Running and the Elliptical

That sounds like the title of a really bad children's parable.

I guess I should give some of you a bit of background first, for context. I've never been a good runner...actually, that's a misstatement; I've always been a horrible runner. When they made us run in elementary school PE class, I could barely finish the mile and it was in a very poor time. Throughout my several years of Judo, even when I was going to practice 3-4 times a week for 3 hours each time with an hour of weights and cardio before, I couldn't run. I would do wonderfully on the rowing machine and the stairs, but I couldn't run a mile to save my life. The one year that I played football, I smoked /everyone/ in stadium snakes, but couldn't run distance or sprints at even an average level. When I played Ultimate for two years at OSU, I started at 250+ pounds, so it's understandable that I couldn't run then. But after two years, I was down to about 210 or so and able to do a few crappy sprints now and then and play full games (granted, I was a handler, so I didn't have to run as much as others), but I still couldn't run a mile.

For the past ten years, approximately, I've been losing weight from my peak around 300 pounds sometime around 1998. It tends to go in spurts with plateaus at particular points. I did most of my work between 1999 and 2004. A couple of years of Ultimate and living on rice and beans (with a can of chicken as a treat when I was really rolling in the money...) helped quite a bit. I plateaued around 210 from 2004 to 2007, for the most part. I had started gaining some weight back early in law school, but lost most of it when I went to HK in the summer of 2006. This past fall in HK, I lost almost 20 pounds, which was great. Unfortunately, I knew that I was going to have a hard time keeping it off, since when I returned to the US, I would not be walking everywhere, the food would be much less healthy, and the portion sizes would be about twice as large. So, I decided I would need to make some adjustments to my normal routine when I got home. I decided I was going to take drastic measures...start running !

For the past two weeks, I've been using the elliptical at Mike's place every other day and seeing some decent improvement. The first time I used it, I barely managed to complete about 12 minutes at maybe .7 miles, with several walk-breaks in that period. The next attempt was 15 minutes at a mile, then 18 minutes, then 30 minutes with 4 breaks at 1.8 miles. The last two times I used it, I went 30 minutes without walk-breaks and am up to about 2.3 miles in 30 minutes on hills. I was pretty happy about that, especially considering my atrocious history with running.

Late last night I drove to Houston to see my family and make an appearance at Owlcon. Since an elliptical is not exactly very portable, I figured I would have to finally break in my shoes on an outdoor surface and do actual running. I expected it to be a bit different, maybe slightly different muscles, and maybe a bit easier since it would be on a flat surface rather than hills. Well, guess what? I still can't run a damned mile! I ran maybe a total of 1.5 miles and had to take several breaks. It was completely different from the elliptical! It worked completely different muscles and worked my lungs harder. The elliptical kept my heart rate higher for the duration and worked some muscles just above my knees and up along my thighs. Running was working some muscles above my knees and to the outside of the leg, my shins, and my arches. Part of that is probably my shoes; they are supposed to work the muscles in my feet and lower legs. But, still, it was quite disappointing. I guess I'm going to have to start running one day and elliptical the next to work the different muscles. Hopefully, I will see the same improvement as on the elliptical.

The good news is that, rather than regaining weight, I've actually lost about another 10 pounds since I got back from HK. I am now down to 183, which is probably the lightest I've been since 1993 and my lean, not-so-mean, not-so-green Judo days. Of course, considering I know I still have some fat to lose, that means I have some serious muscle mass to regain, particularly upper body (as usual). I suppose I will start working on that when I get back from Boston and live near campus again. Ok, if you made it this far, I feel sorry for you and I will let you get back to your life now ;)