Dot and I went for our second week 2 run yesterday going round and round the smaller of the two parks in the village while Mr Locket helped Fred learn how to ride a bike - something he has shown no interest in until now. So while he was zooming across the park Dot and I were slowly chugging round the outer edge making sure we didn't get run over.
Running on grass was easier on my knee but I do prefer running on pavement and actually getting somewhere - I felt a bit more self-conscious running around in one spot where people could see my struggling progress. My knee didn't hurt at all in the evening and only hurt when I woke up on Monday morning and when I went out for my weekly walk with Sally - but it is encouraging that it is hurting less and for a shorter period of time than when I first started.
However, I am dreading moving up to week 3 - how will I ever run for longer? The 90 seconds of week 2 already seems like an incredibly long time!
Monday, 27 February 2012
Friday, 24 February 2012
Friday 24th Feb
Dot and I went for a run on Tuesday night and managed week 2 of the podcast, but my legs cramped up as soon as I stopped.
On Thursday I went to the gym for an hour and rowed, cycled, walked, arm-cycled (bizarre!) and went on the cross trainer then I got to use the weights for the first time too.
Then today I have been at work but I might as well have been at the gym because I've had a full work out! I was lotting up the books for our next Antique Sale and there were over 600 heavy antiquarian books that all needed sorting and carrying upstairs. I was exhausted by the end of it but I have come home to the smell of Dot's baking and have been unable to resist her German apple cake - delicious! And now I am about to go out to the Greyhound Stadium for a charity fundraiser where I will be fed pie and peas. I'm not looking forward to the dog racing but the supper makes me smile :o)
On Thursday I went to the gym for an hour and rowed, cycled, walked, arm-cycled (bizarre!) and went on the cross trainer then I got to use the weights for the first time too.
Then today I have been at work but I might as well have been at the gym because I've had a full work out! I was lotting up the books for our next Antique Sale and there were over 600 heavy antiquarian books that all needed sorting and carrying upstairs. I was exhausted by the end of it but I have come home to the smell of Dot's baking and have been unable to resist her German apple cake - delicious! And now I am about to go out to the Greyhound Stadium for a charity fundraiser where I will be fed pie and peas. I'm not looking forward to the dog racing but the supper makes me smile :o)
Monday, 20 February 2012
Monday 20th February
My knee was fine after my run until I went for an hour long dog walk with a friend on Sunday and then it really started to hurt. I took some nurofen and it soon calmed down.
Went for my usual Monday morning walk with Sally and it was ok - possibly because I had taken nurofen before I went.
I managed to fit in half an hour at the gym this afternoon and did 2 miles on the bike, a combined total of 5 and a half minutes on the cross trainer (my longest time so far) and 10 minutes on the treadmill.
My legs are tired now and my knee is a little uncomfortable but nothing serious.
Diet-wise things aren't so great as we went out for a delicious 3 course Italian meal with Mum and Dad on Friday, had friends round for a rather boozy evening on Saturday and then ate Dot's iced-banana cake on Sunday. Hopefully the exercise will have counteracted some of my gluttony! ;o)
Went for my usual Monday morning walk with Sally and it was ok - possibly because I had taken nurofen before I went.
I managed to fit in half an hour at the gym this afternoon and did 2 miles on the bike, a combined total of 5 and a half minutes on the cross trainer (my longest time so far) and 10 minutes on the treadmill.
My legs are tired now and my knee is a little uncomfortable but nothing serious.
Diet-wise things aren't so great as we went out for a delicious 3 course Italian meal with Mum and Dad on Friday, had friends round for a rather boozy evening on Saturday and then ate Dot's iced-banana cake on Sunday. Hopefully the exercise will have counteracted some of my gluttony! ;o)
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Saturday 18th Feb
My knee felt fine so Dot and I went out for another run this afternoon.
We stuck to the week 1 podcast but I think the next run I go on will be a week 2.
On Mr L's advice we tried running on grass round a field but by the time we got out there it was getting pretty dark so we just did one lap of the field and went back to running on the pavement. I actually found the uneven surface of the grass a bit tough on my knee.
It was harder work running because it was really windy but I'm pleased that we managed to do it.
My knee was a little sore straight after running but soon settled down so I think I will be able to keep going as long as I'm careful.
We stuck to the week 1 podcast but I think the next run I go on will be a week 2.
On Mr L's advice we tried running on grass round a field but by the time we got out there it was getting pretty dark so we just did one lap of the field and went back to running on the pavement. I actually found the uneven surface of the grass a bit tough on my knee.
It was harder work running because it was really windy but I'm pleased that we managed to do it.
