It was certainly a very windy & chilly 59 degrees indeed for my first run in 13 days (i.e., my first run since recovering from bronchitis or whatever sort of upper respiratory illness I had). Now that I'm back at the house writing this, I see that the outside temperature has since dropped a few degrees to 56 degrees; so while it was apparently 59 degrees when I left the house for my run, the temperature might've actually been slightly colder during the actual run. It certainly felt like it!
Using the "dress-20-degrees-warmer" rule, I dressed in only a long-sleeved shirt & tights. However, after several very chilly laps, I'd begun to wish that I'd brought a jacket!
I had an OK run today, which began at 2:32 pm today. I did a total of 4 laps (2.96 miles) in 39:53 minutes (or a rather glacial pace of 13:28 minutes-per-mile), which very well might've been the slowest time I'd ever run for that distance! Frankly, I wasn't trying to break any world records today ;-), the goal was just to finish my run; I was originally aiming for 30 consecutive minutes of running. I thought that was an admirable goal, especially given my recent state of health (or perhaps I should say, lack thereof! ;-) ).
As could be expected, my energy wasn't the highest, but neither was it was low either. I managed to chug along as best I could. Despite the weakened state of my lungs, I managed to rally & put in a decent effort.
I only had one major difficulty: After about lap 2, I felt a shooting pain up the side of my right leg, from the glut muscle down to the backside of the leg. Now before any of you start in with the admonitions about running while in pain, I'd like to state for the record that it wasn't the same type of sharp pain that normally indicates injury (otherwise I would've stopped running!); it was more of an overall soreness and dull aching throb, which was probably the accumulated result of a sheer absence of exercise (for the past two weeks)! As most of you who follow this blog with some regularity already realize, I've got enough common sense to listen to my body very carefully & heed its signs, and would certainly stop running should there be something seriously wrong. At the same token, I'm not a wimp either, and am not going to use an unsatisfactory reason such as this as an excuse to prematurely end my run for the day. I don't throw in the towel that easily. ;-)
While I didn't let a little soreness & pain stop me from running, it was certainly a really bizarre feeling, because I'd warmed up with a 5-minute walk & stretching and so, hadn't expected this at all. Maybe that was a bit naive of me to think that, but nonetheless, I found it hard to believe that being "out of commission" for as little as two weeks could have that sort of effect. Guess I'd hoped that I was physically a bit tougher than that, & that it'd take a bit more than just 2 weeks of illness & non-exercise before feeling that kind of soreness again so soon!
Given my past history & recent illness, I thought that my knees and lungs would be my greatest challenge today, but what a surprise! If anything, they actually felt pretty good, considering. Makes me wonder how quickly I can get back to my BTHR program.
I think that for now, I'm going to take a "wait-&-see" attitude towards my running, continuing to run between 30 and 40 minutes, 2-3 times a week. I won't run "the program" per se, but the goal will be simply to get back into running right now. After a week or two of consistent running, then I'll see where my fitness is, and start at the week of the BTHR program most suited to my current state of fitness. I think that's a reasonable way to assess the situation. Since I was only at the early stages (i.e., Day 1 of Week 2) of Phase 2 of the BTHR program, I hope that it won't be long before I will be able to pick up where I left off.
I realize that I will, in all likelihood, have to reassess my long & short-term goal time-table, but that's OK by me. I'd rather make plans based on the reality of where I currently am, as it would be unrealistic to somehow think I could magically skip ahead without putting in the time and the effort. ;-) I'll just do my best to move forward from where I currently am, and all the while, make every attempt to be sensible and take the proper time and precautions to get stronger. It just takes time and gradual effort, that's all.
It was certainly a very windy & chilly 59 degrees indeed for my first run in 13 days (i.e., my first run since recovering from bronchitis or whatever sort of upper respiratory illness I had). Now that I'm back at the house writing this, I see that the outside temperature has since dropped a few degrees to 56 degrees; so while it was apparently 59 degrees when I left the house for my run, the temperature might've actually been slightly colder during the actual run. It certainly felt like it!
Using the "dress-20-degrees-warmer" rule, I dressed in only a long-sleeved shirt & tights. However, after several very chilly laps, I'd begun to wish that I'd brought a jacket!
I had an OK run today, which began at 2:32 pm today. I did a total of 4 laps (2.96 miles) in 39:53 minutes (or a rather glacial pace of 13:28 minutes-per-mile), which very well might've been the slowest time I'd ever run for that distance! Frankly, I wasn't trying to break any world records today ;-), the goal was just to finish my run; I was originally aiming for 30 consecutive minutes of running. I thought that was an admirable goal, especially given my recent state of health (or perhaps I should say, lack thereof! ;-) ).
As could be expected, my energy wasn't the highest, but neither was it was low either. I managed to chug along as best I could. Despite the weakened state of my lungs, I managed to rally & put in a decent effort.
I only had one major difficulty: After about lap 2, I felt a shooting pain up the side of my right leg, from the glut muscle down to the backside of the leg. Now before any of you start in with the admonitions about running while in pain, I'd like to state for the record that it wasn't the same type of sharp pain that normally indicates injury (otherwise I would've stopped running!); it was more of an overall soreness and dull aching throb, which was probably the accumulated result of a sheer absence of exercise (for the past two weeks)! As most of you who follow this blog with some regularity already realize, I've got enough common sense to listen to my body very carefully & heed its signs, and would certainly stop running should there be something seriously wrong. At the same token, I'm not a wimp either, and am not going to use an unsatisfactory reason such as this as an excuse to prematurely end my run for the day. I don't throw in the towel that easily. ;-)
While I didn't let a little soreness & pain stop me from running, it was certainly a really bizarre feeling, because I'd warmed up with a 5-minute walk & stretching and so, hadn't expected this at all. Maybe that was a bit naive of me to think that, but nonetheless, I found it hard to believe that being "out of commission" for as little as two weeks could have that sort of effect. Guess I'd hoped that I was physically a bit tougher than that, & that it'd take a bit more than just 2 weeks of illness & non-exercise before feeling that kind of soreness again so soon!
Given my past history & recent illness, I thought that my knees and lungs would be my greatest challenge today, but what a surprise! If anything, they actually felt pretty good, considering. Makes me wonder how quickly I can get back to my BTHR program.
I think that for now, I'm going to take a "wait-&-see" attitude towards my running, continuing to run between 30 and 40 minutes, 2-3 times a week. I won't run "the program" per se, but the goal will be simply to get back into running right now. After a week or two of consistent running, then I'll see where my fitness is, and start at the week of the BTHR program most suited to my current state of fitness. I think that's a reasonable way to assess the situation. Since I was only at the early stages (i.e., Day 1 of Week 2) of Phase 2 of the BTHR program, I hope that it won't be long before I will be able to pick up where I left off.
I realize that I will, in all likelihood, have to reassess my long & short-term goal time-table, but that's OK by me. I'd rather make plans based on the reality of where I currently am, as it would be unrealistic to somehow think I could magically skip ahead without putting in the time and the effort. ;-) I'll just do my best to move forward from where I currently am, and all the while, make every attempt to be sensible and take the proper time and precautions to get stronger. It just takes time and gradual effort, that's all.