Becoming a fair weather runner

Lately, I’ve not been myself.  The stresses of life are getting a bit too much for me at the moment and the usual relief I get from running isn’t there as for some reason, I’ve recently become a fair weather runner.  After a fairly sleepless night, when the alarm went off this morning at 6am for a run, I turned it off and rolled over.

I’ve been thinking about this all day.  My goal of 1000 miles in 2013 is important as it means I can say yes to doing what I love, running, and say no to all those other things you feel you have to do out of obligation but have no interest in so doing.  So why the bail?  209 miles left to go and I want to make it a really tough challenge?

Who knows?  I have been getting gym envy recently.  I gave up my gym membership a year ago to help toward wedding saving.  When I spent the weekend in that lovely health club, it made me think about how I would like to be in that environment again, with the option to go for a swim, sauna or steam room for some relaxation.  What I really like about the gym is the ‘health club’ facilities, which is why I liked ROKO so much.  Unfortunately, the current nature of my working life means I only want to join a gym that has one near work and one near my home, which gives me a choice of LA Fitness or Fitness First.  How I would love to have a Virgin Active near my home.  I used to be a member of one a long time ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed the club- attending almost every day.

I’m curious about some of the classes.  I previously had thought they were for people who didn’t have any particular goals other than staying fit and healthy, and that they couldn’t be beneficial to my running programme, however, some extra muscular strength and endurance is surely only going to be beneficial for running a marathon.  Mo Farah’s recent string of success he attributes to being much stronger, so I’m going to try out Bodypump and see if it suits me.

Do I become one of those runners though?  I know that so much of what I get from running is about being outside in nature.  The sunrises, sunsets, rainbows, squirrels, changing leaves, rivers, other runners enjoying the country side.  Can I get the same from running on the spot on a machine that despite making it easier by having a moving belt beneath your feet actually feels much much harder because you don’t have the air rushing by you to cool you down??  I’m starting to think that the incentive of a swim/sauna/steam room after a run on the treadmill might be a much nicer experience than my mid-week runs in London after work have been.  Will the treadmill provide as many benefits in terms of fitness gains as the outdoors would though?