My colleague once said to me, “I don’t believe people who say they are too tired to exercise. I’ve always got so much more energy after an hour speed walking”.
Lately I’ve come to realise the truth in this statement.
I’ve been building up my endurance on the treadmill and going for longer distances. Today I went for an 8km walk/run. Dissected, this means, a 5 min walk, over 25 min run at 9km/hr, 10 min speed walk at 7km/hr, 20 min run at 8km/hr, 15 min speed walk at 6.5 km/hr.
To the habitual runner this might not seem much, but for me, I feel this is much improved from earlier on in the year when just a 3 min run at 9km/hr would make breathless and heart rate soar up to 140-160 beats/min, no joke. Now running for 3.5 km non-stop, my heart rate is steady at around 110-120 beats/min. While this is much better, there is still a long way to go to shed those off those kilos accumulated by laziness.
Ultimately, my goal is to be able to extend the periods I am able to run for and slowly stretch out my sustained runs from 20min to 30 min, then 40 min, and eventually an hour.
I’m finding that I have so much more energy after my runs, and feel incredibly exhilarated during and after the runs. Not only are the physical benefits becoming apparent, but my mood is always lifted after I exercise and I find I am much more focused and confident in my studies afterwards, knowing that I have physically challenged myself and myself and my mother a little bit proud.
What I find incredible is Christian Bale’s extreme weight loss for The Machinist. Apparently to get in character he lost 27kg (or 63 pounds) in a matter of months. To do so, he went on an extreme diet of black coffee and apples, and would exercise for hours and hours on end. Now, I know this is probably an extremely unhealthy way to lose weight and in no ways do I condone such drastic measures to anyone at all (especially young people who are still growing, or anyone with special conditions i.e. pregnancy, poor health etc); I have to admire his determination and perseverance in being able to tell his body to do what his mind hoped for in the long-term. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to do what Christian Bale did to lose weight, but I would hope to be able to learn from his self-discipline and self-control.
I am hoping that if I am able to keep pushing myself I shall be able to run the city2surf. (http://www.city2surf.com.au/default.asp?PageID=22155&page=3)
For now, baby steps. Rome wasn’t build in a day, so they say. Fitness and self-discipline can only be trained over time.
bjanana 