Tunes Tuesday: Pump Up Music

I'm aware that I'm a little late to the party, but Run Steff Run's Link Up gave me the excuse to share some of my favourite running songs, which I've been wanting to do since I started this blog :) The theme this week is Pump Up music, and below I've listed two of the songs that get me excited for running:

The first song on my list is Yorktown (explicit, just to warn you) from the musical Hamilton. I'm a massive fan of the musical and I can't wait for it to come across the pond to the UK! 

Iron Sky by Paolo Nutini is one of my favourite pre-race/parkrun/workout songs. While it isn't a particularly fast paced song, the speech halfway through always inspires me.

Signing Up For My First 10k!

Exciting news: I've entered my first race of my running renaissance, the Swansea Bay 10k. This is by far the most popular race I've ever entered with 3000 runners, and 10k is a distance that I've never run before. I have exactly 6 months from today to train, and I'm confident that I can meet my current goal of completing it in an hour or under.

What I'm even more excited about it fundraising for the Motor Neurone Disease Association! This charity is close to my heart as my granddad suffered from the disease when I was little. If any kind strangers wish to donate, my fundraising page is here and any donations are appreciated no matter how small :)

Hope everyone's having a good day so far, the weather in Wales today is lovely for once!
Rowan

Temporary Social Media Caveman

Usually I record my runs using the Strava app on my phone, which is convenient for photos and music, but less so for keeping track of how far I've gone and for how long. I also use my laptop to plot routes.
Both, inconveniently, died within a week of each other, and until their replacements arrive, I am in the virtual dark. Luckily I can borrow the BF's laptop and I have no university deadlines looming, but it's still irritating to not be able to mindlessly flick through social media for hours on end.

Luckily I could still record our run today, as my mum had recently sent up my good old garmin 😃

casually standing around in running gear, waiting for the satellites, getting weird looks from dog walkers

The weather was almost perfect conditions after last night's thunderstorms, and finally having statistics on my wrist improved my running too- instead of just walking when I was tired, I slowed my pace and took a one minute walk break every 0.5 miles (I'm unfit okay), which overall increased my average pace by almost a whole minute per mile. Definitely the best run I've had since starting again!

Sneaky photo the BF took while he was ahead of me, the showoff 

Leave in the comments what you use to record your runs!
Rowan

How To Trick Yourself Into Being Active

I somehow managed to go outside and actually do exercise 4 times this week. This is such a rare occurrence that upon entering the flat kitchen in running gear, several flatmates voiced their surprise that I went outside two days in a row. 

pictures or it didn't happen

Even I was surprised that I dragged myself out of the warm confines of the building and into the typical welsh weather wind and mild drizzle, but I'm putting my sudden motivation down to these factors:

1. If I don't move, I may become an integral part of the sheets and become a human-fabric chimera
2. I rediscovered Strava and remembered how much I like looking at the statistics
3. I can't let the BF be better than me at something I used to be almost okay at

The initial motivation for going into the cold and going for a run only lasts a few weeks if your reasons for running only consist of "it'll be good for me". It's very easy to look out of the window and put it off for later/tomorrow/next week/never. A reliable exercise buddy or group can help to keep the habit up until you show a visible improvement, which will motivate you further. 

Being a university student has given me the great opportunity to join sports societies, such as the Mountaineering society. The fun and social atmosphere outweighs the effort to actually get out there, and this week, after four weeks of attending, I met my goal to get to the top of the green route. Although this is the second easiest route on the university wall, I felt a massive sense of achievement considering my arms greatly resemble spaghetti and have no strength in them at all. I also noticed that I was a lot less nervous about the height, and my goal for next week is to get past a particularly nasty part of the blue route, which involves gripping a small hold with both hands and trying to pull yourself up.  

Leave tips for staying motivated in the comments!

Rowan 

An Introduction

I'm a procrastinator. I find it hard to get motivated. I lose interest in things I enjoy.
Two months into university I quit the rugby team after previously enjoying the game for three years, and quickly noticed a rapid decline in fitness; so I've created this blog to keep myself motivated and track my progress as I attempt to become stronger and improve myself. 

After I quit rugby, me and my boyfriend joined the mountaineering society. I'd never been rock climbing before, and I didn't know if I would enjoy it, but I wanted to challenge myself with something new. We've also started going for runs together, which has shown me just how unfit I've become: I've gone from completing 5 mile runs before university to barely surviving a lap of the park.

I'm determined to regain and exceed the level of fitness I had before university and share my tips along the way, and I hope you stick around with my journey!

See you there,
Rowan