Tales From The Wrong Side Of Sanity

C25k

Yeah, so today I started the “couch to 5 km”. So some stats. I'm north of 50 and my BMI has been prefixed by “morbidly” for at least 15 years. And I haven't “gone for a jog” since my late 20's, which perhaps not coincidentally was when I left an employment which had a fitness testing component. I also moved into “family life” around that time where I moved away from team sports midweek and on weekends because I had “other duties”.

But I'm actually in slightly better nick than the statistics and your imagination might suggest. And yes, I know everyone thinks that. I was in properly terrible nick for years, but over the last 6 to 8 years I've been making a series of micro adjustments. Tweaking little things looking to live a bit healthier but without having to rely on willpower to get the job done, because that road will always lead to failure for me. If I'm hungry upon getting home from the salt mines, then unless I've got a super easy option right in front of me I'm internetting up a pizza and six pack. And then I'm not moving from the couch until bedtime.

As well as the eating micro tweaks, I've also been leaning into the move more area as well. Trying to incorporate more and more walking into my daily routine. And working on my core so I could manage more than 100 meters without debilitating back pain.

It wasn't that long ago when I completed my first 10,000 step walk. Then 11,000, then 13,000, etc. During a lockdown, I attempted to see how far I could go before I emptied the tank and got did about 20km, but I was cooked well and truly before I got home and cramping in all sorts of weird place, like the side of my knee(ish). From there, I settled into semi-regular 15km walks whilst trying to clear 10,000 steps on as many days as possible without being a bore about it.

That was my history coming in. I knew my legs could carry me OK and my core would mostly keep up. Even as a youngster I was never an aerobic beast. Very fast over short distances and explosive, but jogging for distance was never my go. I was very worried about air and ticker, but something kept telling me the time was right to start. Last week I bought a cheap Chinese health band and expensive Vietnamese running shoes.

Though the week I was comparing plans – starting with the original NHS plan (Which many state starts off too hard for some (AKA Fatties) beginners. I was very much in this camp), a softer starting 12 week plan and another 12 week plan for over 50's. NHS week 1 was 6 reps of 1:00 run then 1:30 walk. I thought that was well beyond me. One over 50 plan said 5 reps of 0:30 run then 2:30 walk and another said 0:20 run with the same. I thought these were more inline with my capabilities.

I built my plan, conscious of not going too hard and committed to today being the day. I was pretty apprehensive last night. I could feel my limbic system starting to trigger 'flu like symptoms which is a stunt it pulls when confronted by the threat of exercise, but it's gone to that well too many times and now I'm a wakeup to it.

This morning I walked to a track I was familiar with. One I've walked many times before and warmed up. I had the above numbers firmly in mind, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking about those 15km walks. Surely they lift me beyond the average 50 something couch potato? Despite the 40% bodyfat? Lets think about that NHS week 1 and just see how we go?

What I ended up managing was 6 repetitions of 1:00 run and 3:00 walk.

I was pretty happy with that. I've pulled up OK (it was a few hours ago) and if anything felt like I was holding back and consciously trying to go slow. My cheap Chinese health band told me my heart rate got to 105. By the time I walked back home I had been gone for about an hour and covered 7,000 steps. Only started to get lactic acid near the end of each minute and that and any blowing was completely gone before I started the next minute section. I was really worried about how “puffed” I would be running even 0:20 or 0:30 so this came as a pleasant surprise.

We'll see how sore I am in the morning. Hopefully not too bad, but I've well practised a nice walk to work out any soreness. And then we back up on Sunday.

Overall, could've gone a lot, lot worse. Better than the statistics suggested.