Tag: Fitness

Challenges Everywhere and a Plan

Jess GuthLeave a comment

I finished the Berlin Wall challenge at the end of May. I resorted to cycling much more than I wanted to because of the calf niggle. That now seems behind me. I think because the challenge didn’t quite go to plan and I was grumpy about not doing the miles just running or walking as I had planned, I sort of lost interest – coupled with the fact that I was irritated by the ‘postcards’ and place information given, I wasn’t all that inspired. Having said that, the medal is cool. And actually, the challenge did its thing. Without it, I doubt I would have got on the bike. Anyway, I wanted to finish itin May because in June I wanted to do the Virtual Spine Race Sprint. It’s 43 miles virtually on the Spine route starting in Edale and finishing in Hebden Bridge. I like the idea of watching my own dot moving along the route having watched so many dots move along the Pennine Way both in the winter and summer edition.

I have had a slow start but a controlled and planned start. I have been playing with new plans, new ways to do couch to 5k and then build from that for ages now, years literally. And it’s not really working. I don’t like them. I get so far and then lose interest. It seems silly to just keep doing that and think something will change. So I have gone back to what I know does work. This week I started the runDinsey Dopey Plan. The number of weeks left for the Great North Run actually works really well with the plan starting now and after that I’ll look at what’s next and work out where in the plan to drop back to to have a rest and then build again.

The first week has gone ok. I tried out some of the suggested drills on Tuesday’s run and then some quarter mile segments trying out different run/walk ratios. I was faster doing 15/15 seconds but felt a lot stronger doing 30/30. On Thursday I went after work. I was so tired – in fact I was too tired to do anything other than run. It may not have been the best idea to try a magic mile but I thought I might as well set a benchmark. I initially thought I would run the mile in quarter of a mile segments with a short walk break in the transition from one to the next. But it turns out that tired plus hay fever plus not having done much running at all, means that that was too ambitious. I walked more than I planned, then lost the battle in my head and nearly gave up, then rallied and finished. It ended up being a 13.58 mile on the flat. Oh well. The long ‘run’ today was a walk up to Keighley Gate and back down. It feels a bit like cheating in spite of the instructions being clear about it being perfectly acceptable to walk the full distance. Anyway, I am 13.5 miles into the virtual Spine so have navigated Kinder Scout and am slowly making progress towards Torside. Maybe one day I will actually go do bits of the pennine way and see these places for real. For now, I am looking at them on the OS map and they seem familiar just from previous dot watching experiences.

Finishing the Sprint distance is going to be a challenge, and I am not counting cycling this time, Everything is running or walking. I have a tendency to not get out when things get busy at work – that needs to stop and I am hoping that my slight dot watching obsession and cheering dots on a map onwards will translate into wanting to see my own dot move along and get this done. I am not currently last – which is a new experience lately!

I had 3 challenge codes for conqueror virtual challenges and was wondering what to do with them, what is next. Well, we have booked an adventure for this time next year. We are doing a tour in China so I used one code to sign up to a long distance challenge to try and complete over the next 50 weeks – running and walking for now but if it looks like I am going to be too far off, I may need to add some bike. I am doing the Pandas of China challenge and Kath signed up for the Great Wall challenge. It feels like a nice thing to do to celebrate and get ready for the adventure.

As the medal whore in me seems to be quite happy with these challenges and I am managing to be more consistent when I have a medal to work towards, I am now looking at what challenge to go for in July? Help me out. Lake District? Space Exploration? Great Barrier Reef? Niagara Falls? Help me decide. The distances vary so for some I would need to include cycling if I am going to do it in a month.

Next week looks like this: One run which includes race day practice and some drills; one run which includes some hill work and my long run – 4 miles on the plan. I also want to get on the bike at least once and do 2 strength sessions. One of them in the gym if I can’t manage both. I had got really good at stretching and yoga and that slipped a bit so far this month. I will try and start the week on the yoga mat and set the tone. I’ll let you know how I get on.

