My Failing Attempts at Running
I haven't been running as consistently this past week as I was the first week. I feel really terrible about it, I've spent more days in the past week not running, than running. After my break last Sunday, I ran Monday and Tuesday, but then didn't run Wednesday and Thursday. I haven't been feeling well and I was having trouble even peeling myself off the couch for anything. On Friday, I felt a bit better and so went back out for a run, but only managed one mile instead of the 1.5 miles that I have been doing for a while. Then we went away for the weekend and I didn't run again on Saturday and Sunday. However, I did have quite a bit of exercise on Saturday when Craig and I went on a hike.
We hiked at Mahlon Dickerson Reservation, out in Morris County, NJ. We planned out a route that we thought we could manage before lunch, but ended up having to cut it short because we weren't making it in our time constraints and we were meeting friends for lunch. We hiked for a total of about 2 hours, but I am not sure how much ground we covered. It started out pretty easy, a wide, pebbled path around the pond and through the woods, but when we switched to the second trail that would help us make the loop, it got a lot tougher. The second trail was very steep and rocky, mostly upwards with a few steep drops that took concentration as well. I was having some trouble catching my breath at some points. By the time that we decided we weren't going to make it back out to the parking lot in time, Craig had devised an alternate route where we'd go off the trail, cut across the woods and a stream, and come out on another trail that will take us back. Craig definitely has a good sense of direction and knows what he is doing, but that still didn't make the trek any easier. We were going through a lot branches and over wet stones, and there was hopping and reaching and stretching involved. By the time we were out of the stream and on our final leg of the trail, I was out of breath again, but still keeping out. It was quite a workout. I feel like that two hour hike probably was more exercise than my one mile run would be.
But on Sunday I wasn't feeling well again, lack of sleep and headaches, and so there was no exercise at all. Though none of this had to do with the hike, really.
Today, I decided to test out running at night, since I would have to switch to that next week anyway, when school starts up again. I went out at about 8pm and did my 1.5 miles and felt pretty good. The running felt really good, I was going at a pretty brisk pace.
The challenge for me at this point is the breathing more than anything else. My legs no longer hurt in between my runs, not even when I go two days in between, my legs have gotten used to it. But I still find it hard to breath at almost the same intervals as I used to. The only difference may be that I can run a bit harder now for the same distance before being out of breath, but this change seems so minute and it's still very frustrating. I know, it's been only two weeks, it's a short time, but I just can't wait to gain more stamina.
We hiked at Mahlon Dickerson Reservation, out in Morris County, NJ. We planned out a route that we thought we could manage before lunch, but ended up having to cut it short because we weren't making it in our time constraints and we were meeting friends for lunch. We hiked for a total of about 2 hours, but I am not sure how much ground we covered. It started out pretty easy, a wide, pebbled path around the pond and through the woods, but when we switched to the second trail that would help us make the loop, it got a lot tougher. The second trail was very steep and rocky, mostly upwards with a few steep drops that took concentration as well. I was having some trouble catching my breath at some points. By the time that we decided we weren't going to make it back out to the parking lot in time, Craig had devised an alternate route where we'd go off the trail, cut across the woods and a stream, and come out on another trail that will take us back. Craig definitely has a good sense of direction and knows what he is doing, but that still didn't make the trek any easier. We were going through a lot branches and over wet stones, and there was hopping and reaching and stretching involved. By the time we were out of the stream and on our final leg of the trail, I was out of breath again, but still keeping out. It was quite a workout. I feel like that two hour hike probably was more exercise than my one mile run would be.
But on Sunday I wasn't feeling well again, lack of sleep and headaches, and so there was no exercise at all. Though none of this had to do with the hike, really.
Today, I decided to test out running at night, since I would have to switch to that next week anyway, when school starts up again. I went out at about 8pm and did my 1.5 miles and felt pretty good. The running felt really good, I was going at a pretty brisk pace.
The challenge for me at this point is the breathing more than anything else. My legs no longer hurt in between my runs, not even when I go two days in between, my legs have gotten used to it. But I still find it hard to breath at almost the same intervals as I used to. The only difference may be that I can run a bit harder now for the same distance before being out of breath, but this change seems so minute and it's still very frustrating. I know, it's been only two weeks, it's a short time, but I just can't wait to gain more stamina.