Pheeee-ew! What a busy weekend! We had our end of class salsa night out on Friday, our Ceilidh-come-Fèis-Showcase on Saturday and a lovely day out to Portavadie on Sunday. My parents were here, so it was good fun to catch up and relax. But it did mean that I didn’t get much training done over the weekend.
Before that, though, I’d made good progress in my attempt to become a SpartanJogger: I didn’t get to WAR on Monday or PiYo on Tuesday: I’d had some adjustments from the miracle working Osteopath on Monday so I gave my body some time to adjust, but I felt brilliant afterwards.
On Wednesday I ran. Yay!
First run in five weeks. It was a slow, steady three miler chatting with Emily so the time flew by. It was also torrential rain- we had thunder, lightening and overflowing drains to contend with, but we got it done. Why does running in the rain make you feel so bad ass?
Thursday was my first full- power PiYo session for some time and it felt great to be back to some degree of strength and flexibility. Jacqui loaned me some kit so that I can work on strength training in advance of the Spartan race, which is brilliant- and very kind of her. I now have a box jump, medicine balls which I can use as they are intended for or in a hold-all to replicate a sand bag. Jacqui gave me some really really good tips on some training ideas and exercises so I’ll be testing those out in the coming few weeks.
Friday night was our last Salsa class- boo 😔I’ll miss it: the fun, the footwork, the cameraderie- hopefully we’ll have a chance to do it again.
So, all in all, I have definitely made progress in my work towards the Spartan race. Yay!
Tonight I gave it my all at WAR. I’m almost back to my old self: I definitely still have some weakness in my left leg, and it did collapse under me when I was doing some jump lunges. But for other parts of the class I dug in deep and kept focussed. I imagined myself in four weeks, ready to run and as strong as I could be 💪🏻, so I worked HARD and used my weighted gloves as much as possible.
My plan for tomorrow night is to get in a solid run and to follow it up with some circuit exercises- if I’m not too sore after tonight’s class. I want to test my body a little, pushing it on while trying not to set back my recovery.
We’ll see how that goes and I’ll report back to you next week 👍🏻, meanwhile I hope this resonates with you: 
How is your training going?
Have a good week 🙂
Hello! How has your week been? Did you have a busy weekend? Are you loving this weather? Not that we’d know here in Argyll- we haven’t seen the glorious sunshine or high temperatures that most of you have had. Ah, well 😏
I’m not going to bore you with the details of my training last week, since I shared that with you all yesterday. You don’t need to read that lot twice!
I just wanted to pop by and give you a dose of motivation, if you need it 👍🏻 After our walk on Saturday I thought that this would work:
Have a great week!
Well, in a fashion it does. And by fashion I mean this rather swish Spartan Ambassador Tee 😉 
As the weeks go by, I’m feeling much more like my old self physically, but I still have a way to go with some numbness in my right thigh, triceps and upper back. My left knee isn’t collapsing nearly as much but I’ve not ventured a run on it yet.
I had a great night at WAR last Monday working on my core, legs and arms in particular but I didn’t use my weighted gloves- I’m planning to add them back in tomorrow night, if my osteopath appointment goes ok. I was a bit wobbly in the legs last week, too, but much improved from the previous week.
Yesterday, @TheWelshWookie and I went for a long, hilly walk in the woodlands above Tarbert, getting in six miles which was a real achievement: I felt ok physically, with my left leg struggling a little only in the downhill sections.
The view was gorgeous: 
When we got back, I did some work comparing my current training to the Spartan guide and there are some gaps I need to work on. Granted, I’m very happy that I’m already working hard on squats, lunges, planks, press ups and other key strength exercises, but I do have some gaps to address:
Bear Crawls: I’ll need to work on these to get my butt under the barbed wire. Not sure what to do beyond focussing on dropping my hips when holding a plank.
Pull Ups: Nope. Definitely a gap for me. Not sure I’ll ever manage pull ups so I’m going to rely on The Wookie punting me up ropes and walls 😆. Meanwhile I’ll work on my next gap:
Box Jumps: I’ve asked The Wookie to find a suitable implement we can use for practicing these- my coffee table is too high, higher than a dining chair. Still working on this one for now but I know it will be a critical one.
Sandbag Lifts: we’ve been working on imaginary sandbag lifts at WAR so I’ll have to really focus on this, and see if there’s something I can use in the meantime to build some strength here.
Not too bad, though, four key areas for development in terms of strength.
In the coming week I’m hoping to try a short run/walk/run so wish me luck with that, it’s been five weeks since my last run so I’m missing it terribly!
All in all, training is slow: my focus has been in recovery and on returning to fitness in a measured way. Long may it continue but with five weeks until the Spartan run I hope that my improvements build momentum as my confidence in what I can do returns. 😀
Yes, it begins. Slowly. But better than nothing.
I’m still unable to run, but my mobility has improved a little meaning that last week I managed to get my sorry butt back to classes. With one eye on the Spartan Sprint in six weeks, I started last Monday with WAR. I didn’t use my weighted gloves, and I kept to low intensity moves, but it felt great to be there 👍🏻
On Tuesday I went to PiYo Stretch and Flow which is more gentle than the Thursday class. While I missed my usual run, I felt that I was helping my body by doing as much as I could to keep up. My left leg was driving me crazy and had a mind of its own but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
I planned to join the walkers group at Jog Scotland on Wednesday night but it was cancelled. Undeterred, I walked 5k myself and I kept the pace up as much as I could manage.
All in all, the week was a real improvement on the previous few. 
This week, I’ve been back at WAR again and I managed some higher intensity work- but I’m still limited. I do feel that I’m making progress so I’m focusing on that. But I really want to get training for the Spartan Sprint more intensely while not setting myself back. I’m sure that will come in the next week or so. I’m waiting for some training tips to come through, so that should help! It I can’t help. It feel worried when I see images like this:
Eeek! All I can do is focus, train and do my best.
I hope that this resonates with you as much as it does with me right now:
Have a good week!
I hope you’d think of me as someone up for a challenge. I’m not usually one to shy away from trying something new, unless it really, really scares me. And there aren’t too many that I can think of.
I’m a little scared of the tough, boot camp- obstacle type- races, though, and I don’t mind admitting it. I did the Zombie Night Run which had some obstacles, a lot of mud and a lot of water: and while I absolutely loved it, I thought it was at my upper limit for those types of races.
Well, not any more. In July, The Welsh Wookie and I are going to do our first ever Spartan Race!
😀😳
I’m going from TartanJogger to SpartanJogger 😉
We have the chance to do the Spartan Sprint- and so we’re going to really challenge ourselves both physically and mentally and do it! For those unfamiliar with Spartan Races the sprint involves a 5-6k trail run interspersed with 20 or so obstacles involving mud, walls, water, barbed wire, fire and any other challenges they can come up with. Gulp!
I’ve been out with injury (and I still am) for the past few weeks, but given the cross training I’ve been doing I reckon if I don’t do this race this year, I may never pluck up the courage to do it.
So….. bring it on! My training starts now with a return to WAR tomorrow night focussing on leg strength, upper body, arms and core. All of which I will definitely need. I’m far from where I was before but now is as good a time as any to get stuck in.
I’ll keep you updated with my training progress as this is all going to be very different for me.
Have you become a Spartan? Any training tips for me? Are you joining us?
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