new year, new goals

With the New Year approaching, it’s a time when resolutions are made and goals are set. You might be thinking of many targets and many of them might be related, such as complete a race, run x amount of miles, run a personal best, run a route or distance in a certain time etc. It’s often useful to write your goals down and using the SMART approach to setting your goals for 2021 can be helpful. I often have multiple goals and writing each one down using the following approach really helps. 

1. Specific – Write your goal down and be specific about what you will achieve eg ‘I will run a time of 30 mins for 5k’, ‘I will run 50 miles in one month’. Use real numbers with specific targets.

2. Measurable – Make sure your goal is trackable and can be measured. Running is easy to measure; you can use running distance/time to set your goal.

3. Attainable – Make sure the goal is challenging but possible. Do not try to set a massive goal that is well beyond your limits but do make it challenging enough to lead to gradual progression.

4. Relevant – Make sure the goal really matters to you and explain why you want to do this. 

Eg. ‘I want to challenge my own limits’, win a medal or earn something specific.

5. Timescale – Make sure your goal has a timeframe, one month, three months or even use weekly goals if you need to. I use a weekly goal, ‘I will run x miles this week’. Don’t keep pushing towards a goal you might achieve ‘some day’.

Finally, with New Year approaching we want to wish you a happy and healthy New Year and look forward to seeing you smash your goals in 2021.  Start the year healthy and don’t make the mistake of doing too much and getting injured, as you start your New Year. With renewed commitments to starting a new fitness or training regimen and an injection of enthusiasm it is also a time when people can often ‘ramp up’ their miles and ignore the fact that training is a gradual process. We recommend increasing weekly mileage by no more than 5 to 10 miles per week if you are increasing your volume. We’ve seen many people increase their training much too quickly with the end result being muscle strains and tendon injuries. With spring half marathons and marathons ahead many people also start to increase their training volume and number of sessions in the belief that they need to be running much more, with the end result that they do too much early on and often get injured. We recommend doing no more than 2 or 3 hard workouts a week, the rest should be easy runs at a relaxed pace or rest days. If you have run hard one day, make sure the next day or two are easy recovery or rest days. Run by all means but go very, very easy and try most of all to enjoy it. And that really is the key thing about running…ENJOY IT…enjoy being fit and healthy and the joy that running can bring.

Stay healthy, stay fit and have a great 2021. Smash your goals and let us know how you do. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR. We have included a goal setting chart for you to use in the link below.

If you would like extra motivation, check out the Fitwins App with new monthly challenges to keep you motivated.

carl@fitwins

Here is our review of the 361°Meraki running shoe, a shoe that I’ve been wearing for many training runs. In the 20+ years that I’ve been running, I’ve worn many great running shoes. Some of my favourite shoes have been the Asics Gel Nimbus, Adidas Supernova Glide and the Brooks Adrenaline. I like a shoe that has good support for my general training runs, feels light, has a good response and bounce, and is also very comfortable. When running you need comfort and above all you want the shoes to fit well and allow you to run fast – it needs quality engineering and not all running shoes can do this. The 361° Meraki does exactly this – their own MORPHIT technology allows the shoe to fit securely and lock the forefoot, providing maximum comfort on your run. There is also a carbon fibre shank that runs along the spine and provides optimum support in the midfoot. My favourite aspect of the shoe is the QU!KFOAM, which gives added bounce and responsiveness, which you can really feel on contact. These are my favourite shoes at the moment and credit must really go to the engineering involved in creating these superb shoes. If you would like to check out these shoes online, there is a link here: https://www.achillesheel.co.uk/collections/361-degrees 

FITWINS is committed to promoting and improving health, through regular activity. We are for all levels of ability and people can do 25 miles to 200 plus miles in one month. The gains that you might get from engaging regular activity, such as running, include and are not limited to: improved aerobic capacity, achieving a healthy weight, improved muscular endurance and strength, improvements in exercise efficiency, improved mood, self-esteem, and many more benefits (we could go on).

A question that often puzzles people is ‘How can I measure fitness gains?’ For many people the first thing they might think of is stepping on the bathroom scales and measuring their weight, assuming that weight loss means improved fitness. Millions of people think this and strive to achieve fitness improvements by diet, with limited physical activity. However, does this improve general fitness effectively? Some people would argue that there are very limited, if any, fitness gains from simply losing weight. We need to exercise and the general guidance for enhancing physical health is that we should do regular activity for at least one hour every day.

If you’ll excuse the scientific terminology, many exercise physiologists measure aerobic fitness by VO2 max, which is the ability of your heart to deliver oxygen to working muscles, and the effective use of oxygen by muscle tissues. It’s the maximum amount of oxygen you can use in a minute (ml/(kg·min). I’m going to explain it in simple terms: if you have an improved VO2 max, then you have made significant improvements in your aerobic fitness. Given that these gains will have been achieved by regular exercise, using working muscles, you will have more muscular endurance and will see massive improvements in your fitness. Your heart and muscles will work more efficiently, you’ll feel better and will run and move faster and often with less effort.

