Do It
Junior Sub-Editor Sophie Gridley: The New Runner
I really don't want you, dear reader, to get the impression we are finding this running lark easy. Do not let cheerful tweets and bright sweaters fool you. It is not easy – no matter how nice your trainers are, how good your playlist or how many personal training sessions you have – to go from spending Saturday mornings doing absolutely nothing/eating croissants, to putting on Lycra and running round the park while your chest aches and your new trainers rub. One does not think, 'Oh, this is nice,' while running. Because, really, it's not that nice, is it? The park is nice. Your trainers are a pretty colour. The idea is noble. But it is not nice. It hurts: a little or a lot, depending who you are. Thoughts that arise include, 'what's the point?' 'why should I?' and 'what's the point?'. And yet, here's the thing: I think I'm OK with that. Some things should hurt. It's not going to kill me. The f<
Beauty Assistant Joely Walker: The Reluctant Runner
After slacking last week I knew I had to step up my game. And I did – I joined the gym. Signing up felt like I’d already run the 5K and I’m hoping that this is the push I need to kick me in to exercise action... but only time will tell.
Step One: I sign up for a body combat class and I’m pleasantly surprised – one, I actually finish it (the same cannot be said for spin classes) and two, I enjoyed it. It turns out that running around the room with a group of strangers and punching along to loud music is quite motivating and after one hour I feel like I’ve let off some steam and decide that this might just be the way forward. The problem I have with running alone is that I am the one that has to decide when I stop (that’s if I even start), but with an instructor, they push you to keep going.
Step Two: 1.5k with intervals. Second trip the gym in a week? Wel<
Georgia Simmonds, features assistant: the erratic runner This week my love affair with running has hit a rocky patch. I’m having doubts – the honeymoon period is officially over. The truth is I haven’t run for seven days and I feel really guilty. I am committed to running, I’ve just been distracted… I have been thinking about nutrition though and making little adjustments to my diet (porridge for breakfast, more lean protein) so that when I do set off on the next run (it will be soon) I am fuelled by healthy, energy boosting snacks. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? I’m not sure if this applies to running but I'm hopeful. Time spent googling runner’s meal plans: 2 hours 7 minutes
Time spent perusing the aisles in Whole Foods: 49 minutes
Runs completed: 0
Senior Beauty Writer Amy Lawrenson: The Returning Runner
Not that I want to harp on about it but this snow is a tricky business. Unlike Lorraine, and though I hate to admit it, I'm a fair-weather runner and am no fan of the treadmill which has meant I have gone a little (okay, a lot) off piste with the running plan. Add to that the fact I'm doing the 5:2 Diet - I'm finding it hard to fit everything in.
So, next week I'm planning to call on my fellow ELLE runners (look at them! Who wouldn't want to run with this lovely lot?) to help get me out of my running funk and pry me from my desk and out on to the streets of London. Running with others is a good way to stay motivated because the last thing you want to do is a) let down your friends or b) show weakness by cancelling (delete as applicable). I'm not a chatty runner but having someone run alongside me, especially if they<
Editor in Chief Lorraine Candy: The Time-Poor Runner
I am nothing if not determined. As the snow fell at 6am on Sunday morning I put my fluorescent trainers on and headed out into the cold morning to run around Regent Park. Hood up, double socks on.
Beyonce got me going and then I listened to Anya Hindmarch on Radio Four's Desert Island discs as I pounded the road – the pavements being to frozen and slippery to run on. The thing about running outside as opposed to on a treadmill is you are never alone. Some other nutcase is always running towards you or away from you and on this – one of the coldest days of the last year - we all smiled at each other as we passed recognising that we were going beyond the call of duty and wishing we were home eating crumpets and drinking hot chocolate.
I couldn’t manage the sprints on the ELLEUK running plan but I did finish with a dash. My plans to run two<
Junior Sub-Editor Sophie Gridley: The New Runner
This week, when I've been out running, (and I have been running! Twice! Yay me!) I've had a new companion. Well, they say it's good for motivation. But my new friend is not a person – in fact, I wear it round my wrist. It's called the Nike Fuelband. Nike Fuelband tracks your activity, how far you've run or walked (in steps and miles) and how many calories you've burnt through exercise. Each day you set a target – on run days I set mine to active, on non-run days, to normal – and the band provides a real-time tracker of how active I've been. When you get the green light, which indicates you’ve hit your activity quota, you get a warm feeling in your tummy. And so far, every day I've had the green light, with the band incentivising me to walk to the tube rather than bus it, and take more lunchtime strolls. But how is this helping me with my running, you ask? Well, quite simply, it gets me out there. I set the band<
Beauty Assistant Joely Walker: The Reluctant Runner
After my 3K run last Saturday I’ll admit that I was feeling somewhat happy with myself, and rather smug. At the beginning of this week I had high hopes of sustaining this elated feeling. This didn’t exactly go to plan...
I could lie and say that I managed to up my game and do my ‘sprinter drills’ and ‘1.5k without stopping’ with ease. But I promised at the beginning of this to be truthful.
