I've never considered myself much of a runner. Even at school, the thought of doing the cross country run each year filled me with complete terror and the admission to myself that although I could run pretty quick for short bursts, there was every chance that I'd end up trailing in with the stragglers in the class. Over the years I gradually improved my endurance running, but even then, I was nowhere near some of my friends who have since gone on to run in marathons and do other equally daft things, (Ash's Mountain Marathon springs to mind). So to my total surprise, I suggested to Izzy that we ought to go and run along the beach together to get a bit fitter.
Now I am pretty fit - 12 months with a personal trainer gets you that way - but it had not been my aim to be able to run long distances. In my mind that wasn't an important part of my training, so weights, small bursts of cardio, and nutrition had been my goals. Now, since living on the beach, I've seen that improving my cardio performance would help in quite a few ways. Firstly it should help me with my swimming which last year I spent some time working on with some private lessons. I can now swim lengths of a swimming pool - something that I've never achieved before - however the thought of swimming back to the beach through a load of waves, although not impossible does seem to me like it would be bloody hard work so an improvement in my endurance would make this a whole lot easier. Secondly just being able to run and enjoy it would be good for me. As I said, I know lots of friends that now run, so to be able to join them would be quite an achievement for me. Finally, I know that if I build on my cardio work, then I'll burn more fat, and that combined with my work-outs should help me to see some of the muscle that I've been building over the last few months. Might as well be able to see what I've achieved!!
So with the decision to begin running made, I set off on Wednesday morning for a run. I decided to go bare foot and jogged along the road, past all the cafes that were opening up (it was 6.45am) and down onto the beach. I headed north up the beach as this was going to take a fair while to complete and would be a bit of a challenge. I tried to find some firm sand down by the water's edge but although this would have been fairly easy to do in Bournemouth due to the flat sands, the beach at Terrigal has quite a slope on it just by the water. This was because I was running pretty close to high tide and the flat sand was already completely covered by the tide. So with a choice of running on a 20-30 degree slope which was periodically being covered by water which then turned it soft and dragged sand down into the sea or on the softer, flatter sands further up the beach, I finally chose to go for the soft and flat sand. This caused less aggravation on my ankles but made the effort needed to be put into the whole process of running about double, which I guess is a good thing as it is going to make the cardio effort required somewhat greater (I reckon at least 30-50% more than the equivalent effort I normally put into running on the treadmill at the gym).
By the time I reached around 2/3 distance along the beach I had already had to drop to a walk a couple of times to get my breath back and as the tide was on its way in, I decided that I ought to head back before the sea finally met up with the lagoon and I had to wade across part of the beach. I began walking back and after about 3 minutes of walking, began running again. By the time I reached the end of the beach I didn't feel quite as bad as I'd been expecting and felt I could have gone a bit further. I got back in at just before 7.30. It was my aim to get all the way the next day.
Thursday came and I headed out slightly later (6.50am) and began the run with the aim of getting as far as I could before I had to stop for a breather. I passed loads of surfers, definitely seems to be a common way to start the day - head out with your board and spend half an hour surfing on the swell that is brought in with the tide each morning. I also passed fishermen, mainly retired guys who seemed to be set for the day, standing on the beach in their waders waiting for the tide to come in around them, and the odd dog and their owner. One of the funny moments was a dog that had got out from the garden of one of the houses backing onto the beach and had his head in one of the fishermen's tubs of bait! He seemed to be enjoying the morning snack although the fisherman didn't seem to see the funny side!
I managed to get all the way to the end of the beach, or what I thought was the end of the beach. It wasn't until Saturday that I realised I hadn't got the full length when I was sitting at the Terrigal end of the beach looking at the route of my run. I got to a part of the beach that met up with the lagoon again and the beach narrowed right down to what seemed to be a fairly narrow path. I now realise that although it was a fairly narrow path, at low tide the beach continues quite a bit further, and I don't think the tide would have covered this path over so I probably could have continued. But I was happy. I'd just run around 1.4 miles to this point along soft sand (I was sinking around 3 inches on every step) and was absolutely knackered!! After sitting for about 5 mins, I started back - walking at first - and gradually got back into a run/jog as I realised that this actually required less effort than walking!
I got back at 7.40. 50 mins to run about 2.8 miles which I was really happy with. I was intending to go out on Friday, but my legs were so stiff I couldn't have faced another day's running. This morning I was planning on running up the skillion, but with a combination of waking up quite a bit during the night - rain and some bloody great big trucks moving around and dropping things at 4am(!) I woke up a bit late and waking up late here means the sun is up, and with the sun being up there's no way I would survive the run!!
Em finished her nights this morning and we are off to Sydney this evening, so I will attempt the run up the Skillion when we get back. Am expecting a delivery of a weight bench and some weights today, so I will also be able to get back into my exercise properly once I return from Sydney.
