FunkFit Personal Training

I have never had a personal training session before but it was one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done, fitness wise. I put this down mostly to Jo, from FunkFit, who is my trainer. She's great, down to earth and she put me at ease straight away. We met at the Pinewood centre in Crowthorne and found a corner near the balance beams to work out. We did a short warm up run and some dynamic stretches then got stuck into some proper stuff. I don't really know what I was expecting. Something akin to BFM possibly. Instead we took our time and I was instructed in the way of the ViPR. This unassuming bit of kit is used a little like a bar bell but is much more versatile. I did lunges, squats, clean and press and my heart rate rocketed. After that I used a kettlebell for the first time; swings and clean and presses. Finally I did some boxing which, after the day I'd had, was SUPERBLY liberating. The time flew by and I felt as though I could have done loads more. Two days later and I'm still aching in my glutes, hamstrings and shoulders. But you know what, it feels GREAT! The point of this is to get me stronger to get me faster (and burn a little weight in the process). I've got my second heavily discounted session next Wednesday and I'd love to continue afterwards but it's pricey. I may, instead, go to the bootcamps in Reading. I'm also thinking of investing in a kettlebell. The OH fancies a run tonight though I'm not sure if I can or want to do 4-6 miles so I may cycle beside him instead. Parkrun tomorrow and Zumba on Sunday after helping out at the VLM. It's going to be ab awesome weekend.

Frimley 10k

Wow, well quite a lot has been going on lately. The last time I posted was April 1st so here's what's been going on since then. On April 2nd I ran my 19th parkrun in about 30 minutes. I really thought I'd run faster than that so I was a little disapointed. This week will be my 20th! I feel slightly under pressure to get a new PB as Steve keeps telling me I run too slowly, plus I got a good time at the Frimley 10k which makes me think I could get a new PB, PLUS I had a PT session yesterday so I should be ever so slightly stronger... I will update next week.

On the 6th I ran 4miles with the OH as a last run before the Frimley 10k. It was one of the best runs I've done. I think it was for him too. We ran an average of 9:30 per mile and I kept up the whole way. I didn't even feel too puffed out at the end of it all - felt like I had plenty left which was exactly how I wanted to feel at the end of the last run before the event.

Sunday 10th April was the aforementioned Frimley Park 10k. You can see the route here (with optional altitude graph). It was the OH's first race and we were both aprehensive. It was a good one to start at as it was relatively small but still extremely well organised. We both saw people we knew and it was a gorgeous day. A bit too hot perhaps but some kind soul had her sprinkler going just over half way round which was very welcome indeed. There were two longish hills at 3 and 5km which I opted to walk up. It was at this point that the OH decided to power up them and we ran our own races from that point onwards. I didn't mind at all, I wanted him to have a good race and I know I'd have been worse off for running those hills. The k's clicked past pretty swiftly and for the last one I almost passed a girl who was being coached by her OH. Instead of passing her he encouraged her to stick with me and I took advantage of his motivational words in the heat of the home stretch. We stuck it out and I crossed the line in one hour. OH beat me by 4 minutes. We were both pleased with our times and not too sore afterwards and now I have something to aim for next time :)

Tune in next time for news of my first PT session with FunkFit!

This morning I had my first session with Jo of Funktional Fitness. Thanks to an offer from Groupon she is my new, though perhaps temporary, personal trainer. We met in a coffee shop at 7am to discuss what I wanted to get out of the session and to go through my food diary. This session was all about nutrition and chatting. I was already armed with a Chai Latte (a real treat as I rarely buy anything from coffee shops) when Jo arrived and I realised that she’d been involved in the Reading Half coaching session at moti> in Reading. I was expecting someone super svelte and exasperatingly perky but Jo is really down to earth and we got on a treat.

I told her that my aims were to:

• lose half a stone


• run 5km in 25 mins


• reduce wobble on my thighs

And she added:

• run a sub 2 hour half marathon


• improve strength (glutes especially)


• complete a triathlon

Apparently this is all very do-able.

My food diary stumped Jo a bit in as much as there weren’t many tweaks to make. It was a real boost to find I’m already doing lots of things right. For example not bothering with “low fat” products, eating good cereals like porridge, shredded wheat and weatbix. Did you know that organic apples can potentially reduce cellulite? My nutrition improvements are:

• Up my protein intake. Try to get some protein into every meal. This will include eating more things like quinoa and buckwheat.


• Water down my morning fruit juice to reduce the acidity


• Switch to full fat milk as it contains more protein and good fats. Raw milk would be even better.


• Avoid cooking with nut and seed oil if I can


• Drink more water (I currently manage around 1.5 litres a day)

I intend to also:

• Eat more wholegrains. 50% of the pasta and rice I eat is wholewheat or wholegrain and I can switch to wholegrain cous cous too.


• Pay more attention to portion sizes. 80g or the size of a fist is about right.


• Limit my alcohol consumption to around 3 drinks a week. Spirits are best but white wine is better than red which is better than beer.

I’m having my first training session on the 11th. I have to find a location but we’ll be doing things like sprints, fartlek, and strength building. In the meantime I’m making a copy of my booster bar recipe for Jo and she’s digging out some more information relevant to the vegetarian diet for me. It’s been a real boost so far and I hope that I come out of this with a bit more confidence and the motivation to keep up the good work.

Surf's up!

I'm a member of Surfers Against Sewage, a charity whose focus is on raising awareness of the state of our oceans and improving cleanliness of our beaches and seas (and therefore the safety and health of those using them). I renewed my membership in February and won the draw for £100 to spend at King of Watersports - woo!

