New Goals and Killer Session

After I completed my target jeans goal 20 days early I was like wahoo…. That’s amazing, OMG I did it I did it…… but then I was like erm…… what shall I do now? I struggled for a little while as to what I was going to set my new goals to be…… as for me it has to be sporty rather than looks or about my figure…. As if I am going to train for an event my body would change as I know I would be busting a gut to achieve my goals.

So I have finally settled on going down another jean size and get a better set of abs for when I go to Thailand end of July…. This has turned into a bit of a competition as the other girlies that I am going with want the perfect beach body and I don’t want to be left out!! However, once my leg gets fixed this goal will go out of the window and then it will go back to some form of sports related challenge…. However, I shall probably have to start off with a 5K run then build myself up to a half marathon so that I don’t injury my leg again. Also I have decided I want to play squash at club level and then look at getting back into play squash for the county…. Probably not the best choices of sport with dodgy knees/legs but I love the sports and I’m not quite ready to play netball…. Sorry to all you netballers!

I had various gym free workouts over the weekend…. And then on Sunday. I decided if I am serious about achieving my new goals I need to be disciplined to achieve them… I thought right Gregory you were organised when you were training for the marathon… and this is the same stance I need to take now… SO I planned my workouts for the week…. Menus I even programmed in rest days as well…

So Sunday night I laid out my gym kit at the end of my bed…. Kettlebell in the dining room which I seem to have converted into my home gym… yoga mat at the ready and music all set up so I am ready to rock and roll… I prep my lunch and chop up the veg for my stir-fry as I will need to work before I can workout so that I have had my painkillers… sorted…. I go to better feeling 100% satisfied that I will defo achieve these goals!

Monday I had an awesome Gym free session….  I had 20 Kettlebell exercises where I worked hard for 30 secs then had 10 secs rest….. These included double handed swinging; left and right hand; snatches, cleans. ( I think they are called that!!) Grand Slam. Horn out and in…. horn up and down….. these are my ways of remembering what I am doing!! 

2 mins rest and I am now on the floor having a killer abs session… this time I am working for 30 secs with 10 secs for 24 exercises….. Oh boy my abs are working… Flutters, plank, flutters more plank, abdominal pendulums. Apple catchers and lots lots more

This was defo a workout I needed tonight as I am in for a really busy and stressful week and exercising is relieving the stress big time.

Tonight Tuesday…. I really went for it big time…. I can’t remember how hard I have worked like this on my own….. Tonight I had planned to work for 60 seconds with a 10 sec rest for 10 kettlebell exercises followed by a 2 mins rest and the I repeat the same set of exercises again…. Half way through the second set…. I am struggling not only physically but I am working so hard I am now worrying that the kettlebell is going to fly out of my hand and smash through the dinning room window…. Result I have managed to complete all of it… Well chuffed as I wanted to give up at exercise 6 but loads of positive thoughts came into my head… so onwards I went…. I was so pleased when I was allowed to rest for 2 mins but half of me was like OK I am all pumped now let’s get on with it but I knew I defo need the recovery period… The last set of 10 exercises were a mixture of kettlebell and the plank flutters but I had to change the flutters to abs cycling as I was all tight in my legs so had to change it as there was no way I was giving up on my workout….

Oh my god that was amazing….. oh and I downloaded some music thing that tells you when you should work rest and it also tell you you are 15 mins in half way through and so many seconds left to go etc..

You can download it here…Spartacus 60:15 interval workout music

WAHOOO I DID IT!!!!!!! Before my target date!!

OMG……… yeah I did it I did it!! I had a target jean size for 17.04.2011…. This was when I was suppose to be running the London Marathon in said target jean size….. so that it would be easier to run…..

Today Monday 28^th March I went shopping to buy my jeans so that I knew how much work I would have to put in over the next three weeks….. but WWWWAAAAHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO I did it!!! I still can’t believe it….. I did it I did it! How bloody chuffed am I? VERY….. what an awesome feeling that I managed to achieve my goal before my target date in just over 3 weeks to go….

I feel so sorry for the people in my office when I go in on Wednesday to show off!! If I am totally honest I didn’t think I would achieve this goal as it was set before I injured my leg… but I wasn’t going to let this prevent me from training….

I had the most amazing support and guidance from Stuart Amory to achieve this goal that we set on 15.02.11 and here we are on 28.03.11 and I have DONE IT!!! When I injured myself on 20.02.11 I thought all of my targets had gone out of the window.. most of them had to be changed as they were running related and the fact that I am on crutches at the moment has prevented me from running in the scheduled events. However…. The only goal left that was not running related was the target jean size for 17.04.2011…… and yes I am going to say it again… I DID IT!!!

