Body goes on strike for a day!

What a week it has been! I finally hit the Wall!
Last weekend on the Saturday I played squash with a friend which was great fun after my Insanity pure cardio workout. Apparently I wanted as much cardio as I could pack in a day!
From Sunday onwards I was working till Thursday and I work hard at work! I’m always tired after work but I see that as I did a good job. Nuts I know but I like running around =) Before or after work everyday I was doing my insanity workout and/or my squat challenge.

Then came Thursday after work I came home to do my Insanity workout. My body just said no! I had no coordination in my feet and I was so physically exhausted I couldn’t get past the warm up! I decided I just had to rest up and have a cup of tea and a evening bowl of porridge. Even sitting up was such an effort and I was loving my bed. I think my exhaustion showed through my major sleep in the next morning when I didn’t even wake up till 10.30am!

Have you ever experienced this before? How did you recover from this?

I wasn’t sure if I was completely recovered on the Friday but I had an offer from a mate to try bouldering! How could I refuse! What great fun! It was a great break from constant cardio and my arms still ache from the 2 hour session but I regret none of it and would love to try it out again. I did over eat on junk food but i think i should treat myself occasionally especially how hard I have been working recently.

Today got back into my Insanity rhythm and still think my body is a tad weak. I hope I can recover well and keep going with Insanity. I am just over half way through the second week of Insanity and I do still love it! I like the challenge and can see results all over my body already. I guess I just have too remembering -

Hopefully the rest of week 2 of Insanity will go great and that my body learns to like me =)

See you guys soon!
xxx

Insanity updates with my sweaty face!

Insanity day 3 has been done and I have to say that I am loving it! I love a workout that makes me feel like I have properly worked out! Panting for air and that mild ache you get the next day is what makes it worthwhile and if I’m not sweating I have definitely not worked hard enough.

But since when did my face sweat so much?! Here comes some TMI but I was used to sweating a bit with running (mostly on my back) but Insanity makes me sweat almost entirely on my face! Its like I just threw my face into a bowl of water! I tired to take a picture with my phone to document the huge amount of sweat that has accumulated on my face but my weak arms and blinky face produced this lovely image. (Please ignore anything in the background!)

I really do feel like I have been pushing myself over the past week with my part time job being quite active with standing for 4 hours continuously and coming home working out for under an hour but in a good way. I get to rest up on Monday which will be amazing! however I have several more day of Insanity, squash game, a late work shift, a mini run and the rest of my squat challenge. Thankfully I can’t take photos of that!

I am very  curious about these recovery drinks they suggest afterwards. I just drank a glass of chocolate milk after my longer runs. Is there anything anyone can suggest is good after HIIT workout? Please comment as I love suggestions! =)

See you guys soon!
xxx

A little bit of Insanity =P

I decided that running was not the only thing I wanted to focus on recently. I have had serious ab envy. I admit it! I see other women or men with amazing abs (and sometimes arms or thighs) and I want to have them! I love defined sculpted abs that just pop at ya!

So what is the logical approach to this body sculpting? Probably build up my running again, do more sprinting and hills with a combination of ab workouts.
What did I do? Got Insanity!

Yay! I am so excited! So far I have done the fit test and finished day 2. I have enjoyed my experience for the past few days and been trying to adapt the nutritional guide into my eating regime. Shaun T is a great motivator in these videos and really helps push me through some of the intervals! Having 5 meals a day with snacks isn’t too hard but I’m not great at spacing them around my lunch time as that’s when I work! =s

I will get back into building my running, very slowly at first on Friday  I’ll start with 2km at a slow pace and build it up from there. I’ll keep up with Insanity for now and see how it goes! I’m still doing my squatting challenge as well so my thighs and glutes are going to love me at the end of the month and hopefully cardio will become my new best friend by then!
Best of luck to everyone else on their fitness goals as well!

See you guys soon!
xxx

Supporting others and yourself with diet and fitness goals

The past 7 months of running and the year of learning more about nutrition and keeping active I have learnt a few things about myself and others around me, in particular family and friends. As with anything you find an interest with, you always hope that you will have the same support from those around you however I have found several times that with anything health related like fitness or diet is often used against myself. It’s crazy! The people that supposedly love, cherish and support you will try to hinder you from becoming fitter, stronger or healthier. Even crazier, they still love you! Here are some examples -

‘Ah you are going to be more active? Let’s see how long that will last?’
‘Why would you run for an hour? That’s just stupid!’
‘You working out again? It will just turn into fat next month.’
‘Don’t work out tomorrow! Let’s get dinner and get drunk!’
‘Ah c’mon you can totally have a whole cheesecake after that run.’

This can be really discouraging and here are some reasons I think that people do this which are not out of malice:

1. You will change. People often love you for who you are already and by changing your routine or appearance they can be scared that they will lose who you are. Especially with friends and spouses might be afraid you will leave them as a ‘new you’.

2. It’s personal offence to their lifestyle. Most friends and family won’t realise this but you potentially succeeding in a new more active lifestyle is a rejection of a more sedentary lifestyle that they are comfortable in.

