Running Up That Hill
- The Archivist
- Feb 5
- 7 min read
Great song. Here's the embed if you've never heard it.
Except that's not the topic for today, because we're talking about literal running!
Aside from the last several years, the only other time I was physically active was when I was a kid, up until about the 7th grade when I severely sprained my ankle trying to jump over cushioned hurdles in gym class. Why we were required to do so remains a mystery to this day, but that's not the point. I was a sedentary thought monkey who preferred to play video games and role-play on play-by-post forums. I was the kid who dreaded P.E. and walked most of the 1 mile run for my high school gym final, though I admit I did run enough of it to feel sick afterward, that much I do remember. And when college rolled around? You bet I was one of those students lumped into the "freshman 15" category.
(A quick note for anyone who may not know the turn of phrase, freshman 15 is used to describe how easily college students gain 15+ lbs within their first year because of how many food options become available and how much of it is actually just junk food. Between buffets and fast food joints, our system does not encourage healthy eating, or at least it didn't when I was in college.)
Around the time I moved to Japan in the fall of 2015--man, it just hit me that that was 10 years ago--I was nearing the ~200 lb / ~91 kg mark, and I hovered around there for well over a year. My apartment was located right next to a bakery, what can I say?
For reference, I stand at 5'4", or ~163 cm, so 200 lb was well overweight. During that time in Japan, I was visiting a physical therapist to correct some ankle and walking issues that had developed from the sprains I'd suffered in middle school. I'll admit I felt self-conscious being an overweight American amongst a multitude of athletic Japanese people. I still remember loathing wearing my cotton sweatpants, really the only workout pants I'd had at the time, while the people surrounding me wore nicer athletic gear branded from Under Armour, Mizuno, and more.
For about a year between 2017 and 2018, I tried a variety of different routines, from Blogilates to Tae Bo to HipHop Abs and some others because I did want to lose weight. I just also wanted to avoid running at all costs, since I loathed it with a fiery burning passion. I think the only exercise I hated more than running was climbing stairs, but I was forcing myself to climb multiple flights a day instead of relying on the elevator to get in some extra movement.
It felt like those routines were working for me, at least until I was doing a HipHop Abs workout in the middle of February and twisted too quickly without having properly warmed up. I felt a pop in my lower left back that immediately dropped me to the floor in pain. Talk about a blow to my motivation. It was like every time I got into a groove with working out, I would either get sick or something would happen to cause injury. It was frustrating, downright infuriating sometimes, but yay for more physical therapy!
Once I was well enough to resume working out, I bit the bullet, thinking that jogging would be a good alternative to those other programs I'd tried. So, I went out and bought a couple new pairs of pants and shirts and downloaded the Couch to 5k app, which was recommended by a friend of mine who'd been using it at the time.
It was not love at first tryout. The first several weeks of the program were grueling, but I'm nothing if not determined when I get an idea in my head, and if physical therapy taught me anything it was that sometimes you have to experience pain in order to heal. So, I kept reminding myself to give C25K the full 9 weeks and then decide whether or not to continue afterward. I'd purchased it after all; I might as well use it.
I'm not one of those people who have ever experienced a runner's high. The first 5 minutes or so of the jog is almost always torturous as I wait for my body to shift gears and realize what's going on, and don't even get me started on hills. Seriously. Hills are just stairs without shape, and they're just as evil. But they do make for good training, despite how fervently I despise them.
I can't name a specific moment where my distaste for jogging flipped to enjoyment. It was more of a gradual shift, where I became so accustomed to jogging, if I didn't go for a week or two, I'd start to feel restless. What did make the in media res enjoyable for me are the times I would be out and would see my students practicing their sports, which always encouraged me to push harder. Oftentimes, they would greet me, too, and yell, 「頑張れ！」which can be translated as, "Do your best!" The rare times the soccer students would warm up while I was out, I'd race them. It didn't take much for them to outpace me, but it made for a nice laugh. Setting goals during the jog, "Okay, I'm going to reach that post before it tells me to walk again. Okay, I managed that, so I'm going to make it to that intersection then," created worthwhile challenges that flushed me with a sense of accomplishment when met and determination to get it next time if not.
