I have tackled this week pretty much head on, although I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for a text from my Tough Mudder buddy, that came on Monday.

Quite clearly I didn’t fancy a run, and if it hadn’t been for my TM buddy Teresa messaging me I would have been quite happy to head home and chill out! Knowing that this was a great opportunity not to have to run on my own for a change and to hopefully get in an extra session, we settled on a 7pm run and managed to rope Luke into coming too.

Monday had been a fairly hot day, and by 7pm the temperature had only cooled slightly, even so I was in high spirits and really really glad of the company! We managed to do 1.71 miles!! (That deserves a high five) And I have to say I am so proud of us!! We stopped once or twice and only very briefly, then we were straight back on it!! 

The real drama came when I was running back towards home and a fly full on flew into my eye!! I mean vision impaired or what!! Teresa was on hand to help me remove the fly from my eye, but I wasn’t impressed, I mean this is one of the reason I don’t run!! 

Fly aside it was a good run and as I said I’m proud of us!! But I was kicking myself for not pushing it to two miles!!…. NEXT TIME!!!!

So Wednesday i wasn’t too bothered about running since I had done pretty good Monday night, but as in always say anything is better than nothing, so I decided to take myself on a short 10 minute run. It was pretty standard, just a short loop then back home to see Luke and have some dinner. The main thing is I got out there and did something!!

And then we have Thursday night! clubbercise night!!!! It was so muggy and the routines were pretty energetic, so once again i left class looking a pretty disgusting sweaty mess!! But i absolutely love my Thursday night class, and the 350 calorie burn that goes with it!!!!

The post Getting the motivation back! (My Tough Mudder Journey) appeared first on Lifestyle Lisa.

With my first Tough Mudder as you guys most probably know, being only 2 months away, I knew I needed to take serious action, and force myself to get out there!! I’ve not had the right attitude lately and the “I can’t be bothered attitude” will certainly not help me get around the 12 mile course!

Wednesday was the day when I ventured out for my first run in weeks! I didn’t want too, work had been pretty busy and to be honest all I wanted to do was pour myself an ice tea and sit outside with my book, soaking up the last bit of sun of the day!

But that attitude will get me no where! So as soon I got home, I got changed and headed out the door! Hesitation would have given me time to talk myself out of it! Luke wasn’t home for another 20 minutes which gave me time to at least get out there and TRY!

I was actually really really proud of myself! It was really hot and I was on my own, but determination got me through it! It was a quick and short 0.82 mile run, but the point is I still got out there and did it! And when i started off on that run, I was only going to do the short circuit, but I pushed myself to go on, and I was proud when I finished, not to mention extremely relived!

I’m hoping that I can keep up that determination as I enter week 25, with only 2 months to go, its getting incredibly real now! and I am getting incredibly nervous!! Just thinking about the day sends my stomach into all kinds of knots! I am so use to being there as a spectator to watch Luke, it’s crazy to think that I myself will soon be in his shoes!!!!

I had another really good hot and sweaty workout class on Thursday (they are definitely getting hotter and harder I swear!) Teresa (my fellow first time TM) is also loving it and getting into it! and this week she bought her sister Caroline along to get her groove on and get glowing along with us! Seriously who said working out can’t be fun!! It was a great laugh, and I burnt a lot of calories trying to put in as much energy as I could, despite the heat!!

So another week has been and gone, I can’t believe that we are already mid way through June! This year is flying by, Tough Mudder was booked back in December, and at the time of booking I remember thinking how far away it was and how long we had to go! And now we are just 2 months away from it!! That does also mean that I am also only 3 months away from my 2017 Walt Disney World holiday!! (but that’s another blog altogether!)

I am tackling week 25 head on!!! BRING IT ON!!!

See you next week guys!

The post Getting back to it! (My Tough Mudder Journey) appeared first on Lifestyle Lisa.

I’ve decided on just a mini blog this week because once again I don’t have anything to report on. Unfortunately this is becoming a recurring little pattern, with the promise of “I’ll be better next week” never actually materialising. 

I am slowly loosing count of the weeks, but I think we are on week 23 now!!! And I know we are definitely only 67 days (at the time of writing this post) from Tough Mudder!!

My biggest issue so far is finding motivation! When you hate something so much trying to get motivated to do it, is ridiculously difficult!

I have all the best intentions in the world to get out there with the “go get em attitude” but that never seems to materialise.

I have been seriously slacking on going to my classes too! But that changed this week as I have a new work out buddy who is also my fellow first time Tough Mudder partner! So this Thursday I had the pleasure of Teresa (Luke’s mum) joining me to glow hard at clubbercise, it was great to get back into it, I didn’t realise how much I had missed it, until I was back dancing to club tunes in the dark dripping with sweat!! Teresa really enjoyed it too, and I have to say she was very good at it too, picking the routines up pretty quickly. So I have now booked us both into class for the next few weeks!!! I am back on that at least!!

Now to sort out my running and gym!!! I’m now in a rut and really can’t be bothered! I started off so well, for me anyways! Then I did ONE 2 mile run and gave up!!

I only have one goal and that is to finish this Tough Mudder and make myself proud! (And hopefully make Luke proud too!)

