You know I am really struggling with this. I obviously increased my stamina over several months but even when I went out and ran 20 miles the days that followed, when I tried to do a couple of miles, it was just as hard. Within weeks of the marathon I could barely run non-stop for a couple of minutes and I'm still struggling to do any kind of distance without walking in between.
I thought there would be a time when I could run, say, a mile, without very much of a problem at all. I see other people running past our house holding a conversation or smiling away like they are really enjoying it but I never get to that point.
I decided to do a little googling to see what I could find out. There is a great deal on here about the subject.
1) Running, running appears to be the recurring theme here. It needs to be regular (not 2 days running, 4 days sofa surfing!).
2) It would appear I have to 'shock my body' every now and then and do something that pushes it.
3) I must run slow and long or fast and short, not both at the same time.
4) I need to be running outside - it's harder!.
5) Diet, needs improving and protein after running.
So, there I have it, it's not rocket science but it is very hard, in a nutshell:
Regular
Occasionally shocking
Slow and long
Fast and short
Out in the open and with good food
Simples!
Running for health, happiness and a good laugh whatever your age, size or fitness level
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Inspirational Running Quotes
I have found that when the going gets tough there is nothing like a great quote or words of wisdom to get me motivated again. Running quotes seem to me to work quite well for all of life too. Here are 10 of my favourites:
Had to start with this one, because I feel this, it just won't go away
“There is an itch in runners”
Arnold Hano
“Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it”
Oprah Winfrey
“Believe that you can run farther or faster. Believe that you’re young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don’t let worn-out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself”
John Bingham
“The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start”
John Bingham
“If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn no membership card to get. You just run”
John Bingham
"May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back"
Irish Proverb
"Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible"
Doug Larson
"The task ahead of you is never greater than the strength within you"
Unknown
“Crossing the starting line may be an act of courage, but crossing the finish line is an act of faith. Faith is what keeps us going when nothing else will. Faith is the emotion that will give you victory over your past, the demons in your soul, and all of those voices that tell you what you can and cannot do and can and cannot be”
John Bingham
And my absolute favourite because I missed but this was so true
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars"
Les Brown
Had to start with this one, because I feel this, it just won't go away
“There is an itch in runners”
Arnold Hano
“Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it”
Oprah Winfrey
“Believe that you can run farther or faster. Believe that you’re young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don’t let worn-out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself”
John Bingham
“The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start”
John Bingham
“If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn no membership card to get. You just run”
John Bingham
"May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back"
Irish Proverb
"Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible"
Doug Larson
"The task ahead of you is never greater than the strength within you"
Unknown
“Crossing the starting line may be an act of courage, but crossing the finish line is an act of faith. Faith is what keeps us going when nothing else will. Faith is the emotion that will give you victory over your past, the demons in your soul, and all of those voices that tell you what you can and cannot do and can and cannot be”
John Bingham
And my absolute favourite because I missed but this was so true
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars"
Les Brown
A Different Angle
I'm looking at approaching this in a totally different way, coming at it from a new angle and kind of starting again. The first thing I intend to do is to find the joy in this running lark. I have read so much about how wonderful it is to run and I want to find that. I'm going to begin by trying to answer a few questions, and of course . . . with a new book. I've gone for: The Courage to start: Running for your life by John Bingham. I just love his quotes so I thought I would read one of his books. It's not a training schedule, I think it's just about finding joy in running as an ordinary person, not an athlete. I shall let you know how I get on with it.
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
The next Level
There is a difference between being involved and being committed.
It's funny isn't it how you can read a few words and it seems to clarify something in your head. I read this and immediately saw that I get involved a lot in many things but I'm not very often committed. If I am going to run another marathon then I have to get committed and I have to start getting committed now.
I was doing really well at the beginning of last week, unfortunately the dark clouds rolled in mid-week and I allowed it all to become pointless. Got back to it again tonight but I do need a new schedule one that's suited to me and not an Olympic Champion like the one I'm using at the moment.
Guess that has to be my first priority.
Monday, 20 August 2012
Tomorrow will be a good day
It's our Wedding Anniversary tomorrow, 25 years, or Silver if you prefer. We had hopes for Celebrations but, if you've been reading this blog for some time you'll know exactly why that isn't possible. For those of you new to my blog I won't explain now, I don't want to mention that, not today and anyway, it doesn't much matter. You can't value a partnership by the 'exoticness' of the holiday destinations or the size of the party.
We went out for a lovely meal on Saturday with the people who matter the most. Tomorrow my mum and dad and Andrew's mum will come over for dinner. The rest of the week will be spent together, walking, talking, hopefully laughing, cause that's what we like to do.
