Fitness Fridays - getting back into cycling, and heading off for another half marathon

With our shipment arriving last month, I was reunited with my bike and able to add cycling to my mix of gym-free activities. I was concerned my bike would need to go back into storage as it would be hard to fit in our flat, but fortunately we've hit upon a solution with locking it and covering it in our shared front courtyard. It takes me about 5 minutes to take the cover off and undo the two locks, but at least I can use it!

Clearly an Australian bike photo...

I haven't used my bike much for serious exercise, but I am now cycling to work 3 times a week. When I wrote my August post about giving up a gym membership, I was running 4 times per week and considering going up to 5 times. That mix included a run home from work once per week. That was a novelty at first, but I will confess to getting tired of it quite soon. I am really not an evening / after work exerciser...

I did end up increasing my running to 5 days per week in the lead up to my Ealing half marathon in September. However, I found the higher mileage sparked some niggling pains and also running fatigue. My bike arrived the week after that race, so it was a good time to re-think exercise routines.

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Fitness Fridays - Ealing half marathon

Last Sunday was the Ealing half marathon in West London, an event I signed up for before we even moved to the UK. Half marathons around Perth tend to be in the April to September period, so with our move planned for May and eventuating in June, I knew I wouldn't be running any Australian events this year. It was nice having this run to focus on over the last few months, and I am now pleased to have participated in my first UK running event.

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Fitness Fridays - Giving up a gym membership, and loving it

Back in May, and in good timing for our mid-June move, my Australian gym membership expired. At the time, I mentioned to a friend that I had been a member for over 5 years. When I later reflected on that statement, I realised that I had been a member for 13 years. Clearly I am losing track of time in my old age! 

My new 'gym'

With that length of membership, you may imagine that giving the gym up was unsettling. In fact, the transition has been surprisingly lovely. It has also been very freeing. With being a member for so long, I'd come to view the gym as something I 'needed' and an essential lifestyle feature that I would always indulge in. Before I discovered running, the gym provided my main (sole) source of exercise, and it was one of the few places where my thoughts could wander or work through problems in peace. But then I did discover running, and in particular, the joy of running outside. I gradually gave up some gym days so I could fit in outdoor runs, but there was an uneasy tug-of-war between my desire to run and my desire to get good use out of my gym membership. In May, I was running outside 3 days per week and using the gym 3 days per week; as previously, I was struggling to fit in pilates. I would have liked to run more, but didn't want to use the gym less.

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Fitness Fridays - Cycling into the new year (plus blog house keeping and the winner of the Paul's warehouse voucher)

Last year, I started 2013 with a leisurely 25km bike ride. As I wrote about at the time, it was a lovely way to bring in a new year. So lovely, in fact, that I decided to repeat the experience to welcome in 2014.

I left home a little later this year than last (7.30am instead of 6.30am), which means I saw more people on my outing and didn't quite have cycle paths to myself. However, the sunshine was equally sparkling and the scenes I passed were equally beautiful.

Scarborough beach cycle path, ~8am

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Fitness Fridays giveaway! Share your 2014 aspirations to win a Paul's Warehouse voucher

You may recall me posting aspirations at the start of 2012 and again this year. I prefer 'aspirations' to 'resolutions', as I think New Year's resolutions have developed a reputation for being unrealistic and short-lived (although obviously they don't have to be). Aspirations, on the other hand, are just goals. We can set goals any time, but I like to reflect and re-focus at the start of each year.

Today, I am hoping to inspire you to start thinking about your own aspirations for the next year. The reason? I am fortunate to bring you a giveaway for a Paul's Warehouse voucher. For those of you not familiar with Paul's Warehouse, it is a family owned Australian company that offers discount sport and exercise equipment, clothing and shoes. There are no physical stores in Western Australia, but they ship Australia wide (I apologise to my non-Australian readers; they are Australia-specific) for a flat rate of $10.

With a $30 voucher, you could buy all manner of items to support whatever you want to do in 2014.

