Sunday 21 September 2014

It's been a while...

In fact over 3 years since I last posted! Since I stopped running I lost fitness pretty rapidly and the weight piled on. When I did try to get back into it, running a mile was tough and I found I had to walk, losing the motivation again in the process.  Why is this attempt to get back into it different? For the first 6 months of this year I was down in Leeds where they had a free gym in my work which was basically on the floor below me. So really there was no excuses.  I didn't run, just used the cross trainer and rower. But it was good to feel that buzz you get from exercise again.

Last month I went on a couple of hill walks which I found very tough and took me half of the next week to recover from them. So I decided I really need up it and get out running again.  I thought I'd throw myself in at the deep end and try Strathclyde park run.  I'd never done it before but knew it was flat especially compared to Pollock park run. I was surprised and pleased that I made it round without stopping.  I have made it down to Strathclyde 3 times since and yesterday I was back at Pollock parkrun.  I had to walk yesterday but still managed a time of just under 32 minutes. At the moment I'm experimenting with my runs during the week to see what days are best for me in terms of recovery from previous runs and trying not to do too much too soon.

It has been great to see all the faces again that I have not seen in years and receiving all the encouragement from fellow parkrunners.  I feel park run is really pulling me out of the lazy hole I found myself in and I really hope I can keep this going now...

3 comments:

The Jimmi Henshite Experiences said...

Welcome back Stuart, set yourself achievable targets and keep up the positive thinking. It was good to see you at Strathclyde and looking forward to see you again soon.

Bob McBeath said...

I'm sure you still have more marathons in you!

Stuart said...

Marathons are definitely a long term aim. But in the mean time I am looking to get my 5k time down to sub 30 minutes and build up the mileage so by the end of the year I will be able to do 6 miles comfortably.