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[lady_morgaine]

On Saturday there was a chance of rain, so instead of going for my usual run in Central Park I opted to stay in for my work-out. That evening I did about forty-five minutes of strength-training exercises with my freeweights at home, then I added on about ten minutes of jumping-jacks and jump rope exercises to get a cardio blast. Then I had another

Comments

[word_herder]

Walking fast has always hurt my calves more than running. I think it's because I take shorter strides when I run. (I'm rather shorter than most people, so when I try to walk with them, I find myself wanting to trot just to keep up.)

[lady_morgaine]

Me too! It drives my husband crazy that I can't walk as fast as he can. But there's a foot of height difference between the two of us; what does he expect?

[dogs_n_rodents]

Whenever I decide to jog up stairs, I always go up, mostly since that expends more energy than going down. But then again, those times are far and few in between. At least Chris has got the knowledge about these things to help you out. :)

Have you considered other exercises in addition to running like swimming? Short of a nasty thunderstorm, swimming is an awesome low-impact activity that will help improve some strength and flexibility in your legs for running.

[lady_morgaine]

See, that's what I thought too: "Oh, it's the running up that's going to cause pain; the running down should be an easy-peasy piece of cake!" But no; apparently the running down causes even more strain on your muscles than the running up.

Gosh, I can't remember the last time I went swimming!! I used to swim a lot when I was very little; I even took real swimming and diving lessons. I think it's a good idea. . . I shouldn't run as often as I do, especially since I have a family history of bad knees, and swimming sounds like a great low-impact, easy-on-the-joints but still very effective sport. Unfortunately there aren't any public pools where I live! I'm still looking into gyms to join around here come fall, and a few of them do have pools, so maybe I'll try to do a few laps. :)