Lexigent

Thank you all for your encouragement! So, this week's progress: Goal 1 (fitness): Follow my running plan (3 runs a week) and run the 10k in March (hopefully with an improved PB but that is completely optional). - achieved, I ran 3 times this week. Goal 2 (fitness): Do strength training once a week. I just had someone write me a strength programme that complements running. - still not done anything on that. It has been too busy this week. I'm changing my schedule next week so that should hopefully help. Goal 3 (diet): No caffeine after 2pm. - Achieved! Goal 4 (level up your life): Start the day with the "momento" app (faith-focussed impulses for the day). - Achieved! My sister has asked me to do a half marathon with her in August, so the triathlon plan is going to be parked/replaced by training for that. She's been a runner for longer than I have and we've never run a race together, I'm quite excited for it now!

The first week is over and it's been so-so. I overtrained and got ill and miserable, so I had to take four days off. I still managed three runs but no strength training. But I feel a lot better for it so I suppose it was needed. I had no caffeine after 2pm at all this week and I remembered to do momento every day.

Hi! I just finished my first challenge in the newbie zone, so I feel I'm now ready to join the Scouts. Outside of sports/fitness, I'm a big theatre fan (Shakespeare for preference, but if there are cheap tickets going I will see other things). I like to read, I write a bit, and I really like cooking for people. I listen to the radio a lot (I always have BBC Four audio dramas on in the background when I'm doing my chores). My favourite audio dramas/podcasts currently are Answer Me This!, The West Wing Weekly, The Reservoir Tapes, Tracks, Sawbones, Stuff You Missed In History Class (to name a few). FItness-wise, I'm primarily into running. I've been running 10k distance for a while now but had to take some time off late last year due to injury. I used the first challenge to get back to 10k form and it worked fine. So now it's about maintaining it. I am running a 10k with a group at the beginning of March, so I am working towards that for this challenge. I am going to add strength training to my routine for this challenge. I haven't done any for a long time but I keep reading that it's really beneficial for endurance athletes to do, so I thought I'd give it a go. My Main Quest for 2018 is to do a triathlon. Doing swimming and cycling as my replacement cardio when I was injured made me realise how much I like doing both of them, and so the triathlon ambition was born. I'm going to go for sprint distance, which is a challenge but one that I feel is doable. My goals for the next couple of weeks are: Goal 1 (fitness): Follow my running plan (3 runs a week) and run the 10k in March (hopefully with an improved PB but that is completely optional). Goal 2 (fitness): Do strength training once a week. I just had someone write me a strength programme that complements running. Goal 3 (diet): No caffeine after 2pm. Goal 4 (level up your life): Start the day with the "momento" app (faith-focussed impulses for the day).

So, the challenge is finished now and I think I did alright. I did Start to the Day every morning. I mostly managed to stay caffeine-free after 2pm. I stuck to my running plan and my two long runs (10k/60 min) went well. I let the physio slide a bit because pain levels improved so much I felt I didn‘t need them as much. I have booked for a strength training induction now so I can add strength training to my training routine.

Had a bit of an odd one this week, lots of ups and downs. I‘m doing okay on the running. The plan got fairly intense this week - three runs and two sessions of crosstraining - so I haven‘t been able to fit much physio in unfortunately. The learning from this week is that I am going to try and schedule them for the days where I am at the gym anyway for my crosstraining. Otherwise it just won’t get done. I have an appointment booked for a gym induction to put together a strength training programme for me. I was meant to see the guy who does them today actually, but he was really ill and I gave up my slot because he looked so rough. I don‘t know why they made him come in at all because he shouldn‘t have been in work. Anyhoo, I have been feeling like I don‘t do anything else besides work and train and that‘s been affecting my mood a bit. Like, exercise is fun, but there are lots of other things I want to be doing too! But on the plus side, I have done all three triathlon sports this week for the first time. Tomorrow is my first long run. It‘s supposed to be 60 minutes and I‘m oddly nervous about it. I’ve done it lots before, but not in a long while! I lost my way the other day and had to walk home for about an hour, so I‘ll make sure that doesn‘t happen tomorrow. The caffeine cutback is going fine. So is the faith thing.

