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Come and play - be a "yes-person" ;) For a start - keep the ad clicks going people! Lots of people checking out the companies being advertised around here, that's great!! Thanks all :)
Google Ad Sense is being very kind to us, so please keep investigating those links! £2 and counting towards our fundraising and remember - all of the funds raised by it go straight to Oxfam! This week's challenge: Starting tomorrow (Monday 9th June) (excuse the shift in start days - we got busy this week!!) we challenge you: For one week, you will say "YES" to any opportunity asked of you. Disclaimer: we're not expecting you to say yes to silly, dangerous or completely pointless stuff that people are making up just to see if you'll say yes How often do you find yourself thinking about missed opportunity? Thinking you wish you were more adventurous? The rules:
This week's forfeit: (as we had no one from last week forfeit!) You will be asked to go into a busy town centre and whilst you're walking along, suddenly stop and start dancing. Remember, you need to video your forfeit too for it to count. *grin* If you need a recap on how it works, check out my blog from 23rd May! If you've been playing along and would like to renew a previous challenge remember for every ADDITIONAL week that we complete a set challenge we will donate £1 to our charity! There have so far been NO forfeits. Previous challenges: Week 1: No fizzy drinks for the duration of the challenge. Week 2: Complete (at least) 10 minutes of running every day of the challenge. Week 3: Try at least one new thing every day Remember: You can either renew a challenge or pick this weeks challenge up. Members of the challenge can choose to take the ultimate challenge and run challenges together....! (For every renewed week we will donate £1 to our fundraising - for a maximum of 5 weeks per challenge). The combatants: Michelle Week 1: accepted Week 1: complete Week 2: accepted Week 2: complete Week 3: accepted W3 - additional challenge: eat 1g carb for every 1g protein (completed!) Week 3: complete (x2 - yes I will provide proof :p) Week 4: accepted Tash Week 1: accepted Week 1: renewed Week 2: accepted Week 2: complete Week 1r: completed (£1) renewed Week 3: accepted Week 3: complete Week 1r: completed (£1) renewed Week 2r: completed (£1) renewed Week 4: accepted Amber Week 1: accepted Week 1: complete Week 2: accepted Week 2: complete Week 3: accepted Week 3: complete Week 4: accepted Nicky Week 1: accepted Week 1: complete Week 2: accepted Week 2: complete Week 3: accepted Want to take part? Want to accept our challenges? For everyone who takes a challenge and completes a RENEWED week (so two weeks of a challenge) Snailstalkers will donate 50p to our charity (for a maximum of 5 weeks renewal). Maybe you could make it about your own donations to charity and match our donation? Just put your name in the comments below and send us proof (pictures/videos/emails) that you'r You'll also get mentioned in the blog (of course!!). You can join us at any time! Bring it on. Introducing our newest member - welcome to Simon, he's moving from the support team into the walking team!
Good hustle ;) Today we were out on a team training walk, 30km in total from CP6 to CP9 on the map (Lower Beeding to Lewes basically). We started at one of my personal HELLs on the course, which is in Lower Beeding and on a hill that I swear is vertical. As we rounded the corner the hill lulled Simon into that false sense of security (Oh I'm not that bad see...) so we got a few "oh cmon girls, this hill isn't THAT bad" (which is what I made sure to repeat to him as I overtook him halfway up the hill and he'd had to sit down on the corner of the path). But the hill is sneaky you see. What it's actually covering up with that gentle start is A BLOODY CLIFF FACE. Ok, maybe I'm being melodramatic (I'm not) but that hill is HUGE. On the elevation map it's the equivalent of 0-60 in about .5seconds. Ok fine. Maybe 1s. But it's steep people. I actually have footage to prove it (there were also some very rude comments made about my camera *sniffs*). It's the sort of hill that you get half way up and decide that this is a definitive moment in your life. Will this HILL BREAK ME?! NEVVAAAAAA. YOU CAN TAKE OUR FREEDOM BUT YOU CAN NEVER TAKE OUR SPIRIT DEATH HILL!! *thumps chest* Apparently my motivational comments during the "death hill" struggle aren't going down too well....after a sustained period of "come on guys, I believe in you, you can do it!!" I could hear muttering behind me about....well, I shan't report it. But I'll do my inside voice next time! So, sweating, panting and crying with relief we finally reached the top