My knee was a little sore straight after running but soon settled down so I think I will be able to keep going as long as I'm careful.
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Thursday 16th Feb
I spoke too soon.
My knee was fine all evening but then started to hurt a lot during the night and the pain woke me every time I turned in my sleep.
So frustrating!
But I went to the gym again this evening as the children are at Granny and Grandpa's for a couple of nights and did a total of 20 minutes on the bike - 2.9 miles and 4.5 minutes total on the cross trainer. I tried rowing but it hurt my knee today so I decided to give it a miss.
When I go again on Monday I will be able to try some of the other equipment. I haven't been able to use anything new the last two times as changes can only be made to my programme by one of the Exercise Therapists rather than the assistants. It will be interesting to see what else I can do.
I've told them at the gym how much I want to be able to do running so I'm going to try to improve my fitness and strength there and maybe try running on the treadmill which will be flatter and less high-impact than pavements.
My knee was fine all evening but then started to hurt a lot during the night and the pain woke me every time I turned in my sleep.
So frustrating!
But I went to the gym again this evening as the children are at Granny and Grandpa's for a couple of nights and did a total of 20 minutes on the bike - 2.9 miles and 4.5 minutes total on the cross trainer. I tried rowing but it hurt my knee today so I decided to give it a miss.
When I go again on Monday I will be able to try some of the other equipment. I haven't been able to use anything new the last two times as changes can only be made to my programme by one of the Exercise Therapists rather than the assistants. It will be interesting to see what else I can do.
I've told them at the gym how much I want to be able to do running so I'm going to try to improve my fitness and strength there and maybe try running on the treadmill which will be flatter and less high-impact than pavements.
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Wednesday 15th Feb
Hooray! I've been out for a run with Dot and my knee only hurts a little bit!
I went back to week 1 of the podcast as I had only done one run from week 2 then had over a week off and this time I made a conscious effort to run s l o w l y. This isn't to say that I had been running fast before hand but I really slowed down this evening. I may even have been walking faster. But I didn't feel out of breath and my shins aren't hurting as much as they had previously.
So I'm pleased!
Tomorrow evening I plan to go to the gym and then on Friday I want to try another run with Mr Locket so he can advise me on how to run better.
I went back to week 1 of the podcast as I had only done one run from week 2 then had over a week off and this time I made a conscious effort to run s l o w l y. This isn't to say that I had been running fast before hand but I really slowed down this evening. I may even have been walking faster. But I didn't feel out of breath and my shins aren't hurting as much as they had previously.
So I'm pleased!
Tomorrow evening I plan to go to the gym and then on Friday I want to try another run with Mr Locket so he can advise me on how to run better.
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Tuesday 14th February
Just a quick post to keep a record of what I did at the gym today.
10 minutes on the rower
10 minutes on the bike set at level 3 with a couple of minutes at level 4 - 1.2 miles
3 struggling minutes on the cross trainer
10 more minutes on the bike - 1.2 miles
1 1/2 minutes on the cross trainer again - with complete jelly-legs at the end.
My knee is feeling a lot better and I was very tempted to go out for a run when I got back but Mr Locket thinks I should give it a little longer and I wanted to see how it felt after going to the gym. I've stopped wearing my new winter boots because I think they have been contributing to my knee pain. They are totally flat but I think the fact that my foot is held still at the ankle is putting strain on my knee. That's probably a load of rubbish really but my knee is hurting less now that I am not wearing them although I haven't done a lot of walking over the last 4 days so that may be it.
I'm off to Slimming World in a bit. I was very tempted not to go as I have been cheating on the diet and I'm fairly sure I will have put weight on this week. I find it very discouraging when I go and have gained but if I don't go I will probably keep on eating the wrong things. My leader has also texted me today to encourage me to come so it would be rude not to ;o)
Edited to add the amazing news that I actually lost half a pound this week. Definitely undeserved but I'm very pleased about it as I was sure I'd gained about 2.5lbs.
10 minutes on the rower
10 minutes on the bike set at level 3 with a couple of minutes at level 4 - 1.2 miles
3 struggling minutes on the cross trainer
10 more minutes on the bike - 1.2 miles
1 1/2 minutes on the cross trainer again - with complete jelly-legs at the end.
My knee is feeling a lot better and I was very tempted to go out for a run when I got back but Mr Locket thinks I should give it a little longer and I wanted to see how it felt after going to the gym. I've stopped wearing my new winter boots because I think they have been contributing to my knee pain. They are totally flat but I think the fact that my foot is held still at the ankle is putting strain on my knee. That's probably a load of rubbish really but my knee is hurting less now that I am not wearing them although I haven't done a lot of walking over the last 4 days so that may be it.
