It's only 11 a.m. in Japan, and I can already say that today is a good day. Why? Because I finally hit the ground running, literally and figuratively, and started running again!
This might be going on a tangent, but I started running a couple of months ago. Because of the nature of my job, I spend most of the day sitting on my chair, not going outside except for an hour-long walk going to and back from two supermarkets. My apartment is a bit far from everything, but I think this is a good thing after all, as the necessity of food inevitably makes me move everyday. It'd be much easier if I buy food in bulk on the weekends, but I make a conscious decision not to do so -- just to make sure that I get that hour of walking every day!
So at this point I've been a bit concerned about how sitting all day affects my health, and have decided to turn over a new leaf and be more active. I like yoga too, but it's more of a passive exercise for me -- for stretching and releasing tension from my body, calming my mind and bringing back a sense of serenity from the entropy of everyday life.
Then I remembered that I used to run a few years back. This is it -- I thought. This is a perfect habit to pick up to improve my activity level. It was around July or so last year that I actually started running again. Eventually, for a tenderfoot who had just started running again, I became really satisfied with my result. I'm now able to run 20 minutes without stopping, reaching 3.0 km that I’d been aiming for, and even at an ever-increasing pace! I felt lighter during the day, not because I lost weight, but because I had better motors in my body. My breathing was deeper and my head was clearer than ever. “Maybe I could finally pick up a good habit of exercising!” I thought, feeling very proud of myself. And you know what happened? I completely lost it!
Maybe it was just a day with bad weather or lack of sleep, or maybe I'd been secretly burnt out. Whatever the reason, or whatever the excuse I gave myself, I started to fall off the wagon. I haven't run for an entire month, or even two, since the middle of December until now. But becoming more active to maintain my health is hanging in there, as one of the goals I've set for myself at the beginning of the year.
And apparently, today was the day! I woke up very early this morning for some reason. My apartment is on the very noisy side of the road, where there are always these industrial trucks/lorries rumbling over the ground (and my apartment, because it's old!) and these showboats in cars ridiculously playing loud music for God knows what reason, or wannabe bikers. But anyway, I just took off and got back on track! I mean, it's just a normal road, but it's been under construction for quite a while now and is still not complete. It ends in the middle of the road, but because it's still under construction (which you can freely walk on), it makes a perfect running track for me to circle back and forth.
As you can imagine, it was quite difficult at first. I completely lost it during my break, so I had to set the pace and find my stride again. This time, I also wanted to reach the 5.0 km goal that I set for myself last year, so I signed up for the 5.0 km training course on the Nike Run app. This app has this Guided Run and Training course, where your coach constantly motivates you with a non-stop lively chat. Before trying it out, I thought it might be too distracting or even annoying to have someone bubbly talking to you all the time, but it turned out to be very fun and motivating! It’s nice to have someone encouraging you.
So, today was a small victory for me. One of my goals for 2025 is to be more consistent in the activities that I care most about, and I hope today will be a small step in the right direction to stay the course!
Headline image by whatyouhide on Unsplash
I understand the need for exercise completely. I also really should exercise more, but ending up making excuses to stay inside. You get sick or busy once and that is sometimes enough to completely break a habit. Your post is very motivating. It makes me want to take up pilates again. I started pilates a short while back but was never consistent enough to make it a regular habit. I might try taking it up again.
I need to increase my activity level because I have a sedentary job as well. I got a lot of great tips from your post. Thank you!
@NevermoreLenore , I know right? Sometimes I'm even amazed how easy it is to break a habit while building one is a challenge! I'm so happy that you found it motivating, even at a slightest! Wish you a good luck with your exercise! One thing I learned from my repeated mistakes is that we should definitely count even the tiniest steps as a progress. For example, I used to overdo it at first because I thought a five-minute exercise is not good enough. But I now realized that 5 mins definitely count. I can't build up a 10-min exercise habit if I can't stick to a 5-min plan, so I'm now with this mindset that "I'll do this 5 mins a day for a week and move on to 10 mins next week." etc. This might give you the feeling of "I want to do more!" but you need to stop it there, no matter what, so that you can have something to look forward to tomorrow. Hope this helps, and good luck! (I'll do my best to not to break a habit this time, too! haha)
@Akiko , Thanks so much for your kind words :) I'm happy that my post was somewhat helpful for you! It feels like this "sitting all day" and "need to exercise" is now a universal problem. Good luck!
Congrats Sayuri! I also spend the whole work day sitting in an office chair, it's really not good for you! I also started running last year. In the UK, we have an app called 'Couch to 5K', which is what helped me start running and eventually able to run a 5k. It sounds very similar since we also have a coach motivating us the whole way!
@miagrace314 , Thank you so much! I love the name of the app Couch to 5K -- it describes my current situation so well ! :) I'm happy to find a fellow runner here! I've never been to the UK, so this may not be accurate, but I always imagine that the UK has a lot of beautiful scenery and trails to enjoy running/hiking!