The Husband had occasion to brush his hand by my derriere and remarked upon its firmness. I am putting this down to Janathon exercise and resisting the temptation to ask 'Are you saying it was flabby before?' There are some noticeable effects from this month's exercise-fest, including improved posture and reduced lower back pain, but I still find running, even at a relatively low speed, quite a challenge. Today, on the treadmill, I made the running bits (two x five mins and two x three mins) 8kph rather than 7.8kph and varied the walking sections from 5.5 to 6kph. That's a slight incremental improvement in the so-called running, but none of it felt any easier than the first time a couple of weeks ago.
Thinking about it, I realised that I hadn't really done any running for almost 30 years, apart from playing games in the park with my children who are all over 18 now and, more recently, with my two year old grand-daughter. Even then, none of it would have been sustained so it is not surprising that it is taking time to build running fitness.
Running was never something I was good at during my schooldays. I was quite a good swimmer, tennis player and floor gymnast and I played 'right back' in the school hockey team. OK, it was the second eleven and, according to my Dad, 'right back' meant 'right back in the changing rooms'. I preferred to think I played a kind of Trevor Cherry* game up and down the wing and close enough to score the odd goal, but the only thing I share with him, it turns out, is a birthday. I am younger, of course.
At the age of 27, a year after my second son was born, I completed an organised 10k run in 65 minutes. Not fast even then and I was about two stone lighter than I am now. So I shouldn't expect miracles and will have to content myself with the thought that I have the makings of 'buns of steel'.
* former Leeds United and England footballer and manager of Bradford City.
No comments:
Post a Comment