Hen Do's and Hospitals

The week following the Eden Project half, was my last week of proper training for a little while. My quads were rather sore on the Monday so I was glad to only have a swim to do in the morning. Even better, breakfast was a free latte from Waitrose and a cinnamon bun brought back from Eden! That said, swimming felt hard and I couldn't find my speed no matter how hard I tried. At least I had a lane to myself for floundering around in.

Tuesday was meant to be a ramp run but despite a Body Balance class in the morning my legs were still sore in the afternoon so I did a spin class instead. By Wednesday evening, although I was pretty tired, I rocked up to track session for 30 minutes of 400m relays and my legs decided to play the game. Thursday started with PT and a 1-2-1 run session which I'd planned to follow with the missed ramp run from Tuesday but although I started it, I only managed the first slow 15 minutes. Friday swimming was far more successful. Ellie had set me a kick set, which left my legs feeling sore later that morning, but in a really satisfying way.

Don't mind if I do!

Friday marked the start of my hen weekend! I was collected by mum and my cousin Amy late afternoon and ferried off to Alresford where we met my Chief Bridesmaid, Alex, and sister-in-law-to-be at a cottage they'd rented for the weekend. There were bubbles and attempts at pizza making on Friday night, trampolining with a few more hens on Saturday afternoon and a murder mystery dinner with men more hens on Saturday night. It was absolutely fantastic, I had an absolute blast and got a bit emotional at seeing some friends and family I'd not seen in far too long. Despite having so much fun I really did miss Dean and only got to see him for an hour or so on Sunday as I swapped hen do clothes for fresh overnight kit ready for a hospital visit on Monday.

Cakes by mum

Murder Mystery outfits

The previous week I'd gone through a medical examination in advance of a second donation of cells for my Anthony Nolan match. As it's only a few months since the first donation I didn't need another ECG or chest x-ray but there were still blood tests and so on to go through. I only donated lymphocytes this time around, so no pre-donation injections to stimulate extra cell production as we already have these in abundance in the system, but in essence everything else was the same. I managed to avoid another calcium crash as I was more aware of the signs of it coming on, and I'm hoping that along with the lack of pre-injections it will be speedier recovery as the body isn't under as much stress. I still felt pretty tired afterwards for a clear 48 hours.

Because I didn't truly know the effect this was going to have on me, I agreed with Ellie only to do what I feel up to in the next few weeks in terms of training. It's been a busy week of work though so having the excuse to step back from training is rather nice. I only had three classes on Tuesday but it was enough to leave me falling asleep on the sofa at 9:30pm. I'd agreed some weeks back to teach Boxercise for the half term kids camp again so Wednesday included two hours of kids classes followed by four hours of other classes. I didn't feel as drained as Tuesday but I wasn't going to risk the intensity of a track session. I did adhere to one element of my training plan this week though... rest day Thursday! Morning PT and kids classes all went without a hitch and I was all set to put the B-FITS class through their paces for the last class before I get hitched only to be surprised with a takeover! They'd put together a wedding-inspired playlist, decked my out in veil, sash, garter and rosette, and devised their own session plan to include all sorts of fun vaguely fitness-related games. There was even a little bit of fizz and a lot of cake afterwards. It was immense fun and I was truly touched by the effort they'd gone to. Thank you ladies!

Today is my last Friday class before the big day and I'm intending to try a swim session with Tri Club tonight and parkrun tomorrow... but we'll see. I don't want to suddenly find myself exhausted with effort but I think I'm ready to try a bit of exercise. Each day will be taken as it comes.