Back a number of years ago before I really started to be more active, I knew nothing about this thing called “hill training”. I decided to sign up for a 10k run with a friend of mine after which I, rather impulsively, signed up for a half marathon. That’s where I learned about running hills.
So, you might ask “what is hill training”. Well, one day a week, you pick a hill to run up and down. You start with running to the hill, running up it once and then cooling down on your way home. This process is repeated until you are going up and down that same hill 9 times in a row! The biggest obstacle to overcome is telling yourself you CAN keep going. So how do you do that?
For me, I have to visualize the goal ahead (the top of the hill) but I then keep my head down and focus on the 2 or 3 feet of road directly in front of me. I shorten my stride and just keep telling myself to put one foot in front of the other. “Don’t look ahead, just keep going, if you just look right in front of you it doesn’t look like such a big hill”. These are all the things going through my mind as I go up one step at a time.
You want to know the really cool thing? Turning around at the top of the hill and marvelling at what you have just accomplished! Taking the time to acknowledge what you have achieved but knowing there are going to be more hills in front of you. Understanding that you’ve conquered one hill, so the next one will be easier if you maintain your focus and don’t look too far ahead.
The same principle can be applied to weight loss. Maybe you have what seems to be an insurmountable mountain ahead of you. Maybe you need to lose 100 lb and you just can’t see how that is going to happen. Stay focused, break it down into small goals of a few pounds at a time. Keep making the choice to push forwards no matter the pace (there were LOTS of times I was walking hills, not running but I still did the distance) knowing you will reach your goal. Look back at how far you have come and celebrate your accomplishments!
Just like a hill is conquered one step at a time, weight loss is conquered one pound at a time. Trust me when I tell you the journey will be worth all the effort!
