So, a new approach today! As you know, if you haven’t forgotten about the guy who runs, whines and disappears for weeks, I’ve really been struggling to find the time to run since our new baby came along. I’ve also had to learn to cope with a lot less sleep and the sleep I do get is broken up into a lot of tiny shards of desperation.
So I thought, what if I could use that? What if instead of struggling to find the time in the evening, I got up EARLIER because that’s a GENIUS IDEA and did the run before work?
I am not a morning person, I find it very hard to get up at the best of times and, especially now, I really milk that snooze button for all it’s worth. Can I squeeze in another 3 minutes of sleep before I absolutely have to get up? If it’s there, I’m taking it.
How frustrated and in need of a run could I possibly be to sacrifice some precious moments of unconsciousness just to run again? It turns out, this much, because after around 5 hours of sleep, pretty much unbroken because baby was good last night, I got up at 6 and headed out for a run.
Usually I get up at 7, get the boy ready for school, drop him off and head to work and I actually wanted to start doing this yesterday but after the night we had, I was going to need that extra hour. So I tried it again today and somehow managed it, but only just.
Now since I started driving I get very little exercise. I used to walk to work and back so that all added up to a good two hours a day if I took the scenic route home, then three times a week I’d do my run. Now I drive to work and back, I hardly run and I eat a lot of crap, so I’m out of practise, I’m slower and, let’s face it, a little rounder too.
So this was not an easy run. The easiest part was getting up and that sucked. I once again opted for week 6 run 1, a good healthy run that is challenging and manageable. Or was. I think I made the right decision because I did manage it but it was a real struggle and I do wonder if I would have benefited from moving back a run or two.
I knew I’d be a little out of practise but I didn’t expect this to become evident as quickly as it did. It didn’t help that I didn’t eat anything beforehand so I didn’t have that energy to burn off. Actually, how do you prepare for a morning run? It wouldn’t do any good to eat immediately before running, would it?
So I set off on the warm up walk and even that felt a little forced. My leg muscles have gotten lazy lately and they wanted me to know they did not like being forced into action. But it was fine.
However, when the running started, I had to agree with my legs. It was an awkward start but I think it was around two minutes in when I started to struggle. My legs already felt tired and I had a sharp pain in my right side. But I decided to power through in pain because I need to do this and I can do this because i have already done it.
What followed was an awkward crawl along the footpaths around the houses (park was tempting but this early I didn’t want to risk it), broken up with walks which I was eternally grateful for. This is going to take some getting used to. Ah well, I did it once before.
A few times I thought I would have to stop running and walk it instead but I managed not to resort to that and somehow, *somehow*, I made it through and there was no way in hell I was going to attempt extending this run. That kind of ambition will have to wait until I’ve built my strength back up a bit. Hey, I’m out running at 6am, that’s enough achievement for now.
Despite all this, I quite liked running this early. It’s definitely a good time to do it, nice and quiet with no one around, apart from a few do walkers and people leaving for work. I even ventured out to the retail park next to us, which I usually avoid when it is swarming with witnesses. Not an issue today. Also, it’s dark but not too dark and the sky looks great as daylight slowly begins to creep in, so that’s nice too.
The plan going forwards, which I will almost certainly not stick to because baby, is to do this every morning. That is, every morning after I’ve managed to scrape enough sleep together to function. On running days I’ll run, probably going to stick to W6R1 indefinitely because generally it’s really working for me but when I start to feel stronger I’ll get more ambitious again, and on the days between I’ll just go for a walk. The ultimate aim is to get my daily steps back up but the more of it I can run the better.
That’s the plan, no idea how it’s going to pan out but if I can pull it off I’ll be a lot healthier and back in track with the running. With all that’s going on, it seems to be my best option at the moment.
W1R3 - Felt like I was going to die!!
My shins feel like they’re going to snap! 
Wk8 r2. Failed but succeeded 🤷🏻♀️ 
Feel like I'm going backwards!
Week 8 Run1 ✅ was a good one
