I recently realized that my levels of physical activity have taken a severe drop after lockdown and I had to keep myself active and fit during these trying times. So, last week I planned to run 10 km on the treadmill at my gym. This was to be completed in 2 visits to the gym, and running 5km each visit. Running a 5k alone itself is quite a challenge and doing it twice within the span of a week takes a lot out of a individual. I am glad that I was able to complete this daunting task- somewhat.
First Visit: 25th April 2021
My first visit went by without many issues. I ran the 5k with varying speeds. I slowed down when I needed to and sped up when I could. My maximum speed was 11 units on the treadmill (11 km/hr maybe) and I slowed to down to a minimum of 4.5 units when I took a rest. My average speed throughout was about 7 units. Music kept me distracted from the monotone cycle of the treadmill and helped me keep going. My legs began trouble me at around the 3.7 km mark, but the fact that I was 1.3 km away from my goal gave me a valuable distraction. I accomplished what I set to do, albeit being exhausted and I decided to cool down for a 100 m. The image below shows information about the run.
Second Visit: 1st May 2021
The second visit did not go as smoothly as the first one. I could not run the intended distance and had to stop at the 3.5 km mark. A possible and likely reason for this premature stop was due to the mask covering my face. Contrary to my second visit, I went to the gym during the inactive hour of 3 pm. So I had the liberty of running without my mask on. However, in my latest visit, I went during peak hours, at 6 pm. To abide by COVID restrictions, I wore a mask for the entirety of the run. I thought that running at a faster pace would help me complete quicker, but this idea ran into an issue that I had not accounted for. Around the 3.5 km mark, I got a cramp on my right calf and I was forced to stop my dull journey. My maximum speed was 11.3 units and my minimum was 5 units (I hung around at the lower speeds for a long time), with the average speed being around 7 units again. During the run, there were physical barriers caused by a poor warm up and psychological ones, that were dealt with by my music once more. I am quite annoyed by the fact that I could not complete the run since I was so close but the situation I was in as well as my insufficient preparation let me down. I will attempt to do this in the coming weeks and hopefully successfully complete it.
This activity has helped me demonstrate learning outcome 2, by undertaking a challenge as well as learning outcome 4, by doing as much as I physically can to show commitment and perseverance.