10k Regent’s Park

So this morning I got out of bed at a ridiculous hour to make it to Regent’s Park (sans Victoria line) in time for the June instalment of the Regent’s Park summer 10k series. I was hoping to register there and then on the day, but I’ll admit a little bit of me kind of hoped the places had all gone. However, sign up I did, and before I knew it I was contemplating the 10 kilometres that lay before me.

As I waited for the kickoff I got more and more nervous. Everybody there looked liked they really knew what they were doing. I started to feel out of my depth. I’ve run 10ks before a good few times, but not for a while. However, I really felt like I needed to do something positive and challenging to get myself back on track physically and emotionally, and this seemed as good a thing as any.

So we set off at 9am. I’d decided that as I hadn’t really trained for this one, I would make it my aim to get around without stopping to walk and try not to be last. I’m pleased to say that I accomplished both! I have quite a steady pace, and although by the 5k mark I knew this was going to be my slowest time over this distance, I think in the circumstances I was fairly happy with that. My steady pace means that I get overtaken a lot at the start, and then gradually towards the middle and end I start creeping up on the hares in true tortoise style and doing some overtaking of my own. The course was three laps, and I think in some ways that made it slightly more difficult mentally. It was at about the 4.5k mark that I started to get lapped by runners on their third lap. I kept on going regardless.

It’s strange the way that you can almost get into a trance on these sort of runs. The rhythm of your feet and your breathing can be quite hypnotic, and in hindsight I can’t really say what I was thinking about for the majority of the time. It got particularly hard around the 8k mark. At this point I’d been running for longer than I have run for quite some time and my legs suddenly felt very heavy. However, I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other and by the time I hit the 9k marker I felt fine again. I even managed a bit of a spurt for the final 200 metres.

According to my less than great wristwatch, I ran it in approximately 1 hour and 6 minutes. Not great by any standards - about 4 minutes slower than my last time. However, runners were still coming in 25 minutes after I’d puffed over the finished line, and I ran the whole way in my own way and at my own pace.

I’m going to enter the same race again in September to see how much I can improve between now and then.

Watch this space!

The Science of Happiness

I haven’t waxed lyrical about the joys of yoga for a little while now, so I figured it was probably time.

As anyone who knows me might well be aware, I’ve had a rough last couple of months.  Change is stressful and I’ve had a lot of change.  However, I can honestly say that I’m not sure how I would have got through it and come out the other side a stronger and better person without my yoga sessions.

Again, as anyone who knows me with be aware, I’m an atheist - but that doesn’ t mean that I can’t appreciate the need that we all have to take ourselves out of our everyday lives and spend some time reflecting, meditating, ‘me-time’, whatever you might want to call it.

My teacher  at the Wednesday sessions has an uncanny ability to say just the right things at the right time.  Yesterday he told us to have the strength to make the necessary changes in our lives - something I need to be reminded of I think.  I’m not always sure what the necessary changes are, but still…   He is also one of the most positive, kindest and welcoming people I have ever come across.  Nothing is ever wrong - if you can’t do it, then ‘that’s what next week is for’.  Judging from his webpages he has serious yoga crudentials, but somehow he seems to make teaching a bunch of inflexible students seem like the most important thing in the world.  If that is what a dose of Zen can do for you, then I’m all for it…in a strictly secular way of course.

New Year, New Resolve.

Right, I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions usually, but this year feels different. I lost the plot a bit over the last few weeks - what with a horrible cold knocking me out for a week or so, and then the excesses of Christmas, so it’s now time to reign it back in and get back on track.

I’ve heard that writing things down makes you more likely to achieve them, so here goes:

• Get up to date on medical appointments (dentist and opticians due soon, and other unspeakable ones as well)
• Prioritise my exercise classes - Pilates on Mondays, Yoga on Wednesday and Friday. These have made such a difference to my well being over the last couple of months - and have actually given me stomach muscles!
• Get back into the running habit. Run Tuesdays and Thursday and one day at the weekend. Option of outside or the university gym.
• Limit alcohol to one pint or one glass of wine on week nights. Most week nights I don’t drink at all, but occasionally I get tempted out and that tends to make my next resolution harder…
• Get up by 7 each weekday morning.* I used to get up at 6.30 every day when I worked to maximise my time, but that has all slipped a bit lately with my new student / teaching status. It also makes weekend snoozing much more enjoyable.
• Restrict weekday Facebook usage to ‘3 meals a day’ - Breakfast, lunch and evening. I need to realise that clicking refresh all through the day is not going to make me any more popular!
• No daytime TV*.

These may seem like odd or restrictive rules to impose on myself, but they are all pretty much designed to contribute to the same overall goal by making me more focused and - completing my PhD to a high standard and in good time (before the money runs out!) and furthering my academic career.

Right I know that isn’t very interesting for anyone happening across my blog (probably trying to find out what ‘ducks in a line’ means) but hopefully it will help me! Also rest assured I’m on the hunt for another amusing picture of malards in formation to please the googlers.

*These may be relaxed in the case of illness. Cos that’s what lies-in and daytime TV are for!

