This week has been a funny old week for health and fitness. My weight has stayed mostly the same (I put on a lb but I’m back to last week’s weight today) despite some mostly healthy eating. Last week I had bags of motivation and was feeling excited about exercising and eating good food, but this week I feel tired and lacking any kind of ‘get up and go’.
I guess in truth, I do search for motivation in the numbers on the scales, which is the wrong way to go about it. Or even just in the way my clothes feel or what I see in the mirror. This week I’ve noticed my clothes feeling a bit tighter – work trousers that fit me a couple of months ago are now too small and even my winter coat is a stretch to zip up. I know I can’t expect to see results within a couple of weeks but I can feel a little bit of a knockback to be doing what I perceive to be all the right things and yet increasing in size not decreasing.
I’ve found myself feeling really overtired and rundown lately so on Wednesday I took the day off to have some chill time and tick some things off my to-do list. I decided to start the day with a run, as well as booking to do the Nike ‘We Own The Night’ 10k in May with my friend Nicole which I’m super excited about. I was hoping to do a 10k that morning since I had the luxury of time and a hot bath waiting for me, but it was something of an eventful run!
It started off really well with me bouncing along, feeling really positive and enjoying being out running. It felt like a 10k was possible; my legs felt okay and my breathing was better than it usually is (I struggle with being able to regulate my breathing when running and run with a blue inhaler). About 15 minutes into my run I came across this cheeky little chappy who ran across the road to greet me and then jumped up to say hello.
After searching around for the owners (and pausing my GPS watch!) I concluded that he was lost and phoned the number on his collar. The owner said he must have escaped from her back garden again, but she was several miles away and had to send a friend to pick him up. We waited patiently on the bench on the green for a little while before he was collected. He was such a lovely dog, I was secretly a bit disappointed I didn’t get to take him home, I think Bodhi would have liked him!
I then tried to run on to the beach but the only road to our nearest beach was flooded, and having already run through a puddle and soaked my trainers I decided not to wade through flood-water. It was lightly drizzling but with beautiful blue skies and blazing sunshine, creating this beautiful rainbow that I ran towards for some time. I didn’t find a pot of gold though sadly…
In the end I managed 7.5k before I decided it was probably time to call it a day. I’m very conscious of the fact that my ankle is still tender from my sprain in October and I don’t want to overdo it. It was very slow (as you can see from the time) but still a really enjoyable run (though my legs did hurt for the rest of the day!)
My trainers are looking a little bit tired at the moment and I’ve had to put some gel heel inserts in to stop my heels and calves from hurting after longer runs. Tomorrow I’m going to go to a local running shop (Up and Running) to try and get some advice on some different running shoes.
Last Friday I started a new yoga class with Hannah via a Living Social voucher for 10 classes. It was very different to the other class I’ve been going to with a lot more focus on the spiritual side of yoga and a long relaxation/meditation session at the end. It was a very new experience – practising relaxation under a fluffy blanket in a church hall, with the wind and rain lashing against the window, candles and incense burning and a man gently snoring away next to Hannah! I think I prefer the other class for the fact that the teacher spends a lot of time focussing on form and helping you get into poses whereas this is a much larger class which I think makes that difficult. Still I am envisaging that this will be me and Hannah on Southbourne beach come the summer!
I’ve also been really enjoying discovering new health and fitness blogs this week which are helping in my battle for motivation. Pumps and Iron’s 450-rep workout has made me add a gym ball to my shopping list and I’m planning to try the routine next week. I’m also getting major body and fitness inspiration from Lydia Elise Millen and I loved her fitness FAQ this week.
How are you getting on with your health and fitness goals this week? How do you find motivation (and can you give me some!)?
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