Gyms are closed and we can’t do many of the things we’d normally do.
You know what we can do?
Run.
Running is a love it or hate it type of thing. But right now there has never been a better time to give it a try and you might find that beyond lockdown you actually want to keep running.
Here’s some of the reasons I love running:
1) It’s simple
You can run for ten minutes or several hours, you can pick different distances, paces, lengths of runs so that whatever your week ends up looking like you can fit it in. It’s also free- you need a pair of trainers and the outdoors at it’s most basic!
2) It’s a workout you can scale
Can’t run a distance all the way yet? Doesn’t matter you can walk and run it as needed and build up to running the whole thing. You still get to achieve the distance and get a workout.
3) It gives you time to think
Running is a great source of me time. You get into a groove and then you can let your mind wander (or not even). It’s a great way to find a bit of calm.
4) It also gives you time to learn
Don’t want time to think, you can listen to podcasts or audio books and make the time doubly productive, training and learning in tandem. This is so much easier to do running compared to many other sports as once you’re moving there’s less to think about,
5) Fresh Air
Running outside gets you outside. Outside and fresh air is just good for you, your health sure but also your mental health. For me a down day can always be improved with some time outside. And running outside is so much nicer than walking outside, even in bad weather you’ll warm up quickly and notice the rain less.
6) There’s lots of goals you can set
Run a distance, run a distance in a set time, beat that time, sign up for a race, add in obstacles or mud. There’s so many variable to the goals you can aim for. And when you do races you get goody bags. These are what I run for!
7) It can help you build strong bones as well as muscles
It’s a weight bearing exercise and so will help strengthen not just your muscles but also your joints and bones. Whilst running gets a bad press for the knees sometimes it can actually improve knee health (as long as you don’t run on an injury!)
8) It will help you improve your cardiovascular fitness
You will get breathless running, even slowly at first and it’s a great way to improve your capacity for cardio, your stamina and generally make you feel better and fitter over time.
9) It can be a great way to aid weight loss
It will burn calories and so if you also track your calories in it can help you reach a calorie deficit
10) It can benefit your mental health
I mentioned above about getting more fresh air and some ‘you’ time. Running produces feel good hormones – known as the runner high and some studies have suggested it can go further than that and running has been shown to have a positive impact on people suffering from depression.
11) It can improve sleep and concentration
I put these two together as I think they are linked anyway, but studies have shown that as little as 30 minutes o running each week had a positive impact on sleep patterns and concentration levels after only three weeks.
So maybe you decide or have already decided to give running a go. But I’d encourage you to look at it as a credible source of training beyond the lockdown period. Maybe now is the time to pick a race for later in the year or next year to give yourself a goal to work towards. that might give you more focus in training during lockdown and beyond.
So to help with that I’ve just made a running programme that I am really proud of.
In fact it’s not just a ‘here’s when to run’ plan.
It’s got:
- Four different running plans (5km, 10km, half marathon and marathon) and you can do all of them or the ones that work for you meaning you could have a running plan from 6 weeks to 40 weeks long
- A 6 week training programme (2 workouts a week) to do alongside the runs
- Three stretching videos
- A Nutrition Bible with extra running specific advice
- Running tips
- Three phone or facetime (or whatsapp if you hate talking) check ins to make sure you’re getting the most from it.
I actually started producing this before gyms closed but decided to get it ready to launch a bit quicker as I know there’s lots of people looking for help with training right now and running is a good option!
So if it sounds like something that might be good for you right now I’m selling it half price (well better than). You can get it for £21 (including the check ins) during May – In June it will be £45.
That’s it, no hard sell. I think this can help some people if it does great. If not that’s ok.
If you do want to check it out (or if there’s someone you know who might find this helpful) the link to my website is here (or in the shop section of the menu)
http://heather-sherwood.square.site/
By the way- this plan could work alongside other training or be done as a standalone programme, depending on what you already do and how much time you want to devote to training each week.
Heather
Heather Sherwood Fitness 