The Joys of Running
As some of you might already know I have taken up running a while ago (in July, to be precise). My reason for doing that, besides getting fit and being able if necessary to run after a bus without getting totally and embarrassingly out of breath, is mainly to lose weight.
After all, all runners are slim, right? And common sense says they can’t all have started out that way. And even though, for somebody as overweight as I am, it is recommended to start not running, but walking, because it is easier on the joints, I always found walking rather boring. Besides, having tried it a couple of years ago with a friend, it didn’t help me to lose any weight at all. So, after reading some books about running technique and getting some expensive shoes, I decided I would just give this whole running thing a try for a while.
The first try
I first started in March, when the weather was still filthy and cold most of the time. Only then I did it all wrong – not wrong per sé, because I had read those books and had found some good training plans for beginners to follow. But all wrong for me personally, because as it turns out I hate following training plans. I hate wearing a watch that unflinchingly told me that I had been running for only 45 seconds before I was totally out of breath and had to walk for 2 minutes. I hated writing all the times down later and seeing no discernible progress from one week to the next.
Another thing I did wrong was running in the afternoon, and having to drive to the field where I ran. During the day there are just too many things that can come up to interfere with my running time, or I was already too tired or unmotivated to get off my butt and get in the car when the time came around, so I put the run off to tomorrow. Until after 2 months I gave it up completely. Feeling like a failure again and once more convinced that I will never be able to change.
The second try
When I started again in July I decided to forget all the stuff everybody else said and just do it my way. Nowadays I run first thing in the morning. In summer I got up at 6 a.m., put on my running shoes, took the dog and off we went. Meanwhile, because the sun comes up later I can sleep in until 6:30. I guess in winter I will go back to getting up at 6 and get some reading done until it is time to go out.
I also don’t drive up to the fields anymore, instead just walk down to the river where I go for walks with the dog every day anyway. Along the river to the next village there’s a nice route of about 1km (one way). The ground is very uneven, so first thing I did was spraining my ankle, but I got used to it meanwhile and it beats running on asphalt.
Another thing I don’t bother with anymore is taking a watch along. I just don’t care anymore how long it takes me to run that puny 1km and back. I don’t wanna know how fast (or slow) I run, or how many calories I burn, what my heart rate is or whatever else those fancy things tell you nowadays. If I can’t breathe anymore I am running too fast – I can ascertain that much without any technological doo-dad.
Does that work?
Yes, for me it does. Not bothering with plans and stuff means that I can just run as fast or as slow as I feel like at any given day. Sometimes I walk a bit more than I run, but that’s alright, too. I don’t stress myself anymore about reaching some goal that somebody else set in a training plan.
All I do is get up every morning, get out there and run. Oh yeah, and have fun with it. I do actually look forward to my morning run nowadays. It is not something I have to kick myself in the ass to do. It’s not something that seems like work, made complicated by rules and plans and boring stuff. It’s just me and my dog and the sunrise and the mist over the river valley.
But, I hear the “experts” say, that way you have no way to track your progress. You don’t know how long it took you in the beginning to run the route, and you don’t know if you got faster. You don’t know if you are training within the fat-burning zone, or if your heart rate is too high. And if you have no way to track progess your training is just not as efficient as it could be.
And that might well be true. But I don’t give a damn, because my way, as inefficient as it may be, is the only way that works for me. It’s the only way don’t get bored or annoyed. And it’s the only way I actually enjoy doing the same damn thing every single morning, again and again. So, the way I see it, a little inefficiency is a small price to pay for that. I never wanted to break any records or compete in any contest or run a marathon.
Besides: I may not train as efficient as I could, but I still lost 6 kg in the last 2 months (for the americans: that’s roughly 12 pounds). Without, I’d like to add, changing my eating habits in any way! I still eat chocolate, I still drink my coffee with milk and sometimes sugar, I still eat not nearly enough fruit. And still I lost 6 kg in only 9 weeks (2 of which I couldn’t run, because I was first in London and then down with a cold).
So I really can’t complain about inefficient training. However wrong I might be doing it, it still works for me. And, what’s just as important, it still allows me to enjoy my life and indulge in all kinds of treats.
Beat that with your stringent training plans.
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