I’ve challenged myself to run three 5k’s this week. For some of you this might sound like nothing but I usually find it quite hard to push myself to run more than one long distance run a week. With that being said, I did my first 5k last night and I plan to run 1mile tonight, 5k tomorrow, have a day another 1mile on Friday and 5k on Saturday.
Running is a great workout – its easy but at the same time so hard – In a study done by the Medical College of Wisconsin and the VA Medical Center, the treadmill (used at a “hard” exertion level) torched an average of 705-865 calories in an hour. The stair-stepper (637-746), rower (606-739), cross-country ski machine (595-678) and stationary bike (498-604) were all lower in overall caloric burn.
Running also helps reduce stress levels:
The University of Georgia Department of Exercise induced anxiety (no worries, it was with caffeine pills) on subjects and then tested their physiological and mood symptoms after either resting for an hour or exercising for that hour. The exercise (in this case, on a stationary bike), was three times more effective at reducing anxiety.
Running is even used by mental health experts to help treat clinical depression and other psychological disorders such as drug and alcohol addiction.
That’s only two of the many reasons you should start the challenge with me this week – it tots up by the end of the week including the 1 mile runs you’ll be at 11.33 miles – and thats not including any walking you’ve done.