2 years of regular exercise

[liv]

So two years ago, I started going to the gym; I was stressed that I couldn't do intense exercise even for one minute without being defeated by the combination of asthma and unfitness. Today I ran for 30 minutes continuously. Slowly, about 4½ mph, but I kept going, and that's still 30 minutes of moving faster than I've ever been able to purely under my own power.

I made an angsty post here about wanting to take up a regular exercise routine and not knowing how to start. And loads and loads of people gave me masses of support and advice and were super-duper helpful. What really clinched it for me was that mathcathy was about to join a gym and invited me to join her. So from December 2010 until March this year, we were going to the gym together. That was amazing, because I wanted not to cancel on mathcathy more than I wanted to be lazy and skip the gym.

Then our gym closed overnight, and mathcathy moved away, so I switched membership to the council gym which is about the only place I could get to without getting a lift by car. Keeping up my routine was a whole lot harder without my buddy, but I just about managed twice a week. I certainly wasn't getting up at 6 am to go to the gym; I could manage getting up and meeting mathcathy at the door, but I couldn't at all motivate myself to leave my warm bed in order to walk to town in the dark! That meant that I sometimes just didn't have enough free evenings in a given week, but most weeks I kept on target.

Occasionally I made waily posts here and got more encouragement and affirmation, so that also helped me to keep going. And I started logging stuff on Fitocracy, which worked very well for gamifying the whole exercise thing. I got points and level-ups and achievement badges, and simply the fact of recording as well as getting "props" and encouraging comments from friends really did make exercise a whole lot more rewarding. I also set myself the goal of nominally travelling to Rivendell, 458 miles over the course of 2012.

The trouble was that, having attained my goal I was just bored, I wasn't making any tangible progress, I was just repeating the same routines and getting the same numbers. The council gym does provide classes and individual training sessions, but on a very inconvenient schedule such that I haven't yet been able to take advantage of this. So I asked the internet for suggestions of programmes I could follow on my own. I was vacillating over taking up Couch to 5k, because I thought the structured programme would be really helpful, but I was still scared of running.

Luckily, rmc28 happened to be starting at just that time, so I agreed that we could be virtual buddies. She made a community, c25k, so that we could record our progress and encourage eachother. The combination of having a virtual buddy I wanted to keep up with, and publicly recording whether or not I was keeping my commitment, has been an absolute godsend. So I worked through the programme, starting from just barely being able to jog for one minute at a time, to today when I actually ran for 30 minutes, at a pace that, while slow compared to actual runners, is fast by my standards. I haven't officially completed the programme yet, as you need to do the final week three times, but now I've done it once I see no reason not be able to manage twice more!

One thing about working in a medical school is that I spend a lot of time teaching the students how to help people change their bad habits. Whether that's smoking, drinking to excess, not taking their meds on a regular schedule, living exclusively on food that's high in calories but short on nutrients, or, well, being excessively sedentary. So I've started picking up some bits and pieces of a sub-field of psychology called behaviour change theory. And I'm essentially brain-hacking myself to be able to keep up this exercise habit. Giving myself tangible (even if very trivial, such as points or even filled in cells on an spreadsheet) rewards when I stick to my routine. Getting support and encouragement from friends. Using a structured programme that includes both short-term and long-term goals. Making specific commitments and being held accountable. Diarying how I'm doing. Incrementing how much I do gradually rather than trying to become perfect all at once. Removing as many obstacles as I can that stand in the way of doing what I long-term want. Basically, what I'm learning is that there's no such thing as "willpower", just a whole mess of psychological drives one can work with or against.

This is the kind of thing that some of the Less Wrong people are trying to reinvent just by thinking about it hard, but I'm an empiricist and always have been, and behaviour change theory is rather more evidence-based than all this business about "akrasia", though I'm sure that works for some. No, it isn't rational, but a whole heap of human behaviour is simply not based on rational decisions, however much you love rationality.

Basically, the C25K programme is amazing and I thoroughly recommend it. I didn't start out literally on the couch; I'd been exercising regularly for a year and half when I started. But I was more than usually unable to run, and had to work round exercise-induced asthma. I really do wish that someone had told me the very simple advice about starting with intervals and gradually increasing them when I was a teenager who really, really wanted to be fit enough to play hockey competitively; instead everybody just told me to lose weight. (By the way, as at one year, I am within 500g of exactly the same weight I was two years ago. The magic just doesn't work for me, and no, I have no intention of trying to magic harder.)

