We've moved!

I've decided that, seeing as my fitness is less focused on running it doesn't really make much sense to keep writing under Running Bunn. So, all my fitness stuff can be found over at Bunn The Baker. Head over there to keep up to date with me, my fitness and my training tips.

Cheers!

Ali. x

The Great Sports Bra Robbery

Every woman knows if you're going to exercise you need a good sports bra. Whether you have the lion's share in the chest department or you're pretty much flat chested, it's really important to have a sports bra that supports your delicate breast tissue.

There are so many to choose from, all with their own pros and cons but one big con they all have in common is the price.

Take, for example, the Shock Absorber Run Bra - widely acknowledged as the best support bra for high impact sports like running. At around £37 you'd want it to be! I mean, that's a lot of money for something you can't exercise without.

It's the same whatever brand you go for - Nike, Playtex, Berlei - all tend to come in at £25 - £40. You can save a bit by going for a 'bra top' style, but that doesn't work for my 34Es which need a bit more discipline than a stretchy lycra crop-top can offer. You'll also find that sometimes the price goes up as the cup size does within each style of bra, which seems a little unfair!

There are much more important things to spend £40 on than a sports bra - like school shoes - which has made me feel like buying a new sports bra is simply a luxury I can't afford. It shouldn't feel like a luxury product, it's an essential piece of kit! My only sports bra is 5 years old and pretty much useless now. I've been putting off getting a new one for ages, having to cope with sore boobs and shoulders every time I work out, even resorting to wearing it over a normal bra to try and get more support out of it. [I have bought a new one now, but only because my husband made me]

I'm not suggesting we do away with sports bra's and start strapping ourselves in with gaffer tape (actually, would that work?!) but, with all the pressure on women to get active shouldn't the big sportswear and underwear brands be making changes? I think they should be making it easier for us to get out there and get active, not harder.

How to Achieve Your Goals

If you haven't joined my fitness linky yet, why not?! I'm asking you all to set three fitness goals to achieve between 12th November and Christmas Day. Just writing them down will help, but you do need to think about how you're going to get there too.

Step 1
Turn your goals from wafty, lofty aims into smart objectives. Each one should be

Specific - Don't just say you'll be better at something, pick a distance you want to run, a weight you want to lift, a number of times to attend a class.

Measureable - Make sure you can give yourself a tick at the end by choosing something you can measure. Plan your routes so you know the distance you've covered or activate that GPS. Keep a diary to log everything you do and then, in six weeks time you'll know you've succeeded.
 
Achievable - There's no point saying you want to bench 500 kg or run 2000 miles - that's just silly and not at all possible.

Realistic - Similar to the point above, don't aim to run 100 miles in 6 weeks if you're a beginner. Equally, don't under-estimate yourself - if you're already running 10 miles a week aim a little higher.

Timebound - Luckily for you I've set the timescale on this, so you know how long you have to get where you want to be!


Step 2
Make a plan. How will you achieve all this? Are you going to gradually increase your weekly activity or log as much time as possible straight away? Write what you're going to do over the next 6 weeks on a calendar and you should find it easy to keep on track.


Step 3
Support each other. Encourage friends to join in, make new fit friends on twitter and facebook. When you're feeling un-motivated they'll help you, when you're raring to go inspire others. Support is the key to success in this!

So, good luck everyone, let's get ready to rock the winter fitness.
 

Rrrrrraaaawwwwrrrrr!

Fitness Link-up

Find yourself in a winter phunk? Yeah, me too. Set yourself 3 fitness goals and stick to them. Post a link below to a blog post / tweet / facebook status listing them and we'll work through it together.

My goals - between 12th November - 24th December I will

1. Run 35 miles
2. Cycle 150 miles
3. Bench 30kg

Lat Pulldown

Your lattimus dorsi are the muscles running down either side of your back. Keeping them strong helps posture and core strength as well as your overall upper body strength. Using a cable machine to do lat pull downs is a great way to work these muscles for a beginner as you can start with a small weight. If you're already pretty strong you can work your lats with pull-ups.

I'm pretty new to the whole upper body workout thing so I'm using my multi-gym (bargain from Cashies) to build up my strength. For this exercise, as with most, I do a pyramid - starting at a low weight with 30 reps, I then increase the weight and go down to 20 reps, increase the weight again for 10 reps then go back down.

