Tuesday 3 July 2018

Enjoy rather Endure it!

Hi Guys,

Hope you have had a good weekend and still making the most of the lovely weather. The super soaker has been a regular addition at boot camp over the last few weeks!

This weekend I did an endurance event, Endure 24......24 hours of relay running which started on Saturday at 12 noon and finished on Sunday at 12 noon. There were a group of us which took part, we had two teams of 5, two teams of 4, two duos and one solo runner!!



Now I will be honest I was dreading the weekend, I did the event last year and on the last lap (5 x laps - 25 miles) I shed a tear as I was in so much pain and completely exhausted!! Now I think I must of blocked that part of it out when I was asked to do it again as I agreed to go for more torture.

Now if you are a regular reader of my blog you will know that my goal posts have changed when it comes to running, I much prefer interval training than pounding out mile after mile steady state running. The most I had run up to the event was 6 miles so I knew I wasn't prepared.

Each leg was 5 miles, however, when the laps accumulate you cover a lot of miles.....which I didn't have in my legs. So with this in mind combined with the heat, it was something I wish I hadn't signed up for.

The bonus about it being hot was that it made camping more bearable, we had more of a laugh at base camp and I didn't have to pack as many warm clothes!

Myself and my running buddy (who is also an interval queen) completed the first lap with some of the other people from other teams from our group, steady paced.......OMG it dragged like hell, my legs hurt, my Achilles was giving me bother and all I could think of was the pain I was in last year on my final lap!

So after that we decided to do each lap as intervals.......now in a way the whole event was interval training, you did a lap had some rest then went again. However, we had to make the 5 mile laps more enjoyable. So our second lap we did as intervals........it went so much quicker and I enjoyed it rather than endured it! Plus my legs and my Achilles didn't hurt as much! We did interval training for the remaining laps, we completed one more lap than last year (30 miles) and I could have done another if someone had forced me to do so. The experience was completely different to last year. In fact I have taken part in lots of endurance events over the years and this is the one where I have completed the most miles!

Now I was still tired, my legs still hurt....in fact so did my abs from the faster paced running, but I wasn't in agony like previously! Plus my fat burning would have increased by doing intervals instead of steady state running. For me mentally it was so much easier doing the laps as a training session I enjoyed....if your mind is in the game it is amazing how the body responds.......basically we did 5 miles of steady state then 25 miles as intervals!!

Anything that I do it has to have an enjoyment factor, work, exercise, socialising, if not what is the point!?

When it comes to exercise we all want something which gives us results, however, to get and maintain those results it has to be enjoyable.......if we have to endure something rather than enjoy it then sustainability goes out of the window.

I have tried different training techniques over the years, I used to be a plodding penguin over the years and now I have turned into an interval inferno (well in my head I have lol). I actually never thought I would complete an endurance event by doing intervals and enjoy it! Sometimes you have to break from the norm and try something different!

So if you want training which is sustainable, fun and gets results then why not try boot camp? I have been there and done it and can pass the best bits onto you guys!
Click here to enjoy rather than endure training
Click here to fuel your fitness
Andrea (shocked that I enjoyed 30 miles!) Springthorpe
07949 959 547
info@fit4force.co.uk
www.fit4force.co.uk

P.S Look out for our revamped packages coming soon!

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