On Running and Zombies
I've been trying a new tactic on the getting fit thing and actively treating myself as a Beginner of Running. Many years ago, like, a scary number of years ago I thought that in order to "Run" one had to belt around as much and as far as they could until they fell over. I tried, at that time, to punish myself around the university lake at stupid times in the morning until I was wheezing and crawling on the path.
On the third time of attempting this stupidity I pushed myself to the "pain barrier" and pushed through. Like Forrest Gump I felt like I could run all day, so I set off out of the campus and went to see where my legs would take me.
I ended up running up the legendary local mountain and back.
I felt fantastic all that day, but then the lactic acid kicked in and I suffered for days and days after. I have always remembered how good that run felt but never did it again. Just WHY I did it in the first place was also the most stupid and lame reason ever. I was going out with a guy who claimed (and I trusted at the time) that he had been training in the army (I had once gone out with someone who had failed basic training so had at least some idea of the amount of running involved!). Anyway, he would turn up, breathless at my door saying he'd been out running and I was swept away by his energy. Which inspired me to run too.
What I didn't know at the time was that he was a compulsive liar and the reason he seemed so exerted was that he had walked up the stairs to my flat, not run 5k beforehand! He would later steal from one of my friends, try to extort money from me and then try to reclaim friendship when he contracted cancer (and try to extort money again) - but that is a whole OTHER story!!! lol.
I very earnestly tried to run all those years ago and that run I did - I DID, it doesn't matter what the motivation might have been, I still accomplished that feat and for years I felt proud of it, even though it was only myself that knew I did it (or the random people I passed whilst I ran up the hill and down again). I was a keen cyclist (and would be again but for living in a bicycle unfriendly city without the twenty-somethings sang froid about the potential dangers!) I would cycle 20 miles for fun so I guess I was pretty fit despite the student diet of beer, 5p beans and cheap white bread.
Coming to the prospect of cardio-vascular fitness these days was a bit terrifying to be honest. Running seemed like a no-no back in my 20s on account of my asthma but I never forgot that time I broke through and just ran and ran for the sheer joy of it - like I would cycle or swim in the past too. I didn't think my body could even still be able to do that kind of thing, but since I began work at the NHS and have spent a lot of time looking at CT scans of what poor lifestyle choices can do to you I realised why all the consultant surgeons cycled to work when they could.
There is something about working in the Health Sector that does encourage you to be more healthy (although I know some very fine Health Care Professionals who choose to ignore it their way!) and at least I was immediately influenced to do something about my tragic lack of fitness and bad diet! Since I'd been unemployed I'd stopped walking about... but even since I stopped being in full-time education and got a job my fitness declined lol.
I still did yoga (sometimes!) but no amount of flexibility could take away from the fact that I was, indeed, spreading out in directions I hadn't thought possible. I was heavier than I had ever been last year and I was so shocked and surprised that when I needed to move around I couldn't do it as well as I would have thought I could, and when I tried I sweated like I'd been in a sauna for a half hour, even though I'd only walked up some stairs or a bit of an incline for minute or two...
Since that horrifying moment I managed to lose a stone over the course of the year (a bit more a bit less but managed to level it out) and I no longer sweat when ascending stairs - thank all the gods! I know I still have some ways to go before I get back to a healthy weight again
I was in a bit of despair as my previous cardio solution was to Dance To Music In An Aerobic Way and then add some floor exercises which was all fine when I lived at home with my parents... but now in a tenement flat where everything is heard I just couldn't bear the thought of hromphing round my living room (risking the floorboards) and my neighbours from all sides' wrath! My ex boyfriend (later and post husband lol) was an obsessive compulsive controlling runner (brrrr) which had REALLY put me off running. He insisted that there was no way to "begin" in running - you either could handle it or you couldn't (and clearly I couldn't and never could).
That was easy to believe because despite being a type-1 diabetic he regularly ran half and full marathons. He would run 5k for a bit of a run.
However, I have never liked being told that I "can't do something" on account of... well... anything really. I got a science degree because someone told me I was incapable and when they still wouldn't shut up about my apparent "stupidity" I got a masters too. Asthma never stopped me cycling.
It hasn't stopped me running either.
Well, if I have been considered an elephant lately then by the other counter the elephant never forgets. I looked at the various resources offered to me by my employer (working in the Health Service, having Healthy Employees is a no-brainer you'd think) but it is a bit freaky that most of the links are referred to outside sources.
Still, it was my darling NHS that provided me with the perfect solution - the Couch to 5K plan! I would always have considered running out of my reach (especially now!)
I'm on a weight-loss program too but I'm more interested in actual exercise! I am loving the C25K programme thus far as it has got me feeling good about moving around outdoors and it makes me feel that I could actually achieve a level of fitness where I could run 5k, 10k etc I'm willing to train to that...
