What is everyone listening to?

Recently I wrote about some of the things that I think about when I'm running, and one of them was wondering what the people I see out and about are listening to on their headphones.

Is it just me, or are more and more people wearing headphones? I notice it more and more! Usually just the ear bud style, but also large over the head ones. If I'm running behind someone and want to overtake I never know if they can hear me coming, even if I try to let them know I'm behind them with an 'excuse me'.

I have a decent pair of bone conduction headphone, but even though they leave my ears free I don't feel as aware of my surroundings when I'm wearing them. I want to hear what's going on around me, especially if I'm running early and alone. So the only time that I wear headphones is at the gym, and I use the corded headphones that came with my phone - I'm still stuck in the 90s!

The children have always owned headphones which they use for travel, but recently they've upgraded to fancier ones and they seem to wear them all the time. I can't complain because as a teenager I was constantly plugged into my personal cassette player, but I do feel a bit lonely sometimes when I'm driving them back from school and they would rather switch off with their own music than chat with me!

I like to wonder what people are listening to. For exercise I enjoy some fast paced music with a strong beat, but I like peace and quiet when I'm out for a walk. Maybe some people aren't actually listening to anything at all, they just want to be left alone, I can see that being something I would do!

Photo credit Mark Rohan via Unsplash

Things I think about while I'm running

When I set out for a run, my first thought is usually how cold it is, and how long it will take me to warm up. Sometimes I'm a bit self-conscious, and I'm testing whether my shoes are comfortable. But it doesn't take long to get into my stride, and then my mind can start to wander. 

All sorts of things go through my head while I'm out for a run, and these are just some of them!

* Rehearsing conversations and text messages. Here's something that I read recently in the book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott:

"Left to its own devices, my mind spends much of its time having conversations with people who aren't there. I walk along defending myself to people, or exchanging repartee with them, or rationalizing my behavior, or seducing them with gossip, or pretending I'm on their TV talk show or whatever."

This is exactly me, and I suspect a lot of other people too! I explain things to an invisible audience, I share anecdotes, I discuss my experiences. (Then very occasionally some of this turns into a journal entry or a blog post!)

* I think about the book that I'm reading or the television show that I'm currently watching. I ponder what has happened and the impression it has made on me. Often I have an internal conversation with someone about it. 

* I decide what I will do first once I get home and am showered. Sometimes it's an urgent task that is bothering me, otherwise which routine job to tackle first.

* I feel virtuous about the fact that I'm doing exercise when it would be really easy not to be. I never compare myself to the other people that I see out running, but I do feel solidarity with them! I wonder how far other runners have run, and whether they run regularly.

* I wonder what people are listening to on their headphones.

* I hope that the many dogs I pass won't jump up at me or run under my feet.

* I plan whether I should just run up behind the person walking ahead of me, give a loud cough or try for an 'excuse me' before I squeeze past.

* I think about how easy I'm finding the run, whether I should consider doing an extra loop or if it's time to head home.

* I run over any particular problem that is going round my mind, usually something to do with one of the children, although I try not to ruminate too much.

Photo credit Dulcey Lima via Unsplash

I find that running is a really good way to clear my mind. Even if I've been thinking about something that makes me anxious, I find that going over it often helps me to come at it with a new perspective. And when I get back from a run I always feel better both physically and mentally.

Trying out some new running routes

At the beginning of the year I set myself a few goals. One of them was to do with fitness, specifically to find myself some new running routes. I try to run three times a week and I've maintained that fairly consistently for several years now. I like to run from my home, but although there are lots of houses my village is small, and I don't have much variation in my running routes - 5k only just makes a loop around the edge. I wanted to come up with some new routes to keep things interesting, as I enjoy using my run as a way of exploring the local area.

At university I spent a year living in Germany. There wasn't much to fill the time - no television, no phone, I only had what I could fit in my suitcase! - so at the weekends I started taking myself off for walks. I bought a big map of the area and I would pick out something interesting, maybe a church or a park, and plan myself a long walk there. I'm trying to do a similar thing now, having a browse on Google maps for a place that I've not been to before and taking myself there on a run.

I use Strava to track my running but for planning routes I use MapMyRun as I find the interface really easy to use and it's free. You can choose your starting point and then click along the roads that you want to take, it even automatically follows roads for you. It tells you the distance that you've plotted and then you can save the routes to refer back to. I think that if you use the app on your phone while you are running it will also direct you, but I've managed quite well with remembering the way I want to go. I sort them by distance so I can select my run depending on how fit I feel that day!

Last week I ran a new route which I had been putting off because it involved going over a level crossing twice and I don't like having to stop and wait mid run. But there was no train in either direction and I discovered a new park! It was a bit muddy at this time of year but it's somewhere to return in the summer when I can run across it properly. 

I challenged myself to map out five new runs, but I've already come up with lots more. Some of them are admittedly variations on a theme but even running a familiar route in reverse switches things up a bit. Now I'm going to think about how I can incorporate my run with the school run, stopping somewhere on the way back and doing a run from there that might be a bit more interesting. Hopefully this will help with my motivation when I'm really not in the mood for my run that day!

