Good morning and happy Monday.
Thank you for your lovely comments about my last post. Provided I’m no longer injured by the time the marathon comes about then I will run. Ideally I’d like to be able to run a good few runs before the marathon problem-free, perhaps even a 12 or 10 miler but we’ll see. The longer long runs are lost to me now sadly.
Ben and me have spoken at length about this and what we’ve sort of decided that I will run the Paris marathon with him. He was aiming for 9min/miles and I think that should be in theory do-able for me. But we’ve both agreed if one of us is really struggling, the other one can run on with no hard feelings. I know that sounds quite callous but I think it’s fairly pragmatic. Unless obviously we’re enjoying running together! I don’t want to hold Ben back if the wheels come off for me – he desperately wants to have a better marathon than his last.
Moving on to this weekend…despite feeling fairly pants about the whole running situation, it wasn’t too bad. We went over to my parents for an Indian takeaway. They have the best Indian. Sadly where we live it’s all very sub-par. I got my usual…
Chicken tandoori starter and chicken tikka main, with lots of onion salad and regular salad. I know this sounds very boring but this is actually one of my favourite meals. I love the little pot of white sauce you get with it as well. I have no idea what’s in it and frankly don’t care. It rocks my world. And a few cheeky poppadoms as well of course 😉
Moving away from food, Ben and me have just treated ourselves to Fitbits [we bought them ourselves, I haven’t been asked to review them].
I used to have a pedometer but it was annoying to attach to my belt or trousers. But I love this! It has really encouraged me to walk more, I’m not even joking. It’s even become a little competition between Ben and me (though he’s winning by miles as he’s able to run and 18 miles is a lot of steps…). To the point that we’re fighting over who walks Alfie in the morning. OK we’re not fighting, but it encouraged me to give Alfie a huge walk yesterday morning while Ben was out running.
Then when a friend came over we took Alfie for another long walk to catch up with our friend. In the end Sunday’s steps were over 20,000!
I sit a lot at work so this will definitely help remind me to get up a bit more and take a lunchtime walk, which I rarely do at the moment. The weather is getting nicer so this should be lovely.
As I can’t run at the moment I’ve been back at spin. Oh joy. On Saturday I did the 45 minute spin class followed by 20 minutes of rowing and then lots of strength work. Not nearly as exciting as Parkrun believe me (especially as it was the two year anniversary and it was a fancy dress one…onesies galore). But I just have to keep telling myself it won’t be long until I’m back again. Annoyingly though spin tends to aggravate my IT band and tightens it up. So instead this morning I went on the cross trainer, the rower and the stepper.
Am I the only person who’s never used the stepper before? I was quite confused what to do and had to creepily watch a woman using it to make sure I was doing it right. It was quite cool to see how many floors I’d climbed though. Silver linings and all that.
What machine do you always use at the gym? Which is your favourite?
Do you own a fitness tracker, like a Fitbit or a Nike Fuel band or a pedometer?
What’s your takeaway of choice?
Mmmmmm Indian food!!
Sounds like a great plan for the marathon – I’m sure that you’ll both support each other so well, and I’ll be cheering you and Ben on all the way.
I don’t really use the gym machines, since the ones we have aren’t the best quality. I’ll use the treadmills in icy/snowy conditions, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it 😉 I do absoluely love spin classes though – they’re really challenging but I don’t really use the same muscles that I do running, so I can push myself without it affecting my runs. I prefer classes, but I have to watch it in Body Pump or I end up absolutely trashing my legs too close to a race (made that mistake one too many times last year!) At my old gym I really liked the elliptical though, and on the tough programmes it had, it did wonders for my fitness without any additional impact. Sadly that gym did not maintain those lovely ellipticals properly though, and I couldn’t stand the inconsistency of the resistance on them, so I switched to another gym with better/longer opening hours and classes, but terrible gym equipment!
xxx
That is exactly what I order from the Indian takeaway too. People think Indian is always unhealthy, but it really doesn’t have to be.
Hi Anna!! Ahh, it looks like we are both semi-injured runners right now hoping to recover in time for a race. I pulled some muscles in my ankle/foot a few weeks ago and it’s looking like I will have to forego my April 13th half marathon plans… sad… but we have to take care of our bodies first and foremost. And as for my favorite machine at the gym — treadmill all the way (hence the stupid injury, wah)!! Sending you lots of love and well wishes for a speedy recovery!!
Xo
Jordan
That is a lot of walking! I used to have a pedometer (think it was a freebie in some cereal or something) and I did love seeing the numbers go up.
I don’t really like any takeaways- tea and cake would be my favourite food made by someone else (give me a Starbucks cinnamon roll over a takeaway pizza any day!).
This plan sounds totally sensible – I’m sure running together will help you through 🙂 How is your injury coming along?
I really hope that your injury gets better soon Walking in this beautiful weather is great, it’s so nice to be outdoors.
I’m rubbish at moving in the day and everywhere lately there seem to be articles popping up with shocking statistics about even if you’re a regular marathoner if you sit down all day you’re still going to die early. Thanks statistics! Working at a desk is the worst bit of my job. 🙁 Somehow I need to get more walking in in the day too.
I think you have the best plan of action for Paris. It will be much more enjoyable for you if you can run with Ben, rather than feeling frustrated on your own.
Glad you seem to be feeling a little better on the marathon situation xxx I love chicken tikka as well, that’s usually my healthy indian takeaway option. I do generally use the stepper, but also the cross trainer and the bike. I have to be able to do something to change it up though or I get so board!
I have a jawbone up and absolutely love the feedback it gives, I do a lot of walking outside of running so I like seeing the big step numbers! I think my record is 50,000+ steps after a 20 mile race and 10 miles of walking! Insane! I don’t like the stepper, I find it a bit weird. I like the eliptical, and did a fair amount on there a few weeks back when I was not running.