I'm off to Slimming World in a bit. I was very tempted not to go as I have been cheating on the diet and I'm fairly sure I will have put weight on this week. I find it very discouraging when I go and have gained but if I don't go I will probably keep on eating the wrong things. My leader has also texted me today to encourage me to come so it would be rude not to ;o)
Edited to add the amazing news that I actually lost half a pound this week. Definitely undeserved but I'm very pleased about it as I was sure I'd gained about 2.5lbs.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Feeling frustrated
I'm feeling very frustrated and a bit of a fraud too after everyone's encouraging comments as I haven't been able to run since Saturday because of my knee - even walking hurts it. I know I can't call myself a runner yet but I have been so proud of myself for going out regularly and I am really disappointed that I'm having to stop for a while when I've only just started.
And I was frustrated when I went to Slimming World on Tuesday because instead of losing pounds from all this new exercise I had actually put on half a pound. This was probably a combination of the wine I had drunk this week and catch-up from last week when I ate an awful lot of cake but only gained half a pound. So a pound on in two weeks isn't too bad but it's going in the wrong direction so I need to try a bit harder and cut down on the treats. The problem is that when the dieting doesn't go so well my natural reaction is to eat more naughty things almost in rebellion!
I had my first assessment at the gym at our local hospital today - I had a referral from my doctor as part of my "getting better" programme. After the initial info gathering session and weight, height, blood pressure, waist/hip/chest etc measurements I got to go on a couple of the machines. I had told the trainer that I had hurt my knee so he selected exercises that shouldn't hurt that particular muscle.
I did 10 minutes on the bike - set to fairly low impact which was a relief, then 7 minutes rowing which was fun and then I managed 3 minutes on the cross trainer before practically falling off with jelly legs! It was really hard work! As the gym is in the hospital it has funny opening times so I had to stop there as it was closing for the day.
My knee didn't hurt at all during the exercise but it is a bit sore now that I am resting so I am going to take some more ibuprofen and see how it is.
And I was frustrated when I went to Slimming World on Tuesday because instead of losing pounds from all this new exercise I had actually put on half a pound. This was probably a combination of the wine I had drunk this week and catch-up from last week when I ate an awful lot of cake but only gained half a pound. So a pound on in two weeks isn't too bad but it's going in the wrong direction so I need to try a bit harder and cut down on the treats. The problem is that when the dieting doesn't go so well my natural reaction is to eat more naughty things almost in rebellion!
I had my first assessment at the gym at our local hospital today - I had a referral from my doctor as part of my "getting better" programme. After the initial info gathering session and weight, height, blood pressure, waist/hip/chest etc measurements I got to go on a couple of the machines. I had told the trainer that I had hurt my knee so he selected exercises that shouldn't hurt that particular muscle.
I did 10 minutes on the bike - set to fairly low impact which was a relief, then 7 minutes rowing which was fun and then I managed 3 minutes on the cross trainer before practically falling off with jelly legs! It was really hard work! As the gym is in the hospital it has funny opening times so I had to stop there as it was closing for the day.
My knee didn't hurt at all during the exercise but it is a bit sore now that I am resting so I am going to take some more ibuprofen and see how it is.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Monday 6th February
I enjoyed my run on Saturday but my legs cramped up a lot when I got back and then a muscle or tendon down the side of my left knee started to really hurt. It had begun to hurt after my run on Thursday but the pain had worn off over Friday so I felt ok to run but I have obviously aggravated it again.
I took ibuprofen but it hurt during the night whenever I turned over in bed and was pretty painful all Sunday.
I'm really frustrated because I want to be able to keep running and don't want a little injury to get in the way.
I went for my usual Monday morning walk with Sally who is a physiotherapist and when we got back she had a look at my knee and thinks it is the end of the sartorius muscle that is hurting. She applied friction to it and then ice and it is actually feeling a lot better but I don't think I'll go running on it for another day or two.
Tuesday - it is still sore but ibuprofen works. I'm very tempted to just go running and see how I get on but Mr Locket is being more pesimistic and saying I should rest. I'm worried that if I don't go for a few days then I will lose the impetus and motivation - and the tiny amount of fitness that I have acquired.
I will let you know when I go out again.
I took ibuprofen but it hurt during the night whenever I turned over in bed and was pretty painful all Sunday.
I'm really frustrated because I want to be able to keep running and don't want a little injury to get in the way.
