Go outside and play

If you are like me – a child of the seventies – you will probably remember your parents telling you: “Go outside and play.   Don’t come home until dinner”.  The hours that were spent in the backyard, the neighbours’ backyard on the old fashioned spring trampoline, the nature strip at the front good for games of cricket, the narrow strip of concrete driveway perfect for skateboards and strap on roller skates, the front footpath and the road perfect for hurtling along in a home made billy cart, the big pine trees good for climbing, the rhododendron bushes good for hiding in. It was fun being outside – the feeling of being free and having lots of space to roam.

As adults when we train outside we can recapture those same feelings of freedom.  It’s quite a different feeling being in the outdoors in an open space to being in a room with a whole lot of equipment and other people.  When we are outside there is a sense of ease or peacefulness that comes from our surroundings.  We spend so long cooped up indoors working or studying and keeping house that being outside away from all of that just for a little while is a treat.

A lot of people who attend outdoor group training sessions do so because they like to bring their dogs, their kids and they enjoy the views, the fresh air and the personal space.   I think it makes training more pleasurable being outside. Sure it might not be quite so much fun when it’s super hot, or cold and raining or windy but even on those days a little time outdoors is refreshing and different and a way to feel more connected to nature.

If you haven’t tried training outside – give it a go – it might be just the thing for you.