Tag: runningbody

Quotes for life, love and laughter…

I collect quotes. Almost every day, something, somewhere gives me an aha moment and I keep them for days when I may need them. Sometimes these quotes are inspirational, humorous, or they just let you know that you are not the only human feeling the way you do. It’s just a human condition. You are not alone in this, whatever it is.

So today, I wanted to share some of my favourites in the hope that some of them will strike a note with you too.

So here goes:—-

On the subject of life:-

 

   

On the subject of running or just taking action, these ones I love.  I came across a gentleman called Alistair Jones on Twitter who writes poetry.  His poems are witty,  encouraging, fun and always a delight.  He has kindly allowed me to include a couple here.

 

And then just for fun, these one always made me smile:-

Have a great week everyone.  Hope it’s a good one for you and yours.

Until soon.  Be happy.

 

My cup is running over

When you start something new, there is always an expectation, a planned route, or at least an understanding of the whys and wherefores and what you expect to gain or experience out of this new thing. Learning to run has been nothing like I thought it would be.

It is actually difficult to go back and work out exactly what I was thinking, except that the dream of running a long distance such as a marathon had appeal, and I was seriously looking for something to challenge me. Something new that I had never done before.

I knew on a logistics level, this would involve running, however had zero knowledge on that subject. Except that every human on this planet thinks they know about running. We all do it from time to time, catch a bus, run a little at school, do some at the gym. It’s that thing we do when we need to go a bit faster than a walking pace. We all know how that is. Except we don’t or at least I didn’t.

There is this foggy, smoky, misty period you go through when you take up running as a sport. You start and the first “in your face thing” that hits you is how hard it is. Your breathing becomes ragged really quickly (even though you are moving at a pace that wouldn’t challenge a tortoise), your body starts flopping all over the place, and there are suddenly lots of voices in your head at various levels of shrillness yelling at you to stop.

You start to really notice other runners for the very first time. You look at them in a whole new way wondering how on earth they seem to do it so easily. Then even more remarkable are those running along chatting whilst they are running. Flying to Jupiter having designed one’s own space ship, seems to be more probable that running along chatting to someone.

I don’t know what keeps you going at this point. Maybe it’s that big dream you had and you’re at the start of something and you want to give it a go. Maybe it’s optimism that it will get better and easier. Maybe it’s just foolishness and stubbornness, but whatever it is, you need a bit of it, because it takes time and progress appears slow.

As I mentioned in previous blogs, apart from family and friends,  there are two big influencers who have helped me more than they will ever know. The first are the wonderful people I have met on twitter. I thought I would start to tweet, and look for other runners and gain some knowledge and inspiration. What I found was this very supportive and inclusive community, full of advice, goodwill, humour and a celebration of everyone’s success no matter how slow or tiny the distance. They inspire me every day. I love how they encourage, laugh and delight in each others endeavours.

The second has been ‘Intraining’, my running Club which I joined with some trepidation and embarrassment due to my lack of expertise. The coaches have been super supportive and encouraging, and my fellow runners are a great bunch of people, who it has been a joy to meet up with twice weekly for training, and am now running with at various parkruns where the support and comradeship continues.

I had absolutely no understanding that this new endeavour would lead me here.  I can share that my hazy period is clearing on occasions, and there are moments I get a feel for what I think I am heading towards. I simply love it and am so excited for what the future holds.

Have a great week everyone.  If you have some time, go for a run.   🙂

The road ahead is never quite as planned

As you would know, I started this whole running experience to set myself a new challenge, something I felt I needed. I also love new events i.e. new routes when walking, new places to visit, learning new things, particularly those that are a bit hard, but have a logical outcome. For example learning Russian is not currently on my bucket list, only because I don’t know anyone who speaks Russian, I’m not planning on moving there, so it seems a bit pointless.

Learning running has a completely different planned outcome. There is the getting fit, feeling healthy aspect, weight control, and the whole idea of new physical challenges does appeal. I keep dreaming of finishing a big event and how fantastic that would feel.
I wasn’t prepared or expecting all the little wins along the way.

For a start, this whole running community (I have mentioned this before) are truly an awesome group of people. They have so far been incredibly supportive, completely embracing, and seem to celebrate everyone’s success whether you are a 100km trail runner across the French Alps or a struggling 5km runner like me. I didn’t even know they were out there until I started running, and they have been an unexpected win.

I have started to tweet and in the process have found a huge group of runners from around the world who support each other, laugh together, write poems for each other about the hardships and joys of running mostly. They are kind, generous of spirit and joyful. They have been full of advice and encouragement. Once again, such a win, and certainly wasn’t planning on finding them.

I signed up to InTraining Running Club this week which I am also excited about.  I am better at a group thing, being part of a team, and sharing the struggle.  I have signed up for their beginner classes and am really looking forward to the new challenges that is going to bring.  I start next week so will let you know how that goes.

Most of all, for a girl who found it hard to run 40 seconds non stop a few months ago, to now running a slow 5km, the win is that it has given me lots of happy endorphins and making me high on life.

Have a great week everyone.

 

 

Feeling Fatigued ……….

“Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come. Remember everything you have faced, all the battles you have won, and all the fear you have overcome”.  – Unknown.

 

I have been feeling really fatigued over the last few days. Have had a ton of sleep, as in almost 12 hours for 2 nights running. My mind set is normally one of ‘push through’, ‘everything will be OK in the end’, ‘just get it done’, but this feeling has stopped me in my tracks. I didn’t do a moment of exercise yesterday, and didn’t get up for a run this morning.

This morning I have been doing some research about likely causes. I don’t want to feel like this, and the sooner it’s gone the better.

I’m a “all in or out” kind of girl. My exercise regime has been ramping up since I decided I wanted to be a runner. Together with the running training, I have been doing strength and conditioning with my PT (a no – brainer, you don’t start running at my age for the first time without building up core and strength) and also doing High intensity workouts to help build up my fitness.

Together with some girlfriends, we walk 3 mornings a week, long high intensity walks, either fast on the flats, or up small mountains in the bush with big elevations of heart rate. The walks are glorious and I love them. You always feel so great afterwards and full of the joys of life.
Often we also do a bike ride one morning a week for an hour or two.

I walk the dogs an hour a day.  This is in itself great exercise.  They pelt along at a rapid rate and stop for nothing.  So, every day I do at least 2 sets of exercise per day, some days I do 3 sets and some days 4 sets. On Sundays I just walk the dogs, nothing else.

Maybe I am just doing too much so have decided that today I will make myself an exercise planner for the weeks ahead, and try and get some space and recovery between sessions.

The other big issue which I have been alerted to following my research this morning is food and water intake both before and after training. Water is not an issue, I drink at least 2 Litres per day, but nutrition is definitely a problem for me.  I just haven’t taken enough care about eating right before or after training sessions.  The Livestrong foundation wrote the following  “When blood sugar levels drop too low, exhaustion may occur. Pre-workout meals prevent this by stabilizing blood sugar levels. Eat a high-carbohydrate, moderate-protein and low-fat snack between one and three hours before working out. This can be a banana, oatmeal, juice or low-fat yogurt. After-workout meals eaten within 20 minutes also help. A snack with a 3-to-1 ratio of carbohydrates and protein will restore glycogen and replenish tired muscles, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Good post-workout snacks include trail mix, yogurt with granola and chocolate milk”  This same advice was recommended in other places I looked, so from now on, I am going to take nutrition more seriously.

Have a great week everyone.  Until soon.

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.