Sometimes life just gets in the way. This week my excuses include snow, birthdays, David Attenborough’s Africa and series five of Mad Men. Where’s my motivation gone?
If I’ve learnt anything from this week it’s that I need to get back on track, especially with the ‘group run’ looming. Yes, I am going to have to run with the rest of the ELLE club and yes, I am terrified and considering writing a fake doctors note (flashback of swimming lessons at school).
Lies told abo<
Features Assistant Georgia Simmonds: The Erratic Runner I’m a morning runner! Or rather, I have been running twice in the morning in the past month – and I prefer it. I do enjoy saying things like ‘I’m a morning runner’ though, and talking about my ‘time’, ‘kit’ and ‘muscles’ like they’re things I’m well acquainted with… The point is, I think finding a time of day to run that suits you is really important. If I run before work I don't have a whole day to talk myself out of going in the evening and because my time is limited in the mornings, I can't faff around – I’m basically out the door before I’m fully conscious. And then I’m running and it’s cold and sort of awful - definitely awake by this point – but then it’s over and my day has only just begun. Brilliant. Number of people I’ve told about my new kit: 12 Dreams in which
Senior Beauty Writer Amy Lawrenson: The Returning Runner
After a pretty successful 1.5k run last week I was feeling good, up for the challenge, loving life! Then yesterday I headed to the gym and came face-to-face with a treadmill for the first time in six months.
They’re just such awful contraptions, I mean look at it! I feel like a hamster on a wheel in a soulless space, plodding along with just the screen to look at, toying with me as it seems to slow. Down. Time.
I don’t know about you but being out on the road or in a park running, I feel more alive. I seem to run better, faster. On a treadmill it feels like an uphill slog (and I didn’t go anywhere near that dreaded incline button).
I managed 3km, but I wasn’t jubilant and happy afterwards, I was miserable and downtrodden - it seemed so hard. I’ve heard treadmills are meant to make running easier, well not for me.
Does anyone else feel like this about those contraptio<
Junior Sub-Editor Sophie Gridley: The New Runner
OK, confession time. This week my trainers have remained unlaced. But I have an excuse: it's called the March issue of ELLE. We sent the issue to press this week, so a few late nights kept me from the park. Please tell me I'm not the only one who's fallen off the jogging wagon? Instead I managed to fit in a few of the running club videos: core strength and leg and glute strengthening, as well as my regular Pilates class. So I'm a week behind and feeling a bit despondent about my progress – I feel certain the rest of Team ELLE are steaming ahead while I'm languishing in the back – but there is one up side. I'm actively looking forward to the next time I can go out running. Regretful stares at my trainers: 5Lies about how I’m getting on: 2Playlists compiled for next week: 1
Fashion Assistant Alice Watt: The Wannabe Marathon Runner
Week three and it's the week of the dreaded sprinter drills. I've always wanted to incorporate these short, sharp bursts of sprinting into my exercise regime but never quite managed it - the actual run is enough of a challenge for me. But this week, I forced myself to finally give them a go. Hungover, this was seriously not advisable, but I actually ran my fastest time ever, despite feeling very weary afterwards. My new best friend, the Nike Running app, showed where I’d slotted in the sprints in my post-run break-down (love this feature). It was hard work but something I'm going to try and do more often.
Miles run so far: 7 and a bitSprinter drills made per run: 3
Marathons sinned up for: 0 (determined for this to change)Number of runs done whilst hungover: 1 (never, ever again)
Beauty Assistant Joely Walker: The Reluctant Runner
I’m pleasantly surprised when I read through the plan for week two - learning the basics looks simple enough, a 5K walk doesn’t sound too terrifying, the leg and glutes video seems doable… and then the dreaded R word rears its ugly head. Run 1.5K. I’m worried.
If you’re a non-runner like me then 5K seems ominous. Then I think back to an episode of Friends when Chandler is scared to get married until Ross suggests doing ‘baby steps’. With these words of wisdom I decide to only look at the next thing on the plan before moving on. After all you have to walk before you can run, right?
Step 1: Drag sister along for a walk on Saturday morning (lots of bribery needed). We stop off at a cheese shop, then a bakery for croissants and Diet Coke, and before we know it we’ve walked 4K. I decide that I need a running buddy.
I haggle with my sister and boyfriend and they<
Features Assistant Georgia Simmonds: The Erratic Runner I forgot that exercise makes you happier, I really did. And I know I’ll forget again very quickly if I don't keep the momentum up – that’s where a great playlist comes in, it just makes running so much more bearable… Here are my highlights: 99 Problems by Jay-Z – running is hard. Jay-Z gets it. Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men – very upbeat, with some rousing little cheers throughout. Run the World by Beyonce – If this track doesn't make you feel fierce, I don't know what will. What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction – one for the home stretch. By this point you should feel beautiful (or a least a proud/sweaty kind of elation) - One Direction will affirm this. Number of minutes spent contemplating playlist: 94
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