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Jogging: WHY
One of the people I follow on Twitter linked to a post by her husband about ru7nning a 50km event. Much later, she tweeted jokingly about running a single mile herself and being winded.
Now, I do not consider myself a couch potato. I do 25+ mile bike rides a few times a month. But I still think of running even a single consecutive mile as an accomplishment, one that I personally have never achieved, if you consider "run" ro be "complete at 5mph or faster".
There was a time, when I didn't have a useable bike, when I jogged fairly regularly. I define "jogging" here as "a pace where one never has both feet on the ground at the same time. My jog is generally very slow. When I was doing it regularly, I might average 4.5 mph for the first mile and a half. By the time I got to three, my speed would drop to under 4mph. Most people can pace me at a brisk walk. Heck, my own brisk walk is comparable.
I haven't tried jogging in, I don't know, a year or more. I rented a car this weekend for groceries and errands, and figured "Hey, instead of futzing around to get my bike in the car trunk, I will drive to the trail and go jogging."
I wanted to try running a mile: actually running, not plodding at a slow jog. So I started at a run, taking big strides and swinging my arms properly. I checked my speed after 30 seconds: 7mph! I am actually running! This is not sustainable.
Two minutes later: I'm at 4.8mph. I try picking up the pace a little. Two minutes later: 4.5mph. At half a mile and 7 minutes, I gave up and crashed to a slow walk. I alternated jogging and walking for another 13 minutes, until I checked my jogging speed and found it at 3.8mph, at which point I stopped bothering and walked back to the car.
The thing is, jogging is just a miserable form of exercise. Walking on a pleasant day is nice. Biking is fun. And jogging is an exercise in pain and suffering. Maybe I should try sustaining, say, a 15mph pace on my bike for 15 minutes and see if that could make me dislike biking, but I kinda suspect it would be difficult but would not leave me thinking ZOMG WHY.
I haven't earned my pricey Panera drink and bagel, but I'm having it anyway. And drawing. Nyah.
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I do need to be more diligent about at least walking. Work is farther away and I have a meeting earlier in the morning which makes me skip out on it more often. Where more often often means 'every single day this week'. x.x
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Even when I have been at my peak condition (while in the police academy when I was 25, or years later when I bicycled up to 80 miles/day), running would become very painful after about a half mile. I can maintain a fast pace for a longer time, over 5 miles in an hour power walking or faster if I alternate the walking gait with a skip or a jog, but not maintain a run.
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My legs are still mad at me from that tiny bit of jogging. I am half-tempted to start jogging regularly again just to teach them. YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME, LEGS.
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I'd posit that part of the issue with jogging is that it's high impact. And that can be fraught.
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Huh.
Well I got nothing. Maybe your body just hates you.
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That works.