Hi there, and welcome back to my blog. How are you? I hope that you are well. Today I’m going to talk about how I trained for my 5K. Now it wasn’t easy training, but I still managed to do it. Here’s how.
- Couch to 5K repeatedly
- Energy balls
- A little something sweet
- Buy confiable shoes and break them in
- Carbs in the night before, fruit in the morning
- Meditation
- Coconut oil and Elemis cream
- Have fun
Couch to 5K repeatedly
When I first started training for a 5K, I started off on a slow speed, my current walking speed. The idea of the couch to 5K is you start off majority walking and slowly build up running. By the end of the 9 week course, you should be running solidly for 30 minutes. Well that’s the idea. What I did was, my running speed was just walking. Once I’ve finished the first round, my next round walking pace was my last rounds running pace. I repeated it twice and I am currently doing a third round of the couch to 5K app.
Energy balls
As someone who suffers from fatigue, theses energy balls are a life send when it comes to training. I like to have half of an energy ball before going upstairs and the other half, just before going on the treadmill. You can mix up what nuts to use but I like to use cashews and almonds with some medjool dates.
A little something sweet.
I get my mum to put agar agar syrip i my energy balls. It gives me a short boost of energy that I need to have when I go on the treadmill. If there are no energy balls, I like to have to have a piece of homemade chocolate.
Buy comfortable shoes and break them in
When I first started training, the first thing that I bought was some running shoes for my local sports direct. I bought a cheap pair of trainers with some extra insoles. When I bought them, the first thing that I did was use them on the treadmill. Because I struggle with tying up my laces, I got these slip on laces from Amazon.
Carbs the night before, fruit in the morning
When I spoke to my old work friend Joe, that I was doing a 5K, the first thing he told me to do was to load up on carbohydrates the night before and have a load of fruit in the morning A good few years ago, Joe ran the Great North Run with zero training. I can’t remember what his time was but I remember that he couldn’t come into work the next day.. Carbohydrates are a slow burning energy releaser. It takes time to get all of the energy out of you, so that’s why he told me to load up on carbohydrates. Fruit in the morning is the same reason why I like to have something sweet before going on the treadmill. It gives you that power boost that you need to get up and going.
Meditation
Now I know what you are thinking, how can meditation help me do a 5K? The headspace app that I’ve been using for nearly three years, has a set of meditation called training. It goes through different points in training and things to do different. Like brushing your teeth with your less dominant hand.
Coconut oil and Elemis Cream
Every night, I get my mum to rub coconut oil and Elemis Instant Refreshing Gel, Muscle Reviving Body Gel, 150 ml
Have fun
On my couch to 5K app, by week two, Jo Whiley says to have fun doing it.. What she does is repeat the words, “I love running”. Everytime that I come off the treadmill, I always tell my mum that I had fun on the treadmill. Yes it can sometimes be hard, especially on Fridays, when I volunteer at Carers Trust and my fatigue kicks in, but afterwards I do get the runner’s high, I feel so elated that I’ve done something good and healthy.
Recently, I’ve joined two Facebook groups. Tumour Trekkers and Couch to 5K. I shared my story and pictures of old me and current me and within 24 hours, I’ve got over 150 likes from Couch to 5K group and I got some lovely comments from Tumour Trekkers. It’s nice that my story can touch so many people.
That’s it for now. Once again, I just want to thank a few people. Firstly, I would like to thank my mum, dad, sister and my Naughty Mamaji, for being by my side, throughout everything. I would like to thank Louise from BTS for sharing this with the community. I would like to thank Kanika, Shirley and everyone at Carers Trust for giving me the confidence to sharing my story and I would like to thank Joe for motivating me to getting back on the horse. And I would like to thank everyone at the hospital, my family and friends and everyone who I’ve met on this journey.
The next few blog posts, are going to be a little different. Ever since my diagnosis, my mum has kept a notebook with notes from the hospital. It covers pretty much everything, from my diagnosis, to the fluid blockage and everything in between.
Please feel free to leave a comment or leave an idea for a future blog post, and don’t forget if you buy something from Amazon through the blog or click on an advert, 100% of the money goes to Brain Tumour Support.
Thanks and I will see you soon
