Since wrapping my knee worked so well at relieving my knee pain while hiking, I actually tried jogging this week. But, I'm either a fast walker or a slow jogger. My best pace jogging was only 15 minutes per mile. But, I can walk on the American Tobacco Trail which is flat and paved at 16 minutes per mile. I'm not sure that the time saving is worth it, but I'll probably keep working it into my routine to see if I get faster. My knees okay this morning, but I could definitely feel the impact of jogging while I was actually doing it.
I'm very close to 229. I actually saw that weight on my home scale last night after jogging, so I'm really hopeful I can reach it at work next Monday. It was roughly a year ago I first went to the doctor for my sleep apnea and weighed in at 288. So, if I get to 228 before the end of March, I'll be 60 pounds lighter than I was a year ago. This is a very motivating goal. Onward!
Your knee, or both knees, may hurt a little more tomorrow (second day is always the worst for me), but that should go away if you make this a routine. You'll get faster too. The guy I talked to about cardio fitness told me that even slow jogging is more aerobic, and therefore better for metabolism and heart fitness, than walking (but not necessarily better than biking). Also, the goal would be to keep your heart rate within certain parameters based on your body and health. For me, it topped out right around one forty-five. I tended to run till my pulse hit that ballpark, and then walk it back to normal, and then run again. The cardio guy said working even harder was often a diminishing return. So when I started, I would sprint fairly quickly for a quarter mile, then walk for one, then run again--all trying to keep my heart rate between one hundred and one forty. Obviously, after a few weeks of this, it started taking half a mile (or faster running) to hit my mark, and the walking parts diminished at the same time (but not the same rate, oddly). By the end I was alternating between fast running and slower running to achieve the same thing, running about three miles a day, and getting it done in about twenty-five minutes. That's about six hundred calories a day.
ReplyDeleteA treadmill helps with some of this, especially the measuring, but it's a trade-off with having scenery and a real breeze.