Medicine balls! Wonderful things - I look at mine nearly every day and occasionally think I should pick it up once in a while.
Seriously though, they are brilliant for the core - when I was at my fittest a year or so ago, the medicine ball routines were an important part of it. Go for it EG, this is all really good gear.
I'm keen to know more about this virtual run thingummyjig ...
Medicine ball eh? Hmm ... I could certainly use some core strength ...
Would lifting pints of very dense ale help?
Didn't think so
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
I'm always intrigued to read of the canal path anglers, EG, which you've often mentioned. I suggest trying the engage them in conversation by wearing provocative T-shirts with slogans such as "Anglers Do It Alone". You can further engage their enthusiasm by throwing rocks in the water to "stir the fish into life for them".
Sympathies re: gouty toe. You're sounding positive though, already spinning in Campbellesque fashion re: possible benefits.
I reckon if it clears up by Thursday it's a blessing in (painful) disguise.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Gout has affected many wise and famous men who have influenced the course of human history. Among the more famous gout sufferers are Kublai Khan of China, King Henry VIII of England, Goethe, Martin Luther, John Milton, Charlemagne, Oliver Cromwell, Galileo Galilei, Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, William Pitt the Elder, Benjamin Franklin, and US President Theodore Roosevelt, to name but a few.
There EG, according to the redoubtable internet, you are in elite company.
May it at least give you some solace until Crawley. Meantime, rest well...
(14-10-2009, 10:41 AM)El Gordo Wrote: I encountered one of your thoughts yesterday, which I found most bewitching. Indeed, I thought it would make a splendid slogan for this website:
“Wisely, and slow. They stumble that run fast.”(Romeo and Juliet)
FRIAR LAURENCE
O, she knew well
Thy love did read by rote and could not spell.
But come, young waverer, come, go with me,
In one respect I'll thy assistant be;
For this alliance may so happy prove,
To turn your households' rancour to pure love.
Best of luck at Crawley guys - I eagerly await the outcome. As Sweder's not in town to lead SP astray, I'm expecting a good showing from SP, and a stoic performance from EG. What the result will be however I dare not speculate.
(19-10-2009, 08:44 PM)Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote: EG poses the question, "What is a race"? It's a form of madness, but some people win.
Question for EG: What is an "A&E Department"?
Lovely post EG - rarely has such a "bad"* run been put so eloquently.
*Your term, EG. Frankly I think you did bloody well given the circumstances. Any successfully completed 10km is a good run, really.
Thanks -- and I'm absolutely not beating myself up about it. When I winched myself off the sofa 4 weeks ago, Brighton was my first planned race, and I still think that's about the right target for me given my weight and poor condition. SP then suggested the Crawley race, and I thought, well, why not? I'm glad I did it, and it was a lovely location (and nice to see SP and Claire), but just annoyingly tough for a first race. I've struggled to run 5 miles so far, so a tough 6 miles wasn't going to be easy for me. Without wanting to sound complacent, I need to just keep chipping away at the weight, and I do think these problems will get smaller. I sound like a stuck record, but weight is key. I've lost 13 pounds so far, which is good, but the same amount again will transform these performances -- just wait and see.
A & E = Accident and Emergency -- the hospital department you go to when you need unscheduled treatment after an accident.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
(19-10-2009, 09:02 PM)El Gordo Wrote: I sound like a stuck record, but weight is key. I've lost 13 pounds so far, which is good, but the same amount again will transform these performances -- just wait and see.
You're absolutely right EG. Weight and training. Working as a team. As Harry Hill might say.
Quote:I sound like a stuck record, but weight is key.
Sorry Boss, but I disagree.
The key, (for me anyway) is hauling myself off my fat arse and getting out there to run. Miles in your legs/time on your feet, call it what you will.
I believe it is more important to build stamina, train the running muscles in the legs and have the ability to regulate breathing.
Build on that, and surely the weight will come off.
I think we're advocating the same thing, though viewing it from a different standpoint. I find running very hard when I'm at my porkiest. I have to approach weight loss from an eating direction, and once I've lost a few pounds I find it much easier to get out there. Once I do get out there, I still find that I will lose weight only if I am careful about my diet. A classic situation for me is to lose plenty of weight, run 3 times a week with reasonable confidence and feel fittish -- and then to get complacent about diet. So I drink too much beer and eat carelessly, but because I'm exercising, don't put much weight back on. But I just plateau on running and never improve further. This is what has happened leading up to every marathon I've done, and explains why I've never got much better. If (big if) I can maintain my focus on the weight loss while still doing the training, I think I'll get my race times down.
I don't disagree with what you say if that way of looking at things is what works for you. It's just that I don't really have much trouble in getting out the door, and never have. But I don't enjoy it much if I'm not below (say) 215 pounds. Above that (where I still am) it's hard work.
Crikey, that's 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back....
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
The two are not mtually exclusive; the one helps the other. One could claim either as the key factor in improved performance, although it rather depends on the size (or poundage) of your corpulence. Some folks are so rotund they find the physical act of running is not an option.
I've seen lardier men than I fly past & I've beaten a few whippets in my time (though not many). It's a chicken & egg thing, and just goes to endorse Hal Higdon's oft-quoted view that we're all an experi... (see pages 92-94)
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
(21-10-2009, 12:40 PM)Sweder Wrote: I've seen lardier men than I fly past & I've beaten a few whippets in my time (though not many). It's a chicken & egg thing, and just goes to endorse Hal Higdon's oft-quoted view that we're all an experi... (see pages 92-94)
Or George Sheehan even....
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
RE: 2009 - Autumn 
Medicine balls. 
RE: 2009 - Autumn ![[Image: 200155794-001.jpg]](http://www.fotosearch.com/bthumb/DGV/DGV073/200155794-001.jpg)