All Systems Go March 24, 2008
Posted by Mike Oliveri in Activities, Fitness, Workouts.Tags: cholesterol, doctors, nikeplus, physicals, running
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I had quite an eventful day today, health-wise.
I started with a visit with the doctor. They called it a “get acquainted” visit, but it turned out to be a simple physical. They took my weight, blood pressure and pulse, then the doc and I chatted about family history, risk factors, my personal history, and so on. He felt my neck and sinuses (lymph node check?), pushed on my gut some (I tried not to giggle), checked my lower legs (presumably for adema), and of course he listened to my heart and lungs (no murmurs – guess my secrets are safe).
The nice thing about losing over 50 pounds in two years and attending karate classes for the last year is I didn’t have to worry about him ragging on me for my weight. “Keep it up” is much better than “You really need to do something about that gut, Tubby.” We both agreed I need a cholesterol screening, and I just found out a local hospital’s Wellmobile will be at an area fitness center in the morning. I’m there.
I told the doc about the running program and he gave me the thumbs up. He says it’s good that it builds up to the 5k slowly because too many people try to run 3-4 miles their first time and can’t figure out why they’re so fatigued, why their blood pressure shot sky high, and why they’re overcome with aches and pains. A program like this will not only keep someone from getting discouraged, it will ensure they run safely and protect their health.
Which, I guess, is kinda important.
So tonight I started running: 60 seconds jogging, 90 seconds walking, repeating for 20 minutes. It went well, and you can read more about it here. The Nike+ receiver on my iPod nano says I did 3km and burned 330 calories in 25 minutes. Not too shabby.
Troy ran today as well. Read the comments on the last post for his experience, and we’ll see if we can’t nudge him into a full post. Tomorrow, my friend Jack joins the blog and the running program as well.
That makes three of us. Who’s next?
I somehow managed to drag my ass out of bed this morning after “THE RUN” last night. Did the 12 step stretching exercises – very important for us old timers. Started off with the 5-minute brisk walk, then the 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. I was really dogging it by the end and did not feel well at all last night, pains in the collarbone areas, blood pressure was 135 over 91 as measured by my home health nurse (my wife), slept in the recliner last night. Debated running on Tuesday night with my 2 youngest boys but will postpone that until Wednesday night.
Muscles are a little sore, especially my anterior thigh muscles (quads?) and the front of my left ankle.
Steady and slow wins the race according to the turtle.
Take care and cmon, Jack!
Troy
I really want to try this program, but I worry about my knees. Have either of you had trouble with your knees? Mine crack all the time, and they occasionally give out on stairs.
I’ve been doing something of a running program of my own, in that after my 30 minutes on the elliptical walker, which is typical when I get to the gym, I move over to the treadmill and run for a few minutes. 2-3 minutes at the moment, intending to build up. In the past, when I was exercising more regularly, I’d actually managed to run 3 miles in 30 minutes on that infernal machine. {wicked grin} I want to get back to that, and further, because at that point I’d gotten down to 192 but never lower.
I’m currently, according to my scale at home, 229, which is down from 245 last year.
Troy – Very cool that you can run with your boys. My wife’s thinking about trying this program now, too, and may join me tomorrow. (I just got home from a long trip to Indiana so I may end up a day off schedule this week — Mon/Thur/Sat then back to Mon/Wed/Fri next week).
Gina – I haven’t had any knee problems at all, yet. How are your knees when you walk?
John – Doesn’t sound like a half bad plan to me, bro. My record low — at least since high school — is 185. I was lean at that point, which is why I don’t take much stock in those BMI charts. That’s a subject for another post, though…
Mike
My knees aren’t bad when I walk. I practiced yoga for several years and they improved over that time, but I’m scared that they’ll go back. I guess I won’t know until I try, though!