Jogging

Via Cannon Hill Park

This is the route I normally take from my house, through Cannon Hill Park via my Grandma's house and back. My goal was to complete the run in under 30 minutes, however, this is my long term goal, and to build up to this I focused more on my cardiovascular endurance, maintaining a slower, steady pace so I became familiar with the length, and the terrain of the run - (parts of it are over grass in the park).

As the route goes via my Grandma's house, initially, I used this as a water stop and a 5-minute break. Although it is great to get some motivation from my grandma, I decided to cut this part out of my route, on the second week, after doing the run twice - too much distraction which affected my rest time, and ability to restart. Then the route went directly to the park, and around, coming back home. On the third week, I started to focus more on my time, and created a playlist that included songs that would collated to a total of 35 minutes, as I knew I wouldn't want to stop to pick new music during my run.

Via Highbury Park

Going through Highbury Park is shorter than going through Cannon Hill Park, and after the first week, I found it too short, as I could run from my house, via my Grandma's and back in 10 minutes, at a fast pace. Although this was really pushing myself regarding speed, it was a great run to do on a busy workday, and on colder days.

In order to increase the distance of this run, as well as the difficult, I decided to run around the fields in the park, which would gain muscle strength in my calves and quadriceps, as the grass is very uneven. Within the park, there are two main fields, so in each direction, I added length to my run by going around each field twice. One field is roughly the length of a football pitch, but wider, and the other is much larger, with a more uneven surface.

I found this extension to my run very challenging, as it was more cross-country running, which is something I used to do competitively when I lived in London - I hate it. However, it was good for my muscle strength, and I aim to do it twice more over the course of the next two weeks.

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I make my playlists less than 30 minutes long, so I can reach my goal.

Music motivates me when I run, especially when my strides are on beat with the song, so I use this portable phone holder, that enables me to carry my phone and my earphones, as I don't have wireless earphones.