Welcome Back, Astro!

            So we’ve been living in our new home in Overland Park, Kansas for two weeks now. Our friend Astro the treadmill got reassembled last week after having a tough go of it during the move, and I took him for his first spin as a Kansan last Sunday. Feels good to be getting back after it and to have my days approaching normal again, although there are still a lot of boxes to unpack and lots of work for me to do.

            I ran outside a few times in my Hoka Mach pillows/shoes while we were shacking it at the Residence Inn, but I haven’t run outside since we moved into the house. I should, since there are a few challenging hills near us. In Athens I would make it a goal to run outside at least once a week, so I think that’s what I’ll aim for. What’s the point of having rain jackets, tights, and arm warmers if you’re not stepping into the great outdoors?

HELP! JANE! STOP THIS CRAZY THING!

            One realization I’ve made… A reason made a concerted effort to run outside was to keep my fitness level (such as it was) up by hitting the ups and downs of our old neighborhood. Running on the treadmill meant my legs didn’t have that energized feeling that you get by running outside. But I’ve learned that by setting the incline to 1.5% (up from the 1.0% I used to set it at) I get a decent workout in and my legs feel like they ran that day. It’s not as bad as it seems, especially since I have a cord that connects my iphone to the treadmill. Podcasts for everyone!

            As you can see Astro sits alone in our nice, cool basement. It’s easy enough to get a good sweat in down there and not overheat. And he’s not underfoot like he was in our old place where he took up virtually half the room. Here he’s got plenty of space and I’ve got a nice place to get back on schedule and go for my run regardless of the Kansas City weather.

            I’m sitting on 10 miles this week after this three-mile jaunt yesterday. Highest mileage week in a month or so.

            And the Athens Half Marathon is this weekend, with cool temperatures expected. A lot of my Athens friends are running that race.

On the Road Again

            Having a treadmill in the house means there’s a certain obligation to get on there and make that thing move. But I’ve been hitting the roads in my neighborhood here and there as a way to keep things interesting. In the past I felt like I was running on the same roads all the time and it got old, so I think a little of both can keep things fresh.

 

Today's readout from
my good ol' Garmin 220.

            Running on familiar ground gives me time to realize my speed and my conditioning are not what they used to be. Road running is tougher than treadmill running is. I’ve huffed and puffed more than I’m used to, but I’ve completed the runs without stopping. My heart rate even peaked at 180 going up the biggest hill in my subdivision today.

            The science is that for every pound you add on you can also add roughly two seconds to your mile pace. It checks out. I’m 15 pounds heavier than I was, and my mile times are closer to 9:00 these days. It’s hard to deal with for someone who could put 8:15 miles on the board pretty easily. The big thing is that I’m letting myself get back out there and keeping it simple in order to keep the rest of my life in balance. Pace isn’t important right now, running is.

I still wear a chest strap when I go out. 

            I also had one of my hardest treadmill runs late last week—I set up a 3.25-mile route but raised the incline (manually) to 1.5% for .25 of a mile. I did that three times, and the last time I raised it to 2.0%. The rest of the time I ran at 1% and I also increased the speed each mile. Fiddling with the degree of difficulty helps me stay engaged. Well, that and a good podcast. This gave me a good push-- My legs felt more energized after a treadmill workout than they have in a long time.

            My weight is down a tiny bit I think, 181.8 was last Friday’s measurement. Probably a negligible difference, but it’s still a bit of an ego boost.

Recalculating

One of my favorite commercials these days is the one where there’s a guy driving a car and he doesn’t follow the path the GPS voice (whose name is Mona in our house) tells him to. Mona then says, ”recalculating.”

That’s what I’ve been doing the last several months. I love running but I let it become too big of a part of my life, to the point that I wasn’t looking for work as hard as I should have. I was running my 20+ miles a week but neglecting this other thing to the point of making a mess of things. So I stopped running for about four months. Just stopped cold turkey. I wouldn’t let myself get out there and have this bit of relaxation because of my poor habits.

Note-- scale does not accurately reflect actual weight.

My weight went from 167 to its current level of 185. It’s a tiny bit harder to draw a deep breath, and my size 32-waisted jeans fit more snugly than they did last summer. It became time to do something about my problem.

In the meanwhile, Astro our new treadmill took up residence in our spare room last fall, next to the not-unpacked boxes from our move in four years ago. This means I had to start dealing with my problem. Can’t be having a big, expensive treadmill in the house unless you’re gonna get on there. Astro and I have gotten acquainted—I can set up routes in my old neighborhood in El Paso, Manhattan (The Little Apple), Tuscaloosa, here in Athens, or wherever I want. I bang out about ten miles a week with the elevation set at 1.0 so as to give my legs a little push. My mile times are closer to 9:00, but I expect that since I’m carrying extra weight.

It’s about an hour and a half each week, which jives with something I saw in a recent Runner’s World. It said that if you start running 1-2 hours a week you slash your risk of dying of cancer or a cardiovascular condition. The next page says 2 ½ hours a week will help you reap all of the youth-promoting benefits.

My whole mindset started with a magic number of 20 miles a week that I read years ago, so I’m adjusting my mindset again to allow myself the chance to run about 3 times a week, a little more than 30 minutes a shot, for a total of roughly 11 miles. I’m giving myself permission not to run. This allows me more time to network, write cover letters, and do the things I should have been doing before.

Who knows, maybe by clearing up the job situation, my running life will improve because I can run during the time I would’ve used job hunting. Or it could be that the reverse is true, that by running less I achieve more by having more energy throughout the day. We’ll find out.

Recalculating…