of the hill. You always get that moment when you reach the top of a really big hill and look over the scenery only to spot the hills that are to come....oops! After death hill it's pretty much up a hill down a hill up a hill down a......BANG. Bloody hills. We saw loads of people out on the paths and roads, most said hello as we passed them which is really lovely. I've no idea what we looked like, soaked to the skin in sweat, red as tomatoes and burnt around the edges. The sun was out in full support of the team, I'm currently sporting the ice-pack on my shoulder to prove it! (yes people, wearing something that covers your shoulders is a GOOD IDEA). I did however pack a hat, so I avoided sun-stroke. Not by much though, I feel a bit like my brain is ready to go on some french toast....! Tasha did an AMAZING JOB! She hit the 20k fatigue wall and almost stopped, but something happened and she pushed. She pushed through that barrier we create that keeps us in our safe little parameters and she kept on going. Watch out, she's on the loose now people! Amber rocked the whole journey, aside from a few incidents with rocks on the path and one incident with a rather large BOULDER. Simon's first 30k was strong! He slipped on a hill and felt the knees go, but I told him, if he'd done leg day people it wouldn't have been that bad. LEG DAY SAVES LIVES PEOPLE. Keep at it ;) The first 10k everyone was pretty chipper. The second 10k people started crying. The third 10k everyone had gone numb and it went pretty fast. I like that numb feeling. Eventually you get the sensation of floating away from your body and it's like you're high (what, just me? *ahem*). Facing that final 10k in a training walk is always the hardest bit. It always happens - whether you're going from 10k to 20, from 20 to 30 or from 40-100k it's facing up to the fact that you're pushing yourself that little bit harder. So what do I do? I take a deep breath and I let go of my pain. I figure that pain is a purely psychological sensation - yes, it has a physiological cause but the acceptance or rejection of pain is in the mind. We've all had those dreams where we've felt pain and woken up to find nothing has changed with us - like cutting your finger in a dream. You can FEEL it, clear as if you'd just sliced it open - but you haven't. It's a remembered phantom pain. So if the mind can cause pain, why can't it take it away? It can! But you have to be ready to let go of it. How many times have you clung to the fact that you're hurting when you've been training? It gives us a sense of reality, that martyr sense that says the more pain we're in the better we're doing - right? But you don't need to hold it to you. Accept the pain, if there's something seriously wrong - stop, if it's just fatigue....you can conquer your mind. For me, that is what fitness is. The acceptance and mastery of both my mind AND my body. Death hill. We're going to meet again. I've walked you with a broken toe and several torn and broken ligaments. I'll be walking you again Death Hill. You'll be MINE. Lets dance. As I was walking to school this morning (late) I was following a group of students (who were also late) when all of a sudden this cat walked out from the bushes in front of them. The cat didn't even pause, instead it laid down, rolled over meowed and waited for the kids to pass it. Anyway.... As I said in yesterday's blog....it was pole night. You all know how I feel about pole night, but last night marked the 16th week I had been going to pole - that's 4 months of my life that have apparently just flashed past without even noticing. Every week I look forward to our hour of pole dancing, because for an hour I can challenge my body and my mind to make me do things I never thought I could. Pole makes you forget what the problem was. I went to pole in an uncharacteristically savage mood yesterday and an hour later I stepped out of the leisure centre chipper as a cat in an aviary. We don't usually attend pole on a Thursday so there were lots of new faces, who of course then assumed we were new - it was like stepping back 4 months into that first lesson, with everyone looking and giving encouraging smiles - you're here, well done! There were of course the people we knew, who get the opportunity to do it twice a week - lucky sods!! Anyway, the new person shine wore off once we stepped onto our poles and started inverting. That drew a few "ah, right" glances. We had Robyn instructing us, who (as all of them do) makes it look super easy!! She's very patient and when I told her I needed a challenge she went through the possibilities. I rather sheepishly told her that my inverts aren't so hot so she asked me what AM I good at? Well, I'm good at