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Meet Bridget!

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Bridget completed Learn to Run in 2017 and is now an active and valued member of Run Club and the Operation Move Community. Bridget originally shared her story in Run Club and it is reprinted here with her permission.

 

When I was asked to share my story my initial thought was to say no. Being a newbie runner I instantly had one of those, Who? Me? NOOOO moments, but then I remembered Run Club is not that type of group so here it is.

As with a lot of other runners I’ve met my path from there to here has not been linear. As a child/teen I definitely wasn’t sporty, no I take that back. I did like sports but I developed early so my large boobs and terrible low self-esteem saw me avoid it like the plague. The only thing I did with any consistency was horse riding. Like the big boobs the low self-esteem never left me. On the outside I was all things to all people but on the inside it was eating away at me and in turn I was trying to make it go away by eating. Add to that years and years of not taking care of myself and I ended up a 48 year old smoker, obese, with out of control anxiety, terrible sleeping habits and a nasty caffeine habit. I was also pre diabetic, had a thyroid that didn’t know if it wanted to be under or over active and was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis. Needless to say I was a certified couch potato too.

Then I had a health scare, a “you’re being admitted to the cardiac ward” health scare. The kind of scare that makes you re-evaluate everything you’ve done with your life up until that point in time. I remember laying in the bed and thinking this can’t be my future, I’m only 48, I’m younger than the other people here by at least 30 years. I also had to contend with that horrible feeling that whatever was wrong with me I did it to myself. Fortunately this was only a warning of what was in store for me if I didn’t sort myself out so that’s what I did.

I made lifestyle changes like giving up smoking, I eliminated caffeine from my diet by switching to de-caff (I have since gone back to 1 or 2 real coffees a day ) and starting to make real effort getting my sleep patterns sorted out and managing my anxiety. I had already been working on getting my weight down but after this I upped my efforts although it did take another year and a bit until my head was fully engaged in the process. Again the bit from there to here wasn’t all smooth sailing, because you know “life”, but I really felt like I didn’t have much choice but to keep going, so that’s what I did.

In January 2017 I signed up to do a Step Bet challenge. I was telling my sister about it and she suggested I go to parkrun as it would help get my steps up plus she reckoned I would like it. So on the 21st of January I roped my husband in to coming with me and did just that. This is where my mindset took another positive turn. Here were runners of every shape, size, age and ability and this really challenged my thinking that I was too old, to overweight and too unfit to start running. Plus, and this was a big one for me, this is where I learnt that being self-conscious about what I looked like in workout clothes was a complete waste of time because in reality everyone is way more concerned with their own stuff. I also found everyone there supportive and encouraging. I was hooked.

And then I had the Operation Move Learn to Run May 2017 message pop up on my FB news feed (don’t you love how fate throw things in your path?) and with the tiniest flicker of hope that I could maybe become more of a runner than walker I signed up, loved it, loved everyone I was doing it with and never wanted to leave…lol, okay there were times I hated it, and my husband will attest that I would occasionally rant things like “I can’t possibly run that long, doesn’t Zoey know how old I am”…lol. I’m so glad though that I listened to Zoey & Kirsten, their patience and guidance, plus the support from the other women in my group is what kept me going.

Less than 12 months later I can actually feel a real shift inside me. I run now because it’s part of me, I appreciate that after the abuse I heaped on my body it will still let me do it. I love the way I feel after a run, even the horrible, painful ones. I love the way it makes me feel strong, I love the changes it is making to my body. I love the way it has helped me reconnect with my husband, the friendships I have made through it and for it giving me the courage to deal with some toxic relationships in my life. I love the way it pushes me beyond my own boundaries. I just love it.

I’m not so articulate when it comes to putting into words how much being part of this group means to me. I’m constantly learning about stuff like nutrition, about being more resilient against the negative voices in my head and about dealing with injuries and setbacks. I’m also constantly inspired by everyone else’s running endeavours and love the way it nudges me in to wanting to pursue my own, and so just like with Learn to Run I love it, I love everyone here and I never want to leave.

 

 

You don’t need motivation, you need joy

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This morning I was chatting to my neighbour about school and kids and homework and all the usual stuff that you talk about at school drop off. I was mostly talking about how I don’t structure homework into our lives because I don’t really believe in it, and my ultimate goal for my girls is that they develop their own internal motivation. They might never find what they are looking for if I am always pushing them one way, or worse I might ruin something they could actually love by applying pressure they don’t need.

Running is the same in a lot of ways. You only need motivation when you don’t love it enough. You only feel like you are in a slump when that joy you once had starts to feel a lot like a chore.

So the question is not: how do I get my motivation back? The question is: how do I find joy and love and meaning?

You don’t need motivation for things that you love. You don’t have to talk yourself into it, or bribe yourself to do it, because it is the reward. But finding that joy when it goes AWOL can be hard and scary and you can start to feel even a little lost with it.

Sometimes it might be that you’ve forgotten why you started in the first place. Somewhere along the line you might have gotten sucked into paces and times when really in the beginning all you cared about was time to yourself in the fresh air. And you have to remind yourself that even if you never improved, you would still be here.

Sometimes it might be that you are doing what you think you *should* be doing, not what you want to be doing. Not everyone wants to run marathons or half marathons, even though sometimes it feels like that’s exactly what everyone is doing. You might really love 5km as a distance. It might not ever get the kind of glory that surrounds the marathon or ultra trail events but maybe it’s your jam. The joy in a distance you love can’t be substituted for someone else’s high opinion.

