It's true. I hate running. Never been any good at running, not one of these people who can just go out and jog for 2 hours every other day. I will have to drag myself out of the house, put on the old 'workout' playlist on my ipod and struggle, huffing and puffing around the course. I don't particularly like running on the streets mainly because everyone can see you and I usually look terrible (imagine sweat, red face and general horribleness!). I always imagine that picture of Katherine Jenkins crossing the finish line at the London Marathon a couple of years ago looking absolutely perfect, and think I look like that. Then I look in a mirror and reality is quite the opposite. Oh dear.
Anyways, running is an integral part of every OCR, whether 5k or 25k. So I need to get better, even if I don't want to actually go and do it. The competitive side of me wants to get better at something I've attempted to do in the past.
So mindlessly running isn't going to help, mindlessly training doesn't help you achieve your goals. You need a plan or tools to help.
Some tools:
A tracker app is great to help you see how far or how long your run has been. It also means you can compare your runs and see how you are improving.
I've used Mapmyfitness (free) to track my runs on my iphone for ages. It did require taking my phone out on runs and I prefer to take my ipod out for music.
Recently it's not been recording my GPS signal properly so when I get to the end of a run, it records 0.2km or something like that so I haven't been using it as much anymore.
At the moment I use Nike + (free) which came as part of my new Ipod. It's good at setting a denominated time or distance and talks at you over your music when the time passes (in 5 minute intervals) or when you pass distance markers (1km).
My favourite running app is Zombies! Run (£3.99)
I discovered this app a couple of years ago. It's great for someone who has a short attention span and who gets bored easily (me). It plays a story of fictional zombie apocalypse. It is a first person adventure and the characters talk to your character. You are a 'runner' sent on missions to help the base. Whilst on the missions the music from a designated playlist on your iphone plays (allowing a good mix between story and music). The best part is being 'chased' by zombies and, as it tracks you via GPS, the faster you run, the quicker you 'escape' the zombies. If you slow down the Zombies 'catch' you and you lose a life. The app isn't recommended for running by busy roads (you may accidently forget yourself and run into traffic I suppose- if you are silly). I like it because it just adds a different dimension to your run.
What helps you on your run?
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