Three Training Tips We Think We Know But Often Ignore

There are so many fitness tips out there: drink your body weight in water, avoid carbs, circuit train, protein protein protein, do thirty second intervals at your highest power, mix up your work outs, never workout one side of the body without the other, PROTEIN.

I’m pretty sure if you’re reading this blog then you’re at least an eeeensy bit interested in getting fit and healthy (or you enjoy chuckling while two loony girls almost die trying). You’ve probably picked up at least one fitness magazine in your life, likely spent at least an hour examining your body as though it had recently landed from an undiscovered planet or at the very least, thought briefly that it’s probably maybe a good idea to start being active. Someday.

Yep, we’ve all been there.

It’s bloody hard to get fit, it’s just so much easier to watch Come Dine with Me and drink wine and fantasize about one day winning the lottery so that you can remain stationary for ever and ever (except maybe by a pool with a cocktail instead of in this waterfall masquerading as a country). And this is exactly why the fitty boom booms out there are so bastard smug about it. Because they worked really hard so they could run 10km and not feel completely depleted (rumour has it some actually enjoy every second of it!) Good for them.

However, if you’re more like me and live with half a brain on uber fit and the other half down the pub eating pies, then here are three tips you already know but probably ignore. Believe me, they make ALL the difference. ***

1. Do it even when you don’t want to: This is a tip that sticks with me, it came from a friend who lost 6 stone and has recently run his third marathon. I asked him how he did it and he told me ‘always do what you say you’re going to do. If you say you’re going to run to point A then go there, even if you have to walk some of the way.’ Never let yourself off the hook because it can quickly become a habit. I am constantly learning this lesson but on my better days I try to have this thought process: If I run for half an hour in the morning it will make my day so much happier; I will be proud of myself, I will get to be exceptionally obnoxious for a day, telling everyone I see that I got up at 6.30am to run and I will be closer to my goals (and therefore in control). If I stay in bed another half an hour I will probably not even be any less tired, I’ll just be warm and cozy for a tad longer of a day (yep, the whole point is this is meant to be hard).

2. ‘Can’t’ often means ‘don’t want to’: Here’s a quick one for you. Instead of saying ‘I can’t do that’ try saying ‘I don’t want to do that’. It feels uncomfortable, ey? Saying ‘I don’t want to exercise with you’ is somehow so much more defeatist than saying ‘I can’t’. ‘Can’t’ implies something out of your control; ‘don’t want to’ is more an indication of laziness. Unless you have a physical issue, chances are you CAN at do something active, whether it be power walk/skip/jog/have a self dance party/tango around the kitchen/ride a bike/hike to Tesco/do synchronized swimming. If you don’t want to then fair enough, but own that decision and stop making excuses.

3. Keep on keeping on: Sadly you can’t become a slug for a couple of weeks and think you can just go right back to where you left off. The body doesn’t work like that. It punishes you for your wrong doings. Two weeks ago I could almost run almost 10km no problem. I’d been working at it for several months and while I was no lean goddess of the jog, I could at least keep going without near lung explosion. Today running just 5km was so much more difficult. But run I did. In the rain. And 5km took me much longer than it usually would, so a thoroughly soaked me was extra punished for my lazy ways.

The best thing about exercise is it’s addictive. It releases all kinds of happy chemicals in your brainual region and it makes you feel BETTER.

So there you have it…just do it, because you can, and once you do, keep on doing it too!

***As a teacher I learnt the importance of positive reinforcement. So these are do dos, not don’t dos.

The Long Run

This morning I woke up and, as I usually do, I checked the weather. Given my experience thus far, it’s safe to assume that England will always be either rainy or grey or a combination of both but I don’t like to carry things I don’t need (Umbrella, I’m looking at you) so I check the forecast regardless. Today was not surprisingly luckily the only day this week that it wasn’t supposed to rain, so in my moment of weakness or motivation or whatever you’d like to label it, I decided: TODAY IS THE DAY TO RUN TO CAMPUS. (Door to door, campus is 6.5 miles from home sweet home, making today’s challenge the longest run I have ever attempted thus far in my 25 years.)

