I woke up this morning, and knew today would be the day. Today would be the first leg of my journey into jogging. And then I hit the snooze button.
When I did emerge from my warm cocoon of blankets and linens, I pondered how I would pull this off. I had to walk to work, so what would I do with my coat? What would I wear on the way to work? How would I get it home?
Fortunately, I'd thought about this. I decided to layer my heavy fall coat over my wind-repellent spring coat. At the end of the day, I would leave it at work, and bring my heavier coat in tomorrow, bringing both home that night.
Shirts were easy to fit into my back pack, and I wore my running pants under my work pants. I could fit my work outfit into my backpack on the way home.
In the end, everything worked out, but I have discovered my first hatred of running. Worse than the ache in my knee, worse than people in my way (though that was quite irritating), it's the slush. The slippy, slidy, uncertain footing of snow that's been ground in with salt, and the city hasn't had time to clean it yet. There are these things called Yaktrax that fit around your shoe to prevent slipping on ice - but what about mushy snow? There's also STABILicers, which have the same set-up, but they seem heavier-duty, like baseball cleats. However, with all the salt that's spread on Ottawa's streets, something that serious seems unnecessary.
Anyways, the run itself was interesting - I couldn't figure out how to get my stopwatch sorted out, so I ran according to my heart-beat. I would run until my heartbeat was way above the MHR, then walk until it had dropped to about 150 bpm. I think the continuous surpassing of 160 bpm is due to both lack of fitness and the slushy roads - keeping on my feet required a lot more effort than it should!
The weather was decently warm - when I left, it was -10C and the windchill was 'calm'. However, the snow - what a pain!
I'm not too happy with how I felt during the run - I needed to stretch out more, but after a while, the threat of seizing went away and it turned into a gentle tired feeling. I think with more practice, it will get better. I just really have to keep working on it.
Now, for my congratulatory dinner, I will be making a nice, hot curry.
Wait a go HaasofD! The first few weeks are always the toughest for beginners, so just stick with it.
ReplyDeleteOn a sidenote, I heavily recommend the YackTrax for new snow, packed snow, and ice. My bet is that the cleat attachments would only work on ice.