Tag: exercise

Yesterday I girded my loins and decided to walk a bit of the way home. I surprised myself by walking over halfway (Don’t forget I had a knee ligament thingy reconstruction a few weeks back). I didn’t push it, cause I’ve been informed by the excellent folk who hook me up to ancient and mad-scientist-looking electrical discharge machines that if you push too hard it swells and swelling is bad for healing.

So. I took the bus. Knee was fine, not much swelling. Icepacked it, but didn’t feel overly sore.

Today I thought I’d try again, but didn’t even think about stopping. Just that I was walking home. 5 kms. Not much by any standard, except that of a tubby man coming off reconstructive surgery (love how that sounds).

Did it, reading a Harry Dresden book on my iPhone, without much trouble at all. The legs are a little muscular-sore, but that’s to be expected (and looked forward to by me I might add, finally, some indication of physical exercise, ha).

So the point of this post is three-fold.

1. Perhaps it’s the whisper of summer in the air, but I feel motivated to start getting content on the blog regularly in preparation for the upcoming trips.
2. Little. By. Little. Sometimes my frustration at being unable to exercise leaks out. But it’s far better to be slowly getting better with the future hope of exercise than to be broken without the possibility again.
3. I do love a good yarn. Or at least a yarn I’m telling :)

Yesterday something important happened.

I’ve been running home, 5kms give or take, for a few months now. I average three, four times a week. Sometimes I meet Mrs Stu and the Kids halfway at the park.

This body of mine is not built to run. I’m a prop. Big. Heavy.

Yesterday I ran home, the original track along the roads, 5.1 kms according to Google Maps (heh heh), in the SUB 30 MINUTES bracket.

This is a big deal, HUGE, for me.

It’s not fast for most people who actually run. But for me, I’m getting better than I was. And being over 30 in chronological terms, over 110 in “well covered” terms, I’m stoked to be running a sub 30 minute 5kms.

Course, today I took it easy, ran light, didn’t push.

But my brain now knows I can do it. Push harder.

I might be a puffing Dad, but for a while I’m a better runner than I used to be.

Alright!

Today was the first time, running home, that I felt .. improved.

And it wasn’t just in my head. I shaved a little more than 2 minutes off my best time, maybe more. This is great. Although I didn’t push really hard, I did push harder.

So here’s to gradually getting fitter, ha.

For almost a week now, I’ve run home from work in the afternoons. It’s about five kilometers. It takes me about thirty-five minutes. This is pretty slow, even for a big guy like myself. I’ll be happy if, in time, I can knock ten minutes off that time.

The phrase, Little By Little, has been a revelation during these runs. Actually thinking it, mentally concentrating on it when things get tough (and when you’re not that fit, and it get’s tough five minutes in, you know it). "Little by Little".

It keeps me going, so that even if I’m running not much faster than a walk, in my mind it’s still running. And it’s not stopping. Not walking. Although I do appreciate very much a good walk, I’m specifically drawing a line between the two.

And it’ll get better, barring injury or some other big life change. My body should strengthen and gain endurance. I’ll never be fast, but I’ll get faster than I am now.

What’s it all in aid of? Keeping fit. Feeling the burn (I love that good-sore muscle burn). And most of all, breathing life into my dreams of playing for the Wallabies. Ahem.