Tag: apprenticerunner

Yikes … losing hard gained fitness

I’ve been sick this last week. Cold/flu – felt miserable, no energy and didn’t do a thing. Not even a walk. Every day I’d get up and tell myself today was the day I’d at least go for a walk, but no, nothing eventuated. Just sat around like a vegetable.

This morning for the first time this week I felt like doing something, yay, and then I started to think and worry about how much fitness I had lost in the week.  It’s a hard task to build fitness.  It takes consistency, hard work and dedication, and the urban myth I had heard was that particularly women lose half their fitness in the first week of non training.  What does that even mean, half what of their fitness? Cardio fitness, muscle fitness, strength fitness or all three and then some.

I hit the research button and read many articles on the subject.  There is unanimous agreement that there will be a loss of fitness mainly in the cardio area but research shows that in the first 14 days it’s neglible.  One of the articles published by https://runnersconnect.net/losing-running-fitness/  talks about a 5km runner who is running the distance in 20 min (so not me) after 7 days of not training running the distance in 20:10 and after 14 days of not training in 21:05.

I can live with that.  I run at snail’s pace anyway so that is not too bad.  Just means I’ll go a bit slower but it would appear I will still be able to cover the distance.

Bring on the week.  Back to the joy of exercise and the happy endorphins that follow.

Have a great week everyone.

 

I have this dream ……

“Difficult Roads often lead to beautiful destinations”

I started this page in the hope that people from all over the place could join together and strive for a goal, namely running a big event together.

I am working towards this, but am absolutely certain I am going to need help. There will be times I am lacking motivation, or times when I simply don’t feel like going out there, as I am sure the people who join us will too. We can support each other, share in each others successes, pick each other up when we are down, always moving forward.

The first milestone of my dream is where we all meet up at some big running event, we would have matching running shirts, or some matching something, run together, finish together and I can just imagine the feeling at the end. It would be so very wonderful and euphoric.

That’s my dream. There is a lot of work to be done between then and now, but we’re on the path, and that is a brilliant place to be.

I LOVE technology

I love technology. I love all gizmos and widgets and “what is that thing for” gadgets.
I get completely immersed in stats and results and the information provided after any kind of activity with the apps and gadgets I have. I simply love it and I think it is helping my journey in a big way.

For starters I have a Garmin tracker which tracks steps, activities, heart rate and some other cool stuff and also tells me the time which is pretty useful. I have my tracker linked to the Garmin Connect app, and so as soon as I record any kind of activity be it a walk or a run or a fitness session of any description, I sync it all and then go looking at how I did.

Before I run, I turn the activity monitoring on my Garmin, and make sure that it is doing it’s thing. I also use ‘Mapmyrun’ app which records my run and provides me with a cool map at the end so that gets turned on next. I have been using 5K Pro app I mentioned some posts ago and is helping me to run from small beginning to 5km, so that gets turned on. Last of all my music gets turned on, a playlist with a beat and off I go.

The funny thing which does make me smile during all of this, is that these apps talk to you. My 5K Pro app gives me inspirational messages about how well I am doing, and tells me when to walk and when to run. ‘Mapmyrun’ app tells me whenever I have travelled for 1km and gives me some data on that last distance, my playlist is doing it’s thing, so all in all, there is a lot going on.

When I finish, I sync, and then pour over all the stats.  Heart rate is a biggie for me, I really want to know whether I worked hard or whether it was all in my head, love all the data as to how long, how high, what effort, speed etc. etc.  I have read other runners say they have thrown out all technology as it was doing their head in.  I think they must be competing against previous times and distance etc.  I am seriously not at that stage.  Just happy to get it done and all these kind of things help, so will continue to use them and have fun with them.

Enjoy your run.

 

 

What makes a runner? ……

Whenever I think of runners, pictures come to mind of lithe slim athletic looking people bounding down the road or on a track, they have long strides, and seem to run effortlessly and gracefully towards their goal.

They look like they were born being able to run. Their balance seems to come from a place within, and I find myself trying to work out how they do that.  How do they know.?

And then I started to think, what makes a runner.  At what point can you call yourself a runner? If you run for 5 minutes, does that make you a runner, or even if you start to train to be a runner, can you define yourself as a runner.?  Perhaps it’s based on distance, if you can run for 20 minutes you can call yourself a runner.

Usain Bolt is a runner, no doubt about it, an amazing runner, the words best over his preferred distance, we can all agree.  So what about the girl who comes home after work and happily pulls on a pair of trainers and runs 5km every night.  She’s a runner. She clearly loves it, looks forward to it, and runs often.  What about the weekend warrior?  Someone who keeps their run for the weekend and goes for a jog, loves it and feels wonderful when it is over.  Surely they are a runner.

What about body types.  Should you be smaller and very light to be a long distance runner such as one sees at the Olympics, and therefore not attempt long distance if you are taller and heavier built. What about not being so lean, should we all go on big diets to lose weight in order for us to become runners.

Where does that leave you and me.  Those of us just starting out.  We’d like to be runners.  We can visualize running some distance and loving it, moving down the road, the wind in our hair, our feet moving under us freely and lightly, smiling at other runners as we pass each other. The fact that I am right now finding the whole thing difficult and puzzling, and that its hard, and that before I go for a run I have to really psyche myself up for it, and tell myself I can do it, is beside the point. I have decided I am a runner, and whilst not a very good one –  yet – that’s how I want to think of myself, and so should you.

Hello world!

How did I get to this place?

I am just over 60 years old, have some time for me, and have a yearning to do something big physically which is challenging and difficult and something I have never done before.  I have decided there may be a runner in me.

I want to connect with all of you who are feeling the same way, so that we can support each other, talk about highs and lows, and maybe meet up in a big running event somewhere around the planet and do it together.

Blogging is something I have seen others do, but never something I have attempted myself.  It’s a bit daunting.  But then so is running.

My story so far is that I have been doing a ton of walking, up hills and down dales, trying to get a bit fitter.

I downloaded a running app, one of those that takes you from nothing to running 5K and it’s going OK.  Some days I feel like an elephant charging down the road, as it feels heavy and thunderous and uncoordinated.  For the first time last Sunday it actually felt like I was enjoying it, and I thought  “yes, I’ve got it, this is how it is meant to feel” but then yesterday I was back to feeling heavy.

I read runner’s stories and they seem to just love it.  They can’t wait for their next run, and even when they have a bad run, the next one is going to be the one.  They talk about feeling at one, being at peace, loving the road and the journey.  This is how I want to be and feel.

OK, so for those of you out there, wanting to do the same, thinking you can take this on and become a runner, come and join me, lets do it together.