The advantage of working from the NHS version is that it's at least reasonably evidence-based and not trying to sell you anything, and also that the forums tend to be full of people who support and encourage eachother, rather than super-competitive, super-macho athletes trying to put down people who aren't as amazing as them. That's another thing that behaviour change theory supports: stories of other people trying to make the same change can be really helpful. For me, reading for example that other people also get out of breath and red-faced even when jogging slowly, or that the first ten minutes can be harder than the rest, or that jumping up to longer times is partly a psychological as well as a physical barrier, was really helpful for keeping going. And peer-pressure is good; knowing people who run, atreic, naath, syllopsium, yvi and I'm sure there are more runners I've forgotten has also helped me get started and keep myself going. I should also mention khalinche who ages ago made a post about doing exercise without trying to conform to narrow beauty standards; that was what gave me the courage to even start exercising at all.

So where now? I find myself a really, really slow runner, but you know what? I wasn't at all sure I would ever be any kind of runner! I am going to try to build up until I can actually run 5 km in 30 minutes (as opposed to my current pathetic 3.5 km). My plan is to alternate running as fast as I can for 30 minutes, with running for as long as I can slowly until the two converge. Once I can run 5 km continuously, I will sign myself up for a Parkrun.

I'm also thinking about getting some equipment, now I've proved to myself that I'm actually a runner and not just a dilettante. The first priority has got to be decent running shoes; my cheapo trainers pinch and give me blisters, and that's proving quite a significant obstacle apart from anything else. It's hard to make myself continue running when my feet are hurting, and it's hard to make myself do any exercise outside my running sessions for the same reason. Also now that I'm running for a sustained amount of time, I know that cheap, ill-fitting shoes are an injury risk. A few people have suggested getting a gait analysis done; I've asked this before I think but I would appreciate any pointers for how to get running shoes that are actually helpful and well-made, rather than expensive because they're fashionable.

Other clothes: I'm basically ok running in just a short-ish skirt, with a t-shirt if indoors and a long-sleeved shirt butch enough to have a pocket for my smartphone when I run outdoors. But this does often involve my thighs chafing, and again, even the mild pain is an obstacle against running as much as I would like to. I have tried running in tights and generally found that too hot, and anyway tights never really fit me well over the groin and thighs and quite often increase chafing rather than preventing it. I've heard of a thing called "running tights", but it sounds like their job is to insulate people who run in cold weather, and my asthma means I can't really do that. I think what I really want is simply a pair of loose-fitting shorts; do those even exist for women? Men's running shorts would do if I can find any to fit me. How good are modern, breathable insulating fabrics? Enough better than brushed cotton to be worth investing in?

Everybody told me I need a "proper" sports bra. Honestly I've found a normal, but well-fitting bra to be perfectly adequate. When I tried wearing a support top I found it constricted my ribs enough that I couldn't take deep breaths, and that was more of an impediment to running than boobs bouncing about. As far as I can see sports bras are like a mild form of chest-binding, which is all very well but I'm not sure how feasible it is for E-cups.

I think maybe a head torch would be a good idea, because it would be nice to run outside after dark so I'm not restricted to the boring, sweaty treadmill as often. But since asthma means I can't really run when the air temperature is less than about 10 °C (that limit used to be more like 20 °C, by the way, another sign that I'm getting fitter!), I suspect that by the time it's warm enough to run at night, it will also be staying light enough later that I will have time to run after work anyway. In any case, I would definitely like a bumbag so that I can carry at least a wallet as well as my phone and keys; I think it's got to be a bumbag because a rucksack, even a small or light one, restricts my breathing enough to make running hard. I haven't yet succeeded in finding such a thing that isn't sold as being totally awesome cool for runners, and priced accordingly; I kind of resent spending over £10 on a pouch on a strap, and it's hard to see how a specialist one would improve my running!

I also want to get back into weight-training, because putting so much effort into running has led to my weights routine getting neglected. But that's probably for another post; I think my most likely plan is to find another incremental programme I can follow, so that I get a tangible sense of progress.

