Lack of Instagramming and even fewer blog posts... what's going on. The Christmas period I always find super busy and mixed into this I had revision which I needed to do as well, in preparation for my January exams. I was also doing lots of shifts at the pub, to earn some much needed money to get me through uni ;). Joking aside... I went through a time where I just didn't know what to talk about to you guys. My running has been up and down. In summer I managed to build up to a few 5km and then two weeks into uni, I went back to square 1 with zero running. However a few weeks ago, I started to build up again and everything seemed to be going relatively smoothly, as I was taking things very slow. Then this all changed... I woke up one day and my shin was sore to touch. I felt seriously sorry for myself, because this was following missing BUCs XC, scrolling through social media and just being so jealous of seeing everyone running. Over the last week it has sunk in that my body isn't ready to run. It's allowed me to focus on other areas... such as rowing. Looking at this in a positive light, it has allowed me to commit properly to rowing and this actually makes me really happy, because I love it! BUCs head is coming up in a few weeks and that will be really exciting, as our first big race! Spin classes have also been a new found love of mine... finding myself going to a handful each week and loving them. Spinning is also really good for my rowing as they both use your legs a lot, so I know this different type of training is helping my rowing. It just makes me feel so good; serious endorphin release! I could not recommend spin classes more. Over the last two weeks I have really worked on my overall fitness. Doing lots of different classes for full body weight workouts and eating good food. I actually feel so much better for it! Following this, I also had a rowing test on Tuesday morning... at 7am. I was really scared... as we've had 1km tests before but this was more important as BUCs crews were also in the balance. If you didn't read my instagram, it went as well as I could have hoped and if not better. I pushed myself beyond my limits and this resulted in me being a bit of a mess straight afterwards! Even though I went through a lot of pain in this test, I felt great to really push my body again... it was sort of a nice kind of pain. My lectures for the first two weeks of term, have been great. I love my new modules, but I have had a lot of spare time this week. I've been able to fill my time with sport to keep me happy and just general chilling. I know in the next few weeks, my work load is going to get larger, which I actually don't mind. I'm definitely embracing and enjoying uni much more this term. Especially with my rowing really coming on and having more structured training and targets to aim for. I'm hoping to just be able to perhaps run once a week, but just whatever my body can handle. I hope you've all had a great week and for those doing nationals xc next weekend, you are super excited. That will be another tough one for me to swallow, seeing all the photos of people there.
G x
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As Christmas seems to be very quickly approaching us, I thought it would be a good idea to show you some gifts that are great for runners. Here is a photo from our very festive circuits last year, I hope we all plan to wear out jumpers again this year! 1. Magazine Subscription
There are loads of magazines out there, for whatever you love. Here are some of my favourites. - athletics weekly - runners world - women health - 220 triathlon 2. Water Bottle Always an essential item for every athlete. A great water bottle encourages hydration which will help keep you fit and healthy. For me, I drink so much water, so I am always seen with a water bottle. However at uni, I have already seemed to lose two water bottles, which I am pretty sad about to be honest. Here are my favourites out there at the moment ion8(every colour and size you can dream of), Nike and Swell (marble and pink). 3. Sports Watch This would clearly be a big present as sports watches often don't come in too cheap, but you can now get some great and pretty affordable ones now. Watches are fab, whether you enjoy looking at your step count, your sleep or how far you ran... you can pretty much always find one which does what you want. My one even has a stand up paddle board setting... I have used it once, but still. Here are some which start with the cheapest FitBit Alta - £99 (more of a fitness tracker and less to track runs, etc.) TomTom Runner 3 - from £119.99-£189.99 Garmin Vivomove HR - £169.99 (I love this one as doesn't look like a sports watch) Garmin Forerunner 235 - £249.99 (very popular watch) 4. Wireless earphones These are a pretty fun item... they are certainly not essential to an athlete but make their lives easier. Whether its avoiding catching your arm in the lead on a run or just being able to look cool in the gym. Personally I have never had a pair of wireless headphones until I started to rowing, because as it turns out its pretty impossible to listen to music through normal head phones on an indoor rower. Wireless headphones come in a very wide price range but here are three which look good (from low to high in price). Amazon (currently the pair I have, cheap and do the job but I'm looking now for a better quality pair), Sony, Beats (not cheap... but really great). 