A cold January morning run along the beach

When I find myself doing the school run in the morning I often like to combine it with stopping for a run on the way back. Here are some photos that I took on a very cold morning last Friday along Goring and Worthing seafront.

I started in the Goring area of Worthing and headed towards town. The sun had just risen and everything was bathed in a lovely golden light. Below is one of the fishing boats at Goring. There is a hut here where you can buy fresh fish, although I don't know how much of it is caught from this actual boat!

I love the beach huts which are all the way along the seafront in Goring.

As you head towards town you pass the Waterwise Garden which demonstrates how gardeners can reduce water consumption with plants that don't need much water. It's been established for a few years now and it's a nice place to stop and look out to sea. 

Finally on the outskirts of the town centre, here are the palm trees on the seafront, all wrapped up to keep them warm over the winter!

It's so nice having such a lovely place nearby to go for a run!

How I motivate myself to get out for a run

As I dragged myself out of bed this morning, knowing that I had 'Get out for a run' on my to do list for the day, I found myself thinking up excuses. I was feeling tired, it looked like it might rain, I had lots of other things that I wanted to get done. But I managed to get out, and of course when I got back I felt so much better for it - both for having done the exercise and for having encouraged made the effort.  

It made me think of sharing a few of the ways that I motivate myself to get out for a run, and some tips to make sure that you always manage to get out when you are planning to.

 

I like to schedule regular days for exercise. At the moment that's Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with anything extra at the weekend being a bonus. So I always know that these are my exercise days and I can plan my timetable accordingly, whether that's a run, swim or cross trainer workout. I've had this plan for over a year now, and although I do occasionally miss a workout or swap things around, for the main part it has stuck.

I like to get exercise out the way first thing in the morning. Of course this doesn't work for everyone's schedule, but I feel much happier when it's done. It's all about eating the frog!

So to help with this I always make sure that to get everything ready the night before. My clothes are laid out and my running belt and headband are by the front door. If I'm planning on wearing my headphones then I make sure that they are charged and that I've got a running playlist in mind.

If I'm not feeling particularly inspired at the thought of a run the following morning then I pull out Google maps and try to find a new running route. I have a number of different routes that I like to run from my house, and sometimes even just running one in reverse is enough to switch things up a bit. 

If I really want a change (and if it's not too windy!) then I'll drive down to the seafront and run along there. I also use MapMyRun which makes planning routes of specific lengths really easy. Sometimes I like to look for points of interest on the map, like a church or a park, and plan a route to take it in.

I've also begun to reconsider whether tracking runs is really a good idea. I used to log every run that I did in Strava, just for my own information as I only have one friend on there. I liked seeing how far I'd run, how fast and so on. But then I realised that if I only fancied a short run I didn't want to log it, as it didn't feel like a proper effort! And so then I'd wonder whether it was actually worth going out at all. 

So now I tend to just check my watch when I begin, and if I've been running for half an hour or longer then I call that a good run. I can always go back and plug the route into MapMyRun if I'm feeling curious about my distance. 

Finally as I get ready to go out I always remind myself that I've never felt worse after going for a run. Barring injury or an accident of course, it would be very rare to come back from a run and regret it!

Main image credit Emma Simpson via Unsplash

Setting exercise challenges

I recently found out about various companies that sell exercise challenges. One of the best known is probably Virtual Runner, which also has a charity element, but there are lots more. You enter by paying a small fee, and when you have proven that you've completed the challenge (usually by submitting a screenshot from an exercise tracking app) you are sent a medal. The medals are themed and can be very fancy - sometimes seasonal or based around a TV show or film. They are a great alternative to an organised race, which aren't always easy to manage logistically.

I love the idea of these challenges, but I must admit that I'm too mean to consider paying to sign up for one. I'm also not fussed about the medal - I wouldn't know what to do with it and it would just be clutter. So I decided to come up with my own challenge.

While waiting in a queue at Disneyland last month and feeling that I had indulged a little too much on cookies and sweets, I decided that I would challenge myself to run a total of 50 km in November. My usual running distance is 5 km, so I thought that if I could get out for three runs a week then I could easily manage it. Until that point I'd been averaging about one run a fortnight, and running 5 km was doable, but it would involve making quite a bit of extra effort!

It wasn't easy, especially coming back to the cold after a warm holiday, but I was determined to complete the challenge. I aimed for two outside runs per week and one run on the treadmill at the gym. For the outdoor runs I ran at a fairly easy pace, and for the treadmill workout I pushed myself a bit more, as I find it easier to pace myself on a treadmill where I can set my speed. After just a week of running I could already feel the difference, and as the end of the month approached I noticed a big difference in how easy I found it to run the distance.

I tracked all my runs in the Runkeeper app. When I finished a run it told me how close I was to reaching my goal which was very motivating, and it also shows how far you have run that week and month. I was really pleased to complete the challenge almost a week early! Now I have to decide whether to up my game for next month, or stick to the same challenge for December, bearing in mind that things will start to get busy more over the next few weeks!