Derek England
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About Paruda

Run, Run, Run February 2005

Every so often I find myself slowing down and decide to lose some weight and get back in shape. For this purpose I've had two main exercises: running on the spot, and situps. The running is good aerobic exercise that makes me sweat buckets, and the situps strengthen my lower back and make lifting things a whole lot easier. I usually keep it up until I've reached some weight loss goal... or until I injure myself, or until I get buried in some other distraction that leaves me with no time to run. That last one is a lame excuse, of course, since I know that when I'm in shape, I'm better prepared to do just about anything.

This time around, I've also added stair climbing to the package. Running on the spot doesn't do a heck of a lot for the upper legs since it's not imperative that the feet get very high off the ground. Rather than attempt to artificially will myself to raise my knees higher while running, I'm just climbing stairs after I finish running.

Here's what I've done since beginning in mid-January:

Run MinutesSitupsFloors
January
50201
50202
50223
50224
50245
February
50246
50267
50268
50289
--20
502830
503011
503012

To help me stick to my plan this time around, I've taken the bold step of actually posting my schedule on the wall at home, and asked Mrs. Paruda to kindly yell at me should I not keep up with the routine. I've missed one run thus far off my schedule, due to discomfort in my knees. I'm not sure if it's related to the stair climbing or just the way I was sitting at work this week. Hmmm. Only one way to find out — run on it! Update: Probably just the way I was sitting. I added some stair climbing at work to my totals the last few days, with no ill effects.

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