If in Doubt Leave the Buggers Out!!

Today I’m having a rant. Gym and fitness class goers, ladies not gents, well maybe some gents, does the padding in gym bras/tops get right on your nerves? In the way that once they hit the washing machine, no matter how gentle the cycle they screw up into some deformed shape that does remotely resemble a boob!!! The gap to remove and add them is soo small, IF there’s one at all, that the padding can never go back in where it should be or how it should be!

Yes they are there to protect our modesty, but don’t! Just don’t! If in doubt keep the buggers out!

This is only a small selection from my bra padding collection!

I’m also a runner and a cyclist, no padding going astray with sports bras! Why? There’s isn’t any in there, because it’s not needed!

Rant over!

Put Your Bloody Weights Back!

Sorry just realised it’s been ages. Time flies when you keep hurting yourself.

Following the torn calf and strained back, I proceeded to reinjure my back, thankfully not as bad as the last time. However whilst at the gym, I needed a small weight, it was hanging on the side of the rack, above it was a 10kg weight. I didn’t want to risk further injury and chose to not take it down, to enable me to get the smaller one from below, instead I pulled both to the end and thought I could tip the smaller one and edge it out. How wrong could I have been. The 10kg weight tipped forward, fell from the rack hitting my nose. Within seconds blood poured from my nose, I knew at this point it was broken !

After driving myself home from the gym, I arrived home in shock. After frantically messaging people and by the power of FB I was taken to hospital. 2 weeks later it was operated on, they confirmed the bone had been broken. I had to wear a horrible splint for the next 10 days.

The reason I’m sharing this story is I have a major grievance with people who DO NOT put their weights back after use. Had that 10kg weight been stacked correctly my nose would still be in tact. Many a time I’ve tripped over weights just left on the floor. Countless times I’ve not been able to use the squat rack because some inconsiderate meat head can’t be arsed to take the 80kgs off the bar. There’s no way I can or will do it!

The message I’m sending out is

“PUT YOUR BLOODY WEIGHTS BACK”!

Re-focus

Meal prepping well underway now, I’ve set my macros on MyFitnessPal app to 50%protein 30% carbs 20% fat 1600 calories per day. 

Macros are these little charts

I put on a hell of a lot of weight over Christmas, mainly fluid. I’ve regained discipline and have lost 5lbs in weight. 

How? Eating three healthy meals per day plus snacks, drinking 2-3 litres of water per day. My PT set me up on a new program which requires 4 visits a week to the gym, to fit those in I will simple be there at 6am!  

Day 2 of my program the unthinkable happened, I took a deadlift wrong, too much weight, 60kg, too many reps 3 x 10, 3 x 3 is all I needed but I wasn’t focused slightly harassed as the gym was pretty full so I struggled to find a free bar and space, I started to loose my form but I didn’t take heed. The result 6 days later, I’ve given up on pain killers and anti inflammatories, visited my osteopath still in lots of pain with very limited mobility. I will remind you I do have a herniated disc, it’s this I have damaged. I have no one to blame apart from myself. Fortunately Claire from Rivermead Osteopaths knows my history and I’m confident she will get me back on my feet.

Well worth a visit http://www.rivermeadosteopaths.co.uk/

Soo much to write, so little space

Where does the time go?  As a hairdresser it’s been a busy month therefore my blog has lapsed, but my exercise has not. Still getting to my Hiit sessions twice a week at 6.15am, the gym either 6am or squeezed in elsewhere, PT weekly, the running not as much, the odd effort session with the club and cross country races on a Sunday, that was until 18th December when I tore my calf muscle in a deep muddy bog as I wrenched my leg out. Game over there and then. 

I’ve been looking at meal prepping, lacking ideas I turned to the services of Juice Kitchen In Chelmsford , they deliver freshly prepped and cooked meals to my door at very competitive prices and the food is delicious. After a couple of weeks I decided to have a go myself, no comparison. They quite often do special offers, at present they have one too good to miss for new customers. 

This picture is my own prepping Anyway with Christmas over with, I am focused again, NYE I will be having a drink, then battle will commence. I know what I want to achieve and I WILL do it

Watch this space 

The Injured Fit Freak

As it says!! Injured! This is how it began, took a deadlift ever so slightly wrong, as I stood up I felt a very slight pinch in my back. Next day Hiit, ran a park run, cross country race one day, Tiptree 10 miler next day where I felt the pain moved no down to my knee. Ran Beachy Head marathon 2 weeks later on no runs, held out until mile 15, got through it.

 Continued my Hiit sessions, running, PT session, weights etc end result;

Lots of pain behind my left knee, I can run on it but after end up in pain, however it’s hindering my  weight training hugely! I’ve also had an ongoing niggle in my right shoulder that has also escalated, I’m loosing confidence in a lot of my training as don’t trust my shoulder not to give out.

