back to exercise
Sometimes really simple things can throw my routine. Last year I was exercising well in the early part of the year. I was especially doing well with my running, building up my stamina and the distances I could run ahead of my long run in mid-May.
But after the big run I no longer had to train, and the job I was in demanded absolutely punctual timings. To the extent that once I was two minutes late and got queried on this by a supervisor*, despite the fact I could easily stay two minutes later.
Now personally, to fit in other things, I do my exercise in the morning. But since in this job it risked me running late and having to face tedious questions, once I no longer had training to complete I just stopped running for a while.
Additionally, given the intensity of the running training I'd already dropped the strength and cardio training a little before May. The result being that until July, when I escaped the fifth floor and went back to my old job, I didn't resume my programme of exercise.
In July, August, and September I did try to resume running, but only managed a couple of runs for a couple of weeks each time before I let it drift again. I also never got back to that strength and cardio.
Additionally, during the last couple of runs I first noticed my running shoes were at the end of their useable life. They're still pretty sound, but the inner fabric lining has developed holes, and where the fabric bunches up it rubs on my feet like a stone I can't dislodge.
I either couldn't be bothered to buy replacements, or couldn't afford it. Or maybe a bit of both. Either way, the shoes sat unused.
So I never got back to it. Around November I thought I ought to do something, but just didn't. I'd like to say I wasn't able to afford new shoes (which was certainly true in November) and didn't want to restart with just half a programme, but honestly I'd forgotten all about the problem with the shoes.
Instead I was just lazy, then it was mid-December and I was busy, and I put it off to new year. In fact I nearly delayed longer, just so it wouldn't look like some half-cocked new year resolution.
So let's step back a bit for a moment. My parents took me and my siblings on long walks quite frequently, so that aspect of fitness was in place from early on. At about age 10 I started taking myself on walks of around three-six hours almost routinely. By 16 even walks of up to 10 hours weren't unheard of.
At about 15 I started to undertake relatively indisciplined and unguided strength and cardio exercise, though I wouldn't have called it that.
From that age onwards, always at home rather than in a gym, using often homemade equipment and following guidance from books I've continued exercising regularly, with just the occasional break of a few months or in one case over a year.
From 2006 I mostly followed the free guide to British Army fitness given out in parts with The Guardian. I'd recommend it, especially if you you don't have, or don't want to use much equipment. The whole lot was published as a book which I think is still available.
But by 2015 I was finding it increasingly difficult to motivate myself. This is always going to be a problem where you're repeating the same thing every time. So at the beginning of November that year I did a couple of things: I bought some running shoes and I downloaded three apps.
One of those apps was a Couch to 5k app, which starts you running short distance, and gradually builds you up to five km runs. There are a number of these available, and they're worth looking into.
Although they often have a programme to follow, with runs on say Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you don't have to follow that slavishly. If for instance you find the step up from running for three bursts of eight minutes at a time with three minutes walking in between, to running for 15 minutes too much to manage, then just continue with the previous stage until you feel ready.
Another app was one devoted to dumbbell work. The third was one offering a range of workouts that you can follow and personalise. I tended to stick to the four core areas: generally warming up with up to nine minutes of stretches; then undertaking 15 minutes each of strength and cardio; and finally cooling down with up to nine minutes of yoga.
On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I ran; on Tuesday and Thursday I did stretches, strength, cardio and yoga; and on Saturday I added in an additional half hour of dumbbells.
By February or March my Saturday exercise was displaced by increasingly long runs as I built up to and beyond marathon distance.
And that brings us back to today. Last Tuesday I tried to go for a long run, and did manage around 45 minutes. My soles were aching, so I had to stop and walk for a little time. When I restarted I noticed the lining was rubbing on my insteps very painfully, so the run home was mostly walking with brief bursts of running.
On Wednesday I was back in work, but also back on the app for stretches, strength, cardio and yoga. On Thursday I managed a run using what are really walking shoes. Friday was back to the app. And this Saturday I went for a walk, bought a new pair of shoes and ran home. Except my feet were protesting so there were a few intervals of walking. The whole 'run' was less than 40 minutes.
This morning, Sunday, I wanted to try another run, and managed to complete a circuit of 1 hour 13 minutes. A little slow, but it's only my fourth run in over three months, and all of those were in the last week.
So now I've got a programme of running Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (with Saturday being a long run), and the stretches, strength, cardio and yoga on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Honestly, today's run was probably a mistake. Even running half an hour is probably a big ask when you're coming back from three months of no exercise, and a long run in new shoes immediately, is again not advisable.
But there doesn't seem to be any damage, and I enjoy running. I may update you on how my return to exercise progresses, particularly how I lose weight. I'm not fat, but I have got softer that I should, and there is weight to lose from my waist and elsewhere.
In fact I haven't weighed myself yet, I'll probably save that until the end of next week.
*The exchange went something like this, and bear in mind I didn't know this supervisor and didn't recognise their name onscreen:
Supervisor: Hi, are you okay?
Me: Erm, yes. [I very nearly replied with ?]
Supervisor: I notice you're two minutes late logging on.
Me: Yes, I was late.
Supervisor: Is there any reason you're late?
Me: Erm, no. [Or, as I could have said: I set out a little later than usual. Duh!]
