Pushing myself

Hello all! I hope everyone had a lovely week- I have been very busy but doing lots of fab things.

On Wednesday I went to the Sweatshop running club! The lady in the shop mentioned it to me on Saturday when I bought my new shoes. I had to register on the website and check when my local shop did them. It said on the website that it was a 5k run/walk for beginners, so it seemed perfect for me (this week I did 10 min run, 1 min walk). By the time I got there I was a little flustered (I had a course in the afternoon and then had to do some work when I got home, so left it a little late) because I ended up half running half walking up. Anyway, I needn’t have worried because everyone took a while to congregate. There were about 15 people doing it. The guy did ask me my pace (slow) and he said not to worry as he stays with the back person. We set off at about 11 min miles, which is fast for me at the moment (not that I get much faster than that although I could get under 10 min miles for 5K’s), and we were right at the back! The route was good- although it was so hot. I could really feel myself speeding up once I got into the shade. The guy at the front (who is a member but does not work for them or anything) kept running back to check we were OK and that we knew the route. Anyway, the only time we stopped was to cross roads- which was not very often! By the end we even caught someone else up, and I ended up a little ahead of her (although when we got right to the shop she did a sprint finish to overtake me which I found a little odd!), and was so pleased to finish. The route was 3.5 miles, so the furthest I have run this year!

They even gave out cold water (or squash) which was very welcome after a run in the heat of the evening. The walk home was good as it gave me a chance to cool down, although my face was still bright red when I got home! Anyway, I will be going back again. I think running with the faster people will be really good for me, and will hopefully make me speed up a bit. ย  ย When I went on my run on Friday after work (and admittidly my muscles were sore) I did the 10 min run, 1 min walk again. I think I will carry on with my plan, and have the Sweatshop run as a bit of a tempo session almost. I was worried about aching on Thursday, but I felt like I had had a good workout, but not sore like after a race or anything, so I think it was just right for me really.

I got to re-fuel with my fave dinner- some roasted sweet potato, squash, peppers, courgettes, with some lentils, spinach, hummus, balsamic and some red peppers from a jar (you know those sort of deli ones?). Yum.

On Thursday it was on to more good things! I went to body pump!

I have not been for 6 months! Crazy! I was recommended to keep the weights low, and I am glad I did. I think I went for 7.5kg as a warm up, back and lunges, 10kg for the squats, 5kg for chest/triceps/biceps/shoulders, and not sure what else is left! I had to modify the abs track too, but I did manage to finish it and I was feeling so happy- it really feels like I can put these last few months behind me now and get back to normal.

Then on Thursday night I realised that I needed to make bread for our dinner on Friday, so with my aching arms I kneaded the bread!

It was worth it though! I had a slice toasted today with some sunflower seed butter-mmm.

On Friday I was feeling fairly stiff, and half way through the day my stomach (I would say abs but I don’t have any haha- just where they would be) started aching (which worried me for a bit, before I remembered that there are muscles there), and today I have felt more stiff too. I had a run after work on Friday to shake out the muscles, and that helped my legs, but my arms were still sore. Ah well, I know the first week back is always the hardest.

Iced mint tea, and boring work!

Today I was up early because our bathroom is finally being started on- it was meant to be right after the Easter holidays but for one reason and another has been put back. They were coming this morning at 8.30am to rip out the bathroom, and I had an enormous pile of work to do, so the plan was to do the work in the morning while they did the bathroom things. Well they only left at 5pm! I had made some iced tea to have while I worked, which was lucky because it has been so hot!

Anyway, I am off on a walk now, to enjoy some of the sunshine, and to rest my eyes and brain, and I will be doing no work tomorrow!

(By the way, this is not really a moan, because I normally have work to do at the weekends and that is fine, but I have spent 8 hours today doing work which seems like a lot, especially when the weather is so lovely).

What did you all get up to during the beautiful weather?

Do you prefer exercising alone or in groups? I like exercise classes as I feel they push me, but then I love running alone as I find it more de-stressing, so I suppose I like a mixture really.

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9 thoughts on “Pushing myself”

  1. I do like exercising alone mostly as it is time to myself and I don’t get distracted, but I do love my Body Pump class. I think seeing everyone else go through the same pain makes me challenge myself more. Your dinner looks lovely! ๐Ÿ˜€

    1. I know I would never keep the weights up if I was working out alone, so the whole thing of having an instructor helps (and others in the class like you say).

  2. The weights you mentioned for pump – is that in total? or each end? i never know which people mean ๐Ÿ™‚

    I’ve gone off pump recently. i think because my knees are really suffering/struggling which mean squat & lunge tracks hurt & i don’t enjoy it. Do you have any other Les Mill classes at your gym?

    1. Thanks- I was so pleased to be able to manage it without walking- a half marathon might yet be possible!

  3. I’m glad you found a group to run with! I do most of my runs solo, but just met up with a running buddy this weekend and am looking forward to trying a local group with her. I’m definitely more motivated to do s/t in a class like Body Pump.

    1. Yes the classes are good for motivation, but working out along is good for chilling out I suppose

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