So how do we measure improvements in aerobic fitness? One way of doing this is by going to a laboratory but we’re not in any rush to do that, as there are some easier ways. Some watches have VO2 max calculators built in that use heart rate to measure the effort required to run at a certain pace and will use other variables. 

Another, very simple way, is by covering a route that you use as part of your routine and seeing if it feels easier at the same pace as a few months ago, looking back at how much you have improved. Some people might do time trials or Parkrun, and it might just be an idea, instead of going for a PB or fastest time, to try and run a time that you ran a couple of months ago and compare your effort level, and maybe heart rate if you have a monitor.

Finally, if you do have a heart rate monitor, I suggest covering a standard route and comparing your heart rate at a similar pace. A lower heart rate at a similar pace/intensity will show that your aerobic fitness has much improved. Some months ago I tore my hamstring and could not do any running for 6 weeks and cycling also hurt. I did some swimming but due to my terrible swimming technique I wasn’t getting the same fitness gains that I got from a run. My fitness declined rapidly, I gained weight, my mood suffered and I was eager to get back running. Eventually I started running and noted how high my heart rate was at relative paces compared to before. I needed to slow my runs down and gain fitness gradually rather than try to run harder at the same pace. In time, my aerobic fitness improved over 4 weeks and this is shown in the images (note the lower heart rate compared to before). Using heart rate and your perception of effort can help you to monitor improvements in fitness. 

If you are now wondering how you might improve your aerobic capacity, the first thing is to be more active: run and walk more. We aim to promote increased activity with FITWINS. Perhaps you recently completed a monthly challenge (25/50/75/100/125/150/175 miles in a month) and now you’re thinking of doing the next +25 miles increment the following month. Just make sure you plan your month and don’t risk injury by overdoing your activity at the end of the month, playing catch up. You can also increase the pace of A FEW runs to add some intensity, such as 5 x 2mins faster efforts during your runs, or using some fartlek or interval training to improve fitness.  

Time for a run

carl@fitwins

© Carl Ryde and FITWINS Ltd.

I've been running for a long time. It hasn't always been easy. Sometimes the exercise mojo just hasn't been there. There have been times when a list of things have drained my motivation to just go for a run and get some exercise: work, kids, general fatigue, weather, various commitments and duties that always come first. There are a few things I've done that have helped me to stay motivated and engaged in meeting different challenges that you might find useful. We all have different issues to contented with in terms of managing time, which is often the biggest issue. I managed to run internationally for England and get to a reasonable level of fitness (2.23 marathon) by really working on staying motivated during my training. The following might help you to complete our August challenge.

1. I've said that other things might come first in terms of priority. However, in terms of the time of day...running comes first. Basically, I run early in the morning. The run is done early, it helps me to 'feel good' and it's a good start to the day, followed by a decent breakfast (porridge, bananas and fruit juice - before I run I have a coffee and two slices of toast). Becoming a morning runner was hard at first and I do suggest you 'test the water' by just doing this once or twice a week and it eventually becomes part of your routine. It's also helpful to lay your running gear out the night before so you're all prepared in the morning. If mornings just aren't for you, try and schedule a specific time of day for you so that exercise becomes part of your daily routine.

2. Run with other people if you can. Make a date with others to go for a run. Involve other people and you are more likely to do a scheduled run. Talking and being in the company of other people is great for the mind and some of my favourite runs and are with running partners. Tell other people about our challenge. They might want to join you www.fitwins.co.uk/challenges 

3. Be realistic. Don't beat yourself up if you have to miss a run due to unforseen events, injury or just lack motivation and just want a rest. Don't expect to run sub 10mins miles if you are a beginner. If you are an elite runner (and we all need help) don't become obsessed with times and splits on every run. Decide each month/week what is achievable in terms of training and other commitments. 

4. Vary your run routes. You can easily become stale running the same loop day after day. Boost your motivation by going on different terrain and finding places that you like to run. Some days I run along the riverbank, others on tarmac, some days on hilly fells and occasionally the treadmill. It keeps me fresh.

5. Ask us if you need help. Yes, we want you to succeed. Please message us or post on our social media pages if you need some help. We want to give you that special medal at the end of the challenge. You've got this!

We want to help everyone in getting fitter and keep you motivated so please keep checking updates on our Facebook and Twitter feeds. 

Keep on moving.

Carl Ryde

About the coach: 

Carl is an international marathon runner and qualified running coach. He holds a BSc(Hons) in sports and exercise science, a Diploma in Sports Psychology and is an Advanced Level 3 REPS qualified exercise instructor. Carl is also a BACR Phase IV cardiac rehabilitation therapist and has been leading fitness and running sessions for over 20 years.