Summer round-up

Back at the beginning of the summer, before the sun even bothered to come out, I wrote this year's Summer Ambitions list:

It turns out that organising a wedding, moving to a different city and starting a new job for the first time in seven years takes quite a bit of time and effort! However, all things considered, I don't think I did too badly:

try stand up paddle boarding - I did this one! If you have't already guessed, this fun day out was my hen do (the British equivalent of a Bachelorette party). It was fantastic fun and I definitely plan on going again.

four ballet classes in a week - this one really has fallen by the wayside. Last summer I had plenty of times on my hands and achieved this aim quite easily. This year I think my "record" is a paltry two. But never fear my ballet-loving friends - I will be back and I will be dancing more.

get a facial and massage - half achieved. I had a wonderful, relaxing massage a couple of days before the wedding, which was perfect in every way. I'm sure I'll get round to treating myself to a facial at some point, and in the meantime I continue to enjoy my indulgent face mask every now and again.

clear out more clutter - this is turning into an annual event! I got rid of a whole load of stuff before the move, but I still feel like I have a lot of stuff. I am now the proud "owner" of a shed-sized storage locker which is quite well packed.

drink a fancy cocktail - managed this one a couple of times which is good. I mostly find myself gravitating towards the traditional mojito though - not very fancy but reliable and tasty.

get my skates on  - I know I did this at some point, but I'm failing to remember exactly when. Sometime this summer I was on my skates.

go running - nope. I have finally realised that running is really not my thing. I was listening to MarathonTalk (still one of my favourite podcasts) and they were talking about how they love running. One of the presenters made the point that, even though you don't always enjoy runs, you should still have a positive attitude towards it if it's something you do regularly. It hit a nerve with me: I don't enjoy running and I almost never have. So, running is off the agenda, to be replaced with all sorts of other exercise activities.

sit in the sun with a good book - this one has happened a few times :) Somehow I've actually read quite a few books. I might even manage a blog post about them at some point. To be honest, I haven't enjoyed them all and I'm currently hunting for great books.

make cookies - not quite, but I did make scones one morning.

get my nails done nicely - I got a pretty manicure before the wedding (nothing wild), and I've been painting my nails quite regularly over the summer. Colours have included: electric blue, pinky-beige, pale pink, purple, bluey-turquoise and purpley-grey (the current colour). It's surprising how much painting my nails lifts my mood.

wear a dress "just because" - this is something I'm definitely getting better at. I admit that jeans are still my first point of call, but there have been several weekends or evenings when I've thrown on a dress without an occassion to go to.

go swimming - I don't know how I haven't managed this one. Unless swimming in a lake after falling off a paddle board counts?!

How was your summer? What did you get up to?
Any good reads that you can recommend?

Technical help

I have been utterly rubbish at running recently. My heart is not in it in the same way as some of my other activities, but it is the sport that keeps me most healthy and in shape - ballet and swimming are fabulous but they don't have the same calorie burn!

Yesterday I headed out. I didn't want to run continuously because I knew I'd get tired and demoralised quickly (it's been a while...), so instead I decided to cover a longer distance with 4 minutes walking to 1 minute running. It went well, except for taking a wrong turning and cutting about a mile off the route, and has boosted my confidence to go out again.

What amused me was my technology usage on this walk/run:

• garmin - for recording the route and my pace (didn't bother with the heart rate monitor seeing as I wasn't running most of it)
• interval timer app on my phone - this is brilliant! Gone are the days of peering at my garmin repeatedly to work out if I've run the required distance/time. And it buzzes/bings over whichever music or podcast I'm listening to.
• samsung hope relay app - if you haven't already signed up, please do! Basically, for every mile you walk/run/cycle/skate/etc, Samsung donates £1 to charity. And as an added novelty, you get to make your own mini-runner character and every now and again a recording of a sportsperson wishing you well!
• podcasts - I love Marathon Talk podcasts and feel like a loser if I listen to them and haven't run in a while. Much better to listen whilst running.

my samsung hope relay character

Positive thinking

I searched back through old episodes of Marathon Talk (my favourite podcast) to find advice for race week (which is here in episode 13) and found a hidden little nugget of advice: in that last few days make a list of 10 positive things that you did during your race build up, the idea being that you don't spend your time worrying about what you haven't done/what went badly.

Now, as we all know, my "event" build up hasn't been entirely great, so I thought a list of just five would help remind me of the good things that I did manage to do. It accidentally turned into a list of eight...

1) Started running early - I was going out for 2 and 3 mile runs back in October.

2) Found a partner-in-crime - having a regular running evening with a friend made me more likely to go running and to increase the distance gradually. And it was more fun.

3) Discovering that I can keep running whilst in some (moderate) pain. Especially when I started getting sore knees.

4) I went back to parkrun and accidentally PB'ed.

5) I ran in the rain!

6) I discovered how much easier it is to run in daylight and sunshine (which sounds obvious but wasn't).

7) I got out of bed at 6am on a Saturday to fit a run into a busy weekend.

8) I ran 9 miles! All by myself too :)

I am ready

We had a bit of a running photoshoot this evening. More to come...

12 hikes...

Hiker Mom at living the hike life suggested a different kind of challenge for 2012: 12 hikes in 12 different states/countries. I thought I could give that a go, with 12 different counties. It shouldn't be too hard to plan one hike a month during 2012, should it?

Places I could hike:

New Forest (Hampshire)

Jantastic - spring motivation

Yeah, yeah, I know it's only a couple of days into December, but I had to share this straight away!

For a bit of context, I've been an avid listener to Marathon Talk podcasts for ages now, since I originally started "training" for the Amsterdam marathon. And if listening to people talking about training for marathons equated to real training, then I would have been much better prepared!

This is the launch video for their spring motivation series...

Yup, I've signed up already. Even though I'm currently running 1-2 times a week and their minimum option is 3 times a week. I'll get there... :)

A bit of grit

I am not one of those determined, motivated, fit and healthy people that seem to be everywhere. And I rarely push myself to work really hard. In fact, I would describe myself as pretty rubbish at self-motivation. Quite often, I would rather be sat on the sofa than out being active and pushing myself.

However, somehow (and almost without me noticing) I seem to have developed a little bit of grit. That part of me that got round an entire marathon even though I hadn't trained enough, had been passed by the hurry up van (and half the entrants to the half-marathon) and eventually crawlled in as the last official finisher. It doesn't surface very often, but it is there.

I think it all started with karate...

Early days (circa 2002)

What I like about karate is learning to do particular movements, control your body, etc. What I end up doing in karate is standing in front of a person, staring into their eyes and thinking: "I've got to move fast enough, or I'm going to get punched!" It's an odd thought for a rather non-violent and definitely non-confrontational person, and a rather frightening one sometimes :)

Grading for my brown belt, 2005

Unintentionally, karate has given me something that I didn't use to have and for that I am very grateful. Hopefully my little bit of grit and determination will keep me running and keep me pushing myself further and faster...

 

Pictures from a trip to the Lake District a few years ago.

headspace for running

How do you motivate yourself to get out the door and run?

What do you think about when you're running?

What keeps you going?

Given my dodgy (and somewhat lazy) running history, I'm trying to organise my brain better. I'm a bit of a wimp - much better at creating running plan spreadsheets and listening to episodes of the Marathon Talk podcast than actually putting in the miles.

Whoa, this brings back memories!