Learning to Run again

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while will know that I used to run.  I used to run in 10km races.  I used to run 20km training runs - just to make sure that I could run a 10km race !!!  Mind you, I was never very quick but I got out and plodded along the streets.  It got to the point where I HAD to run - if we were going out in the evening, I would speed home from work, get changed, go for a run, go home, get showered and changed and then go out.

And then menopause hit.  My hormones were all out of whack and and I felt like cr*p.  My doctor (who is no longer my doctor) basically told me to suck it up and deal with it.  I spent many weeks wondering what was wrong with me and why I felt so awful.  Then someone recommended seeing a doctor who specialises in women's hormones.  I made an appointment with her and I have never looked back.

Sad to say, in the meantime, my running had come to a grinding halt - mainly because it was too much like hard work but also because I had put on so much weight.  After cutting out sugar, dairy and wheat - I put on weight - go figure !!!

While I am over due for a visit to Maura, I have changed my eating by doing the I Quit Sugar program. I feel so much healthier since I cut out sugar and have become so much more aware of just how many products on the shelves have sugar in them.  It's just shocking.  As well as changing my eating habits - I've also committed myself to exercising more.  I signed up for the Learn To Run program organised by Operation Move which started at the beginning of August and runs for 12 weeks.  When I was running previously, I pretty much started out walking and one day thought "I wonder if I can run to that lamp post ?" and my running 10kms evolved from there.  At the time we lived in Runaway Bay and there were lots of flat roads around us.  Now we have moved and we are surrounded by hills and I knew that if it was left up to me, I would rather sit at home in front of some sport, crocheting blankets for babies instead of getting out there and moving so I knew I had to commit to something to make it happen.

Monday night was my first interval session - and it was FANTASTIC !!!!  I walked my rest periods and plodded my runs, and it felt so good.  A said he would come with me and we would take the dogs for a walk.  I explained to him what I was doing and then he suggested I take the dogs in turn.  I then had to explain to him that I was doing this for me - not for him, not for the dogs, not for K, not for anyone else except ME and that if I wanted to do it properly, being pulled along by a dog was not going to cut it.  Nor would having to go off to mark every tree on the side of the road work.  So, if he wanted to come with he was welcome too but he had to keep Alfie as I was happy to run with Rosie only.

Last night we just went for a walk - no intervals or anything - just a walk with the dogs and chatting.

Tonight I have another interval session booked in my diary and tomorrow night I have my third interval session for the week booked in.  I will probably walk at least another once or twice during the week while waiting for next weeks plan.

I have a great motivating factor to getting healthy and fit - I want to surprise K with how I look when we go to visit her next year.  For too many years she has heard me say "I need to lose weight", "I have to get rid of these excess kilos", "Why can't I just say no to the tempting foods ?"  and I would love to surprise her with the healthiest version of me that I can be.  I have realised why I couldn't say no to the tempting foods - because sugar is addictive.  Once you have a taste of it, it leaves you wanting more.  Borne out by the fact that on Monday afternoon I had a piece of 70% chocolate at work in the afternoon - not because I needed it but because I thought it would be nice to have.  It certainly is a lot sweeter than the 85% chocolate I have in the fridge at home, but hey, it's only one piece.  What I didn't count on was where it would lead me when I got home.  Standing at the kitchen counter talking to A about the taps/basins/toilet etc for the bathroom and I opened the fridge and reached for the block of 85% chocolate and had a piece.  Then I went back and had another piece.  Then I found some anzac biscuits left over from the house warming / farewell and I had one of those.  Then I went back and had another one.  The worst part was that I didn't even really want any of that - I realised, too late, that I was just eating mindlessly while I worried about exactly what was happening to K on the other side of the world.  Half an hour later I felt so sick - it was just awful.  I have learned my lesson about sugar - no matter how nice something may taste now, it never compares to how cr*p I am going to feel in half an hours time !

If you are considering exercising and would like to run, why not think about joining the Operation Move program that begins in spring.  I know that, for me, it's providing the guidance, motivation and inspiration that I needed to get moving again.

Have the BEST day !

TFTD :  We should review our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us.