• Start by sitting facing the machine and grasp the bar overhand (palms away from you) - a wide grip works the whole lat muscle whilst a close grip focuses more on the lower lat and biceps.
• Lean back at about a 30° angle and pull the bar down to chest level. Focus on squeezing with your back muscles and not your arms, try to keep elbows directly under your hands.
• Slowly raise the bar maintaining control and tension at all times.
• Repeat, repeat, repeat!

To stretch afterwards first cross your arms around yourself to grasp the opposite shoulder and hug tightly to feel a stretch across the whole of your upper back. Next stand with feet shoulder width apart and bend at the waist keeping your back straight. Reach forwards to feel a stretch down the whole of the back and hold for 10.

Upper Body Weights

I'm trying to increase my upper body strength at the moment, but I'm a bit clueless about weights. Luckily my lovely Mr Bunn is here to help me and has designed an upper body workout for me! I do this once a week (although I feel like i should be doing it more often). Matthew tells me not to focus on the weight or the fact that I am lifting way less than the people I follow on fitocracy. He wants me to focus on reps. Lots of reps makes pretty arms and builds up strength without ending up properly muscly. I tend to do pyramids - so I start with lots of reps at a low weight, then increase weight and decrease reps, then back down again.

So, here's what I did on a recent session...

A Guide to Fitness Supplements

TRAIN HARD – EAT PROPERLY – SLEEP WELL

Maybe take a few seconds to re-read those words, as it is vital they are understood. Before considering supplementation you need to ensure that the more important aspects of your training are in order.

• The training itself - by this, I mean exercise (running, lifting weights, swimming, etc.) If you don’t put the hours in you are not going to get anywhere. 

• Diet - there is absolutely no substitute for a healthy, well balanced diet, full of protein and good quality carbohydrates. 

• Sleep – so often over looked but SO important. Your body needs rest, especially when subjecting it to hard training regimes.

The variety of sports supplements available is outrageously huge. If you allow yourself to be sucked in you can very easily, soon find yourself spending hundreds of Pounds every month. I use four different supplements and they are -

Review: TLC Sport

I was recently sent a couple of items from ladies sportswear brand TLC Sport. Currently celebrating its 20th year, TLC Sport has a huge range of clothing all designed and made here in the UK. One of my favourite things is how personal everything is - this is a family run business which really puts the customer first. For example, you can request plus-size items at no extra charge. Now that's service!

Sport Pursuit Pop-Up Sales

I'm guessing that, seeing as you're here on Running Bunn, you're into sports. As such, it would be safe to assume you like sports clothing and equipment. Me too! That's why I was so excited when I found out about Sport Pursuit. It's sort of like Brand Alley - pop-up sales where you get big brand stuff at tiny prices.

I was gutted to have missed the Shock Absorber sale, totally need a new sports bra, but there's some great other stuff on there too. You need to join in order to see the sales, but it's free so don't panic. Also, if you get friends to join you receive money off your orders.

So sign up to Sport Pursuit and bag yourself some bargains like these!

Buddying Up

Image Credit

Motivating yourself to exercise is all very well and good, but there will be some days when you don't feel like it and you will struggle to convince yourself that getting active is more important than watching Torchwood. That's where buddies come in.

30 Day Shred

I've heard about the 30 Day Shred before, and I've heard it's pretty tough. Jillian Michaels (the one who makes fat Americans exercise until they're sick on The Biggest Loser) uses her 3-2-1 technique to get the best workout from the shortest time. That's strength-cardio-abs. 3-2-1. Easy.

An introduction to squatting

Image Credit

Whether you are training to lose weight, increase size and strength or for sports - you should be squatting! Squats are a compound exercise, this means that they use more than one set of muscles. In fact squats are the most important compound exercise you can do. The main muscles used are the quads, glutes and hamstrings, but squats do a lot more than build lower body strength. Squatting correctly uses muscles over the whole of your body.

Vegan Breakfast Smoothie

I'm not a big fan of eating in the mornings so a smoothie is the perfect option. This is my current favourite...

Fat definitely doesn't mean fit

This. This annoys me. The most shared story on the BBC News website right now is that fat people can be fit. Well that's just excellent. Cue hoards of overweight heart-attacks-in-waiting crying "See! We told you!" through bites of doughnuts and KFC. Fat people will see fit and read healthy, and this is why...

Girls and Rugby

My husband plays rugby. It's violent, muddy and tough. You have to be incredibly fit and incredibly strong to do well. So you might think I'm crazy when I tell you I've just signed up my five year old daughter to the local team.