I’ve seen one of our bootcamp instructors who has trained as a sports therapist, he has done a great job, this week he’s worked on everything. He also uses the technique “cupping” I’ve had this before, however Tom’s method is different and much more effective. If you’re local to Chelmsford or Billericay he’s well worth a visithttps://www.facebook.com/ThomasJBell-Sports-Therapy-1779387505614609/

Then there’s old “Magic Hands” Deb. She specialises in clinical massages. 1.5 hours of firm, deep but relaxing massage. Based in Ramsden Heath she to is worth a visit. https://www.facebook.com/deborahjanemassage/

For me the combination of Deb and Tom are perfect.  I have now taken 1 week off any form of exercise. It’s going to be tough but I’m have to do it.

I have also invested in this book thank you to Deb for showing it to me. Invaluable piece of kit.

Marathon Week

It’s been a bad week. After cycling a mere 18 stop, start miles following Chelmsford marathon, I drove the 100 mile journey to visit family, by the time I got there my body from my lower back to my knees were stiff and painful. I couldn’t even pull my leg back to stretch my quads! I’m now used to taking my foam roller everywhere, so for the next few days I foam rollered and stretched.  Panic set in as although things were easing there was no way I would make the start line for Saturday’s marathon.

 Last minute I got an emergency appointment with my osteopath Claire as I suspected my back was to blame. The cursed herniated disc I’ve had under control the past year.  Claire did  some manipulation and released off a whole lot of stiffness, also showed my some exercises to do to help.  If anyone local in Essex has any issues, not necessarily back, this lady is your woman, she has put me back together plenty of times, more often than not this suits me more than a sports massage.

http://www.rivermeadosteopaths.co.uk

Following this, no exercise as didn’t want to risk damage. The next 2 days I self medicated with Volterol, Saturday morning came we left home at 5.45am heading for Beachy Head. My third outing to this one event.

The weather was kind, but as we headed higher into the hills we found ourselves running in the clouds, visibility wasn’t great and the dampness was the type to go through to the bones.  We dropped lower  out of the clouds around mile 12,  however this didn’t mean running on the flats. By mile 15 I could feel pain coming behind my left knee, I tried to ignore it and improve my poisture,  by 19 miles pain in my right hip flexor. A kind , nutty seasoned female runner, she had a bumbag full of magic pills for me to choose from. I made the wrong choice co-codymol instead of ibroprufen,  it didn’t help, and as we hit the Seven Sisters the steep run down was excrotiating, the ups far less painful but physically tough.

26.2 miles later we made our final descent down into Eastbourne. I did it, albeit slower than I wanted. 
As marathons go, physically it is very tough, which is clear to see by the way a large amount of runners are walking at the finish, the cuts and bruises some are sporting, the tears, and walking down steps sideways, backwards or anyway possible, but mentally it far outweighs any road marathon, views to die for, friendly banter with other competitors, great grub on the route and at the finish. Special thanks to my running partner and team mate Karen Chapman, perfect company for a 13 hour day with the travelling. 

Will I do it again?? …….. yeah why not

Priorities……right?!

I’m going to share with you a conversation I had with a friend just this week. 

Her words to me were “can I come work for you? You spend more money on yourself than anyone I know. I must be doing something wrong”

My reply ” How much did you spend on Justin Beiber tickets? How many holidays you got booked next year? How often do you eat out, get takeaways, how many bottles of wine per week do you drink at home, how often do you go clothes shopping?”

She admitted she wasn’t going to win this argument and we both agreed this is what you call “priorities”.

Today she sent me a Snapchat of the new Superdry jacket she had purchased, I put that into perspective with my reply “that’s one session of colonic”

To me my health and wellbeing are of utmost importance and yes I now spend more than I have ever done on my appearance, I’m 46 I need to invest in myself cos no one else is. I wouldn’t want to begin to add it all up. Don’t get me wrong I don’t walk round in rags, my wardrobe and my family’s wardrobe are decent clober, I just don’t go clothes shopping on a weekly basis. I don’t go big on shoes and handbags, I have my core items, again decent gear, which will last for years.

This is a similar scenario to the ” I haven’t got time” one. If you recall I will be in the gym or out for a run at 6am if that’s the only time I have. I make that time because I want to. When some people say “I can’t afford that” when I sure as hell know they can, it really is because, and I quote from my buddy ” I can justify spending a 100 quid on a nice meal but I can’t justify 70 quid to have my arse jet washed.”  BTW I also can justify £100 on a decent meal. 

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty, what I spend!!!  I’m not going into amounts but here goes, 

Monthly Gym membership £25

DNA bootcamp VIP £45

PT 6 session blocks not telling 

Beauty treatments, including facial peels, 6 weekly, Botox every 4 months and yep I’ve had fillers found the edges of my lips, lasts 18 months 

Colonic course of 7 

Health foods 

The odd pedicure 

Random sports massage. 

Then again I don’t have false nails or lashes, I do hairswaps with a friend . 

