Mum on the Run

I’m seriously considering stopping drinking. I’m not saying I will never drink again, but at the moment, I feel like I could do with not having the hazy head that booze gives me.

I don’t think I drink too often. I probably have alcohol once a week. The problem for me is that I’m most often than not unable to just have a couple of drinks. I’ll open a bottle of wine with the intention of having just a glass, but end up finishing off the whole thing. And if there is a beer in the fridge, I’ll have that too.

I’ve done the non drinking thing plenty of times. I had no problems staying off the booze during my three pregnancies (with the exception of the off glass of wine with dinner every now and again) and have done dry January quite a few times without even finding it hard.

What I do find crazy, however, is that whenever someone isn’t drinking in a social situation, they are faced with a million questions. Unless you are pregnant or ill, it’s apparently weird not to have alcohol. When ever I’ve done my booze free Jan, I’ve sometimes ordered tonic water with lime, just so that people will think I’m having a G&T. That way I don’t need to explain to everyone why I’m not drinking or be faced with people taking turns in saying ‘just have a drink.’

I don’t think I’ll find giving up alcohol hard. I’m so determined to push my fitness and do well in my training and races that it should be enough to make me keep my ‘pact.’ What I always find hard though is deciding what to drink when you’re not having an ice cold beer on a sunny day or a lovely glass of wine with dinner. There are only so many diet cokes you can have…

I’d love to hear some good suggestions for drink that you can have at home and also order when you go out. A friend of mine swears by Elderflower cordial, which is lovely, but I could do with a few more options. Also, has anyone reading this gone teetotal?

So go on, any suggestions this way, please! Also feel free to judge me or say that I’ll never manage not to drink. And then watch me prove you wrong! I’m pretty determined and stubborn when I decide to do something, in case you
haven’t noticed…

Yesterday I went for my longest bike ride to date with my friend James. He has been absolutely brilliant in teaching me about the gears, what to do on steep hills and bends and how to get comfortable riding behind someone’s wheel. And all this whilst having to put up with me cycling in my huge Zara sunglasses! Granted, they may get some looks from fellow cyclists, but the Oakley types don’t suit me one bit. And whilst I know it shouldn’t be a big deal, I haven’t quite managed to get myself a pair of proper ‘sport sunnies’ yet…

I was excited about the ride, especially as I hadn’t been on my bike for ten days. I had done about 12 rides in total before and had loved all of them. But not this one. As soon as we got to the first slight incline, I realised my legs were totally powerless. My heart rate jumped up to 180 and everything felt really hard.

I’m definitely not a wimp and don’t give up easily, but after about just 10km, I was ready to turn around and go home. Of course I didn’t. I carried on behind James, but I wasn’t enjoying myself. For the first time ever, my bum hurt on the saddle, my shoulders ached and I really just wasn’t feeling it.

I know that sometimes you just have a bad session, and it shouldn’t be such a big deal. But I was so angry with myself. I tried to push harder and keep up, but there was nothing left in my legs. I was mostly annoyed that I was holding James back. In fact, I told him quite a few times to just go and leave me get on with my pathetic ride. He didn’t.

Looking back, it wasn’t such a bad ride. We did 87km with an average speed on 25kmph, which isn’t terrible. And like James said, it was the longest distance ever and I did better riding on his wheel. I of course know all this, but my competitive mind is still angry…

It’s simple though: I did too much a few days before the ride so my legs were totally wiped out. It was my own fault. Luckily, I think you actually learn from those sessions that don’t go according to plan, at least mentally…

I’d love to know what you all do when you have a bad session. Do you let it go, or do you analyse it? Does it make you more nervous about the next time you train, or is it the opposite and makes you more determined to ‘smash’ it?

Get bikini ready in 7 days, Bikini body in four weeks, Start getting your bikini body now, Bikini body shape up plan… These are just a few of the magazine covers or article headlines around at the minute that drive me absolutely insane.