Just wanted to say, we are both Aquarians, I'm not sure if Mystic Meg would agree but from 25 years of experience, it's a disastrous mix on many, many levels. Simultaneously we have the craziest idea's, we follow them with every ounce of commitment it's possible to have, we believe, we back and nine times out of ten we fall flat on our faces! and then we dust ourselves down, wipe away the tears, find the funny side, get up, get on and eventually we come up with another equally daft idea which will, ultimately fail but we never see it coming. We have lived this way all our married life, financially it's made us hopelessly poor but no-one can ever tell us we didn't try. I didn't marry for money and neither did Andrew, no consideration was given to our bank balances or our prospects 25 years ago we just loved each other. Twenty-five years on our prospects have never been more precarious but there is still love. Andrew may not be some high flying business type but I know, without ever having to question, that he would walk through fire for me and our kids and that's worth more than any fancy wardrobe or posh car.
So, on the eve of our Special Anniversary I just have to say Thank you to my soul mate, my protector, my voice, my love and my friend.
I heard this song just before we got married, Andrew made a special trip to Oxford Street to get the 'LP' - no Amazon then!. We asked for it to be played as our first dance. Unfortunately the DJ put the wrong track on so we were trying to be romantic to some boppy little number (writing was on the wall!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX-7bDvGkA4
We went out for a lovely meal on Saturday with the people who matter the most. Tomorrow my mum and dad and Andrew's mum will come over for dinner. The rest of the week will be spent together, walking, talking, hopefully laughing, cause that's what we like to do.
Just wanted to say, we are both Aquarians, I'm not sure if Mystic Meg would agree but from 25 years of experience, it's a disastrous mix on many, many levels. Simultaneously we have the craziest idea's, we follow them with every ounce of commitment it's possible to have, we believe, we back and nine times out of ten we fall flat on our faces! and then we dust ourselves down, wipe away the tears, find the funny side, get up, get on and eventually we come up with another equally daft idea which will, ultimately fail but we never see it coming. We have lived this way all our married life, financially it's made us hopelessly poor but no-one can ever tell us we didn't try. I didn't marry for money and neither did Andrew, no consideration was given to our bank balances or our prospects 25 years ago we just loved each other. Twenty-five years on our prospects have never been more precarious but there is still love. Andrew may not be some high flying business type but I know, without ever having to question, that he would walk through fire for me and our kids and that's worth more than any fancy wardrobe or posh car.
So, on the eve of our Special Anniversary I just have to say Thank you to my soul mate, my protector, my voice, my love and my friend.
I heard this song just before we got married, Andrew made a special trip to Oxford Street to get the 'LP' - no Amazon then!. We asked for it to be played as our first dance. Unfortunately the DJ put the wrong track on so we were trying to be romantic to some boppy little number (writing was on the wall!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX-7bDvGkA4
Here's to the next 25 years
Sunday, 19 August 2012
A Tad Hot for Running!
I just love this weather, we wait all year for the few days when we can feel the sun on our faces and it's wonderful when it finally arrives. This year I have taken two separate weeks off work and in a year of record rainfall I appear to have chosen well but boy, it's far too hot to run. The coach and I gave it a go on Friday but we really didn't get very far at all.
This week we must get ourselves into some sort of routine, November and the Norwich Half Marathon will be here before we know it so we need a schedule and we need to stick to it.
This week we must get ourselves into some sort of routine, November and the Norwich Half Marathon will be here before we know it so we need a schedule and we need to stick to it.
ok, so here's me on my soap box . . . .
Some weeks ago the Kanharn family had our own interpretation of 'super Saturday' we had 'an ok Thursday' when 2 of our children managed to get job offers. Youngest son (who had decided not to return to uni) got a job with a very good company here in Diss while only daughter (the coach) got a job with a local care home. It was quite interesting to see the difference in how each company worked. Whilst my son received, the next day, a huge envelope containing a contract, a booklet about the company procedures, forms for bank accounts and next of kin details, the coach received . . . a phone call asking her to call in to complete a CRB form, she was told it would only take a few days to be returned so she handed in her notice and left her other job. It was some 3 weeks and a couple of trips backwards and forwards to the home later that the CRB check was completed and she was able to start.
Whilst our son on his first day knew exactly what his hours were, where and who he should report to and what he should take our daughter knew only the day and time she was starting. 'Son' went through a two week induction (the kind I remember from 'the olden days' when I joined a new company) it told him everything he needed to know from where the toilets were to booking holiday, from what to do if the fire alarm went off to how to do his job. 'Daughter' got straight to it, in at the deep end with only the moaning of the more senior staff to give her any idea about the company and how it was run - and there was a great deal of moaning!. She has no idea from one week to the next what her rota is and, it appears, even when she finally gets it the chances are it can change at any point making arrangements or appointments completely impossible to arrange. This weekend Andrew and my silver wedding anniversary celebrations have been jeopardised by the total incompetence of a 'Manager' at the home. Sadly, a feigned illness and a quick phone call has put them back on course - not something I would usually endorse but with such poor leadership there seems no other way she can commit to any of her own or family occasions. The home, it appears, is run mainly by people from India, who I can only assume either have no outside lives or are quite happy to let down friends and family at the drop of a hat.
