Its been several months since I’ve had the time and inclination to write. A lot has passed and been achieved this past year, yet still there has also remained sadness and disappointments but I’m doing my best to accept this is now part of my life rather than the exception. Maybe I’ll ponder and scribe these experiences in future but for now I’m going to share what has been my singular success this year – my running!
If you want to run but haven’t, or don’t know how to start, this is my story. Important to highlight what worked for me is no guarantee of your success or happiness but hopefully something herein will help. There are many routes to running but I just jumped in, and I have learned from experience, observation and on occasion a wrong turn – sometimes literally.
It is almost 2 years since I started on this particular journey. Walking was the first exercise I undertook when I first started my weight loss journey – much of it in the early days was in the dark of the night and early morning with the dog often during periods of insomnia. In time I was motivated to walk for a few miles at the weekends, and in time I had lost sufficient weight to encourage myself on to the exercise bike. Although I did keep up the dog walking, and for some time this was undertaken under a cloud of depression, I spent much of the first year in the gym which I have described elsewhere.
It was in January 2018 that I decided to vary my training to include an element of running. I did not want to “bulk” out but rather wanted to attain some broader fitness. Although my gym was quite laid back it was not an environment I enjoyed, and too much time was spent waiting for equipment to be available for my routine. But I had no intention of leaving the gym but to add to what I was achieving.
My first achievement was to complete a single lap of Wisbech park without stopping. It was probably about 1.5km in total but I managed it. Just. But I felt really good and committed to doing this every Sunday. I won’t dwell too much on recovery time etc but just to be clear that for first 5/6 weeks I would only have managed a weekly run. During this time I began to take a more measured and programmed approach to dog walks and at the gym I incorporated a good deal more rowing to help build my core strength.
It was several weeks in that I had achieved a “double lap” to much delight and then took the important decision and applied for my first 5km race. The importance of this race, and all those events which followed, is to provide a focus for my training and I would come to love the occasion of the races including – and this surprised me – the fellowship of other runners.
In the time since that first “Colour Run” was completed I have since this time run many races including a couple of Half Marathons – crazy right? I have had to contribute a lot of work getting to this stage, much of it physical of course but also a lot of planning and preparation in my training plans too. My diet has remained important (see previous blogs) and takes on a special consideration leading up to distance training runs and obviously races too. But you choose what works for you, there is no requirement to keep pushing distances or even times – this has just been my challenge to me and for the time being this remains my motivation.
To this end, following months of indecision, I have finally signed up for my first marathon – I’m running in Edinburgh in May 2020. I have recently finished a first draft of my training program which is to begin in January. Just looking at what I am proposing is daunting enough, and I know the reality will truly be biting my arse. I’m going to keep a diary and will share this in some form assuming I survive it.
In the meantime I hope this has given you food for thought. I have listed below my top tips to get going. Happy running!
1. Kit – Don’t spend a fortune on new kit until you’re committed. For the first few weeks I wore football kit and beach shorts with trainers. But at the earliest point you’re committed invest in a decent pair of running shoes. I won’t recommend shoes because my feet are not yours but if convenient get to a running shop and get advice – and I know it can seem daunting but genuinely these people want to help you. But don’t feel you need to buy top dollar – once you know your needs read some reviews before committing. As far as other kit is concerned start to invest the more regularly you run but bear in mind if you start doing races you’ll be getting shirts for “free”!
2. Training plans – You can find an array of training plans online. My first tip would be to look at “Runners World” but look at a few and then adapt to meet your needs and your available time. Don’t try to fit your life into a plan written by someone else – you will miss sessions and then in time will fail. Be honest with yourself with regard to what time you can commit and be ambitious but realistic about what you want to achieve. For example, I only ever plan to do long runs on Sunday mornings and this often means having to get up at 5am, and in the week I generally can only go out after 9pm. When you start off a “training plan” might simply be a single line in your diary, you’ll only require project management experience when preparing for your first Half Marathon!
3. Runs – Push yourself but only do what you are comfortable with. You cannot afford injury although it is inevitable there will be some. Important when training or in race mode that you listen to your body, and you take rest days and recovery days as you need them. Successful runners do not only run, they undertake a range of activities to develop and protect the whole of the body. We will all take a different mental approaches to the planning and execution of training runs. I have always planned routes which I am certain to finish even if a slow time, whilst others will happily run/walk a course. But do bear in my mind however we plan and prepare for a run we all have bad days, these make good days better.
4. Push yourself – The long runs are not just the physical challenge these are the occasions when you get to test and strengthen your resolve too. There is no better quality time than arguing and questioning yourself during a couple of hours of the best alone time you’ll ever experience. If you are going to run Half Marathons or further it is the long runs which you also get to test your racing pace as well as your kit and nutrition plans too.
5. Fuel – If you’re taking up running or about to then you have probably already considered and understand that to succeed you’ll need to fuel your body properly. There is plenty of advice online and of course each person will have a different set of needs and requirements even before we make changes. The key steps for myself prior to any long run is that the night before I will generally eat pasta and no more than a single beer, and for breakfast porridge and coffee, with a banana an hour before run/race.
Remember. It’s one foot in front of the other. Easy.
The Renegade Roundhead 