I made it!! Week 2 of C25K completed.

Today’s run was lovely. It was quiet out, probably due to the rain earlier, and not too warm. I pretty much had the woods to myself. I think my pace was a bit faster today. My muscles seem to be getting the hang of running. Not so sure about the old shins. The left one in particular is a little sore.

Next week steps up another level which I’m a little nervous about. There are periods of 3 whole minutes running which is a bit increase from this week. Hope my legs can take it!

I’m thinking of adding some strength training to the mix but don’t want to derail my progress with the running. Maybe I’ll leave it for another week before I start that. Definitely need to do more stretching though. I’ll try that over the weekend.

On a completely different note – I am entertaining myself in lockdown by attempting to grow an avocado from an avocado pit. Currently on day 3 and nothing yet. I’m guessing much of my weekend will be checking to see if it’s sprouted yet. All the fun 😄

It’s turned all cold and rainy here. Makes me feel tired and unmotivated. It is so much easier to be happy and positive when the sun is shining. I did manage to find a spark of motivation this afternoon though so my day wasn’t entirely unproductive.

My shiny new running clothes arrived yesterday too which was exciting!! That combined with my spark of motivation and a break in the rain saw me out for run 2 of week 2 of C25K. My muscles felt a bit tight and took a while (over half the run) to warm up. Might just have been cause it’s colder outside today. Also still a bit worried about my shins. Might try some preemptive icing and see if that helps. If not I may have to invest in new running shoes.

My current shoes are about 3 years old and have done a fair few miles including a half marathon. Most of the milage was walking (commuter pace) rather than running but they are getting a bit worn. Plus they are a neutral running shoe and I may need a bit more stability for actual running. I would normally go for a gait check but sadly that’s not an option at the moment. Might try and do my own – maybe film myself running up and down the hallway…

Good news though is that my breathing seems to be getting better. I no longer feel like I’m gasping for breath at the end of each running period. This either means that I am getting my pace right or my fitness is increasing. Hopefully a bit of both! Tomorrow I might get the old foam roller out again and see if I can loosen my muscles a little before Friday’s run.

The weekend went fairly well. I manage to go for walks and get my steps in and didn’t eat too much rubbish. I did feel the urge to snack a lot on Saturday but thankfully I had very little snack-worthy food in the flat (and have tried not to buy more) so I managed to abstain.

I did a weigh-in this morning just to see if one week of running had any effect. I’m down about a pound and a half. Probably too early to tell if that’s just my normal fluctuations or actual change. Doing C25K isn’t really about weight loss for me at the moment. I’m concentrating more on just getting fitter and staying active. Still down is better than up so I’ll take it as a mini-win.

Today was the first run of C25K week 2. The running bits were longer than last week but then so were the rest/walking periods. It was tough going as expected. It helped that I found a big field to run round with no people so I didn’t have to think too much about where I was going or who else was around. It felt about as tough as run 1 last week. So I’m hoping that it will get easier as the week goes by like last week did. I guess that’s the aim of the program.

Runs 2 and 3 this week might be slightly more challenging if only because it’s supposed to rain for the rest of the week 🌧 I’m guessing that the woods I’m currently running in will get very muddy in the rain so I may have to find roads to run down instead. Or maybe it will be quiet enough in the park to run there.

Third and final run of week 1 of C25K completed today, yay!!! I pushed it a bit today and tried running a bit faster. According to my fitbit I stayed fully in peak heart rate zone for the whole run, which I guess is good. Was a bit tougher but I managed which is good. Will ease back to a slower pace for run one of week 2 though.

Strangely proud of myself for actually sticking with it. The next challenge is to make it through the weekend without eating everything in sight and make sure I go for the next run on Monday.

I realised though that I lack enough running clothes. I bought myself the Marie Kondo book for the new year so I had a massive clear out of clothes that didn’t fit anymore or that I never worn. Most of my old running kit went into the charity pile. The workout kit I have left isn’t really meant to be worn in public. All a little bit worn and holey. So I am treating myself to some new running tops and legging as a reward for completing week 1. Super exciting but not due to be delivered until Monday. Will be something to look forward to for my Wednesday run. Added incentive to keep going once they arrive 🙂

Eight years ago I was celebrating completing my first marathon. I still remember how excited I was to stand on that start line in London. Over 35000 people took part that year. Previous to that very exciting Sunday the farthest I had ever run was 18 miles, just 2 weeks before, on a training run. It’s sometimes hard to believe I was once ever that fit.

Today I celebrated completing the second run of week 1 of C25K. Just 8 minutes of running over a 20 minute session. How times have changed! That said today’s run went well. It was a lovely sunny day with a slight breeze. Sadly the C25K app doesn’t seem to store stats on your runs. But according to my fitbit I was running faster than on Monday and spent more time in peak heart rate zone. So progress, yay!

