Sunday, May 30, 2004

Exercise

So, the running is continuing. This fat middle-aged man appears to have lengthened his stride a bit. I am using a pedometer, so I have to enter in the length of my stride. When I started out, it was at 2'6". I used that to pace out a couple of routes, near our apartment, and near my in-laws house. Then, suddenly, last week, the pedometer was not agreeing with what I had measured before. So, a recalibration on a route of known distance puts my current stride at about 2'11". So, I seem to be improving. My energy level is improving a bit, although today, running at 11am, it seemed to wear me down a bit. And my weight has finally turned south enough that I can say it's not just a fluctation within the usual limits.

I also did a bit of research on treadmills, this week. I prefer to run, or jog, really, because walking doesn't really seem to get my heart rate up until I am walking so fast it is awkward. And, I want a surface that is a bit easier on my overloaded knees and ankles than tarmac. So, I checked into treadmills for runners. It was not heartening. I could expect to pay no less that $1k for a sufficiently sturdy model. Yes, I could probably fined one used on eBay for less, but with no certainty as to what it had been through. A bit more research turned up rebounding. Basically, exercising on a minitrampoline. My wife is buying me one for father's day. There was some stuff about NASA's use, etc. I will let you know more after I have been on it a bit. The price was low enough that I felt it was worth a try for joint-friendly exercise.

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