Raw Food Forums

Hi all,

I realise that health is so much more than diet and now that I feel that I have put a heap of creative energy into eating healthy, whole, raw foods that I need to begin the next exciting challenge of increasing my fitness. I don't think I have ever been truly fit and I would love some advice about where to begin. I am currently walking briskly, pushing a pram on dirt tracks most days, with spurts of jogging, and skipping (with a rope) occasionally too. My heart rate gets up very quickly though so the brisk excercise is hard for me to maintain for more than a few minutes at a time. As I have the care of my bub my activities need to include him so the ideas I have so far are skipping (he can be around) or taking him with me for a walk/jog in the pram. I know that I basically need to stick with the excercise, and drink before excercise, not eat before but I don't know many other basics! How important is stretching?

Any help is much appreciated!

xo

start small and start now..thats the main thing.

i remember in 06 having an injury and i started back running 60 seconds a day on a matress. in 6 months i ran my 3rd fastest marathon.

id say running pushing a baby jogger is the ultimate workout. you get to bond with bubs, get fresh air, its free and you can do it anytime you want. all you need is some steep hills or headwinds to push against for extra fitness stimuli.

once a week do a 'time trial'..ie over the same circuit at same time of day with same wind conditions. write down your time and compare it over the months for real motivation..as we all like to see objective improvments.

pick up an old running magazine or book from a salvo shop for 50c. it has enough training tips to make anyone a world class athlete in their age group.

and if your going for longer than 2 hours..then eat something first.. anything under 2 hours and we are being powered by yesterdays carbs.

only really test your limits once a week. once a fort night if your a newbie or coming back from injury. if in doubt, just do low intensity volume and build up from there..ie low heart rate and longer distrances.

and above all, you gotta have a purpose everytime  you lace up your kicks..
as the  hardest step of the day is the first one out of bed when its cold, dark and raining outside..

oh and another thing is to start the morning run real slow. start with walking, then shuffling, then jog and go from there..this allows us to find our rythm and warm up to avoid injury.

Thanks, all sounds like top advice. I especially like the idea of timing oneself each week. I can see that this would be solid motivation. You raised an interesting point - to have purpose. I will need to reflect upon mine because I am unsure. I just know being fit would be great. I'll time myself tomorrow once I've conquered that step outta bed (it was just snowing here - gorgeous!).  Thanks heaps  -_-