Lightness and Brightness

It’s definitely starting to feel more spring-like this week, even if it is still very cold. The evenings have been getting noticeably lighter, there’s been some let up on the rain and I’ve even heard bird song when I’ve been out and about.

Light skies after work

The week has gone both quickly and slowly. I’ve travelled around quite a bit and my days at work have been fairly full but it seems like an age has passed between each time I’ve managed a work out. Rather than tackle parkrun on Saturday I managed to do my 10k virtual race. I felt so pleased to have managed it, even if it was nowhere near fast. It was my first encounter with the app Strava that was recommended in the comments on another post. It’s similar to RunKeeper in many ways but it feels smarter.

Screenshot of Strava

Another recommended app I’ve been playing around with this week is Pact. The idea of this one is that you make a pledge in up to three categories, workouts, meals and veggies. Your pledge is to log a certain number of workouts, food diaries or vegetarian meals during the week. The workouts and food diaries are tracked by linking to apps like RunKeeper, MyFitnessPal and FitBit or by checking in to your gym. Veggie pledges are tracked by photos. You link your paypal or bank account and get paid for meeting your pledge or fined for missing it. I’ve pledged to workout three days a week and track my meals for four days. Home workouts don’t count, which is why I’ve set my pledge at three. I’m on track to get paid this week!

Screenshot of Pact

I checked in to my gym twice this week, for a Body Combat class and a gym session. I've been wearing my crazy print leggings, which got a few compliments, and vibrant vest tops and am the brightest in the gym by far. This makes me happy. My arms are starting to become a lot more defined and my strength is definitely improving. I’m going to try offsetting my body weight by just 20kg on the assisted chin/dip machine next time, rather than 30kg. In December I was offsetting by 40kg! 

Snazzy or what?

As it’s not due to rain I’m looking forward even more to parkrun tomorrow. I’m starting to work towards my 100 t-shirt, but I’ve got a long way to go.

I’ve also started to make arrangements for the Nice 10 Miles du Carnival race next month with Alex. The medal looks awesome and we get a fancy ribbon if we run in costume so we’re going to discuss possible outfits over the weekend. Any suggestions?