Tag: training

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Bam! And I’m back at classes, yay!

Last week was a little difficult to keep on track, I did a lot of traveling and spent time away from home, but I didn’t slack off even though I didn’t manage to get to classes. I spent time walking and running instead. I’m gradually grinding my 5k time down which I am very pleased about. I’m quicker than I was at any point last year so I’m counting that as solid progress!

I was back at Salsa class on Friday night. It’s such a lot of fun, and I definitely worked up a bit of a sweat. We worked on turns for the first time, which was tougher than I anticipated- getting my head movement right is not easy! I had a relaxing weekend, with the first of my Clarsach lessons on Saturday- I really enjoyed it, and I kept up with those who were able to attend the first lesson which I missed. The next class is this coming Saturday and I’m excited to have another go, to see what I can remember!  I spent some time on Sunday doing some food prep. I didn’t do much more than I would normally do, but I was a little more organised and prepped some dips and some extra snacks. My thinking is that I might make better food choices if it’s ready to go and needs no preparation when I actually want to just eat!  Some of my snacks for this week include:

  • Sugar snap peas and caramelised onion hummus
  • Red pepper sticks and salsa
  • Apple and peanut butter
  • Sweetcorn and diced red pepper
  • Edamame beans
  • Hard boiled eggs
  • Strawberry, blueberry, Greek yoghurt with flax and chia seeds

I’m getting hungry just thinking about it! 

Tonight, I was back at class as I said: we had a combo of WAR and Body Conditioning which was ace! It was certainly a workout I needed. I didn’t quite work hard enough, though: I planned to work at 60-70%of my max heart rate which would have been around 107-125BPM. My average was 106BPM so I must do better next week!

Here’s some motivation for this week: Get out there!

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

by TartanJogger ♥ 4 Comments

Hello, how was your festive break? Did you have time off- from work and from running (or fitness)? I did, but I managed a few runs while classes were off, so I haven’t been completely idle.

Some classes return this week, and hopefully most will be back next week, but until then I’ll be running to make sure that I kick off my 2017 health and fitness goals the way I mean to go on.

This year, we kicked things off by taking part in the Great Winter Run in Edinburgh, which was absolutely brilliant. Although it was only a 5k, it was well worth the overnight trip to take part in it. I loved it! I’ll post a full race review later in the week, but meanwhile here’s my medal:

Over the past 10 days or so my running splits have improved, which is really encouraging. Tonight I braved the rain and the wind to get another 5k in. @TheWelshWookie and I recently joined Vitality UK and I’m enjoying the additional health motivation that comes with that. So much so that I’ve decided to take part in their 10 week #FittestYearTogether challenge which kicks off today. Day one down, and so far so good!

Here’s hoping that my motivation continues:)  Have a good week. 

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 ♥ 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!

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Well, last week this happened:And it was even more amazing than I thought it would be! The run was by far one of the most scenic with plenty of distractions and I loved it! It wasn’t fast, it wasn’t pretty but it was lots of fun. We dressed up in Nightmare Before Christmas inspired costumes and just went with the whole relaxed atmosphere. 

Since we got back from Paris, we did PiYo and VeraFlow and also had a short run on Saturday. This week I’m getting back into my routine with classes and runs too. I’ve also signed up for a few other runs: the Mo- Run, the Great Winter Run, the Great Edinburgh Run and the Great Scottish Run too. I also have my eye on the Rock and Roll Liverpool half marathon, too- eek! Looks like I have several runs to keep me busy for the next wee while! 

As I reflect on the Disneyland Paris half, I’m very pleased with what we did. It was our slowest half marathon by far, but I’m ok with that. I’m hoping that the shorter goals this winter might help sharpen up the speed a little but I’ve definitely made me peace that a quick pace is not something I need to be worried about. As Meb says:

 Have a wonderful week!

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

by TartanJogger ♥ 4 Comments

Hello, there, blog readers. How are you?

This past week has whizzed in, and in a week’s time, the inaugural Disneyland Paris Half Marathon will be all over. I feel that I’ve been waiting for this event for so long – and suddenly it’s approaching far too quickly!

Training last week went really well, with Body Conditioning, PiYo and another VeraFlow session. I also did a very comfortable 5k and 10k, so I reckon I’m about ready for race day as I can be.

