Late August run

Like I said in the first post, the book "Born to Run" certainly did wake me up. But it's not gospel, and to each their own - remember that! For me, it was easy to change my running style, and something I was able to do in about a week, but that was mainly because I didn't really have one! And the muscles I had developed from my iaido martial arts practice coincided very neatly with being much of what I needed to run "barefoot", or, on the balls of my feet rather than the heels. So before you go and run barefoot on asphalt for many kilometres, read the book, think about it a little, and use your old sneakers instead. They'll be formed after your feet well enough. If you want to go with Vibram Five-Fingers, go ahead, but be prepared they require a different set of muscles than ordinary running.

With that said...

Today, around dinnertime, I realised I needed groceries. I'm a bit of a recluse, and I was supposed to meet a friend today, but the thought of going there by public transport for two hours one way, in rush hour, paralysed me, so I had to give that up. Instead, I dug out old but serviceable shorts and a t-shirt, and strapped on sandals and a backpack, and set out.

The way there is mostly asphalt, but I took a detour through a small area of trees with a nature trail up and down a hill. It is clear my fitness is not on top, but I didn't stop and walk. It's probably merely a kilometre or two to the store. After shopping, I took a detour back, with a nice slow uphill climb for the last part. Again, it was no more than a few kilometres, so when I arrived back home I put the yoghurt in the fridge and set out into the woods behind the house. They are, let me tell you, not well-trod. It is a great pity, but I shan't be able to run there very much, which strands me with a fairly drab set of asphalt road for beginning and end to every run.
Regardless, when I got back from my jaunt in the forest (it was fun dodging nettles and fallen trees) I felt I had energy to spare, and was high as a kite on the joy of running.

I have also done three sets of crunches, 12 times each of straight and double-side, three sets of varying back-lifts (twenty or so repetitions every time), shoulder excercises with a red rubber band (three sets of every excercise, one-sided and double-sided after eachother), iai goshi ups and downs (standing in iai goshi and going up and down, with the front knee in static position above the heel), some cuts with my iaito (about a hundred I'd say, slow and faster), core excercises (standing with straight body on toes and bent arms, I have no idea what the name is in English) and so on.

I had set the timer at twenty minutes, to encourage myself that it really wasn't a lot of time to waste, just twenty minutes, hardly anything really! I may have gone on for five or ten minutes more, because it felt good. I did a little stretching, but far too little.

Eating today has been:
a bowl of yoghurt with various nuts, puffed unsweetened rice, half an apple, dried cranberries, crushed linseeds and pumpkin seeds
dark rye (?) bread with cream cheese and sausage
tea <3 (black, one cup in the morning, and then herbal teas - I know what caffeine late in the day does to me...)
bowl of salad with one mushroom, one tomato, Gouda cheese, mozzarella cheese, cashew nuts

Painkillers used:
none, yay!