Lesson learnt: the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first few steps
4 minutes done and dusted.
It’s amazing the amount of functionalities on our phones that we don’t use. My phone now offers me music, GPS tracking, a timer and a stop watch. Missing critical item is a masseuse.
My work-outs now have a short prep session….
- Put on running shoes
- Select my music playlist, get the music going
- Open my running app and start a new session
- Set up my 4 min run 1min walk sequence on the timer
- Go
Running with a timer helps to focus and track progress. This week started off with me waiting expectantly for that beep from my timer which signified that I could stop running, i’d sometimes wonder if the timer had stopped working. But the week ended with me actually surprised that the beep was coming ‘early’ while I still had some wind left. That’s a good sign, a very good sign. I’ve been tempted severally to keep going after that beep but I remember my lessons learnt from week 3- stick to the plan.
I remind myself that I am not in a competition with anyone, not even myself. So I need to take my time and build endurance, strengthen those muscles and tendons that have just been brought out of retirement just 4 weeks ago, pace myself gradually and ensure I don’t miss out of any of the training sessions now featuring boldly in my calendar. But I’m also keeping an eye on the end point and have identified 2 incentives to keep me excited about making a 5km non-stop run.
- Plan a running route through my neighborhood coldstone Ice cream outlet and order the largest ice cream special on the menu
- Register for a run in an exotic location, so I can mingle with my new ‘runner peers’and grab a well deserved holiday at the same time.
It’s a balancing game….short term vs long term ….and win we must, healthy and injury free……ice cream included.
Inspirations by Elozino 