13.1 wk8: Adapting

It was a calmer week. Most of the shock of returning to work had passed, and no hidden extras to bring me to the brink. I managed to go to both my regular fitness classes which is a nice simple way to get the green highlighter out on my training plan. I've had quite an erratic run of attendance at circuits,  but this week I noticed how much easier it was lugging the 8kg kettlebell. I'm getting more power for moves like burpees too.

I made it out for a midweek run, my Achilles heel in my training. On Wednesday,  sleep won, but on Thursday, motivation overrode fatigue. I couldn't muster the suggested run, so I adapted to two laps of the local "loop", aiming to do lap 2 faster than the first (success! ).

I suppose I have a bit of a relationship with this route, for want of a better word. On a practical level, it's a simple circle. It has both a drawn out slope up and down, and a steep undulating section, so a bit of variety. It goes past pleasing houses and gardens and a park, and is well lit, so ticks aesthetic boxes day and night. Its also the route  that I recorded a time for back in 2008, so its very satisfying to compare back to pre-baby days. At that time I was active, but didn't realise I was in a fitness rut. Each week, I went to yoga, and adult ballet, and had been drifting away from nearly 5 years of step when I started Brownies which clashed anyway. I have a nice book on fitness, a bit simplistic for my needs now, but it's motivating. It has a fitness test, and on this occasion I recorded the results in a spreadsheet, and they are still available today. My body has found pregnancy and birth to be very demanding, and it's satisfying that although it may not be aesthetically what it was, I can thrash minutes off my walk/run effort from my 20s when I assumed I was fit.

Anyway. I made the classic mistake of making a plan for my long run. I set my alarm at 6.50 in an attempt to have an early start... "Alarm 1" went off before 6 with a wail of "wet!", after a shower and change of clothes,  I went to bed before "alarm 2" went "wah!" He was then quite blatantly awake, then joined by "alarm 1". This caused a dilemma. Husband is a sleep addict, and was not ready to deal with two wide awake little, bouncy people. They also needed complications like being fed. The 3 year old decided that it was TV time which was happily compatible with the desires of both parents, and baby was put in the pram to keep me company. Therefore it became an 8 mile brisk walk/ interval running session in 1hr 45. My speed was quite favourable to some of my long runs, and it will have been of benefit. Maybe not a perfect solution, but a good compromise of training plan Vs family life.