5. Underwater Headphones If you do a lot of swimming in public pools, then underwater headphones may be for you... I certainly am desperate for a pair, to make my lonely swims go by just a little bit quicker. I don't have a pair, so I can't tell you for sure what my personal opinion are on these pairs, but I have done some research into them to find the best pairs. Wiggle (high end) and Amazon (cheaper) 6. Trainer Socks Personally these are a highly essential part of my wardrobe and you can certainly never have too many pairs. Some of my favourite sock brands are Stance (my favourite brand!), Balega (link is to my favourite of their style) and More Mile (would happily own these socks in all their colours and really inexpensive). The chance you will spot me wearing one of these three brands is pretty high! 7. Gloves For me, running in the winter means gloves are essential as my hands get pretty cold, very easily. Also for rowing, carrying the boats around you hands can get really really chilly. So gloves are a great idea for xmas, always very useful especially on those cold XC races. Some great brands are Inov8 mitts (these are the best and warmest gloves I have ever owned), Inov8 gloves (perfect for running in, when the temperatures drop) and nike (perfect for if you want a warm but slightly more colourful pair of gloves). 8. Yoga mat Who doesn't need a yoga mat... okay unless you have one already. Getting a yoga mat is a great way to encourage you to look up some classes on youtube and get that all important stretching into your workout routine each week. Some of my favourites are Lulu Lemon (slightly upmarket yoga mat, but seriously good quality, so worth the investment if you know you'll be using it lots), ... personally I got one from Homesense (you could try TKMax too), it was cheap but a good brand, so if you have a store near you, have a search and you might find a good quality one there for half the usual price. 9. Headbands These are great little stocking filler and some people are against headbands, but I'm a huge fan. Any cardio workout in the gym, is always sweaty for me so a headband is essential to avoid the horrible feeling of your hair sticking to your neck from sweat... ew gross! Here are some of my favourite Nike chunky, Nike thin and Adidas. 10. Gym Trainers I have specifically said 'gym' in this one because I know lots of people have to run in specific trainers because of their gait etc. like myself. That doesn't leave much room to explore but at the gym, I love it because I can wear a much funkier trainers. My favourite are ON, Nike and New Balance. Many of you may in fact be lucky enough to be able to run in these trainers too. This edition of things I'm loving lately, will probably be highly influenced by my new uni life. The fact I'm living on strict budget, means you definitely appreciate the little things more! 1. Grapes Okay, okay, I know this is a weird one but I treat myself to grapes every week, usually on Monday and they last two days if I'm lucky... but normally its really less than 24 hours. I tend to have half in the evening after dinner and then the other half of the pallet in the morning with my breakfast and they are just great. When I come home, my mum always knows to have some grapes waiting for me! 2. Team Bath Sports Centre A big reason why I chose Bath uni was because of their amazing gym facilities... I mean its pretty impressive. I was pretty quick to buy my gym membership when I got to the uni, which initially I was unsure I was going to do, after the pretty hefty £280 price tag. I am pleased to say this was a well worthy investment. I have made full use of the free yoga, circuits, spin and pilates classes which come free with it. However, I went to one yoga class and it was honestly the most exhausting thing I have ever been too. I came out, not exactly relaxed but so tired I needed to go to bed (it was at 7pm on a Sunday, so kind of justifiable). The swimming pool, is actually a pool of dreams, having a 50m pool on my doorstep is certainly something I am not taking for granted. 