Run to Love, Love to Run.

The title was shared by my hubby. I love the tagline. : )

3 years ago, I would never have imagined myself attempting a 5km run. Now I am gearing up for a 15km run in Race Against Cancer. These recent months, I have been trying to cultivate this habit of jogging 3times a week and doing workouts on the non run days. It was an arduous beginning. I failed this target mostly but still ended up with at least 3times of exercise in a week and with my family’s support, I did a few 5-6km runs here and there.

Concurrently, my workplace has this Health Promotion Board programme where I joined a 12 sessions workout. It started with Zumba and we just completed Piloxing and ending with K-Pop. I fell in love with Piloxing! It’s a mix of Pilates and Boxing. With these weekly sessions since March, I find these workouts complement my running regime very well. Having such cross training builds  up different parts of my body which strengthens my jogging performance in terms of my endurance level.

As I have knee problems and suffered archilles pain  prior to this, it surprises me that my knees show no signs of pain unlike before when I increased my training routine. With the recent weeks, I stepped up my regime more consistently.

• Mon- Jog (20mins and stretching)
• Tues- Workout : (light weights, core exercises and minimum skipping 300 times)
• Wed- Rest
• Thurs- Jog
• Fri- Workout class
• Sat- longer runs : 5-10km
• Sun- Rest

So far, the above routine is my most manageable routine. For the weekly Sat runs, I slowly made progress from 6km, to 7km, 8km and 9km increasing by 1 more km each week. To have come so far injury free, and more than that, huffing and puffing free- it is a personal achievement! As I ran my 9km last Saturday, I marvelled at how far literally I’ve come. It took me 3 years (I started training since June 2014) before I could reach this stage of looking forward to realising my first half marathon. Slow and steady finishes the race. My aim is simple- To Start and Finish the race. I figured if lifelong running is my goal, I can take my time to train up for a full marathon. In my post  ‘After a year, I’m addicted’, I share on how I overcame my creaky knees and weak archilles by applying Galloway’s method of run-walk-run method. I also practice the Hip Abductor strengthening exercises as well as the archilles tendonitis healing and strengthening method. I have been doing the below exercises more regularly this year and that could be one key factor to my pain-free runs.

As a mother of 3, I do wish I can pick up a sport like tennis someday when the kids are bigger. What I never imagined myself was running anything longer than 400m. I really want to thank God for an inspirational partner, the father of our kids. If not for his husband and wife marathon wish, I might never have considered it. When I re-read my post on ‘Step by Step, I will get there’ blogged in Sept 2014, I see the heartening progress made together with my family in this journey of love and fitness. Running not only strengthened my body, it trained my mind and relieved my frustrations, cleared my heart as I ran closer to nature, closer to the Lord in prayer. We also grew closer as husband and wife spurring one another on in our races. I find our family’s weekend ritual of running/jogging/outdoor sports build us up in many aspects.

For a period of time we learnt to blade.

1. Kids learn how to run/cycle independently even without our close presence since we would be jogging faster than them, they would catch up or plod on their own to reach the targeted goal.
2.  As parents, we model the healthy lifestyle to the kids and encourage their efforts together.
3. We grow fitter and our ‘I can’ attitude towards endurance develops.
4. We enjoy the post runs rewards with special treats and a hearty lunch.
5. After expending our energy, the kids return home with a more settled heart to do some quiet homework and reading time.
6. We learn the tangible meaning of discipline, endurance and sportsmanship as we spend time exercising.

In conclusion, the following has helped improve my aptitude and attitude towards running.

1. Slowly increasing my mileage when I train
2. Cross train every alternate days and have at least 1 to 2 full days of rest for my body to recover from the workouts.
3. Doing strengthening exercises for my weaker body parts
4. Adopting the Run-Walk-Run Strategy
5. Family and friends’ support

How you been exercising? Instead of an ‘all’ or ‘none’ attitude towards exercising, why not just start with 10mins walk/jog twice a week and slowly increase the time and intensity? Do share with me if you have any other tips or fitness stories.

For more of GrowingHearts, come join us at our FaceBook, Or Subscribe by entering your e-mail in the box on the top right side bar to receive notifications of new posts by email.