Jogging With A Pram September 29, 2006
As promised a few days ago, I’ve now given the jogging pram a couple of runs. It’s actually not too bad!
On Tuesday I ran 3km in 17:45, which is about two minutes slower than when I run without it. It was definitely harder work than a normal jog, especially since my town is quite hilly. The main reason I was slower was because I had to stop running and walk up two of the worst hills.
I just walked with the pram on Wednesday morning, as I was a little sore still. I’ve only started the jogging again this week!
This morning, though, I ran with the pram again. This time I chose a route that cut out one of the hills, and it was a lot better. I took 16:24 to run 3km this time, which is only a little slower than when I run normally.
I think I’ll keep jogging every second morning, as it’s working well. G loves it, too! I’m going to try building up the distance to 4km over the next couple of weeks, and then 5km (3 miles) over the following couple of weeks.
Health And Fitness “How To” Articles September 26, 2006
Darren Rowse over at Problogger.net hosted a group writing project last week. He managed to get 343 people to write articles on the topic of “How To…”.
Quite a few of the articles were health and fitness related, so I’ve collected links to them below. Makes for some interesting reading!
- How to handle morning workouts – we could all use a few tips on this topic!
- How To Make Exercise A Permanent Habit In Your Life – an approach similar to my 30-day trial technique.
- How to make a healthy and filling sandwich – dissects the construction of a great sandwich, with detailed breakdown of calories added with each type of filling. Yum!
- My Quick Tips on How to Lose Weight Successfully – tips from personal experience.
- Free Yourself from Chronic Pain – I hope you don’t ever need this.
- How to use High-Intesity Interval Training – good tips on how to get started with HIIT. Surf around the rest of the site for more interesting articles.
- Get Healthy in 30 days! – great tips for kick-starting your journey towards better health.
- One simple knot that keeps your shoes tied – maybe it sounds silly, but this article teaches you how to tie your shoelaces for running.
- A Simple Formula for Weight Loss and Long-Term Maintenance – very much along the lines of The Physics Diet.
- How To Live a Short, Miserable, Unhealthy Life – err, so do the opposite and you’ll live a long, happy, healthy life!
- How to jump start a new healthy lifestyle – good information on getting started.
Besides the interesting articles, the group writing project is also a great way to find out about other blogs on the topics you’re interested in. I spent way too much time surfing around just the sites listed above!
Early Morning Walks September 25, 2006
For the past week, I’ve been taking my daughter G (4.5 years old) out for a walk first thing in the morning. She wakes up early (around 5:00 to 5:30 am!), and won’t go back to sleep. So I usually end up getting her up and changed, then playing with her until everyone else gets up (around 6:00 on weekdays, 6:30 or 7:00 on weekends).
For the past week, I’ve be putting G in a pram and going out for a walk. I figure I’m up early anyway, I may as well be getting some benefit out of it. She loves the walks, too.
Oh, and in case you think it’s weird that a 4.5-year-old needs supervision in the mornings and rides in a pram – G has Down syndrome. She can walk fine, but not for long distances and certainly not at a speed where I’m getting good exercise. She really enjoys riding in the pram and waving at other early-morning walkers and joggers.
Here are some recent photos:
When you live in a small coastal town with views like that, why wouldn’t you be up for sunrise?!
Weekly Weigh-In 2006-09-24
- Current Weight: 89.71 kg (197.8 lbs)
- Change this week: -0.09 kg (-0.20 lbs)
- FFM: -0.06 kg (-0.13 lbs)
- Fat: -0.03 kg (-0.07 lbs)
- Total lost to date: 20.3 kg (44.8 lbs)
- Number of days exercised: 7
A big thanks to Holly for commenting on my last (very much out of date!) weekly report. Your encouragement was one of a number of things that provided me with the motivation to get back in the saddle and get things going again.
Another interesting blog post that helped push me was TappingLuau’s How To Survive Your Young Husband’s First (Unexpected) Heart Attack. Scary stuff, and it makes you think about how your actions (or lack thereof!) can affect those you love most.
So what’s been happening? For the past 6 weeks or so, my weight has been relatively flat (OK, trending upwards very slightly). I’ve been enjoying some extra snacks and higher-calorie meals and not getting as much exercise as I’d like. I’ve been able to take the kids out walking 2 or 3 times per week, but that’s nothing like going for a half-hour run every morning when it comes to burning calories! Still, it’s better than nothing and at least it keeps me in a somewhat active lifestyle. The kids love it too, and we have a great time walking.
This week I made the decision to really try and get some good exercise every day. As we’re heading into spring down here in the southern hemisphere, the days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer. It’s now light when I get home from work, so most days I grab from one to three children and stack them into the pram (and baby backpack, if I have all three!) and head out for a brisk half-hour walk. The kids love it, and it gives my wife some peace and quiet after looking after the kids all day. It also means she can get dinner ready without anyone tugging at her leg or trying to ‘help’. So when we get home, the whole household is much more relaxed and happy!
I went for a 3 km run one morning, and was pretty surprised at how well I did. I ran it in 15:45 – I really thought I’d have lost some fitness and wouldn’ be able to even run the whole thing! It left my wife with a lot of work getting all the kids up without my help, though, so I don’t think that’s going to be workable. Several of the other mornings I took our eldest (G, 4.5 yo) for a walk. She’s the earliest riser in our family (5:00 to 5:30 most mornings!) and usually wakes everyone else up, so if I take her with me everyone else can stay asleep until we get home.
A friend heard that I was taking her walking in the mornings and wanted to jog, so she lent us her jogging pram. They don’t use it anymore, so I thought I’d give it a go. I haven’t used it yet (it had flat tyres), but will post back with a report on how well it works.
Well, here we go on Phase 2 of my “lose weight and get fit” journey!