This weeks blog will be my first fitness related post. As I’m currently training for a half marathon I thought I’d make the blog about running.
So as I mentioned in my previous blog introducing fitness I didn’t start running until my early 20s.
My first race was a half marathon in 2010, annoyingly I don’t seem to have the medal for completing that one anymore. It was a couple of years before I entered any more races. I started racing again in 2014 and somehow managed to be the fastest lady in a 2014 Half Marathon with a time of 1:49:14. Which I think is pretty average if I’m honest. The race was an interesting one. I’d picked it purely based on the fact that it fell on a convenient date for me. It turned out that it was a race organised by Mormons, as most races are on Sundays and they like to keep the Sabbath day (Sunday) holy by not participating in sports. So they established their own race on a Saturday. It was open to anyone but it was mostly Mormons that entered. I felt a little bit bad that I won the race, to be honest, what with not being a Mormon. I then proceeded to accidentally offend them by asking if I could have a cup of tea. Turns out Mormons don’t drink tea as they believe that it is important to remain free of addiction of any kind, which includes the caffeine in tea! There I was with both my calfs tattooed, one with a teapot, and one with a teacup, asking for a post-race cup of tea. Ops!
Above is a photo of most of my medals for triathlon and running, with a selection of close-ups of my running medals.
I like to try to keep track of my personal bests (PBs) as it gives me something to improve on in future races. I like having personal goals. My best 5k time is 0.23.11 at crystal palace Parkrun. My half marathon PB remains the same as my first half marathon at 1:49:14 and my full marathon PB is 4 hours 15min which I achieved in 2015 at the Halsted marathon. I have to confess that in the three years I was vegan none of my run times were anywhere near the PBs I had set prior to going vegan. I’m excited to see if my times start to improve again now I’m including meat and eggs in my diet again.
So that leads me on to my future goals, I will be doing my first race of this year next weekend, which will be a local 10k race. I figured it would be a good test before my half marathon in Vegas next month. I’m so excited for vegas and can’t wait to blog about it for you guys! For my 10k race, I’m gunna be happy if I finish in under 1 hour. For Vegas, I would love to finish in under 2 hours
This year the final semester of my degree took up a lot of my time and so all training pretty much went out of the window. Then moving to London two months ago has meant establishing new routines and finding to running routes. I’m currently getting out to run a few times a week somewhere between 5-10k each run. However, I only have just over a month to get comfortable with running over 20k again. I’m hoping the fact that I was full marathon fit a year ago will mean my endurance won’t take much effort to get back!
I also like to including weight training into my routine. It really helps prevent injuries. If you increase your strength, you’ll also increase your joint stability, reducing your risk of repetitive stress injuries. Even just bodyweight exercises like squats and lunges can really help. These obviously also keep my booty nice a perky too!
For me, there are many benefits to running. I find I get most of my best ideas when I’m running, It really clears my mind and gives me time to think about whats important to me, and what I want to be working towards, it leaves me feeling super motivated for the rest of the day, I also find I’m more inclined to eat healthy for the day if I’ve been out running, I crave healthy whole foods rather than processed junk. Although I do have to watch out for letting myself justify overeating by telling myself I earned it by going running!
Whilst at uni I got my VO2 max tested which came out at 56, as you can see from the table below that’s off the chart. So all my running must be paying off. It was great to see some quantitative data to prove that my running is having a positive impact on my health.
for my next fitness post, I’ll have done my 10k race and be almost ready for the half marathon. It would be great to get some feedback or questions from you guys so when I get around to writing my next fitness blog I have a clearer idea of what you guys might wanna read.
Look out for next weeks blog on fucking
TTFN
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