The more I thought about The Long Run, the more I geared myself up. After the third song in my #OneWomanDanceParty, it was official that The Long Run was happening and I got dressed for it. I’m not sure about the rest of you, but once I have my exercise clothes on…it’s go time. Getting out of real clothes or pajamas and into exercise clothes is my mountain. Until I’m dressed with sneakers on, the workout is a total crap shoot as to whether or not it will continue as planned.

So, back to the story. I left the house and began to run. Then I ran, then I ran, then I realized (after passing the beautiful Sophie and Alexandra on the street–shout out!) that my mental map of how far I was from campus was severely mis-charted. When I run, I like to break it down into legs so I can give myself a little, “You’re already halfway there, Champ!”or pep talk in my brain. I continued as best as I could despite my inability to think like a cartographer, but the first half of the run was worlds better than the second admittedly. By the time I made it to campus, my knee had re-developed an old click it had years ago and the sky decided it was a good time for a nice spring mist (and apologies to my production tutor for showing up exceptionally late to class!)

Conclusion: On the long run, I gave myself a toe blister and a knee ache, but in The Long Run, I’m a step or two closer to my goal and that’s really what it’s about, no?

Now it’s time to go ice my body.

 

 

 

This is really how I feel about running… ^

Bad at Being Good: the first tough day for Sophie

After standing on the sides lines for three weeks, coughing and spluttering and being waited on by my oh so obliging boyfriend, I resolved that Monday would be THE day I was getting my flabby arse back in gear. Fitness apps downloaded, good intentions embraced and bright pink snazzy jazzy sports bra purchased, nothing was going to stand in my way.

Determination stations

I am very bad at being good. This malady seems to have its most potent affliction at the exact moment when tame Jane should step in and take the brain reins. Sunday night started well, I went to my friend Alex’s to do some prep for a presentation later in the week. We were very good, for about an hour. Being around her makes me want to drink; it’s strange, like a knee jerk reaction of devilish wonder. “We could just go for a small one.” One small one morphed into one large one then two, then two bottles, three, an impromptu pub quiz (definite epic failure), several cheeky cigarettes (‘I do NOT smoke‘) and four bottles of head boggling red wine…

“BALLS, I have to go to circuit training tomorrow.’

Monday morning, 7.30am and a steady pound pound pounding. I probably have the Sahara in my mouth, a steel band in my brain region, a swarm of bees in my lungs. I am probably an idiot.

Mondays are not fun: 5 hours of Public affairs followed by two hours of short hand.

I am determined; Dr Christian, the stevie-vision prophet, has foretold my potentially embarrassing fat future. I WILL go to the gym. It is snowing, short hand has considerably impaired my breathing abilities and caused a deep-rooted sickly nagging that seems to be muted only by a large quantity of greasy food. But…I go to the gym (I feel a little bit more awesome about myself than I probably should).

Bloody Nora on a rainy Sunday, circuit training is HARD! It’s not the running/jogging/sprinting/skipping/lunging, not even really the squats and weight lifting. More the tempo, the constant go go go and most difficult of all, the need for strength, which I appear just not to have.

Oh but I will. Yes yes, I will.

At the end of the hour the trainer tells us that all of the buses and most of the trains have been cancelled. The snow has fallen not all that thickly and England has gone into panic mode. It never ceases to amaze me how ridiculous this country is in adverse conditions. Let me tell you, come the zombie apocalypse, we are all screwed.

I am hatless, stuck on Sussex University campus wearing inappropriate shoes and a thin coat. Idiot status: reaffirmed. Sussex campus is in the middle of nowhere, nestled in a quasi-forest and the south downs. We are miles from civilisation. They close the library, the bar and the gym. This is not ok. What follows is two hours of running for trains, waiting on trains, listening to angry people shouting on trains. Then a three-mile trek through the Hove town wilderness (luckily I accidentally discovered my phone has GPS – GENIUS!) Buses are abandoned on the side of the road, the snow falls with a lack lustre determination sure to put the fear into any self-deprecating English-man. I trundle on. I am not afraid.

