Run, Gumpsy, Run

Its April 1st. The start of a new quarter. The start of spring.

Weather in London is getting better on the day and running outside is becoming such a treat. My shin splints and knee aches have prevented me from doing really long runs, but I’m going strong with my 5 - 10 k’s.

Still cross training with yoga and some spinning here and there. 

That said, I feel like I’m plateau-ing a little. I was a fantastic shape for a while, and suddenly it feels as though I’ve ballooned out a bit. I’m not sure if this is a case of my body feeling comfortable at this weight or a fact or the following (which I’m not entirely proud of)

• The double all night-er I had to pull to get my thesis in
• The significant amount of alcohol I drank for approx a week in celebration of submitting my thesis
• The lack of work out’s considering my dehydration from bullet points 1 and 2

So there they are. My excuses. They’re pretty valid, and they were conscious decisions, but excuses are not OK. I’m spring cleaning my life, my workouts. 

Here’s to another fresh workout start. 
This spring I want to up my miles (without injury!)
And I want to tone tone tone.

Let’s go!  

It’s been a while and I’m sad that I’ve been neglecting my Tumblr. I have reasons. Of them: 

• Euro-tripping (will post about this soon)
• University work (they don’t call it a Masters for nothing)
• Snow / Cold (Was recovering from a cold)

Excuses out of the way, lets talk. Signed up for the London Race for Life to raise money for Cancer Research UK. This will be my first race since the 5.6km JPMorgan Corporate Challenge that I ran in August 2011. And I wish I could say that I ran that in good time but I didn’t. I’m starting small but I’ll be damned if I don’t run this whole thing. Its 5k. Do-able. Very do-able. 

Did 3km yesterday at the gym. Can’t wait for the weather to clear up so I can get back on the tarmac.

Very very excited about this.

Life #1: I am a student. At a really hard school. Doing a really hard degree. 

Life #2: I am a fitness fanatic. I’m obsessed with eating wholesome, nourishing foods.

The current, hardest stage of Life #1 is obviously university. I’m blessed to be able to attend one of the best institutions for my discipline. And I’m grateful that I am thus far doing pretty well at an extremely demanding degree course. Fortunately for me, but unfortunately for my time management, Life #2 also burns within me. I love working out. It makes me feel good. Eating right supports that. I like to cook, which compliments the fact that really eating right cannot be done without some time in the kitchen. 

This week has been an extremely busy week for my with university commitments. I’m doing a group project that is worth significant percentages of my year, and it is largely peer assessed (in a group of 9!), and so putting in the hours is a no-brainer. That did however take a toll on my work outs and eating habits.

Maybe it was the eating in college, or the fact that I was stressed, or the fact that I wasn’t getting much sleep … whatever it was, my body felt out of sync this week. I’m being very cautious of injury and so didn’t push myself. I just didn’t have the energy to work out. That said I did:

• Mon: Belly dance 
• Tues: Run & Body Pump / Strength Training
• Thurs: Yoga

And we’re at today. I’m planning on running tomorrow morning.

One thing is for sure.. I will have to find some way to balance for the coming weeks because neither my project nor my mission for health & fitness will go away. I think I will have to shift my sleep schedule to work out in the mornings, so that I can’t weasel out of it later on in the day. And I think I will have to start really planning my meals so that I have time to make them before going in to college / packing them up to take in with me…. 

I WILL MAKE THIS WORK.

It has certainly been a while since my last proper update. I’ve been busy doing 180’s on my life. I’ve been reading a lot about fitness regimens, eating healthy, and even about the power of the mind when it comes to weight-loss and fitness. 

Having been attempting to cook really healthy meals, I decided that a way to stay motivated is to do a “my week in food” collage. Essentially what I’m going to start doing is taking pictures of what I make, and put it into a collage on here. Hopefully it should keep me trying to make exciting healthy and colorful things. First one coming soon.

Speaking of food, I have been reading a lot about eating clean. I am essentially trying to take on the mantra that if it didn’t come out of the ground, or it didn’t have a face, I’m not eating it (have you ever seen an Oreo tree? No. So its out. You get the idea). Obviously there are somethings that will be exceptions but on the whole I am trying to get rid of any overly processed things from my diet. From all my reading, it was astonishing how the chemicals that are used to process foods affect your hormone balance - and it is this hormone balance that keeps your metabolism going strong. 

My work outs are making way also. I hit the gym a lot, and try to mix up my week between cardio, yoga, pilates, and strength training. The first week went fabulously, however this week I think I pushed myself a bit too far and as a result have been quite sore, especially in my legs and abs. Having read about muscle soreness - its probably best to let them rest for a day when they get sore, so as to enable the healing process to take place. When we exercise, we create tiny tears in our muscle fibers, hence why a diet rich in protein is essential - enabling this microtears to heal. And when we heal, we heal stronger, leaner, fitter. If muscles are sore, that group shouldn’t be worked again the next day, as this may take the micro-tears that we like, into an injury, which we obviously don’t like. 

To wrap up, I think a quick and easy way to track my progress on my fitness mission is to put my running distances. 

This week my longest running stretch was 3km @ 7 min/km

Not the longest, but I’ll get there eventually. Watch me!

P.S. Following my recent post about considering doing the master cleanse - I didn’t go through with it. I decided it was just too crazy, and would no doubt do more harm to my body than good. 

Happy week!