Recently I have embarked on a running programme in an attempt to boost my fitness, stamina and overall wellbeing. I am doing the NHS Couch to 5K programme - probably for the 3rd or 4th time. I’ve never got further than week 4 to date, but I am determined to complete it this time.
One thing that has really helped - apart from scheduling it in the diary in advance - is a bit of a mindset shift around exercise and attitude to exercise. I’ve always thought that other people really enjoyed it and the fact that I don’t, that I hate every single, sweaty second means some kind of failing on my part. That there is something wrong with me for not bounding along, glowing with health and grinning with unbridled joy.
I read something by Deborah Lee on Threads to the effect that humans are hard wired to conserve energy, not expend it. Out cave dwelling brains evolved to conserve energy - hoarding it for when we really needed it. When a toothy predator arrived on the scene for example. Deciding to expend energy in pursuit of a longer term objective (getting fitter) simply isn’t built into our brain wiring. Given that it has really only become an issue for us as a species in the last 100 years it should be no surprise that our brains haven’t really caught on yet.
The key is really just to treat it as another appointment, something that I just have to do like going to the supermarket or filling the car with petrol. It’s not something anyone would actively chose to do but we accept that it needs to be done in order to keep the wheels of our lives turning.
One good thing about the NHS Couch to 5K programme is that you get to chose your narrator/cheerleader. This time around I’ve gone with Steve Cram on the grounds that a) he was a sporting hero of mine back when I was an athletic teenager and b) he has actually coached a lot of people in the past so he might really know what he is talking about.
During each run he sometimes adds little motivational snippets and things to think about during your session and one thing he said recently really stuck with me. He was talking about the fact that as a beginner runner one of the things people often worry about it what other people are thinking of them. They are hyperaware of themselves and how they might look to others.
One thing he said was to just focus on yourself - after all it’s only what everyone else is doing. Often people are so busy thinking about their own lives and what they have going on that they will barely register you at all. They really aren’t watching and laughing at you, despite what you might think.
The other things he said, right after the bit about focusing on yourself is that this is time for you. This next 30 minutes is time just for you. And it really struck me how little we tend to do this for ourselves. We will happily give 30 minutes to a friend in the form of a phone call or a coffee. We will spend 30 minutes scrolling Instagram (ahem) or playing a game on our phone.
But setting aside 30 minutes just for me? 30 minutes that I’m not working or brainstorming blog ideas or feeling guilty for not getting through my to-do list. I so rarely do that.
So, I’m trying a little experiment for the next few weeks and trying to think of my running sessions as me-time. I don’t think I’m ever going to look forward to them and bound out of bed to put my running shoes on. But I am trying to think of them at least as sessions where no one can bother me for half an hour, or message me and I can’t allow myself to be distracted by anything else.
It’s me time. Not other time.
I felt much the about walking in that I worried people would judge as I’m a larger person, unfit and easily red in the face. Getting a dog changed all that for me. Waterproofs are never flattering, woollly hats don’t suit me, windy weather tends to draw out red in my cheeks - but I don’t care, the dog needs to be walked (& I need the exercise).
Well that’s a relief, I thought it was just me who hated every sweaty, dragging, mind numbing minute! Hurrah. I am also doing same Couch 25k and am getting through it fairly easily as I have a couple of friends, and a work colleague group, to make me accountable. My choice but it’s working. I know I have to do it or slip into decrepitude so I’m on a ‘suck it up and get out’ mindset! Come on, we got this.