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Fitness Fridays - Running on my 30th birthday

Being a Thursday, yesterday was one of my running days. Being the 5th December, it was also my birthday. I know some might struggle to understand why, on my birthday morning, I left my sleeping husband at 6am to go running. I can picture my mother saying "But wouldn't you give yourself a break and sleep in, on your birthday?!".

I wrote this post because I am so glad I did go running. As I ran, rejoicing in the trees, the sparkling sunshine and the not-yet-hot air, I thought. And as I thought, I was grateful.

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Fitness Fridays - Exercise and mental health (a research post)

Every now and then, I think I'd like to do more posts that draw on my research background. There are lots of research areas I'm interested in that don't quite fit in my work role, and I imagine that lots of you don't have time to trawl through research databases or determine what the latest recommendation on Topic X is.

Usually I have these kinds of thoughts and then don't find the time to follow them through, or I worry that no one else will want to know about Topic X anyway. Recently, though, the idea of research posts has been coming to me more and more often. I get frustrated by popular media stories that make claims without supporting evidence. I'd like to try and make science more accessible - and, I'd like an excuse to delve into all those  topics I'm curious about.

So, today, we have the first such post. In this case, it is an integration of research with my recently neglected Fitness Fridays initiative. The images (because all posts must have images!) come from our recent camping trip, which I've been wanting an excuse to share and which fit vaguely into the exercise focus.

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Fitness Fridays - podiatry, gait analysis, orthotics, and new running shoes

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now. Unusually for me, I have struggled with how to start it. Do I tell you about my experiences with orthotics from age 12 to age 18, when my tendencies towards over-prontation were identified? Do I tell you about the running seminar I went to where I heard about gait analysis? How much detail do you really want on orthotics anyway?

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Fitness Fridays - Run for a Reason 12km race and thoughts on 'failure'

Pre-race

As you might have noted, last Sunday I ran a 12km fun run before setting into pikelet eating. I ran the same race, known as Run for a Reason, last year, but the course was changed in 2013 to reduce it from 14km to  12km. It's only the fourth year the event has been run, and last year was quite poorly organised. This year the start and finish locations were moved, and the organisation was much better.

It's a bit difficult for me to sum this race up. For a start, it is only the fourth organised running event I've participated in. I have inserted a table below that shows the events I've run over the years. The more important issue, though, is that this is the first race where I haven't reached the goal I set for myself. I wanted to finish in under 1 hour 5 minutes. My race time was 1 hour 5 minutes and 50 seconds.

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Fitness Fridays - New clothing purchases and discovering wiggle.com.au

Just to confirm, this is not a sponsored post and the clothes I am discussing are ones I bought myself.

When I was doing my PhD, I didn't have much income but I lived at home and also didn't do much besides study and work. On a Saturday, it was highly likely you'd find me in my PhD office for some of the day, but that I would then head out shopping afterwards. The shopping tended to be of the clothes variety, as distinct from the necessities and essentials variety. 

I find it ironic that now, with a greater income (but also greater expenses, it must be said) and theoretically more time, I very rarely go shopping. The flip side is that when I do go shopping, I seem to make the most of it.

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Fitness Fridays (on a Monday) - Bunbury Three Waters Half Marathon

In the very rough system that drives my Fitness Friday posts, I would have posted on a fitness-themed topic last Friday. However, as those of you who follow me on facebook may have seen, yesterday was the Bunbury Three Waters Half Marathon. I have been training for the event since the start of the year, and my superstitious self didn't have the confidence to post about it two days ahead of time. I also couldn't bring myself to do a fitness post on something else as, frankly, everything else seemed trivial last Friday.

And so, we have a post today instead.

Finish line from afar (courtesy of Mr Bite)

I first mentioned this half marathon when I did my post on 2013 goals. In 2012, I'd hedged my bets, setting a goal of doing a half marathon (21.1km) or a shorter distance. Coming out of injuries in early 2012, I went for the shorter distance, a 14km fun run. This year, there was no hedging! I signed up for this race way back in November last year, giving myself lots of time to prepare.