Oh hi! Thanks for asking. Things are going well. Goal 1 (running): The training calendar this week was pretty brutal on me because I had a lot on at work, and had to get up early nearly every day, but I managed all my workouts. It's still cold and today was wet as well, but I also did treadmill training this week when it was slippery outside and found I now much prefer running outdoors. Goal 2 (physio): I had a breakthrough with my pain and have started a gym-based physio programme, to help with strengthening the muscles and keeping the pain away. I'm trying not to get too excited because there is a lot of work still to do. But this goal will change not to two physio gym sessions a week. I go to the gym for my crosstraining anyway but I will have to plan in some extra time for these. Goal 3 (caffeine): I managed this on five out of seven days this week. Given the craziness of my schedule I'm not surprised, but I hope I can do better next week. I have a day off, which is sorely needed. Goal 4 (faith): I still read the Start to the Day every day over breakfast, so that's going okay.

Grand, I hope you enjoy! We have single-digit temperatures at the moment, occasionally they dip below zero. So not that cold compared to the polar vortex but still too chilly for a t-shirt!

I did swimming as crosstraining this week. I still find it a bit strange because with running, because I've done it for so long I know how to pace myself, I know how I can keep running even when it feels rough, and I know what a "good" or "successful" training run feels like. With swimming, because I'm so new to it, I don't (yet) have that experience. But I noticed that I apply some of my running knowledge to pacing and building up skills. It sounds really simple but I slow myself down when I get out of breath doing the front crawl, and because I am TERRIBLE at front crawl, I'm slowly trying to build myself up to being able to do longer distances by alternating it with breaststroke, the way you alternate running and walking when you learn how to run. I need to make/find a proper plan for how much to increase by what time. As far as the other direction goes - you can get away with non-ideal form/technique in running, but swimming is a lot less forgiving. So it will be good for my mental focus and paying attention to form when running. I have no idea how I'll fare on the bike once I get to that point but we'll see! I have decaf tea to drink when I get home after work, it makes my evenings so much nicer!

Thank you @SkyGirl and @Mindrah. My challenge is going well. Goal 1 (run 51 min or 8.5k without stopping): I ran four times last week. I have completed two runs this week and am now back up to running 5k without stopping. I just went out to my favourite sporting good shop and bought some new running clothes. I didn't have many cold-weather running clothes and I want to start running outside and in the mornings more so getting some longsleeve tops and another pair of warm running trousers was in order. I did a morning run this week and was surprised by how well it worked. I'm about to do the next run in the plan just now, which should be 6k. Goal 2 (physio): I did my exercises every day, though on some days I managed more exercises/reps than others. Still, I saw the osteopath on Friday and there was a big improvement in range of motion and pain levels in my neck. I definitely feel better, which encourages me to keep doing the exercises. I've been given a few new ones, which are VERY HARD, but I am only supposed to do 1-3 reps a day so we'll see how that goes. Goal 3 (no caffeine after 2pm): This one is so hard! But I managed it all week. Goal 4 (Start to the Day app): Managed to do that one every morning! It's only a short thing to read, I do it at the same time as I have breakfast.

Hello! I'm lex. I found this forum through a friend on a journalling site and decided to give it a go. Outside of sports/fitness, I'm a big theatre fan (Shakespeare for preference, but if there are cheap tickets going I will see other things). I like to read, I write a bit, and I really like cooking for people. I listen to the radio a lot (I always have BBC Four audio dramas on in the background when I'm doing my chores). My favourite audio dramas/podcasts currently are Answer Me This!, The West Wing Weekly, The Reservoir Tapes, Tracks, Sawbones, Stuff You Missed In History Class (to name a few). FItness-wise, I'm primarily into running. I've been running 10k distance for a little over a year now. I hurt my foot late last year and had to pause for two months, and while I still did other cardio, my running form suffered. So I am currently focussing on getting back to 10k form. I am running a 10k with a group at the beginning of March, so that's an added motivation! My Main Quest is that I would really love to do a triathlon this year. Doing swimming and cycling as my replacement cardio when I was injured made me realise how much I like doing both of them, and so the triathlon plan was born. I'm aiming for sprint distance, which is a challenge but one that I feel is doable. My goals for the next couple of weeks are: Goal 1 (fitness): Run 51 min (8.5k) without interruption by the end of the challenge. I have an app with a running plan that should get me race ready for the start of March. Goal 2 (fitness): Do my physio exercises every day. I have some chronic pain issues that need addressing before I can do anything strength-training-wise. Goal 3 (diet): No caffeine after 2pm. Goal 4 (level up your life): Start the day with the "Start to the Day" app (faith-focussed impulses for the day).