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February 2013

21:33 03/02/2013 Sunday evening...

Went out and walked half an hour down to a local shop and half an hour back. That counts.

It was good in fact. And yes, of course, it is hoped that this walking malarky will lead to a running malarky at some point, but it really doesn't matter if it doesn't. Walking is great exercise; it just takes a little more time. (Although, if you factor in the time it takes to change into running gear and wash the sweat off, perhaps wlking isn't so time-consuming after all.)

00:22 14/02/2013 Thursday evening...

Went out with Sol and walked around a reservoir in the sun and the wind. It was about 5 miles. Concrete and water. Surprisingly nice.

01:22 19/02/2013 Monday night...

OK, well, it's been a while. I do think it's time to have another go at running every day. I am going to begin with walking every day, at least for a week or two. The first thing to train is the brain so it doesn't matter much whether I run or walk, and I don't want to put too much strain on my knees to begin with. I have put on a fair bit of weight since a year ago.

My knee is definitely better than it was six months ago. I had injured it and partially dislocated it in fact and I couldn't bend it fully without it going out of joint again and clunking painfully back into place when the knee was straightened. Now it will bend fully - even with a fair amount of weight on it (sitting on my heels) - and although it will click a bit as I straighten it, there is nothing like that extreme sideways clunking and there is no pain. Still, because I have put on so much weight (an extra stone since the time I started this blog) I don't want to push it too far straight away.

So, train the brain with no strain. A walk every day for a couple of weeks and then start running a bit too...

02:32 19/02/2013 ... Back from a walk. About 45 minutes of walking about as fast as possible. Well, it's a cold night and for the first half my toes and head were cold, so I walked fast, but they did eventually warm up nicely and I was almost (but not quite) sweating. I was breathing almost as fast and as deeply as I would at a gentle jog. It's good, I think, to get my circulation going every day at least once. Good, good.

02:08 20/02/2013 Tuesday night...

Feeling stressed. It's late but I seem to have decided to go out for a run/walk nevertheless. I can feel that bloody-mindedness rising - that "I don't care, I'm just doing it" feeling. There's some aggression in that. Anyway, the idea is I write after the run/walk...

03:34 20/02/2013 ...Nice walk. It wasn't that cold tonight, although it was frosty earlier this evening. 2 or 3 degrees I reckon. I was wearing too many clothes so I couldn't walk that fast and had to unzip everything. Listened to Lucerne School of Music Jazz Radio on the internet. Some great sounds on there tonight. I like that station. I'm still missing Jazz Radio from Lillestrøm with that laconic old presenter, but Lucerne Music School Radio is very good. An interesting mix of mostly European jazz and other kinds of imaginative and inventive music on a chamber scale. I also really like Wyoming Jazz Radio, which plays more mainstream American stuff. Lillestrøm Jazz Radio used to play slightly more lyrical, melodic jazz, and a fair amount of vocal stuff, like Blossom Deary for example. It's all good.

But I digress! Walk was good. About 45 minutes I guess. It was nice to follow the same route I followed last night and see all the same houses, cars and so on.

00:55 21/02/2013 Wednesday night...

Ahh... What was I going to say...? Ah yes, I seem to be sleeping much better since I started these daily walks. It's a good start I think. Sleeping a lot too. Perhaps I'm catching up on missed sleep. Ah well, it's all good.

I think I've always been a bit rebellious. Having been a speedy driver who got lots of penalty points but never quite lost his licence, I have gone the other way and now drive as slowly as I can get away with. My rationale is that I'm saving energy, as driving slowly does use significantly less fuel, but there's a certain amount of arrogance in that behaviour too. A certain cantankery. I'm quite happy with that.

But yes, the rebelliousness. Going for a meaningless walk (or run) every day wthout fail appeals to my sense of rebelliousness. Refusing to get colds and flu appeals to that sense. It may be just good luck that I haven't had a cold since December 2005, but I don't think so. I think it's because I had a really bad one then and decided not to have them any more. Just because it's normal to get colds doesn't mean I have to go along with the crowd, right?

Walkies...

02:59 21/02/2013

Nice walk. A little further than last time. I was overdressed and had to unzip everything. I do like the fact that I can go out in ordinary clothes and don't need special running gear, ...and don't need a shower when I get back. I'm sure I'll enjoy getting back into running when I do, but for now, the brisk walking is fine. I was feeling a little fitter tonight. I actually felt like running at one point.

16:24 21/02/2013 Thursday afternoon...

A reflection: I don't think it is necessary to have a sense of strain or (unpleasant) effort in order to improve fitness. Top atheletes trying to achieve super-human performance may have a different perspective, but that is not my business. Achieving the very highest physical performance possible may be good for the soul but it may actually be harmful for the body. I am trying to improve and maintain health, and trying to ensure good fitness and mobility well into old age. I'm not trying to win any medals.

I have noticed an improvement in my fitness and general well-being just from doing these daily walks, and I am certainly not pushing myself! Even with running, I always found that it took about 15 or 20 minutes to warm up to the point where I felt like making an effort and running a little faster. It didn't seem to make any difference whether I spent those 20 minutes jogging gently and comfortably or pushing myself joylessly to run faster. It still took 20 minutes to warm up, after which running faster was a pleasure. Right now, I don't feel fit enough - or light enough - to do much running at all, so I'm walking instead, albeit fairly briskly. It's still taking about 20 minutes to warm up. I really don't think there's ever any point in pushing myself to go any faster than I feel like going.

04:55 22/02/2013 Friday morning...

I woke early today - due to a combination of circumstance that I won't bother going into. Either very early or very late seems to a good time for my daily constitutional walk or run as it's kind of 'outside time', and I feel no time pressure while I'm out, so lets go...

08:11 22/02/2013 ...I went out at 7am in the end. Got side-tracked. About an hour or so out there. It was cold and windy. Bitter in fact. I thought my hands would never warm up but they did eventually. Frosty enough that I decided to go out into the fields, although it turned out to still be a bit muddy and wet in places due to a lack of prolonged frost. Hopefully it will be colder in the next few days. Daylight has its advantages, and it's getting light fairly early these days. 7am is really too late to see much wildlife as the dog walkers are out by then.

04:50 23/02/2013 ...Oh, I forgot to say, on my walk on Friday morning in the fields, I saw a piece of orange rope lying on the path and immediately thought, "Snake!" a split second before I realised it was a piece of rope. What strikes me is that I have grown up my entire life in a country where there are no dangerous snakes. There have been no dangerous snakes in this country for at least the last several hundred years, if not longer, and all my ancestors over those years have also lived here on this island where there are no dangerous snakes. What struck me was the immediacy of that "Snake!" reaction. It has to be an instinct, hard-wired into the human nervous system from a long, long time ago.

I wonder what other reactions are 'hard-wired' in this way.

2013-02-25 22:38 Monday evening...

I've been a bit unwell the last few days and haven't been out much. Been exhausted and achey. Been sleeping loads and was in bed for 24 hours straight on Sunday. Feeling a bit better today but still a bit lethargic. I guess it's time to start going out for these walks again, although I can't say I feel much in the mood.

But lets go...

02:15 26/02/2013 ... A pleasant walk. About an hour. Was over-dressed and started over-heating after half an hour or so, but then it rained a bit so it was cooler on the way back.

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