Heart warming

Just come inside following the mutual clapping supporting/thanking the NHS for all their hard work. All the neighbours were out clapping, all very heart warming stuff.

Today was a positive day in so many ways. I went out early this morning to the corner shop and everybody was observing the social distancing as well as being very polite, good to see. When I got home i went to ‘work’ which is basically the spare room upstairs now. I looked through my window and saw a family across the road (sorry not snooping honestly) doing their daily exercise routine presumably in front of the tv. It’s so lovely that families are doing this and spending quality time together, good for them.

This afternoon I did a 5 mile run with my son along the canal, the sun was shining and i felts so lucky to be able to go outside, I realise how much we take our basic freedom for granted. I hope this allowance to do one exercise outside a day lasts but I intend to appreciate it as much as possible as you never know what will happen next.

After the run my husband and I had our first virtual personal training session. This was quite good fun and we used my iPad out in the back garden. Our PT Emma chatted, demonstrated and generally encouraged us through a series of exercises.

Hubby being told to do press ups and enjoying the new matching yoga mats (ooh get us)

Is it weird that in these hard times I feel really serene? I feel I’ve been given a chance to appreciate every little thing, my husband, my family, my friends, my home, cooking, reading, enjoying music and I could go on and on. It’s time to take stock and breathe, look to what you have and look forwards with anticipation and hope.

Not a soul up here

Social distancing is easy when you can cycle up into the hills of the Peak District. Out on a bike ride with hubby on the back country roads to Hayfield and home, we barely saw anyone, just lots of sheep. In fact we momentarily had to slow down due to a lot of lost looking sheep running down one country lane in front of us aww.

Beautiful sunny skies, glorious views and breathe……..

The beautiful views after ascending Swallow House Lane out of Hayfield
Selfies with hubby

Happy Mother’s Day to all mums, to those who are still with us and to those who are not xxx 💕

I have a skype call in a bit with my mum and my siblings. Sadly the new way to do Mother’s Day in these times. Hopefully we will have a laugh though. And my lovely son got me a card and a pile of my favourite mint chocolates. That should keep me going for a week :-).

Finding the light

I’m generally an optimist but following yesterdays update on the news I will admit to ‘worrying a tad’. I’m also sad to hear of friends losing their jobs at this time and my heart goes out to everyone. I hope the financial reliefs offered are swift and genuinely beneficial to all that need it.

I will also admit to feeling somewhat selfishly sad by the realisation that I would need to cancel my Ironman this year and either re-sign up to it later/nearer the time or simply do it next year. But when you think what others are dealing with it really puts things in perspective and I should quite frankly shut up and be happy for what I have.

So with that all being said, I woke up this morning and thought right time to find my optimism and happiness again. So I went for a run. I have been wearing a scarf around my face whilst out running on cold days way before anyone knew the word covid but now people appeared wary as the woman with the ‘bandit’ look ran past and they kind of shuffled even further away as I went by.

Scary running bandit
Beautiful views on the run

Following the lovely run our personal trainer Emma came round to our house and we did a workout outside in the sunshine. She is great and now offering virtual workouts for all her clients, go Emma.

Doing dumbbell swings
Press ups
Hubby showing off 😉
Punch up warm up with Emma 😁

Wired now and ready for the rest of my day, bring it. 😁🌞🌞

Still smiling

Well we are living in crazy times and I’m not sure it’s all sunk in yet. Still thankfully I remain optimistic about everything, perhaps naively, perhaps wishfully but none the less optimistic that things will get back to normal in few months ish ish.

I will continue to train for the Ironman although swimming maybe an issue for a while, may have to come back to that later.

In the meantime I’ll focus on what I can do, rather than what I can’t. I can run and cycle as much as I want and the roads should be quieter. I can search cookbooks and try out new recipes and I will be inventive when the ingredients I need are not on the shelves. I can still ‘meet’ friends and family via Skype/ Zoom etc and am planning a ‘night out’ with a lovely group of friends via Zoom and accompanied by gin and tonics. 🍸🍸

I hope everyone stays well, isn’t facing too much stress and can find some gold at the end of the rainbow… the elusive bog roll ✌️

Recovery time

During any training period time to recover is important. The very basis of improving fitness is incremental increases in training, rest and recovery and adaptation. Then repeat…..a lot.

This weekend I’ve been forced into an early recovery stage and it may last longer than I would like… I seem to have picked up a bug of some kind, no cough or fever in sight but none the less not feeling well and sleeping a lot, really a lot!

Sadly this has meant cancelling seeing dear friends as well as cancelling my participation in the half marathon race today (although subsequently the race was cancelled anyway).

Additionally it’s hard to not be affected by the news of flight cancellations, the potential loss of an upcoming holiday, the uncertainty of future races not to mention the uncertainty of older loved ones potentially having to isolate for longer periods.