climbing. I've also put a fair amount of work into deadening the nerves on my thighs sufficiently to do a good knee-release without grimacing. Usually I do a knee release holding my foot - like so But tonight it was both hands off of the pole, asking my knee to use the force (haha). Here it is... As as a still - which makes me look like I know what I'm doing ;) As you can see, I'm not new to climbs - they're nice and easy, but the two handed thing threw me....what if my leg gave way? It didn't. How many times have I tried to get myself to trust my body and accept it knows what it's doing? Know that it's strong enough to face whatever challenge I put in front of it? This is an important lesson for the upcoming event. My body knows how to survive, it knows what to do, when and it's strong enough to complete. That is what I need to have faith in. Every week, slowly but surely I add to the arsenal of knowledge that I AM strong enough, that I CAN do it. As I said yesterday - what happens when we think about what we CAN do instead of what we cannot? after thinking about this. Knowing that I made the choice of whether to be scared by these news things or not I decided to choose to work against it. To know I'm strong. The Butterfly that I was trying to get last week happened almost immediately after I gave up the fear. Try it for yourself :) (letting go of your fear. Not the butterfly. I mean, you're welcome to try that too but it HAS taken me 4 months.... :p) I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes: To get on with it and challenge myself. To acknowledge that I am the person I am trying to be THIS VERY MOMENT in time. Not in a week, a month, when I'm skinner, braver, richer, older....This is my creed.
pole nights rock ;) So, short update for this evening!!
We have had some bad news tonight - Kirsti (one of our team members) has decided that she does not want to take part in the Trailwalker event. On the back of that we're looking for our 4th team member - if you fancy walking 100km with a bunch of girls let us know.... xD Anyway, I had a sleepy day today. You know those days. The ones where you can't really remember what you were doing 10 seconds ago. So I had a sleepy day today....you know, one of those days.... :p Anyway. Tonight was Pole night xD As the last night of the challenge I decided to film myself on the pole! I'm still waiting for that from Tom's phone - I'll have to write my essay on the amazingness of pole tomorrow with attached footage (I also did the Butterfly from last week....whoop!!), so instead I'm going to go with the theme of running. Today I went over my blogs from when I started the c25k programme back in March 2012. I read through the posts on my old blog and whilst I was writing the article for our "today's news section" (Light, sleep and Obesity) I considered what some of my problems have been in the past that still haunt me today. I'm scared. Why can't I do handstands? Why have I sabotaged my own weight loss before? Because it comes back to the fundamental fear of failure. Why lose weight when I can blame something or someone else? Well, I'm not getting enough sleep/I'm too busy at work to work out/my husband makes amazing food....we've all used those excuses before - when do they become redundant? They became largely redundant for me a little over two years ago. Don't get me wrong, I still have those days where I want to blame ANYone else for my unhappiness or failure to do something - Ah, Dave the cat ate my sock, damn I can't go running or ooops, Tom is busy and can't go to the gym. Neither of those things mean that I don't have to to, or that I can't but it's still tempting to believe that outside circumstances have a large impact on my choices. I believe we all make choices. They lead to outcomes. Sometimes those outcomes could never been seen in a million years, sometimes it's an obvious one. At the moment I know I'm CHOOSING to allow myself to be scared. Scared of failing, scared of hurting myself (those damn handstands), scared of looking silly. When you think about it though - what do any of those things actually mean in the long term? Obviously choosing to play chicken with 10-tonne lorries is off the cards, but that's a RATIONAL thing to be scared of. Going upside down on a pole or doing a handstand.....well, I'm sure it happens but how many people actually hurt themselves doing those things? The fear is everywhere too. Don't ride a motorbike - you might get killed. Don't eat too much sugar - you might get killed. Don't eat carbs - you'll get fat. Don't don't don't. How many of us consider what would happen if we do? Where would our lives take us if we just said "yes" and trialled it? Anyway, talk about a tangent! Running. I