So, baby steps. One wee subject at a time, yes? And this posting will be about me, not the baby.
I've decided to take up running and I'm planning on running two races before winter: a 3km to start me off and the ArmyRun 5km. My body has changed a lot since getting pregnant, clearly, and I'm not happy with all the changes. I loved being pregnant and seeing my body adapt to a growing fetus and I can cope with the fact that childbirth widened my hips. What I do NOT appreciate are the 10 extra pounds I have around my middle. I have always been sensitive about my stomach (heck, and my boobs, but that's for another post) but I had lost all my baby fat and was in reasonable shape before I got pregnant. Post baby, I have some extra fat there and it's getting me down! Also, I quit smoking before I got pregnant and I'm worried that since I'm not pregnant anymore I may end up eating more to compensate for not smoking. Don't get me wrong, I don't miss smoking and I am SO VERY GLAD to be past that part of my life, but the oral habit remains. Not to mention I can't rely on smoking to dampen my appetite. Caveat: I am breastfeeding and don't want to take away form the nutrients my baby needs but I do want to stay fit and fit my old clothes as best as possible by the year's end, say. A nice, safe, slow weight loss.
So blah, blah, I've decided to take up running. I hate my running shoes and want to buy new ones and I am contemplating moving towards transition shoes. These are shoes that are made much lighter than other shoes, with less padding and with less drop between toe and heel. This means that your foot is flatter than in traditional running shoes with crazy padded out heels. trad shoes were made that way to accomodate the great force of impact put on the heels during regular running (heel strike running). People are encouraged now to run with more of a mid-strike or even toe strike style- that is running so that your foot falls almost flat, or so that your run toes striking first. Imagine running barefoot (which this can lead to)- you'd run landing toes first yes? Anyhoo, google mid-strike running and fill your boots. I'm aiming for a midline shoe, with some support but not as much as before so that I can start running more mid-strike style.
This be the shoe I am looking at (or a reasonable facsimile). The New Balance Minimus 10, with 4mm drop. They are kind of out of my price range right now, but if I manage to stick with running, I figure they will be an investment. But first I have to re-learn how to run. I figure it will be easy enough since I haven't been running for very long (I mean going jogging for exercise, rather than just randomly running, say for buses etc) but I wonder how long it will take for me to not have to concentrate on what my legs are doing so that I can concentrate on what my lungs are doing (I need to increase my oxygen volume thingy that real runners have a cute acronym for), amongst other things... On the plus side, I did hook myself up with an ironman timex to help me count my reps of running v. walking (counting to 60 or 90 repeatedly gets awful boring awful quick, and again, I'm supposed to be counting by breaths and stuff!). This way I can more easily track my time vx distance too, to make sure I am actually getting closer to being able to run the 3 km.
More on my 3 km fears later. In the meantime, here's a link to the training program I'm following:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml
Wish me luck!
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