Together We Can Fly: Week-in-review-linkup

“If you hang out with chickens, you’re going to cluck, and if you hang out with eagles, you’re going to fly.”

There you have it according to Dr. Steve Maraboli, bestselling author and behavioral science academic and also according to Jesica of the wonderful running blog: rUnladylike (please feel free to click on this link and have a look at all her great inspiration for us runners).

I have decided to join in when I can and try to meet my goals for 2015 with Jesica's help. To start with I am going to review my goals and then set out my achievements each week here on this blog. I'll make no apologies for following Jesica's blog post here for this initial week so that I can refer back and keep to the aims she has set. So every week I will post:

a recap of my exercise routine for the week. This will help me see if I am actually working towards my 2015 goals. I will share something that has made me proud of myself for that week and also tell you about something that I have found challenging and if I have any plans for sorting the problem out.

Jesica will have a place to share a link at the end of her weekly review and that will be where anyone who wants to join in can share a link to their own posts and where we can offer each other help and encouragement. As well as the victory for the week we can also set out a challenge for the week ahead if we wish. Being realistic I know this will not be possible for me every week but I am going to attempt to join in as often as I can. You can join in too if you are inspired by Jesica's idea.

I am going to use Jesica's quote as my mantra for the blog posts relating to this group project: "We are a community and we’re in this together. Big changes don’t happen overnight, but a series of small changes and consistent behaviors over time lead to big breakthroughs."

Let's get a bit more detailed

One of the interesting things I have discovered is that Jesica's goals are very similar to mine and staying in half marathon shape year-round (15 - 20 miles of running per week, for me, as well as long runs of 8 - 10 miles) was one Becci, my running buddy, and I had set for ourselves. I posted on my Facebook running group page that I wanted to get stronger and this is also Jesica's aim. I cross train twice a week with a spinning class and a supple strength class which incorporates Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates.

I use a Garmin which allows me to record my runs and spinning class but I also use a running diary which was gifted to me by an Etsy seller. 

• Monday - four miles with the Monday night social walkers and runners - taken very slowly because of knee injury - foam rolling afterwards
• Tuesday - forty-five minute spinning class 
• Wednesday - an hour of supple strength - quite an intense programme which is new and needed a lot of concentration. Found muscles I'd forgotten about and was a bit sore afterwards but in a healthy way!
• Thursday - went out for a five mile run on my own (see photos) and mixed up the terrain to help build strength and stamina. My knee injury felt  better but did some foam rolling.
• Friday - rest day - some walking.
• Saturday - 5 miles (including hash running)
• Sunday - rest day

Plugged in and ready to go

Nice even route through holiday caravan site to beach

Only me and a bait digger far off on mud flats

You can see the angle of the beach to horizon which
made running very difficult

I don't think I would get away with this task as
my challenge of the week!

Eating Clean

This was the next section on Jesica's post and I am happy to include it as it co-incides with a new recipe book I am excited to have pre-ordered by Ella Woodward which you can find here. I will try some of the recipes and record them when I receive the book. I am so relieved to have finally got rid of the Christmas sugar damage which I think was a contributory factor in my injuring my knee and feeling pretty rough for most of this month. Still keeping yourself as fit as you can means you can usually bounce back more quickly. 

As you may have read on a previous post I am currently trying out the Fuelify boxes and this week I tried the Pulsin protein bar as I was stuck because of a high tide and could not get home to eat lunch after my spinning class and it seemed a good snack for after exercise. It was edible and chocolatey and felt like it ought to be doing you good but it still had that health bar odd texture and slightly weird tang but I would not rule out buying it again.

Worth a try - a sampling box allows you to
experience a range of sports foods

What I'm Most Proud Of

This will be a regular part of the link-up review and this week I was most proud of my effort at my supple strength class. It is so easy when something is new to 'do at it' instead of trying to get to grips with the exercise and to make it mean something to you. I struggle now to maintain suppleness and flexibility and this class allows you to maintain and sometimes improve especially if you understand the movement and stretch yourself safely.

Where I Struggled

Well there was no doubt of that this week: my knee injury had made me very wary, even if it was mostly in my head, so keeping up with the front runners on my Monday night outing was not going to happen. Thankfully, they are a group of runners with different goals and I was able to keep to a pace I could manage even if it was a struggle to stop worrying that I would damage my knee again. I managed to keep a steady pace and finished without feeling I had done too much after an injury.

Goal for the week ahead

The obvious one is to make sure that I keep up my intention to join Jessica in her wonderful aim as expressed in this quote she finished with:

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream. Not only plan but also believe.”

~Anatole France

Thank you Jesica for giving us the chance to work together and for all your inspiration over on your blog.