Running towards my goals...

 

 

Yayy, at last, back to the gym today, I had missed it soooooooooo much!!

 

Also back to work after our week away, most people dread it but I love my job, I knew it would be busy, and it was, lots to catch up on, but that just meant the morning went quickly and before I knew it it was gym time!!

 

So that meant I needed good fuel inside me....

 

~BREAKFAST~

 

 

Kick started the new week with a beautiful bowl of my sunshine porridge this morning.

Porridge made with almond milk, some frozen mango chunks added to defrost as it cooks, chia seeds, cinnamon, roasted coconut flakes and chopped stem ginger, drizzled with a little agave nectar and then topped with some roasted almonds and pumpkin seeds.

Was as awesome as it sounds and kept me full all morning.

~LUNCH~

 

Today I had the leftover Kedgeree from yesterday's brunch, cold, and was just as delicious as it was warm yesterday.

I always try to eat my lunch at least 1 hour or 1 1/2 hours before I exercise to give it time to be digested and my body to get the most energy from it in preparation for the exercise, I cannot exercise on a full stomach, it makes me feel tired and I never give it my best.

~DINNER~

 

I was looking forward to this all day, I knew as soon as I walked in the front door the house would smell amazing, and it did.

 

I prepared this last night and then let it cook on slow in the slow cooker all day, my chinese ginger, orange and five spice beef casserole.

 

It really is beautiful.

 

So I chopped up some extra lean casserole beef and put it in the slow cooker along with an inch or root ginger, peeled and thinly sliced, a chopped up red onion, 4 star anise, a teaspoon of chinese five spice, 1/2 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes, a good splash of soy sauce and a drizzle of some lovely seville orange flavoured olive oil I have.  I also added some sliced up purple carrots I had and a red pepper.  I left this to marinate overnight, then just turned the slow cooker onto low before i left for work this morning.

 

When I got home I added another teaspoon of chinese five spice and then turned it onto the warm setting until we were ready to eat.

 

I served it with some mashed sweet potato, I bake them in their skins and then just spoon out the flesh and mix in a little more chinese five spice and some ground white pepper, and some lovely cooked shredded greens.

 

On a miserable, dreary, misty, grey day like today ..... this was like a lovely big healthy hug :)

 

 

~EXERCISE~

 

So back to the gym today, yesterday I had been a little nervous, today I was full of excitement!!

 

I normally just do an hour or so swimming on a Monday but I had decided to try running on the treadmill first.  I set the time on the treadmill to 25 minutes, the speed just to 6 and started off walking to warm myself up, after a couple of minutes I broke into a gentle jog, I had intended to just do a minute or so but I was comfortable with it so kept going and managed 5 minutes, I then slowed to a walk again for another minute or so then did another 5 minutes running, another couple of minutes walking and a final 5 minute run, finishing with a slow walk to cool down.  I really enjoyed it, it was very hard, my legs were a little wobbly when I finished, but was so proud of myself. 

 

Have always been very nervous of using the treadmill because a) I have never considered myself to be a runner and b) I am very top heavy, I do have good sports bras but have always been conscious of drawing attention to them and myself!!  But I just stayed focused on what I wanted to achieve, had no idea if anybody was watching me or not, doubt very much they were, concentrated on my stance and my breathing, and I really enjoyed it.

 

I had started following the couch to 5k podcast the other week, which was great, but I was finding myself getting annoyed when I had to stop running because I knew I could do a little more.  So decided instead to just go with it on my own today and see how I got on, and did a lot better than I thought, yayyy me!!  I didn't push it, I listened to my body and just took it gently, but I did, and that's a huge achievement for me.

 

My lovely new running shoes were definitely a great assistance, they were so comfortable!

 

I then went and got changed and went and had a swim, I did 40 lengths in just over half an hour, finished off with a quick session in the steam room then showered and went home.

 

It felt very good to be back ... and tomorrow will be strength training ... cannot wait!!!

 

Thanks again for reading

Jo

xx