Comments

[azurelunatic]

As a (non-running) person who wears skirts, I wear a pair of loose cotton shorts from the men's department (drawstring waist, though my hips take care of the not falling off by themselves) and they serve me well.

There are also commercial body lubricant products intended for runners and other people with bits that chafe; I'm not sure what the local to you brands are. BodyGlide is one of the US brands, and Monistat makes one as well.

[angelofthenorth]

I found that a travel document belt was brilliant when running

[atreic]

Yay! :-)

I run in one of two pairs of shorts - tesco value shorts for women (although I think tescos only sell them in the summer?), and mens shorts that I bought from a charity shop. Other people I know swear by lycra.

I wouldn't feel you have to wait until you're perfect to Parkrun - the slowest people at Coventry were getting round in 55 minutes, which you could completely do. Although a quick google suggests that Hanley is a bit smaller and faster, but still, I was jog-a-bit,walk-a-bit on my first, it's totally within the spirit. Also, if you're going to get obsessive and want a t-shirt, the sooner you start, the more parkruns you've done ;-)

Second the recommendation to look in travel sections for bumbags, that's where mine came from.

[liv]

Thank you, both for the advice and for providing another example of why "more lube" is the answer to so many problems! Drawstring waist, what a revelation, why on earth do women's clothes not have such innovations? No, that's not entirely true, you can get women's clothes with drawstrings, but I'm feeling grumpy about gendered clothing options again.

[liv]

Good thinking, and that will avoid paying extra for magic powaz to make you a faster runner :-) Thank you!

[pretty_panther]

You've made amazing progress! What you've achieved is really brilliant considering your asthma! I totally get where you're coming from with the sports bra thing. I think it is just about personal preference and how comfortable you feel. I think a good wired bra gives enough support while running without giving you that wrapped up feeling that a sports bra can.

What about running in leggings? They don't move as much as tights and I find that they keep you warm enough without causing overheating. They are also very flexible, and come in various lengths and colours as I'm sure you know so that might be a different route. I don't think they would cause discomfort and I say that as someone with terrible eczema that reacts to the slightest thing when it comes to clothes. As an added bonus, you can get them cheap without giving up value at all because leggings are leggings.

[liv]

Thank you, both for the shorts and bumbag suggestions and for being such a positive role-model for me to get into running!

I wasn't planning to wait for the magic 5K in 30 minutes to join a Parkrun; I know that slow is ok, but I thought continuous was a requirement. I should be able to get up to 5km with alternating jogging and walking fairly soon, I think, and 45-50 minutes should be realistic. At this point I'm clearly not going to do Parkruns until the new year, and honestly I probably need to wait until there's a good chance of above freezing temperatures anyway. But I'm also not going to make excuses, I'm going to get on and do it as soon as I reasonably can.

[liv]

Eeee, thank you for this encouragement! Decent, supporting wired bras ftw.

And yeah, I should try leggings; I can try ones just made out of something normal like cotton or Lycra, which should be cheap enough, and if that really doesn't work for me, experiment with ultra-modern specialist running materials. I am nervous of leggings because I'm very bottom-heavy; I'd kind of assumed most wouldn't fit me, but cheaper clothes do tend to come in larger sizes, so that's a good plan.

[pretty_panther]

♥!

If you need help finding leggings let me know. I adore the things and know all the cheap places :P

Well, I read the post that you linked to within this entry and my mother is considered obese at a size 18/20 (she's losing) but has leggings that fit her just fine so I think you should be able to find some :) I don't know if there is a Peacocks store near you at all?? They are brilliant for covering all sizes, being cheap and affordable and yet being enduring at the same time.

[sea_bright]

I wear leggings to go to the gym. Despite the fact that I carry most of my weight on my hips/thighs, I haven't had any problems finding ones that fit. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the leggings I bought in my usual dress size are actually a bit on the baggy side, and the ones that fit me best are an old pair that are two sizes smaller! I have some not-very-expensive cotton and elastane ones from M&S, and some organic fair trade ones which I bought online when Ethical Superstore had them on special offer.

Well done on making fantastic progress!

[siderea]

Hi! My lower half is a US size 16, and I'm here to share with you my heartfelt and unsolicited testimonial for Under Armour.