In short, I’m strongly of the opinion that it should be ‘fit for life,’ not ‘go on a ridiculous diet so you can strip off for the summer and once the weather gets colder, put all that weight you have lost right back on.’

I had a chat to a good friend about this the other day and she totally agrees. She had been at the local magazine store and told me to go by and compare men’s fitness magazine covers to the women’s. And sure enough, the male magazines talk about getting strong and fit whilst the female ones use the worlds diet, weight loss and so on.

As much as I can’t stand this whole bikini body concept, I have the same frustration towards people who lose a lot of weight for their wedding, only to put it all back on straight after the honeymoon. ‘I went to the gym and did spinning religiously for six months before my wedding,’ said one friend who dropped 2 dress sizes and then put on 3, so she’s now heaviest she has ever been. Another one spent quite a lot of money on three pairs of J Brand jeans on her honeymoon. They now sit at the back of her wardrobe as she says she’ll never be able to fit into them again.

I just don’t get it! I really wish more women would realise that crash diets aren’t the answer. Because more often than not, you will put the weight straight back on when you start eating normally. It really should be about fresh, healthy food and exercise. Lose the weight gradually and incorporate fitness into your lifestyle and I guarantee you will feel more energetic, productive and happy. And the weight loss (although I am also more into measuring yourself for monitoring success, not getting fixed on what the scales say!) will be a lovely added bonus!

I’d love to hear your thoughts. I know that Bangs, who writes a fantastic fitness blog, Spikes and Heels, agrees with me. In fact, she probably hates the bikini body concept even more than me…

It isn’t that often I wish I still lived in London. We are really settled where we are, and it’s near enough to London (30/40mins on the train.) I do sometimes think it would be nice if I was closer to some old friends and the inspiring ladies whom I’ve recently met through Twitter and would love to train more with. But it’s all about choices and I’m very happy in Olney.

There is, however, a very exciting new fitness launch happening sometime in May, which makes me wish we were still based in East London! So anyone living near Hackney, consider yourselves super lucky, because you will have your own Crossfit gym very soon.

There are three guys setting it up. One of them is Geoff Stewart, an ex professional swimmer (Olympic and Commonwealth Games) who went onto becoming a strength and conditioning coach in the city. He has also been a dedicated Crossfit proponent since 2009.

I met Geoff when I was working as a freelance journalist and teaching a ridiculous amount of fitness classes at various gyms in London. Geoff is the one who ‘whipped’ me into shape after I had my first child, and despite teaching body pump and spinning until I was about 8 months pregnant, I still put on almost 3 stone! Impressive, I know…

I love running. There. I’ve said it. Not bad for someone who used to hate this particular form of exercise with a serious passion up until about two years ago.
I do keep losing my running mojo every now and again, but it always finds its way back.

I had a chat with an old friend last night. He is very fit and has signed up to quite a few challenges, including this mental ‘ö til ö‘ race, where you run and swim around and from one island to another in pairs. There are 19 small islands in total and the swim distance is 10K, run 54K! He is on about doing an iron man next year, which I am seriously tempted by as well. (Don’t ask me why as the last time I cycled was when I rode my pretty red bike to school in Finland as a teenager, and I haven’t swam in over 12 years!)

So this morning I didn’t feel like going for a run. But then I reminded me of an article this particular friend sent me last night. It’s about a Finnish businessman who started training for triathlons in 2007, and finished second in the ironman competition in Hawaii doing the race in under 9hours in 2010. And ‘allegedly’ with just 12 hours of training a weak. So this in mind off I went and ran 15KM.

I may have been thinking about how I can become the female version of this guy whilst running in the gorgeous sunshine… Crazy, I know! But I seem to be getting more and more competitive the older I get. I can’t help it, but feel free to cast your votes. Am I crazy thinking about an ironman when I can’t even properly swim and don’t even own a bike… Go on, I know you want to!

I do sometimes wonder if competitiveness is a curse or a blessing…