They may have messaged something else after that, but I was so done with this conversation already.
But after the big run I no longer had to train, and the job I was in demanded absolutely punctual timings. To the extent that once I was two minutes late and got queried on this by a supervisor*, despite the fact I could easily stay two minutes later.
Now personally, to fit in other things, I do my exercise in the morning. But since in this job it risked me running late and having to face tedious questions, once I no longer had training to complete I just stopped running for a while.
Additionally, given the intensity of the running training I'd already dropped the strength and cardio training a little before May. The result being that until July, when I escaped the fifth floor and went back to my old job, I didn't resume my programme of exercise.
In July, August, and September I did try to resume running, but only managed a couple of runs for a couple of weeks each time before I let it drift again. I also never got back to that strength and cardio.
Additionally, during the last couple of runs I first noticed my running shoes were at the end of their useable life. They're still pretty sound, but the inner fabric lining has developed holes, and where the fabric bunches up it rubs on my feet like a stone I can't dislodge.
I either couldn't be bothered to buy replacements, or couldn't afford it. Or maybe a bit of both. Either way, the shoes sat unused.
So I never got back to it. Around November I thought I ought to do something, but just didn't. I'd like to say I wasn't able to afford new shoes (which was certainly true in November) and didn't want to restart with just half a programme, but honestly I'd forgotten all about the problem with the shoes.
Instead I was just lazy, then it was mid-December and I was busy, and I put it off to new year. In fact I nearly delayed longer, just so it wouldn't look like some half-cocked new year resolution.
So let's step back a bit for a moment. My parents took me and my siblings on long walks quite frequently, so that aspect of fitness was in place from early on. At about age 10 I started taking myself on walks of around three-six hours almost routinely. By 16 even walks of up to 10 hours weren't unheard of.
At about 15 I started to undertake relatively indisciplined and unguided strength and cardio exercise, though I wouldn't have called it that.
From that age onwards, always at home rather than in a gym, using often homemade equipment and following guidance from books I've continued exercising regularly, with just the occasional break of a few months or in one case over a year.
From 2006 I mostly followed the free guide to British Army fitness given out in parts with The Guardian. I'd recommend it, especially if you you don't have, or don't want to use much equipment. The whole lot was published as a book which I think is still available.
But by 2015 I was finding it increasingly difficult to motivate myself. This is always going to be a problem where you're repeating the same thing every time. So at the beginning of November that year I did a couple of things: I bought some running shoes and I downloaded three apps.
One of those apps was a Couch to 5k app, which starts you running short distance, and gradually builds you up to five km runs. There are a number of these available, and they're worth looking into.
Although they often have a programme to follow, with runs on say Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you don't have to follow that slavishly. If for instance you find the step up from running for three bursts of eight minutes at a time with three minutes walking in between, to running for 15 minutes too much to manage, then just continue with the previous stage until you feel ready.
Another app was one devoted to dumbbell work. The third was one offering a range of workouts that you can follow and personalise. I tended to stick to the four core areas: generally warming up with up to nine minutes of stretches; then undertaking 15 minutes each of strength and cardio; and finally cooling down with up to nine minutes of yoga.
On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I ran; on Tuesday and Thursday I did stretches, strength, cardio and yoga; and on Saturday I added in an additional half hour of dumbbells.
By February or March my Saturday exercise was displaced by increasingly long runs as I built up to and beyond marathon distance.
And that brings us back to today. Last Tuesday I tried to go for a long run, and did manage around 45 minutes. My soles were aching, so I had to stop and walk for a little time. When I restarted I noticed the lining was rubbing on my insteps very painfully, so the run home was mostly walking with brief bursts of running.
On Wednesday I was back in work, but also back on the app for stretches, strength, cardio and yoga. On Thursday I managed a run using what are really walking shoes. Friday was back to the app. And this Saturday I went for a walk, bought a new pair of shoes and ran home. Except my feet were protesting so there were a few intervals of walking. The whole 'run' was less than 40 minutes.
This morning, Sunday, I wanted to try another run, and managed to complete a circuit of 1 hour 13 minutes. A little slow, but it's only my fourth run in over three months, and all of those were in the last week.
So now I've got a programme of running Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (with Saturday being a long run), and the stretches, strength, cardio and yoga on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Honestly, today's run was probably a mistake. Even running half an hour is probably a big ask when you're coming back from three months of no exercise, and a long run in new shoes immediately, is again not advisable.
But there doesn't seem to be any damage, and I enjoy running. I may update you on how my return to exercise progresses, particularly how I lose weight. I'm not fat, but I have got softer that I should, and there is weight to lose from my waist and elsewhere.
In fact I haven't weighed myself yet, I'll probably save that until the end of next week.
*The exchange went something like this, and bear in mind I didn't know this supervisor and didn't recognise their name onscreen:
Supervisor: Hi, are you okay?
Me: Erm, yes. [I very nearly replied with ?]
Supervisor: I notice you're two minutes late logging on.
Me: Yes, I was late.
Supervisor: Is there any reason you're late?
Me: Erm, no. [Or, as I could have said: I set out a little later than usual. Duh!]
They may have messaged something else after that, but I was so done with this conversation already.
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