Strong Runner

Week 3 Day 1 of C25K done and dusted today.

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I can not believe I just typed that...see, I've always wanted to run...it has been a dream of mine for a long time. I started C25K earlier this year with Leonie, who was also doing 12WBT at the time (and still is, I believe). We would run together with Leonie holding her iPhone and telling me when to run and when to walk. It was working well until the pain in my foot got too much and I decided to do something about it.

After about four months of wearing a little tear shaped insert in my shoes I can report that I am pain-free and can even wear high heels for a couple of hours without pain.

So I decided to give C25K another go, this time on my own, listening to some of my favourite tunes and at the gym on the treadmill...I am not being my usual perfectionist self and although I would eventually like to run outdoors I figure this is a good way to learn.

Previously I would say "I can't run"...I had tried running, but would always get stitches and simply couldn't breathe properly. I would last a couple of minutes and my lungs would feel like they were about to explode, my throat felt like it was on fire...it was awful.

I have been following C25K for three weeks now and it dawned on me recently that I am just plodding long very nicely, with none of those symptoms showing up at all...

Last week, during one of my sessions, I noticed something. When I hear the little voice that says "Begin running", I also hear another *voice* that says "shoulders back, chest open, arms loose, chin up"...and then it hit me!! When we started C25K all those months ago, Leonie attended a running clinic a few times and she would share what she'd learnt with me...those tips were given to her and she would always remind me whenever we had to run...How cool is that? It's stayed in my memory and become second nature. Wow!

I have been quite easy on myself in that I am not stressing about how many calories I burn during my *runs*...and apart from a RPM class here and there, that is all I have been doing.


So, it's time to crank things up a little.


Time to become a STRONG RUNNER....


The idea is to complete C25K Week 3 and then start adding some strength training in there. I have some excellent training ideas/programs collected over the last few years which have served me very well.


I am actually getting quite excited about my workouts, which is a place I haven't been for ages. Nice. Hold on to it. Bottle it, maybe?


Now it's off to bed with a cuppa and some magazines...but first, I might have a nice long stretch.

Good night all.


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