This was a triumph. I'm making a note here: huge success

[hawkwing_lb]

On Wednesday, I got myself a proper fitness program, thanks to one of the lovely staff at the college gym. This new program involves three sessions a week: one pure cardio, one pure resistance, and one mixed.

I started today, with the mixed session. Running, benchpress, lunges, leg press, cycling.

It's tough. The cardio, especially: I've lost more stamina than I have strength. (I can still bench 55kg in four sets of six reps, and my starting leg press is four sets of ten reps at 52kg, so there.) But I will get to a place where I can do better, eventually.

One of the Classics postgrads had her PhD commencements today. So after I picked up some books in the library, I got some soup and ate it on the steps of the chapel (cold November sunlight glittering above the buildings) while waiting for the commencements folks to process out so I could congratulate her... at least, until a security guard came to move us along from the terminus of the procession. It was great to see her and her family so happy.

Of course, then I had to spend some hours reading for research, and then bottom dropped out of my stamina at 1730 so that instead of staying to go out for drinks I had to come home and crash by the fire, but still. Mostly a good day.

Comments

[between4walls.livejournal.com]

Congrats to your fellow student!

Your fitness program is seriously impressive; mine consists of "walk a couple of miles on the treadmill when I remember to." Any tips for running without getting shin splints?

Finished Code Name Verity yesterday and wow. Much better than I had thought at first. I wish there were more books about friendships. Also really liked the portrayal of the resistance and of the Occupation generally.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

I have to exercise, because I hate myself when I don't. And feel horrible. Although not all kinds of exercise feels equally good when you're doing it, I have to say: the running program the lad set for me is to work up to running 15 mins at 7mph, and right now I can run during six non-continuous minutes of that, and it hurts like hell - but it will be difficult until it isn't, or until I give up. And I feel rather opposed to giving up lately.

Tips for running: get good shoes. Really, the investment pays off. Make sure you have the right kind of support for your foot - staff at a dedicated exercise/sportswear place ought to be able to help with this. Build muscle in your legs through resistance work if you can. Lunges, maybe some other things: it pays to get professional assistance to make sure you're training up all the muscle groups and not neglecting anything important. In general more of the right kind of muscle means less strain on ligament and tendon and bone. If everything fails try running in front of a mirror and consciously experimenting with varying your stride: impact pattern and weight distribution have a lot to do with the kinds of stress the body experiences while running, and changing that can help. It might also help not to run on a treadmill or concrete, but grass or sand or track instead.

It may not be an easy fix. Even with good shoes it might take a year or longer to retrain and readjust your body so that the shin splints happen less often and/or hurt less when they do.

Good shoes with proper support should help. (For me it is a once-yearly investment in two pairs of shoes in the buy-one-get-one-half-price sales at about 120-140 euro, but I wear them to death: higher intensity runners might need a new running pair every three months, lower intensity less often. This year I made an error in choosing shoes and after six months the second pair still isn't properly broken in, because they make my feet hurt after five minutes of running.)

...Shorter essay: talk to the right professionals to get individual advice for you. All I can do is give very general advice.

And I'm glad you liked Code Name Verity!

[between4walls.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I guess I will have to screw my courage to the sticking place then and talk to a trainer. (I've been injury-paranoid since some stress fractures years ago).

Anyway, thank you for the advice.

And I feel rather opposed to giving up lately.

:-)

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Good luck.