I enjoy all parts of this post. The trans leash, the confusion, the heartfelt display of affection we give to our pets. The biography, the history lesson, and the morality of keeping cats indoors are all bonuses.
Not to romanticize on main but there is really something healing about sitting in front of an open window listening to birds and wind chimes and enjoying a natural breeze. Itâs like the world is telling you breathÂ
So most people are familiar with âpetrichor,â a word that describes the smell of the earth after rain. This happens because the rain stimulates the rocks, soil, and plants to produce oils, as well as stimulating ozone.
Spring time has a similar thing, a literal smell that deeply effects us as the world wakes up. Itâs a smell thatâs part of petrichor but here itâs much stronger. And that is geosmin. Geosmin is produced by deep algaes and soil bacterias and as the earth âwakes upâ after winter itâs a lot more potent because the ground is more open. So even if there hasnât been rain fall our noses are very attuned to âhello, the dirt is awakening.â It tickles our little cave man brain.
You can find perfumes and candles that include âgeosminâ as an ingredient. Great if you live somewhere where you canât really open windows or if you have some winter time blues.
I WAS BORN TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION. Thank you so much for asking! Unfortunately, I am a nerd about my hobbies so this got quite long.
Keep it simple â¨
Running is easy to get into; our bodies are built for it. Donât stress over technicalities and just do what feels natural to you. My local races are full of 70-something white-haired pensioners who are kicking ass at it. Donât let anyone tell you that running is meant to feel like dying, thatâll harm your knees, or that you absolutely need to have that specific smartwatch model to get into it. All you need is a solid pair of shoes, everything else is optional.
Medium effort is the way to go
The ideal aerobic running pace is a speed at which youâre able to hold a conversation, even if a bit winded. NO faster. If youâre able to sing along to your playlist or chat with a friend, thatâs your ideal running pace. If youâre gasping or wheezing, slow down! Youâll get a bit faster as your lung capacity gets better, but that shouldnât be a priority unless you want to train for a race. You get most of the health benefits of running just by keeping up a steady, sustainable, conversational pace.
Walking breaks are fine, actually
Thatâs the reason why I donât love C25K as a beginner program â the way itâs structured sort of implies that walking breaks are something you should grow out of to become a more experienced runner. If you need to walk for a bit, go ahead.
If possible, jogging is preferable, just because the mechanics of even a glacial-pace jog are more similar to running than those of a faster power walk, so you might try switching to a jog after a bit of a walking interval. But walking is not a failure; there are serious marathon training plans out there that use walk/run intervals as a viable strategy.
(Related: picking up speed helps you keep going! If you feel like you are completely drained, try speeding up for a very short interval, then slowing back down. Itâll often give you an energy boost to keep going)
Run for time, not distance â
Especially for beginners, I find that getting fixated on numbers can be counter productive, and the most important thing is to listen to your body. If youâre aiming to hit a certain mileage, you might get the urge to speed up at the end to get done faster. Instead, set yourself time-based goals and end every run with a cool down jog or walk.
SHOES!! đ
Good running shoes are essential, and pretty much the only fitness-related purchase on which Iâll always support dropping money. If you get to the point where youâre consistently running 10 km (6 miles) each week, youâll want to go to a running store â the kind of place where youâll get fitted, and theyâll have you try on models and jog on a treadmill to evaluate your gait and let you know which characteristics your ideal shoe needs. I canât stress enough how useful running store staff can be. Theyâre all running club nerds who LOVE getting new people into running, and they really want to help you find your ideal fit. Also get good running socks while youâre at it.
Be prepared to drop at least 100⏠(or equivalent currency) but they usually have a great return policy if the model isnât a good fit for you. Take care of your running shoes â maintenance, wearing them only for running, gentle cleansing etc â and the cushioning will last for quite a while (600km / 370miles at least). If you decide that you hate running, theyâre still great for walking around. Once you find your ideal shoe model, it gets a lot easier to shop for it during end-of-season sales, or looking for online bargains etc. I love stocking on end-of-series shoes and rotating them so theyâll last even longer, and I buy online quite often! Just make sure your FIRST pair is fitted, for ideal injury prevention and joint health.
Injury prevention đŞ
Iâd love to still be running 10k races when Iâm 70, but it takes some care to get there. When you run, youâre slamming your body weight up and down with every stride, and that might be hard on your joints if youâre not used to it. If youâre completely new to running, cap your runs at 15/20 minutes every other day. Do that even if you feel like you could keep going! If you have a good aerobic base already, you need to give your joints time to catch up with you lung capacity, and give your body time to recover. Do bodyweight exercises like lunges and planks and glute bridges to strengthen your core, legs, and hips. Dynamic stretches are great for warmups, and static stretches are better for cooling down. If you have the option, running on softer surface like grass or dirt is better than asphalt, which is better than concrete and pavements.
(If nothing of what Iâve said here makes sense to you, shoot me another ask, or look at some of the resources Iâve linked down below!)