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Fitness Fridays - running club ventures and 5 weeks to half marathon time

After mentioning on a few occasions that I am training for a half marathon on the 14th April, I thought it might be appropriate (5 weeks and 2 days out!) to touch on what I have been doing in the lead up to that.

As we know, I have been running on and off for 4 to 5 years now. The 'off' periods have largely been due to injuries, ranging from mild to more problematic, as well as a certain lack of confidence that I could actually be a runner. Up until 5 years ago, I strongly believed that I would never be able to run more than a few kilometers at a stretch. This was in spite of being moderately fit in other regards, and able to do other forms of exercise for extended periods of time. I just didn't think running was for me.

It may go without saying that believing you can't do something is a fairly sure-fire way to ensure you can't do it.

I have now got over my running mis-beliefs, allowing me to fall head-over-heels in love with the activity. Despite this, I have approached my half marathon goal with a certain amount of trepidation and a lot of planning. I have been building up my mileage very, very slowly. I have read lots of running articles and blogs, a fair few books, and even invested in Matt Frazier's No Meat Athlete half marathon roadmap. Matt is a vegetarian runner and his half marathon guide (which is an e-booklet you purchase online) covers training plans, diet, and general points relating to running in general and the half marathon in particular.

I adapted Matt's training guide to give me 3 running sessions (vs. his 4) and 3 cross-training sessions (vs. his 1-2) each week. My runs incorporate a Saturday morning long run, which has gradually increased from 10km in January to 16km last weekend; a Tuesday morning 5km moderate pace run; and a Thursday morning session of intervals, either hills or speed or both.

The above spreadsheet is small for a reason. Please don't try and base your own activity on what I've been doing - I am not an expert on training plans! I am including it simply to show the degree of planning that has gone along with this goal. All being well, my longest run prior to the race will be 18km a week from now.

The reason this post is happening today is that I have recently been able to move my Thursday morning interval run to a "running club" group setting. The running club in question has operated through my gym for several years, but used to happen in the evenings and had an added cost (albeit very small). Happily, it has recently been re-branded as a "group fitness class", which means it is free, and one of the two sessions is now on a Thursday morning instead of in the evening. That Thursday morning session happens to be intervals (the other, Tuesday evening session, is a 5-7km temp run). Thus, it is almost perfectly designed for me.

This is what comes to mind when I think about running.

I went to my first session two weeks ago with a fair amount of anxiety. Would it be too hard? Would everyone else be really good? Would I feel foolish? Would I want to stop half way through? You can probably guess how I was answering those questions in my mind.

Yet again, my thoughts and doubts were my own worst enemy. I loved the session. It was hard, but in a good way. There seems to be a lot of variation in the ability and speed of the runners who attend the sessions, with some being absolute beginners and others super-fast athletes who are way ahead of the rest of us. I am probably in the top third with regard to speed, which surprised me, and there are two girls who run at about my pace, or a tad faster, which gives me something to set my speed on when running in a group.

In the first session, we did a 2.4km time trial and then alternated 400m laps of an oval with sets of lower body and upper body exercises (think squats, push ups, planks). In the second session, which was yesterday, we did 1km repeats, running 1km (2.5 laps of the 400m oval), walking or slow jogging 400m to recover, and then doing it again to give 5 repeats (5km) in total. Everyone runs at their own pace, so you can push yourself as hard (or not) as you like.

I usually run my long runs at 10-10.5 km/hr (6.2-6.5 miles/hr), which equates to 5.4 - 6 minutes per kilometer (9.1 - 9.4 minutes per mile). My shorter runs are a bit faster, but not dramatically so. With the 1km repeats yesterday, my fastest loop took 4 minutes and 45 seconds, a speed of 12.6 km/hr (7.8 miles/hr). I would have said that was impossible for me if I hadn't done it.

I am only two sessions in to my running club participation, and still 5 weeks off knowing whether my half marathon plans will come to fruition, but at this point in time - I already feel so rewarded from the last few months and every part of me is hoping and longing to keep it up and reach those 21.1km in April.

Do you run or train in a group? Or have any half marathon advice for me?

Or, do you have any experience where your own doubts have been your biggest challenge?