I managed to achieve my goal by listening to Stu…. Paying attention to my body and learning to rest rather than just pushing it beyond it’s limits. There has been a lot of tears along the way as my other goals had slipped by but I am so over that now… I had one goal left to achieve that I was more than capable of achieving it. We used a mixture of kettlebell, TRX and bodyweight exercises and wahoooo mission accomplished.

If you also want to achieve great result you could always book onto Ultimate Gym Free Workshop where you will have the opportunity to learn how to use the exercises that I have used and also information regarding nutrition and clean eating.

Trip Down Memory Lane

Today I said ‘Goodbye’ to my childhood hero…. Ron Gawler…. What a true English Gent, Incredible Champ and Legend he was.  I had the utmost respect for Ron as he taught me so much in my younger days of playing squash both on and off the court. I remember two very valuable lessons from him about winning gracefully and also losing in a good sportsman spirit. Ron spent hours with me throughout my time at Canterbury Squash Club chatting and encouraging me to play… and also helping me with my homework so I could get in an extra game of squash! I also remember him telling me off and I was mortified… I had to play Ron in one of the club tournaments… here I was playing my hero and I was beating him but I didn’t want to win as I respected this guy way too much….. I started to drop the ball into the tin and serve out of court…. I lost a game to him…..  Ron followed me out of the court and gave me one of those ‘chats’ about winning gracefully without humiliating your opponent. I knew this meant that I had to beat him but I so didn’t want to…. Just cos I beat Ron didn’t stop him from being my hero but I was so worried that this would happen. Ron was an amazing all round person and sports champ…. He was a Professional Footballer, awesome runner… completed 50 marathons  20 years competing in the Snowdonia Mountain Race and only took up running at 51…  Squash player…. Was outstanding…. Club Champ and won 10 veteran’s national titles. I was well proud to know that he even managed to get half way up Snowdon on crutches at the age of 72.

Even in his death he will still continue to inspire me to achieve and win gracefully.

I maybe out of the marathon this year but next year I shall complete it and think of him as I cross that finishing line.

I was so glad I was on crutches though today as there were so many people saying their goodbyes to Ron…. Not everyone could fit in… but some kind man gave up his seat. It was so nice to see so many familiar faces too. It was great to remember Ron for his achievements and I was so proud that he was and always will be my childhood hero as he never got knocked off the pedestal that I placed him on. Not many people get placed on the pedestal but Ron was definitely a person that was worthy to be on it.  

Road to London 2011 goes on a slight detour

Road to London 2011 is going on a slight detour but it’s not the end of the world. I injured my ‘good’ leg on 20^th February and I did the sensible thing for once and stopped! So I haven’t done any running since then but I have continued to train with Stu, the good old faithful Kettlebell and TRX. I would have been a nightmare if I didn’t have these in my life. I remember when I was about 13 and I knackered my right wrist messing around with friends which forced me out of playing squash for a few weeks but there was no stopping me… I needed to play so I taught myself to play left handed!!

Anyway my goals for 2011 were as follows:-

Do a 4 min plank by 15.03.2011…. just so that I could open window 6 in my Advent Calendar… Mission completed on target date with 4 mins 5 secs!!

Reading Half Marathon in 2.05 yeah right I think it was 1:59…. 20.03.2011…. target aborted for THIS year… but there is always next year!

London Marathon 2011 (17.04.2011) in 4.30… not with Stu…. 4:25…. Very sneaky Stu gets you pushing yourself even harder than what you already would have been to reach the 4.30 goal…. Well today I have finally filled in the withdrawal form and hit the send button.

Get into a target size pair of jean by 17.04.2011….. I am sure I will be able to do this as my body shape is changing big time through my workouts with the kettlebell… plus I had a sneaky peek last week and managed to get my thighs and backside into them… I was really shocked my this! Haha

The London Marathon was still a goal yesterday although deep down I knew I was fooling myself….. it is so difficult to give up on something that you want and know that you can achieve…. This year is the fittest I have ever been…. Was discharged from the hospital regarding my dodgy leg… shame I now have a new dodgy leg… something tells me maybe I should just give up on running and do something else… but there is no chance of that happening…. I shall just put the London Marathon Goal to 2012… At least this way I will be ready for it… and I shall be back stronger!! How many sleeps to go?? Roughly 395.

Motivated and training isn’t going to stop just because I have been forced to withdraw from the marathon… I have set myself a new goal…. To run the Royal Parks Half Marathon in October 2011 and get a Personal Best… I haven’t quite worked out a realistic time for this yet but there is still plenty of time to go.

