I thought of the desert of Fuerteventura of Canary Islands. In early 2014, I visited there with a friend who was in love with surfing. I gave surfing a shot, but without proper instruction (my friend was more in love of surfing than teaching it) and tools, I chose to explore the island on my feet. Although Fuerteventrau is quite a small island with much more hills and mountainous, the photo reminded me of exploring little volcano mountains and desert surfaces. Can't wait to go back there, run some more, and eat more avocado and great pasta.
Daily Running: Day 21
So yesterday was not easy, still recovering from being hungover over the weekend. But today I felt my body was recovered. There was some strength in me. To make sure I don't go fast too soon, I started with 4% incline, just to see how that feels like. And as I slowly increased speed, I reduced the incline by 1%, getting down to 1% and speed of 16km/h for the last km. It was kind of a progressive and a hill run. It was a lot of fun, to say the least.
Running at 4% incline really surprised me by the way. That little more incline make you do a lot more work. It sort of forces you to work on your form and rhythm; because every step requires a lot more energy than running on a flat surface, you pay a lot more attention to how your foot lands, how relaxed you are (upper body, core, neck, shoulder), and how much of your core, back and hip are engaged in your motion.
Running details
- Distance: 8km
- Where: Indoor (company gym)
- Time: 38 min
- Speed Range: 8~16.2km/h
- Run type: Hill + Progressive
- Incline: 1~4%
Strength&Flexibility
- Pull-ups: 10 sets of 4 (last set being 5). Total 41
- Knee-up: Asymmetric. Working on the balance.
Overall, it was a great day for a run. I am really enjoying this phase of my running, where I have a no set goal but focus purely on building the technique, and habit of running as much as possible.
Daily Meditation: Day 25
- Total Time: 16 minutes
I have written about how daily writing is fun for me, but at the same does not allow me time to write in-depth posts about tips and exercises about running and meditation that I'd like to share with the community. During the meditation, my thoughts floated towards this, and I decided to stop writing daily Run&Meditate posts.
Instead, I will do weekly posts to give you an overview of running and meditation, with some quantifiable measurements, including body weight, body fat percent, BMI. I will share some of my training milestones, as they happen. See you soon with some more quality posts!
Happy running and meditating!
Sung, a running turtle
Little background on why I run and meditate
I got hooked to running in 2013. Running barefoot on grass, slowly, I learned how to be one with the movement. I loved running so much that I wanted to see how world's best runners live and train. So I went to Iten, Kenya in the summer of 2015. I read an ebook with a Korean content start-up called PUBLY about my 5 weeks in Iten). I want to share my experience with people who speak English as well, so I have started translating the prologue chapter. I hope to share my story with you soon. Until then, please check out some of the videos I took in Kenya. You will especially love this video of 10km race in Iten, which I filmed myself on the back of a motorbike. In my channel, there are many exercise and stretching videos that you will find beneficial as well. Follow me for more updates :)
I did a 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat in 2011. There, I experienced a center of peace within myself. However, college, grad school, and real world slowly took me away from the practice. I am giving myself some social accountability by committing myself to meditate 15min before going to bed and upload a post about it on Steemit, along with my running post. I chose to do 15 minutes because it does not feel too long nor insignificant. It feels very manageable, but at the same time long enough to induce me some equanimity and mindfulness.
Please leave comments for what you think and if you have any questions on running or meditation. Thanks!
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