Don't get bored! đś
I love running in groups. Running clubs are great. You can learn so much in a hands-on way from seriously experienced people, you can chat about gossip over a running job, and you can make some interesting friends. If you donât have access to a running community, then personally I love just chilling on a run by myself listening to an audiobook or podcast or exploring a certain area.
Running formâ
Donât stress about it. Just go out and move your body. Attempting to modify your ârunning formâ too quickly can do more harm than good. There ARE a few things you could pay attention to â I recommend trying to focus on one of these at a time for a minute or so, and alternate between them. After a while, itâll start to feel natural to keep track of all of them:
1. Donât slouch! But a slight lean forward is great.
2. Keep your shoulders pulled down and your upper back tense.
3. Swinging your arms in a way that helps with your stride is good, but I shouldnât feel forced.
4. Even breaths, inhaling through your mouth and expiring through your nose.
5. Take turns to check with every part of your body, and relax them in turn: are your jaw and neck too tense? Are your fists tight?
6. Donât overstride! shorter strides with quicker leg turnover are better than huge strides that feel awkward to you.
7. Use your glutes to drive up the motion of your legs, not just your quads. This can take a while to get used to, but itâs a game-changer.
8. ENGAGE YOUR CORE. This is a great skill to develop whether you work out or are just existing in the world â basically, let your inner abdominal muscles help you carry your weight forward. This is VERY intuitive once you know how to do it, but itâs hard to get a grasp of it if you donât know what it means, so here are some resources about it.
an extremely fucking comprehensive article that improved my life and eased my big-boobs back pain
similar content but in video form
a running-specific form video
Personally, learning to do this made me feel like I unlocked a superpower. Go forth and brace.
Accessories and tips đ¤
Like I said above, the only thing I really suggest spending money on for real is running shoes. Everything else is details! However, Iâm nothing if not wordy I have Thoughts about those details, too.
Run tracking: I suggest downloading Runkeeper if you want to keep track of your runs â itâs free, intuitive, and solid! If you decide to get into wearables, a low-level Garmin >>>>> anything else.
Self-care: use sunscreen and/or thick face cream as needed. Stop to sip at a public fountain if needed. Get a small fanny pack to hold your phone, keys, or lip balm if needed. If chafing is an issue, anti-glide gel is relatively affordable.
Outfits etc: I get all my running gear and clothes from Decathlon â they are in most countries and ship worldwide. I especially love this thermal shirt for colder weather
Safety: if youâre running on the road, make sure to run in the opposite direction from traffic and to wear something bright. If you run with headphones near traffic, keep the volume down, or get over-the-ear conductor headsets. I love shokz, they're fantastic.
Post-run snack: eating something small and carb-heavy within 30 mins of a workout is great for kickstarting recovery. I love dried fruit personally.
Various resources đ
Routine basics: check out the r/running order of operations, which is a great âhow toâ guide to building a basic running routine. I also recommend that subreddit's wiki! Running programming gets exponentially more involved the more advanced you get, etc â if you ever have any questions, hit me up!
Dynamic stretching warmup: a quick leg swing workout to get your legs ready to go. If youâre feeling overachieving, hereâs a lunge warmup routine and a how-to bodyweight squat video.
Cooldown routine! Check out Strength and Mobility, a great post-run quick cooldown routine that includes some bodyweight exercises to strengthen your hips and core. Video included.
that's all, folks! đââď¸
Sorry I got carried away! I love running. I love getting people into running. My mental health, cardiovascular system and my popping quads also love running. But FYI, some people hate running and that's also fine! If you decide itâs not for you, find something you like more. There are a lot of misconceptions out there and a lot of guilt-tripping and body shame-y rhetoric around exercising, especially aimed at women, and I want to make clear itâs all bullshit. Just have fun <3
Having to clean the shower is so fucking annoying. Itâs clean in there. Thatâs where I go to get clean. Itâs clean dude trust me. Stop fucking growing bacteria and stuff man this is the clean locale. Youâre embarrassing me in front of the sink
gosh my good friend jonathan harker is so excited for his upcoming trip starting on the 3rd of May I sure do hope he has a great time and that nothing bad happens to him
Me: Yes sir I understand that the office door cannot be closed when two colleagues of opposite gender are alone together due to sexual misconduct concerns but as an openly bisexual employee I have to ask if leaving two colleagues of the same gender entirely unsupervised isn't a double standard
Me: Like. I feel I should also have my ass covered if a same-gender colleague accuses me of shit, you know
Bossman: Nahhhhhhh it's good
The morally grey cathedral goblin that lives on my shoulder and judges the value of my kneejerk impulses: If you grabbed his ass right now he would learn such an important lesson forever but we don't roll like that bro
Acknowledging that âcritical thinkingâ means âthinking about things in a thorough way from different perspectivesâ and not âfinding every flaw in a thing and fixating on it until all the joy is goneâ is so liberating.
Itâs supposed to be about intellectual curiosity, not about finding ways to devalue things that arenât perfect or that we personally dislike.
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