It’s been quite a while since I’ve written in the blog. I don’t do much programming at home these days, so the various pet projects I’ve published here over the time are idling. Instead, I’ve been working out a bit more than usual. In fact, for the first time in my life, I’ve taken quite a liking to running.
I have been taking advantage of the long sunny days of the (not always warm) Dutch summer to run outdoors. Running in the gym is okay, but running outdoors is different. I always feel tired after running outdoors, that good tired feeling that you get after a decent workout. In the gym, I can’t stay on the treadmill for too long, the motion is not that natural, it can get a bit boring… and I don’t really get the feeling afterwards.
Another thing I started doing, is measuring my workouts. The Dutch say “weten is meten” (to know is to measure). So by measuring I know I’m getting better and better, a little bit at every run. It’s not always without technical annoyances: sometimes the GPS doesn’t work, sometimes the application on my phone quits unexpectedly, but still most of the time it works.
If I look back 2 years, the longest run I would do was a bit less than 7km and I could never do it in one go. I would have to stop somewhere and start walking a bit, then pick it up again, and so on. Now I run a bit more than 11km almost every weekend (sometimes both on Saturday and on Sunday, like I did this weekend) and it’s always without any walking.
Music is also important to me. I’ve stuck with the same playlist for a very long time now and I guess that means it’s a successful one. I use it both at the gym and outdoors. Obviously the classical montage songs from Rocky, Scarface and Karate Kid are in there :-) But other than that, the playlist is quite diverse in genres. The only rule is that the songs must not have slow rhythm, then you’re going to fall asleep.
As for running equipment, nothing beats my severely old and torn shoes. I’ll keep using them until they dissolve completely. The one special thing I bought is some socks with a better bottom layer. I think they’re double the price of the ordinary sports socks but they were worth it. With the ordinary socks my feet would always get extra hot and would definitely have a few blisters after a run. With these ones, the feet stay cool and blisters never returned.
I wonder if I’ll keep this up when the days become shorter and the weather colder again… but until then, I’ll keep me running!