On a 'High'...

Gotta motivate myself. I am feeling good about my jog yesterday.

Left the office on time (for once in a very long while!) and did a run that to me was a person best. Not in terms of speed, but in terms of duration. I ran for (personally of course: incredibly) 45mins! Nothing to be sniffed yet by anyone who is a running junkie, those can go on for hours. But for me, phoaawww, that was a personal best!

Distance-wise, I guess it was not much more than 4.5-5km, but it sure as heck feels a lot longer. Indeed, I gave up only after my feet hurts! I really wanted to finish it, but did not also want to take the risk of injuring myself and having to take an extended rest period again. Like what happened a month ago when I was down with this incredibly long flu bout, it wasn't intense, but it was sure dogged!

Last night's run felt like an accomplishment. It left me feeling very good, although the mood of the significant other dampened it (a lot!). SO was on a roll- spoiling for a fight and was cantankerous on everything! Sheesh! But enough of that.

I can only hope that I can keep up the momentum. Also, the strategy was for time, not speed. There's a reason, and I am going to share this tip with anyone who is trying to lose weight.

Physiologically, our bodies uses blood sugar to power our exercises of short duration- typically below half an hour. It is only after that time, when the body depletes its short-term cache, that it taps into the fats for energy. And that is the main reason why cardio exercises should go on for longer than that, if our exercise goal is to lose weight! And although, I knew that principle, it took a paradoxical situation to remind me again of it.

Two weeks ago, I brought my kid to her paedetrician (sp?) for a nasty eye infection. He was his (unsual) chatty self and we talked about gaining weight and trying to shed it. In a long convoluted way, we came around to the fact about duration, not speed. And it then struck a chord, as I was at that time also trying to kick-start my exercise.

So, my present strategy now is to aim for duration. The only constraint is paradoxically, time itself, something precious that I do not have much of in any given day.