Another goal is to STOP AND LISTEN TO MY BODY….. which I have already started to do… I gave myself until 5pm to withdraw from the marathon and I have already sent the form off by 9am! Well proud of myself… I should have done it ages ago but wasn’t quite ready to give up the dream of running the marathon becoming a reality in 2011…. Just looks like this will take place a year later… so it’s no big deal in the grand scheme of things. Now I can concentrate on getting my leg fixed and start with a few 5K’s and 10K’s at least this way I will increase my speed.

Yesterday……. I had the most amazing and awesome session with Stu…. This was definitely what I needed this week….. been a little bit stressed as I knew the Marathon goal was slipping away and it didn’t matter how hard I trained without using my leg or whether I rested my leg I knew I shouldn’t be getting to that start line. Is was silly to try and kid myself if I can just score a few hours or days without hitting a 6 or a 10 in pain… I have ever chance… oh well… so over that now…

My session was my best one by far……. 100% in the zone for the session…. Mixture of kettlebell and TRX and boy was it tiring. I really went for it today as I knew the technique to swing correctly and I didn’t have to think about it too much… just that I need to snap the string tense the core and put in 100% and some into it! I think I defo did this.

My dodgy leg started to play up but nothing major….. too much standing was playing on it but Stu is ‘the man’ and off we go… for a walk… haha a walk what a nightmare…. I am having to walk….. I bloody well want to be running but it’s just what I need… then we are back on programme…. Swinging and effort is amazing…. Getting tired and tired and really going for it. Onto the TRX for exercises and back to Kettlebells…. Got some ‘new moves’ on both the TRX and Kettlebell….. Then what a mere.. I do something to my old bad leg….. what a wally…. I didn’t even do anything wrong and here I am in bloody agony…. Stu doesn’t even have to say anything…. Like and you still want to run the marathon as I now know I am defo out!

‘Louise where are you going?’ says Stu…. As I am walking away… OMG… how embarrassing…. I have just been sick!!

Oh great….. there is me thinking I am going to have to stop but nope wahoo…. Stu’s magic hands and other exercises do the trick and my leg is OKish. I am so glad we carried on with adapted exercises as I left my session feeling really good but also with a reality check that I needed to withdraw from the marathon.

Then we have the “Let’s Talk’ chat……. I am starting to get better at this…. Still need to learn not to say ‘it’s fine’ but I am getting there. We discuss the marathon and next years marathon… new goals……. I am defo looking forward to working towards them…. Just because my goal of the London Marathon 2011 is over doesn’t mean I have to give up… I have just moved the goal post… and it’s going to be fun and hard work training towards them.

Awesome Tuesday!!

Today Tuesday I woke up really crap as I had such a shit day yesterday. This will tell you why I had such a crap time……

I took last week off work as I was in loads of pain with my leg and yesterday I thought right enough is enough get yourself back to work.. take yourself off the painkillers as you need to be off these if you have any chance of running The Marathon! BAD MOVE!! But hey at least I have learnt from it…

I saw my boss on my return to work… unfortunately he asked the dreaded question.. how are you? Well I thought to myself I am feeling really f’ing crap I probably shouldn’t even be at work.. oh no.. That’s right I am not suppose to be in work as officially I am on annual leave but thought why waste a day… I don’t need it off.. I will ask for Wednesday off instead. So I put on a big smiley face and tell him I am really well thanks and it’s good to be back… I had to lose eye contact quickly, hoping that he wouldn’t see right through me…. But he said Are you really? Unfortunately I can’t lie to save my life so I had to say yeah I am fine but not really… then whoosh the floodgates opened…. This is so not what I needed this morning…. However, he was really really supportive and looked at ways as to how I could manage to remain at work and make things easier for me. Plus we discussed the fact that I still want to run the marathon and was supporting my decision as to whatever it was going to be… the more I talk about it the more I know I won’t be running it this year but I cannot quite get myself to fill in the form…. The worrying thing is I am actually thinking I can’t even cope being on my leg all day walking up and down the corridor and stairs and just by some small miracle if my leg is better… I WILL BE RUNNING THE MARATHON on 17.04.2011.

The day gets worst and worst….. friends are really supportive.. I am trying to put on this massive smiley face but I am not fooling anyone other than myself…. Anyone would think I was sponsored by Kleenex with the amount of crying I have been doing. I end up going back on my painkillers and keep thinking to myself by me taking these this is giving me false hope that there is that slim chance I will be running… hence why I took myself off them in the first place. However, by coming off them has made me realised that I really do need to go back to my doctors.

