Activitybased Lifestyle

What I worried about, my cold, is almost all gone, except for the occasional coughs here and there ( I don't trust the ventilation of my work place - every time I work, I feel sinus issues which clears up when I stay home. We probably need to clean the vent system). Anyway, after my long run last Sunday, I developed a late onset of muscle soreness no amount of active recovery or stretching could relieve. I won't take pain meds. Again, I am anti-pills especially pain relievers, that's just me. I don't trust them. I'll take them if prescribed but I won't take over the counter pills if I can help it. Now the soreness is almost gone as well. I think I still can run the Feb 22 race. But I am not talking of breaking personal records here. I will run merely for fun. I will be with friends but as I said in my previous post, I might spend only very little time with them because what I need nowadays is major REST. I have books to read, blogs to write, miles to run, and hours to sleep. Sleep, I am beginning to put value on sleep again. Sleep is the major vitamin man can utilize. Sleep makes the body recover the lost energy, it repairs, regenerate and replenishes the lost tissues damaged by wear and tear, it clears up the mind, it frees one from dreaded stresses, it balances the imbalances of the body. Sleep is a very important medication.

For the last two days, I have been limiting myself to slow recovery walks and jogs on my treadmill. My quads and calves were killing me. Oh BTW, when I ran 12.5 miles last Sunday after being sick for ten days? Uhm, don't do that. It was what I called a desperate run, meant only to check if I could pull a half marathon this coming Sunday. The soreness would be severe if you do something like that. In fact, a beginner runner might sustain an injury for doing that.

I mentioned this to my friend Matt as well after he ran 5 miles (which he never did before - the most he did was 3 miles prior). A few days after the run, he said he could not get up due to severe back pain.

For runners, lets all remember the 10 percent rule. You increase your weekly mileage only by ten percent. Especially long distance runs, don't increase them more than 10 percent weekly.

I would probably extend that rule to everything. I like the number 10 anyway. In the book Outliers, it says to become a 'specialist' or 'expert' on anything, it takes 10 years to regularly practice. In hospital setting, it takes only 10 days on bed before developing malaise and cachexia/de-conditioning and when you resume normal tasks, you'd get so dizzy because of orthostatic hypotension. It took me ten days to recover from my recent cold. Ten miles running should make you ready for half marathon. Ten is such a magical word. You change the first digit of your age every ten years.

Ok, I am turning goofy now. Let me sign off. For weights, it's also safe to follow the ten percent rule.

I'd probably run in the park tonight.