So I’m lying here in bed and trying to think positive thoughts, what can we take away from these situations as a positive?

I’ve seen a number of examples of how lovely my friends are and people are in general. A lovely new friend dropped off paracetamol with some chocolates through my door yesterday. Another lovely friend made cake for my husband and I after our race today (sadly the one we then couldn’t do). I’ve seen locally a forum of people offering to help others if they get stuck at home. It’s so refreshing to see such kindness.

The other positive about resting is that I hope to be stronger and fitter when I return to training. Bring it on.

Corona virus blues la la la

Been a busy week so the most I’ve managed so far is a short run and a turbo session. I’m hoping to swim tomorrow and Saturday if the pools stay open and do a half marathon on Sunday if it’s still running. However a reality may soon be gym training in the garage, turbo time in the lounge and reading up on swimming techniques rather than doing… we will see what happens oh dear covid.

In the meantime I’ve just had my singing lesson, enjoyed singing At Last, a great jazz tune. However shortly maybe I’ll practice some blues, covid blues… to the tune of heartbreak hotel…

Since they’ll close the schools down, the gyms and pools too, we’ll have no place to train and then we’ll need the loo …

I got the covid blues babe , and it’s taking its toll, I don’t know what I’ll do when I’m out of bog roll…

They may soon cancel races, events and laughter too, and I’ll be eating biscuits, watching movies , finding things to do

I got the covid blues babe, and it’s taking its toll, I don’t know what I’ll do when I’m out of bog roll….

La la la

Week 2 of training

Just over 5 hours of training this week, should of been 7 but life, hay fever and the half marathon next week kinda got in the way. This is good though as I’ve been training for months prior to official week one and having an easy week is good for you.

Today’s bike ride just 2.5 hours including riding up the brickworks and being bounced about by the wind. Beautiful up there.

Smiling before the wobbly windy descent
Photo doesn’t do it justice

Running time

Today’s training was an 8 mile run which was a nice change from the longer ones I’ve done recently. Next week is Wilmslow half marathon so this was taper time (joy).

I wonder what others do whilst running. My mind wanders, I think about numerous things in a weird all over the place mad dream like way. It’s quite therapeutic. Although the other thing I’ve found myself doing in the last miles is imagining I’m in a race and I’m placing in my age group, about to overtake the person in third place…. I think about finishing my Ironman in a good time….imagine running down that blue lined last 100 metres and throwing my arms in the air as I go through the finish line. Sometimes I think my thoughts are those of a deranged crazy woman and other times I convince myself it’s true and this positive visualisation will help me to be amazing in some way.

Deranged is probably more in the ball park though 😆

Swim drills

Got up and raced to the pool to get there before 6am. It’s crazy there and people hog lanes early and do not like sharing. Icy windows and some roadworks meant I arrived at 6.05 dam! I threw off my clothes as if you’d told me Brad Pitt was in the next room, donned my super speedy swimsuit and hat and pegged it around to the edge of the pool. It was only 6.10 hurrah.

Alas all the regular swimmers, mostly over 70 had shown me up as they were already in the pool doing their laps and ALL lanes were claimed. Unbelievable! How do they get in there so fast?

I got in a lane where the swimmer was slow in both that lane and neighbouring lane and wove around them back and forth for 40 minutes. Still I managed my swim drills, catch up, quadrants, high elbow and finished with 8, 7, 6 etc lengths with 15 sec rests between. Total 1800m at 2.07 mins per 100m. That’s the boring bit.

Took at least an hour for goggle marks to fade, one of the delights of swimming when you’re 51. Might see if I can find myself a new pair, maybe something sexier, black shaded ones hmmmmm… internet awaits..

The joys of menopause

Had a rest day yesterday. This was not supposed to be the case but after many many nights of interrupted sleep due to hot flushes added to my pollen tree allergy I found I’d reached a whole new level of tiredddddd. Went to bed last night at 9pm and struggled to get up before 7am….sigh

At least day I was slightly more energised and managed a lunch run of 2.5 miles and a visit to the gym after work. I wonder how long the impact of menopause goes on for but I’ve heard months and years and some have even said it never stops….ah what now? So the wonderful side effects include feeling b*****sed, waking up hourly through the night, feeling slightly nautious and then having a hot flush every 30-60 minutes, having a brain that has been removed and replaced by tumble weed, losing things, forgetting things and last but not least noticing that alcohol no longer agrees with you (boohoo!!) 😩

Still I will do my Ironman I will, I will and no annoying hormones are going to stop me even if they do prevent me from getting out of bed sometimes….. so if my dearest hubby should read this please please please pull me out of bed tomorrow by my feet and kick me out the door so I can go swimming before work. Ta very much, your wife x