3. Running I have such a love for running and over the last 10 months, injuries, exams and stress have really tested my patience. Thankfully my body all seems to be in one piece at the moment and I am enjoying every run. I'm exploring new routes in Bath, but also when I went home it felt so nice to run on my home routes. As many of you will know is that, since being at Bath I have picked up rowing, this is a huge commitments but something I am absolutely loving. The great thing is, running is part of my training for rowing as it is such a great way of keeping fit. This is no means the end of my running, I'm excited to be signed up to a few XC races this season, because nothing can take away my love of running, however much I love rowing too. 4. Uni meals... okay this isn't so much of something I'm loving, but more something I want to discuss. So for my first 6 weeks of uni, I have got through with some fine cooking, nothing great but also nothing bad. Everything I am making is just so bland. So, my challenge for the next few weeks is to try cooking with some more exciting flavours, I am planning on buying some onions and garlic. Plus, I have bought chilli oil, curry paste and hopefully I'll be able to get some teriyaki sauce soon too. I am going to be using some of Jamie Olivers recipes which have only 5 ingredients, to try and keep it simple but add a bit of fun to my meals. Here's a selection of some of my meals so far... which are a little bit boring but healthy (I've been getting my protein, carbs and veg in each meal too). I am writing this post on a Sunday evening, which also marks the first night of proper uni...aka no longer freshers week. This week has been so exhausting with so much going on. But let me first start with the build up to uni. Last Friday, the nerves of getting to uni were peaking and I was worrying about whether I would have a good time or not. However by the time Saturday came, I was so ready to move into my accommodation and I had felt like the last week went by so slowly, just waiting for move in day to arrive. With my car absolutely packed to the max, we finally made it to Bath and started to move everything into my room... I definitely over packed (like I did not need 5 fake plants). I did successfully get everything into my room, thanks to some very smart storage methods in my room! The first night was weird because we kind of went out as a flat (my flat shown above), but not everyone had arrived yet. It wasn't a hugely late night either, so it gave me a chance to settle into my new bedroom and get a decent nights sleep. Freshers week gives you the chance to try out so many new things; sports and societies. I have given lacrosse ago this week and what can I say, its actually pretty fun. Having never picked up a lacrosse stick in my life, I wasn't exactly a natural but I was successfully throwing and catching the ball, by the end. I have also been playing some netball and I managed to get selected into the development team after 4 hours of trials this morning... including playing centre for 8 different mini matches of 8 mins. I was pretty tired afterwards! Development netball is great because it isn't a huge commitment as training is 3 times a week but still get the social side of doing a team sport... it also doesn't interfere with any running training and will just supplement my fitness too. Most importantly onto running... well there isn't much to say because the running hasn't started yet, that all kicks off next week. I'm really excited for that. My running this week has been easy, as I really did not want to get ill, because I knew that would set me back for a lot longer. It is also great, because I have managed to find a good flat 6km run route, when I went out exploring on Monday. I am also only a 5 minute jog away from the local parkrun! The facilities here are insane and I am so grateful for them, the outdoor 400m and indoor straights track are amazing and can't wait to get on them for training! Anyway back to the events of freshers week. Each night was a different theme, which included things like glitter, neon, 70s, etc. and they were all good nights. I must admit, I was not out for all of them as I was just so tired and had trials some mornings and wanted to be okay for them. I will also be honest that I have not found uni the easiest thing, its scary and hard. I came into Bath not really knowing anyone that well and its tough, making new friends is hard, because you want to find people you will get along with for a long time. I never imagined getting the slightest bit homesick, but I have.
I can't wait to start lectures tomorrow and really get into a routine of what my weeks will consist of. I love being busy which is why this last week has also been tough, because you actually have so much free time and then thats when I just start to over think and worry about things unecessarily. Love G x DAY 1 This weekend, I did something I have never done before. I packed my bags and headed on a hiking weekend, knowing absolutely no one. It was organised by the blogger Challenge Sophie and was done in partnership with Land Rover, so all routes and camping set up was organised for you. We were also putting Land Rover's new phone to the test and checking out all their adventure settings. My morning didn't start great, because my alarm didn't go off... so I was in a bit of a frenzy, but luckily I had given myself 45mins time to spare, so I made it to the cafe just in time. After arriving at the cafe (our meeting point), I made some slightly awkward conversation with some people, but soon got to know them pretty well. Soon enough we set off and headed from Seaford to the Seven Sisters. The group was about 30 of us, all with the same love for the outdoors and escaping from our normal lives for a weekend. I have walked the Seven Sisters for my bronze DofE before, so I knew the hills were going to be