Mission continues...Week 2

 Week 2: So far, so good.

Firstly, thank you all so much for the love and support from the last post. I had a beautiful inbox message from my brother who told me never to think I'm anything but beautiful, inside and out..."do it for health but don't ever think you are not beautiful"...which meant a lot. 

Also, absolutely HUGE thanks to Stu Van Zeller for offering his support by way of some generously discounted personal training support. I was only joking about the cheeky free sessions but there you are being an absolute legend and offering your time and efforts regardless. As I'm starting my mission, he's starting his mission to develop his personal training business. For someone that I've always known to be a cheeky, sarcastic guy who doesn't take life too seriously... he was extremely professional (funny story coming up...read on) and I was really impressed. 

As you know, last week I set myself on this mission and promised myself I'd do at least 10,000 steps a day...and at least 30 minutes of activity. Here's how it went...

Day One: Wednesday. 

Well, after making my promises to exercise public, I woke up with a dodgy neck. Probably from writing this blog. I could barely move and thought, "Great. How am I meant to move with THIS?". Nothing says "welcome to your 30's" like seriously injuring yourself in your sleep. I couldn't even swallow without pain for most of the day but I popped a few paracetamol and cracked on regardless. 

I didn't manage to make it to Bodyjam (my fave gym class) just in case I paralysed myself even more. So just did some low impact, step workouts on Youtube instead. Ironically, ended up completely smashing my target. 

Thanks to the dodgy neck, I also ended up trying yoga for the first time ever in an attempt to sort it out. Lovely stretches, but found it hard to breathe bent over like a pretzel on the living room floor. "Long breath in.....and exhale slowly...". Easier said than done when the belly and boobs are fighting for lung space. 

Perhaps I'll give yoga another go when I've shifted a few inches.

Day Two: Thursday.

Neck was 99% better. I cleaned out the piggies (guinea pigs) & did some housework. It was 10pm and I'd only done about 3000 steps. I thought about giving it a miss but then gave myself a talking to and squeezed in a couple of step workouts to reach 10k by midnight. I've discovered "Get Fit With Rick" on YouTube and he absolutely makes my day. 

I was fully dressed, jeans and jumper when I put on the first video workout.  5 minutes in I was sweating and really couldn't be bothered to go and change into something more appropriate. So I stripped off and did it in my bra and pants. 

There I am, blobbing about in the living room half naked when Rick (on YouTube) points to the floor and says, "when you see me point to the floor, it means one of 2 things...either we're going back to home steps (step touch) or I can see something on your floor. You know I can see you, right?" 

"I bloody hope not, Rick...I'm blobbing about in my pants", I think to myself.

Well in true me style, I'd left the hoover out, wire traipsed over the floor. As I step back, I land straight onto the plug and fall back onto the sofa. "Oooooh!", Rick says. The song track changes to, 'I've got the power'. 

"Who's got the power? You've got the power!", Rick shouts from the TV. Meanwhile, I'm laid there on the sofa, sweating in my pants, in pain, foot impaled by the hoover plug. 

"Shit, he really can see me! He knows the hoover just plugged itself into me!"

Note to self: wear gym clothes, and put the bloody hoover away!

Day 3: Friday.

Lazy day steps wise. Not because I didn't want to, but because I gave blood. 

I wanted to give plasma too and had signed myself up to be sampled. It turns out my veins aren't "chunky" enough to donate plasma. Ironic, really. They're probably the only thing in my anatomy that isn't.

The guy told me not to do any strenuous activity for the rest of the day. I mean, 10,000 steps might not strictly be "strenuous" but I took it as an excuse to get out of jail free. "I'll do 20k tomorrow instead", I promise myself.

Note to self: Rephrase goal. "This time next year, I want to be as slender as my veins".

Day 4: Saturday

Well, I promised I'd do 20k. My friend Clare had invited me to go over to Worcester to visit our other friend, Adel. Adel has lost over 3 stone and is fit and full of energy. We decided we'd go for a 'nice' long walk up the Malvern Hills. A 'nice' walk, she says. 

