Anyone else getting fit in Covid?

[JaDanketies]

I think running is kind of hypnotic and meditative. I'm listening to music now but I'm also typing this message and doing some work. When you're running, it's just you and the road (and your music). It's like mindfulness. It seems to shut off my mind better than everything else.

[bgmnts]

Could you run without music?

The idea of going out for a walk without some noise filling my ears is terrifying.

[JaDanketies]

Could you run without music?

yeah but it's boring and I might end up thinking, and I don't want that.

[Blue Jam]

I think running without music would be a real chore for me. Also music stops me hearing anyone who might laugh at me. As it is all I notice is the bemused looks I get from dogs but I can handle that.

Doggo spotting is another perk of running, of course. Saw a corgi and a sausage dog on my last run. It's all very motivating: if they can run around happily on their stumpy little legs so can I.

[jaydee81]

I mean, I played football three times a week between the ages of 6 and 16 and even then I found running absolutely abhorrent. That's only increased as I've withered into old age and gained enough weight to kill a human. The notion of it being addictive is laughable to me. Maybe it's genetic?

Hello me from 3 months ago

[jaydee81]

Michael Johnson telling me I had one minute to go yesterday had a similar effect on me. Not tempted to get a Garmin or anything like that and become one of those runners, but a bit worried I might go a bit Ronnie O'Sullivan and become a running bore myself.

Good old Michael, I'm going to miss him. There's a message he does at the end of Week 6 where he says something like 'look at you, you're a runner now' and yes I know it's prerecorded but... thinking about it maybe that triggered the MDMA rush.

Today he said, 'why not recommend the app to someone, I think you'd be a real inspiration to them with what you've achieved'... Michael I love you!

Anyway, I don't think I'll ever go full Garmin but I do sync my phone to Strava and Nike Runners Club, I am completely obsessed with statistics (27 years of Championship Manager and counting) and I find my miles per minute hypnotic, especially looking back at today and finding I ran my quickest ever kilometre today and it was at the end of my 5k run.

God I'm so boring

[Blue Jam]

As long as you don't share your running stats on Facebook via Runkeeper or Strava or whatever. People who do that can run off the edge of a cliff.

Think Michael Johnson is my second ever sporting hero now. It's him and James Cahill.

[Blue Jam]

On the subject of leggings/running tights etc, back before I deleted my Reddit account because of all the awful people on threre I noticed Reddit had a weird obsession with leggings/yoga pants, with incel types frequently asking why feeeeemales wear them when they're too titillating to men/too casual/not titillating enough to men on larger feeeeeeemales/the patterened ones are ugly etc. I even saw people on there saying women should avoid wearing leggings at the gym to avoid distracting men.

Well, as many of you fellas have learned, they're practical and comfy as fuck. And the lairy patterened ones are just fun. I must have spent the majority of lockdown wearing leggings even when I haven't been exercising. Got to be proper activewear though, good, non-see-thru stretchy ones that last a long time. Nike do the best ones, and I've found two brands called Gaiam and RBX that are frequently found at TK Maxx and are also good. Just don't go calling them "meggings".

This is me now:

https://youtu.be/CYRENWT8lz8

[bgmnts]

To be fair it is a bit distracting when a woman is wearing leggings so tight you can see her colon when you're trying to do some work on the resistance machines. I've tried leggings and found joggers with a bit more give so much more comfortable physically and psychologically. But to each their own.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I'm going to start twatting on about Michael Johnson in Couch to 5K, but I did my first 25 minute run (Week 6 run 3 I think) and when he said 'one minute left, go for it' I totally felt like I had an entire new gear that I didn't know I had, and I was running like that Rocky gif above.

I tried it a couple of years ago and couldn't even run a quarter of a mile before being horribly out of breath with painful numb shins. That's what 20 years of smoking and not exercising does for you. Actually started making progress after a couple of weeks of doing it but then got an awful dose of flu which messed up my schedule and I used it as a terrible excuse not to start again. Having quit smoking for a couple of years, and being fitter now than I've ever been due to home workouts I'm going to try it again. I'd love to just go out and run a few miles without stopping.

And yeah, I have friends on facebook who have been runners for years who share their stats "Just ran another 15k, feel great, yay!" and selfies of them looking like they haven't even broken a sweat every day, not a fan.

[Blue Jam]

The most distracting thing a man can wear in a gym is football shorts when doing yoga. Guys, you really do need longer length ones if you want to keep the boys in the barracks...

I can't believe I'm asking this, but does anyone use a GPS app to track their runs? I use Cyclemeter for cycling and hiking but there's an option for running on it too and I've yet to try it, might have a go at that tomorrow. Any other recommendations? I will never, ever upload my data to Facebook though, I promise.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I use the Fitbit app to track my distance/steps. I don't have a fitbit but it works pretty much the same just on the phone.

[jaydee81]

Strava is good. I spent lockdown 1 walking around London trying to write words that would show up on the map afterwards.

I think Nike Running Club is good, you can set a target of minutes or kilometres and it tells you every time you've run a kilometre and what your average time split is.

Making an Excel spreadsheet and putting all your times in is just an optional extra obviously

[Blue Jam]

Strava is good. I spent lockdown 1 walking around London trying to write words that would show up on the map afterwards.

Bill Drummond also liked to do that, but before smartphones were invented. Did you write any naughty words? I must run a cock'n'balls one day.

I think Nike Running Club is good, you can set a target of minutes or kilometres and it tells you every time you've run a kilometre and what your average time split is.

I would like something that does distance rather than time, that sounds good to me, cheers.

[jaydee81]

Yes heavily inspired by Bill Drummond. I dont like thinking about Bill since I felt like I made a tit of myself when I met him at a book signing pre Plague.

