One or the other

But not both...

Okay so I've figured out I can't do a 20 minute 6kg medicine ball work out and then run - or at least not without wanting to curl into a ball when I've got to the bottom of the street and I'm thinking about the fact that I have to run back up that hill that seemed so easy to come down!

So less than a mile today but all in all the same 35 minutes worth of exercise so not terrible.

I think I need a smaller medicine ball too!!

Stepping it up

I've done 19 walk / jog sessions over the past 4 weeks and while I'm not getting any faster I can now run for a bit longer than I was at the start, even if those bursts of running are bracketed by longer lengths of slow crawling while I get my breath back.

I was shaving my legs in the shower last night  - as you do - and realised that my calves are definitely more toned - yay me! So I've decided to try and focus on the rest of my body too.  So after my half hour walk / jog today I picked up my 6kg medicine ball and had a go at some of the exercises my husband showed me - OMG, I managed 3minutes and my arms wanted to fall off.  So I laid myself down and did 5 sets of ten tummy crunches and now I feel like I want to throw up too.

Really hoping this pays off as feeling sick and losing sensation in my arms isn't filling me with confidence right now.

So overall statistics 

19 sessions
34.69 miles covered
10hours 44 minutes out in all weather
3866 calories burnt off

Stepping it up now so hopefully in another 4 weeks I'll be able to post an update saying I'm a bit more toned elsewhere too :)

Lovely day

It does make a change after the horrible weather we've had up her the past few days but it was lovely and sunny on my walk/jog today.

I had a smile on my face and had to stop and take this photo of the sun streaming through the gate at the top of this tree tunnel, it does make it easier to run when it's not grey, gloomy and wet.

And to prove my point, it's one of my better times today too.  34 minutes, 25 seconds.  I'm not shaving much time off (if any if I'm honest) but I'll still out there every day which has to count for something.

Not too bad for a monday

Not very fast today but I went back to doing the NHS couch to 5k plan, starting at week one - again -  and it was easier than it's been before.  I even managed to do some extra running bits after the plan had finished as I wasn't quite back home yet.

I do wish I didn't live near so many hills though, I reckon I could do so much better if I could just run downhil all the time and magically portal back home maybe??

The plan is meant to be followed 3 times a week so I'm thinking I'll do Monday, Wednesday then either Friday or Saturday but still go out Tuesday and Thursday anyway.  I might change my mind tomorrow though, who knows!

Pat on the back

So it's saturday, it's pouring with rain and I still got my gear on and went out - I seriously didn't want to but I didn't want to not go more :)

It wasn't awful either, for a change of pace I'd downloaded my music from my son's phone to mine and it's surprising how a bit of PSY and The Wanted can spur  you on - jogging up the hill with a bright red face, dripping wet hair and singing to Sexy Lady did make the whole exercise a lot more fun :)

Annoying thing is that the GPS on my app didn't pick up until I was half way round my route so it looks like I didn't actually go far but as the starting point isn't anywhere near my house I hope you'll all believe me.

 

Bad start, good ending

Really wasn't up for it today.  The day started bad by me skipping out on my daughter's harvest festival - it was just too cold to sit in church for an hour and I had way to much work nagging at the back of my head to make me feel comfortable about starting so late - though I must say my lovely boss didn't mind at all.

I have had the guilt trip from said daughter when she got home, especially as she ended up doing a reading and I wasn't there to see her.  Can I also just point out that her dad didn't go either and he was worse than me because at least I went home and worked - he went home and went to bed, but only I got the "it was my last ever harvest festival" sniffles from her.

I absolutely love my job but this week has been so hard, nothing had been straightfoward and having to deal with a mare of a member today was the icing on the cake, if icing was a horrid thing that I never wanted to eat EVER.

So the plan was for me to run off my frustration but a few things went wrong

1.  I couldn't make my brain switch off from work
2.  I forgot my water bottle
3.  It was cold - really cold with a horrid wind and it hurt my chest.

So I gave it up as a bad job and came home after just under 1 mile.


Plus side, I booked Stewart Lee tickets for husband and myself for February next year.  A day can't be too bad when you know you're going to see the 41st best stand up comic ever again :)

Inspired but unfortunately not for running

I was getting a bit bored with my usual route so I went off in a completely different direction this afternoon and found a lovely public footpath.  The problem was it didn't inspire me to run, instead I wanted to slow down - meander, saunter, stroll - and none of those words equal speed!

This photo doesn't do it justice but the sun was shining through the trees, there were birds singing and no traffic sounds, I wanted to take my time, whistle and have a picnic (I don't actually take anything but a water bottle out with my though so that wasn't going to happen).  It was just lovely and after such a busy couple of days  - yesterday I didn't even have time to update my blog - it was really good to be out and find something to turn my brain off work for 10 minutes.

Unfortunately it didn't last long as I got so far down this lovely path and it was so boggy I had to turn right back round again and head back to reality - grey pavements and exhaust fumes (and a pretense at speed).

Yesterday's route
(Just to prove that I did still go out,
I didn't hide indoors and just not blog )

Today!