Magazine Wishes

I'm not a big reader of magazines, mainly because I'm not really fashion savvy like some people. Every now and then I fancy reading something light, entertaining and inspiring. My feet drag me towards the magazine rack and that's where the disappointment rears its head.

On yer bike...!

Running the 3 miles to work each morning is just not feasible - I'd get there for sure, but I'd smell pretty bad for the whole day. So I've started cycling. 3 miles there, 3 miles back. That's SIX MILES every day. Being a cheapskate I refuse to buy myself a bike so am using one I found in my parents' garage, one originally bought for me when I was 14. Half a life ago.

It's a bit too small for me, and only has 10 gears but for me, it's perfect. It turns out cycling is way easier than running! I go 3 miles in no time! I can get up half an hour later than if I was getting the bus to work, I'm saving money, reducing my carbon footprint (do people still care about that?!) and getting regular exercise too.

That's not to say it's actually easy, oh no. By Saturday night, after six days straight of biking I was cream crackered. I have no idea how I can fit a run into my week at the moment. Legs of jelly don't cope well walking across the garden let alone a run!

So, whilst my body learns to cope with a whole new form of exercise the running has been moved to the back burner. I'll be concentrating on core and arm strength when I can and, hopefully, next time I run I'll have found some extra speed from the extra leg muscles I'm accumulating!

Focus On: Side Stitch

A lot of novice runners give up quickly thanks to little niggles. Here, I address those problems and solve them so you can get out there and run! Or at least you'll have answers for all those lazy buggers who come up with excuses not to run with you.

Side Stitch

Focus On: Back Pain

A lot of novice runners give up quickly thanks to little niggles. Here, I address those problems and solve them so you can get out there and run! Or at least you'll have answers for all those lazy buggers who come up with excuses not to run with you.

Back Pain

Focus On: Headaches

A lot of novice runners give up quickly thanks to little niggles. Here, I address those problems and solve them so you can get out there and run! Or at least you'll have answers for all those lazy buggers who come up with excuses not to run with you.

 Headaches

Focus On: Shin Splints

A lot of novice runners give up quickly thanks to little niggles. Here, I address those problems and solve them so you can get out there and run! Or at least you'll have answers for all those lazy buggers who come up with excuses not to run with you.

Shin Pain

Focus On: Runner's Knee

A lot of novice runners give up quickly thanks to little niggles. Here, I address those problems and solve them so you can get out there and run! Or at least you'll have answers for all those lazy buggers who come up with excuses not to run with you.

Runner's Knee

Review: Zombies, Run!

Coming to the end of a short, intense run I'm flagging. I'm thinking about slowing down, perhaps even walking for a bit. Then comes Sam's voice in my headphones. There's an unusually fast zombie right behind me, she's gaining on me, I've got to run!

Review: Karrimor Phone Arm Wallet

Since the weather got a bit warmer I've done away with my jacket and capris with their handy little bum pocket in favour of skimpier lycra. This has left me with a slight deficit in the phone storage department. I've seen loads of people with arm wallets so thought I'd try out a cheapie - the Karrimor wallet is currently just £3 on Amazon - a bargain not to be missed!

The Blurb: The wallet is designed just to fit your mobile phone and is big enough for most models. The clear panel enables you to use the touch-screen without taking the phone out and it has an adjustable strap for a secure fit.It's available in Black with a choice of either yellow or pink trimmings.

The Trial: My phone (HTC WIldfire) fits snugly into the pocket from the top (no fear of it slipping out mid stride!) as does my husband's iPhone, so I think most phones would be OK unless they're a really bizarre shape. If you really needed to you could shove a key and emergency fiver in there too. The material is slightly stretchy which allows it to move with your arm without feeling too loose or too tight. If you've got really big or really small arms the strap could be a bit of a problem but for most it will be fine. It fits both my husband and I easily. There's a little opening at the top for your headphones to poke through and you can stuff any excess wires in there too which is handy. The wallet stayed put throughout the run and most importantly it was comfortable too.

The Verdict: Does exactly what it needs to! The Karrimor Arm Wallet might not be as stylish as some other makes, but it's cheap, unisex and functional. Thumbs up from Running Bunn!

Early morning training.

"The heights of great men reached and kept,
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept, 
Were toiling upwards in the night."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I have never been very good at getting up early, however the early morning is (in my opinion) by far the most beautiful time of day. It is also the perfect time of day for exercise, so I have spent the past few weeks conditioning my mind and body into getting up early and fitting some training in before breakfast.

