running... again
Aug 6, 2010

I was so proud of myself last fall for running regularly. Kept it up until March this year (2010) then I fell, landed on my hand and broke 3 fingers. :-(

Bummer having broken fingers, but even bigger bummer that I wasn't allowed to run for 6-8 weeks then felt really nervous when I started back. But I'm happy to say that I'm back to running 3x a week and (almost) don't think about falling and breaking anything when I run these days.

(Women always ask: was it brittle bones? Ans: doctor says my bones look good, I just hit them hard.)

running?!? Who ME???
Sep 3, 2009

I always hated running because I get a really big stitch in my side. I've gotten tons of advice on how to avoid that:
- aboslutely no beverages before running
- drink water before running
- breathe in through your nose, out through the mouth
- run in the morning (evening)
etc!!

But none of them helped.

So, a couple months ago I had to run somewhere with my big raincoat on and pockets full of keys and wallet. I ran with my hands jammed into the pockets to hold everything steady and guess what... no stitch!!

So my DH and I have been running 2 or 3 times a week for a couple months. I look like a big dork because I run with my hands straight down in front of me... and I only run for 10 minutes. But I started at 8 minutes and will probably increase my time a little more soon. And I know that's a whole lot better than what I was doing before (nothing!).

Jumping Rope
Jan 8, 2009

Thanks to Funplex whose blog about jumping rope made me realize I've been going at it the wrong way. I was trying to jump rope as my whole workout which worked okay when I was just starting - 3 minutes a day I'd tell myself. But I'd add another minute every few days and pretty soon I'd be at 10 minutes was too much for me.

After reading Funplex's blog I got out my timer which automatically goes back to the previous time when I shut it off. I ended up doing 1 1/2 minute cycles where I'd jump until:
* timer goes off
* restart the timer countdown
* walk a couple circles
* then jump until timer goes off again
Repeat several times.

I lost track of how many times I did the cycle and it doesn't really matter. What matters is that I broke a sweat without making myself miserable with too-high expectations.