Yoga

I’ve been doing yoga from a dvd on and off for the last couple ofyears.  Becoming a full-time student again recently has given the the opportunity to join the student gym, and for the last few weeks I’ve been going to the twice weekly yoga classes.  I was self conscious at first, and like most worthwhile things that I’ve done in my life, it was a bit scary going to the first one, but I have got so much out of it.

I worried at first that student yoga classes might not be proper or might not be taken seriously, but I was completely wrong.  Both of the teachers who take the class are fabulous.  They take it seriously, but are friendly and supportive.  Although I’m not a beginner, I still have so much to learn - one day I will master the headstand, and I can’t wait for that day!  It’s amazing to see both your mind and body developing with each practice, so even if you can’t do what the person next to you can do, you can do a little more than you could do the week or session before.  Progress is everything. 

After the upheavals in my life in the past month, my yoga sessions are a chance to focus on myself.  To forget about the past and the future and focus on the here and now. 

I leave the sessions feeling calm, centred and at peace.  I even walk away from the class feeling a little taller, more beautiful and more deserving of my place in the world. 

 

LBT

No, not lettuce, bacon and tomato in the wrong order, but Legs Bums and Tums!  Yesterday I bravely went to my first ever voluntary communal exercise class.  I’ve done plenty of exercise videos in my time, I try to go running whenever the feeling takes me and of course we were forced into such things at school, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually attended a class as a responsible adult.

However, my local sports centre, Highbury Pool and Fitness Centre has been offering free trial classes if you register via  a text message with them.  You can try one of each category of class, and yesterday it was the turn of ‘tone and strengthen’.

The class was quite good fun.  Mainly aerobic type cardio vascular exercise with a bit of mat work at the end to target those areas named in the title.  There were only five of us in the class and to be honest I think I would have preferred to  have been able to hide a bit more.  It’s bad enough having to watch yourself in a giant mirror, let along feel that the teacher is watching you too!

There were only a couple of moments of ‘arrrggghhhhh this hurts’ - mainly around the stomach area - I always find that hard - and I don’t ache too much today at all!

Tonight it is the turn of the ‘Mind and Body’ category with a nice yoga class.  I’ve done yoga on my own for a while now with DVDs, but I’ve never been to a class, so I’m looking forward to finding out what I’ve been doing wrong!

Be positive…B+

Today I took a trip to the blood donor session near where I work.  I’ve donated a few times in the past, and I am proud of my B+ blood.

The session was in a church hall in islington.  It opened at 5pm, and when I got there at about 5.15 there was already a queue forming.  I went through the usual blood test and questionnaire and as all was fine I was cleared to donate.  As I lay there squeezing my hand and watching the blood fill up the bag by my bed, I started to think about why people do this.  All around me were people who had chosen to give up their own free time in order to be here.  Surely donating blood must be about the closest thing to altruism you can get.  After all, it is slightly uncomfortable when them needle goes in and when they staple your finger to do the haemoglobin test - and yet they kept on coming.  When I left at 6.30 there was standing room only in the waiting room.  Everyone there will have no idea what happens to their blood.  Will it make the difference between life and death?  Will it be used in a lab test to develop a new treatment?  Who knows, but you can bet you’ll never find out about your particular donation.  This may sound a bit slushy, but it kind of makes me proud to be a human being that we are prepared to do such a thing for total strangers, for no more reward than a packet of biscuits.

Having said that and considering that everyone was there voluntarily, it was a bit of a surprise that the nurse on duty at the door was such a dragon.  Still, I guess it’s just her job, and we all have bad days.

Now, I’ve given blood in the past and hardly noticed any difference.  So, I was a bit surprised by what happened on my way home from the session.  I was fine walking to the station, and getting on the tube.  However, inbetween stations I suddenly came over really faint and as though I was going to throw up.  I’ve never fainted in my life, but between Highbury and Islington and Finsbury Park on the Victoria line was the closest I’ve ever come.  Luckily I was able to get a seat and I just about managed to keep it together until my stop.

I’m still feeling slightly sick now, an hour later, so I’m going to go for a lie down. 

Don’t let that put you off though.  What is a bit of nausa if you could be saving a life!

Comfortably Numb

I’ve feeling very proud of myself today as I broke a seven year habit and went to the dentists.  Well, actually I went yesterday and I went back today for treatment.  I am quite particular about brushing and flossing every day, but I had somehow not gotten around to the actual business of seeing a dentist.  All considered, the verdict was pretty darn good.  Both the dentist and hygienist said I had very good teeth and I just need a little bit of wear between the top of my tooth and my gum filled.  It took around 5 minutes to do and the lovely lady dentist gave me a local anesthestic which meant that apart from a little bit of discomfort during the brief bit of drilling I felt nonthing.  The worse bit of the whole experience was dribbling on the floor as I tried to rinse my mouth out without remembering that I couldn’t feel half of my face.

This was only the second anesthestic that I’ve ever had.  The other was also tooth related, but was general.  I have to say that I have quite enjoyed both of them.  I remember having a wonderful feeling when I woke up from the general - nothing seemed to matter because I didn’t know where I was or who I was.  It was a lovely feeling.  Similarly I enjoyed the numbness today - maybe it’s just the novelty of it, I don’t know, but it was a pleasant sensation to not be able to feel half of my face.

Am I odd?