Global Sport Stories

Monday marked the start of my first full week back in the North East and it seems like Monday mornings are becoming the time for regular 10k runs. This time it was a route along the Tyne, meaning a lot less hills than last week’s quarter marathon, except the one steep couple hundred metres or so to end things. 10.17km in 52 minutes 57 seconds, meaning a pace of a seemingly consistent 5:12/km.

Running 10k’s more regularly seems beneficial for me on multiple levels. First and foremost you have the fitness aspect. Running for longer distances takes more time in which you are using more energy and therefore building up a strong cardiovascular system. I am aware that to progress in any form of distance running/fitness you need to incorporate different forms of training, however, the second benefit I find from running longer distances is psychological. Ultimately I am aiming to build up to marathon distance and then further, therefore, I can’t be scared of high numbers of km’s. Although 10 is barely high, there was one stage where I had never ran one before and it seemed like a serious challenge. In retrospect I shouldn’t have built it up in my head as much as I did, but hopefully regularly running longer distances trains my brain into not fearing the run beforehand. As I believe this is a massive barrier to lots of people trying to get into running any distance.

It was a lovely and surprisingly sunny morning on the Tyne; again perfect conditions for running. I had decided to try listening to a podcast this time though, I usually love having my music in so wasn’t sure how I’d find it. But with the voice of Toto Wolf in my ear, led by Jake Humphrey on the High Performance Podcast, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Can’t say I would recommend it unless you were a Formula 1 fan, however, it was very interesting hearing about Toto Wolf’s mindset, who from what it sounded like, seems to adopt quite a different outlook on life to what one may think – helping to get him where he is today. Quite inspiring.

Another positive of running regular 10k’s is recovering better. Come Tuesday morning I could not really feel any after effects of the run and a first night back at work. Therefore, I had set aside the morning to surf as the forecast looked good. Sadly however, a combination of my girlfriend who had gone earlier in the morning saying it was quite flat, coupled with the rental shop not being open, meant the surf would have to wait for another day. Once the idea of the beach was in my head though, I still had to go, even just for a cold dip. And again it was such a nice day which provided even more incentive – not the North East I was accustomed to!

With two surfers for company, I was feeling quite apprehensive before commiting to the North Sea again, just in my boardies. But obviously I’m not going all that way for no reason, and of course it felt so refreshing and I was quickly reminded why I love the sea and cold dips.

I had to wait until Friday to be active again. I’m learning that life sometimes takes over and it takes discipline to incorporate the exercise and activity I want to, whilst maintaining the balance with other aspects in my life. Despite recognising it may be unrealistic to always achieve what I would like to throughout the week, the physical feeling, or perhaps lack of physical feeling, I experience when I haven’t been active is clear for me to feel. That’s why when Friday rolled around and I was back in the gym and the swimming pool I felt so positive once more.

Realising I hadn’t been in a gym since May time, I was using this session as an introductory period. I’ve decided to prioritise working my shoulders and legs more to help with both paddling, in surfing, and muscular endurance whilst running. The pool session after the gym unsurprisingly also acts as hopefully a good technique to improve my surf paddling. Swimming as a whole is an exercise I would love to develop further. Combining this with my love for the sea and cold water has inspired me to investigate purchasing a tow float to try some open water swimming in the North Sea. So watch this space…

Friday marked the end of this week’s activity due to returning home to Worcestershire over the weekend where family took the priority. On reflection overall, I hadn’t surfed or generally been as active as I would have liked so one may focus on the negatives. However, I gained some valuable lessons about how I would need to set priorities in my life in order to achieve all I want to, and got back in the gym and the swimming pool. So all in all, I am going to take those positives into the new week and let’s see if I can finally get a surf in. Big waves are coming apparently…