2018 challenge No. 1

So I've decided that for my first "challenge myself" thing I'll be starting the year with a kickstart of "Exercise Every Day in January" - I have friends who have joined in with Run Every Day January and I would probably have gone for that except like a twit I took it at face value and decided that a plan that wanted me to run every day with no rest days wasn't for me. Of course as it turns out it's not quite that, and I could have counted all the other sorts of exercise I do as well, but by the time I realised this it was too late to sign up so there you go!

I'm including a variation of things as I know from experience that trying to repeat the same form of exercise too many days on the trot causes me issues with injury. My gym sessions will count, as will a brisk (15 minute mile) walk of at least 2 miles taken specifically as exercise. I'll also be throwing in HIIT sessions on days that I'd normally not be doing other stuff as a lower impact way of keeping things going - I've got a handy interval timer app on my phone which gives me nasty little sets of 8 x 30 seconds work with 10 seconds rest in  between them - turns out 10 seconds is JUST long enough to change position for the next exercise, but not enough to give you any sort of a rest, so that's not as easy as it sounds. Similarly, 30 seconds Plank is easy until you get to the final interval of a core set, at which point it becomes less so...!

My thinking on this is that if I can start the year with exercise as an ingrained habit, then that's setting me up well for the rest of 2018. In fairness it's already pretty much there, and I'm rapidly finding that the more I do, the more I feel like doing too - there's no question that it helps my energy levels. This will target those lazy days when it's easier to say "Oh I'll call this a rest day" than do anything though - and having friends doing a similar sort of thing means that I'll be more determined not to let myself down in front of them. If you're interested to see how I get on I'm using the hashtag #EED0118 on both Twitter and Instagram to keep track.

I've also decided to continue through this month logging my food on the FitBit app - I'm presuming that there will be at least some sort of weight gain from a couple of weeks almost entirely "off" tracking everything over Christmas, although we did stay pretty active throughout, so I'm dropping calories a little this week too and will see how things stand when I weigh myself at the end of the week. I'm not after losing more weight as such, but I do still have some toning up to do, and would like to reduce my body-fat percentage a little more as well, at the moment it's still a little high. I'm aiming to continue with going to the gym once a week mostly for strength training as well as bodyweight exercises at home in those HIIT sessions, and I want to start throwing some hill-work into my running as well, if I'm ever going to make it right round the local Parkrun course then I'll need to do that! I'd like to get back to regular swimming again too but at the moment that doesn't quite suit me - nothing I hate more than coming out of the swimming pool on a freezing cold day with soaking wet hair!

So far I started on the 1st with a run - which I managed to fall over a mile into which wasn't ideal. Turns out it's all well and good spotting the muddy looking puddle and thinking "I'll avoid that" but you need to note where there are loose patches of gravel that your foot will land on instead, too. One skinned hand and a rather sore, bruised knee later...I was so determined not to have to count it as a stop that would blow my Couch To 5k day that I got straight up and carried on running though!

Yesterday was 3 x sets of those intervals I mentioned earlier - 1 x core, 1 x legs & 1 x arms/shoulders. Today we reached London earlier than usual thanks to very light traffic so I set off for a 3 mile walk before heading into the office - done comfortably inside that 15m/mile target pace too so that counts, and I am also heading to the gym this evening for my first session there of 2018. The walk this morning underlines one of the biggest changes I've made in my mindset over this whole thing - back in Autumn 2016 my immediate reaction would have been to have sat in the car for that spare 45 minutes until it was time to head to work - this morning that didn't even cross my mind, and as a result of doing that I already had nearly 6,500 steps under my belt by the time I reached my desk. It also goes to show how easily you can add additional activity into a regular day once you ditch the "haven't got time" mindset.

I'd be really interested to hear whether anyone else has "movement related" goals for this year - and if so how you're planning on implementing them!

Robyn