We’ve also done all of the rest the prep: we’re packed, we have all of the waivers and forms printed and signed, Euros ordered and flights checked in. Roll on Saturday morning!

This week, I’m keeping training very light: I have Body Conditioning tonight and I’ll also do a couple more 5k runs – nothing strenuous, keeping everything gentle at this stage. I’ll be missing PiYo and VeraFlow on Thursday, though, which I’m sad about – I love these classes so much! But it’s only for one week. I’ll be back for some post-race recovery next week.

What do you have planned this week? Any training scheduled? Remember this – it’s how I think I’ll be phrasing Sunday’s run in my head:

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Have a brilliant week!

 

Monday Motivation

Monday Motivation

by TartanJogger ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Welcome to a wet, windy Monday here on the west coast of Scotland. After a lovely, sunny and warm weekend, I’m looking out of the window to a deluge of water and some decidedly autumnal winds. Urgh! Looks like summer may be over!

How was your weekend?

I had a lovely time – Tony’s parents were visiting, and we spent the day on Saturday at Portavadie, using the fabulous spa facilities (yes, again). It’s very relaxing, with stunning landscapes across Loch Fyne. Even the sauna has a stunning view. Needless to say, I’m planning my next trip already….

My last run was back on Tuesday, but I’ve managed to walk a fair bit, and I also had PiYo and Veraflow classes, back to back, on Thursday. You all know that I love PiYo, but Veraflow was new to me. It was our instructor, Jacqui’s first time teaching it, and it was good fun!

The warm up involved latin-style dance steps, combined with some gentle stretching. Actually, that sums up the class well, too – lots of lovely stretches with fun dance-style routines that I’m hoping I might get to grips with after a few weeks 😉 I’m not the most co-ordinated person, as many of you will know.

Tonight, I’m off to Body Conditioning again – I worked hard at last week’s class, so much so that my DOMS lasted though until Saturday! 😮 I’m looking forward to feelin’ the burn again tonight – though I might have to make sure I don’t take it too far. I’ll then pull on my trainers again tomorrow night, Wednesday night and again on Saturday – we’re less than two weeks away from the Disneyland Paris half marathon – eek!

Here’s a little something to get you started this week, if you are struggling:

22motivation-fitness-quotes

Have an ace week 🙂

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

by TartanJogger ♥ 1 Comment

Hello, did you miss me last Monday? We had visitors, so I didn’t post. We had a wonderful weekend with Neil, Ange and Harry which included a lovely walk around Skipness and a luxurious visit to Portavadie Marina’s Spa. It was bliss! 

I was back at PiYo this week which felt great after a few weeks off, I really needed the stretch and the workout. I’ve also been running, culminating in a long, slow run on Saturday. @TheWelshWookie and I did eleven miles along the Crinan canal. The weather forecast was for rain, but it didn’t appear so we ran in sunshine for most of the way. It felt really good to get such a steady run under our belts. With Disneyland Paris’ inaugural half marathon in three weeks time it was just what we needed. We spent time this weekend making the arrangements for our trip- I’m really looking forward to it!

Tonight, I had a Body Conditioning class which was tough but ace! It has been years since I did a body conditioning class- in years gone by I did body conditioning and Body Max so it felt good to exercise my body in a different way. Suffice to say that my arms are so tired that I struggled to pick up my cup of tea this evening! 😮 

This really helped me to push through tonight during the class:  Gie it laldy if you can! Have a good week!

Monday Motivation 

Monday Motivation 

by TartanJogger ♥ 1 Comment

I am the boss of my running. I am! It has taken a while recently but this weekend, I felt back in charge 😉

My local race was this weekend- the Tarbert TT10K and @TheWelshWookie and I ran in the inaugural ‘Dookers Doubler’ which was both the 5k and 10k.

I’ll save the race review for now, but I was pleased with how I did. My 5k time was less than a minute slower than last year, but my 10k time was over 3.5 minutes faster, so I was absolutely delighted! 😀

Here’s this year’s t shirt and medal:

 Aren’t they fab? 

I stretched my legs tonight with a 5k run, and I just had to wear my new shirt;) it was hot, hot, hot out there but my legs felt good. I’m feeling more confident now, as my attention turns to the Disneyland Paris half marathon next month.

Here’s a little something for today, which has helped me lots:  

Have a grand week, all!