Those things aren't hills; they're mountains! We parked downhill just outside of the North Quarry entrance. 2 minutes up the road, before we'd even started, I was puffing and panting like an obese pug. It didn't help that I'd taken a rucksack with about 4 litres of water and snacks. I was imagining a gentle stroll and a picnic, not the treacherous SAS mission that we had in store.  

Before we set out we'd all decided that we would reach the peak. Off we go, excitedly, unaware of the fresh hell that awaited us.

We get to the signs that tell us which route to go: easy, moderate, difficult. "Please pick easy", I plead in my head. The walk up the road had already almost killed me off. "This way", Adel says...powering up the steepest gravel path I'd ever seen. 200% incline, could've done with some gravity boots. 

Thankfully there was the occasional bench, which provided some momentary refuge in the enduring pain that was our hike. I am embarrassingly unfit. Much to my relief, so is Clare.

After about an hour and a half of uphill slog, we both collapse to the floor on our knees and decide to have a little break. Adel and her son power on ahead to "the top"... or so we think. 

Clare goes ahead of me and gets to "the top", She collapses back to the floor and and all I hear is, "oh nooooo!" 

"What? Is there more?"

"Yep." The disappointment in her tone was clear.

"Much more?"

"Yep.", she laughs...but not a funny laugh. The, 'if I don't laugh, I'll cry' type laugh.

We get to the top and look over to the next hill. The much taller hill beside the one we're on. "Turns out this isn't the peak", Adel says as we finally catch up to her.

"Shall we just sack it off and go back ...to the pub?"

But we didn't. We carried on and eventually, we got to the actual peak.

On the walk back down, Adel's son took a little tumble on some rocks. The first thing to come out of his mouth is, "I hate this!!". 

We all do, mate. We all do.

The day was ended at the pub, for a nice healthy burger and a pudding.

Some 'lovely' vids & pics from our 'lovely' walk: 

My ultimate fave... the fact that she saved it accidentally in slow-mo makes it even better...

On the plus side, I did my 20k: 

Day 5: Sunday

Just the usual. A couple of YouTube workouts and pacing/marching in front of the TV during the football. Best not to get me started on that rant. The racism and general chaos that ensued following the loss is everything that's wrong with the world... and it can all just 🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕. The end.

Day 6: Monday

PT day with Stu. 6pm sharp. Although not sharp because I was late finishing work. Better late than never, though.

Despite not wanting to do it... I ended up loving it.

Stu was really supportive. I had my own private space in the gym and thankfully didn't feel any of the usual anxiety from doing 'proper gym stuff'. I'm fine with classes, but put me on a gym floor with the weightlifters and you may as well have put me in a field of wild horses. I'd say a tank of sharks, but to me...fear wise... horses trump sharks.

We chatted throughout the session alongside Stu introducing new activities and explaining what to do. He'd tell me, "next we're going to..." and proceed to set up the equipment.

Meanwhile, he's telling me how they had a movie night at the gym the other night. 'The Greatest Showman'. A few moments pass and he says, "we're gonna do Dirty Dancing next".

"What do you mean? Am I gonna have to lift you over my head?"

He looks at me puzzled, "what are you on about?"

"Ohhhhhhh, for movie night", I realise. The shame, the embarrassment.

I won't lie, it was slightly disappointing that we ended up doing deadlifts next and not re-enacting the river-lift scene. 

(If anyone's interested in 1:1 Personal Training sessions, get in touch!)

Day 7: Tuesday

Another day where I really, really didn't want to do my steps. It got to about 10:30pm, I was all snug on the sofa and sleepy. I posted on Facebook that I might not and then someone posted a comment about Get Fit with Rick's support group. I had a flick through and decided to get up and get it done. It was a rush, I won't lie. At 23:45 - 15 minutes before my fitbit resets for the day, I'd managed around about 9,000 steps. I worked my not so little butt off, sprinted and jiggled as much as I could and made it in the nick of time! Then I flopped into bed, forgetting to write this blog.

Overall

All in all, it's been a week of ups and downs. And I'm not just talking about climbing the wrong hill and having to trek down to, and then up the actual one with the 'peak'. I've wanted to quit so many times and just lay on the sofa scrolling through Tiktok, eating bags upon bags of cheesy wiggles for dinner. But last week I made myself a promise...that I can, I will and I definitely still promise.