So today Tuesday the day I woke up…. I was feeling crap with a score of minus 5! Not a great start to the day I am thinking to myself. It’s one month since a met Stuart Amory…. And today was one of my first targets which was to complete a 4 minute plank… Mentally… I was thinking shit I don’t think I will be able to do this as Stu told me last week not to do plank training… but training and target day in my eyes are different.. so here I go!! 1 minute and I am solid…. 2 mins semi solid and thinking I am a little bored of this but it’s OK as I am watching a really awesome youtube video that is keeping me going… 2:30 mins and I am well and truly struggling but there is no way I am collapsing in a heap just yet… 3 mins 15 seconds… get in and I am defo in Mark’s hurtbox zone now…. 3:45 come on Gregory dig deep.. man-up you have 15 seconds left that’s all… 4 mins 5 seconds… get in I HAVE DONE IT!! This was a bit of a joke target that I set myself as I wanted to open Day 6 advent calendar from Stuart’s advent calendar challenge!! I don’t even eat the poxy chocolate as I am not eating any chocolate until at least 21 April! It was only suppose to be for 2 weeks but then I decided I would reward myself with Kirsty’s chocolates for completing my 20 mile run that I was due to take part in last weekend.. but obviously that didn’t happen!

So already my crappy day from -5 is going up!! I manage to get a doctor’s appointment with my own GP and OMG… someone is listening to me about my leg. Rather than just supplying me with more painkillers he is actually listening to what I have to say.. the history as to how it all started, about the various people I have seen and the advice that I have been given. I leave the surgery feeling 100% better although my leg isn’t and I am having another x-ray on my leg and have been referred for a MRI Scan… Once I actually know what is wrong with my leg I will be able to deal with it and move on etc. Oh and I have been signed off work for a week…. Active rest again as when I was at work I was doing too much.. oooppss.

Reality is sinking in more about not running the London Marathon this year but because I sometimes score between a 2-10.. I keep trying to kid myself…. Well it is only a 2 and if I have more 2’s then I will be able to run. I also think back to last year when I ran 32.75 miles…. I completed marathon miles and I was feeling great although I was very emotional thinking OMG did I really just run a marathon.. but it didn’t count as a major achievement to me as I have always wanted the London Marathon to be my first marathon as everyone rates this as the best marathon in the world. However, I stopped way to long to celebrate this achievement and my other dodgy leg started to cease up but there was no way I was giving up… one more lap and I would have run more than 30 miles which meant I would at least get a medal and a certificate for my efforts…. I put on a big brave face and ran?? Maybe that’s not quite the right word for my movement along the road… but I was plodding along… as soon as I turned the corner I was throwing up my guts and balling my eyes out.. but I had set myself a goal of achieving at least 30 miles and then I could give up and give myself a target for next year to complete the 50 miles.. Well the next 6 miles or so were awful… I could barley walk let alone run.. I had to physically lift my leg with the help of my shorts to be able to put one foot in front of the other… I kept telling myself that is all I have to do is put one foot in front of the other and I will get to the end. My sister comes out on the route looking for me with a friend as I had been ages… and I am like is Mum there? OK so now I panic thinking ooopppss she is not going to be impressed seeing me like this…. A couple more friends and my nephew joined me for the last mile of the run…. 2 and a half hours later I have finally ran those 6 and a bit miles and I am back at the start…. And I have no idea where the inner strength came from but I managed to turn the corner and run to the end! So I think well if I can do that I can do the marathon… however, a friend pointing out to me I was on a different starting level before I did that run whereas at the moment I am already going into with a pain score of 2-10.

So I phone Virgin Marathon and ask when is the last date that I can pull out of this year’s marathon….. the day before… Cool…. So nothing is finalised yet still haven’t filled in the withdrawal form but I know I will make the sensible decision now rather than thinking I am doing it 100%!

My day continues to get better as Make A Difference Trust who I am running the London Marathon for emailed me last week when I told them that I was injured and may not be able to run and they called me today to check that I was OK and not to worry etc but to look after my health. They have also offered me a place to run for them in the Royal Parks Half Marathon in October… This is just what I needed to hear as I now have a new goal to work towards.. although I am not 100% giving up on my marathon goal at the moment… This weekend I am suppose to be running Reading Half Marathon as another target goal that I set with Stu but again… I won’t be able to achieve this goal so now I am re-thinking my goals and have decided I am going to beat said target goal for The Royal Parks Half Marathon in October!! This is making me feel sooo much better already and making me edge more to pulling out of this year’s marathon… nearly there but not quite….

Oh and I have booked a holiday end of July! Something else to look forward to as well…

It’s amazing how you can turn around such a crap day into a really amazing one… score of -5 and now I am unable to score it as I just can’t seem to cap it at the moment as it is just getting better and better.