So I started thinking about the fact that I've signed up for a marathon later in the year. Not saying that the idea fills me with dread but...well...after the Shine Walk last year, I did say to Dave "I'll never attempt to run a marathon" - famous last words!! I did some googling of walk-run techniques and stumbled on Jeff Galloway's Run-Walk-Run method. This basically suggests that you can actually travel faster overall if you take timed intervals of running and walking. The walking intervals give the body a chance to recover from the stress of running, and it keeps your core body temperature down. Using his guidelines, I decided on 3 minute run:1 minute walk intervals based on a running pace of 10 minute miles (which was my half marathon pace). I took a route that I'd run on Tuesday (4.7 miles). Here are the results: I was honestly staggered when I looked at the stats.
Even considering that I obviously took off at a faster pace today, that only accounts for 1 minute. This is definitely a technique I will be continuing for longer runs going forward, and I may look at 4 minute run intervals to try to increase my overall pace.
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On 1st April, I managed a 27:02 ParkRun, which was close to my PB of 26:27 - close but no coconut in this case. I pushed pretty hard, I felt pretty awful (see photo!) and I really didn't think I could have run it any faster. Fast forward a week, back at the start line and my trusty friend Andrew said to me "I reckon you'll go faster this week." My response was quite literally "not a chance" - I'd quite literally given it everything the week before and I didn't think I had any more in me. Added to which, I was feeling groggy and my lower back was stiff and sore. But, as is the way of group running, I set off fast and kept pushing. In fact, I had decided last week that ParkRun was destined to be my "tempo" training run of the week. As with the previous week, I started my FitBit then didn't look at it again as I ran - there was no need to check the distance as it's a set course, and looking at my time might either depress me or make me anxious to push harder. I followed my body and my breath (out of) and...
There is a lot of pressure on people to look a particular way.
Obesity is at all-time high in this country, with 62.9% of the adult population being overweight or obese in 2015 [1]. Sugary foods and drinks are easily accessible to all, and many people are sedentary - the average number of steps taken per day by adults in the UK is 3,000-4,000 [2], well under the recommended 10,000 (although this figure was actually pretty randomly chosen, roughly coinciding with around 5 miles of walking). But still, if you heard someone walk up to an overweight person and say "You're too fat, you need to loose some weight", you'd probably be pretty flabbergasted at their rudeness, and I would imagine the recipient would feel rather bad as well. Last night, I was body shamed. Before I continue, my stats: Height: 5ft 8ins Weight: 9st 7.2lb (this morning) BMI: 20.39
In other words, my weight is perfectly normal, perfect the healthy, and I've worked out that to be classed as underweight I'd need to lose 10lb.
I had no idea how to reposed to an acquaintance coming up to me and saying "you're too skinny, you need to put on weight" (it was midnight, I was tired and it was totally unexpected). Like many people, I have (and have in the past had) doubts about my body shape and size. At my heaviest (having had 5 kids in 7 years), I was around 13st. Like many women (and men, I guess), I had wobbly bits that made me self-conscious, but I don't recall anyone ever commenting on it, and at this time I was definitely overweight. In fact there seems to be a kind of expectation for me to be larger ("you look great for someone who's had 5 kids"). It fascinates me that my body shape and size are of interest to people. But I digress. Last night, I felt bad about myself. The more I thought about it, the more self-conscious I felt. "Too skinny" sounds bad. It's a criticism. I don't look "right" or "good enough". But then it's totally subjective, isn't it? My body shape is probably totally fine to a lot of people, obviously not to others. Why is it anyone else's business? And is it acceptable to comment on someone's weight, no matter what your opinion?
I eat normally (3 meals plus snacks), but relatively healthily (lots of fruit, wholemeal bread, not too much sugar most of the time). I exercise a fair amount (yoga daily, running 3-4 times per week, swimming or cycling maybe once a week, plus walking the doggy).
I also had 2 dinners last night - spaghetti bolognese and fish and chips. Although this isn't the norm, I also don't starve myself. I've spent a lot of hours mulling all of this over (probably more than it deserves), but I guess my take-home message is this: body shaming makes people feel bad about themselves, however well-meant it may be. It's not OK to tell someone they're too fat, and it's not OK to tell someone they're too skinny. In fact, it's none of your business! |
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