running

Over the last week or two I decided to run and to swim. These are two sports that are easy to do if you have access either to a pool, or the right shoes. Swimming was in 14°c water for 17 and ten minutes. The first time my hands and feet were cold so I wore gloves. It’s a way of enjoying a different sport than usual. It’s a way of using different muscle groups too.

With walking and cycling you use your legs but the upper body doesn’t do much. By swimming my upper body has the opportunity to be kept in better shape.

Running is a very easy sport to do. You need shoes, and the motivation to go for a run. I often feel that I need to do bigger distances than I have the endurance to do. For two runs I went just one kilometre. After that, today, I went for 2.4km. This isn’t far, but it’s better than zero. I also want to preserve my knees. I stopped because I could feel pain in my knees begin.

The Casio Moves app displays run information in a similar way to Garmin. It shows the run with colours that represent heart rate and effort. Blue for easy, green for slightly harder, orange for another zone, and red for a bigger effort. I use the data imported from the Garmin instinct exported as a TCX file from Garmin to the Casio Moves web interface. It takes seconds, and doesn’t require a Casio watch. With Garmin, Apple and Suunto you do not have this option so it’s nice.

And finally, I will try to keep the habit of running at least one kilometre every day or two. It’s an easy habit to keep and it will keep me fitter. The advantage of running, rather than walking is that you cover the same distance in half the time. It makes the daily walk half as time consuming, once I increase my endurance.