Monday Motivation ...

Phew! We made it through another week and weekend! 

What did you get up to on the weekend?  Did it involve some outdoor activity?  Here in Brisbane, Saturday was a gorgeous day but my only outdoor activity consisted of watching Miss 11's netball.  They played a great game by the way!

Sunday was my day for some fresh air ... long run day.  As you may know I've had to cut back on my training with a little overuse injury that has been plaguing me. 
On Friday I was given the all clear by the physio to start increasing my mileage again .. SLOWLY .. of course!  I was actually super keen to get out and run as I had been feeling pretty good.  Mr Fit Mum wasn't going to do his usual 25km this weekend so I advised him that he should still run a nice, easy 10km with the family .. OK so I wanted company!

The whole family headed off on our run ... kids on bikes, mum & dad tailing them as best we could! Baxter, the border collie, was beside himself to have everyone there!

I managed the first 5km, stopping and starting with Mr 7 on his bike, in just under 30 minutes! Yes, I was so happy! No niggly hamstrings!  The return trip was a little slower but not by much, so this Fit Mum is pretty happy today .. especially that I have pulled up well with no aches, pain or much stiffness!  Now to take the rest of my runs this week a little easy ...

Check me out with one of my support crew ... she didn't realise she had serious helmet hair!  And aren't I all matchy matchy .. even my shoes are hot pink!  And I don't wear pink!

My other challenge for the week will be to keep on track with Fit Mum's Healthy Eating Challenge this month.  I've prepared my menu for the week, did the fruit, veg and butcher run and ordered the groceries online.  They should be here any time now so the pantry will be stocked with everything I need to get healthy meals on the table without having to think!

Here's a little reminder ...

sometimes it will feel pretty tough to plan and get organised to get those healthy meals and snacks ready to go.  By sticking with a routine of planning your meals for the week and making sure you have everything you need, you will be in the habit in no time! 

I would love to hear what you have got planned to stay healthy & active this week!  Drop by Fit Mum's facebook page and let me know or leave a comment here.

Training Update ...

It's been a while so I thought it might be time for a training update.

I had a great training week last week! I bounded through my planned runs ( well, I sort of felt like I bounded anyway, just go with it! ).  I even included my scheduled strength training on Tuesday.

My longest run of the week was on Saturday.  I even had a training partner for this one.  I've never had a training partner, particularly for a longer run.  It was my sister so maybe that's why I didn't feel too bad!  We managed to talk our way through the first 5km ... until we got a little misdirected ( I did not say we were lost .. ) ... then we talked a little less but I was really happy with our 12km.

I have started including a run with Mr 7 on Sunday afternoons while Mr FitMum does his long runs with Miss 11.  Mr 7 scoots along on his bike and I try to keep up!  It's kind of like tempo training ... 

By Sunday night I was starting to feel the effects of a few more kilometres run over the last week .. and possibly not enough stretching.  No real soreness, just some stiff hips.

I decided to give my legs a break from running yesterday and did a strength type circuit instead.  Here is what I did ... Each exercise was done for 45 seconds with a 15 second rest between. 

Kettlebell swings
Jump onto Bosu ( a bit of extra stability training )
Push press
Lunge with Single arm Row
Single leg glute bridges on Bosu ( working on my glutes and hamstrings )  
Ab exercise .. leg raises

Repeat 3 times ...

Fast forward to this morning when I am struggling to get out of bed and walk around after I injured my hamstring .. the other one this time ... whilst doing some high jump drills with Miss 11 on a local oval.  All rather innocuous really, I few strides, then a few more a bit faster until I step on some uneven ground and oops there goes my leg.

The physio has advised that I not run for a week and just focus on some upper body strength, presumably to keep my mind off the fact that I cannot run even though I have entered a half marathon whose date is only 9 weeks away! I'm not even allowed to go for a walk .. it hurts to walk too fast and it doesn't look very pretty either!

Apparently I will not lose much fitness as I have a great base ... what about if I lose my mojo?  I'm not sure if I had a great base of that! 

Maybe this has been sent to make me stronger?  I hope I will be stronger because I was just starting to feel like I was getting into a great training routine. You will note that my strength circuit had my glute and hamstring exercises included!

In other related news, I entered the half marathon in Melbourne later this year! 

But I think my focus right now might just be on getting my legs moving again in the next week or so and see if I can get my mojo back!

How is your training going? 

Have you had to have time off lately for an injury that has really put you in a bit of a spin?

The week that was ...

I have been wanting to get back to my weekly recap posts for a while.  Maybe it has been laziness ( most probably ) or lack of time to sit ( possibly ) or even lack of writing urge ( possibly ) ... I've only managed a post here or there. 

I even think to myself sometimes that there is no one out there who is really interested in what I'm doing so why in God's name would you want to read about it here! Well, other than the spam bots who are driving my crazy at the moment with their comments.
 
Now that I've got that off my chest .. It's not that I haven't been keeping up my usual exercise throughout the week, I still exercise almost every day.  If you do read my irregular posts you will know that I have started training again for a half marathon or two this year.  

Please don't ask me why or even if I want to because there are days when I wonder these things to myself.  It's mostly when I've just woken up and am still lying in my warm bed and it's rather cold and dark outside.  Let's just say that the thought of a 10km run is not entirely appealing!

In saying that, here's what I've been up to this week ...

Monday 

This is my "easy" run day after my long run on Saturday.  So I don't think it's easy but I usually manage to get myself into a bit of a rhythm and run about 6km.  I do feel better once I've finished, even if I can't feel my fingers .. here is why.

Tuesday

 I did manage to do a sort of strength session this week.  Nothing too dramatic as I don't want to be too sore to run the rest of the week .. is that really an excuse or am I being a princess? Wait, don't answer ... 

 

Wednesday

 It was freezing again this morning but I headed off for a short 3km run.  Plan was for another 3km in the afternoon ... it was pouring rain, no running.

 

Thursday 

My willpower did not win this battle so I didn't get out of bed to run in the morning.  I did however take the kids in the afternoon and did our short 3km.  It will leave me 3km short for my overall distances this week but I'll be OK and let myself soak up the extra rest!

 

Friday

Today, no running, complete rest day while is psyche myself up to head out for my long run tomorrow morning.

Ultimately so far my week has gone to training plan and other than feeling rather exhausted this week, I think I'm still on track with my training.

How is your training going this week?  

Were you loving it or were you going through the motions? 

Are you training for a specific event?