Small Bursts of Activity

Coming into the fields this morning I was met by glorious sunshine on frosty hedges and grasses, giving everything a magical quality.


During the interval training I realised how small bursts of activity followed by cool down enable you to achieve greater heights than continuous effort at the same level. 


Pushing myself at 180 bpm was manageable when I knew It was only for 3 minutes.
And later in the evening at the 2 hour kung fu session, I was hardly sweating during the sparring sessions we were doing and noticed that although most people were gasping for breath I was breathing normally. So the interval training is helping my overall fitness which is very pleasing.

The dalmation came and found us again today and I even had chance to say "hello" to his owner as I was just moving into the cool down phase. 


I have found that the little hillock in one of the fields is a favourite spot for doing qi qong exercises after the run. It looks out over the valley into the fields opposite and gives a long view. It is especially pleasing in the sunshine. I think of the Qi Qong exercise a bit like a treat I might give myself after I've achieved something, rather like a chocolate. It fills me with softness and warmth and an internal glow. 

Dogs like Exercise

Inspired by yesterdays interval training, I went out again eagerly today to try out the 180 bpm interval run. Right at the start I realised that it was MARTIN Yelling coaching me along - not Tom Yelling (oops). Martin Yelling


As soon as I got home, I decided to "google" him and at the very least learn a bit about the background of the person who was going to be my "personal" coach for a while.


I set off in spatterings of rain but was soon to be met by glorious sunshine setting the bronze undergrowth alight with a golden glow, the soft glitterings of frost twinkling at me and yesterday's muddy puddles now miniature ice rinks, warning me to be cautious underfoot.


I pushed myself into the 180 bpm and broke the track to follow the brow of the hill,  looking out into the bay on one side and rolling hills on the other, distinctly feeling as though I was flying. The dog bounded ahead not showing any signs of exhaustion and we were soon joined by a dalmation from the village. Not long after the Rhodesian Ridgeback from the farm poked his nose into the field to see what all the fun was about. Dogs really do love their exercise! 


As a person born in the year of the Dog, the day I acknowledged that, like a dog, I need regular exercise was the day I started to feel more positive about myself and realise that I was the answer to my own problems when they occurred.


A phrase from Martin Yelling on motivation, ..."it's the reason why you are doing what you are doing." Is it a strong enough reason to give you staying power? 

Running Just For the Love of Running

Late last night I purchased three CDs of AudioFuel's running music - interval training with Tom Yelling coaching. Although I suspect I should have heard of Tom Yelling before, this is the first time I've come across his name.

As a rule, I'm not a big follower of things "sporty". It reminds me of boring Sunday afternoons spent at grandparents with nothing on the old black and white television except racing or some other sport, with the droning voice of the commentator in the background and the smell of my grandpa's pipe filling the room. Stuck inside with no friends to play with when all I wanted to do was be outside running around involved in some adventure of our making.

It took me the best part of the following morning to download all the music and link it up to my shuffle, which is extremely slow, so by the time I got kitted up for a wet day and out into the "running fields" it was well into the afternoon and I was raring to go.

Starting at 150 bpm and gradually moving to 160 bpm,  it was feeling a bit slow for my enthusiastic mind set. Obediently, I kept the pace in the knowledge that there were 35 minutes to go. Gradually, the interval pace crept up, conveniently occurring at the same time as the route took a gradient.

Hitting 170 bpm I started to feel quite energised and sploshed my way through muddy puddles where the ice had melted, the dog eagerly picking up the pace just ahead of me.

My mind was on the run, my posture, the pace, the focus.

Moving into the final interval at 175 bpm I was reminded to keep my mindset and focus just as I was about to drift into a lesser performance. As with training a set in kung fu it is important not to drift or let the mind wander because you know you've nearly finished but being there in the moment right until the very end.

And although I hadn't heard of Tom Yelling before, I enjoyed running to his coaching and I think he would have enjoyed the 45 minutes running in the wet fields as much as I did.