3. Change is unsettling. Any change is sometimes scary to people especially with family which is supposed to be one of the most stable environments in people’s lives.

Obviously changing your activity or having less chocolate won’t change the person you are within. Unfortunately the best thing to do is brush it off as at the end of the day it all within ourselves. Motivation to continue through the tough, determination to maintain and strength  to accept. We can’t depend on others for motivation but when they do support you, it makes it all the more special. When you get a comment from your friend saying ‘Wow! You are doing great!’ I get all tingly inside because you can know that it was your work that got you there.

I don’t get a lot of support from my family but I have some great support from my BF and a few of my best mates. Most of my family actively avoid and discourage me on all my races and workouts. It makes me want to support any of my family or friends in fitness and diet related goals as much as I can. Experience from the other side the lack of support makes me always praise and compliment anyone I see improving their lives for themselves and their families. It’s also why I love the internet! There are amazing youtubers and bloggers out there that are always offering great advice and friendly support through twitter and facebook. We should all support one another with choices in becoming a better self!

See you guys soon!
xxx

Being active at work and tasty naughty treats!

Who said you can’t have a relatively physical job? Though my current job isn’t a job I want to do for the rest of my life, I want to do my job well. So as part of my job I ended up running around up two flights of stairs continuously for 4 hours today! So much for resting my ankle! Thankfully though it is starting to feel better and I am going to keep off it this week and get back next week nice and easy. Very excited to be able to run again! I am counting the days till I can run again! I’m going to give it another go in 4 more days! obvious depends how the ankle feels but YAY! I think as my job makes me spend so much time on my feet, constantly moving I feel like I haven’t been completely lazy with my lack of running. Although I doubt the skills are completely transferable! =p

Again as I said I like to do my job well and so I have been taking on anything my managers throw at me including extra shifts (Gotta make a good impression!) and that meant I couldn’t go out for a birthday party or meet some of my mates or even get to speak to my far away bf in the evenings. Oh well It’s got to be done at least for a bit. Just got to keep on moving, onwards and upwards hopefully!

Some of my mates live near where I work and so they pop in to see me and it has been great to see them again! This has unfortunately also meant eating out and little treats, including my beloved cinnamon buns! *drools* I regret nothing! =p

Also squat challenge has been fun so far! Yeah it has only been 2 days but I think the Blogilates ‘Call me Maybe Squat Challenge’ video has got me prepared for this month! These thighs won’t know what hit them this month =)

See you soon guys and keep on squatting!
xxx

Clothes shopping and starting my Squat Challenge Month!

Today was such a mix of feelings! I had to pick out clothes at a store today as part of my uniform and it was probably one of the most harrowing experiences ever! All the other girls I know like choosing clothes for themselves or clothes shopping. I’m actually really bad at it and like clothes that are loose and ill fitting most of the time. It’s odd as I like internet web shopping but real clothes shopping I get so anxious. I swear if my colleagues hadn’t helped me I would have had a panic attack! I tried on some very fitted skinny jeans which highlighted my rather shapely thighs and posterior which I didn’t realise till after I left the changing room I was blushing from embarrassment! I guess I’m a shyer person than I realised!

Running has made my legs much more toned but a tad bigger as well. This isn’t a bad thing but I just not very body confident yet. However to make my legs and bum even more shapely I have decided to take on the Squat Challenge for May! It’s something else for me to focus on as my ankle is still healing and running is off the cards. Already started and my ankle and I felt fine. Now for the rest of the month! =D Hopefully my ankle will heal up nicely and combination with some swimming I should be able to keep up a little cardio.

Please join me in making our legs even more shapely! If anyone can suggest some good ideas to help my ankle heal faster, please comment! =)

See ya soon guys!
xxx

Gutted! Back to square one…

Spring has arrived and the sun is shining – perfect conditions to get out there and run! I haven’t got any big runs planned but I wanted to improve my speed and my strength this summer. I have done my first draft of my thesis and got myself a part time job. Makes me feel excited for my running and my fitness as I have more time to dedicate to it! Even more exciting is my boyfriend has now taken to running as well!!

Then…on Friday I went on a light 5km run I could feel a bit of tension in my right ankle and slowly as I ran that tense feeling became an ache. I knew I had to stop running and just walk back home after only 2km. I tried a couple of times to jog a little but the ache got worse every time I tried. I resigned to only walking back and tried to listen to my body, trying to understand what happened to me.

I was going trying to consider all sort of possibilities why my ankle was aching and what could I do about it. Was it my shoes? Was back to back full time shifts on me feet all week tiring me out? Was it the way I was stretching?

I have stayed off the ankle all weekend which saddens me as it was the perfect weather for going out on long runs in the parks and woods. I guess I’ll just have to try again later this week and until then just cross train with other things. I just hope it will get better soon as I hate feeling so lazy.

Well I hope it will hurt less next time!
Until next time guys!
See ya soon =)