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Intuitive Insights Introduction

Writer's picture: Andrew@IntuitiveCNCAndrew@IntuitiveCNC

Updated: Jan 11

Hi All,

         A little over a year ago just before new years eve I decided I wanted to start running once a week on Saturday morning with the goal of eventually running 10k. I have never really liked running if I'm honest, I think like most of us we were forced into cross country at school in the pissing rain which left a somewhat negative vibe towards running.

I am 34 years old now and I guess it is the endless podcasts and books I have listened to or read in the last 5 years with many talking about running and the "runners high" that got me curious as well as the fact that the lack of cardio in my training routines always played on my mind as being a weakness of mine.


So anyway I started with running one mile along the side of the six mile water in Antrim (about 10mins drive from my home). It was a 1/2 mile each way which I measured on my Fitbit there was a bit of walking but I was surprised by how little.

Once I was running one mile for a few weeks with no walking and was getting a time of sub 8mins for the mile which apparently is reasonable.

It was time for a route change as if I wanted to get to 10k I was going to have to run back and fourth on this path too many times which would bore the life out of me.

My family and I walk around Antrim castle gardens and lough sometimes which is just further down the river from the original route so started in the leisure centre car park I ran 1 mile then walked back, adding 1/2 a mile every week until I got to 6.2miles (10k).

The route was nice, 3.1 miles and then just turned back on myself. The route consisted of about 1 mile running beside the large Six Mile Water river with its ducks, swans and otters created a tranquil start to each run. The river then flows into Lough Neagh so the next 1/2 mile or so I was running with the lough on my right and the golf club on my left followed by Rea's Wood for the remainder which is a beautiful little forest and isn't overly busy in the early mornings finishing on the road side.

Below shows the route to give you an idea, I plan to take some pictures of the full route the next time I am there during the day as currently pitch black in the morning.

Running route
Approx 5k each way

On day that I reached 3 miles ( around April 2024 ) and the end of the route I felt good and not overly tired and wondered just how far I could go if I pushed through the "barrier". I decided to try running back rather than walking, with the aim of getting to even 4 miles which would of been a great improvement from the week previous (2.5 miles.)

4 miles came and I said just another 1/4 of a mile and that will do me but I guess by this stage I felt like Forrest Gump and continued running all the way back to my starting point, completing my goal of 6.2 miles (10k). It wasn't easy that's for sure but when I got to 5 miles and knowing I only had a mile or so to go gave the 2nd wind I needed to not walk. So in hindsight there was definitely some self-imposed limits bouncing around in my mind about running and how far I could go that's for sure.

Every week after that I would run this route with a new goal of finishing it in 48mins which is a decent enough time for a 10k. I started to hit this time consistently by the end of August but that is where it has stayed to date which is probably for a couple of reasons, another self imposed limit but also running once a week maybe isn't enough to get any better.


When I started running, like most people, I used headphones to listen to music or podcasts but about 3 months after I started running, I heard David Goggins say that he never uses headphones which made me wonder if I could run for the guts of an hour with just my own inner dialogue and self motivation. 🤔 The following week I gave it a go leaving my phone in the car and relied on the sounds of nature and the world going by for company, there is something freeing about having nothing in your pockets 😂


Not long into the run I noticed that my mind wandered towards a problem I was facing that week regarding a customers parts I was programming, odd shape, thin walls you know the ones so I used this time to go through different methods in my mind and finally came up with the right combination. It was clear that the music and podcasts were pulling a certain amount of attention which might of distracted me from the run and fatigue but was acting as a barrier to deeper and more pressing thoughts.

Months on now I have lost count of the amount different things I have figured out during my my weekly runs, it has been a real game changer for me and if I'm honest the time goes quicker without headphones providing I have a good subject pick apart during it.


I have now decided to create a blog called "Intuitive Insights" where I plan to use my Saturday morning run to consider topics such as automation, skill shortages, work-holding and new machines on the market. I plan to talk to different people in the engineering industry through the week when necessary to gain a deeper insight into the topic. I will be posting snippets of these blog posts onto LinkedIn along with links to the full blogs.

My hope with this blog is to share my thought processes with my followers as well as gain knowledge from the research done for each post and the feedback I get from any interactions following the posts.


Happy reading 🙂

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