Yesterday or recently I had a discussion about running. The discussion was about whether I have a favourite time of day to run and whether I can eat before a run and still run.
The answer is that I’m flexible in the time at which I run. I can run as easily first think in the morning at 5am as right before lunch, as after lunch. it really doesn’t matter.
Apple push us to get the Apple Watch Series 10, the Ultra 2 or the Apple Watch SE in third place. If you’re a runner, and you don’t feel like spending on the Ultra or the Ten then it makes sense to get the SE instead.
Although the SE is the cheaper option it still provides us with plenty of running metrics. It provides heart rate, pace, power, cadence, vertical oscilation, ground contact time, stride length, workout time, distance, elevation gain, average cadence, average pace, average power, active kilocalories, total kilocalories and more.
All climbers are familiar with this. You’re on a climb or a via ferrata and you look up but you don’t see what to do so you feel stuck. As a result you try one hold, and then another, and then a third and eventually you stop. That’s when you remember to look down.
If you look down you see that there is a foot hold 10 to thirty centimetres higher that will give you the extra reach that will allow you to climb onwards.
Recently I have been walking and running into and out of Nyon and in the process I have had to cross busy roads regularly and what has struck me recently, especially when running is that people stop to let me cross the road, even when they don’t need to. I really appreciate this.
When you cycle and walk between villages cars skim you, fast and close, and after several years of it I grew tired of it so I shifted to walking towards Nyon, along pavements, and avoiding busy roads when I could.
Today I followed a link where a writer wrote “My every-other-day workout is walking three miles, fast, on a high incline on the treadmill—often times with hand weights too.” and I find it amusing. It’s amusing because in Switzerland, and especially in the old town of Geneva, Nyon, Lausanne, Neuchatel, Fribourg and other towns it is impossible to go for a walk without having a steep climb or a steep descent.
Today the Epix Gen 2 said that I should go on a 51 minute run so I did. I ran from Eysing to Prangins via the top of Nyon before running by the castle, down to the lake, and back along the lake road to Nyon. In the process I felt that my knees were right at the limit of their endurance so I considered stopping the run then and there.
Today my watch said that I should run for 36 minutes or so so I obeyed. As a result of running for 36 minutes I got to Prangins and made it part of the way back before stopping and walking. In the process I ran for 5.8 kilometres rather than 5 and I learned a new lesson, mainly that Prangins is close and that I can connect a few places, if I am ready and willing to run.
Weeks ago I started running again, but this time my goal is to run calmly. By this I mean that I ran until I felt pain, and stopped, over and over, until finally I ran with Wake Up and Ran and covered 5km. Since then I have been running 5k consistently.
My goal is not to run fast and my goal is not to run further. My goal is to get my body used to running, without feeling pain or sore when the run is over.
Some people will see that it’s running, and that they are still recovering and think “I’m not running in that. I did and my “short run” project was changed to a full run. I had planned to run two to three kilometres but ran five instead. The Apple watch wasn’t happy, not with the running, but with the rain. It got a false tap and paused itself for 300 or more meters.
This morning I got up at 4am to go for a run with strangers in Nyon. The meeting time was 05:10 and the run/jog/walk began at 05:30. Before the run Activ Fitness gave us a warm up workout that I followed half-heartedly. I had already walked 3km so my body was warm. I now needed to remain warm before the run itself.
For some people the idea of getting up at 4am to run at 0530 is an absurd one.