I can’t believe that I am in the final week of Jantastic!
So, how did last week go?
Well it was a busy one.
Monday- 3 miles after work-all I could fit in.
Tuesday- Rest
Wednesday- Sweatshop- 5 miles including 3 fast ones.
Thursday- Pump. It was the new release. Apparently some of the tracks are easier, which means you have to go heavier. I hate that. For example they now think that for squats you have to go 3 or 4 times your warm up weight. I can’t even lift that amount, let alone sit it on my shoulder, and you can forget lifting it off my head once the track ends. I did go heavier for biceps and paid for that the rest of the weekend. The back track is also weird, loads of rows (they must have heard me say how I hate the wide triple rows). The abs track had the hoover back which is good as I find all the ab crunches a bit boring and I am never sure how effective they are. The music wasn’t great (except for The Killers track) although I say this every time and usually the tracks grow on me.
Friday- 2 miles at school for Sport Relief, plus a walk around the lakes.
Saturday- Rest. Well, cleaning plus a few hours at the allotment (including finally using our new push along lawn mower to mow the paths. That was hard work- I have the bruises to prove it!).
Sunday- 6 miles for Sport Relief, plus run home=8.5 miles, and a walk around town.
18 miles for the week might not sound like much but it is a lot for me. I am really pleased with how it went.
I still have to sort out my predicted time. I did look to see if I could change the distance, but no, it will only let me change the time. I am going to attempt it tomorrow if my legs are feeling rested (they are sore today) and then probably go to Parkrun on Saturday, but of course it is the off road route so I will change the prediction a bit- maybe aim for 29 on the dot.
Now lets zoom in on Saturday.
I was super shattered after last week so had a lie in and very lazy morning- after reading in bed for ages I had a lovely breakfast of apple, granola and milk with a tea.
Andy went to the allotment earlier while I stayed at home to do some cleaning and stuff, and I also made a cake as my Dad was coming around to help with the gardening too. I was going to make an apple cake, but flicking through the Clandestine Cake Club book I found a recipe for Pumpkin cake, and as I have a surplus of tinned pumpkin I went for it. Plus the air was still cool with that almost autumnal feel so I thought it would go. I still had some of the lovely lemon infused oil so I used that instead of plain oil in the recipe and I think the lemon flavour went really well with the pumpkin and spices.
I didn’t have any brown sugar so used golden caster sugar and a tbs of treacle to give it that flavour. While it was baking I was so efficient and got on with loads of cleaning and tidying and filing away paperwork- such a good feeling to get that all sorted.
I was going to head up to the allotment later and so had one of these lovely Pulsin bars (I was so excited to find these last week in a local shop) for some energy before all the planting and mowing and weeding.
I made some icing for the cake which I left to set in the fridge while we worked, and then spread it over the top once we got back.
We got back at around 5pm, after a few hours of work, so we all enjoyed a slice with a cup of tea- I was so cold!
If you have done it, how do you find the new pump release? And do you ever manage the proportions of weights that they suggest?
I love the feeling of getting things done, although I’ve gotta say my most productive times are when Dan’s not around!
I was three minutes out on my Jantastic time, although it was over 20 miles and my runs had been really inconsistent in the weeks leading up to it so I’ll take that!
Wow well done that is amazing!
Yes I am much more productive when Andy is out!
I’ve just realised that there is a Clandestine Cake Club in Oxford. I would love to get involved in a baking club or something. Love the look of your pumpkin cake.
You should join! I have joined a local one but the only meeting they had was when I was busy- I am hoping they arrange another one soon. The recipe book is fab.
As per usual, we aren’t getting the new Pump release until WAY after the other gyms do – it’s going to be mid-April, apparently, because our Fitness Manager can never get his act together and learn the new choreography and/or order his music on time. Hmph.
Anyway, they’ve been telling us to do 3-4x the warm-up weight for squats for about a year now, and I usually do 3.5x my warm-up weight. There aren’t many people who manage 4, and all of the ones who do are men. I’m generally bang on for the recommendations, apart from the lunge track where I lift a lot heavier than they say (they say chest weight and I’m doing 1.5x that), but with lunges it’s a bit daft because on that basis my squat weight should indeed be 4x my warm-up. I could squat that, but I can’t lift it over my head, so it’s pretty annoying. I’ve managed 3.75x my warm-up, but they never give us enough time between tracks to change weights and then clean/press the bar over our heads, so I always err on the side of caution because I don’t want to risk failing the lift and then missing reps once the track has started. It irritates me even more because once we get past the back track they give us too much time and usually start chatting/wittering on for ages…I get that the back track is tiring, but come on!
Not many women lift what is recommended now that I think about it…certainly not for squats anyway.
I am excited for no clean/presses because I might be able to up my weight – I hated those fast clean/presses so much since I could have lifted more but I kept on injuring myself and sacrificing form.
xxx
You are some kind of strength machine! Normally I go double for squats!
Hopefully you will enjoy it when you get it! We are often our instructors guinea pigs and she normally has the choreography with her for the first week just to check, but we are quite well trained!
It’s cool that you do a pump class that is all over the country as well. Our pump class is just whatever the instructor fancies. I know what you mean about getting the weight on your shoulders and I find it quite sore at times when it’s so heavy!
God this Jantastic has been terrible for me. So much worse than last year and last year I wasn’t even training for a marathon!! Ah well, I will do better next year!
There is always next year! I had to miss it 2 years ago which wasn’t great, but things have been better since, so hopefully they will be for you too.
I do like having the tracks changing every few months as it does keep it more interesting.
That cake sounds lush 🙂 Looking forward to the day when I can get back to body pump!
It was lovely 🙂 I love gingery things and pumpkin anyway so it was a fab combination.
Sounds very productive, nearly there on Jantastic too- I’ve recovered mine after an awful Feb! I love those Pulsin bars.
Well done on catching it back! Yes those Pulsin bars are so tasty- just wish they were more easily available.