You want to get fitter, get healthier, improve your eating or exercise habits, lose weight, tone up...? But how? You're finding it difficult to get started or to find motivation to keep going. What's the secret? The "problem" with losing weight, getting fit etc etc is that there's no fast-track. Anyone who offers a magic bullet - lose half a stone per week, get fit in 3 minutes per day and all of that is just selling snake oil. So how can you not just start your journey but continue it as well? Well the good news is... 1. You don't have to be perfect all the time! You don't want to give up cake, biscuits, slumping on the sofa? No problem! You don't have to. Try an 80:20 approach - be "good" 80% of the time, but don't deny yourself life's pleasures.
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I've been feeling tired for a very, very long time. And for a very, very long time when people have asked me how I am, my stock answers we "tired", "ok" or "fine, thanks". I'm not sure what it is about the changes I've made recently, but I feel an awful lot better (sounds like a juxtaposition when I put it like that)! My new reply is "pretty good actually, thanks". What are the changes I've made? 1. Healthier eating (less meat, less dairy, more fruit and veg). 2. Intermittent fasting (I.F.) following the 16:8 strategy. 3. Focussing on quality of training over quantity, and adding more variety (really pushing myself in shorter interval sessions, shorter "long runs", adding in cycling and swimming, yoga 5-7 times per week). This morning I woke up to a text message that we had suspected fraudulent activity on our credit card. I had ordered a "click and collect" delivery from a supermarket for this morning (between 8-9 a.m.), and whilst on the school run, they phoned to say they couldn't take payment and I needed to contact them urgently. Meanwhile the traffic chose today to be horrendous. And normally right now I would also be suffering from horrendous PMT and this whole situation would have sent me into meltdown. Not so today. I just dealt with it, step by step. Without crying or reaching for chocolate! I feel so much better, inside and out. I managed a quick run this afternoon, and wasn't sure whether my body would be impressed with me, but I managed a pretty good pace for me post-marathon and my "cardio fitness score" went back up on my FitBit. Last night, just before I went to sleep, I spotted a Facebook post from my local ParkRun looking for pacers for 26th August. Maybe I was overtired or something, but I volunteered to pace either 32 or 34 minutes, then dropped off to sleep. I woke up with no memory of my insanity until I checked Facebook to find that I'd been assigned 32 minute pacing! Just to be clear, I have never paced before, or even attempted it! My PB for 5k is 26:06, and I tend to run 8:30-9:30 minute miles at the moment. A quick google told me that a 32 minute 5k requires an average pace of 10:17 minute miles, so I abandoned my plan for an interval session this morning and decided to practice pacing instead. I set out on my favourite local route, which (strangely as I'm a bit of a country girl) involves running across a busy motorway junction (on a footpath, I hasten to add!). I settled into a rhythm fairly quickly and set my FitBit to average pace, which I checked frequently. I then ran for 32 minutes, stopped my FitBit and checked my distance. This will probably sound weird, but I think this was one of my proudest running moments (and I've had a few!) - running 5k in 32 minutes, 6 minutes slower than my PB. But exactly the time I wanted and fairly even splits.
I'll be practicing a few more times I hope before the day, but this has definitely made me feel set up for success. I kept it a bit quiet, but I was inspired to look for a 24 hour event after a friend (Emma) posted on Facebook about one she'd done in June - it sounded like a challenge I wanted to take up. The only one accessible to me this year was the Cotswold 24 Hour Race organised by 100 Mile Run, so I signed up.
I'll be honest, I didn't do any particular training except for continuing to train for my marathon. The laps were 9km (around 5.6 miles), so my aim was to complete 5 laps over the 24 hours which is 28 miles (just over a marathon). In retrospect, this may have been a little ambitious as I'd never completed more than 13.6 miles in training. So I'm now on day 18 of my running streak and I have to say I'm really enjoying it. I wondered if I'd feel too tired or injure myself but fingers crossed all good so far. As long as I stay injury free, I may continue for longer than my planned month streak. On Wednesday, Dave and I went on a pre-birthday shopping trip and bought me a few bits and bobs including some new running gear - a crop top and some new running shorts (see photo). It's been rather warm recently and not having to totally cover up was very refreshing on my run yesterday. The other big thing for me has been that I would never have had the self-confidence to wear something like that in public until very recently. I only bought my first bikini a couple of years ago. Very liberating! My mid-length run this week was an eye-opener. I was aiming for an easy pace, which I tried to gauge by how I felt, so I was maintaining a breathing pattern that was "easy" and not running so I felt fatigued. I tried to avoid looking at my FitBit as I had my route planned. In spite of all of this and not feeling like I was pushing myself, I ran 4.87 miles at an average pace of 9:26, a minute faster than my target pace.
No ParkRun for me tomorrow, as I'm going out in the evening so want to do my long run (9 miles planned) on Saturday rather than Sunday. I am not sure whether I will aim to run or run:walk:run yet, but I am going to be really aiming for a very easy pace! Really really! I've been keeping up with my yoga as well (most days), which is really great for stretching me out and relaxing me. My anxiety is pretty much a thing of the past, which is a fantastic feeling I have to say... I had my first attempt at purposely running slowly today. One thing it certainly did was to show me how far my running has developed in the past few months.
I managed to keep an average pace of 10:22 per mile (I was aiming for 10:30), which I know was a fast pace for me back in February (I happen to remember a training run where I pushed and kept a pace of 10:30). Also my heart rate was massively lower than it usually is when I run (average 136 bpm compared to 152bpm during my interval session yesterday for example) and I got home feeling like I hadn't exercised at all (I did only run 1.3 miles as it's a short run day, but I wasn't really out of breath). So this has made me feel more confident about keeping a more gentle pace in some of my long runs. From everything I've read recently I do need to work on this aspect of my running as well as my speed work. Tomorrow is ParkRun, then on Sunday I have a 7.8 mile long run planned, so watch this space! 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. 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... Reading Half Marathon |
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May 2018
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