Tuesday 19 March 2013

Mixing It Up

"If all you do is run, you're bound to get injured"

This is something I read a long time ago, and then filed at the back of my mind.  I have been road running for a quite a while now, without doing anything else.  The intention has been there - I've meant to go swimming, go to Yoga or a Kettle Bell class, but somehow, I've always chosen to don my trainers and hit the great outdoors for a run.

This wise snippet has worked its way to the fore of my memory recently as I have started to HURT!  I have 'body niggles' that I can probably attribute to  running, so I decided it was time to mix it up.  After hearing lots about Kettle Bells, I decided to give them a go.


I first tried the Kettle Bells (along with the instructional DVD) on Saturday morning.  It was not a success. I was grumpy to begin with; I'd had a bad week at work and the bad feeling hangover was lingering, the kids had woken up at the crack of dawn (when all week I'd had to haul them out of bed) and no doubt the dog had also annoyed me (she usually does in the mornings!) Anyway, I opted for the Kettle Bells work out instead of a run. I went into a different room to everyone else to exercise, but my son kept running in front of me shooting imaginary Clones, the dog thought I wanted to play with her when I was stretching, (the Downward Dog stretch nearly resulted in Flattened Dog as she proceeded to lay under me!) and my daughter decided to get involved and match a kettle bell to each family member (8,6,4 and 2KG became Daddy, Mummy, Big Sister and Little Brother).  Then kids then started to fight over the kettle bells.


So I switched off the DVD, pulled on my trainers and was off into the great outdoors for a 5 mile run. It was bliss.  It cleared my head, and reminded me that while I am running, only the pain can get me.  (Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional - Murakami)  Nobody can ask me for hot chocolate/brioche/Weetabix or to sit with them while they are on the toilet!  It's just me and my head!

I'm going to heed the advice of the pro's and work on strengthening my core.  I know that running on its own will lead to problems, and I certainly don't want that....(there will be no escape if that happens!)  I have since done a Kettle Bell work out, but picked a time when the kids were at school and I only had the dog to contend with.

No comments:

Post a Comment