So we are now in December, can't believe how fast this year has flown by! I'm so pleased to have been able to finish 4 marathons, 7 triathlons and plenty more races of different distances and training in between. Never thought that a year ago that would have been possible!
So hopefully December will be a quieter month to try and rest before the marathon training starts up again in January (there is one little plan I have though for next weekend, but not quite committed yet so will say no more!). And as for carb-loading, time to swap the potatoes and pasta for a few mince pies and chocolate perhaps?
The next race I have is the Pednor 10, a small, local race between Christmas and New Year. I did it last year and enjoyed it. Other than that it's just training run/sessions and parkrun. It's a bit difficult to get out on the bike much now, as trying to cycle into work down dark, pot-holed roads to and from work is a death trap! And let's admit it, I'm definitely a fair-weather cyclist anyway!
My place of work has a good scheme going on though, where you can join in certain "Active Students, Active Staff" sessions at the gym and around campus - weekly in term time and completely free!! This is great as it means I've been able to add some different cross-training in focusing on strength, toning and core but without being another hard CV workout. There are loads of sessions from football to burlesque fitness and are aimed at beginners and novices so a lot of fun to try something new.
So lately I have been trying gymnastics and pole fitness. I mentioned the gymnastics in my last post, and today I went again and we did cartwheels, round offs and handstands. Can just about do a decent cartwheel and round off but handstands are tougher than I remembered - I don't think i used to get dizzy when I was 15! Plus my back was getting worse and worse after every round off which did not help. There were a few more experienced students also training, to think i used to be that good!!
The other class I went to was pole fitness, which is basically a sporty version of pole dancing in the gym studio. After an aerobic warm-up, we got into groups of 3 according to our experience level (me being total beginner obviously!) and went to a pole. We were given various moves and stationary poses to try including simple spins and sitting on the pole. Plus a lot of strengthening work such as pull ups! if you think pole fitness is just twirling round a pole looking sexy, think again! My arms were really sore afterwards and it required a lot of upper body and core strength. I really enjoyed it though, it was great fun and when it starts back up in the new term i will try and go regularly.
Finally we had out triathlon club Christmas dinner which was really good. It was good to meet up with people outside the gym/pool/parkrun etc and see what everyone looks like when not in lycra! I even won 2 awards for the club race series league! Novice female winner and 3rd female. It was great to be recognised in my first season and good to know that some the races I had entered counted for something towards club points as well! Next year I will try and enter another 1-2 races that count as well as our members-only races.
Tonight I have swimming, and tomorrow will be running and circuits. Next week i hope to move running back to Monday lunch times as it will no longer clash with gymnastics, and it's nicer to go to circuits fresh having not done a run as well that day.
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