I'm a good shot with a plain bow, I can now run a bit (and its going to get better)
When the Zombies come, I'll be ready...
On the third time of attempting this stupidity I pushed myself to the "pain barrier" and pushed through. Like Forrest Gump I felt like I could run all day, so I set off out of the campus and went to see where my legs would take me.
I ended up running up the legendary local mountain and back.
I felt fantastic all that day, but then the lactic acid kicked in and I suffered for days and days after. I have always remembered how good that run felt but never did it again. Just WHY I did it in the first place was also the most stupid and lame reason ever. I was going out with a guy who claimed (and I trusted at the time) that he had been training in the army (I had once gone out with someone who had failed basic training so had at least some idea of the amount of running involved!). Anyway, he would turn up, breathless at my door saying he'd been out running and I was swept away by his energy. Which inspired me to run too.
What I didn't know at the time was that he was a compulsive liar and the reason he seemed so exerted was that he had walked up the stairs to my flat, not run 5k beforehand! He would later steal from one of my friends, try to extort money from me and then try to reclaim friendship when he contracted cancer (and try to extort money again) - but that is a whole OTHER story!!! lol.
I very earnestly tried to run all those years ago and that run I did - I DID, it doesn't matter what the motivation might have been, I still accomplished that feat and for years I felt proud of it, even though it was only myself that knew I did it (or the random people I passed whilst I ran up the hill and down again). I was a keen cyclist (and would be again but for living in a bicycle unfriendly city without the twenty-somethings sang froid about the potential dangers!) I would cycle 20 miles for fun so I guess I was pretty fit despite the student diet of beer, 5p beans and cheap white bread.
Coming to the prospect of cardio-vascular fitness these days was a bit terrifying to be honest. Running seemed like a no-no back in my 20s on account of my asthma but I never forgot that time I broke through and just ran and ran for the sheer joy of it - like I would cycle or swim in the past too. I didn't think my body could even still be able to do that kind of thing, but since I began work at the NHS and have spent a lot of time looking at CT scans of what poor lifestyle choices can do to you I realised why all the consultant surgeons cycled to work when they could.
There is something about working in the Health Sector that does encourage you to be more healthy (although I know some very fine Health Care Professionals who choose to ignore it their way!) and at least I was immediately influenced to do something about my tragic lack of fitness and bad diet! Since I'd been unemployed I'd stopped walking about... but even since I stopped being in full-time education and got a job my fitness declined lol.
I still did yoga (sometimes!) but no amount of flexibility could take away from the fact that I was, indeed, spreading out in directions I hadn't thought possible. I was heavier than I had ever been last year and I was so shocked and surprised that when I needed to move around I couldn't do it as well as I would have thought I could, and when I tried I sweated like I'd been in a sauna for a half hour, even though I'd only walked up some stairs or a bit of an incline for minute or two...
Since that horrifying moment I managed to lose a stone over the course of the year (a bit more a bit less but managed to level it out) and I no longer sweat when ascending stairs - thank all the gods! I know I still have some ways to go before I get back to a healthy weight again
I was in a bit of despair as my previous cardio solution was to Dance To Music In An Aerobic Way and then add some floor exercises which was all fine when I lived at home with my parents... but now in a tenement flat where everything is heard I just couldn't bear the thought of hromphing round my living room (risking the floorboards) and my neighbours from all sides' wrath! My ex boyfriend (later and post husband lol) was an obsessive compulsive controlling runner (brrrr) which had REALLY put me off running. He insisted that there was no way to "begin" in running - you either could handle it or you couldn't (and clearly I couldn't and never could).
That was easy to believe because despite being a type-1 diabetic he regularly ran half and full marathons. He would run 5k for a bit of a run.
However, I have never liked being told that I "can't do something" on account of... well... anything really. I got a science degree because someone told me I was incapable and when they still wouldn't shut up about my apparent "stupidity" I got a masters too. Asthma never stopped me cycling.
It hasn't stopped me running either.
Well, if I have been considered an elephant lately then by the other counter the elephant never forgets. I looked at the various resources offered to me by my employer (working in the Health Service, having Healthy Employees is a no-brainer you'd think) but it is a bit freaky that most of the links are referred to outside sources.
Still, it was my darling NHS that provided me with the perfect solution - the Couch to 5K plan! I would always have considered running out of my reach (especially now!)
I'm on a weight-loss program too but I'm more interested in actual exercise! I am loving the C25K programme thus far as it has got me feeling good about moving around outdoors and it makes me feel that I could actually achieve a level of fitness where I could run 5k, 10k etc I'm willing to train to that...
I'm a good shot with a plain bow, I can now run a bit (and its going to get better)
When the Zombies come, I'll be ready...