Just been on a run with my older brother. It was only 3.5 miles from start to end but my god what an ordeal!! He sat quite a moderate pace for me at the start but eben still my lack of physical activity in recent times shone through yet again. I managed the first mile or so at this pace but that was it. After the first mile my calves were burning red hot and a long down hill section adjitated my ankle. From then on I could only manage a few hundred yards before I had to walk the pain in my calves off. My cardio was not too bad as I never really felt like I was gasping for air. It was just my lack of muscular endurance that stopped me from reaching this point.
I got my heart rate to what felt like 160BPM which I know I can handle for over 20mins as I do this on the exercise bike at work regularly. But this that is on a bike so the pounding on the legs doesnt come into it. From this I have learned that a need to address my running technique as I appear to be making things harder for myself than needs be. The first thing my brother picked up on (and always has) is that I take really small strides for a man of my size. So what I need to do is extend my stride but not too far as to feel unatural. This will take some trial and error Im sure but it will pay dividens in the long run. The second point is that my body positioning when running down hill in particular is putting more and more pressure on joints as I am trying to stay bolt upright instead of relaxing and leaning into the hill. I know I do this because even on a flat section I can tell that I am rigid and feel unrelaxed, like everything is very serious. It also tires my shoulders and biceps out from holding a stoic pose when running other than my legs. I just need to loosen up and I know it will become easier. The thrid and final point is that I sound like a herd of elephants stomping through as I run. This will be combination of an uneasy running technique and the extra weight gain. Obviously I can blame some of the pain in my calves on the extra weight on my joints from rapid weight gain and inactivity.
The run has only spurred my on to get better at running and obviously fitter. I am feeling first hand the difficulties that are coupled with being over weight and running. I now see that there is no need to have a little extra weight as stored energy. Not in this day and age when food is so easily available wherever you go. So it is my goal just to drop as much fat as I can and not really focus on the total weight Im at. This is because when I do gain muscle it would obviously bring up my total weight. To help quantify this I will do my best to make monthly use of a Bio-Electrical Impedance machine to got my total body weight but more importantly my body fat %. When I was at my peak of fitness, rather amazingly just before I injured my ankle, I was at 8% body fat. Which may seem a lot but when you consider that most other males who had the % analysed when I had mine done were all PT's, sportsmen and students alike they were getting around 15% and they were in great shape.
I can also feel it in my heart (lungs, legs, head and arms!!) that my recovery time which was once my main physical advantage over most people has not hit rock bottom. I used to be able to do 5mins rolling at BJJ and be fine to go again for another 4 or 5 rounds with only 1min in between. Now 5mins rolling would have me in A&E on a breather!! I first need to work on a base level of fitness and the technique issues before I can get into more intense training to aid recovery. My answer to this will be volume.
My training value at the moment is still too low. I will now make sure that there is a minimum of 3 cardion sessions a week done. As well as daily physical exercises that can be down around the house like press-ups and pull-ups. Through sheer volume of training I will see the base level of fitness increase to a level where I can complete I run without needed to walk the burn off!!
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