came across this whilst I was looking for something else and found it an interesting read - ladies, it always feels hard to work out during period week and this article explains that it's not just in our heads!! http://www.active.com/running/articles/running-for-women-6-ways-running-impacts-the-female-body?page=1 Anyway, it's past bedtime for me - so over and out. Happy running XD p.s. keep those clicks coming peeps :) Even rabid guinea pigs couldn't have saved me.... Serious stuff.... A HUGE thanks to Pepe Erskine who has donated £10 to our fundraising! It's an amazing contribution and we're extremely grateful for the support! The Google Ad-Sense is working well, we're getting lots of free revenue - so thank you all for keeping investigating those links people. Remember it's free fundraising for both you AND us. This is Brenda the book mark - she's now fully in use here at home. Actually got to say, without blowing my own trumpet that this design is possibly one of the best bookmarks I've ever used! I'm a genius ;) No, really... :p Ha. Brenda (well, actually, Brenda's identical twin, Barbara) is £1.99 and available from here, here on eBay or on my Etsy store. Alan, Jeff and Judy are also getting ready to be listed! Check in at the shop for updates! Alan, Jeff and Judy are also getting ready to be listed! Check in at the shop for updates! Judy here is all ready to go and is currently listed on eBay and on Etsy. Cheap, cute little gift for someone. C'mon, throw a girl a bone here ;) So, what did I do today for the challenge? Well, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I went back to ask Sophie for a challenge. This time she asked me whether I wanted a hard challenge or a slightly easier one. With some trepidation I told her that a moderately hard challenge would be suitable for me....silly girl that I am. I KNOW BETTER THAN THAT!! So with that now all too familiar gleam in her eye Sophie told me to give her 10 minutes and she'd think of something for me. This is what she came up with. Sophie dubbed it the "HIIT pyramid". I prefer to call it Satan's morning workout. The one before he's even brushed his teeth. So, as you can see....at one point I start crying. Kidding. I'm not a baby.
No, honestly. I swallowed some of my own hair and started gagging. I'm just TOO sexy... >.< Sp basically the HIIT pyramid consisted of burpees (you all know how much I love them), push-ups, side lunges and jumping lunges. It started with 10 of each, then 9, then 8 and so on. The first round I realised I had at least another 9 rounds to go and wanted to DIE right then. Being trampled by a herd of rabid guinea pigs would be less painful than what was waiting for me. Round 8 I was willing the rabid guinea pigs to take Sophie on....(awww, as if I would....). Round 7 and Sophie took pity on me and told me that we only had to go to the 5th round. That made me call the guinea pigs off. To be fair to Sophie's reputation she constantly encouraged me throughout and even told me that I was "going strong". Thanks for that - I know that I looked like a sweaty lump with a dead limb but it made me feel better :D Sophie is a complete beast, she is definitely great at her job!! She pushed me to my limit and made me want to keep going. She even didn't want me throwing up my water, what else would you want in a personal trainer? xD It was hard. I'm not kidding. I mean, when I started I knew it would be but I thought I'd be up for the challenge. Then the muscles started burning. The sweat started coming (I told you I was a sweater...). By round 7 though my body had gone numb. At least it saved me from the burning. Made the burpees hard though, given my toes kept getting caught on the floor! So, sweating, swearing and panting like some sort of deranged cheerleader (but without the pom poms. Dammit. They're surely the best bit? Oooooh, cheerleading....that could be fun. Does anyone know when you get the pom poms?) I finished the set of the HIIT pyramid at the 5th round and thought my lungs might just burst. Apparently it's going to "keep on burning". Ha. I think everything in my body is going to keep on burning.....my calves were tight from ballet yesterday and my butt muscle (from those handstands) was already tight, by the time I finished my stomach, lungs, face, hands, knees.....everything was burning. And even my KNEES were sweating man. I mean cmon. So, I'm going to take my sweaty knees and have a bath. What have I learnt today? Don't eat hair. Moral of the story? Don't ask Sophie for challenges.... :p ok, fine, ask Sophie but be VERY careful what you ask for ;) ""You are transient. The one constant in our life is change..." |
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