Exercise regime... still being followed!
So this is going better than expected.
My 2nd 4-week block finished a couple of weeks ago, and I kept up the "3 mornings/week with 2 of the mornings consecutive" pattern with only 1 missed morning near the start of the block due to my old running shoes actually falling apart and needing to buy new ones.
I'm 2 weeks into my planned "4 mornings/week" pattern, but missed 1 again in the first week due to having to go into work early and open up as no other keyholder in the company could make it. I could have tried to make the day up, but that would have entailed 3 consecutive mornings out, and I don't want to push myself too much at this stage.
So, last week was my first week exercising 4 times, involving cycling Monday, running Tuesday, cycling Thursday and running Friday. And I ain'tn't dead! Woo! And I've only missed 2 mornings out of the last 10 weeks, which I think is pretty good going.
Plan for the next 2 weeks is much the same, trying to go out cycling twice and running twice over Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri. I'm allowed to not cycle if it's raining or dropped below 0°C overnight, and allowed to not run if there haven't been at least 2 full days since I last went running. The cycling exception is for safety reasons - but I have to try and schedule cycling for dry, non-freezing days, and fit in running around it. The running exception is to give my legs (particularly my Achilles tendon, which I've had trouble with in the past) time to recover and strengthen as much as possible between the high-impact sessions that are running. If I miss one of the weekdays, I'll think about making it up on the Saturday.
After those 2 weeks, more of the same, except I'll drop the 2 full days between runs down to 1 if necessary and see how that feels.
It's definitely starting to feel different. The "big" hill on my cycle route now only feels really hard on the steepest parts, rather than all the way up. I broke the 1 hour mark for my 20k loop the other week, down from about 1h05m when I started. And my legs are starting to get the hang of running again, complaining that my lungs are what's holding me back now, and that they had the strength to go a bit faster if only they had more oxygen to work with.
I'm not actually fit yet - but I'm getting to the point where I can put enough work in that I might actually start to make some progress.
I was right that life generally isn't getting in the way of exercising in the morning. I just hope I can continue to keep it up as it continues to get colder and rainier, and that I'll be able to fit into my old salopetteshave the strength and stamina to make the most out of as much time as possible on the slopes, rather than wimping out early.
My 2nd 4-week block finished a couple of weeks ago, and I kept up the "3 mornings/week with 2 of the mornings consecutive" pattern with only 1 missed morning near the start of the block due to my old running shoes actually falling apart and needing to buy new ones.
I'm 2 weeks into my planned "4 mornings/week" pattern, but missed 1 again in the first week due to having to go into work early and open up as no other keyholder in the company could make it. I could have tried to make the day up, but that would have entailed 3 consecutive mornings out, and I don't want to push myself too much at this stage.
So, last week was my first week exercising 4 times, involving cycling Monday, running Tuesday, cycling Thursday and running Friday. And I ain'tn't dead! Woo! And I've only missed 2 mornings out of the last 10 weeks, which I think is pretty good going.
Plan for the next 2 weeks is much the same, trying to go out cycling twice and running twice over Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri. I'm allowed to not cycle if it's raining or dropped below 0°C overnight, and allowed to not run if there haven't been at least 2 full days since I last went running. The cycling exception is for safety reasons - but I have to try and schedule cycling for dry, non-freezing days, and fit in running around it. The running exception is to give my legs (particularly my Achilles tendon, which I've had trouble with in the past) time to recover and strengthen as much as possible between the high-impact sessions that are running. If I miss one of the weekdays, I'll think about making it up on the Saturday.
After those 2 weeks, more of the same, except I'll drop the 2 full days between runs down to 1 if necessary and see how that feels.
It's definitely starting to feel different. The "big" hill on my cycle route now only feels really hard on the steepest parts, rather than all the way up. I broke the 1 hour mark for my 20k loop the other week, down from about 1h05m when I started. And my legs are starting to get the hang of running again, complaining that my lungs are what's holding me back now, and that they had the strength to go a bit faster if only they had more oxygen to work with.
I'm not actually fit yet - but I'm getting to the point where I can put enough work in that I might actually start to make some progress.
I was right that life generally isn't getting in the way of exercising in the morning. I just hope I can continue to keep it up as it continues to get colder and rainier, and that I'll be able to fit into my old salopetteshave the strength and stamina to make the most out of as much time as possible on the slopes, rather than wimping out early.