A little spendy, but utterly worth it. The whole point of the Under Armour is awesome modern synthetics that wick away moisture and keep you cool and dry, while feeling, as much as possible, like they're not there. Anything with a tooth (natural fibers) will catch between your legs and torque around your thighs as you run. Lycra's fine, but part of what you're paying for when you get fancy sporting-goods versions of these things is that they fit properly through the crotch, so you're not constantly having to hike up the falling catenary between your legs.

I don't go out of the house in a skirt in the summer, without Under Armour compression shorts underneath. It's cooler than not wearing them, and it makes it possible for me not to die of chafing. And being made for athletes, they actually fit correctly to move in (and wick away sweat all the way up to the top of my legs, rather than tenting and trapping the moisture).

Also, having owned some for a while, and not being terribly gentle on them, I'm very pleased on how well they've held up through the corrosion of my sweat and many, many washings.

Not cheap, but it takes some of the sting from the price that I'm supporting a company that is quietly and firmly feminist: the Under Armour outlet store I went to was the first sporting-goods store I've been in that didn't feel like the women's area was an after thought. And had, a girls' section.

[redbird]

No specific practical advice here, but yes, shoes that fit properly are a very good thing.

[lilacsigil]

I exercise in stretchy cotton-elastane shorts, since my hips are way, way too big to fit in anything from the men's department. I got them on ebay, and they are also good for wearing under skirts to prevent chafing.

[monanotlisa]

This is such a lovely post.

And not that I contributed much, especially being quite different, but I'm still really, really proud of you.

[atreic]

Awh, you say such nice things! It's weird, because I don't really think of myself as a runner, or particularly as a good role model (not enough running at the moment) but it's nice to know even the little I do helps people. Of course, when we're 60 and our legs fall off you can blame me, and that won't be so good ;-)

I think the ethos of different Parkruns can vary - Coventry was awesome, in that there were lots of people who were just trying to get more active and walk it faster than they walked it the week before, definitely not all joggers / runners. Inverness is a bit smaller, so, although the spirit is very friendly and 'we're open to anyone who wants to time themselves getting round 5K', we don't really have anyone at less than a slow jog. But I don't think there is really any parkrun 'requirements' at all... if I had to make some up I would say 'you have to want to get round 5K under your own power, and are at least slightly interested in how long it takes you, you should remember to take your barcode with you, you should be friendly, and if you do it a lot you should volunteer a couple of times a year'. None of these have 'continuous running' as a thing at all ;-)

[mummimamma]

Congrats!

I also recommend the C25K programme to everybody I meet to. Great for getting out there (also the app on mobiles, with the nice woman saying things like "slow to an easy walk now").

As for clothes, I guess I was size 46-48 when I started, which is what? about 18 in UK sizes? My running wardrobe is partly (mostly) from H&M they have a sportsdept, not unreasonably priced. I recommend getting a pair of running tights, and no, it's not for colder weather, they are fairly thin. But really for the chafing, better to minimise anything that can make you uncomfortable. A lot of people have a shorts or a skirt over that. I've also got a small bumbag from H&M sports.

I asked for a pair of decent shoes as my birthday gift, which I thing is the second best gift ever (nothing tops the power drill). But personally I recommendation getting decent socks - for me that is what makes the blisters. Either wool or something made for working out. Cotton is evil (trapping the moisture -> blisters). Also running bra. I've got one of these (http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/reviews/clothing/sports-bras/shock-absorber-run-bra/60597.html). Not that it does wonders for my figure, since, it is as you say, binding, but it feels much better without all the flopping (sadly there isn't much *bounce* in my breasts...)

And best wishes for even more improvement!

[green_knight]

Well done on becoming a runner, that's awesome!

The workout I've found that works best for me is a rotation of three things. (There's always a warmup and cooldown involved, so I'm just talking about a short middle phase where you really concentrate on working out) It assumes that you have a set of work/rest intervals that you are comfortable with and which you can do without getting exhausted.

- Day one: go for distance. Stretch your intervals just a little longer than you feel comfortable with, and do an extra cycle, but don't worry about speed -pace yourself.
- Day two: go back to the shorter workout, but concentrate on strength: push off a bit more strongly, raise your knees a little higher - expend a bit more energy all around
- Day three: still the shorter workout, but this time, try to do the workout portion faster. Sprint for very short distances, running all-out (asthma allowing).