The most important step in getting up earlier is going to sleep earlier. It doesn't have to be a big change - I have brought my bedtime forward by about an hour, so I now go to bed at around eleven o'clock. Losing an hour at the end of the day hasn't affected me greatly at all. The final hour of the day is the least productive - it has just meant reading a few less chapters of a book or watching a shorter film (possibly Predator instead of Scarface).

The extra hour or so gained at the start of the day however has made a huge difference. I now set my alarm for 5:30 and by 5:45(ish) I am out of the house, having donned my training gear and downed a protein shake.

Variety is important. If I had been getting up early and doing the same thing every day I think the monotony would have beaten me. My early morning training is usually one of the following; 

• Aerobic endurance (either a steady paced run or intervals).
• Plyometrics followed by sprints (I have to do plyometric training early, when not too many people are about or I get some very strange looks as I jump around my local park).
• Weights session.
• Yoga.

One of the benefits of early morning training is the freeing up of time later in the day (the time after work spent in the gym or running can now be used elsewhere) and I don't know if this is true for other people but early morning training sessions seem to be a lot more effective than sessions later in the day. This has to be purely psychological and I put it down to the fact that training early in the morning makes me feel like Rocky! 

Say Hello to Mr Running Bunn

I'd like to introduce you all to my Mr - Matthew Bunn. He's going to be doing some regular posts on here covering general fitness and weight training as well as, well, anything else he fancies writing about!

So, give the gorgeous chap a warm welcome, comment on his posts and enjoy reading.

10 Of The Best Road Running Shoes

There's a whole world of running shoes out there and finding the best ones for you can be tricky. Here's my top 5 men's and women's running shoes to keep you moving on the these hot summer days.

5
The Nike Dart 9 Men's & Ladies running shoes are lightweight and well cushioned with extra stability around the heel - perfect for keeping you going on longer runs.

Nike Dart 9 Ladies Running Shoes
- £27.99

Nike Dart 9 Men's Running Shoes
- £27.99

 
4
3D cushioning to the heel helps to absorb the impact force of running on hard surfaces in these Adidas Galaxy Elite running shoes. They're great for faster runs and tempo sessions.

Adidas Galaxy Elite Ladies Running Shoe
- £40.00

Adidas Galaxy Elite 2 Men's Running Shoes
- £40.00

3
The Ikonis range from Puma are light enough for use as a gym shoe but have enough mid foot stability, cushioning and a hard-wearing sole to take you out on the road so they're great if you want an all round training shoe.

Puma Ikonis 2 Ladies Running Shoes
- £27.99

Puma Ikonis 2 Men's Running Shoes
- £27.99

 2
These New Balance 1080 running shoes have extra cushioning which makes them a great long distance shoe.  

New Balance 1080 Ladies Running Shoes
- £94.99

New Balance 1080 Men's Running Shoes
- £94.99

1
Lightweight, supportive and sexy. These are a real top-notch running shoe packed full of tech to give a really smooth run. Pricey, but fantastic and absolutely deserve the number one spot.

Asics Gel Kinsei 4 Ladies Running Shoes
- £159.99

Asiscs Gel Kinsei Men's Running Shoes
- £159.99

Review: New Balance 565 Ladies

You might remember last year when I first started running all I had was a pair of Converse High Tops... special edition (Product) RED ones though! Not the best for my feet or legs though. I hot footed it down to a running shop and picked up these bad boys - New Balance 565 Ladies running shoes.

The Blurb: the description for these shoes contains a bit of gobbledigoop jargon - N-Ergy technology, Abzorb® DTS Dynamic Transition System, N-Durance rubber. Basically, they're supposedly cushioned, breathable and have a long lasting sole. You can get them in pink (as I did) or blue.

The Trial: I've done just under 100 miles in these shoes so I think it's safe to say they've been worn in. I normally wear a size 5 or 6 in my everyday shoes but got these in a 7 to avoid getting runner's toe. I noticed from the very first run a marked improvement. I get a smooth running experience, my feet and joints feel cushioned against the force of running on pavements and in this hot weather the mesh upper allows my feet to breathe. There's still a good 300 miles left on these shoes but there's no visible wear on the sole and the rest of the shoe cleans up pretty well, when I can be bothered! They aren't particularly stylish but I'm not hugely bothered about how I look when I'm out running anyway.

The Verdict: These have been a perfect pair of beginner running shoes for me. They're really reasonably priced (just £31.99 on Amazon and at Sports Direct) comfortable and hard wearing. I'd definitely recommend these to anyone who wants to start jogging for weight loss, fitness or fun.

