The "Bad" 5K that wasn't!!!

SkinnyScientist
on 8/30/14 9:52 pm

Hi Gang,

Hope you are well.  I am training for a 5K race in October (i.e. 3.2 miles).  I can already jog 7 miles without stopping so finishing isnt a problem...finishing WELL is.  I have no delusions about my speed.  I know I wont be winning any races. However, I do like to improvement in my fitness.  Otherwise, why go to the gym?

So there is this big bridge on the race course and I have been doing hill work once a week when my fiancee comes out. I have asthma, and am told to not run alone, so it is treadmilling during the week and one run on land (hill work) up and down a confederate earthwork fort to get my body adjusted to the steepness of the hills/bridge and what my body is going to have to do on race day.

So, sometimes I get a bad attitude about exercise. For example, Aunt Flo showed up, i was tired and it was icky humid out. I already decided this run was going to suck.  In fact, it was going to be the worse ever!!!

Then I started jogging and KNEW it was going to be bad.

Yet I kept going and kept pushing and even sometimes yelling at myself "Come, on Skinny!  Push!  Turn on the afterburners...move it!"

At the end of my 3.2k, I went up to my fiancees chair (He reads the paper while I run around up and down this fort and all over the plantation).  He goes, "Done already?"  

I look down at my watch. I did the 3.2 K (with 3 trips up and down that fort) in 45 minutes!  Last week, on the same route, I did the course in 52 minutes.  This was an improvement of 7 minutes in one week!

It is also better than the race time of my first 5K race when I was around 26-28.  I came in at 48 minutes.

So, I guess the moral of the story is...what we are feeling (attitudes) are just that. Feelings. They might not be reality. Feelings can change from minute it to minute and the feeling I had a minute ago does not have to affect my present nor my future especially when they are deterimental to my overall plan (e.g. a healthy heart, finishing my first out of a retirement 5K charity race well).

Thanks for reading.

-Skinnier and maybe a bit faster Scientist

RNY Surgery: 12/31/2013; 

Current weight (2/27/2015) 139lbs, ~14% body fat

Three pounds below Goal!!! Yay !  

Patm
on 8/30/14 10:50 pm - Ontario, Canada
RNY on 01/20/12

Your perseverance is impressive. It also showing great results on time. Good luck on your race. Sounds like you will ace it

  

 

 

 

mschwab
on 8/31/14 3:17 am
RNY on 11/21/14

What a great accomplishment. You are an inspiration!

 Height: 5'7".  HW: 299, Program starting weight: 290, SW: 238, CW 138 - 12 pounds under goal!  

     

NoDaybut2Day
on 8/31/14 2:36 pm - CA
RNY on 07/03/14

Great advice!!  I've had it pointed out to me several times by my best friend that what I was thinking or feeling about a situation I was in turned out not to be reality.  I love you're pushing yourself with positive words, SKINNY!  Good Luck!

 

 HW: 308,  CW: 261,  SW: 240,  Now: 135.8  M1: -23.4  M2: -12.0 M3: -10.2 M4: -10.0 M5: -9.0  M6: -10.0  M7: -2.0  M8: -6.8  M9: -7.6 M10: -4.6 M11: -3.6  M12: -3.7  M13: -1.2

    

SkinnyScientist
on 8/31/14 9:30 pm

Thank you all!  I used to work in cancer research and so many of the patients I saw were sick and exhausted.  They had so much to do and so little energy.  After two back surgeries and gaining a ton of weight, there was also things I couldn't do. For example, I used to jog, but at 270 lbs my knees would scream and my back would seize. I would even hike up mountains/earthwork forts and have to stop to rest due to the steepness. My fiance (at the time just a friend) was always kind and would stop and wait with me, but i always *knew* I was slowing down his fun.  Now I run up and down the earthwork fort that I used to have to take breaks on!

 

If anything, I have learned our health, physical mobility, and balance are FRAGILE.  They are always changing (for the good or the worse) and we need to tend to them the way we would a garden.  They need maintainance and change.  Don't take them for granted. Especially balance. When I was in HS and figure skated I had great balance. When 270 lbs it was also good. But losing 98 lbs in 9 months has really changed my body and sometimes I don't know how to balance it (which makes high heels on date night even MORE exciting). For example, in yoga there is a move that we do after 3 legged dog in which one is bent over on two hands and one foot.  One rotates the hip of the foot in the air out as well as the ribcage and the shoulder of the foot in the air.   I have done this move successfully for about 2 months now. However, last thursday, things did NOT go so well.

I am used to having to really having to fling that leg out. I did that way too much on Thursday and ended up SCREAMING  in surprise while landing in a heap on my yoga mat.  Did I mention this yoga is very quiet, meditative, and filled with people 58+ who CAN do this move?  Which is funny, which made me start giggling uncontrollably.

Fortunately, my instructor knows I had surgery and struggle with balance.  She smiled at me (while being upside down) and calmly said, "Laughing is good for the soul. Try again on the other side."

So, I like exercise for the self improvement, maintaining of overall health, and the opportunity to be able to do things that I couldnt before (like hike a mountain without needing 500 breaks).

RNY Surgery: 12/31/2013; 

Current weight (2/27/2015) 139lbs, ~14% body fat

Three pounds below Goal!!! Yay !  

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