I went for my usual Monday morning walk with Sally who is a physiotherapist and when we got back she had a look at my knee and thinks it is the end of the sartorius muscle that is hurting. She applied friction to it and then ice and it is actually feeling a lot better but I don't think I'll go running on it for another day or two.
Tuesday - it is still sore but ibuprofen works. I'm very tempted to just go running and see how I get on but Mr Locket is being more pesimistic and saying I should rest. I'm worried that if I don't go for a few days then I will lose the impetus and motivation - and the tiny amount of fitness that I have acquired.
I will let you know when I go out again.
Saturday, 4 February 2012
A major miracle
Yep, that's what it is - a miracle - one I honestly never thought would happen.....
I have started running.
Actual running - one foot in front of the other, faster-than-I-can-walk kind of running.
I have never been fit - even at school I was always rubbish at PE and once I left I did nothing more energetic than walking until I spent a summer working on an archaeological dig (where I met Mr Locket) when I was pick-axing and shovelling and pushing wheelbarrows all day (and bought my first pair of size 12 jeans, and tucked my shirt in for the first time in years!) So that was probably the slimmest and fittest I have ever been.
Anyway, I digress!
I'm overweight.
Officially "obese".
And at 16 stone 8.5lbs I decided enough was enough and went back to Slimming World.
That was in April last year and since then I have lost just over 2 stone.
It was more, but Christmas had a rather negative effect on my dieting and I gained 9lbs. I've lost 4lbs of that over January and am now at 14 stone 3.5lbs so I have lost a total of 2 stone 5lbs.
But I still wasn't doing anything about my general fitness other than walking - and even then I wasn't doing that as much as I had been in the summer - but I kept "thinking" about running and wishing I could do it. Mr Locket runs regularly and I am always envious of him for his ability to get on and run.
The first step was to buy some running shoes so I found a cheap pair (in case I only ever ran once) and Dot and I went out for our first run/walk. We went out for 45 minutes and went 2.8 miles but it was walking with very short spurts of running whenever I felt I could manage it for as long as I thought I could do (not very long).
I then did nothing for another 6 days but in the meantime I had read domesticali's post about trying the C25K NHS programme - and it sounded difficult but do-able and as Dot was encouraging me to go out again we downloaded the first podcast and set off for the first run last Saturday.
I'm not going to lie. It was HARD going. The first week has you walking for 5 minutes (easy) then running for 60 seconds interspersed with 90 seconds of walking. Now I know that SOUNDS easy and probably IS easy for a relatively fit person. But I am several stone overweight and very unfit and I found it really difficult. 60 seconds seemed like an awfully long time (much longer than I had been running the first time I went out) and I was hugely relieved at the end of each minute. But I did it all and survived and had the 5 minute walk at the end to cool down and get my breath back.
But golly did my legs hurt?! My shins were so sore - but a friend who is a physiotherapist said that it would be a good idea to take ibuprofen and to do a few stretches. Poor Mr Locket must have been totally sick of me complaining how much my legs hurt - fortunately he's a very patient man ;o)
The really amazing thing was that Dot and I went out AGAIN on Monday night. So it wasn't just a one off. I was actually going to try to do this running thing.
And I even found it easier the second time - although my legs still hurt incredibly afterwards - like cramp down the front of my legs.
Then we went AGAIN on Thursday night. So that was the 3rd repetition of week 1 of the podcast.
Now it was time to move on to week 2 - with increased running periods - which was really scary. Week 1 had been hard enough.
Then this afternoon Dot and I just decided to go for it - even though it was snowing and freezing cold. The programme for week 2 had walking for 5 minutes to start then running for 90 seconds with 2 minutes of walking in between. And once again I survived it. And once again my legs were in agony when I got home so I sat in a warm bath for an hour until they started to feel a bit better!
Initially I had just gone out running in the clothes I was wearing that day - just changing into running shoes. Almost as if I wasn't really doing this running thing - wasn't admitting that it was really happening. Then on Thursday I bought myself some jogging bottoms - but when I ran in them that night I found that they were a bit too loose around the waist and I had to run with one hand holding them up! So today I bought myself some more - this time with a tie round the waist so I could tighten them and they were much better and this time Dot downloaded the podcast directly to my phone so I didn't have to cope with the idiosyncrasies of Mr Locket's geriatric mp3 player.
Each time it is a real effort to make myself actually do it but once I'm out with Dot I do enjoy running and I am SO impressed with myself. It may seem to be a small achievement - at the best I have only run for 90 seconds at a time - but I have had 40 years of being fairly idle and thought that's how I would stay. To be able to say that I have been running 4 times over the last week is amazing.
I really think I can do this.
And I will be so proud of myself if I keep on going.