I managed to write BUM, POO, COVID 19 and HELLO

[jaydee81]

Nike Running Club also seems to have some good 'guided run podcast' things which I might start using post Couch to 5k

[MojoJojo]

I found finding an app that worked well with my phone took awhile. Strava was inaccurate, would have me zig zagging to both sides of the river, so would exaggerate my distance and speed. I then used endomondo which worked well but they closed it down. Run keeper tracked well, except it took like 5 minutes to get a fix. I've now moved to addidas running, which seems OK so far.

This probably not an issue if using a more mainstream phone, rather than a Xiaomi.

[amateur]

Have managed to lose a stone and half since the new year. This is entirely down to 1. not drinking and 2. not eating out, one of which is less desirable to me in lockdown (feel like pure shit just want pubs back) and the other impossible.

Wasn't hugely unhealthy beforehand but sorting myself out has made this whole period feel like it's had some kind of meaning.

[Blue Jam]

"YESSSSSS! You did it!" Oh Coach Johnson, how would I be here, at Run #2 of Week Three, without your motivational smooth baritone in my ears?

Anyone else find they keep having to uninstall and reinstall the app because it keeps losing the audio? Just me?

Had a chat with my GP earlier and she told me I'm on the very lowest dose of inhaled steroids and it sounds like we need to double the dose. Was a bit wheezy again today but I'm feeling confident this can be sorted out. For now it's just a bit frustrating. I think my general fitness is fine- no tired muscles, no getting stitches etc- it's just my crap lungs holding me back. Hopefully not for much longer.

[bgmnts]

You people losing weight seemingly effortlessly. Get to fuck you bastards.

[JaDanketies]

You people losing weight seemingly effortlessly. Get to fuck you bastards.

I lost a bunch of weight in January and then in February I stayed effectively the same. It was probably merely  a load of water that I pissed out over Jan.

[Bernice]

I've lost 15kg and then regained about 7 since a running injury knocked me out and the latest lockdown started to depress the fuck out of me.

Exercise and physical health are great for your mental wellbeing, but mental health is a precondition for self-care. Nasty little logical loop, that.

[Blue Jam]

You people losing weight seemingly effortlessly. Get to fuck you bastards.

I'm not losing weight :(

[Schrodingers Cat]

You people losing weight seemingly effortlessly. Get to fuck you bastards.

Fuck's sake. Mate, stop doing this to yourself. It was the same earlier in the thread when you told me that 97kg was a pipe dream for you, completely ignoring that a few months earlier I had been 119kg (and I'm not a tall man - 5'9"). And if you think, "well I'm much heavier than that", I've got a friend, who partly inspired me to start losing weight properly, who at the start of the 1st lockdown (or just before) weighed 150kg, and now weighs 89kg. It is doable. Just not 'easy'. Stop telling yourself you can't. Obviously, if you have certain medical conditions (including physical disabilities) then it will be even harder for you, but it not impossible. Start small - running feel too difficult? Go walking instead, and build up to running. The best thing I did was probably downloading MyFitnessPal, and actually tracking what I eat. Plenty of little things add up, which you won't realise until you track them. At least that's what I found at any rate.

Of course, as well, if you are happy as you are and don't want to lose weight, then that's entirely up to you and noone, least of all me, can criticise you for it. But I don't get that impression from seeing you post about it on here.

I realise this will probably all come across as incredibly patronising, but I recognise where you're at. this isn't coming from some fitness freak gym bunny, whose always been below 10% body fat, and doesn't understand how anyone can find losing weight hard. I've been there. You assume that because you've always been big, then you always will. And it's not true. You can do it.

[bgmnts]

I was only joking to be fair!

I wouldn't actually tell anyone getting healthy to get to fuck. Lol

[Schrodingers Cat]

I was only joking to be fair!

I wouldn't actually tell anyone getting healthy to get to fuck. Lol

I know mate. It's just, and it may well just be me, but feel I like I have noticed you post a lot about your weight/health recently (and not just in this thread). And the way you write about it makes you look more than a bit down about it. Sometimes we need someone to give us a bit of a shake. I tried to write it in a positive way so hopefully it comes across as encouraging (both to you and anyone else in a similar position reading this) and not me having a go at you.

[bgmnts]

I think thats because I recently saw that article in the guardian and that pissed me off, a lifelong struggle with weight is something that cant be sorted with a quick scheme like that. I'm actually about as comfortable with being fat as I've ever been. My language is just quite harsh.

[imitationleather]

Because of me stupidly flat feet it's absolute havoc on my knees to run. So instead I've been quickly walking at least five miles per day along the river outside my flat. Dunno if I've lost any weight yet but it's nice to feel like I'm doing something.

[JamesTC]

Worth remembering that when you start running (or any new exercise) that you can often put on weight before you start losing it. Your body retains more water in order to repair the muscles.

[Schrodingers Cat]

Ran 15k for the 1st time (ever?) today. The time was... well, we'll not get into the time, but still pretty pleased as I could barely run 2.5km at the start of February without walking. My shoulder also finally seems to be close to recovery, so should be back weight lifting next week. Shame I missed the whole of February, but we've had it confirmed that rugby training should be back from 29th March, so gives me 2-3 weeks to get ready, then another 4 weeks gym-work before games are allowed to start (assuming no changes to the current roadmap[nb]good luck with that[/nb]). I'm now just over 90kg, so should be able to tick off my second target by the end of the week (under 90kg), then onto 85kg in time for the start of matches being played. Then we start the slow process of (lean) bulking back to 90-95kg, but that's a much more long-term target.

And I had my second Pfizer vaccine today. All in all, good weekend so far!