Sometimes it just might mean that you need a few  people to share the journey with. It’s hard to feel that anything is meaningful in a vacuum. The best part of a running community is that when you achieve something, everyone else knows how hard that you worked. It’s not an arbitrary number. It’s 12 weeks of training. It’s early mornings. And it’s willingness to suffer for your joy a bit. And it’s not the time that the community celebrates, it’s the process – which is absolutely universal.

Sometimes you’ve just allowed yourself to talk to yourself in a way that you thought you’d grown out of. You’ve managed to convince yourself that you aren’t good enough or worthwhile enough. And instead of each run that you do celebrating what your body can do, it starts to feel like each run confirms how far gone you are. But you aren’t. Start with finding small things to celebrate about yourself and about your running and let the rest go.

You don’t need motivation, you just need joy. Go and find it wherever it might be.

Since 2014, I have taught 1,257 women how to run and this is what I learnt

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It’s easy to feel discouraged in a vacuum.

Most people start Learn to Run because they’ve had the self belief beaten out of them. Maybe it’s the voice in their head that says they’ll never be able to do this. Maybe it’s the voice of that person who meant well but didn’t realise they were telling you that you weren’t good enough. Maybe it’s just that the thing that everyone else seems to find so easy, just seems hard. Chances are they have tried Couch to 5k and stopped after three or four weeks because it got too challenging. And instead of viewing that as a programming problem, it’s viewed as a personal failing. It’s hard to feel motivated, when you don’t have a context to view what you are doing. Things that might look like a failing in a vacuum are actually people putting in maximum effort. And once you shine a light on that, everything else falls into place.

Belonging is more important than achievement.

Because running is so measurable (sometimes too measurable!) it’s easy to think of that measurement as a definition of how good of a runner you are. But the fact is that the two things aren’t connected. Pace will vary depending on genetics, long term training background, the time in your week, what kind of training you like to do, the weather, how much you ate last night, what the humidity is like and which way the wind is blowing. It’s the commitment to the process that makes you great. And finding other people to share your joy with is worth far more than anything you can measure in minutes per kilometre.

What you learn in failing is more valuable than what you learn in success.

Often, you’ll have a week or two off because you get sick, or have a niggle that needs fixing up, or have some other commitments that need your attention, or maybe you just fall into some old habits. But that is the best thing that can happen. Because it teaches you that there is no end point, no failure point, as long as you are willing to pick yourself up and continue.

When you spend time encouraging others, you start talking to yourself in a different way.

One of the most fantastic part of having a support group, is the support that you receive. But one of the most amazing things is when you start supporting others who are going through the same doubts and insecurities as you are, the way you talk to yourself changes too. Suddenly, you aren’t your own worst critic all of the time.

What you get out of it at the end might be different than what you hoped for.

Many people will start Learn to Run with a goal of losing some weight and getting moving again. But what I’m most proud of is that people leave Learn to Run with a love of training that goes far beyond exercise or a means to an end. It forms a part of their identity that wasn’t there before, and a deep appreciation of the importance of their achievement.

I love programming, but . . .

I’m geek enough to absolutely love training programming. I love program design. I love personalisation. I love seeing what people can achieve with the right training plan. But mostly, I just love that I get to believe in people and find out how amazing they are.

The Pyramid Workout

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This workout is demanding but fun and gives you plenty of breaks (my kind of quality work!)

1km Warm Up
1km Easy
200m Sprint
200m Recovery
400m Fast
200m Recovery
1km Tempo
200m Recovery
400m Fast
200m Recovery
200m Sprint
1km Cool Down

This run is a total of 6km, but you can halve the distances if you’d like a shorter run. Don’t skimp on the warm up! You’ll enjoy your run a whole lot more if you take the time to be properly ready to go.

Supercharging your training through sleep.

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If you ask any coach what they would check out if an athlete isn’t progressing, it’s sleep. I heard Allie Keefer talk about her pillars of training the other day and I really loved it. It was character, sleep, nutrition, training, racing. It’s from the book: Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron.

Although training is possibly the more exciting part of that equation, the low hanging fruit for most people is sleep. Here are five ways to supercharge your sleep.

Get as much sunlight as you can in the morning, without sunglasses on. This is going to help your body to know it’s morning time and keep your body clocks ticking along.

Get up at the same time and go to bed at the same time every day. This is a hard one! But often, even a Saturday sleep in can act like jet lag because your body likes routine.

If you are going to nap, keep it short. If you need a nap stick to 20 minutes in between about 2 and 4pm.

Have predictable bedtime routines, so your body knows when you are going to sleep. This can be really simple, but just giving your body cues for what is happening.

Sleep in the foetal position. Sleeping on your back or on your stomach isn’t ideal for quality sleep.

Put down the screens in the evening. Especially phone screens.

Have a small carby snack before bed. Turns out the fact that people often crave carbs before bed is actually backed up by science. A small serve of carbs (fruit or some toast or a bowl of cereal) will help you get a good night sleep.

When you feel sleepy don’t do one more thing – go to bed! It’s tempting to just finish that one thing you were doing, but you could miss your sleep cycle window. It’s nothing that can’t wait until morning.

And finally, never stay up late for something you wouldn’t get up early for. Sleep is important!