Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Jogging.

I've been doing regular jogs for some time now, and I have some thoughts about jogging.

When did I start taking up jogging?
Let's see... It started last year January, but disrupted when I went to Vancouver for my exchange program (it was too cold to run there. I tried.) I resumed jogging when I came back, and has since been jogging up to now.

What are the distances you jog?
I started off with the usual 2.4km, from 1 round/week to 3 rounds/week.
Then I grew bored of the short distance and migrated to 4km runs 2 rounds/week.
Now I'm running 4km 3 rounds/week, with a 21km run every fortnight (I've run 3 so far) in preparation for the Standard Chartered Marathon slated in 4th Dec. If I feel too energetic, I up my 4km runs to 8kms, albeit at a slower pace.

But dang, Standard Chartered ran out of space, so I'm looking forward to the next marathon. No need to be Standard Chartered. A person has to do at least one marathon in his whole life and I intend to do more than one.
But I really dig Standard Chartered's slogan, "There's no such thing as bad weather - only weak minds."

What has joggin done for me?

Before Army, I was decent.


BUT Army turned me into a fat bastard incapable of chasing after an ice-cream man. Jogging (and all the circuit trainings) has reversed this situation, and I think I'm quite fit now. My body doesn't allow me to go super fast (unlike Gurkha in his prime of youth), but I think I'm pushing it to decent speeds and distances. But still not competitive speeds.

Bus chasing from one station to the next is quite possible, but I still puff a little. But I do get the bus, yes.


Any injuries?
My knees are slowly going, I think.


The first time I ran my 21km, it was "GOOD LORD, I AM GOING TO SEE YOU TOMORROW...."


But I learned to change my jogging gait to minimise impacts on my knees, and now am able to do 21kms without reporting sick the next day. Really cool. But I must say the running gait looks ugly. It's like all those walking joggers who shake their butts all the time. So there's actually a purpose for the shaking butts... hmmm...

How should I start a jogging regime?

Join me! I'm sick of jogging by myself. Not really. But a companion's always good. Jeremy gave up on me after 1 round around the school. He'd rather stick to basketball.



I jog in school, A2 route. Mostly after 12am, when I can jog bare-bodied in only my jogging shorts. I do my 21kms on Sats/Sundays... Only guys need apply. Or pretty gals. Haha.

Erm, how should I start a jogging regime BY MYSELF?
Start off with 2.4km? I dunno. Once the distance gets comfortable, try to increase speed. Maybe till 1030min or less.

Then you may want to try attaining the 945 IPPT gold standard (generally you run faster and faster for same or shorter distances.) or you may want to try going for distances (you jog slower/same speed for longer and longer distances). The essence is that you move to higher speed/longer distance, once you get comfortable with the current config. Otherwise you'll be a wussy.

Here's a good website for reference

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