I am feeling a little sore in my shins and ankles now. Need to be careful as I have a history of shin splints. Hopefully if I keep to the schedule then I can stave off any injuries while my legs get stronger. I had a horrible headache after Monday’s run, hopefully just due to not drinking enough but will see how I fare tonight.

Today I started something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. I finally took the plunge and started Couch to 5K. I know it’s silly, I used to run marathons but to be honest I never really trained for them properly. Besides that was years (and years) ago!

Since I was starting again from scratch, it made sense to do it properly (rather than wing it like I did the first time round). I also have a fair bit of time these days thanks to a complete lack of commute, so I now have no excuses left as to why I can’t start running again.

For those of you who have never done Couch to 5K, it is a 9 week training program designed to get people from nothing to running continuously for 30 minutes (more details here: NHS C25K). Today’s run consisted of 5 mins brisk walking, 1 min of running followed by 90 mins of brisk walking repeated 8 times, then finishing with another 5 mins brisk walking.

To be honest, it was harder than I expected (given my previous ability) but it was good to be out again. I think my aerobic fitness will probably keep up with the running training as you are meant to progress slowly. I am slightly more concerned about my legs! My muscles feel old and tired and were not all that impressed at being made to run. Still I’m happy I finally made to past run 1 🙂 even if the trainer lady said ‘Congrats you ran for a total of 8 mins’ at the end of the run. Sounds a bit lame but everyone has to start somewhere and it was 8 mins more running than I’ve done for a very long time.

I can tell I will need to stretch tomorrow though (see above about old muscles) so rest day will involve some form of yoga. Then back for run 2 on Wednesday!

It’s been over 3 years since I last posted on this blog. The gap in posts was partly because I started this blog to track my training for my first marathon and I have since stopped running. But mostly because life got in the way. Life for all of us has changed a fair bit recently though and I felt like now would be a good time to start writing again.

Lockdown is a difficult time for all of us. The combination of separation and isolation from everyone and worry about loved ones, particularly the vulnerable or elderly, is a strange and stressful new normal. Thankfully all my family and friends seem to be doing fine at the moment. I hope you and yours are keeping well.

I live by myself in a moderately sized one-bed flat. I am employed in London but I live outside the M25 so have spent the last x-number of years commuting for at least 2-3 hours a day (assuming trains are running on time), usually wedge up against a complete stranger or two. A fairly typical experience for a Londoner I believe.

I’ve been working from home since a few days before lockdown was implemented. It’s been about a month now. That’s a long time to spend almost entirely by myself. I was worried that so much time alone would make me a little crazier than I already was. I was concerned too that the lack of a need to leave the flat to actually go to work would make it difficult to maintain any kind of healthy working/sleeping pattern. Surprisingly though it is all going rather well. I am fairly strict with myself when it comes to work. I am up, showered, dressed and logged in before 9am. I make sure I take an actual proper break over lunch (which I never did in the office) for at least 30 mins but more typically 45 mins. And I make sure I log off around 5pm. I make a careful note of the hours I’ve worked and make sure that I don’t carry on working through the evening.  I’ve set up my ‘desk’ so that I look out of my living room window which means that I get to see all the neighbourhood dogs going on their walks! And I get so much more of my evenings back, yay for not commuting!

So far I’ve not managed to do much with all this extra free time other than make sure that I go for a walk everyday. I typically hit 15k steps a day on an old work day mostly due to the walk from home to station and station to office (and vice versa) on my commute. There is no way I can hit that step count in my small flat! Plus my flat sadly lacks any form of garden so my daily walk is literally the only time I get to go outside or walk more than 5 steps in a straight line!

I have, like I’m sure loads of people do, lots of plans to use this time to be productive. Before all the Covid-related chaos I was going through a bit of an early midlife crisis and was seriously considering a change in career. Now is a good opportunity to figure out what I want to do when I grow up and whether I want to finally get out of London. A move away from London is looking much more appealing after this long break from commuting. Although I am looking forward to an end to the lockdown, I am rather dreading the thought of having to go back to the office.

I need to start sorting through all my plans to figure out where best to begin. I have a number of books, pdfs and online courses that I have acquired over the years but not had the time or motivation to do anything with. There are also a few challenges that have been recommended to me to encourage learning. There’s the ‘100 days of code’ where you write code in a chosen language for at least an hour every day for 100 days. It’s meant to help form new habits and learn a new programming language (assuming you pick one you didn’t already know). There are similar challenges like ’30 projects in 30 days’ which involves tackling a new coding project every day for 30 days. Or maybe I should start by reading all the books I own but have never read. So many things to do!! I just must try not to waste all this time watching all the TV. Must also resist getting Disney+ cause once I have that there is no hope of me doing anything useful 😀

So I’ve found things tough the last few months. My Fitness Pal showed me this week that it’s been 6 months since I was at my lightest weight (in my new journey to fitness). Since then I have put on a few pounds and basically plateaued. 

