Jogging can be fun - honest. Part I.

I just dropped my little girl at nursery and stopped at the forestry on the way home for a quick run.

Just 25 minutes, I'm not in training for a marathon... and here's my tip for the day...

Breathe!

I learned a lot about breathing in childbirth - you'd be amazed what resilience and pain relief can be achieved by good deep breathing. I also learned a lot about breathing from horses. If you hold your breath, due to concentration or nerves, you'll not be riding at your best. Good deep breathing from your diaphragm, rather than little shallow nervous breaths, keeps you calm, makes you feel good, helps you feel 'centred' and fills your blood with oxygen.

When out jogging, it can also be the key to keeping going through that initial laboured few minutes when your muscles start to burn and resist. Take huge lungfuls of air in through your nose and mouth and your labouring hamstrings and calves will soon thank you for it and will settle down, knowing they have enough oxygen.

I've noticed how joggers (OK, myself included sometimes!) like to look cool and unflustered, never revealing their straining breath. They are gesturing to the world, 'I'm so fit, and so polished, you won't find me gasping and puffing and panting.' Well, when starting out, who cares about what others think - if you need to oxygenate your blood, Just Do It!

And if you happen to be in a park or forestry will plenty of trees, you'll be gulping in some lovely fresh oxygen, just recently metabolised by the green leaves of the trees.

If you are totally new to running, here are a few things to bare in mind. Wear good quality training shoes, with podiatry inserts if you need them (see my previous blog post). Start off with some 'interval training' ie 2 minutes of brisk walking then two minutes of running and so on. And take care to stretch and warm up a bit first. Swing you arms, do some star jumps, stretch out your calves and gently touch your toes to lengthen your hamstrings.

Boy, did I feel virtuous after my run. My abs felt tight, my endorphins (the happy hormones) were high and my dog had been walked. That's what I call a result.