We are also picking up a car today - a 2000, Ford Mondeo 2 litre saloon. Seems in really good nick, and although pricey compared to the UK, it is really quite cheap for Oz due to the owner being an Irish girl who needs to get rid of it as soon as possible due to moving to Darwin tomorrow! Still got a month's warranty from when she bought it, so all seems good.
Tootle pip,
Rich
Now I am pretty fit - 12 months with a personal trainer gets you that way - but it had not been my aim to be able to run long distances. In my mind that wasn't an important part of my training, so weights, small bursts of cardio, and nutrition had been my goals. Now, since living on the beach, I've seen that improving my cardio performance would help in quite a few ways. Firstly it should help me with my swimming which last year I spent some time working on with some private lessons. I can now swim lengths of a swimming pool - something that I've never achieved before - however the thought of swimming back to the beach through a load of waves, although not impossible does seem to me like it would be bloody hard work so an improvement in my endurance would make this a whole lot easier. Secondly just being able to run and enjoy it would be good for me. As I said, I know lots of friends that now run, so to be able to join them would be quite an achievement for me. Finally, I know that if I build on my cardio work, then I'll burn more fat, and that combined with my work-outs should help me to see some of the muscle that I've been building over the last few months. Might as well be able to see what I've achieved!!
So with the decision to begin running made, I set off on Wednesday morning for a run. I decided to go bare foot and jogged along the road, past all the cafes that were opening up (it was 6.45am) and down onto the beach. I headed north up the beach as this was going to take a fair while to complete and would be a bit of a challenge. I tried to find some firm sand down by the water's edge but although this would have been fairly easy to do in Bournemouth due to the flat sands, the beach at Terrigal has quite a slope on it just by the water. This was because I was running pretty close to high tide and the flat sand was already completely covered by the tide. So with a choice of running on a 20-30 degree slope which was periodically being covered by water which then turned it soft and dragged sand down into the sea or on the softer, flatter sands further up the beach, I finally chose to go for the soft and flat sand. This caused less aggravation on my ankles but made the effort needed to be put into the whole process of running about double, which I guess is a good thing as it is going to make the cardio effort required somewhat greater (I reckon at least 30-50% more than the equivalent effort I normally put into running on the treadmill at the gym).
By the time I reached around 2/3 distance along the beach I had already had to drop to a walk a couple of times to get my breath back and as the tide was on its way in, I decided that I ought to head back before the sea finally met up with the lagoon and I had to wade across part of the beach. I began walking back and after about 3 minutes of walking, began running again. By the time I reached the end of the beach I didn't feel quite as bad as I'd been expecting and felt I could have gone a bit further. I got back in at just before 7.30. It was my aim to get all the way the next day.
Thursday came and I headed out slightly later (6.50am) and began the run with the aim of getting as far as I could before I had to stop for a breather. I passed loads of surfers, definitely seems to be a common way to start the day - head out with your board and spend half an hour surfing on the swell that is brought in with the tide each morning. I also passed fishermen, mainly retired guys who seemed to be set for the day, standing on the beach in their waders waiting for the tide to come in around them, and the odd dog and their owner. One of the funny moments was a dog that had got out from the garden of one of the houses backing onto the beach and had his head in one of the fishermen's tubs of bait! He seemed to be enjoying the morning snack although the fisherman didn't seem to see the funny side!
I managed to get all the way to the end of the beach, or what I thought was the end of the beach. It wasn't until Saturday that I realised I hadn't got the full length when I was sitting at the Terrigal end of the beach looking at the route of my run. I got to a part of the beach that met up with the lagoon again and the beach narrowed right down to what seemed to be a fairly narrow path. I now realise that although it was a fairly narrow path, at low tide the beach continues quite a bit further, and I don't think the tide would have covered this path over so I probably could have continued. But I was happy. I'd just run around 1.4 miles to this point along soft sand (I was sinking around 3 inches on every step) and was absolutely knackered!! After sitting for about 5 mins, I started back - walking at first - and gradually got back into a run/jog as I realised that this actually required less effort than walking!
I got back at 7.40. 50 mins to run about 2.8 miles which I was really happy with. I was intending to go out on Friday, but my legs were so stiff I couldn't have faced another day's running. This morning I was planning on running up the skillion, but with a combination of waking up quite a bit during the night - rain and some bloody great big trucks moving around and dropping things at 4am(!) I woke up a bit late and waking up late here means the sun is up, and with the sun being up there's no way I would survive the run!!
Em finished her nights this morning and we are off to Sydney this evening, so I will attempt the run up the Skillion when we get back. Am expecting a delivery of a weight bench and some weights today, so I will also be able to get back into my exercise properly once I return from Sydney.
We are also picking up a car today - a 2000, Ford Mondeo 2 litre saloon. Seems in really good nick, and although pricey compared to the UK, it is really quite cheap for Oz due to the owner being an Irish girl who needs to get rid of it as soon as possible due to moving to Darwin tomorrow! Still got a month's warranty from when she bought it, so all seems good.
Tootle pip,
Rich
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