A few little jogs and all is well

Jess Guth1 Comment

I love my random additional days off! There are a couple of bank holidays where we also get the Tuesday off from work and there is always something really nice about that additional day. It feels a bit indulgent in a way annual leave doesn’t. The plan for today was just to try out the calf a bit. Nothing silly but after yesterday’s gym session all is still well and it seems like the obvious next step is to see how it fairs out in the wild. So we went to Bolton Abbey. Kath went off on her 5 mile loop and my plan was to walk a mile which would take me almost to the Strid and then on the way back I would throw in a few little jogs to see how everything feels. The loop went like this:

  • Ooh it’s lovely and cool under these trees
  • Squirrel!
  • Bye Kath as I waved her off on her run
  • Hm, high path or low path? High path
  • Wild garlic smells lush
  • What’s that? Oh just a pigeon
  • Everything feels ok, good
  • Oh person, ‘hello’. No hello? Rude
  • Oh I am at the Strid already. Lovely. That was nice. Should I run now?
  • Little jog, weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee downhill
  • Ok nothing hurts, did my knee just niggle? Nah, that was a brain niggle not a knee niggle
  • Ok, back we go. Little jog, body scan, all good
  • Slope, walk. But I could try and run. Stop it, be sensible!
  • Weeeeeeeee down the slope and on a bit. Ok all good
  • It’s kinda hot
  • My eyebrows are sweaty
  • Little run, all good. Keep going to that tree. No not that one, the other one. Which one? You know. Do I? Oh slope, walk
  • And run down the hill and keep going, keep going, yes it’s hot, keep going. Fuck that’s a big dog. Walk
  • ‘ Hi dog’ (and human). Aw friendly. That’s nice. Walk the hill though
  • And last little run down the slope to the Cavendish Pavilion. Ooh is that tightness? Niggle? Brain niggle or real niggle?
  • Doesn’t matter. I am out of the wood, too hot to run in full sun. Walk to car
  • Grab go bag with change of clothes, gym towel and deodorant and head for toilets
  • Thank goodness I am getting changed because these lycra pants are not coming back up after having a pee. Also, I think I have an actual puddle in my bra.
  • Good outing that. Happy

So that’s another 3.7km added to the Berlin Wall virtual challenge. Well, I continued along the road I was on and then turned right where I will have walked along a stretch planted with 45 cherry trees as a memorial. I continued along the Wall route past more remnants, a tower and then I hit the river Spree. The river also acted as a physical border with underwater barriers. There is a lot online about this if you are interested and on the Mauerspuren website you can see the various locations. After crossing the river I will have come to the East Side Gallery. We have been to that Gallery – the longest Open Air gallery in the world and the longest continuous stretch of Wall remaining. The 1.3km of that stretch will have taken a third of my run/walk today and I am sure that if I was doing it for real, I would have lingered. We probably have photos but what you can see online is probably better. After that I went onwards along the route, past more bits of wall. I’ll soon head left over the river again but that’s for next time.

FFS

Jess GuthLeave a comment

That’s really all I have to say. I felt good about week 2 of the plan. I felt good about having bought the next virtual challenge (Berlin Wall) and was ready to start. I had done run one. It was all looking, well, good. And then on Thursday when I was going to do run 2 in the afternoon, I whacked my right shin and top of my foot on the edge of a raised bed trying to water some just planted mange tout. Yes gardening is dangerous. It really hurt. It sort of derailed my afternoon in the way small things that are not really a big deal at all sometimes can. I didn’t run. I told myself it didn’t matter because I could still get my two runs in easily by running Friday and Sunday. Friday came and we set off to Bolton Abbey. The beauty of a week off is that we can run in places that are often busy at the weekends during the week and avoid crowds. I set off with a 5 minute walk. Everything felt ok, no niggles. I then went into my run/walk intervals. Everything still felt ok. I wasn’t really settling into my breathing so it felt a little more laboured than it really needed to be but nothing at all to cause concern. At about 0.7 miles I felt my left calf go a little tight. It was right at the end of a running interval and it disappeared through the walk break so I didn’t think anything of it. I started the next run interval, ran for about 15 seconds and then swore loudly as my left calf screamed at me. I hopped dramatically on my right leg for a couple of hops, swore some more and then tentatively put my left foot down. I shifted my weight onto it, that seemed fine. But walking – nope. I hobbled back to the car, stopping along the way to take pictures and try not to be too grumpy. So much for running consistently and so much for my virtual Berlin Wall Challenge.

I iced and heated the calf muscle and felt sorry for myself for the rest of Friday. Saturday I worked an Applicant Visit Day and after setting up the classroom and courtroom was in quite a lot of pain in spite of painkillers. In the afternoon, we watched football and then sorted some photos and by the time I went to bed it perhaps didn’t feel quite so sore. I woke up this morning and there was no pain as I sat up and did a little body scan. I got up. I could feel some tightness but no pain. I can walk normally without pain. There is tightness and if I step backwards or at a funny angle there is a bit of pain but nothing like yesterday. I am obviously not going to risk running just yet but I did just sit on the bike and pedal for a minute and there is no pain through that motion – so I will get on the bike this afternoon and just do some sort of flat loop.

