(For Week 1-4, click here: Progress After 4 Weeks of My Running Thing)
Week 5:
- The first 2 days of Week 5, I didn’t run or perform any exercise at all. Instead, I took 2 consecutive rest days. 3 reasons:
- My muscles were aching from weight lifting so I thought I’d give them a break by changing my routine and go swimming instead. I used the 5kg dumbbells, the lightest in the family, yes yes I know, yet my shoulders were sore like I had carried 20 pails of water up the hill.
- # 1 seemed like a good idea at that moment, it had just finished raining and the air was warm and damp so off to the pool I went. Bad idea. The water in the pool was freezing cold and while I was swimming, it started to rain again. As if that was not bad enough, instead of having the sense to come in out of the rain, I continued swimming, reasoning to myself that I was already drenched anyway so what’s a little more raindrops falling on my head? Second (colossally) bad idea of the day.
- Thanks to # 2, I developed a cold about an hour after I got home. Not even a hot soak warmed me up. I was shivering all night and when the next day rolled around, all I wanted to do was sleep. The twisted irony is when you have a cold, sleep is a very difficult thing to do because you wake up every 6 seconds to try to breathe.
- The good news is, I lost 1kg, probably due all the mucus I have been expelling out of me (This is way too much information to share, I apologize). Quick recap of weight loss/gain:
- April – Sept: Lost 5kg
- Sept – Oct: Gained 5kg (thanks to Hari Raya and all those open houses)
- Week 2: Lost 2kg
- Week 3: Gained 2 kg
- Week 4: No weight loss/gain
- Week 5: Lost 1 kg
- So basically, my nett weight loss so far is only 1kg. I hope I won’t gain it back. You’ll know by next Friday. My conclusion is, running as a means to lose weight is really a lofty ambition, so I have abandoned all hope to do so. I’ll settle for smaller waist and slimmer arms, thank you (yet to be proven so stay tuned).
- Runner’s toes healing nicely. It doesn’t hurt anymore. Only ugly to look at.
- Running-wise, I am now starting my run at 6.5km/h then speeding it up just a little to 7-7.5km/h, capping it at 8km/h. I find 7km/h is a comfortable speed that passes the Talk Test. It is still too slow to achieve 5K at 24:10 but little wins, right?
- I am thinking (thinking only, not doing it yet) of adding a little bit of variety to my post-run stretching routine so have busted out the Simply Pilates DVD by Jennifer Pohlman. Right now I am only watching it, I haven’t started doing it yet. I have taken some classes in the past but I know my limits, some of the moves are not so simple for a novice like me.
- I have also found the charger to my Nintendo DS so cycling on the recumbent bike will be a very enjoyable activity. I am the queen of cake mania!
- Diet-wise, the craving for carbs and sweet stuff has subsided a little. I mean, I don’t have the urge to lick the entire bottle of Goober’s PBJ clean everytime I open the fridge anymore, though I still sneak a spoonful of Nutella every now and then.
The apartment is still in a mess. I need to sell more stuff, after taking 5 containers from Aning’s place (and 3 more still lounging in her living room) even my bedroom is now held hostage by books, DVDs, clothes and bags.
How did I manage to live with all these stuff?
Why did I think I could not live without all these stuff at the first place?
How on earth did I accumulate so much stuff without realizing it?!
Well my digital camera is now permanently with one of my sisters and I don’t have one on me right now so I guess I will just have to live with it til I can sort them out, take pics and get them out of my place.
Thinking of changing my internet service provider because I have been pretty unhappy with the connection stability and the speed so if I am incommunicado suddenly, you know why.
Ok, photo of Week 5. I need a haircut, new glasses and definitely, DEFINITELY, need slimmer arms.
(L to R) Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4 respectively
Related Articles
- Progress After 4 Weeks of My Running Thing (killingtimewithijahamran.wordpress.com)
- My Perfect Set of Runner’s Toes (killingtimewithijahamran.wordpress.com)
- Fighting The Common Cold: 5 Ways To Win The Battle (urbanbellemag.com)
- Nutella Pie (blogher.com)
