I’m going to publicly admit just how stupid I am so that others may learn from my mistake:
A few years ago, a neighbor and I took up “slogging.” Slogging = SLOW jogging…you could not, by any stretch of the imagination, call what we were doing “running.” (This is not the stupid part.) We actually did really well, thanks for asking. Over the course of a summer we went from being people-who-don’t-jog to people-who-can-jog-5K-very slowly! We did 3.2 miles in about 33 minutes. We always said we were going to run (did I say run? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!) a REAL 5K, you know, where they stick a number on your back and there are other participants and someone even times you…preferably it would be an event where the money went for cancer research or the homeless shelter or something like that. But we never did slog a “real” 5K.
She hasn’t kept up her slogging, but I have…off and on. (Okay, mostly “off.”) I hadn’t slogged since last fall, but I decided yesterday to go give it a try and see how I did. (This, in and of itself, is not the stupid part, either.) I walked over to the park. Keep in mind I am older now. And don’t tell anyone, but I am also about ten pounds heavier than I was last fall. So I started out nice and slow…I was ready to quit about a quarter of the way around the .8 mile loop, but I pressed on! I used to do four laps no problem, so there was no reason I shouldn’t be able to haul myself around the loop at least once.
I did make it around once…then I walked a second loop and slogged a third. Yay me!
Here comes the stupid part: I did not stretch beforehand! I got to the park and realized I hadn’t stretched, so I just did a couple cursory stretches, which took me all of thirty seconds. And then I figured I wasn’t going to go for long anyway, so I’d be fine. Famous last words…
I AM SO SORE TODAY!!!!! And I have a school visit tomorrow. 🙁
(Maybe I should stick to biking?)
Ow! I hope you heal up soon and aren’t in too much pain for your school visit!
I pulled both, yes both, quads today while doing dead lifts with my trainer. I finished up one set. Rested. Bent down to pick up the bar…and never even touched it. Something popped and I flopped to the ground. It’s slightly painful now, not call-the-doctor painful though. I hope I can walk tomorrow. I’m signed up to help at A’s Cinco de Mayo party at school!
Ow yourself! I hope you feel better, too!
Actually, research has shown pre-stretching doesn’t reduce injury. I believe in post-stretching though. And you could try keeping a steady dose of Advil in you to relieve the inflammation.
Really? I’ve never stretched AFTER slogging before, but I’ve always kind of thought I should. It’s a logical time to stretch when your muscles are warm. I’m just too lazy to stretch both before and after…and every time I don’t stretch before, I end up sore the next few days. I wouldn’t say I’m “injured,” just sore.
And I should take Advil…but I’m a tough Midwestern girl…I’m in a LOT of pain before I pop any pills at all. Even Advil. (Which is probably a little silly…okay, I’m going to go take an Advil right now…)
My PT advised me to take a little Advil around the clock when I was recovering.
Umm…FYI…I think 5K in 33 minutes is something to be PROUD of!!! Keep slogging. It’s exactly what I do. : )
Well, I can’t do 5K at all right now…but I’m hoping to work back up to it. I was not AT ALL athletic in school…in fact, I was small and one of the youngest kids in the class, so I was often among the last picked for a team. So it was a huge boost to suddenly be slogging 5K at all in my late 30s!