Running & Cardio | My Fitness Journey

Running and cardio has become a very integral part of my fitness routine. I run three times a week and then use the Stairmaster at least once a week, usually. I used to be horrible at running. I used to be incredibly slow. When I first started, the goal was always to run 2 miles, but it was also to run 2 miles quickly. When I started, I would run two miles in 23 minutes and some change, but my goal was to run two miles in 18 minutes and 30 seconds. It took me two months to hard training and injuring myself, but I eventually got to do it. For years after that, I still hated running, but I still had to do it. It wasn't until I took matters into my own hands that I was able to get better. 

For years, I was made to train in groups who led the training based on their own abilities and just assumed that everybody else would be able to do it. A lot of people got injured but eventually we all just kind of were released into the gym and made to train whatever we needed to train. And I was very glad because I loved the gym. I love to strength train. But I knew that I needed to get my cardio up. And I know one of the things that I was lacking when it came to running was the ability to sustain it, because I could not breathe, and my muscles would get sore. So, I started on the stairmaster. A lot of people find that they hate doing over five minutes of the stairmaster but I got to the point where I could do 20 plus minutes on the stairmaster. I would be drenched in sweat, but I could do it. It trained my muscles to go beyond exhaustion and it trained me to breathe properly, which helped me to run.

One of the things I found helped me do the Stairmaster is that I was also listening to music. At first I didn't care about what music it was as long as it was good and it was a bop. Slowly I wanted music to be at a certain tempo and sometimes I would find music that was really fast, which would help me go really fast on the Stairmaster, which helped me with my endurance. Eventually my playlist got so fast that it was no longer suited for the Stairmaster because I would replace songs. I would take them out and put new songs in and then curate it. But eventually I was just like maybe I should just get on the treadmill to start running and I did because my playlist was so fast it was a good starting point for me. because I could match my footsteps with the beats and as I got to the point where I could run faster, those songs were no longer applicable, so I went out to find faster versions of those songs (like you could literally find speed up versions of those same songs and then add them.) If I were smart, I would go and sort my playlist by tempo so I can start off slow and then get into the really fast songs and then have interchanges of tempo in the middle where I think I would get really tired or I would go too fast for too long and I'd need to go slow. I would organize it like that, but I still haven't to this day because I'm very lazy and I always put it on shuffle.

When I started running on the treadmill, I was happy to be able to see how fast I was going because you can set how fast you're going, which helps you to keep and maintain that speed. So, I would start walking at three mph (I would because I usually walk fast normally.) So, I would start there and then I would jog at 4 mph and even that was really hard for me. So, I would try to stay there and then my challenge speed would be 5 mph. I would do that for like some weeks because I was training myself gently as I was postpartum at the time when I actually got this breakthrough of running. I was trying not to hurt myself or do anything crazy and I did have time before I had to take my next PT test. So, I took it slowly. And slowly going 5 mph wasn't so bad to run for 10 minutes. So that's how I knew that if I could run five miles per hour for 10 minutes I could definitely go higher. So, I would find myself after getting comfortable in my warm up phase of running If a fast song came on and I felt like I could go faster and then I did. And it was like it was an amazing feeling. That runners high that I never understood before, I could actually understand because I was able to go super fast, even if for just a minute, I could go super fast. My challenge speed became 6 mph to 7 mph and now it is 8 mph at this time. It is a year later and I am able to go out 8 mph for maybe a minute. I'm not going to say it's fast, but it's so much better than what I was doing before. I'm still trying to train myself to go two miles as quickly as possible so that my score on the PT test is Immaculate.

In my super earlier days of running, I also found that I really, really needed to stretch and my hip flexors were not used to moving that fast or that frequently at that intensity. So I had to learn how to stretch my hip flexors. In the first year when I had injured myself, I had actually had a stress fracture on my pelvic bone and it hurt like hell. I found that my hips were surprisingly weak, so I started to just stretch them out more often, especially since I really didn't have a lot of time to spare in the beginning. I had to pass that PT test. I took one of the weeks that I was recommended to take of not using my leg and then went straight back into trying to train as hard as I can because even though I was recommended 2 weeks I didn't have two weeks to pass that test. I also got really good at breathing after that because I had to force myself. I literally feel like I have to force my lungs to open and close and that's where my brain goes. So I'm not always able to go super fast because my brain is too busy focusing on opening and closing my lungs, forcing air. And because breathing was one of the worst parts of running because my body kept feeling like we're about to die.

If you're going to start running, whether you do it on the treadmill or out in your neighborhood, I recommend you start at a brisk walk. See how long you can keep up a brisk walk without stopping or slowing down. And if you can do it for 10 minutes, maybe even 20 go into a jog. If you do it for 10 minutes, even 20 do a faster jog and then just keep going faster, slowly. Also, make sure that you have a really good playlist. The songs don't have to be super fast when you're just starting out because you're not going that fast. But if you feel like your heart rate starting to pick up, put and the song isn't really matching the tempo of your running (like your footfalls) start looking for faster songs.

Also remember that your breathing is going to be slower than you're running, taking deep breaths in and deep breaths out. Not too deep that you're so occupied on breathing that your rest of you is confused. But to know that you're getting enough air in fast enough, but not so fast that you are hyperventilating because that can be a big problem. And I did have that issue in the beginning where I didn't understand that my breathing is going to be slower than my running.

I will do a blog post later about the stretches that I do before running but for now, I hope you guys enjoyed my running journey and I hope it was well written enough that it made any sense. I hope you guys enjoy running because it is such a chaotic thing that your body can just do and it's really fascinating. 

Stay hydrated.