What makes my blood boil is that in this country we have fought long and hard to gain decent working conditions. I'm not big on unions but we had come to recognise that people should be entitled to a life outside of their jobs and this is all being eroded because some people from overseas are perhaps prepared to put up with it. We see the odd farm manager popping up on TV every now and then, harping on about our youth and how they are not prepared to work hard well I'm sorry but my daughter actually (and surprisingly to me) quite enjoyed the job. What she doesn't enjoy is being treated as though she shouldn't have a life outside of it. Maybe our youngsters, won't accept the conditions, the hours, the poor pay and the complete lack of respect they are expected to endure, that's not being work shy, that's just trying to hang on to the values this country used to be so proud of. I'm not for one moment suggesting that there aren't in this country, those people who would rather not work - I meet many of those in my job every day but before we start slatting all our youngsters lets invest in our Managers and make sure that every organisation have Managers who can organise, communicate, motivate and inspire but most of all understand that respect is a 2 way path.
Rant over!!!!!
Some weeks ago the Kanharn family had our own interpretation of 'super Saturday' we had 'an ok Thursday' when 2 of our children managed to get job offers. Youngest son (who had decided not to return to uni) got a job with a very good company here in Diss while only daughter (the coach) got a job with a local care home. It was quite interesting to see the difference in how each company worked. Whilst my son received, the next day, a huge envelope containing a contract, a booklet about the company procedures, forms for bank accounts and next of kin details, the coach received . . . a phone call asking her to call in to complete a CRB form, she was told it would only take a few days to be returned so she handed in her notice and left her other job. It was some 3 weeks and a couple of trips backwards and forwards to the home later that the CRB check was completed and she was able to start.
Whilst our son on his first day knew exactly what his hours were, where and who he should report to and what he should take our daughter knew only the day and time she was starting. 'Son' went through a two week induction (the kind I remember from 'the olden days' when I joined a new company) it told him everything he needed to know from where the toilets were to booking holiday, from what to do if the fire alarm went off to how to do his job. 'Daughter' got straight to it, in at the deep end with only the moaning of the more senior staff to give her any idea about the company and how it was run - and there was a great deal of moaning!. She has no idea from one week to the next what her rota is and, it appears, even when she finally gets it the chances are it can change at any point making arrangements or appointments completely impossible to arrange. This weekend Andrew and my silver wedding anniversary celebrations have been jeopardised by the total incompetence of a 'Manager' at the home. Sadly, a feigned illness and a quick phone call has put them back on course - not something I would usually endorse but with such poor leadership there seems no other way she can commit to any of her own or family occasions. The home, it appears, is run mainly by people from India, who I can only assume either have no outside lives or are quite happy to let down friends and family at the drop of a hat.
What makes my blood boil is that in this country we have fought long and hard to gain decent working conditions. I'm not big on unions but we had come to recognise that people should be entitled to a life outside of their jobs and this is all being eroded because some people from overseas are perhaps prepared to put up with it. We see the odd farm manager popping up on TV every now and then, harping on about our youth and how they are not prepared to work hard well I'm sorry but my daughter actually (and surprisingly to me) quite enjoyed the job. What she doesn't enjoy is being treated as though she shouldn't have a life outside of it. Maybe our youngsters, won't accept the conditions, the hours, the poor pay and the complete lack of respect they are expected to endure, that's not being work shy, that's just trying to hang on to the values this country used to be so proud of. I'm not for one moment suggesting that there aren't in this country, those people who would rather not work - I meet many of those in my job every day but before we start slatting all our youngsters lets invest in our Managers and make sure that every organisation have Managers who can organise, communicate, motivate and inspire but most of all understand that respect is a 2 way path.
Rant over!!!!!
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
A Short Interlude
Maybe this short interlude was a bit of a mistake, because I have an awful lot to say now!.
I had meant to be away a little bit longer, I thought it would take a couple of weeks at least but I've been doing a lot of reading, a lot of thinking and I've felt that surge of optimism that has engulfed most of us Brits of late - it was called the Olympics. Somehow there is more hope, more light, more sun and a feeling that anything is possible, just hope it lasts a while. Makes you wonder, if it lasts just a couple of weeks and you times it by however many people there are in the country, just what could we all achieve together?