It’s all relevant, let’s move on and just get our own priorities right. My priority is protecting my future self, what’s yours? 

When Sh*t Happens (literally)

This week was recovery week after the Isle of Wight Fell Carnage….sort of anyway.

Monday I took stock, didn’t do much, refuelled, foam rollered and recovered. Ran around Tuesday’s effort session at running club. http://www.springfieldstriders.org.uk the bestest running club in the whole world. Wednesday I actually had a lunch break, which I spent in the gym

Thursday needs its own paragraph. PT with Brett, this consisted of 10 reps of squats with the weighted bar, slow down with a big push up, 10 weighted leg curls, big pull up, slowwww down. A new meaning to feeling the burn. 10 sets x 10 reps of each = 200 in total. Followed by calf raises/drops 3 x 15 and ab exercise (crab leg pull ups I think) on the pull up bar. 😳😳😳

Friday eve Hiit session, Sunday I was still sore and achey from Thursday. Gutted as was running Pleshey half marathon then 8 miles home. My race plan 1.55 finish then home anyway I could. The result….1.55.17 finish, same pace home and could’ve done more.

However the best part of my week has got to be my first ever colonic irrigation!! No where near as bad as I expected, I also learned a great deal from Esther, the therapist. The reason I went through this was since I did my juice cleanse things in the bowel area have been different. I won’t go into detail in case you’re squeamish. To my horror despite my exercise, good diet and fluid intake my bowels were completely solid and impacted, to the point they were spilling out the sides. The result I had lost my waist, permanently looked and felt bloated, my abs were gone. Esther remarked my stomach was totally out of character for my body shape. The next morning I woke up with a waist! I’m soo happy!  I have 6 more treatments booked have bought recommended aids to prevent this reacurring, I add from a totally different company Esther recommended.  Check out her website though it’s not totally finished but please keep checking.  

http://www.vivado.co.uk/esther/new_website_2014/mobile/your_colon.html

Primrose Colon Hydrotherapy Clinic

Beastmode

It’s all back on track…..diet, exercise, running! 

Monday I felt good after my 21 mile easy paced run, so popped along to the gym for some abs and back work. My abs were making an appearance again after my first colonic 🙊

However since having the treatment I became increasingly bloated and uncomfortable, thankfully I had 2 booked in for this week,  Thursday and Friday. Turns out still majorly impacted (gross subject sorry) and full of trapped wind, I can’t believe I’m telling everyone this! Apparently because I’m small and I have a narrow pelvis there are a lot of kinks in my bowel where things get stuck. After my 3rd session I felt human and not bloated any more.

Tuesday 6.15am Hiit session, Wednesday rest day, Thursday PT session, Friday 5.30pm Hiit session . Saturday I took off work as wanted to be part of the first cross country race of the Essex League, as I had the day off I thought I would warm up first and do Chelmsford Park Run that was an acceptable 5k didn’t go mad 23.25 so respectable. Couple of hours later 7km undulating cross country race. Sunday I had pre entered the Tiptree 10 mile road race, which I had to do, I just had to. That was tough my legs were soo tight, still a very respectable 1hr 25 mins, although this resulted in me hobbling around the rest of Sunday. 

So my cardio is up ⬆️ Fat burning exercise is up ⬆️ Protein intake is up⬆️ Calorie intake is down ⬇️ 

A winning combo……

No Surrender!

Mad week again! Still fitted in gym Monday, Hiit Tuesday, PT Thursday. Friday I drove 5 of us to The Isle of Wight for a weekend of racing.

Saturday at 11am was St. Boniface fell 3.8km of straight up and up then down. 

Saturday at 3pm The Ventnor Horseshoe, 12km, twice the climb

All in all that day, whether it be running, walking or climbing I covered 30km.
Sunday it was the longest of the 3, 21km The Wroxhall Round. By now my calfs despite foam rollering were rock solid and every climb, there were a lot, my poor calfs were on fire. They say racing is 85% mental, it really is. Within first mile the voice in my head was telling me I wouldn’t finish, I couldn’t let it win, by mile 5 the hills had evened out my muscles had warmed up and I had settled in to a nice pace, no one ahead or behind me therefore no need to power it on. 

Well I did finish, and to my utter amazement I earned myself third place V40 lady!

Fell running is not for the feint hearted, it’s tough but thoroughly enjoyable and they’re the only races we seem to hit the booze without a care! 

Monday I was achey, decided to rest and stretch. 

Tuesday I rocked up to effort training at my running club http://www.springfieldstriders.org.uk though I genuinely took it easy managing a respectable 5.5 miles.

Wednesday I hit the gym in my lunch break for a session on my abs. Then tomorrow, Thursday I have my PT, Friday will be Hiit, Sunday Pleshey half marathon plus run home. 

Despite all this and healthy eating again my weight isn’t going down. I still will not give in to the cake!!!