[naath]

Yay for running related success!

Kit:

Shoes - what you need is a running shop; what I don't know is the location of any running shops in Stoke. Shoes shouldn't hurt your feet :( Alas shoes that work with my feet cost about 100 quid, unless I find them on sale. My prefered shop in Cambridge is Sweatshop who have a concession at the David Lloyd gym which is bloody miles from anywhere out past the big Sainsburys.

Thigh chafing - "running tights" are usually sweat-wicking (also they are more "leggings" than "tights" in design), but might be too warm for you (I get cold); running shorts might be better if you get too hot. Personally I find that your basic loose-fitting cotton shorts entirely fail to prevent my thighs rubbing each other AND get all sweaty and then chafe against my skin; lighter weight fabrics can help with this I guess. If you find the whole tight-fitting short experience excessively revealing then you can wear looser shorts or skirts on top; indeed sometimes it is possible to buy running skorts or skapries which have a short skirt built in. Cotton is... really bad at sweat-whicking - it gets wet and it stays wet; more technical fabrics are better at drying out fast so you get much less of the "sweaty fabric rubbing on skin" experience.

Sports Bras - my experience is that either they uncomfortably fail to prevent bounce or they are uncomfortably tight about the ribs; I tend towards the "very tight fitting zero bounce" end, but I can understand that this isn't comfortable for everyone. And that's at a 30E.

Carrying yer stuff - I have an arm wallet, which was, er, probably overpriced. Also my running tights have a zipped pocket on the arse. Together these serve to carry my house & bike keys, my parkrun barcode, and a fiver of emergency money. Not sure why a generic bumbag shouldn't work; although maybe it would be a bit bouncey. Whilst running shoes have a clear advantage for even the worst runner (sore feet bad!) specialist running stuff-carrying things are I think really aimed at the very good runner who cares a lot about every gram, and every damp sweaty patch under their bag; probably a lot less of a useful expenditure.

I keep thinking about weight training and then thinking "but I have no idea where to start".

[jack]

Oh, running shop in cambridge recommendation, excellent. (Thank you.)

(I've been to David Lloyd's, but only to play Magic:TG. Somehow saying "I went to the gym to play MTG" just seems like it's wrong somehow :))

I keep thinking about weight training and then thinking "but I have no idea where to start".

Isn't the advantage of having a fancy gym that they can provide someone to ask "where do I start"? :)

[naath]

ahahaha. Time, I haz none. Or yes, I think the staff would be able to help.

[khalinche]

Firstly, yay for you for consciously getting into a good new habit and sticking with it! I am now really intrigued about all the tactics you mention for changing habit and would love to hear more about them at some point.

Secondly, for situations where you can't/don't want to wear shorts or leggings - and it sounds like people have good recommendations for shorts and leggings - cocoa butter is the best thing I've found for chafey thighs. You can get it at Afro beauty product shops or the Palmer's version from most chemists, It's cheap, it acts as a lubricant until it's absorbed, and it improves skin elasticity and smoothness, and soothes sore bits.

[rmc28]

Thank you for the recommendation. I note they also seem to have a competent approach to international shipping. I'm ok running in leggings for now, but I think compression shorts for summer will be really handy - the chafey-legs issue really puts me off wearing skirts in summer. (In winter I wear them over cotton/lycra leggings.)

[rmc28]

I run in leggings! I have three fairly basic pairs from La Redoute in size 22.

[liv]

Thanks for the further details about the Parkrun. It sounds like it would be about the right level of competitive for me; I find doing things that are slightly competitive (not necessarily against others, against a target is fine) motivating, but I am scared of any seriously competitive sport.

And you really are a brilliant role model; I'm in some ways more motivated by having friends who are a bit lazy and don't always keep their resolutions and are just doing little bits of running than by the people I know who are serious athletes and / or following a hugely disciplined regime. It's easy for the excuse-making part of my brain to tell myself, well obviously that person is just super awesome, I'm never going to be like that so there's no point even trying. Having learned over the past few months that there are lots of (in my head) "normal" people who run sometimes at some sort of pace has really helped me.

[liv]

Peacocks, that sounds like a good rec, thanks. There's a store right by the bus station. And it's good to have the reassurance that there are such things as leggings for people with big bums.