The Road to 40 Day 298/365: West Coast Running

I’ve always preferred walking to running, but recent health concerns had me ramping up my exercise to add running.

I like walking because it allows me to enjoy the scenery and listen to my podcasts properly. When I was in Vietnam, I was able to enjoy the different things they cooked along the streets. I was able to find interesting restaurants, and even randomly met a foreign stranger.

I feel like walking lets me stay active, but it does take a lot of my time. From Vino’s school to our house, it’s about 7-9 kilometers, depending on which path I take. It would be about two hours before I reach home doing this.

Recently, I started to incorporate running into my regimen. I don’t have a set program, so I just tried to run as much as I can, then walk to cool myself down. A couple of days ago, I found out that Decathlon has a free app that offers training sessions.

It has options of running for 45 seconds then resting for the same amount of time 10 times. It was a good starting run program, I think, because it allows me to slowly get used to running. It automatically notifies me when I need to run or walk, so that helps a lot.

My friend, Coke, told me he started running the same way, and gradually became able to run 30 minutes non-stop. This day, I opted for a 15-minute warm-up walk, two rounds of 10 thirty seconds of alternating runs and walks, and a walking cooldown. The one-minute run/walk felt too much for me, but this was just nice.

I went around West Coast Park and ended up near Haw Par Villa, where I took the bus home at the end my session.

I’ve been posting my Strava routes and updates on my stories, and I get to talk to friends who also run. Apart from it being a thing for a lot of people, friends who are around my age are also in their physical activities era.

I’ve gotten invites and tips, all of which are greatly appreciated. It’s a nice starter conversation for a lot of these friends, and learning from them is a huge bonus.

My runs have come on alternating days thus far, and I think my body is cooperating, at least. I’ll target more runs next week and aim to run a marathon before the year ends.