Last summer when I started thinking about going to university, I decided if I was going to live on my own I'd have to get fit - for Freija's sake just as much as my own! I need to be able to work long days and still have energy to spend time playing and going for walks, and that means having a bit of a lifestyle revamp. My first goal was to get out and do something sporty, but finding something I was motivated to do took a bit of searching. Canicross, which is essentially cross-country running with your dog, popped up a few times in the dog groups I'm part of on Facebook, so I did a little research and decided that's what I'd start working towards. I say towards, as what I do can’t exactly be described as cross-country running. Combining a complete lack of stamina and horrid asthma does not a cross-country runner make! However I have found a way to run that works for me and the dog.
I first read about combining bursts of sprints and walking on Pinterest. Essentially it said work your way up from four minutes of walking and half a minute of running to equal amounts of each till you can run non-stop, which sounded easy-peasy, so I thought I’d give it a go. As it turns out, running like this wasn’t as taxing on the old wheezy-lungs as I'd dreaded, and a good 5km each day was surprisingly manageable for the first couple of weeks I ran in July.
After one or two of goes with me holding Freija’s lead, I opted for getting a proper canicross belt (well, it’s actually a skiing belt because this is Finland after all) – running while holding it in my hands was not only awkward but also led to accidentally yanking Freija along every now and again, NOT GOOD! The belt is far more convenient and the lead has an elasticated handle that gives girly girl a bit more leeway to shift gears from walking to running. It also makes us look like we know what we’re doing! ;)
This hobby was put on hold when we started agility and it started getting colder out, but now this year despite it still being winter I’ve taken running up again alongside our other dog sports. Thankfully I’ve managed to slightly boost my fitness through those hobbies during the past eight months or so – running for short periods of time is essential for agility after all, and of course is part of many of the other sports we try out!
That gave me confidence to try walking and running for the same amount of time. In January I started off with a minute of walking with half a minute of running, and now can sort of manage a minute of each (although being a bit of a moron I do sometimes get a bit over-ambitious at the beginning with the running and have to go down to half a minute again towards the end of the route). The great thing about sprints is that I don’t feel like I’m dying after the first kilometre or so, and can manage what would amount to a reasonable run which I wouldn’t actually be able to do in one go normally.
Freija enjoys this method too because she gets to sniff and do her business during the walking bits, and loves a bit of a race when we run. Plus we get to go on longer routes than on normal walks, since we get further in shorter spaces of time. I do look forward to proper long walks in the summer mind you, and especially exploring new places when we get to Bath… I wonder if by then we can manage real Canicross runs? :)
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