Interval Schminterval

Tonight was the first interval run of my new training plan and wow, was it hard! I started out about a mile from home after feeding a friend's cat and took a scenic route home.

After a 5 minute (uphill) warm-up I had my first fast interval. One minute seems like such a long time when you're running fast, but I did it and as my watch beeped I slowed to an easy jog. Well, I say easy, I mean easier than running fast. The three minute slow interval was just enough to recover before another quick bit, at which point I really felt like I was settling into the run. Kiss of death. After the third fast interval I just could not keep running through the next three minutes so had a one minute walking break, 2 minutes jogging and then the next quick interval. That was exactly what I needed and I ran home for a 30 minute 2.83 mile run, dripping with sweat and thoroughly happy.

I can't believe I had actually looked forward to intervals. How naive I was! Intervals are hard work. It's as much a mental game as anything. I think with experience I'll be able to talk myself into running through the whole thing but I can tell you now, I am not looking forward to 1:2 intervals at all.

Why not become part of my street team over at Run Keeper? Keep up to date with all my runs and challenge me to races and goals!

Steady as she goes!

I'm part way through the second week of my 12 week plan and MAN is it going well!

I have to admit I did miss the first interval session last Sunday but I have completed my four 25minute continuous runs. My Ironman watch has been awesome for this, it stops me focusing on speed and distance which is not as important as just keeping on running.

Just keep swimming running

12 Week 10k Plan

I've decided to do the Reepham Summer 10k on August 19th, this gives me 12 weeks to prepare myself for a much better time than the Race for Life 10k. I found a really good looking training plan which I have transferred to a Word document to make it easy to modify. I've only moved a few of the runs around but this should help the plan to fit into my week a bit better - send me an email or leave a comment if you'd like the doc sent over to modify yourself.

Flexibility Week: Day 1

This week I'm starting a new fitness challenge - I'm going to be trying to improve my flexibilty. After my 10k race at the weekend I felt so stiff, all I wanted to do was stretch and massage every muscle in my body. So my mission this week is to improve my flexibility. I'll be concentrating on a few muscle groups and combining exercise, yoga, static stretching, massage and diet to see what results I can get.

I need a start point, so I've chosen a few stretches which I'm going to use as a test and some exercises to see how effective my increased flexibility is. I've done them today and will do again at the end of the week to see if there's been a significant change.

So, starting with the flexibility testing then. I used the following video as a guide and scored myself out of 5 each side for each of the leg tests and out of 10 for the last two. There's a maximum of 25 for each leg and 70 overall.

	Left	Right	Total
Knees to chest	4	4	8
Leg in air	3	4	7
Leg out to side	3	3.5	6.5
Leg over to side	1	1	2
Leg bent and over	2	3	5
Down dog	4		4
Kneeling back	9		9
Totals	13	15.5	41.5

Before the stretches I also did some plyometrics. If you're not sure what it is, don't worry - I didn't either until recently! Basically, it's jumping, but hardcore jumping. I did two sets of eight for each jump and scored out of five for how easy I found the exercise (with one being hard and 5 being easy) and five for form, a total of 10 points possible for each jump, 40 overall.

	Ease	Form	Total
Squat Jump	3	1	4
Standing Long Jump	2	2	4
Diagonal Jumps	1	1	2
Lateral Jumps	1	1	2
			12

So why not give these a go yourself, see how you score, then join me back here to analyse my results.

Night night. x

Race Report: Race For Life Norwich - 10k

Yesterday was what it had all been building up to, the Race For Life 10k (although, as we were reminded just before the start, it is not a race). We were told to turn up an hour before the start time of 10am to "soak up the atmosphere" but I got there at about 9.30am - still too early in my opinion. I'm not a big fan of the tutu's and fairy wings and face painting. I have relatives who've died of cancer so there's no need to show me the teary film of sadness. And I certainly do not want to join in with a zumbathon warm-up. So yeah, I really soaked up the atmosphere there...

Ali Bunn - number 1 before the race even started...
(pic from Heart)

Race Prep

So, tomorrow is the big day. After months of training and anticipation I'm finally going to be doing a 10k race! This past week I've been doing a few things to get me ready physically and, tonight, I'll be starting the mental preparation. So, here's how to prepare for race day.

Hydrate - This doesn't just mean drinking lots the day of the race. I have spent all week making sure I get a couple of litres of water every day. I'm not going to be drinking much on race day because I have a slight phobia of port-a-loos so it's extra specially important to get ready now.