tough. However the heat and humidity, made it very hard work. The views at the top though, were 100% worth it! Over the first couple of hills there was a bit of cloud cover, but by about the 5th, the sky was so blue (first photo) and the sea was the most crazy colour... you could have been in Hawaii. We stopped at Beachy Head to have lunch. They had organised our lunch and we got meals in what looked like ration packs... however they were the tastiest ration packs I have ever had. I had pasta bolognese, which was just what I needed after 12km of hiking. After munching this down, we then headed off to Eastbourne pier. At Eastbourne we all enjoyed a pimms and an ice cream, to mark the end of our hike. Our Land Rover phone had navigated us successfully to where we needed to be and still had pretty much full battery! I was very hot and my feet were tired, but when we sat down on the beach, it made it all worth it. The heat combined with the tough climbs, really took it out of all of us. But when we got back to the campsite, we had the amazing yurts (big tent like things) already set up for us, so we dumped our stuff in them and headed for a shower, before all our evening activities. My initial thoughts, when we were told we were doing painting in the evening were sceptical. However once we were given our little wooden boxes and paint, the next hour flew by. It was so nice to actually do something like painting, as its just so calming. We then all gathered and watched our dinner cooking and also got to join in and help make it. We had a mushroom salad to start, a vegetable and coconut dal for main and some scrummy crumble to finish. It was such a lovely evening, finished off by all chatting around the fire! DAY 2 After a good nights sleep, we all got up bleary eyed and headed to the big tent to sit and have our breakfast. It was porridge and fruit, which was perfect to set us up for the day ahead. Today was much hotter, after just the first huge hill we were already pretty hot and sweaty. Our walk was in lots of open fields and because of the sun, it was hard to find the comfort of shade. However 2 hours later we made it back to the cafe, which we started at and all said our good byes. This was actually really sad, because over the weekend, I had made some great friends with similar interests to me. I am proud of what I did this weekend, by going out my comfort zone. I had so much fun and would recommend, just giving things a go to so many people. I loved all the walking and will definitely be planning more adventures soon... as soon as my blisters go away! I hope you have all enjoyed this super sunny weekend!
G x This blog post is continuing on from last weeks (4 month injury update part 2), as there was so much to talk about I had to put it in two posts. After this, I had made it to the end of cross country season, but to be honest it should have come to an end a lot sooner. Here I was, with my body in a mess and low positivity at having a horrific end to a season, following the best opening season ever. In the end my hip flexor issue meant I was unable to do pretty much anything for about 6 weeks. Everything I did seemed to hurt it... cycling hurt, swimming hurt, running hurt, gym work hurt... even walking hurt. This was during easter, so I guess it gave me more time to revise, but it did not help me mentally... I felt pretty lost to be honest. Stress levels were pretty high from work and I had no sport to turn to. This was hard. After these hard six weeks, I could slowly start doing some cross training. However if you are wondering about my foot and shin, this was still going on. During the six weeks off I also had my foot scanned because I was pretty sure it was a stress fracture. It turned out to be 'nothing' apparently, however there was certainly something very wrong with my foot at one point... because I couldn't walk on it. At this point I was happy because I could see progress because my shin, foot and hip flexor pain had gone. The next step was returning to running. Running was going great, until on my third run in, my shin started to hurt. At this point, I was pretty fed up. I was about to start my exams so as you can imagine, I probably wasn't the happiest I've ever been. I tried on and off running through exams, having several days between each run and not running for long, but still the pain in my shin wasn't going anywhere. Finally after exams, I sought more help for my shin. This time, I feel like I really got an answer. My physio said, I almost definitely had a stress fracture in my shin back in March... and I really wasn't surprised to hear this. Luckily, my shin in June was not still a stress fracture and the verdict was, it probably just needs a few more weeks rest. I was very happy with this and rested up. A month on, and I'm progressing on my walk/ run programme and I can see hope. I can see a future. Its going to be a slow process, but every step I'm thankful for. The excitement I get before every run is pretty great! My fitness is clearly lacking, but I expected this and I'm hoping when I get back to more structured training, it shouldn't take too long to return.
