For as long as I can remember, I've been rubbish at sustained running - in primary school I could barely do the 400m, and ended up walking for anything longer, usually earning "do another lap" as punishment from my PE teachers. Even in my early 20s, when I would occasionally ride 80km on my mountain bike, I couldn't even run a couple of blocks to catch a train - my biking ability came from my ability to sprint and coast, sprint and coast (my hill climbing ability was non-existent, and I could only do longer rides on flat terrain). I could outsprint most people, but could be defeated by the couchiest potato over any distance.
(23andme genetic testing eventually confirmed what I had suspected - I had both sprinter's genes).
Four weeks ago, I decided enough was enough - I had been riding 12 miles to and from work each day, but my ability to run was as bad as it ever was, so, inspired by Lauren, and because Palo Alto has little else to do, I decided to give running (jogging) a serious go. Today I made it to 10km (6.2mi) - we had only meant to go 5km, but after various parts of my stomach stopped hurting (as it they do like clockwork at 2mi, lasting until 4mi), we just kept going. Here's the graph of the past four weeks of progress:
A side benefit has been that my riding speed has also improved as a result; mostly because running has highlighted all the different pain barriers that exist when doing sustained exercise.
It's going to hurt tomorrow. In fact, it hurts right now. As usual, health-oriented people are liars - when I quit smoking, nothing tasted or smelled better and I didn't feel more aerobic; and now, when I run, I feel great for approximately four seconds, and then I feel like poo.
