My Journey With Health And Fitness – It’s Easier To Work Harder

Yesterday morning it was weekly coffee with a group of friends. Since it had warmed up a bit and rained, I figured the sidewalks would be pretty clear and as it was only about 2k each way I should do a run. Also, I wanted to put on my winter running clothes so I could look like I really knew what I was doing. So, on went my light fiber running jacket, my running vest, a toque and gloves and of course my running pants. I thought I looked like all those other runners I see out there during the winter. Off I went and it was really a nice little run (I also ran home afterwards). My husband drove to the coffee shop and passed me on the way so when I got to the coffee shop I asked him if I looked like a real runner. His response was no, you looked bloody cold. Really, I wasn’t too cold and enjoyed the run.

I know I have been pretty sweaty lately when I head upstairs after working out in the garage. My husband asked how my workout was and the other day I told him it was easier. He was a bit confused because as he said, I looked like I had done a hard workout. He asked if I meant the workout was getting easier and I laughed. No, it is getting easier to work harder. I had to walk him through what that meant but he seemed pretty happy with my explanation.

Since getting the new treadmill a few weeks ago I have been trying to work harder than I have in the past couple months. I admit it was hard to really push myself on the old treadmill because it was well, old. The display no longer worked and it could sometimes feel a bit rickety. The new one feels very stable and safe. It also tracks everything I do (though I don’t trust the heart rate it counts as I know it is way low based on me checking my pulse directly) including distance, calories and speed. Now that I have my visual of what I am doing I can get myself into better targets. And really, I have been trying to push myself.

I’ve mentioned before that there are various program levels but when I tried to move up to level 4 last week I couldn’t do the full program. I’ve changed that strategy and instead am adjusting level 3 to make it harder each day. That means while I do the run intervals it gives me I also bump up the walking intervals to higher speeds to keep my heart rate in at minimum fat burning zone (trust me when it tries to get me to walk at 2 kph my heart rate gets back into a normal range). I’ve been pretty successful with that strategy this week and am confident I will survive level 4 next week. On top of that, during my ‘manual’ part of the workout I have been doing more running intervals which next week I plan to lengthen. The real indication to me that this is all working is the pace that I managed in my runs yesterday, for casual runs my pace was better than I felt it was.

The bottom line is the new treadmill has made it easier for me to work harder to get myself back to my peak. I’m confident that if I keep up the hard work I will get there within a few months.