Category: Regular Blog

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So tell me: how was your week? Mine was mostly positive. It started off great, with a fantastic Body Conditioning class on Monday, followed by a double session on Tuesday: Pound and Zumba. It had been a really long time since I last tried Zumba, and it was fun! On Thursday, I had car trouble (it’s a long story) so I didn’t make PiYo, or VeraFlow which was disappointing. 

On Friday, @TheWelshWookie and I were back at Salsa, and I think we made more progress. It’s such a great workout, my hips are still aching so it must be working muscles that I don’t usually use in other classes. Putting the arms and the legs together is certainly challenging!

Saturday saw our first lessons as part of Tarbert’s Feis: I had a go at accordion and clarsach 🙂 So we had dance lessons and music lessons, fab cultural activities two days in a row!  We rounded off our busy weekend by taking part in Glasgow’s Mo Run along with my bestie Pauline, Gavin, Olivia and Christopher. The weather was very kind to us, and the rain stayed away until after we finished. It’s such a fab medal and we had a really good time! 

All in all, it’s been a busy weekend!

I’ve started off this week with another Body Conditioning session. I’m really loving this class, I’ve been pushing quite hard, tiring my muscles out as much as I can; Jacqui is really helping us to improve our form and developing the effectiveness of each movement, and I am feeling the benefits. This week I’ll be trying to work on my tricep press ups so that I can make the most of them in class. 

Here’s something that does cross my mind from time to time:

 Do you sometimes wonder that? Have a brilliant week!

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Welcome to a brand new week, how are you? I’m great. We had a quiet weekend which was definitely needed after a few busy ones.

On Friday night, we had a new experience: salsa lessons 💃🏼. We have been looking forward to these classes starting and finally, Friday arrived and so @TheWelshWookie and I set off to the village hall where we joined another 20 or so eager dance students! We started off with a ballet style warm up, using chairs as a barre and doing pliés and stretches. Next we began to learn the basic salsa step, thinking about what my feet were doing, hips, core was quite enough before even beginning to consider arms, hands and shoulders! It was ace. Roll on this Friday night for the second session. I may need to splurge on a pair of dance shoes!

Body Conditioning was back tonight, after a week off for Hallowe’en. Woop! I worked hard tonight, keeping with heavier weights for longer than I’ve managed before. We had a couple of new tracks which is always great for mixing things up. I know I’m going to feel it tomorrow 🙂

Here’s a little something to remind me that health needs a holistic approach….

 Have a great week! 

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Happy Hallowe’en to you all! 🎃🕸

How was your weekend? Any parties? We had Tarbert Book Festival, and we enjoyed it with my bestie Pauline, Gavin, Olivia and Christopher. We had a great natter and catch up on Friday night, followed by a couple of very interesting sessions on Saturday. Early afternoon we enjoyed Janice Galloway’s talk about her latest book, Jellyfish. She was very honest, forthright and thought provoking, as well as being a wonderful reader:  Our next session was in the Anchor Hotel and was a Date with Death, about historical crime fiction by Shirley McKay:  Listening to authors describing their work, how they craft their stories and how their books come to life is fascinating. 

We had a meal at the Anchor, which was delicious, before heading back home for our own book group. Gavin had chosen Robert Harris’ new book, Conclave, which we all read in advance so that we could discuss it. I loved that we took the Festival weekend a step further for ourselves, and after a few glasses of wine we had plenty to talk about! 

On Sunday we had yet another lovely lunch at the George Hotel in Inveraray. The fires were lit and the food was as amazing as it usually is. 

Tonight, Body Conditioning was cancelled; and Pound is cancelled tomorrow night:( so I’ll need to work extra hard on Wednesday and Thursday nights. This Friday is the first of the new Salsa classes, I can’t wait!

Here’s a little motivation to start the week:  Have a good week! 

