I jogged to the gym today amid a downpour (29 consecutive days of rain). I noticed that my left knee was hurting right before I got to the gym. It didn't surprise me. The reason is that half-way through my last run on January 6th, I had slight pain in the same knee. I thought that it was just temporary and that it would go away the next day (that's why I didn't write it in the blog), but it didn't. In fact, I was limping for the next few days and the pain didn't go away completely until late last week. Thus the reason for not working out for a long time. BTW, the whole thing really caught me off-guard because I haven't been working out hard at all in the past month. The lesson is that if something hurts, stop doing it. I thought I knew my limits...

Well, when I got to the gym I headed for the stationary bike after doing some light stretches and push-ups and sit-ups. I felt pretty good on the bike and no pain in the knee. I didn't have any clipless pedals however, so I can't say that it won't hurt when I pull up. But I have a feeling it won't because the pain seems to be caused by the force of the impact when my foot hits the pavement.

After a half-hour on the bike, I got on the treadmill and tried jogging at a slow pace -- 6.0mph. But my knee started hurting so I stopped.

I'm taking at least two more weeks off before I run again, maybe more, but I'll do some light biking in the meantime at the gym our outside if it's not too wet.

Total: 9.25mi Bike (stationary); 320 cal.

[Backdated on 1/18/2006]

55 degrees and a slight drizzle made it a very nice day for a run by Puget Sound in the early evening. I felt great and so I ran ~10k.

Total: 6.31mi; 661 cal.; 143.5 lb.

Not a bad year

2005 was a good year for me in terms of exercising. When I started writing the blog in August, I really had no goals except to write down my workouts. The good thing about writing things down is that you can look back and assess your performance over a period of time.

Secondly, a blog or a sports journal of any sort helps in staying consistent because it's harder to make excuses if it's written down on paper. The mind will usually find a way to justify a particular course of action. Of course, there is a reason for everything, but when it's written down one can more objectively analyze whether it was the right decision. For example, if I didn't run last week at all, was it because I was lazy, physically exhausted, not having fun running anymore, or a combination of any of the three? Definitely easier to analyze, especially at a later time, when thought out and then written down.

A third component might be the thought that other people are actually reading the blog and so it reinforces my workout consistency. And with a name like severetraining, aren't I supposed to work out really hard all the time? It's true that when others are watching I will make a bigger effort. That's a very normal phenomenon for almost every athlete and team. That's the reason why a home team usually wins more on the home turf than when playing away, and why cyclists ride faster in a group than alone. So the same reasoning applies to an audience that reads but doesn't see. While pushing myself harder (because of that) is fine with me, I've chosen not to have it affect my decisions in choosing the type and frequency of workouts, not that there is a big audience or anything. Hopefully I could say the same thing even if I had a million dedicated readers.

So, December was a very slow month and I'm proud of it :-). As for 2006, my goals are to run 3 marathons, a few long bike rides and races (if I come across any), and a mini-triathalon or two. A two-week bike tour of a scenic place I haven't been to would be nice too.