I need to think about my challenge though. I wanted to do this all running but I don’t think that will happen now. I could extend the time but I wanted to drop into the virtual Spine Race Sprint after the Berlin Wall so need to finish this month. I think maybe what I will do is upload today’s cycle manually and see how things go next week. If the challenges are about consistency and getting out then this is also sort of working – my default position with an injury is often to just to nothing, this is making me think about what I CAN do instead if I can’t run . So maybe counting a short ride is ok.

Anyway, the Challenge. I have set off from the starting point on the Conqueror App map which seems to be a random spot on the Waltersdorfer Chaussee on the wall route in-between two points of interest noted on the website Mauerspuren (German only – for an English interactive map see here). From there I have made my way 2.43km along the route onto the absolutely awe inspiring (not) A113 which has the most spectacular views (not). If you want to learn more about the Wall, the website of the Berlin Wall Foundation isn’t a bad place to start.

It’s now a nap and a cat cuddle later and I have been on the bike. Just 5km, just to check that there is no pain while riding and that it doesn’t make it worse. It was fine, nothing hurts and it was a positive 12 minutes or so to get the blood pumping a little. I have uploaded it to the challenge. That’s the good news, the bad news is that I am still on the A113 (virtually obviously) – the third picture above is where I am now. I have gone past the first piece of the wall which sits outside the Museum Treptow. Not that you would know that from the challenge because it doesn’t have these things marked on it and it doesn’t come up in the narrative. So below is the screenshot from the Mauerspuren website linked above. I have now received my first challenge ‘postcard’ which just gives a pretty basic history.

So let’s see what tomorrow brings and go from there.

Continuing the challenge, run/walk, stupid adverts and Cuba memories

Jess GuthLeave a comment

For the first time this year I have managed to string 3 runs together in a week. Say it quietly so we don’t jinx it! The running itself is outrageously hard but it feels good. For the first time this year I ran in short sleeves and in spite of my hay fever settling in for the spring and summer now, the many shades of green and the blossom were gorgeous. I am very ploddy and I am trying not to be grumpy about it. I ran/walked 2 miles using 30/30 intervals. Then I walked another mile and a bit back home. And in spite of the recent Nike advert I am recording the entire 3.15 mile as a run on my spreadsheet – tolerate away Nike – you do you, I’ll do me. In case you didn’t see it, Nike used the phrase ‘Runners Welcome, Walkers Tolerated’ in their Boston Marathon ad. They have since withdrawn it following backlash. I am not really mad at the advert. I think it is idiotic to alienate a huge set of your potential customers but I don’t actually think that’s what will actually happen here. I am bemused that people are surprised that a company like Nike, or any other sports brand for that matter, would use that sort of advertising. I think calling them out is good, sure, but the internet outrage will have no impact. The only thing that would is if we stopped buying Nike gear and most of us won’t. I am pretty sure the ad did its job, we’re all talking about Nike, the backlash was undoubtedly anticipated, as was the withdrawal and apology. I mean think about this, marketing of sports clothing and shoes seems to me to all be about how that brand will make you fitter, faster, stronger, leaner (or, since the 90s seem to be back, skinnier). It’s about performance. It is not about comfortably being able to move your body in any way that feels right for you. It made me think about how difficult it is in my experience to find comfortable exercise clothes that fit well in my size. I’m a UK size 18ish – large yes but hardly whale size and certainly not unusual. There are a lot of sports brands that do not even make running tights or tops in my size. Others do but my choices are basically black tights or black tights. Anyway, I don’t want to rant. Let’s just say that if your brand doesn’t make anything bigger than a size 16, which comes up small and then call that XXXL, then you’re the problem. I did not fit into those items when I was very much marathon fit. So I get the outrage when sports brand imply that they are really for fit, fast, strong, skinny people but I don’t get the surprise. The whole industry has a problem with gatekeeping exercise and movement. Let’s just ignore that bullshit and get on with our lives. I ‘boycott’ most sports brands, not by choice, but because they don’t make anything in my size. Shoes are different of course but you’re not likely to find me trying on shoes from brands where I don’t fit in the clothes because I’d never go into a store and when I buy online, I stick to what I know.