I hope you have enjoyed this post and I am hoping that others can learn from it. Pushing through my injury, got me nothing. I broke my body more and was rewarded with some shocking race results. G x Nearly four months ago, I was struck with some shin pain. I had been feeling it for the last two weeks, but I had made myself push through because I had just had some of my best cross country races of my life. I was hoping this good form would continue and I was worried some time off would damage my fitness. The pain started just before nationals but I managed to make it to the race, because I had been looking forward to it all year... however this is where more problems started to arise. I had a pretty shocking race at Nationals and as I was running around the course, nothing in my body hurt, my legs just felt dead. However the following day I couldn't walk up the stairs because of my hip flexors. I didn't know at the time, but they just felt really tight are were very very sore. At the same time my shin was also still sore... I mean I couldn't even touch it, without serious pain. I don't know whether I had a bad race because actually my body was falling apart and the adrenaline was hiding the pain or I just had a bad race. Two weeks later I had inter counties, a race I had worked so hard to qualify for at Kent Champs (blog post here). I will say this now... I should NEVER have raced inter counties! My body was not up for it. This was a race I had been so excited for and instead it turned into a race, I hated every second of. The expression on my face in the photos say a thousand words, because at the time, I wanted to be anywhere but that field in Loughborough. Yes this may sound negative, but its the truth. The pain I was in and the lack of running I had done the previous few weeks (because of my injuries), just made me feel pretty rubbish! Again this was another horrific race. However this time when I crossed the line, I discovered yet another pain... this time in my foot. Right so for any of you losing track, yes... I currently have three injuries at this point. My shin, my hip flexors and my foot. So on 17th March, I find myself in Leeds at the English Schools. Right now, you are reading the perfect example of what not to do when you are injured. Again my stubbornness, stopped me from withdrawing from the English Schools... why? Well this was my first and last opportunity to race at the English Schools and was not something I was going to give up lightly. This race wasn't actually too bad... I mean I would have liked a lot more from it but I'll take my result with a bit of a smile (you can read the blog post here).
... Next week, I'll be posting part 2 of this blog, where you'll get to find out more about my injury journey and where I am now. G x Many of you who have been following my Instagram, will have seen I was recently in Spain on a lovely relaxing holiday in the sun. This was my first holiday since finishing my exams and I feel like my body so needed it! Training while on holiday can sometimes be super easy or can actually prove quite challenging. The fortunate thing with running is you can really do it wherever... maybe the exception if you are on a sailing boat or something. I have put together some of my top tips onto how to enjoy your holiday and training. TOP TIPS: - Firstly don't stress if one day you can't squeeze a workout in; a holiday is for enjoying and one extra rest day, isn't going to do much harm, your body might actually even appreciate it. - Personally for me when I am on holiday with my family, the best time for me to workout is in the morning, because they all wake up pretty late. I try and get my workouts done before breakfast, as I don't like missing time with them when they are awake. In addition to this, I also often workout in the midday or afternoon, this is because we usually go on holiday to the middle east which can get pretty flippin' hot at the peak temperatures of the day (I have this to look forwards to in a few weeks time). - Often when you are on a summer holiday, you will have access to the sea or a pool. Make the post of this cross training benefit. If the pool is small, then perhaps swimming lengths isn't the most exciting prospect, but instead maybe try some aqua jogging. A really simple aqua jog session could be; 5 mins warm up 10x 2 minutes hard with 30 seconds rest 5 mins cool down - Open water swimming is also a great solution and this is something I made the most of while in Spain. If you are nervous then you can stick really close to the shore line and can basically never swim in water deeper than you can stand. In Spain the water was so so cold, so I could never go longer than 30 minutes, but I just tried to do little and often. - When it comes to access to gyms, this is when it can become slightly more challenging. In Spain I had no access to a gym which I thought previously was going to be a bit of a disaster, however outdoor gyms are popping up more and more, which are free to use and thankfully we had one right next to our apartment. Also there are lots of exercises which you can do without equipment, heres a circuit session I made which uses no equipment. 10x press ups 10x sit ups 1 minute plank 10x burpees 10x comandos 10x mountain climbers 10x squats This can be repeated 3 or 4 times, depending how much of a workout you want. I have also previously blogged another non equipment workout in CORE WORKOUT which is a non equipment core workout. - If you are staying in an appartment, sometimes there are bikes and fortunately there was one where I was staying, so could ride it around a bit. If you are on a city break and don't have access to the pool or sea, you can often find places to hire a bike, which can be great for sightseeing but also allows you to fit some cross training in. - Last of all, ENJOY. Your on holiday make sure you have fun and you don't worry about training all the time. Have an ice cream and remember to relax! I hope you enjoy this little fitness guide and gives you some ideas of what you can do on holiday. I struggled in Spain because I couldn’t run, but managed to make the most of swimming and cycling fortunately to keep my exercise up!
