Wednesday 29 June 2016

40 Days of Running - Zap!

For six years now I've been playing an annual pre-birthday game where I have to run everyday for the consecutive number of days of the age that I'm turning; with the last day on my birthday.

With organising Forest Run in May (and spending 10-hour days cutting trails in the week before the event and sleeping three hours a night) and then jetting off to Chile for 3.5 weeks, nailing my game this year was unrealistic.

I returned from Chile on Thursday last week and began my '40 Days of Running' the next day.

With five days done, my legs are settling in. I've been so erratic in my running training this year and thus my commitment to these 40 days is really what the running doctor ordered.

Yesterday, Day 5, also included a few kilometres of paddling on the Vaal River from our paddling club. Clear sky, good wind, vegetated islands, sparkling expanse of water... beautiful and uplifting.

In addition, I'm constantly beating myself up about yoga, which I love but rarely do. A number of years ago I got into Ashtanga yoga and loved the difficulty and challenge of it. When the studio closed, I would occasionally self practice - but never much and never enough.

So I've added sun salutations, standing postures and finishing sequence to my post-run programme - not every day, but most. After all the driving and flying, my body was craving a good stretch and after only a few days I'm already feeling better for it.

Doing a shoulder stand in Chile was the kick I needed to make yoga a regular part of my training again.

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