I am well on my way to being tough enough. I am definitely more awesome than I was when I woke up this morning. Probably.

Kelly’s Top Tracks of the Week, Ed.1

Music is the greatest. Good for the soul, for life and especially for working out*. You have to set the right atmosphere. I like to run to certain music, do circuits to different music, and do weight lifting to different music still. Here are a few tracks I can’t stop repeating this week (and what I use them for):

1. Lose It, Austra. Not only is the name fit for a burn, but this was my number-one-go-to-best-song-ever for running the blocks and avenues of NYC last year. It’s had a recent resurgence this week for me even though I now run in a very, very different setting. I now run here:

2. Stereo Hands, White Panda. Again, perfect for a run. Specifically, the end of a run. Stereo Love in the background instantly transports me back to “that awesome night of drinking and dancing and staying out way too late.” And all that makes the rest of the run seem worth the effort. Not to mention, the beat is perfectly timed for a steady running pace.

3. Dashboard, Modest Mouse. Don’t think I don’t know how random this song is for a workout, but I love it in real life and for some reason it helps motivate me through terrible lunge/leg circuits. Give it a try sometime.

4. New York, Angel Haze. For weight lifting. No further description needed.

5. Tremel, Glasser (Jamie XX Remix).  This song keeps me going long enough to get a good stretch in without lowering my heart rate, so it doesn’t encourage nap time when I find myself in child’s pose.

One-Woman-Dance-Party Song of the Day:  Winter in the Hamptons, Josh Rouse.

*Disclaimer: For workouts, I almost always listen to music I can dance to. Dancing makes me feel good and feeling good is always a strong motivator for a hard workout, no?

The Beginning According to Kelly

Dad. Sister. Sister. Cousin. Cousin. Uncle. Friend. Boyfriend. Friend.

Above is a mysterious list of very important people in my life who have or will shortly complete their first, second, third, or fourth Tough Mudder in the United States. I started this year thinking that choosing to study in jolly ol’ England would severely limit my ability to participate in what I perceived to be the crème de la crème of adult adventure races with everyone I love (and their fathers.) International flights are expensive, you know. Then a dear friend brought it to my attention that the head honchos at the Tough Mudder picked up their tea cups, spread their wings, and flew across the pond. My gut flipped and said, “Huzzah!” … and then my brain followed with, “DO NOT DO THIS ALONE.”

Now, having survived The Apocalypse during a Run For Your Lives event last year, I knew that the (crazy American based) “mud run” phenomenon was beyond worth the effort. Not only is it fun and difficult but the team element of it is bar none. I grew up going to adventure camp and I have two sisters, so I know what it’s like to do trust falls and share common goals.

These races are adventure camp on steroids.

I set about asking around for someone to participate in “the toughest event on the planet” with me… by leaving that tag line out. First, to my partner in crime, Sophie. To my disbelief happiness, she said ,”sure” without batting an eyelid. I vaguely remember saying something like, “Don’t worry. It’s mostly a team building thing… in a run. We’ll get in really good shape while we train.”  (We’re stumbling upon bathing suit season, so the words “really good shape” are always alluring, right?) We then, very luckily, picked up my wonderful/very strong boyfriend to help us over walls like these:

And finally, formed our modest team by enticing Jonny, our very own lovely human/resident drill sergeant. And so, Team: North of the Wall, was born to claim Westeros  the South London Tough Mudder course as it’s own.

My personal mantra for 2013 is NO SCAREDY CATS and with this race, and everything else I do, I fully intend to live up to it. Follow our progress, ask us questions, send us good karma or support, and keep your hands strong for clapping. We’ve signed our death waivers and it’s go time.