Don't Let It Take Over Your Life

Today I'm gonna rant a bit. I've been off work for a week and have plenty of time to catch up with my favourite fitness blogs and my exercising Facebook/Instragram/Twitter friends but it's all left me with a slightly sour taste in my mouth.

You see, I think way too many people are slightly obsessed. For some people their entire lives seem to revolve around training and food, and whilst I can understand having exercising as your hobby (hell, I have exercising as a hobby!), I think that people need to relax a little. People are training and eating/dieting like they were pro-athletes, their lives ruled by a rigorous training regime and a food diary thicker than the Oxford Dictionary - and you know what I find the most disturbing part of this whole malarky? I don't even know if they do it for themselves or if they do it to prove something. Way too many people seem to have a need to validate themselves and their training by always running longer, more races or more challenging races. I see, on blogs, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, people with such one-dimensional lives that all that make them, well, them is lost. All you see is a person seeking validation through their achievements in Lycra.

I do not want to become that person, I'd even go as far as to say that it's my greatest fear in life to become that person. Do I like running? I'd say I bloody love running. And cycling. And bootcamp. And a few other things. BUT I also love having a glass of wine at the rooftop cinema, eating a piece of chocolate at work when it's one of those days and I love going out dancing and drinking with my friends. I'm excited about running the London Marathon and I relish the challenge of my upcoming ultramarathon - but running and racing isn't who I am. It's a part of who I am, and I don't want it to be all I am. As some people might know I lived with an eating disorder for the majority of a decade and if it tuaght me anything it is that a one-dimensional existance is soul destroying.

So, what I'm trying to say with this blog post is....Don't Let It Take Over Your Life. You are more than your accomplishments in Lycra.

Knowing When Enough Is Enough

In ten Days time I'm meant to take on the Royal Parks Ultra and I'm scared witless. Logically I know I can do it but I still worry. Today I ran a little 13 mile run and I should really leave it be now. Do a fre short runs, some cross training and trust in the training I've already done. Yet I feel like I could fit in another long(isg) run on Sunday and will have to stop myself from heading out for a run. I hope I succeed.....

Stylish t-shirt! 

Beautiful Victoria Park

Regent's Canal 

That race t-shirt from when I was 63rd out of 3386 in a London 10k! 

London Marathon 2014

I'm in! I finally get to run the London Marathon, and I'm so excited that there no words for it.  Wooooo!

Running Really Is Cheaper Than Therapy

You could say it's exhausting running a marathon. As someone who's run several marathons I can confirm it is, but I can also say that there is nothing as exhausting than those few moments when there's a collective intake of breath as everyone realises that depending on what happens in the next few moments someone might live or die. Those few moments fills you with more adrenaline that anything I've ever experienced and pretty much ages you 10 years. As some of you may know I'm a nurse by profession, and without saying anyhing confidential I can say that sometimes I encounter emergencies. Full blown, life or death, kind of emergencies that make you realise how fragile and previous life really is. Yesterday was one of those days and I ended up staing a full 18 hours at work so when I finally got to bed around 3.30am I was exhausted yet twitchy from adrenaline. Around 11am I woke up, feeling more hungover than after a night of drinking, to a grey and cold London. I had, before yesterday, planned to do thousand and one things today but when I woke up today there was only one thing I wanted to do. I wanted to run.

By the time I'd had breakfast and gotten dressed it had started to raining, and not a Little light drizzle either - no it was proper pelting down. A part of me wanted to climb back into bed and pull the duvet over my head but logically I knew that I needed to get outside and do some running therapy. After the initial few miles when the rain annoyed me slightly I was soaked and had started to enjoy it. For every step a little bit of my worries seemed to slip away, alongside the remaining adrenaline. If you asked me what I was thinking I wouldn't know, all I know is that it was more cleansing than any therpahy session. Life, death, love and happiness seemed to make more sense than after two hours than before so whilst I was soaked and frozen solid post-run I was also more content and calm.