Anyway, rant over. I am quite enjoying being part of the virtual challenge. I joined the Facebook Group. I am not sure why because we all know by now that most groups will just annoy me. I had a quick scan through and muted it. There seemed to be a lot of nonsense and some spectacularly stunning stupid and too much weight talk for my liking and people doing things that don’t make sense to me like signing up for multiple challenges at the same time and using the same runs/walks for them all. I am trying to be very ‘you do you’ about this and leave people to their thing but no. You cannot run (or walk or whatever) in one place physically and then transmit that to more than one virtual location. That’s cheating surely? But ok, you do you. I just don’t want to know about it. Anyway, here are a couple of screenshots from the App to give you a sense:

The first is the virtual bib you get when you register for the challenge. I like the colours on this one. The second is a shot from the map. The JG is where I am currently. The red marker is where I should be based on the time I set and distance of the challenge and the other markers note points at which I unlock a tree being planted (5 trees are planted for me completing this challenge – Conquerer Virtual Challenge partner with Veritree) or (not visible on this map) or local interests or local spots. At the bottom of that screenshot you can also see the percentage distance and time already covered. If you expand that you get details of those metrics. Below that is the main menu. The last picture is of my rewards page showing what I have ‘unlocked’ so far and how far it is to the next thing.

Those of you who read my last post and have a sense of Cuban geography might have noticed that I have jumped. I was intrigued to see how this would work because obviously 70 miles is not going to take me from Santiago de Cuba to Havana. I am too lazy to Google it but it must be 500 ish miles. So following my last run I was bang in the middle of Santiago on the Cuba map. It could have been on a tree like this – take in January 2011 and no idea what it looks like now.

Santiago de Cuba

At some point on today’s adventure I entered the portal and transported myself to the edge of Camaguey. Hm. Ok. That’s not what happened when we were actually in Cuba of course. In 2011we were coming the other way and before Santiago we were deep in the Sierra Maestra and hiked to Comandancia de La Plata. Stunning views and a sense of tangible history is what I remember from that day. I also remember wondering why some of the people on the trip had come to Cuba and on this particular trip as there seemed little or no interest in history and zero background knowledge. It’s not that I knew (or know) lots but I remember being taken aback by the ignorance of some and lack of curiosity in others. I probably had lots of questions but as usual, none would form fully until much later when the chance to ask them had passed. Sometimes that’s just how my brain works, it takes time to process and take it all in.

Sierra Maestra
Sierra Maestra
Sierra Maestra

So for the purposes of my virtual journey, we have jumped a few 100km but it was a great excuse to defamiliarise myself with a map of Cuba and look through the photos from the trip to try and work out where we were when and what that means for the timeline and route of our trip. I might be wrong of course, I have a very unreliable memory but it doesn’t really matter. It’s nice to have those memories and to let them lead me to questions that might occupy my brain on my next run. Questions about revolutions, questions about change, questions about power, questions about what the world could and should look and feel like for all of us. You know, just the little things.

How do you build consistency?

Jess GuthLeave a comment
Blossom in our Garden

Consistency. The mythical thing that will make everything fall into place and become joyful and easy… . Apparently. I spend enough time scrolling on social media to have read several idiotic takes on consistency and on how habit not motivation will build consistency. And I get it. I remember (vaguely) a short period of time where running was just something we did. We didn’t really think about doing it, we just did. It wasn’t a decision to make. But that time was brief and also, it might be fictional. Perhaps it was never like that. Perhaps getting out the door has always been the hardest part of running. My brain is good at making shit up and maybe remembering a time, whether it actually existed or not, where getting out to run was easy, isn’t a bad thing.

Anyway, there I was scrolling like we all know we shouldn’t and the claims about how to get your shit together were just getting more and more outrageous. Advice that seemed to boil down do ‘you just need to be disciplined and get up at 4am and exercise and drink your electrolyte infused water and eat the right macros, take the most expensive supplements on the market and here’s some guidance on what to say so you’re not seen as weak at work and then here’s your evening relaxation and skin care routine and and … I am exhausted and bemused just seeing the posts, never mind reading or engaging with any of it. It does however bring me back to a question – how do normal people get their shit together? Like not 4am runs every morning and mapped out to the second daily routines (It is now 19.02, time to relax for precisely 19 minutes) but normal. Normal as in, my job can be a bit random, sometimes the cat pukes on the bed at 3am throwing everything into chaos, or I was so busy that I am both completely dehydrated because I didn’t drink anything and desperate for a pee because I haven’t had time for a toilet stop or I am not going to the gym for love nor money today because – ew people or the world feels wrong and I need to hide under a blanket and cry. That sort of normal. Which reading it back might not in fact be normal. What I mean is, how, in all the chaos that is normal life and without the desire or will power to be really regimented, how do you build consistency? How do you get to habit, to where the brain just assumes you’re going to the gym or for a run so you don’t have to do battle with yourself each time? How do you get motivated enough to get past the need for motivation?

