Yes I meant - couch to 5k, it's been a heck of a week.
A coach or running buddy can help. I'm no runner, but I'm back to putting my time in on the machines. I like to joke that I only run when chased. My ankles and shins just aren't happy running on hard surfaces.
Be very careful with 5K and big goals to start. Two reasons. Smaller goals give a more immediate sense of satisfaction.
And two, Google around for some stories of some of the abuse folks put themselves through to say they've "run a marathon" (which is bigger that a 5K for sure, but follow along here...)...
Some of those folks didn't get pros like their Doc and/or fitness coaches involved and many do permanent damage to themselves. Besides joint injury and what-not, not training and conditioning and knowing what a body needs for long distance running can cause heart-attacks, etc.
Every year someone dropped on the course when I volunteered at the Denver Marathon and needed an ambulance. I helped with Communications.
The vast majority didn't. But the few who did it wrong without help, really hurt themselves. We kept bicycle paramedics and ambulances strategically positioned everywhere. Injuries are inevitable, but a runner down who's gone into shock or worse, is not breathing is very very very bad.
We never had a fatality but it does happen. Electrolyte imbalances, bodies being stressed beyond the individual's limits, dehydration, etc.
I sat with a sports medicine pro and an elite Kenyan runner in a damn water truck for 30 minutes one year with his calf muscle cramped so hard he couldn't reflex his foot, while an Ambulance was stuck in traffic and couldn't get to our checkpoint I was working. The sports med doc was massaging the muscle the entire time, it never fully let up. he drank electrolyes and fluid and it just wasn't working uet. It was also cold and wet that morning and the typical space blankets weren't cutting it for a guy with almost zero body fat in wet shorts and a tank top. Another 15 minutes, we'd have had to transport him in a private vehicle. He was headed for hypothermia. We'd taken up a collection of clothing from all of us and kept him warm.
Nice guy. Couldn't speak more than ten words of English. Smiled while he yelped. Best attitude ever. Most of our communication with him was groans of pain and hand signals.
He recovered later and was fine, went on to qualify for Boston at another race, but it's just a story to explain that even the elite runners can get into big trouble quick. They're pushing their bodies hard.
Start small, work you're way up there, find like-minded folk to get good advice from. And involve your Doc.
There's healthy running and then there's a point where you're causing harm to yourself. If you ever doubt, just stop.
Those silly endorphins become as addictive as any other drug. We had people who "had to finish" limping in hours behind the pack, on severe sprains and fractures. At some point, it just becomes dumb.
Conversely, one year we were closing down the course in stages from behind as usual to re-open the city streets on time and found out there was a seventy-five year old lady who was walking at a good pace but would take hours to complete the course. She was in no danger physically other than the roads were opening. We got her a personal escort of people and a motorcycle and the crowd went wild when she walked across that finish line a few hours later. Totally awesome persistence. She kept joking, "I haven't got anything else to go do today, dear!" She rocked.
Okay, that's my public service announcement for the night. Now get up off that sofa and boogie!
I was embarrassed to note that some time before the dog passed away and she didn't need walks anymore, I stopped tracking food intake and activity and 20 lbs went right straight back on from January until today.
I'm back on the wagon and planning to remove the damn spare tire again. Call me a slow learner. Sigh.
See ya at the gym!
I mostly walked with a little jogging mixed in, just don't get in a hurry, you'll get hurt.
