not a running update

The elliptical and old men bathing

Today I finally remembered what exercise felt like. With a fresh layer of snow falling on New Year’s Eve and a forecast that calls for either clear skies or yet more snow, it’s looking iffy for running outside any time in the next few weeks (which will make it more than a month overall, kind of boggling for this region, really).

Instead of continuing to lament the icy conditions and eat Bugles, we headed to the Canada Games Pool. After soaking for a bit in delightfully warm swirl pool, I changed into my usual running gear and headed upstairs for the first exercise in weeks. It turned out all of the treadmills were occupied by people still determined to stick to their New Year resolutions (this will change dramatically in the next week or two), so I opted to use the elliptical instead.

I cleverly remembered to track the elliptical workout on my Apple Watch (and got a shiny badge for it) and was surprised that it and the machine seemed to be in almost perfect agreement on calories burned. The machine gives you a variety of pre-set workouts to choose from. Given that I am fat I chose “weight loss” and began 30 minutes of walking in place.

The first ten minutes went by without concern. After that, I started to sweat and my legs felt funny, as if they had turned to marmalade. I kept on and the marmalade feeling went away, replaced by a more general sensation of muscles being used in ways they were not used to. Which is to say, they were being used.

While everything seems fine now, I suspect that come the morning my legs will eagerly reminding me of the thirty minutes of action I put them through today.

Here are the stats, straight from the elliptical display (I think the distance may be miles):

Distance: 2.37 miles (?)
Calories burned: 260 (I sprinted at the end to get to a nice round number)

The Apple Watch recorded more calories, in part because I forgot to stop the workout for about five minutes after. Sayeth the watch: 374 calories, with a BPM of 154 BPM.

Also, when we first entered the swirl pool I swear the average age of the men (and it was exclusively men) using it was 90. On the one hand, it was nice to see so many gray old men out and being active (sort of). On the other hand, it felt a little weird to be the young guy at 52. Eventually, some younger guys showed up and even a few women, too. One guy was busy dunking his Apple watch in the water. I hope it was a Series 2 or he’s out $500.

Overall the experience went well and I look forward to doing again in our new frozen wasteland that once allowed people to run outdoors.

An April apology

I’d like to apologize to the spambots and others who accidentally visit the site and found the April posts to be almost exclusively about jogging, a subject which is not the easiest to make entertaining without the inclusion of runaway trains, circus animals or other fictional inventions. Note that I am not saying runaway trains and circus animals are fictitious, just that they remain make-believe during my jogs, which is really for the best. A pair of train tracks parallels part of the trail at Burnaby Lake, so a runaway train could be a real nuisance on a run.

For May I promise one non-running post for every running post. If I stick to my jogging schedule this means there will be at least twelve tantalizing, non-running updates.

The excitement starts…tomorrow!

Note: excitement not guaranteed.

You don’t run on your throat (which is a good thing)

Another non-run update:

I didn’t run on Thursday as my recovering throat still felt a little too raw. At first blush it may seem odd that the condition of my throat would determine whether I run or not but consider: when I do an 11K run I am breathing at an accelerated pace for 54-60 minutes and the only way to reasonably scoop in the large amounts of oxygen I need to keep from toppling over is through my mouth, as my nose does not have elephant-sized nostrils (this is, on balance, preferable).

This means that for those 54-58 minutes my mouth and throat are exposed to a constant rush of air. A raw throat would move onto bloody raw after such treatment. Or so I suspect. I’m not willing to test my theory.

I do think I may finally be ready to head out Sunday, which will make it precisely two weeks since the last run, enough time to get me rested to the point of flabbiness. The forecast is for a high of 24ºC with the chance of precipitation starting low in the morning and climbing through the day. I’d likely run in the morning so it may be a bit warmer than seasonal but probably cloudy. Not too bad, then.

I still dread it.

And I finally get my feet/Bollocks looked at when my doctor is back from vacation on October 28th. I want a month-long vacation.

Just not the seven years of medical school.