hungry

I don't think it's that related to the running, but I'm constantly hungry. But, maybe the whole "exercise increases your metabolism throughout the entire day" thing is really true I suppose it would make sense that I'm hungry. (though it wasn't as bad when I was working out before)
But really, what good does increasing your metabolism do if you're constantly hungry and want to eat enough to more than make up for the difference?

New day, same old playlist

I didn't make a playlist for this morning, I just used Wednesday's but I felt more tired at the end than I did on Wednesday, so I hope that Monday doesn't kill me.

New day, new playlist

At 7:30 it was a lovely 75° and not too terribly humid, which made my run quite a bit more pleasant. I didn't run yesterday, my ankles were feeling a bit sore and I wanted to make sure that I would be able to run today. (I'm sure extra runs are good, but I don't want them to prevent my scheduled runs)

The playlist for today was:
Bob Dylan - Shelter from the Storm 5:02
The Unicorns - Clap 1:26
Weezer - Why Bother 2:08
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Annunciation Day/Born on Christmas 1:33
Weezer - You Gave Your Love to Me Softly 1:57
Pixies - Crackity Jones 1:24
Patton Oswalt - The Best Baby in the Universe 2:00
Starlight Mints - Buena Vista 1:32
Neutral Milk Hotel - King of Carrot Flowers Part 1 2:00
The Hives - Inspection Wise 1999 1:37
I'm From Barcelona - Oversleeping 2:18
Liz Phair - Glory (first 58 seconds only)

Well, that's about 24 minutes which is a pretty darn slow 2 miles, but I still feel pretty darn worn out afterwards. I still can't really call it running since that's about 15 minutes walking and 9 minutes running. I don't know what kind of pace I'll be able to keep in a couple weeks when instead of walking for 2/3 the time (like I am now) I'll only be walking for 1/3 the time. It will be interesting to see what kind of pace I can keep once I'm running pretty much the whole time. That's still weeks away, hopefully I'll make it there on schedule. If it's really too challenging though, I may have to throw extra weeks in the middle at the slower pace and turn the 2 months program into a three month program. (because I'm going to keep running once the 2 months are up anyway so I shouldn't be to angry if my progress is slower than I want.)


All in all, I feel pretty good. I ate half a banana, I'm going to eat some tuna and watch last night's Eureka then go hang out with Pancho for a few before he has to head out to work.

Todays playlist of very short songs

OK, today is day one of week two of the Couch to 5k, which means after a five minute warm-up walk I was to alternate between a minute and a half running and two minutes walking. Any normal person wouldn't have a problem with this. But I'm not a normal person, I'm a big fat American. So, I was a bit worn out by it all. And sweaty. 80° isn't that hot, but it was hotter than I expected it to be at 8:00 in the morning. It was fairly humid, but I can't really complain about that since Saturday night's rain is the only thing keeping it as cool as it is.

Finding short little songs is certainly made easier with iTunes letting me sort by length. I'm not sure if I'll run tomorrow or wait till Wednesday like on the program (I think I may need to put in some extra work to really be ready for next week) If I do go tomorrow I'll probably use the same playlist, but I'm pretty sure I'll make a new one for Wednesday.

Dan Bern - One Dance
Tori Amos - Programmable Soda
Jill Scott - Exclusively
Elvis Costello - Mystery Dance
Low - Hatchet
The Hives - Declare Nucleaire
Phish - Bliss
Go Sailor - Ray of Sunshine
Fountains of Wayne - Survival Car
Guided By Voices - Teenage FBI
Neutral Milk Hotel - Communist Daughter
Cee-Lo - Soul Machine

Running!

I'm still early on in the Couch to 5k program- which means my running is as much walking as it is running- which puts me at about a 12 and a half minute mile when I run two or three miles. Which is really, really, really slow.

Slow or not, this morning's run/walk was pretty good. A temperature in the low 80s certainly helped it be much more pleasant than the last couple of times I've run.

I think I'll make a specialized playlist for my next run to match up with my time running and time walking.

Holy Crap, I'm a fatty!

Yeah, so a large part of not blogging here on what has turned into my weight loss blog is that I haven't been doing anything to facilitate said weight loss, and as a result I'm still a great big giant fat person.

A few months ago I bought some new running shoes to replace my somewhat trashed mizunos which hadn't been used for running in ages. I was going to get another pair of the same model, but they didn't make that model anymore. I had liked the mizunos, but I also wanted something just a bit softer and more comfortable, but hopefully with the same support. I figured I'd try to find a cushioning shoe from another brand that was softer or more cushiony feeling. I have normal to high arches and don't over pronate so I don't need some sort of heavy duty motion control from my shoes, so I looked for reviews of neutral/cushioning shoes that said they were good for big runners. The asics nimbus 7 looked like it would fit the bill, and with the new model coming out I got them for about 70 bucks. ($50 under their original list price)

The only problem- was big runners obviously didn't mean me. The shoes seemed supportive, they were exceptionally comfortable to put on and walk around in. I knew right away they weren't providing the support of the mizunos- but I figured that would be fine since feet don't roll too much. Aww man- the gel may be comfy but I bottom those shoes out with my heel strike. After less than a quarter mile my knees and my back hurt. A lot. My knees alone wouldn't have been a big deal- but my back kept me from wanting to run any more after the first mile.

So, I switched to just doing the bike and the elliptical machine instead of running for a little while. (and shortly after that when my mom came to town I switched to doing pretty much nothing) I bought another new pair of running shoes- the nike structure triax 10. A support (but not motion control) shoe. It's softer in some regards than my mizunos- but is also bigger and more substantial than they were. They don't have quite the support that the mizunos did and have more cushioning- but they aren't going to bottom out like my asics. I figure if I lose enough weight I can rotate between the two pairs, till them I'll just use the nikes.


What I learned today while running:
1. I need to go earlier- trying to do a lunchbreak run at 11:30 is stupid. Even if it's a few hours from hitting the high temperature, it's still freakin hot. I could try to go late at night, but even now that it's almost 9 it's still 95 degrees out.
2. I am in way worse shape than I thought
3. Though my new shoes keep my knees from hurting, as big as I am I'm not going to get out of having my back hurt a little bit later in the day. (At least it didn't really hurt while running)
And really, I didn't actually "run" two miles- I walked most of the second mile, alternating between jogging and walking- but by that point just starting to jog a little bit got my heart rate up pretty fast.

I need to be much more patient. I know I'm in really bad shape, so I shouldn't be bothered by the fact that I can't run yet or even keep up a jog for all that long. I'll just keep trying to run and maybe eventually I'll be able to.

No new posts

that's because I'm not doing anything.
I think I'm going to have an offer on my house soon, which is good. Actually selling it would be nice.

I've got mixed feelings about moving- but I've got a lot of stuff to get done before then so I better get on it.