Fitness Notes

I haven’t ran or done any exercising in about a week. I thought I had a great excuse too: I have a cold. Nothing too dramatic, no fever, no flu aches, just your average cold, with sneezing, some coughing, congested sinuses… you know, the common cold. For at least three days, all I wanted to do is rest in bed. Not that I did – I am a Mom and Moms only get full bedrest if their minding a fetus at the time.

What I did take a break from was my C25K running plan. I figured, if you’re sick, you need to let your body heal, right? And isn’t rest part of the healing? This view was shared by everyone around me, so nothing was easier than skipping a week of practice, albeit with some pangs of regret over losing momentum.

Looks like I was wrong though. I finally did some reading online today and turns out not only you can exercise and run when you have a cold, it’s even recommended. Not talking about anything with a fever, or the flu, but if your symptoms are limited to coughing and sneezing, some head pain and a stuffy nose, running may actually help you feel better.

I found this interesting article about this subject, where they cite an actual research about this:

The investigators found no difference in symptoms between the group that exercised and the one that rested. And there was no difference in the time it took to recover from the colds. But when the exercisers assessed their symptoms, Dr. Kaminsky said, “people said they felt O.K. and, in some cases, they actually felt better.

In other words, exercise won’t make you heal faster, but it should make you feel a bit better. At the very least, you won’t be worse off for it and you will be sticking to your plan.

So, I guess no more excuses for me? I think I might just put the theory to the test this afternoon!

I may be a mere humble novice when it comes to running, but one thing I learned fairly quickly: shoes matter. A lot.

Even I can tell the difference. A new pair of quality running shoes makes me run better and helps me avoid my typical running injury: runner’s knee.

Here are my running shoes tips – hope you find them helpful:

1. Read up. Running shoes is hi-tech science these days, with custom-made solutions for various issues. Read shoe reviews and runner’s reviews before you make up your mind. Remember: what works for your best friend won’t necessarily work for you. I highly recommend the six articles in Runner’s World Foot Diagnostics section.
2. Invest in a visit to a proper running store where they analyse your gait and let you know what kind of shoe works for you. Once you have that, shopping elsewhere and even online becomes much easier. I’ve done the gait analysis routine twice already and in my case, my gait actually changed a little bit in the space of a year (probably due to my weight loss).
3. New shoes literally have more bounce in them. I can feel the quality deteriorating over time, and being overweight, I prefer to err on the side of caution and change to a new pair of shoes earlier than recommended by the manufacturer. For me, that means a new pair of shoes every six months or so.
4. This is a personal choice, but since going vegan this year, I’ve decided to opt for vegan shoes too. No, I don’t eat my shoes… I just prefer for them to be made without the involvement of livestock corporates. I’m going to dedicate a post to the vegan shoes issue soon and recommend a brand for you too.

That’s it, basically. Not a running shoes shopping guide, just my own personal take on the topic. What’s your take on shopping for running shoes? Leave me comments or tweet me @israelimom!

I just love the acronym – C25K. It sounds so professional and almost military-like. And the best part most people don’t know it, so it has a mysterious note as well

So what is C25K?

C25K stands for - Couch to 5 Kilometers.

Get it? Couch potato to/2 5K of running.

From this:

To this:

(Dogs are optional)

The idea is to gradually get yourself from zero running to running three miles or five kilometers. Gradually being the key word here.

It may sound strange to real couch potatoes (I know I was one for many years!) but running can actually be addictive. It’s too easy to have a good run and then, high on adrenalin, keep going, running for longer than you had planned. It may feel good while your high on the endorphines, but it’s a recipe for a sports injury.

You see, it’s not all about your mind. Your body has to adjust to running. Muscles, joints, ligaments, they all go through physiological changes that enable long runs. Push it, and you risk an injury that will put a stop to your running, at least for several weeks.

The famous C25K program was developed by the experts of CoolRunning.com as a way to ensure a smooth transition from total couch potato to a runner. It’s made of week-long units, each consisting of three workouts. The workouts are combined of walking and running intervals, measured either by time or by distance. The idea is to run slow, so as not to hurt your body, gradually increasing run times and decreasing the walking/rest periods.

So I’m following the C25K program. Here are my own personal adjustments:

• I’ve decided to take it even more gradually, and repeat each week twice. It’s my fourth week but I’m still on week 2 of the program. My goal is to keep running for the long term and avoid injuries, so why rush it?
• Each session includes five minutes of brisk walking as your warmup. Warm body tissue is less prone to injury, so I’ve decided to have a 12 minutes long warmup instead. I have read this is recommended for runners over 35 years old, and figured better be safe than sorry. Besides, that’s seven more minutes of burning calories!
• I use Robert’s Ullrey’s podcasts for my training. Robert made these awesome MP3 tracks you can use where he guides you through the C25K session, letting you when to run and when to walk. With some nice upbeat music in the background, and his relaxed voice encouraging me, these podcasts are invaluable to me.  You can download the MP3 podcasts right here.

If you’re a couch potato and consider going for it, I highly recommend this program. It’s available, free of charge, right here. And if you’re new to running, make sure you go over their section for beginners. Leave me a comment here if you do – I’d love to hear about other new runners!

Third week into my new running regime, I can answer this with a “yes!”.

Why run? basically, because I want (need) to work out. Walking just gets too boring after a while. Running is harder but much more fun.

If you saw me, you’d probably raise an eyebrow. I am a 37 years old overweight mother and I don’t look like an athlete. I was never the athletic type in my life. I was the kid that avoided running in school. I even avoided running in the army, strolling along the path during officers course, while the other cadettes were running along.

I guess the Internet made me start running. Reading about fitness, running came up again and again. People seemed addicted. I really wanted to give it a try, but wasn’t sure where to start. Then I found the Couch to 5K running program. Well, couch potato I was, so I had a good starting point! I decided to give it a try, skeptic as I was.

It was like a miracle. Gradually, week by week, I managed to complete the plan. Two and a half months later, I did it – I ran my first 5K (actually, a bit longer). For real runners, it may sound funny – it’s only five kilometers (or three miles). For a couch potato like me it was nothing short of a miracle.

It did come at a cost though – during the last month of the program, I had to end each run with elevated feet and ice packs on my knees. I gave myself some recovery time afterwards. It lasted a bit longer than anticipated… Then we traveled, and then I just got lazy, and here I am less than a year later, having to start the C25K all over again…

I’ve decided to go at it at a slower pace this time around, to try and minimize the risk of injury. Instead of taking 9 weeks to finish this, I am taking 18, repeating each week’s program for another week. Hopefully, this will let my body adjust more gradually and protect my knees.

Wish me luck!