How I found out that being a lazy bum truly does lead to a decrease in general fitness.

[Queenofthecouch]

I have a confession to make. I have recently fallen back into my old ways for a couple of weeks, and spent most of my time on the sofa eating takeaways and watching repeats of Family Guy on the telly. My excuse is that I just moved back to uni so I had a lot of packing to do, but that's a bit feeble, I know. But the plan was that I'd get back to the running after my arrival at the new house, so I have.

I knew I had lost a bit of my hard-earned fitness anyway because of all the time spent on the sofa, so I re-started on week 3 of the plan but I was in for a shock when I set out this morning. I couldn't do it! Eventually I switched back to the week 1 podcasts and resolved to repeat the entire plan again. But it was a bit of a bummer and I felt like I'd really let myself down.

However, I do not feel entirely responsible for why this run was harder. This is because previously I had done all the runs on a treadmill in my dad's garage, and running outside is TOTALLY DIFFERENT and MUCH harder. So henceforth I shall do all my runs outside, and I reckon I'll be fitter by week 6 run 3 this time around than I was on my previous attempt.

So the morals of this story are:

Do not skip runs, because if you're inherently lazy (like me) it's a very slippery slope that leads straight back to sitting on the couch with a bag of Doritos wondering what the hell happened;

And if you want a better workout, run outside. Treadmills really don't account for slight changes in slope, corners and resistance from the wind etc etc and are therefore way easier to complete the workouts on, not to mention they do half the work for you.

[redsheep Graduate]

Outside is much more fun too. You can discover new places in your area. I can't imagine running inside.

Well done getting back on the programme. I recently graduated so have to force myself to keep running. It would be too easy to stop now.

[as515646]

Hi QueenoftheCouch, I can relate being a lazy so and so myseld. More kudos to us for getting off our butts I say! But one night off can become two or three, then the fear that you can't do it any more creeps in. So well done for starting again and you'll get back up to previous fitness in no time! Running outside is really good fun, remember to wear clothes than mean you're easily seen if you're a road runner like me. I've found that having a routine is the best way not to slip - I just don't think about it - Mondays , Wednesdays and Saturdays are running days and Friday night I reacquaint myself with the couch and a bottle of wine!