Short exercise, short blog post.
Day 8 – 20 leg lowers .
Author: Black and Tabby
Janathon Day 7. A RUN!!!
It’s a miracle! A run! I made it out for a run!
In my defence, I have been full of cold all week and breathing is generally considered helpful when running. This Sunday morning I found I could actually breathe so I had no more excuses I pulled on my trainers, and headed out.
The large puddle was a surprise, I guess the ice further down the lane shouldn’t have been. Despite that, it was a good 4.7 miles. Well done me!
Janathon Day 6. More core
Quick Saturday Janathon – more leg lowers. Since my (ahem) “lower abs” are in need of attention, and since this exercise strengthens your lower back as well, this seems like a good one to do.
And so quick as well!
Janathon Day 5. Plank!
Day 5 and I’ve reached the emergency Janathon plank already. This is not good, but still too sniffly to think of anything else. So a 1 minute plank in the morning, and another in the evening.
Boring, but job done.
Janathon Day 4. Quick!
Quick before work- can I remember how to do the knee lift exercises? Not sure, but I did what I thought they were before getting dressed. For good measure repeated it as I was undressing much later that day before bed.
Fitting it in still!
Janathon 2018 Day 3. Sniff.
So if sniffing doesn’t count as a Janathon activity, and neither does “going to work” nor “just getting up”, then I thought I ought to actually do some exercise. I enjoyed my “Leg lowers” from yesterday so much*, I did some more today**. A set of 20 before I went to work , and another set just now before getting ready for bed.
Go me!
* This is a lie
** This isn’t
Janathon 2018. Day 2
Back to work today! Believe me, the effort involved in that should have been enough to count as my Janathon activity for the day. But no, no slacking on day 2, I managed some more core exercises and did 2 lots of 20 “leg lowers”. These are good for your lower abs and back, apparently, which hopefully will help stop my club running vest riding up around my middle every time I wear it.
I can but dream. And sniff.
Janathon. It’s a bit like tax. Day 1
You know how no one can remember the difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance, other than one is illegal and the other isn’t? Well I’ve decided Janathon is rather like that. Slacking is not an option, but a certain creativity in exercise is encouraged. It’s a fine line!
Bearing in mind I’m starting the year full of cold, I’m ruling out running, swimming and cycling for the moment. I suspect “getting up and going to work” won’t be allowed (slacking!) so I’m starting the year trying to work on my core (creative!).
With this in mind, day 1 consisted of 2 sets of 20 slow mountain climbers. Less fun than they sound, less mountains involved, but still something I would have avoided if I hadn’t been Janathon-ing, so I reckon that counts.
Onward and upwards. Sniff!
Happy New Year 2018!
Don’t worry, I’m not going to do a huge “My 2017 – a review” post, complete with Powerpoint presentation and Strava stats (my stats are rather half-hearted for 2017, but that’s not why I’m not doing it. Honest.)
I think there’s just time for a squinty-eyed short-sighted peer at the year ahead. I really need to be more organised in order to find time for running, swimming, cycling, my allotment, the house, my family (apologies to my family for putting them last in that list!) Having decided to stay on in my what-was-meant-to-be-temporary job, my life needs to become more regulated (boo!) in order to find time for the stuff I want to do (hooray!). As this job is quite stressful and unrewarding, it’s actually essential that I manage to find time for any stress-relieving activities that I can.
This might mean forcing myself out for a run after work, even if I don’t feel like it. I’ve hit the “it’s too dark to run” nail squarely on the head by buying an “Ironman” style chest torch which should illuminate most of the village as I run by. I have entered the tough “Slaughterford 9” race at the end of the month which will act as quite an incentive to get out and train! My son bought me a lovely insulated cup that is meant to fit into the bottle holder of my bike, which hopefully will persuade me to get out for even short rides (in a “Coffeeneuring stylee) . I haven’t been swimming for weeks and weeks, and the worry that I might have forgotten how is enough to have me checking the timetables for a suitable session (just as soon as my “sniffing my way into 2018” cold clears up).
A few weeks ago I asked my Facebook friends how on earth they fitted everything in. I was especially asking a lovely lady, who is a mum of 3, a full time dentist and runs Ultras (not simultaneously). Responses from everyone were basically along the lines of “just get out and do it!”, but also, and perhaps more surprisingly, “don’t beat yourself up if you don’t manage it”. This made me feel much better for the last few weeks of the year, and means that the thought I’m taking into 2018 is “Be kind”. I always try to be kind to the people around me, but maybe I need to focus a little more on being kind to myself. Let’s see how it goes!
I wonder what thought other people are taking forward into 2018?
Tri-county XC Race 2017
I feel obliged to point out that this race was my least favourite race of last year. It was full super speedy runners hoping to gain a County vest, running in just shorts and crop tops. In December. There was no walking up the hills, there was no well earned amazing views from the top of said hills, there was no feeling of being lost somewhere in the middle of nowhere. So why on earth did I enter it again this year? Well, it was race number 4 in the Off-Road League. ‘Nuff said. I’m unlikely to win my age category this year, but pride and the fact that our Chippenham Harrier’s teams are currently in first and second position in the league meant it was a “must do”. Yes, our B team is ahead of everyone else’s A team. Unfortunately our rivals had also spotted this, and were rallying their troops in order to try and knock at least 1 of our teams off their spots. Therefore, it was all hands on deck (feet on mud?) from the Harriers as well.
XC events consist of a series of races throughout the day, to ensure the entire family has the chance to get cold, muddy and tired. Starting with the youngest first, the course gradually becomes longer for each subsequent race, with additional long or short loops. Just to make it more confusing, each race at this “tri-counties” event has runners running for their own county.
For the “Senior and Vetern Ladies” we had to run 2 short loops and 1 long loop of a muddy, sloping field at Bath University. I was consoling myself with the fact that it was only 4 miles long, but sadly this did include going up the long hill 4 times.
Just adding to my joy and anticipation for this race, was the weather forecast which predicted snow for the day. Wonderful! After spending the morning checking (with fingers crossed) to see if the event had been cancelled, I finally resigned myself to having to run and set off. As I got closer the weather became snowier and snowier, until I found myself squelching and crunching across a field to huddle with my team mates.
As I feared, running this race was cold. It was miserable. It was snowing. It was horrible. It was really horrible. I told every marshal I passed how horrible it was (but I did thank them on our last lap – it must have been just as miserable standing there all day).
Despite being several minutes slower than last year, I didn’t finish in last place. I was chased all the way around the final lap by an Avon Valley Runner woman I only shook off on the last downhill ‘dash’ to the finish line. Her sprint finish must be even slower than mine.
Still, at least it’s done now. This race has officially won my vote for “Most horrible race. Ever”, and I gained 100 Hardcore points for finishing covered in so much snow. I have also finally defrosted my toes, so that’s all good.
