As I embarked on the second week of my month-long goal of truly enjoying running, I didn’t expect miracles to happen. Although they are quite an active person overall, That first run was a disaster. But I learned a few things that I could tweak to get me to the point where I can say that while I don’t like running (yet), I hated it less than I did last week than I hated my spiritual one Health in question for volunteering for such an experiment.
First of all, to those of you who recommended it Zombies, run! App, Thanks. One of the things I like about exercising on my elliptical at home is that I can also watch pointless TV while doing it. So it made sense that the lack of entertainment would make walking seem even more of a chore. As it turns out, the trick for me is to go on “missions” to collect supplies and rescue survivors of the zombie apocalypse (and also to hear some tunes in between panicked news from the grassroots). Unlocking the next part of the story offers a bit of motivation to walk out the door.
I found out something else as to why that first run last week was so brutal too. I don’t know how it is possible that this didn’t occur to me right now or even after thinking about it, but folks – I started this run uphill.
I live in a hilly area where I walk a lot and I think I never thought about it much. But who in their right mind would go running for the first time in at least a decade and turn to go uphill? (That girl, apparently.) No wonder my ankles weren’t working properly, for God’s sake.
This week I’ve used the hill to my advantage, as would anyone who really wanted to be strategic about this. I warmed myself up for five minutes by walking briskly up the hill, which got my heart rate pumping. Then I turned and ran and walked alternately first on flat land and then downhill at the end. The terrain got easier as the physical exertion became more difficult and I was pretty happy with myself.
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I think using the hill as a warm up helped my ankles feel better during the run, and I was also pleasantly surprised to find myself in epic pain for three days after that first run didn’t come back.
I planned on running at least three times this week but life got in the way so I only made it twice. But that’s twice as much as last week, and I’ve also decided not to force myself to just run as my exercise this month. I want to keep doing the other physical activities that I enjoy so that I don’t unnecessarily torture myself as that would be the opposite of the point. In the end, it’s not just about exercising by running, but seeing running as a simple, easily accessible option that I enjoy with some frequency.
I tracked my running “moods” and on a scale of 1 to 5, with five “Fuck that shit the hell” and one “Whoo-hoo! Running is the best!” And I ended the week on a nice, neutral three I didn’t like it at the moment, but immediately afterwards I felt stronger and more accomplished for doing it, so I think this is a win.
My goals for the next week are three runs, at least one of which is on a scenic trail. My longest run / walk this week was just over 20 minutes. So if I can get that down to 25 minutes it would feel like progress. And I hope that at least one run will appear on or near a “two” on the mood card.