G x So I got this idea of a blog post from Ellen or otherwise known as TeenRunner. I have in the past blogged about mainly my races, but as I have found myself not really racing currently, I thought this would be a great idea of a blog post. So my first love lately is... Cycling With my inability to run at the moment, I have rediscovered my love of cycling. My first few cycles back, after a long break from my two wheeled friend were a bit unsteady and I didn’t have much confidence. However my most recent cycle, everything seemed to click and I could feel my confidence growing and so did my speed! I’m enjoying exploring all the roads and countryside around my house, with each ride following a new route. No More Exams After living a pretty stressful couple of years with the lead up to my exams, it feels pretty weird that I actually don’t have any exams now. This week has been my first week, to sit back and chill. I’ve had lots of lie ins, many hours of sleep and finally started getting back into an exercise routine. This week I even went to a yoga class in an amazing location (photo below), set in woodlands and it was great because you could hear the birds during the class. I know many of you reading this may not have finished your exams just yet, but let me say, they go so quickly and you’ll be enjoying this freedom before you know it! Baking Many of the things I’m enjoying are related to having more spare time. Recently I have gone off porridge, which is weird as I’ve had it every day for like the last five years. Anyway a few days ago I tried making these pancakes, they were so simple. The recipe is on my instagram highlights, it’s so straightforward and they tasted really good. I’ll be making these for breakfast much more from now on and hopefully the way they look will improve! This week I'm planning on making some 'super hero muffins' which I have made before from the 'Run fast eat slow' cook book, which I loved last time! TV Series
Recently I have started watching ‘Our Girl,’ well lots of the old episodes. This is because the new series comes out soon and I want to watch all the previous ones first. I am absolutely loving it! It’s quite heavy going, but I will easily say I’m obsessed with it! I have also started watching the series ‘13 reasons why,’ okay, now this is definitely not for the faint hearted, but I’m on episode four and I’m sure I’ll be through them all very quickly! Thats all from me for now and I hope you enjoyed this new blog post of mine. This will hopefully be a new series of mine that I’ll be blogging about, maybe once every few months. G x A couple of months ago, I posted my last blog post in what would be months and I did not anticipate it to be the most injury burdened few months of my life. But I am now writing this post at the end of may and my runs have began again... slowly but it is coming. I have also finished my final year school exams, which were possibly one of the most intense few weeks of my life... and you could say most stressful couple of years of my life. I could not be happier to say that I have finished. Only today have I felt like I have finally stopped because there was over a week of celebrations to follow the end of exams. I had the longest sleep last night... 13 hours, and I finally feel fresh to get back to a proper exercise routine. Here are some of the key bits I have been up to: My Birthday: My 18th birthday was right in the middle of exams, this may sound pretty bad and it was, but it was made slightly better by the fact that I was at the beginning of a six day break from exams. This meant I was pretty much able to take the whole day off revision and actually have fun on my birthday, rather than being inside at my desk all day. It was lovely because we were even able to go out as a family in the evening, which I loved! Parkrun Supporting: For pretty much my entire easter holidays and exam period, I wasn't able to actually run parkrun, so I got pretty good at watching it. My family have recently got into running and now parkrun is on our weekly Saturday schedule. I can't wait to be able to run it with them! Working on those weaknesses: Even though there has been a period where I haven't been running, I have been able to keep up some exercise, although time has been limited, I have rediscovered my love of cycling. I'm enjoying trying new routes and getting back used to being on two wheels and its something I want to continue to do even when I'm back to running properly. With all the injuries I've had, there comes a lot of rehab exercises... which can be pretty boring but I know they have to be done! Post Exam Celebrations: The last two years have been tough and I can't actually still believe that all the work for my final year of school exams are over... although now I am patiently (okay not so patiently) waiting for the results and I am hoping I'll meet my first choice uni exam grades. The week after exams has been great... and it may have involved a few too many late nights, but I had just the best time. That all from me for now, but I'll be back next weekend with my weekly blog post. I'm putting a poll at the end of this post, to see what any of you want to see on my blog more of. G x |
HelloI'm Grace, a 18 year old runner, and fitness fanatic. Join me on my crazy journey through life, squeezing in an adventure in every second of spare time I have. Archives
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