First Run In Ages!

The last time I ran for exercise was back in May 2010 in Thailand. At the time I'd been running for awhile.

My style wasn't great and so I'd bought the book Chi Running and when that didn't help, I hosted a Chi Running day at my house! After the workshop my gait improved but that didn't last long. And I didn't seem able to correct it! I saw a physio who filmed me running and I was sooooo embarrassed by what I saw that I never went back. 

My IT bands are tighter than a nun's gee, and I have been working on the Foam Roller (extreme torture device) to loosen them and have had some massages too.

The other day I had the idea that if I ran barefoot, or even in Vibram,s that my gait would fix itself as it hurts like a bitch to heel strike in bare feet or Vibrams.

So yesterday I donned my Vibrams (generously donated by one of my best friends in the world) and off I went. I did week one of Robert Ullrey's Couch To 5 K program (C25K noobs) and in the beginning it was soooo easy! But by the end I was in agony! LOL.

This morning on rising my poor lower legs felt like they were on FIRE! I was so sore. Happily other muscles in my core, arms and legs, even feet, were sore as well, but my lower legs are beyond the rest of my body. I figure this is pretty normal after all, I haven't ran in bare feet since I was a toddler! So some of those muscles that I used yesterday got quite a shock I'd imagine.

A friend on Instagram said Vibrams should only be worn by seasoned runners who have 'plenty of miles on the shins'. I know a few people who either run in them or have run in them and as far as memory serves, the ones who do well are the ones who can run and run well prior to trying the Vibrams. So perhaps I will try another shoe... see how I go. Same instagrammer (@durianrider if you're wondering) recommended 4mm heel drop shoes like Brooks pure flow.

Felt so good to run though! Twas  lovely to be out. xxxx

I've just gotta enjoy it...

I've mentioned before that I have to have an end goal in order to be able to exercise. Meaning, I get as bored as hell if I exercise just for the sake of it and eventually will just stop it. However, if I have an end purpose, a goal if you will, I quite enjoy it.

Riding to or from work, or to the store has been fun. But twice recently, I've gone on rides just for fun. Just for the hell of it and I enjoyed it and didn't even notice! Hehe. Have I tricked myself into the next level of fitness? Perhaps I have!

After doing my 40.7km ride recently, I decided I was up for the Strava Turn Up The Heat challenge. They're giving little badge (online ones, not physical) rewards for those who reach certain levels with the minimum amount of riding for a month to get a badge being 250kms. I eagerly signed up and then watched in confusion as I went from being a bubble of joy to a mass of tension. What happened?

I let it go and decided to wait for a few days and see what happens. For the next two days I looked at my bike and instead of feeling excited, I've felt a bit repulsed. I sat with it for a bit yesterday and worked out that I didn't really want to do the challenge. Signing up for the challenge sucked all the fun out of it for me and turned cycling into just another type of pressure.

With curiosity I decided to remove myself from the challenge and give myself a few days off the bike. Voila! I'm glad I gave myself some time out because once again, I'm excited about riding. And I had also exhausted myself again and not noticed. I've been sleeping in the afternoons and all night as well and am only just starting to feel perky again.

The point of the post is this, not everyone enjoys exercise just for the sake of exercising. I have many friends who are like that, who will force themselves to move no matter what their frame of mind and they feel better for it when they're finished. Excellent! But there's many of us who have to enjoy it as well. I don't want to finish my exercise vomiting with exertion. As a former bulimic, I've done enough puking. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night because I'm so sore that I'm crying in my sleep. I've done that too!

I'm more than happy to just get my heart rate up, get a sweat on, and get home feeling like "yay me! I've moved today. I'm awesome" and still have energy to do other things and not be dying for pain relief. I'm also happier going at my own pace than I am trying to meet a challenge. I am not really sure why yet, but I'm making excellent progress without it so why not?

Do you exercise no matter what? Or are you like me and need a more gentle program?

Not As Fit As I Thought!

When I did my big 40.7k ride the other day I was stoked! "My fitness is building so quickly!" I exclaimed to

myself. I was so proud and with good reason! It hadn't been long since I'd felt like I was dying with a little 7km ride and now I'm doing almost 6 times that!

However, a few days ago my son and I went and played some tennis for half an hour. I haven't held a racquet in years and I don't know when the last time he did was either so it wasn't serious. Just a little hit around the place. Neither of us is experienced enough to aim well so we spent most of our time running ourselves ragged chasing the ball. It was great fun!

However 24 hours later I can hardly move. What the hell? How does that happen? Doms... Three hours on the bike and I feel fatigued but my muscles are fine, then half an hour on the court and I'm knackered!

I guess it all comes down to doing a bunch of different exercises for all over fitness. I've been focusing too much on just riding.

So I'll get back into my running and also into my Convict Conditioning workouts and build up my fitness in  a more rounded manner. See how we go! In the meantime, it's a magnesium bath for me and time on my favourite instrument of torture. Ouch ouch feel good!

Today however I went kayaking with Mr JDF. We had a great time and were out in the sun oaring around for three hours. We were bummed that I didn't think to activate Strava until we were about a third of the way through our paddle but ah well... can't remember everything!

We took mandarines with us and had them for breakfast which was nice. As a bonus we were then able to have fun spitting the seeds at each other because we're romantic. And classy.

I love being out in the kayak. We saw a couple of things you'd not normally see such as this:

We got a nice couple shot for the fam:

And I did my body a disservice as well! When we arrived back at our slippery boat ramp I shouted to Bill "I'm going to hit this rock... oh no I'm not" and I missed it by just a smidge. Then I confidently hopped out of my kayak and was almost fully standing when my feet slipped backwards out from underneath me and I... hit the rock. Damn the law of attraction. The most obvious damage was the cut on my foot:

There were other injuries too. I can hardly move my left hand but it looks fine. Not even any swelling and for the first time in my life, I'm glad my boobs fell down because it was my upper left chest that hit the rock. I got such a shock I couldn't even speak for a couple of minutes but I got a big hug n kiss from Mr JDF which kinda made up for it... but not much. LOL.

Then I forgot to sunscreen my legs. Again. It's as if there's a part of me that thinks my legs are the only part that tans. So now I look like this:

I like this photo because it tones it down. In reality the burned bits are bright, bright red. Hahaha.

Just as well I started the day with a brief meditation prior to going out so I was all JenZen and completely unfazed by my ordeal:

Have a great weekend all!