Gary Rowe

is organising his life and having fun doing it



I'm doing 12 things
 

How I did it
How to hike the Tongariro Crossing
It took me
1 day
It made me
awestruck


How to swim with dolphins
It took me
1 day
It made me
feel humbled


How to walk the West Highland Way
It took me
6 days
It made me
grimly accomplished


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Recent entries
run 10k in less than an hour (read all 3 entries…)
First time around without stopping 5 months ago

Went around the 10km course the other day and shaved 5 minutes off my overall time. How? By not stopping to walk!

So I’ve finally managed to continuously jog 10k and did it in 1hr 7m, which means I’m 7 minutes off my goal. Which means I have to somehow bump up the pace. The cycling seems to help with this because I can power around the place and so long as I keep in a high gear my legs are getting good rotational exercise which makes my hips and thighs stronger leading – hopefully – to a faster running pace.

What is demoralising, though, is when you’re wheezing your way along and some expert comes scooting up and passes you like you’re standing still without breaking a sweat and talking on their mobile headset about commodity futures.



Learn Zen
Read Zen and the Art of Archery 5 months ago

A good starting point to learn what Zen is all about is “Zen and the Art of Archery”

ISBN: 0140190740

Be strong like flowing water.



run 10k in less than an hour (read all 3 entries…)
Zombied but kept going 5 months ago

Spoke to a friend the other day who suggested finding the slowest pace that you can maintain without keeling over gasping for air, and then just keep going.

So off I went (full of bounce at the start of course) then a slow degeneration into slightly above walking pace finishing with a walk after only 2 miles. The main problem isn’t the breathing, it seems to be the strength in my legs – they get tired and the movement is repetitious. Anyway, I walked for about 100m or so and then got back into the jogging pace and kept going for as long as I could but then dropped back into walking again.

This carried on for the whole circuit, except that this time I managed to walk less and run/jog more (progress!) and I hit the 10k mark at 1hr 12min. So now I have a time and position to aim for.

My friend’s advice about finding the pace is important because it keeps your average speed up and strengthens the running muscles gradually.

I’m also alternating between running and cycling each day with 1 day off per week and I’ll see how that goes.



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