Yesterday's Champion

After quite some time in an irrationally self-inflicted exile on the bench, I started jogging again. No, really, it's true. Over the last two years it's been an on-again, off-again affair, but I think I'm jogging consistently enough to consider myself back on track.

I recently read through my Jerusalem marathon training blogs from 2009 and 2010. They were very inspiring. I read how I started off on the treadmill at the gym and then progressed to running on the street. I read of how I completed my first 5 km run, my first 10 km run and ultimately how I smashed my PB in the marathon by about 4 minutes. I didn't blog about this, but in September 2010 I took a leisurely 20 km jog around Ramat Beit Shemesh, just for the fun of it.

Since then I lost momentum and added weight. Now I'm back at the beginning - I have to do it all over again.

For the last few weeks I've been schlepping myself around Ramat Beit Shemesh, trying to recapture my former glory. I'm working really hard, exercising almost every night, pushing my body to its (current) limits. I know I'm two years older, but I'm determined to get back to at least where I was before. I'm already feeling stronger, and I've had some success.

New shoes. The first thing about running, like any sport, is to have the right equipment. My Brooks Adrenaline GTS 9s wore out and so I sprung for a black pair of the updated Brooks GTS 12s. They're not as ugly as the GTS 9s and they provide more support. That's two pluses right there. Also, investing money in the sport is one way to get me out of the house and onto the pavement.

I have a regular 10 km route around my neighborhood - the same one I've been running since 2009. I can easily break it up into two 5 km routes - each 5 km route brings me back home. They are both challenging in their own right. The easier of the two includes a 1.22 km steady incline, followed by a stiff 200 meter uphill at about the 3.5 km mark. The more difficult route starts off nice and flat but about 2 km in there's a killer 700 m uphill that taxes each and every leg muscle, and some other muscles I didn't know I had. My goal this week was to run each route in under 30 minutes. At first I failed, completing the more difficult route in 30:09. But, I didn't give up. I really wanted the win, so on the second attempt I pushed myself and ran the more difficult 5 km in 29:59 - just made it! I finished the easier route in a surprising 28:40. It's funny that at my peak in 2010, I considered these times to be slow:
...but I didn't want to push myself too hard, so I completed it in a reasonable, but slow, 28:59.
Another challenge I set myself for this week was to run the full 10 km, which I did on Tuesday night. I wasn't aiming to get a good time; all I wanted was to complete the distance. Having said that, it took me 1:07:03 to complete the 10 km (a respectable 31:30 for the first 5 km and a less respectable 35:33 for the second 5 km). That isn't my worst time (which was 1:10:00) but it's also far from my best time on this route (56:05). I'm nowhere near completing the Jerusalem 10 km marathon within my personal best time of 52:14. If I decide to compete in March 2013, I'd better keep working hard. It's going to take quite a bit of effort to get back to peak physical condition.

I'm also mixing up the running a bit with upper-body exercise. Our local park has exercise equipment that uses body-weight as resistance, similar to these machines. I run about 4.5 km along my regular route and end at the park. I then do a variety of exercises, including rowing, lateral pull-ups, lateral pull-downs, chess-presses and parallel bar exercises. I then take a slow jog back home, finishing off the 5 km. I haven't yet figured out the best exercises to do, how many reps to do or the optimal frequency. But suffice it to say that when I feel the burn, I know I'm doing something.

But the best achievement this week was that I comfortably wore a size L shirt that I haven't been able to fit into for the last year and a half. So my efforts are amounting to something. Problem is, I upgraded all my shirts to XL, so does this mean I'm going to have to buy a whole new wardrobe? I hope so.

Follow on Twitter: @ykarp
Follow on Google+: +Yossi Karp
Subscribe to Y. Karp? Why Not! or follow on Facebook (see the side-bar).
Add this blog to your RSS feed reader.

Comments

  1. "LIKE"!
    Good luck hitting the trail, Yosi.
    May it give you the basis for a healthy year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Dave! Happy and healthy year to you and yours.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Episode 37: Best Kept Secrets to Healthy Modern Living

Nimkar123.co.il Stole My Money

Act Your Age, Not Your Shoe Size