Saturday, September 12, 2009

A glass half full

For three weeks before my surgery, and six weeks after, I have had no exercise more strenuous than an occasional walk in the park. And yet, when I climbed onto the weighing scales today, I found that I weigh 2 kilogrammes less than I did the last time I weighed myself.
My clothes tell me that even if I haven’t gained as much weight as I expected to, I haven’t lost any. I know I did not stop myself from indulging in chocolates, so the weight loss cannot be attributed to a better diet. Much as I would like to pretend otherwise, I even know that the weight loss is because of loss of muscle mass due to the forced sedentary lifestyle of the last few weeks. But whatever the reason, it is exhilarating to know that after years of trying to breach the 60 kg mark, I have finally achieved 58Kgs.

I wanted to celebrate the end of the period of enforced rest by a long jog. My stamina has, unfortunately, taken a beating, and I was forced to quit after just 20 minutes.
But a rather productive 20 minutes it was. Because of the forced sabbatical, I found I could not find the old rhythm. Which gave me the window to experiment with my stride. Maybe it will take me more than just a few weeks to get back my old form, but if in that time I am able to get used to the longer stride, I would be able to cover a lot more ground with the same level of effort – always a bonus in distance running.

All these weeks I have been getting restless because I was not able to run. I would be kidding if I pretend that I have not been slightly distressed thinking of the extra effort I would have to put in to reach my former level of fitness. But from that ‘calamity’ has come something much more precious – a better running technique.

Isn’t life like that? We get so easily disheartened when things don’t go exactly the way we want them to. But often, something much better comes out of it, which we chose to ignore. To quote the old chestnut, the same glass that is half empty is also half full.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, hadn't realized you have had surgery. Hope all went well.

And yes - amazing how those old chestnuts also happen to be true!

Hart Johnson said...

Just so you don't think you are getting away with something... over a mile, the effort at propelling the same weight in long strides or short is the same... Unless of course you were spending a lot of extra effort going UP, but somehow I don't see you as QUITE that bouncy. verticle distance is however, the ONLY way to change the total effort involve in going a certain distance. The effort to propel your own body any given distance is always exactly the same other than that (walking it in an hour, running it in 7 minutes... SAME total effort--a mile's a mile's a mile...) what you MIGHT change is your distance in a 40 minute time, or how your body feels about it...

That said... (glass half empty session over)--you are a SUPERSTAR to get back to it so soon. Each week off takes two to recover, but i feel like often that break gives you enough motivation that that recovery no longer is toward the old limit, but a new one--you can keep building without the old blockage...

dipali said...

You will get back into form soon enough, as you are so highly motivated. I move around the house comfortably enough with my broken wrist, but the one morning I did walk I felt oddly 'unbalanced'
and incredibly exhausted. I'll get there later rather than sooner, but get back I will:)

Natasha said...

@Tami- Ah well, that is good to know. Ever since this collegue of mine (and he is a Masters in Physical Education, so I thought he would know) told me the lenght of the stride is important, I have been dreaming of improving it. But if it does get me there faster, I am not cribbing.

@ dipali - a broken wrist is much worse than a laproscopic surgery - there is so much that can be done only with an intact wrist. We will both get back to normal soon enough!

@ Fiona - had a hystrectomy exactly six weeks back. In fact, as I write this, I am thinking back to that Monday when just around this time, I was going under anesthesia!

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