I hadn't run for over a week . . . no time, no will, no energy. I began to feel my bones settling back into their starting positions, it seemed to hurt more, the unfitness campaign. Joints stiffened, muscles shrunk back to the 'couch potato' mode. Pounds began to sneak back on and I noticed waist bands getting tighter. I decided that if I didn't want to have to start right back at square one I needed to start running again, so, I got back on the machine tonight. I did 5 km - now how long did it take Mo to do 5K, around 13 minutes I think, I took nearly 41 minutes tonight!.
I think that's what I struggle with really, I don't see any improvement, I know there was - from no running to 20 miles running, but it never got any easier. I know it's not meant to be easy, I think that has been endorsed over the last couple of weeks, you really have to give it all to achieve a goal but I would really have thought that at some stage I should be able to run 5k without hitting the wall?. I think if it's at all possible I'm going to have to get some kind of professional advice with the training - I never feel as though I'm building.
But then maybe the whole thing is a bit daft anyway. A friend the other day commented that I should go for a long walk, it was far more sensible at my age. Do you think that's right, should I just get myself a small dog to walk and take up knitting?. Isn't life about challenge, pushing boundaries and if you look at the ages of people who run the marathon then I'm not that old! . . . am I? if there is one thing I hate, it's people who have settled for their lot and moan continuously about it, at least I will be able to say that I tried. Anyway, I'm hoping that I can find the time to start running again regularly, I'm aiming at the Norwich Half Marathon in November which isn't really that far away.
Now, this blog, I was getting a bit worried that it was becoming more about things other than that which it was started for but, having read a fair bit about writing and writing a blog, the whole idea is that a blog is real, it's a living, breathing piece that moves on and changes and so of course it will become about other things, I hope that running will thread through it for as long as I am able to get out there and move but my life comprises of many layers and it shouldn't be a problem to write about some of them here.
So, onwards. I'm in need of a training schedule for a half marathon in November and ok, I accept, it has to involve running. I must find a regular time to do the running, it will probably have to be lunch time most days but I need to get organised.
It's now just over a month before the marathon ballot is decided, after that we will be able to try and get a charity place, once that's done we will make it a double challenge, the half marathon and then hopefully the London Marathon but if not we'll do another Marathon.
For now, it's late and I have to be up early so I will be back.
I had meant to be away a little bit longer, I thought it would take a couple of weeks at least but I've been doing a lot of reading, a lot of thinking and I've felt that surge of optimism that has engulfed most of us Brits of late - it was called the Olympics. Somehow there is more hope, more light, more sun and a feeling that anything is possible, just hope it lasts a while. Makes you wonder, if it lasts just a couple of weeks and you times it by however many people there are in the country, just what could we all achieve together?
I hadn't run for over a week . . . no time, no will, no energy. I began to feel my bones settling back into their starting positions, it seemed to hurt more, the unfitness campaign. Joints stiffened, muscles shrunk back to the 'couch potato' mode. Pounds began to sneak back on and I noticed waist bands getting tighter. I decided that if I didn't want to have to start right back at square one I needed to start running again, so, I got back on the machine tonight. I did 5 km - now how long did it take Mo to do 5K, around 13 minutes I think, I took nearly 41 minutes tonight!.
I think that's what I struggle with really, I don't see any improvement, I know there was - from no running to 20 miles running, but it never got any easier. I know it's not meant to be easy, I think that has been endorsed over the last couple of weeks, you really have to give it all to achieve a goal but I would really have thought that at some stage I should be able to run 5k without hitting the wall?. I think if it's at all possible I'm going to have to get some kind of professional advice with the training - I never feel as though I'm building.
But then maybe the whole thing is a bit daft anyway. A friend the other day commented that I should go for a long walk, it was far more sensible at my age. Do you think that's right, should I just get myself a small dog to walk and take up knitting?. Isn't life about challenge, pushing boundaries and if you look at the ages of people who run the marathon then I'm not that old! . . . am I? if there is one thing I hate, it's people who have settled for their lot and moan continuously about it, at least I will be able to say that I tried. Anyway, I'm hoping that I can find the time to start running again regularly, I'm aiming at the Norwich Half Marathon in November which isn't really that far away.
Now, this blog, I was getting a bit worried that it was becoming more about things other than that which it was started for but, having read a fair bit about writing and writing a blog, the whole idea is that a blog is real, it's a living, breathing piece that moves on and changes and so of course it will become about other things, I hope that running will thread through it for as long as I am able to get out there and move but my life comprises of many layers and it shouldn't be a problem to write about some of them here.
So, onwards. I'm in need of a training schedule for a half marathon in November and ok, I accept, it has to involve running. I must find a regular time to do the running, it will probably have to be lunch time most days but I need to get organised.
It's now just over a month before the marathon ballot is decided, after that we will be able to try and get a charity place, once that's done we will make it a double challenge, the half marathon and then hopefully the London Marathon but if not we'll do another Marathon.
For now, it's late and I have to be up early so I will be back.
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