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

by TartanJogger ♥ 3 Comments

Hello everyone, how has your Monday been? I was back at work after a week’s holiday. I had a very relaxing week, but didn’t skip out on my classes and running. It’s so easy when having a staycation to just give ’em a miss, but I didn’t. Mind you, I then ate a few extra calories so it’s just as well I stuck to it! 😉 I did manage to get most of my Christmas shopping done, it feels great to be organised!

Tonight’s Body Conditioning class was amazing. It’s tough – don’t get me wrong- but I love the sore-muscle feeling immediately after working out that I know will develop into DOMS tomorrow or Wednesday. Tomorrow I have Pound, with Jog Scotland on Wednesday and then both PiYo and VeraFlow on Thursday. I’m then looking forward to the Tarbert Book Festival with my bestie and her family at the weekend. Yay!

So, to match my positive mood tonight, here’s a little positivity to take away:  Have a great week!

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

by TartanJogger ♥ 2 Comments

Hello, everyone. I hope I didn’t bombard you too much last week, while I was catching up on my race reports. It feels good to have them done, and up to date.

How was your weekend? Mine was amazing: we had a night out in Glasgow on Friday night for my birthday, followed by Stacey’s baby shower on Saturday which was such great fun. Yesterday, we had lunch with Pauline and Gavin before seeing Miss Saigon’s 25th Anniversary show at the cinema. What an awesome weekend!  Tonight, we are back in Tarbert, and instead of lounging about after a busy weekend, we’ve been to Body Conditioning, to start the week off right. 

My autumn fitness fun is looking something like this:

  • Monday- Body Conditioning 
  • Tuesday- Pound
  • Wednesday- Jog Scotland
  • Thursday- PiYo and VeraFlow
  • Friday- Salsa

Yes- you read that correctly- dance classes for adults are coming soon to Tarbert and the first session will be Salsa! I’ve never tried salsa before but I’m very much looking forward to trying it. I’ll also try to get a weekend run in at some point, but not at the expense of some rest of course. 

Here’s a little Monday Motivation for you, if- like me- you need it: Have a lovely week!

Race Report: Tarbert 10k Dookers Doubler

Race Report: Tarbert 10k Dookers Doubler

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

This year’s Tarbert races featured a new challenge: the Dookers Doubler! Thirty or do of us set out to run both the 5k and 10k runs, and I was looking forward to it.

First up was the 5k, which took us from Garvel road end along the harbour to the end point and back. It’s such a fast and flat route that a PB is a distinct possibility: not for us, though; knowing we had the 10k still to come meant we were taking it easy! 

As ever, the support was tremendous. The marshals were excellent and the runners all supported each other, too. It was a pleasure to run. As we crossed the finish line, we collected our first medal, changed over our bin for the next race and lined up, ready for the tougher 10k. 

While the 5k is fast and flat, the 10k is hillier, with two off road, trip sections. Although these are tough, they give runners cracking views over the village. @TheWelshWookie pulled his calf as we turned the first corner, so I found myself running on my own for most of it. But, given the excellent support, that was not a problem. I walked the first trail section up to Maggies Cottage, as runners were heading back downhill towards us slower runners and I didn’t want to hinder any of them. Next we headed back through the village, along the harbour past the crowds and back again, this time heading up Big Brae and around the Castle loop offering fabulous views over Tarbert. I love it up there! I kept asking the marshals if they had any gin for me….. but no joy. Maybe next year someone will oblige! 😉  Next, it was back down Big Brae and along the harbour front to the finish line. Although my legs were tired, the support really kept me going. 

I collected my second medal (yay!), goodie bag and specially designed Doubler t shirt. We were treated to masses of goodies: home baking, tablet (the thought of that tablet kept me going), water, bananas, sandwiches galore. It is brilliant! 

I then headed out to cheer @TheWelshWookie across the finish line and we stayed around chatting and to support those who had placed. There are loads of awards up for grabs at this event, with fantastic prizes. 

Overall, my 5k time was slower than last time, but I took three minutes off my 10k time from last year, so I was very, very pleased!

When 2017’s event opens, I’ll be first in line to sign up 🙂