I never understood running.
I always felt I had to drag myself out to run with the knowledge that it was good for me. I felt slow with heavy legs and I just wasn’t as enjoyable as as spinning or circuits. I realised I had to break this mental block and “confront” my fear, so I entered myself into a big race that would require more self discipline and a structured training routine.
The race I entered was the Great North Run (13 miles). Once I’d worked out my training programme I was surprised at how far I could run and how fast. With a goal, the training became more enjoyable as I had set myself a goal, which led to more focused training, taking the element of pointlessly slogging around a park out of the equation.
I completed the 13.1 miles in Newcastle in 1 hour and 50 minutes. I’d got the bug. Two full marathons, a hand full of half marathons, a 20 miler and many 10k races later I finally consider myself a runner. The point is that I’m not a ‘natural’, which means I’m in a position to understand why other people dislike it. So when I approach running training I do so with empathy as well as an achievable structure. This paid off particularly well for one of my clients who, at the start of training, probably couldn’t run to the end of her street without getting bored and tired. In the space of 6 months she was running the 2008 Great North Run.
In March next year I will be taking a group of runners over to Paris for the half marathon. I will write a training programme tailored specifically for your needs. Every Sunday in the run up to the half marathon, I will take everyone out together for breakfast runs around our great parks of London – followed by a well-earned bacon sarnie and mug of tea. In Sunday sessions we will all run together and build a good team spirit. I have found this helps every level of competence and adds an element of fun that can be missing on cold night runs on your own!
For information on the Paris Half and my training programmes please email me on kat@imafitnessfreak.co.uk or call me on 07540 765 950. If you would like to get a place in the Paris Half, please do so quickly as entries will soon be full.
www.semideparis.com