Tag Archives: VO2 max

Running Part-2

This post is a continuation of my last post about running, back in 2020. After I moved to Bangkok, I stopped exercising. For a few months last year, I started going to the gym, but couldn’t sustain it long enough, as it was too time-consuming. Looking to get some exercise while not spending too much time, I started running again. In the beginning, it felt difficult due to the heat and humidity, but I was able to get used to it soon.

After doing it for a few months, I developed severe ankle pain. In the beginning, I would recover during my rest days, but then it continued to extend over my rest days to the next workouts, too.

The cryptmaster kindly educated me on the importance of good shoes. Turns out, my running shoes were dirt-cheap and 8 years old. And that was not acceptable. I promptly ordered some new shoes. Thankfully, my ankle pain reduced considerably, thereafter.

I have now been continuing my runs 4 days a week, 4km each time for more than 6 months now. Although I have steadily made progress with my pace, unfortunately, my VO2 max has plateaued. Try what I may, I am not able to reach my VO2 max levels from 2021.

Overall, though, I am very happy that I am keeping healthy and exercising is definitely a great mood elevator for me. It boosts the mood for the rest of the day. The only problem is, I have been losing weight consistently and need to improve my diet to make up for lost calories.

Weight Loss
Weight Loss

The Lockdown finally got me running

The first few weeks of the lockdown felt awesome. No need to go to work & lot of time freed up from the daily commute. I spent most of this time drinking and lying around. However, eventually the lying around became quite tiring physically.

Things were so bad, I went through most days with less than 200 steps. The less I moved, the more tired I felt. Eventually, I was always tired and even getting out of the bed seemed a huge challenge. I knew I needed some exercise. I tried Darebee’s daily workout for a few days, but I didn’t find it motivating and couldn’t sustain it long enough. What I needed was to go out and run, but with the lockdown, that was out of the question.

By the end of the lockdown, I was so eager to go out and run that when we were allowed to go out, I started running immediately and fortunately, was able to maintain the habit over many months.

My energy levels came back up, I felt much better after the workouts, I could focus more at work and I slept better. I also started watching my diet and limiting what I eat on weekdays.

Some other quantifiable gains over these 3 months of daily running

  • Weight came down from 70.4kgs to 64.5kgs
  • Body fat % came down from 14.5 to 11.7
  • VO2 Max went up from 39.3 to 46.8
  • Resting heart rate went down from 65 to 55

It’s not that I am fanatic about running. Since I can spare only 15-20 minutes daily between meetings, I run only 2km each time. But I do this with consistent pace and do it regularly without skipping days. Whenever I feel like skipping a day, I think about how lucky I am to be able to go out at all.

Schedule

I hope I am able to keep up the cadence, at least till the air quality here goes to shit, like it does each year and going out becomes impossible.