Did a new run, learned new things!

[BirdyRose]

Hello runners!

For the next 10 days Doozer & I are dog & house sitting for some friends whilst they are on holiday.

This means we have new places to explore and run around.

Admittedly this also meant that I made a school boy mistake on my first run here in BRILL today...

I didn't map out my run.

We went out for a walk to find the village as the bridal path was too muddy, I was slipping around just walking on it!

This meant we spent 30 minutes walking up hills before we found the village. I was exhausted 😂

I still went through with it though. When we got to the village I put my music on, started the app and left doozer with the dogs following me around at a distance like a stalker!

Initially I started running down a footpath on the street and then suddenly the footpath ended so I turned back and realised I was now running up hill.

I'll be honest here. I was a bit pissed off at this point. I didn't want to run up a hill. Why did I go that way and why does the path end and why didn't we just drive here instead?

Anyway I walked back up the street, past Doozer, Archie and Lottie (the dogs) and went up the road and found a park with a football field and concrete next to a school. Brilliant. So that's where I ran.

As soon as I started running on the flat concrete I felt like I was flying. It was so easy compared to uphill. My breaths were long, and slow. I got that gliding feeling again, briefly.

So, I learned something new on this run.

I tried to do the breathing in time to four steps thing but it really throws me off. I honestly feel like when I'm not concentrating on that my breathing is a lot more consistent and steady and i think it is naturally in time, when I'm not exhausted that is.

So here's the new thing I learned:

Last night I was using my headspace app to wind down before I sleep as I had worked late filling out orders on my art website. And this meditation was all about counting my breathes in is 1, out is 2, in is 3, out is 4, etc. It put me to sleep.

So today when I was walking in between my runs, about two runs in, I started to feel the warning signs of a panic attack, immediately I thought "nip this in the bud" otherwise I'm going to pass out or something from getting so worked up, my brain was starting to tell me i was going to pass out and die, it didn't help that I was running through a graveyard at this point either! So I did the meditation breathing while I was walking. I don't know entirely why that's what I chose to do, but that's what I did.

I didn't try to control my breathing like I usually do, and i did NOT listen to my heartbeat. No matter how hard and fast the breaths were, I focused on the count.

You know what?

Within a minute, that's half my walking time, I was breathing at a relaxed pace and feeling ready to run again.

I can't quite get my head around how all these different meditation techniques I'm learning in my spare time are actually working when applied to running. I've never considered meditation to be something you can do whilst exercising or doing something else. I always thought you HAVE to sit cross legged like those Buddha ornaments 🧘‍♂️

That's how ignorant I've been!

In conclusion, this run has been a success.

I liked it.

It was easier than Sunday. I won't get cocky though because just as I get used to the 90 second runs I'm going to be challenged all over again.

PS. Doozer didn't run this time, he's feeling snotty and under the weather. Do any of you have recommendations about this?

I've suggested if he goes for a light run it might clear his nose out a bit and speed up the whole getting well again process. Am I wrong? Should he have a bath and stay in bed today?

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Faaanks, birds 🐦

PPS. I somehow got a bit of dog poo inside my sock whilst running today. I have no idea how this happened. Is this happened to anyone else?

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

When asked why they’d done guided runs with Headspace recently, Nike’s head coach replied “running IS meditation” and although by the time I read that I was a runner and had been meditating for years, I hadn’t ever put the two together in my head 😂. I had one run recently where I didn’t even recall the second half.

Anyways, I digress... good running. There’s an app called footpath that may help with route planning on your travels... it snaps to roads and paths and gives elevation profiles too. Sounds like you’ve found your happy pace and breathing, keep it like that and you’ll be just fine. In week 2 I counted the runs off, and it helped me think it was shorter as I was counting down from 5 instead of 8.

As for Doozer... if the cold is on his chest running will only hurt so rest... otherwise, light runs are good.