I think this is mostly cause I got too comfy. My training is going well and my fitness level have increased. My recover times are better and I can do more reps at higher weights but my weight and body fat haven’t really changed. At least my waist measurement hasn’t. I feel like my arms are slimmer and I can see my collar bones again so the fat is moving. It’s just sticking round my tummy and not burning off completely. 

This is I know down to food. I think I got so excited with the changes in my body after the first stone and a bit that I got complacent. I got pleased with myself and thought I was nearly there. I took a long (for me) look in the mirror recently and there is still a long way to go until I’m happy with what I see. 

So I need a new plan. My workouts are good although I may try to add one or two more short ones during the week. But they are good to haves rather than musts. The three must do workouts are my two sessions with Rash and my weekend HIIT. I’d like to do more yoga or ab work and lots more stretching but I’ll build this up over time. The main thing I need to concentrate on is food. I aim for 1400 a day but I only really maintain that 4-5 days a week. The weekends have been lax and honestly sometimes I have no idea how much I eat. Mindless snacking is bad!! It’s these habits I’m going to address first. I know being super strict with myself won’t work. I will rebel and ultimately binge in defiance (illogical I know and I’m working on it). But I find reasoning with myself works better. Being more mindful in my eating and justifying snacks – why do I want to eat this I’m not really hungry? That kinda thing. 

I also feel like a need a goal. In the past with running I always had something to train for usually a race. Now I’m just training for fun but I feel the motivation to drop weight is gone. Even the threat of the fallout from failing Nish’s challenge hasn’t been enough. So I need a happy goal to aim for. There are two good ones I think. My bodyscan voucher runs out in May so I need to go get scanned agin before that. I want to have improved since my last session so I need to work of fat loss. I’m also going on holiday in August. It’s just with family but will involve beach/swim wear. Although I’m no longer as self conscious as I used to be, I’m not currently that comfy with being in public in swim wear. At least not yet. I’m working on body confidence but fat loss or tone will help me I think. 

I’m gonna aim for April and August then. For April I’d like to be down under 10st7 (that’s currently 8 pounds away) or maybe even under 10st (15-16pounds). I have about 10 weeks so the latter should be possible. For August I would like to hit my goal of somewhere around 9st7. I think that puts me in the healthy BMI/weight for my height bracket. I’m not overly fixed on the final number so I’ll see how I feel. But under 10st would be awesome. First I have to get back under 11st. Then I have to break through the previous record of 10st11. Hopefully by then I will have a new routine and it will all go fine. Wish me luck!!

So the rest of the transformation didn’t go to plan. I was unwell then missed a few sessions for various reasons. Not great but couldn’t be helped. It meant though that the transformation didn’t happen. I’m still pretty much where I was before hand. 

I took a break over Christmas. I’ve stopped tracking food and have been away so haven’t attended PT sessions. In fact for the entire of Christmas week I did no exercise other than walking. My first workout back was yesterday and tougher than it should’ve been! Still need to get going again. 

The new year is dawning and it feels like a good time to start fresh. I got a lovely new juicer for Christmas (thanks to my mummy) so I’m gonna try hard to get in my fruit and veggie allowance. I know there will be less fibre that way but it’s a step in the right direction.  

I’m also looking at maybe cutting out sugar – or refined sugar at least. It’s gonna be tricky but I think it’ll be good for me. It will at least help get me back on track and give me an idea of how much sugar I eat (I suspect quite a lot!). 

I’ve also enrolled in a set of webinars led by Gillian Riley which will hopefully help me get a handle on my emotional eating again as it has got a bit out of control again. 

First session back at PT (with weigh in) isn’t till Wednesday so I have a little time to try to shift a bit of the Christmas weight and get back into it all. Must just finish off the chocolate first though 😜

At the start of the week I was struggling. Monday’s session was tough. Partly due to the lack of energy and motivation that accompanied the hormone fog. And partly I think due to eating a lot less protein that day. 

I’ve been careful to eat more protein and try to hit my macro goals. Wednesdays sessions was lots better. Still tough but I didn’t feel like I was dying! My recovery time is also finally getting better. I’m still surprised at how long it takes to get fully better and regain aerobic fitness levels after an illness. Finally back there I think. Will find out in a few hours when I do my HIIT. 

Food has been better this week so far. I’ve added extra protein to breakfast which is helping and been sticking to grains just once a day to try to limit bloating. The weigh in on Monday will show if it’s helped. 

Next thing to think about is my winter wardrobe. I’m over a dress-size smaller than last year and many items of clothing I own no longer fit. I’m currently just adapting my summer wardrobe with extra cardigans but is getting chilly now. Any suggestions would be welcome!