A note on comments: Following on from my last post, after turning the Disqus commenting system on, I had to turn it off again due to various problems associated with the latest 2012 Disqus release. Most pressing is that Disqus is not compatible with mobile views of my blog, and if people leave a comment through their mobile phone it goes into the Blogger comment system but not the Disqus comment system and thus doesn't appear online (!). Not allowing people to comment with their name and URL is another challenge.

I apologise sincerely for the back-and-forth shifting and promise I'll leave things be with Blogger for now. I also apologise if you encounter spam as a result of that.

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Fitness Fridays - Xtend Barre ballet workout

You may remember that at the start of this year, I set the goal of doing Pilates on a regular basis in 2013.

This goal was set for several reasons. I think Pilates would help with my poor flexibility. I am sure it would help with my terrible (non-existent) balance. By improving core muscle strength, it would help counter the back difficulties that stem from mild scoliosis. It may also reduce my vulnerability to injuries when running.

In short, there are lots of reasons why Pilates might be beneficial. And yet, prior to this year, I have said many times that I will do it and many times I have done it once, perhaps twice, and then stopped. It has made me realise what exercise is like for lots of people - they start with the best of intentions, there are lots of reasons to do it, and yet for various reasons it doesn't happen.

I am fortunate that I don't need to force myself to exercise, but it seems that only applies to exercise I am already in a routine of doing. Cardio work, no problem. Stretching, absolutely. Weights, sometimes.

Pilates? Mmm. Tricky.

This is why it needed to be a goal. 

Even with my goal setting, I wasn't quite sure how I would achieve it regularly. My gym does Les Mills Body Balance classes, which incorporate Pilates, yoga and tai chi. I have done them at an average rate of one class per year for the last four years. The class schedule just doesn't match my schedule. Paying for Pilates classes elsewhere seemed too expensive, and doing it at home has never really happened consistently.

Towards the end of January, a friend recommended that I try Xtend Barre. She thought it might appeal to me more than regular Pilates, and told me about a DVD series by the creator of Xtend Barre, Andrea Rogers.

Xtend Barre could be described as Pilates with a twist. It includes Pilates movements, and has the same focus on building core strength, flexibility and balance, but it also adds elements of ballet and dance. In so doing, there is more movement than in a typical Pilates class and it relies on cardiovascular fitness as well as strength.

As with Pilates, the focus is on using your own body weight and on honing small, specific movements that tone specific body parts. I ordered the Xtend Barre ballet workout DVD, which has tracks for warming up and cooling down, upper body work, core strength work, and a barre workout section that focuses primarily on the lower body.

I have now used the DVD four times (usually doing half of the 55 minute workout in a session) and also attended one Xtend Barre class at a local studio. The home DVD work is scheduled in to my Thursday, and I can see it continuing. The class I tried was fun, but at $20 per class, won't be happening regularly.

I was initially worried that Xtend Barre wouldn't offer all of the benefits I wanted from Pilates. I get enough cardio work and wanted to make sure the core strength, flexibility and balance I was after would come through. There are parts of the DVD routine where I know I'm not using perfect form, and I also wanted to make sure I didn't trigger any injuries.

Despite the above, I am now a convert. I really enjoy it! It is active enough to keep me engaged and interested, without being so active that it becomes a heart rate workout rather than a conditioning one. I inevitably feel the effects the following day (the first few times, I felt the effects to the extent that walking was painful...). It is clearly activating muscle groups I don't usually use. I finish feeling calm, limber, and like I have done something worthwhile.

Will I get all those benefits I was hoping for from Pilates? Only time will tell. However, I think I have finally found my match for Pilates-type work and I am quite excited to keep it in my routine. I never thought I would be someone who did home exercise DVDs (I still can't think of myself as someone who is), but this may prove to be the exception.

Have you ever tried Xtend Barre? Or do you regularly do 'normal' pilates?

For another Fitness Fridays contribution, see Theresa's excellent post on eating to fuel exercise, at The Tropical Vegan.

