It's all well and good me talking about myself and my exercise schedule, but how are you doing with yours?
Are you still making sure that you get that daily walk? On weekdays it's easy if you work fulltime, you simply go out at luchtime, before you eat. Then promise yourself when you get back that you'll enjoy your lunch all the more, plus it will digest better as you'll have given your metabolism a bit of a boost from the walk.
You'll also reduce the chances of having the post lunch slump, about 2ish when you start to feel a bit drowsy. Head nods a bit in a boring meeting? Snoring in the back of the seminar room? Been there, done that, so I know it's true.
Over the month of October I started preparing myself to run. Up until that point I'd always dreamt of running, let's face it, how often do you see a fat runner? So it's got to be good for you right?
But it's not simply a case of going out and running, it takes careful preparation as it's a known issue that new runners will pick up an injury at about 3 months if they haven't prepared their body correctly.
So what did I do? I started off by walking for 1 minute and running for 1 minute, repeating it for 10 minutes the first day. So that meant that I walked in total for 5 minutes and ran for 5 minutes in total. Not too taxing.
I did this three times in the first week, because your hips, knees, calves, ankles and feet need to adjust to the impact of running. The next week I did 2 minute intervals for a total of 20 minutes, three times in the week.
Week 3 I did 3 minute intervals, and week 4 I strung the first couple of 3 minute intervals together. So now I was running for 6 minutes, whoooppeeeeeeee!
Then I got myself fitted with a proper pair of running shoes as there appeared to be an ankle issue. A 'they hurt every time I run' sort of issue. I can't stress enough the importance of being fitted by an expert running shop, leave the fashion trainers at home, avoid the highstreet 'sports' shops, and go to a proper runners shop. Check out Google for one in your area.
During the first two weeks of November I carried on with intervals, but simply made the intervals longer each week. Then I thought that it was about time to see what I could do, so I ran for as long as I felt comfortable, 20 minutes, and covered just under 2 miles. Wow did I feel great.
By the end of November I was running 2 miles three times a week, and I started to notice something very strange. My clothes were getting looser, I wasn't weighing any less, but things were definitely getting looser, and no they weren't stretching, as the racing snake suggested.
There are a lot of good running websites about on the Internet, so if you want to start to run check out a few, they will also have suggested training programmes on them. Try this website
girls run too. They have a section called 'let's run' which has loads of useful advice for starting out running. My advice is read it, and take notice.
Caution: As with all exercise, if you haven't exercised for some time, or if you have any medical conditions, you should see your physician first for a checkup. Tell them what you are planning to do so they can advise based on any medical history you might have.
