Laurence Andrews

Fitness

My 2013 fitness regime has begun! Don’t ask me why, because I don’t really know… But it’s definitely a good thing. I’m by no means lazy, fat or unhealthy but that’s not to say I’m particularly fit. In fact, as I’ve discovered in the last few weeks with some early morning jogging, my cardiovascular fitness isn’t very good at all. My first attempt this year ended in near disaster; it was a very cold morning, probably about 1 degrees Celsius with a thick frost on the cars outside. In my morning haze I concluded that I would warm up relatively fast once I got going so decided to go with a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Biggest mistake EVER. This mistake was realised within minutes, but decided to man through it. I jogged for about half an hour, to the point where my fingers were physically unable to continue holding my bottle of water in one hand. My ears, throat and pretty much all of my body was cold. I stumbled back to the flat, with blurred vision warmed only by the knowledge that I didn’t just give up. My mind and stomach had other ideas though, I think they needed to warn me that what I was doing was very stupid. Luckily I managed to contain the spew and dragged myself upstairs to a lush hot shower. Lessons learnt? 1. If it looks cold, it probably definitely is cold. 2. I can’t run 3. Nearly destroying yourself in the morning provides ones self with a very awesome croaky voice for the next few days.

A few days later I had found some suitable clothing and gloves, jogging was much, much more successful. My focus from here on out was to start getting better and faster, let the challenge begin!

Everyone needs a plan though. I wanted to find something structured, challenging and attainable. Enter the Royal Marines PRMC course. By the end of 2013 I would want to be fit enough to have the confidence that I could complete that course. Not necessarily do it, but know that I could do it. The biggest step is the running, so that’s where I’m focusing for now, three miles in 21.5 mins. So far I’ve managed a 1.5 mile jog in 18 mins. I’ll update as I go…

running  fitness