I know, if I could really figure that out and bottle it, I could stop with the academic nonsense and retire ungracefully. I don’t think there is just one answer though. I read a post that suggested you set an alarm with a motivational quote to get you up and out of bed – yeah that will elicit a sleepy string of expletives and not much else while I turn off the alarm, turn over and go straight back to sleep. Another post suggested sleeping in your gear. Yeah – the only time I will sleep in a sports bra is if I am too exhausted after a run to attempt getting out of it. Other suggestions included telling yourself you can come back if you still really don’t want to be out after ten minutes. That also doesn’t work because that is a given for me. If I am miserable I won’t force myself to push through. I am too old for that shit. Hard – sure. Miserable, nope. More suggestions – same time each day for exercise of some description – hello chaotic schedule. That might work if I went really early in the morning but anyone who has met me will know that that will go wrong very very quickly. If I don’t get 8 hours sleep a night for a period of time, armageddon will ensue. I am being negative. Sorry. Of course I will eventually (and into the summer it’s easier) get up early more consistently and run after work more consistently and just the line between doing hard and being miserable will move so I will do more. I know this. I just find all the social media stuff annoying and unhelpful because none of it strikes me as realistic but I also can’t quite shake myself free of the expectations that my ducks should be more in a row and I should be able to be more disciplined. (I know! I’m paying for therapy, I am working on the people pleasing good girl thing)

Anyway, given that I am too old to take the influencers seriously and too intelligent to believe the nonsense around fitness and health and wellbeing and getting your shit together that fills my feeds, I had to come up with something else to try and keep up motivation while re-developing habits. And what does work, always has worked for me, is a challenge, a medal and some sort of game. Ideally all three. The challenges we had set haven’t kept me going. I haven’t been able to work towards them and they haven’t provided the kick up the arse required. So just entering another race or setting a park run target or whatever isn’t going to work – its not immediate enough. So I decided I would try a virtual challenge, something that tracks as you go along rather than something that is just an end goal; something that provides interest over time and an incentive to reach the next thing and something that allows me to go at my pace. And of course I need a medal at the end. A quick google and I landed on the Conqueror Virtual Challenges. I signed up for a challenge (I’ll tell you more about which one and why that one etc next time) to see if it might just work and keep me motivated through the really hard bit of starting again.

Well, it did its first job which was to get me out today when I really just wanted to curl up and stare into space and work out how I managed to work all day without having anything to show for it. I went out only because I wanted to see if the app worked, if my strava would sync to it and what the look and feel of the app and challenge would be. So yeah – gamification works. For me anyway. I did 2 miles again. Run/Walk at 30/30 intervals. This time for the full two miles. I went the same mile out as previously but ran past a guy I know who was out chatting and we had a friendly exchange but I really didn’t want a second interaction on the way back so I turned off and went down hill. So I did run a slightly easier route in terms of slopes but I kept the run/walk going until the 2 mile beep on my watch. Then I walked the .70 of a mile home up the hill. Happy with that. Oh and me not wanting another interaction had nothing to do with the guy, I was a proper no people zone after work today.

Einstein receiving instructions from the Dino gang
Odin – not too sure about being watched while having his tea

Anyway, I will tell you more about the challenge and the app as I get into it but for now there is one thing I want to mention because it pissed me off as I was completing the registration on the app. It’s a distance challenge, right. You can count all sorts of exercise to contribute, all good. I like that because it makes it really inclusive. But then the app asked for me height and weight. Annoying in itself. It doesn’t need that to track distance travelled. It’s irrelevant to the thing the app is designed for. And then, as if asking for weight wasn’t bad enough, it asked for ideal weight. So there it is. Just like that we have again made the assumption that exercise and signing up to a challenge must be about weight loss. Had they asked these questions before I signed up for the challenge I wouldn’t have signed up. It annoys the hell out of me. There is no reason for the app to need the information. The challenges are based on distance traveled, that doesn’t change based on how much someone weighs. I am not doing a challenge to lose weight. I am not running to lose weight, I am not going to the gym to lose weight. I am not doing anything to lose weight. I am doing the things I am doing to be fitter and stronger and so I can keep having adventures. My weight bobbing about a bit is a side effect of that, not a driving force. Anyway, I had already bought the challenge, so I completed the app registration, gave them my current weight as both the current and ideal weight which might fry their algorithm a bit at least and got over myself.

Next time I will tell you where in the virtual world I am and why I chose it and any other musings. For now, I have some more marking to do – you know, academic and that time of year!