If you think prayers/good thoughts/good vibes etc., are a zero sum game...

If you think that the supply of prayers, good thoughts, etc., are limited, then don't bother reading this. But, if you think that they're unlimited (so it costs other suffering folks, who have actual *problems*, nothing if you help out here), carry on... :-).


Yesterday, I tried jogging at 5.8 miles an hour for 2:15 on each interval. My heart rate went too high too fast. I ended up using the elliptical instead. I could exercise at close to 20 calories burned per minute without any problems.

Today, I went back to trying to jog 1:45 per interval... I got through six intervals before having to cut back to 1:30, and I only completed 20 minutes total jogging in 45 minutes... and that included two or three nearly minute long breaks when I hit the pause button on the treadmill. (Meaning I had three minutes, give or take, of just standing around doing nothing.)

I can tell I'm running differently. It *feels* different. A lot different. Still... it's clear I'm not even *close* to being able to jog even two minutes per interval.

It can't be that my body is falling apart. On the elliptical, I can exercise at a higher level for a longer time than I'd ever been able to before. But damn is it frustrating. It's not so much that I can't do intervals as long as I'd *like*... it's that I don't have any idea what I *can* do. I was sure I could do two minute intervals, no problem, because, well, I *had*.

So it's time for me to reconsider how I'm doing this.

Rule one: if I keep getting my heart rate up, and then resting, my heart must get stronger; that's how you strengthen your heart. (Well... getting it up to a moderate rate, and keeping it there, works too. But not as fast.)

Rule two: if I'm jogging for 20 minutes, my legs must get stronger; challenge your muscles, and they get stronger.

So, barring disasters, I plan to jog one minute intervals tomorrow. One minute on, up to two minutes off, my *only* goal is to get 20 minutes of jogging done in less than an hour. That's two minutes of rest to each minute of jogging.

My hope is that I can do at least this much, and then move up to 1:15 by the end of the week. It won't make me happy if that's all I can do, but at least it's a start.

But if this doesn't work, I'm going to be stuck (and stunned) and have no idea what to do next.

If you think prayers/good thoughts/good vibes etc., are a zero sum game...

If you think that the supply of prayers, good thoughts, etc., are limited, then don't bother reading this. But, if you think that they're unlimited (so it costs other suffering folks, who have actual *problems*, nothing if you help out here), carry on... :-).


Yesterday, I tried jogging at 5.8 miles an hour for 2:15 on each interval. My heart rate went too high too fast. I ended up using the elliptical instead. I could exercise at close to 20 calories burned per minute without any problems.

Today, I went back to trying to jog 1:45 per interval... I got through six intervals before having to cut back to 1:30, and I only completed 20 minutes total jogging in 45 minutes... and that included two or three nearly minute long breaks when I hit the pause button on the treadmill. (Meaning I had three minutes, give or take, of just standing around doing nothing.)

I can tell I'm running differently. It *feels* different. A lot different. Still... it's clear I'm not even *close* to being able to jog even two minutes per interval.

It can't be that my body is falling apart. On the elliptical, I can exercise at a higher level for a longer time than I'd ever been able to before. But damn is it frustrating. It's not so much that I can't do intervals as long as I'd *like*... it's that I don't have any idea what I *can* do. I was sure I could do two minute intervals, no problem, because, well, I *had*.

So it's time for me to reconsider how I'm doing this.

Rule one: if I keep getting my heart rate up, and then resting, my heart must get stronger; that's how you strengthen your heart. (Well... getting it up to a moderate rate, and keeping it there, works too. But not as fast.)

Rule two: if I'm jogging for 20 minutes, my legs must get stronger; challenge your muscles, and they get stronger.

So, barring disasters, I plan to jog one minute intervals tomorrow. One minute on, up to two minutes off, my *only* goal is to get 20 minutes of jogging done in less than an hour. That's two minutes of rest to each minute of jogging.

My hope is that I can do at least this much, and then move up to 1:15 by the end of the week. It won't make me happy if that's all I can do, but at least it's a start.

But if this doesn't work, I'm going to be stuck (and stunned) and have no idea what to do next.