It's nearly Christmas

Wow only 2 more sleeps until Christmas. Is it just me or did 2011 go REALLY fast?

I still have presents to wrap and one missing present that I may need to replace but other than that I am pretty much ready.

I am looking forward to a nice rest over Christmas and spending time with my family. I love the family time over Christmas. Eating, drinking, playing games etc. It's brill.

Tomorrow I intend to take the dog for a nice long walk and then get on with my wrapping and whatever jobs my mother leaves for me to do whilst she is at work.

Exciting times!

Also it is my big sister's 30th birthday on Christmas day so happy birthday!

I have been pondering what to have as my new years resolutions/aims and goals for 2012. I'm still not decided so you shall have to wait and see.

Post Christmas Blues

On my way to the gym today I had a tiny twinge of the post Christmas blues, they soon passed. Once in the gym I realised how much fitness I have lost over the festive period. Yuck! I wasn't super fit in the first place and a combination of little exercise, lots of food and a reasonable amount of alcohol made it a real struggle. My training plan said 5k for today which I managed to do but it took me ages. I felt really flabby too, I could feel my stomach and thighs jiggling when I first started running! Seriously that needs to be prevented from ever happening again. I think once the festive period is over I can get on with my training much more easily.

As I said in a previous post I do have a party to go to on the 8th January but that gives me just over a week off partying after New Years Eve. After that I am hitting the straight and narrow with exercise and eating etc.

My parents are going on holiday for a while soon and I was thinking earlier about what a good opportunity it is for me to eat healthily, I can cook what I want without having to consider other people's likes and dislikes. I imagine I will make some big batches of stuff and freeze them. I always find it hard to think of meals to cook. When I was at uni I used to spend ages trying to plan different healthy meals. Any suggestions welcome. I am really looking forward to getting back into the healthy eating habit.

Back to work in the morning, dare I say that I am quite happy to go back now, I've had a nice break but like to be kept busy. Then I have Friday off as it is New Years Day and we are closed. It would have been my day off anyway as I am working the weekend. I do actually find I sometimes get more admin type work done on weekend shifts as there are usually less interruptions.

Wishing you all a very happy new year, lets hope 2010 will be the best yet

Christmas and the which training plan to use dilemma

I have had a lovely Christmas, I really enjoyed myself. We had a lovely couple of family days with nice food and lovely presents.

I got some cool running related stuff, a 'my little lunch bag' which I have to say I love! Such a child at heart. My sister got me The Paramedic's Diary book by Stuart Gray which is cool because I have been reading his blog for a while now.

I got a running book too, which has a marathon training plan in it, which leads me to my dilemma, I also have another training plan and then when looking online to see which type is more beneficial found a third plan! So I'm wondering which is better to use, one which goes by distance e.g 6k run or one which goes by timing e.g 1 hour steady run. Can I mix and match? Or does it really matter as long as I am doing some kind of training?

Less than 4 months to go until the marathon. This week is the week I have to start 2 of the training plans if I was using those and the third one is slightly shorter so could be implemented in a couple of weeks with general training beforehand.

This afternoon I am going to a friends house to watch movies, I am really in the mood for something scary, although knowing me I will end up having nightmares.

Tomorrow I am going to pop to the shops to try and find something to wear to my Dad's party which is on Tuesday. Wednesday is my day off and I'm thinking exercise then tidy my room and sort through stuff. Thursday I have work and it is New Years Eve, I have no idea what I am doing to celebrate this year. Friday is a bank holiday and work is closed on this one. No plans so far but I imagine I will have a quiet one at home and probably go for a run. I never really drink that much alcohol these days but over the last week or so have been drinking more often, after New years I am really going to cut back on drinking as it cannot be good for my running due to the effect alcohol has on glycogen stores etc. That said I have a party to go to on the 8th January. I can just have a couple of drinks though. I know when it gets really close to the marathon I will stop drinking alcohol completely.

Now I'm wondering whether I mentioned that I signed up for the Adidas Silverstone Half marathon again in 2010. It is the 'warm up race' for the London Marathon. I'm looking forward to hopefully shaving my time down.

I have to be off and tidy up the house a little bit before heading off to my friend's house.

50 Posts Later

So this is my 50th post on this blog.

I am having a productive day today, I have my washing in and I am popping into work for a bit later on to go through some things that I need to learn how to do. Then this evening we are going to make the mince pies ready for Christmas. I don't actually like mince pies but I love making them. I think it's because I love baking and I love Christmas and making mince pies means it's near to Christmas. We will freeze them until nearer the time.

I went to the gym yesterday after work wearing my new sports bra, my £18 new sports bra, I got on the treadmill to have a good run only to discover that the sports bra which stated on the packet for running was in fact crap! So annoying, I tried it on in the shop and it fitted well and seemed supportive. I will have to keep it as I have worn it now. I will just have to wear a normal bra underneath in future. I had a really good session on the cross trainer instead, on a higher level than usual and I went faster. It was great for getting some aggression out after a stressful day. My eating however hasn't been great lately, I am trying to rein it in.

It is getting close to eating season now, Friday night I am going to my work Christmas meal, then I have a week or so before it really gets into eating lots. My sister's birthday is on Christmas day so she usually celebrates on a different day which is this Sunday this year, so another eating occasion. After that I have a few days of normal eating before it starts getting to people coming over to visit then my Dad's birthday, Christmas and pretty much a couple of weeks of just eating! I'm hoping to do lots of exercise so I don't put on loads of weight. Myself and a friend were wondering the other day how much weight you could put on in a month if you really tried to have loads of calories.

I am going to try and eat well the next few days then enjoy the meal Friday then eat well again as much as I can. I want to enjoy Christmas and the food. So I just have to get the balance right between enjoyment and putting on a million pounds in weight!

A balanced diet

A balanced diet... a cup of green tea in one hand and a doughnut in the other? I wish! Wouldn't it be great if one good food choice cancelled out one not so good?

I had a good gym session this morning and was pretty healthy with my eating yesterday so I'm not going to feel guilty about my doughnut which for the record was disappointing.

The weather has gotten pretty cold the last couple of days, I'm just about to start some work on my computer and am seriously considering getting my hot water bottle.

Tomorrow I am meeting a friend who is back for this weekend for lunch, I'm not sure what I'll have but I'm not going to worry overly as I don't eat out very often.

Then this week I will be busy with working and exercising and don't really have any other plans so far.

Christmas is just around the corner, it seems to have crept up on me and I am not very organised yet!