Blog Post Number 2

Hi everyone! Thanks for checking back in.

I have decided against doing daily updates on every single training day, as it will probably get a little boring and repetitive for you all. Instead, I'm going to hit on any high/lowlights that have happened in my week regarding my genius hour project.





I've been stuck at running 3 minutes, walking 1 minute for 5 sets for a few days now – pushing myself to 4 and 5 minutes will be very difficult I'm sure. I recently have been sick for the past few days so this has put a bit of a damper on the whole running thing. Although I've been dragging myself to the gym, I haven't felt like running at all so I've really only been doing strengthening workouts for arms and abs. This is better than nothing, but not in any way helping my endurance!


Today I ran 3 minutes and walked for 1 minute, as I have been doing for the past couple training days. Above is a picture that summarizes my run!

****

After discussing genius project ideas with some classmates, someone suggested that I try running outside to change up my scenery. The weather these days is still so beautiful, so I'm not really sure why I chose to run on a treadmill when I had the option! I guess having the time, speed and terrain easily set I thought treadmills would be the better option for a beginner runner like myself. However, tonight I decided to run outside during golden hour (my favourite time of day!) and I was really happy with the outcome. The changing scenery gave me something to focus my attention on, the breeze was beautiful and cooled me down when I needed it too and I felt that I focused less on running and more on my surroundings, which made time pass so much quicker! I will definitely continue to run outside while the weather allows me too! Tonight on my run I explored some of the areas around my home and was pleased to discover a beautiful conservation park and boardwalk along the water. I uploaded a pretty cringe-worthy video of myself mid-run, as well as some photos to show you guys my new favourite spot!

Below is a video, check it out!

I also took multiple photos of the sunset, because how could you not?

****

Tonight I want to say that I finally ran 5km! It took me a pretty long time (about 40 minutes) and I had to take walking breaks fairly often near the end but I actually made it to the 5km mark.


I was experimenting with apps because now that I don't use the treadmill I need to monitor my progress somehow, and have settled on the Nike Run Club app! It was free to download and actually has a lot of useful tools to help your run. It monitors speed, time, distance, heart rate, calories burned and many other things. You can also download 'set' runs that offer motivational coaches and trainers to talk you through a run. Another positive is that it keeps track of all your runs and you can set personal goals and win badges against yourself as you continue to use the app – things like longest run, fastest 1km, furthest run etc.


Anyways, those are my updates for this week! Check in with me on my next post to see if I can cut some time off of my run.


Madeleine



References:

Campbell, Madeleine. (2018). Treadmill.
Campbell, Madeleine (2018). Running video.
Campbell, Madeleine (2018). Sunset
Campbell, Madeleine (2018). Nike screenshot.