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Fitness Fridays - A New Year's Day bike ride

I have mentioned before that I prefer sleep to partying on New Year's Eve (or any eve, for that matter). One consequence of this is that I can start the first day of the year relatively early, if I so choose, and happily refreshed, at least in theory.

I apologise for phone quality photos throughout

This year, we returned from Dunsborough on New Year's Eve, which meant that the 1st of January was the first day in a while that I'd had access to more than my feet for exercise. Fond as I am of my feet, and the running they allow me to do, I like variety in my activity too. Cycling was looking appealing.

At 6.30am on the 1st January, I headed out on my bike.

I cycled to the coastline, where the sunshine would suggest 10am instead of 7am.

I cycled along cycle paths, which I had mostly to myself.

I cycled through trees, welcoming their shade.

And as I cycled, I felt such joy.

Joy at the process of movement.

Joy at the early morning light that twinkled and sparkled even as it made me hot.

Joy at being able to cycle 25km and enjoy every minute of it.

And most of all, joy at the sense of possibility that comes from being on a bike, half way across your city, on the first morning of the first day of a new year.

That morning captured so much of what I love about exercise. It is a heady combination of freedom, movement, beauty, challenge, and possibility. And I love it.

What is exercise for you?
And more generally, what joyous things are happening in your life at the moment?

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Fitness Fridays - Why I broke up with Body Attack

Nearly 18 months ago, I did a post about Les Mills Body Attack classes. Body Attack was the first group fitness class that I tried and liked, and I stuck with it as a result. In January, I even set a goal of maintaining my weekly involvement in the classes across 2012.

I haven't been to a Body Attack class since March.

And I don't mind.

Here is why.

At the end of last year, my various injury-prone body parts all started playing up. My knees (traditionally my biggest problem area) were okay, but my hips, iliotibial band and back were very unhappy. I started getting weekly headaches again, something that affected me years ago but these days I generally manage to avoid.

In January and February, these difficulties persisted and I also developed plantar fasciiitis, which refers to inflammation along the underside (plantar fascia or arch tendon) of the foot. I used all of my 2012 physiotherapy benefits in the first 10 weeks of the year.

When trying to work out what had set all of this off, I thought back to what had changed in the second half of 2011. The answer, of course, was Body Attack. I raised this with my physiotherapist with the hope that he would say "oh no, I'm sure it's not that" - but he didn't. Instead, he asked me to explain what the class involved and then, very reluctantly, agreed that it could be the culprit.

My physiotherapist is a sports physiotherapist who hates telling people not to do activity. I have always found him to recommend doing (strength or stretching exercises) rather than stopping, which is one of the things I like about his approach. Given this, I took his reaction quite seriously. I stopped Body Attack as a result, initially viewing it a short-term trial stop, but later deciding it would be a long-term permanent stop.

Within 2 weeks of stopping the classes, I started to see improvement in terms of mobility and pain. It took much longer, many months, to really iron out the issues that were affecting me (particularly those relating to my ITB, which still niggles after running) - but I definitely noticed improvements after stopping that I wasn't getting earlier.

Now, I don't for an instant believe that everyone who does Body Attack will have problems. I suspect it is simply a poor match for my over-pronating feet and my back and neck difficulties. It is a class that involves lots of jumping (meaning it is high impact and jarring) and lots of sideways as well as forward movement (meaning it is difficult for my feet to keep themselves correctly aligned). I have learned to manage the postural challenges that come from running, but Body Attack seemed to take those challenges to a whole new level.

Running out here instead of Body Attack-ing inside isn't so bad anyway

I cut Body Attack out, went back to regular gym work (of the solo, non-group fitness variety) and kept running as the one high impact, jarring activity I care about.

Do I wish I could do Body Attack and not be injured? Yes, a little. Do I think it is possible? Yes, if I worked at getting my muscles strengthened and aligned. I'm sure it could be. Do I think it is worth the difficulties? No. No, I do not.

And so, Body Attack and I are no more. Running and I are a happy partnership again, and my feet, legs and hips are speaking to me nicely (most of the time at least!).

Have you ever tried a 'popular' exercise and found it just didn't work for you?

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