, without being preachy. Also, it's a heck of an entertaining read, so I highly recommend it.

My first try at running barefoot and with proper form was hit and miss. I went a mile, though certainly I wasn't running the entire time. I noticed a distinct lack of calluses on the bottom of my feet, so I had to switch back into my shoes (ballet flats, not tennis shoes) part way through. In the book, it tells you that because you are retraining your body to run, it shouldn't feel easy the first few times- there needs to be a period of adjustment. I assumed the calluses issue and my inability to both flick my heels and pump my elbows properly simultaneously was my adjustment. And of course, there was my general lack of cardivascular endurance, but I figured that would go away with some work.

Then I woke up the next morning.

I have never had muscle pain so intense in my life. It was entirely located in my calves and ankles. I could barely walk. I was convinced that I had done something horribly wrong, but I got on the minimalist/barefoot running forum associated with Born to Run and described exactly what I had done and exactly what I was feeling, and they all assured me it was normal, and actually meant I'd done it exactly right. Don't run on the calves when they are that sore, they said, and in a few weeks the muscle pain should disappear almost entirely. And they were right, and I'm starting to get through a mile faster, which I can only assume means I am doing more running than walking. Also, getting through more with bare feet.

There are still issues to be worked out with my form- I'm running with more of a sprinter's stance than a long-distance one, I need to work on putting more of my foot down, not just the forefoot. I still need to figure out the elbow-pumping, heel-flicking dynamic. And of course I still need to be able to completely run one mile, at which point I will bump it up to doing whatever it takes (i.e. lots of walking if necessary) to hit two miles, and so on and so forth. My goal is to be able to eek out 5 miles by July.

Back in the Saddle

Totally fell off the running wagon, but started back up last week. Apparently all of my daily biking around campus is doing good for my legs and cardiovascular system, because I decided to try running on the tredmill for 90 seconds, and because Grease was playing on the TV I didn't realize how long it had been and ended up running for 5 minutes straight. Definitely a big step for me.

So, have some good mojo heading back into the world of running!

Also, I discovered a book. I have yet to read this book, as I am currently 83rd on the holds list at the library and it is still in hardback so I haven't purchased it yet, but it looks amazing and has really inspired me to get going. It is called Born to Run, and I highly recommend you check it out. Talks about how running naturally doesn't injure you, rather, the expensive running shoes you buy do, among many other things. The main focus is a tribe whose name starts with T but I can never remember beyond that. Apparently they are legendary for being able to run hundreds of miles at once without breaking a sweat, in bare feet, without getting injured. In the mountainous regions of Chihuahua. 

Anywhoo, it sounds really interesting and exciting and I REALLY WANT TO READ IT. Also, really want to get out and start running! But it's late, it's cold, and I just killed myself at a gym session that involved almost nothing but deadlifts. 

Excuses, excuses, I know. But at least I will go eat hummus like the book suggests. 

Very First Run

I'll get into the background story of how I started this crazy venture and the specifics of what I am doing and all that a little later, but first I want to post about my very first training run!

Well, to start, there was very little actual running involved. Primarily I just walked, with about 5 1-minute bursts of running thrown in. These little snippets of running caused my face to turn a particularly lovely shade of deep violet and my lungs to heave at roughly the sound and speed of a Airbus cargo plane. I imagine this led to those who passed me during my walking times to think I am the most out of shape person ever. On a related note, I also felt like I was going to swallow my tongue at a few different points. I hope that is normal at this stage.

There are several high points, however....
First: for whatever reason, the sort of early evening time at which I chose to go running is also the time when every single dog owner within 50 blocks decided to walk their dogs, so I saw lots of cute puppyage.
Second: I actually started training for my marathon!
Third: There were actually times I felt pretty good about my running, what little of it there was
Fourth: This is by far my favorite- it somehow worked out that whenever I crossed paths with someone who was out running rather than out with their dog, I was in one of my rare running spurts, and we shared big comradely grins as we ran by each other. It felt pretty special and cool.