I ran for 25 minutes yesterday. The last year and a half has been busy, with many achievements, but I consider this tiny feat to be one of my greatest personal accomplishments.
I have never been particularly good at running, but have always enjoyed jogging in the morning and doing 5k-10k fun runs, usually at a 8-9 minute/mile pace. [Speed records were not broken.] Beyond that, it’s also the fastest, most efficient way I know to both get in shape and de-stress. The perfect exercise twofer.
The last time I ran for 25 (or more) minutes was February 13, 2005. I know this because the next day was the day I injured my back in an aerial dance class. Within a couple years I was able to do everything I did before — except run. Even a short sprint for the bus would take me out for a couple days. Eventually I gave up on the idea and decided to just be grateful I had the option to live without back pain.
After the opportune acquisition of a treadmill last year however I changed my mind again, determined to resume jogging. I had downloaded Robert Ullrey’s “Couch to 5k” podcasts which are based on a progressive program from Cool Running. It’s a set of nine podcasts and the idea is to run each podcast 3x/week, for a total of nine weeks, at which point you should be ready to run a 5k. I had tried them out before — I liked that the music offered a tempo I could run to and loved that I didn’t have to watch the clock — but always ended up grumpy with sciatic nerve pain the following day, even after running for a mere 60 seconds.
This time I was committed — my new goal was to resume physical therapy and run each podcast as many times as necessary until my back didn’t hurt the next day. So far, I’ve spent three seasons up in the FROG, every M/W/F at 5 a.m. jogging/walking for what were (and arguably still are) microbic distances. All-in-all I think I ended up running the first podcast (which is a series of eight, 60-second runs followed by 90 seconds of walking) about 30 times before progressing to week two. Around this time I discovered Zyflamend, an herbal anti-inflammatory that actually works, is ulcer-friendly, and allowed me to progress to the next week. I ran the second podcast about a dozen times, and have continued to make strides (heh) to where I am now: week seven, running 25 minutes at a time, often without the zyflamend, and nearly pain free.
For so many many reasons this makes me happy… I’m getting cardio exercise, time to think or just space out to good music, and I’m finally starting to get to distances where the “runner’s high” kicks in… the nearly forgotten endorphin rush that convinces you you want to repeat the experience. Once Easter candy season is over, I may even lose a couple pounds. If you’re a non-runner and have any interest in jogging, I’d highly recommend these podcasts — they’re free, easy to follow and you can go at your own pace… even if that means running the first podcast 30 times.
