To walk or run?

Regular readers (all 3 of you), will be familiar with my attempts at running.

It goes like this:

1. Run little bits until your lungs burst and legs drop off (about 1 minute).
2. Do Couch to 5K program and be able to run (the correct term in my case is really "jog", but whatevs) 30 minutes without stopping.
3. Actually be able to run 5km without stopping (it takes me 40-50minutes).
4. Do some kind of running program to get up to 10km.
5. Enter 10km Fun Run. Come nearly last.
6. Stop running.
7. Have to start again from step 1.

Repeat (at last count, 3 times).

Sydney Running Festival Bridge 9km run - Sept 2011

My first (and most successful) round of 12WBT I started in November 2012 at (what I thought at the time) was a hefty 77kg. That made me Overweight. It wasn't easy learning to run (again) at that weight. That's a lot of kilos to lug around. But with the diet and some determination, I got there.

Before 12WBT Nov 2012

After 12WBT Feb 2013.

I was still just outside my suggested healthy weight range. I was quite sure I would keep going and had visions of a half marathon in my sights, but I was still really too heavy to run with any kind of pace and really had aims of losing another 10kg, to put me at 59kg. As an aside, when I was in my 20s (ah, those were the days) at uni I was a steady 50kg. I hate my old self...

Needless to say, this blog is testimony to the fact for whatever reason, I totally fell of the bandwagon, undid most of my good work and now I really am a HEFTY 86.5kg. That's a BMI of 31. That actually puts me in the OBESE range. Oh dear:

 

Apart from the fact it is so cold in Canberra your beer is colder outside than it is in the fridge, I don't think attempting to run while this large is a great idea. Instead of doing the 10K running program I did last time around, or even the Learn to Run program, I am doing Move 2. The one for people with a BMI of over 30. I am walking.

And it turns out my gut instinct is backed up by science. Obese people shouldn't be running/walking more than 3km in the first week and they should preferably lose weight and go brisk walking until your body isn't so big on the BMI calculator picture (thanks for that reality check, National Heart Foundation).

I'm trying to walk 3 times a week, to get myself in a routine, so that by the time spring has sprung and my weight is back in the Overweight range (it's good to have goals!). So walking for the time being it is!