I'm never going to be skinny and super-fit but I would be very, very happy to be slimmer and fitter.
And feeling better about myself is all part of getting better from the horrible anxiety and depression that knocked me down last year.
Now I don't expect anyone to read this blog but I wanted a place to record my achievements - however small they are.
Lucy
I have started running.
Actual running - one foot in front of the other, faster-than-I-can-walk kind of running.
I have never been fit - even at school I was always rubbish at PE and once I left I did nothing more energetic than walking until I spent a summer working on an archaeological dig (where I met Mr Locket) when I was pick-axing and shovelling and pushing wheelbarrows all day (and bought my first pair of size 12 jeans, and tucked my shirt in for the first time in years!) So that was probably the slimmest and fittest I have ever been.
Anyway, I digress!
I'm overweight.
Officially "obese".
And at 16 stone 8.5lbs I decided enough was enough and went back to Slimming World.
That was in April last year and since then I have lost just over 2 stone.
It was more, but Christmas had a rather negative effect on my dieting and I gained 9lbs. I've lost 4lbs of that over January and am now at 14 stone 3.5lbs so I have lost a total of 2 stone 5lbs.
But I still wasn't doing anything about my general fitness other than walking - and even then I wasn't doing that as much as I had been in the summer - but I kept "thinking" about running and wishing I could do it. Mr Locket runs regularly and I am always envious of him for his ability to get on and run.
The first step was to buy some running shoes so I found a cheap pair (in case I only ever ran once) and Dot and I went out for our first run/walk. We went out for 45 minutes and went 2.8 miles but it was walking with very short spurts of running whenever I felt I could manage it for as long as I thought I could do (not very long).
I then did nothing for another 6 days but in the meantime I had read domesticali's post about trying the C25K NHS programme - and it sounded difficult but do-able and as Dot was encouraging me to go out again we downloaded the first podcast and set off for the first run last Saturday.
I'm not going to lie. It was HARD going. The first week has you walking for 5 minutes (easy) then running for 60 seconds interspersed with 90 seconds of walking. Now I know that SOUNDS easy and probably IS easy for a relatively fit person. But I am several stone overweight and very unfit and I found it really difficult. 60 seconds seemed like an awfully long time (much longer than I had been running the first time I went out) and I was hugely relieved at the end of each minute. But I did it all and survived and had the 5 minute walk at the end to cool down and get my breath back.
But golly did my legs hurt?! My shins were so sore - but a friend who is a physiotherapist said that it would be a good idea to take ibuprofen and to do a few stretches. Poor Mr Locket must have been totally sick of me complaining how much my legs hurt - fortunately he's a very patient man ;o)
The really amazing thing was that Dot and I went out AGAIN on Monday night. So it wasn't just a one off. I was actually going to try to do this running thing.
And I even found it easier the second time - although my legs still hurt incredibly afterwards - like cramp down the front of my legs.
Then we went AGAIN on Thursday night. So that was the 3rd repetition of week 1 of the podcast.
Now it was time to move on to week 2 - with increased running periods - which was really scary. Week 1 had been hard enough.
Then this afternoon Dot and I just decided to go for it - even though it was snowing and freezing cold. The programme for week 2 had walking for 5 minutes to start then running for 90 seconds with 2 minutes of walking in between. And once again I survived it. And once again my legs were in agony when I got home so I sat in a warm bath for an hour until they started to feel a bit better!
Initially I had just gone out running in the clothes I was wearing that day - just changing into running shoes. Almost as if I wasn't really doing this running thing - wasn't admitting that it was really happening. Then on Thursday I bought myself some jogging bottoms - but when I ran in them that night I found that they were a bit too loose around the waist and I had to run with one hand holding them up! So today I bought myself some more - this time with a tie round the waist so I could tighten them and they were much better and this time Dot downloaded the podcast directly to my phone so I didn't have to cope with the idiosyncrasies of Mr Locket's geriatric mp3 player.
Each time it is a real effort to make myself actually do it but once I'm out with Dot I do enjoy running and I am SO impressed with myself. It may seem to be a small achievement - at the best I have only run for 90 seconds at a time - but I have had 40 years of being fairly idle and thought that's how I would stay. To be able to say that I have been running 4 times over the last week is amazing.
I really think I can do this.
And I will be so proud of myself if I keep on going.
I'm never going to be skinny and super-fit but I would be very, very happy to be slimmer and fitter.
And feeling better about myself is all part of getting better from the horrible anxiety and depression that knocked me down last year.
Now I don't expect anyone to read this blog but I wanted a place to record my achievements - however small they are.
Lucy
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