So I'm now the proud owner of a bodyboard and my very own wetsuit! As shown...

Can't wait for Cornwall in April and September!

Support and Grace

On Tuesday night the OH and I went for a run. Running with intent, for distances over 2 miles is relatively new to the OH and as such, and with his first 10k on the horizon, he’s full of enthusiasm and motivation, which is great because left to my own devices I probably wouldn’t be doing a lot right now and in almost every instance it’s him asking me if I want to go for a run. So he’d suggested a six mile run a couple of days ago and remembering what happened the last time we went running together (I kept up for 2 miles then ended up about half a mile behind him for a further two before heading home leaving him to do ANOTHER 2 miles) I was a bit nervous. Nervous to the point that I went for a 2 miler on Monday, just to see how I might fare.

When it came to it, I managed to keep up for just under 5 of the 5.5 miles we covered. I was absolutely thrilled. It was my most consistent fastest pace over anything over 3 miles in a long time. Yes I was huffing and puffing, but I found myself with a better, more comfortable stride than my oft-used shuffle run. I know that if I’d been running alone I’d not have gone as far or as fast. OH was really supportive, shouting out our pace, encouraging me up the hills at the end. I feel I should be the one giving HIM support and advice. Actually I think I do that whilst we’re not running, around technique and kit, just not whilst running.

It’s hard to get used to him having improved so quickly whilst I’ve hit a plateau because my competitive streak comes out strongly despite knowing all the genetic advantages he has but it’s a good exercise in being graceful!

He sneaked in another 2 miler this morning after I’d gone to work and hit a new PB – I’m so proud of him!

Future Challenges

This year is going to be relatively light in terms of eventsas a lot of my time is committed to OU study, so I don't have as much time for training as I've done previously. I'm hoping to reach my target of 50 parkruns by the end of the year and so far I'm on track. I'm hoping that Shruti will continue to run these with me occasionally and it's likely that the OH will be able to join me on occasion too, should a certain lifestyle change come to fruition... I'm also struggling to get motivated for events I have signed up for. The OH is helping as I have somehow inspired him to run more often and further. We've both signed up to run the Frimley 10k in the not too distant future. I've never run a race with anyone before and I'm very excited about it. It'll be such a great thing to share. He is a faster runner than I am although arguably I can run further at the moment (this is likely to be shortlived) so I will try and keep up with him for as long as I can before he dashes off into the distance. I don't imagine we'll be too far apart over a 10k distance and seeing the other at the finish will undoubtedly be a huge smily motivator. I've got the postponed Grim challenge in May and the OH and I have signed up to a second event together, a 30 mile bike ride in the New Forest in aid of Marie Curie. I will soon be putting Just Giving links on this site (with much smaller targets than last year's Kilimanjaro challenge!). Although I love going out for a bike ride I'm not very skilled or practised. In fact when I did take my bike out last I ached a great deal so the bike ride will probably be more of a challenge than the runs this year. A few of his friends are also taking part and will probably bomb round in about 1.5 hours while I will likely adopt a more leisurely pace. Shruti and I enjoyed a walk on the Thames Path yesterday, dodging cyclists, and plan to ride/walk/run here on occasion for training. In between all this I will be walking on fire in aid of the Mouth Cancer Foundation. No training required so in the scheme of things it seems easier that anything else I'll be doing but with much more of a wow factor. Can't wait! And that's it. I'm anticpating that I may sign up for one more race later in the year, possibly with the OH again, if all goes well at Frimley.

Reading Half Marathon

On Sunday the 20th March I ran the Reading Half Marathon. Actually, "ran" is an overstatement. I did traverse much of the course at a speed greater than that of a walk but I did resort to walking pace at intervals to prevent injury (damn that right knee). The day was dry, with occasional sunshine (I'm still sporting short tan lines) and a slightly chilly breeze. The parking was not well signposted and the shuttle bus from our carpark dropped us so far from the race village we may as well have walked from the carpark instead. Likewise the walk to the Green starting area was stupidly long. In summary the start was a bit of a shambles, the warm-up was just about visible but there was no space to actually carry out the moves and there was such a long wait to start that I'd all but cooled down again. However once we were off the race was great. I was surprised at how many people lined the course all the way round. There were bands playing at ontervals and the water stations well manned. I do so hate the waste associated with them though. The course was relatively easy going although I totaly lost my sense of direction throguh town. I got cheered on at mile 6 by a friend, also supporting his other half, and by my own OH and parents between miles 11 and 13. My mother, bless her, even ran a small portion with me when I was flagging. I'm not sure she was meant to but it did help. I think my performance was hampered a little by a general lack of enthusiasm. I'd not trained as much as I'd wanted to and I knew my knee wasn't strong. Adrenaline was virtually nowhere to be found. The highlight, obviously, was finishing in the stadium. My father gave accounts of a few people taking a tumble down the slope and some heartwarming reports of other receiving huge applause and somehow managing to cross the line when it seemed there was nothing left in the tank. It was amazing. I got my first ever foil blanket and a well stocked goody bag. My time wasn't anywhere near a PB but I didn't really mind, for once. I could have done without the limp/trudge back to the bus and car but a slap up meal of eggs, chips, beans and sausages with a glass of bubbly back home quickly soothed the muscles. I'm very glad that I finally managed to run the Reading HM but I won't be tempted to do it again. Out of all the HM's I've run so far, overall it was my least favourite.