By the time I moved back to the States, running had become my preferred mode of exercise, though I'm by no means a marathon runner. I've never even entered an actual 5k race, despite the app's reasoning that doing so would encourage me to keep training. What began as the extrinsic motivation of wanting to lose weight eventually morphed into the intrinsic motivation of wanting to improve and become stronger.
I've lost many of my records, but below is a look at Week 1 Day 2 from the 5th of March 2018. I would use Day 1, but I actually forgot to activate my GPS that day, so there's no data available. For context, there's a warmup and cooldown period of 5 minutes each. The actual jogging part for week 1 is 1 minute of jogging followed by 1.5 minutes of walking repeated as a circuit for a total of 8 times. All in all, 8 minutes of jogging and 12 minutes of walking.
The area where I jogged in Japan was flat. If there was any elevation change, it was too gradual to notice. 6'20"/km was my pace back when it was most difficult forming the habit. It's not a great pace, but it gave me a benchmark from which I could improve. My final pace time I still have recorded for week 1 in Japan was from 2019, and I managed to lower it to 5'25"/km. Unfortunately, I don't have any other records for week 1 between then and when I left in 2021.
I mostly want to share this because it shows that you have to start somewhere no matter what skill you're trying to develop and that you're probably going to perform badly.
That's okay.
If you nurture the skill and persevere, you'll improve until you reach the pinnacle of achievement at your current level:
This was shortly after I returned to the States, where I have to contend with hills for half the jog, some of which are steep. It took 3 years to be able to shave off a minute and 40 seconds of time for my jogging pace between the flat ground of Japan and the hilly terrain of the States.
And of course diet changes, weight gain, injuries, Covid, aging, and other factors have affected my performance further, but that's a normal part of the process.
It's easy to place ourselves in boxes that we think define us. "I'm not into doing sports because I'm overweight." "I'll never be able to draw what's in my head because it never turns out right." "I'll never be able to write a novel because I'm just not that creative."
As somebody who very much hated exercising all throughout school because I viewed myself more as a nerd and nerds don't like gym, I'll say this as my final point, "You can. But will you?"
Other Notable Accomplishments:
Skies Over Aefala: "Teyr'loch Delter Pach" Performance Progress
Finished the prologue
Wrote the climactic point/finale
Wrote the ending
Wrote Arc 1 within Act I
Pihm's reading of Cael's past
I've been both excited and dreading writing out the scene in my head to the piece "Experience" by Ludovico Einaudi. Since it was the piece that inspired much of this performance, I wanted to make sure I got it just right, which put a lot of pressure on me. I'm really happy with how the rough draft of it turned out.
The recovery period that leads into Arc 2
Built With Science
Since I lowered the weights for this past week, the most noteworthy thing I can mention is how much more painful single legged hip thrusts were. Surprising, right? I was using other muscles to overcompensate when I was lifting with weight, so going back to basics and really focusing on glute activation, dear lord was my left leg especially shaking. Makes sense, since it's the same leg of the knee I injured.
Pain still shoots through my knee when I do step ups, sissy squats, or lunges, so I've replaced those sorts of movements with a plank with knee extension instead. Turns out focusing on pulling with the muscles instead of bending the knee can make quite a big difference.
Regress to progress...regress to progress...
Surprisingly, my knee issues haven't affected my running?
C25K
Completed week 1 and plan to redo it to see about improving my pace further.
What's Left to Write of the Performance?
Act I
Arc 2: Present
Arc 3: Future
Interlude
Act II
Arc 1: Past
Arc 2: Present
Arc 3: Future
Questions for Contemplation & Discussion:
What sort of limitations are you placing on yourself? "I can't do X because Y." What led to these beliefs? Is it because of the voice of family members or your peer group? Because of fear of failure or repeated failures in the past? Because of a lack of instant gratification? Because of factors outside your control?
What happens if you flip all those worries the bird and do X anyway?
Just like how I used to hate running, what is an activity you think you hate? What happens if you spend a few weeks really trying to get to know that activity and understand it? If you start doing that activity, record your journey and see where you end up in a few weeks. Do you still hate it, and if so, have you at least gained a greater appreciation toward those who do enjoy it?
This Week's Obligatory Cat Pic: Salad
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