Admitting Defeat

Today I was meant to do the London Duathlon, but the last few days sore throat isn't budging and with only three weeks until my first ultra marathon I had to admit defeat. No duathlon and I'm absolutely gutted.

Over and out, people.

It's Getting Close...

Two weeks. Two weeks is all I have until I make my duathlon debut. I feel ridiculously unprepared, having put all my focus on surviving a month with Barry's Bootcamp and then the Royal Parks Ultra Marathon. Instead of rigorous preparations I'm following the Nike approach...just do it!

Get Fit Or Die Trying - A Month At Barry's Bootcamp

 

Before I started Barry's Bootcamp I thought I was pretty fit...running marathons faster than your average Joe, finishing 63rd out of 3386 in a London 10k, cycling 100 miles for fun and actually passing the press up test for the Royal Marines Fitness test (60 press ups in 2 minutes). Yeah, pretty fit.... But when I did my first Barry's class back in June I struggled. A lot. I left feeling tired and unfit, which for me is the equivalent of a red cape shown to a bull - I decided I simply had to conquer this bootcamp malarky. I set my sights on doing one of the month long membership options as a sort of 30 day challenge and August was the month it was going to happen.

 

I went into the membership feeling unconfident as a runner, after my slightly 'disastrous' July halfmarathon, but not too unfit after Ride London relay. I would now like to write that 'the first week it was hard, but then I could feel myself getting stronger...' etc., and while I do notice some good improvements in my fitness it hasn't gotten any easier! This is mainly to do with the fact that the fitter you get, the more you push yourself. Or rather, the more the instructors push you.... I've done a lot of cursing and complaining but the truth is that I've enjoyed myself a lot more this month than I previously have in a gym - this has well and truly been right up my alley. Do I like people shouting at me? I actually do, or rather I enjoy knowing that they care enough about improving my fitness to go round and push me. This has been a challenging month (it's a challenging workout!) but that's what's made it good, there's always been a goal to work towards and no stagnation

 

So what are the biggest improvements?

Core strength. I've never had a core of steel, and I probably never will, but this month-long residency at Barry's has really improved my core strength! I still have some major weaknesses but at least there are fewer of them than there used to be....

Sprint speed. When I first started Barry's my top sprint speed was probably 10.5mph, and even that made me think I was either gonna fall off the treadmill or die (probably both). But in the third week I managed to reach that elusive 12.5mph and now I can honestly say that 12.5mph is my top sprint speed....big achievement from your resident Captain Slow! I've also regained some of my lost confidence, big thanks to the Barry's crew for that.

Working when fatigued. I've done a fair amount of classes these last few weeks, in addition to my ultra marathon training, and some days I've felt tired, with legs like lead. Despite being tired I've worked through the fatigue and I now feel that my body now responds better to hard work despite being tired.

Challenging myself: I've gotten better at working until failure. Barry's have challenged me to try more reps, faster speeds, bigger weights - and occasionally I've failed or come up short. BUT, it's okay to not be able to do every single rep, or every single increase in speed on the treadmill, as long as you've worked as hard as you can.

 

A lot of people have asked me if I've lost weight but that's hard to know as I never weigh myself. My clothes fit better (or so I want to tell myself...) but since improvement in fitness and not weightloss was the goal I can honestly say I don't really care. Let's just say that I think the non-existant weightloss has got more to do with my love of cold beer in the sunshine than Barry's not being effective enough..... Would I do the 30 day challenge again? In a heartbeat! Despite all the classes following a similar format no two classes are exactly the same, you work different body parts on different days and you've got a plethora of great instructors that will give their all to make you give your all. If you go to an 'off peak' class you sometimes get pretty close to having a personal trainer.

 

Do I still think I'm pretty fit? Ask me in the middle of a Barry's class and I'll say no, but I do know I'm at least a little bit fitter than I was before I started....!