Eat - Obviously carb loading isn't hugely important for a mere 10k but eating right this week is. I've been keeping with my regular routine of porridge in the morning, a light lunch  and a good square meal in the evening. Lots of fresh fruit and veg with brown rice and wholewheat pasta will give me all the energy I need.


Exercise - this aspect needs to strike a fine balance. Too little exercise and you'll not be feeling tip-top for the big day, too much and you'll be knackered. This week I've stuck with yoga or a light core workout every day and a short run on Wednesday.


Kit - I'll be getting all my kit together today and laid out ready for tomorrow morning. Always stick to worn-in kit to avoid unexpected mis-haps. Trainers, socks, shorts, t-shirt, cap, water, watch. I don't want to listen to music on my way round, Race For Life events tend to be full of atmosphere and I don't want to miss that!


Plan - I've pretty much decided that I'm not going to be able to run the whole way round. Persistent leg injuries have scuppered my training somewhat. My plan is to run the first 5k, walk the next 2k and run the last 3k. That way I should finish in under an hour. If I can run further, I will, but I won't be too disappointed.


So, that's it, I'm ready. I'm also very, very nervous! Wish me luck... x

Review: Jabra Rhythm

I've become a bit of an audio-book junkie recently - on the bus, out running, at work... when the boss isn't looking. Up until now i only had the headphones which came with my HTC and they're really uncomfortable.

Recently I was sent a set of Jabra Rhythm headphones to review. I've never heard of the make before, but a look around the website shows they do a pretty big range of headsets.

The earphones fit really well in my ears (something I've struggled with before) and stay put through a 4 mile run - although there is an over-the-ear sports version if you want something solely for that. The sound quality is brilliant and as they have sound isolating ear buds (in three different sizes) even running round the ring road or sitting next to the screaming kid on the bus doesn't interrupt my Potter-a-thon. I do have to be careful crossing the road though - can't hear cars coming either. Another point of note is that, even at full volume, other people can't hear much of the music you're listening to so you're not going to bug the rest of the world with your 90's brit pop anthems.

All I need now is to get me an iPhone so I can start playing Zombies Run!

Review: Timex Ironman Sleek

So, I've wanted a running watch for ages. As much as Map My Run is brilliant, it's also a bit rubbish. For some reason the GPS tends to cut out quite regularly so I'm never sure what sort of pace I'm doing. Now I have a few regular routes I know roughly where the mile markers are and having a watch with a lap timer is just awesome for that.

I picked the Timex Ironman Sleek partly because it looked nice and partly because it was half price on Amazon. It's waterproof so if you're a swimmer it's perfect. And it lights up too. I love that.

The best feature though, hands down, is the TapScreen technology. So, when you get to the end of a lap (or mile, or km, or whatever you're timing) you don't have to look around for the right button, you just whack the watch and it starts the next lap. Plus, it works as a chronometer telling you whether you've done your lap quicker or slower than your target time for the event. Of course the manual is essential for figuring out that part.

For those of you who want to run a bit further you can set food and drink reminders to keep your energy levels up too. And it stores up to 150 laps worth of workout data too so you can look back at your progress.

Of course it's not as good as a Garmin, but I'm building up to one of those!

An apple a day...

It's a family trait - we hate going to the Doctor's. I get a panicky about the fact they're only practising medicine.

A long week...

Unfortunately the first fitness challenge did not go brilliantly for me.

Fitness challenge update & some thoughts

We're over half way through the fitness challenge week and I bet you're all wondering how I'm getting on. I'm not going to lie, doing 30mins exercise each day is hard work.

How far is 10k?

Everyone's always saying that you train better if you have something to train for, which is why I've roped a few people into doing a 5k with me in March. But what happens after that? Do I just stick at 5k? No! I've just signed up to do the 10k Race for Life on May 19th in Norwich.

Challengers, READY!

In the interest of fairness, here are my starting stats for the Fitness Challenge...

Photo Credit

• Weight - 10stone 2lbs (64.4kg)
• Chest - 37"
• Waist - 29"
• Hips - 38"

Check out Jess' stats over at Feeling Stylish and keep your eyes on my twitter feed for updates on how it's all going!

Attitude Control

I got up this morning full of beans. I had a fantastic run last night (2.75 miles, hardly walked any!) and a really good night's sleep. I sat at the table eating my Weetabix when the radio announced that today is Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year.