Desperately trying to turn the page and throw myself back into it! I have a great new workout buddy (Teresa) and we’ve also had a little chat about fitting in a run or two, I’m pretty sure we can motivate and encourage each other!!! We still have 67 days to go! Anything is possible.

The post Lisa! Pull yourself together! MINI BLOG! (My Tough Mudder Journey)  appeared first on Lifestyle Lisa.

Okay so here is where we’re at! I have noticed such a serious decline in my motivation and progression, and for the past 2 weeks I have felt extremely disappointed in myself. This week was my 22nd week, I have now officially been running for 22 long hard whole weeks. I’d love to say that it’s fun, that it’s easy, that I am doing so well, but I can’t. It’s a constant struggle, I don’t have the stamina and I am nowhere near where I should be at week 22. I have decided that running isn’t for me, it will always be a struggle and after my Tough Mudder in August I will be more than happy to hang up my running shoes FOR GOOD! Call it early retirement! Until then however I have to struggle through, because we are now in DOUBLE FIGURES in the countdown to the tough mudder! And the closer we get the more nervous I become!

So at the beginning of the week I decided that I was going up my game, disappointed with last weeks work outs, I mentally put together a plan that would see me out running at least 4 times this week. Obviously that never materialised, because as good as it sounded in my head, the reality was nowhere near as appealing! 

I managed to avoid any contact with running until Wednesday, Luke was going to be late, and had somehow managed to convince me to go out for a run, I was extremely reluctant of course, but I knew he was right and that I should get out there!! It was so humid out, my legs seriously did not want to work, but I struggled through and managed a pitiful 10 minutes! I’m not even proud of that! I don’t have the motivation to push myself further and further, and just constantly feel like given up!!!

And with that said that was actually my only work out this week! To be fair I was thinking of heading out Friday night but with his happened….???

??I’m not even exaggerating (for a change) it poured down, and we had thunder and lightning too. And I know for a fact the last place I should be is in the middle of a field when lightning strikes!! I mean health and safety before running right!!! I’m pretty sure if Luke had his way we would have been out there, but luckily I over ruled on this occasion!

So as much as I was relieved not to go out running on a miserable rainy Friday night, I couldn’t help feeling that little twinge of disappointment, I’m the only one who will suffer at the end of the day!

Okay well no point in dwelling on the past… it is after all the WEEKEND! And we all know how much I LOVE THE WEEKENDS!!  And this weekend was full of impromptu little things!!

Starting with a little visit to the Blue egg in Bardfield for lunch on Saturday. I love this place, particularly at Christmas as it has the cutest little shop which does the nicest gifts. However I am not so keen on the food (sorry) but twice now I have been there and would give it a mear 5/10 plus the tables never look cleaned. But definitely worth a visit for the shop.

Luke and I then headed for dinner to TGI’s with our friends for some gossip and cocktails! Okay I’m on a diet and really cannot afford the extra calories so I stuck to my bloody Mary’s (hoping that it’s at least slightly better than cocktails) We were actually home by 10pm as I don’t really seem to be able to party like I used too!!!!

Unfortunately Luke and I got home just after 10 and watched the awful events unfolding in London on tv. Truly very very sad, just as the awful attack in Manchester 2 weeks ago. I really am not keen on talking about these awful events on my blog as I feel that there is so much tragedy going on all over the world a the moment, I want to keep my blog posts as happy and upbeat as I can. But I will finish by saying my heart truly does go out to all affected

Our impromptu weekend continued into Sunday when we went STRAWBERRY picking! Luke and I have never been strawberry picking in our almost 4 years together!! So off we went too cammas hall farm near Bishops Stortford in the Essex countryside. Here you can pick your own (PYO) strawberry’s or Gooseberries! Now I’m not a lover of gooseberries but I love strawberries! So we took a basket and off we went!!!…. I have to say that Luke is far more thorough than I am, and he checks the fruit and makes sure they’re all looking good before they go into the basket …. I on the other hand just wanted to pick ALL the strawberries!!!!

So with a basket of fresh strawberries picked, it was time for a quick lunch at Nando’s (veggie option for me) and then cinema to watch Baywatch!!! (Very funny and highly recommended).

So with that busy day over with, it left a few hours in the evening to chill out before the working week started all over again.

Who knows what week 23 will bring, I’m hoping not to be so lazy and deflated, but that’s easier said that’s done!…. WATCH THIS SPACE!!

?

The post A week of DEFLATION! (My Tough Mudder Journey) appeared first on Lifestyle Lisa.

It’s been another lazy(ish) week for, but better than last week that’s for sure!!

Monday, Tuesday AND THURSDAY! (No class for me this week) I’m just going to write off, let’s just say I was in wind down mode for the bank holiday (that’s my excuse and I shall be sticking to it!)

So it got to Wednesday and I hadn’t done anything, and honestly I wasn’t planning on doing anything either! But Luke managed to persuade me, he gave me the “your only making it harder on yourself, by not running” talk. To be fair I knew he was right, and since I’d stopped running three times a week I had noticed a significant change in my ability to run. So I got changed and off I went….. on my own!! Now I hate running on my own, I find it hard to motivate myself and get going, and even though Luke goes off without me, I just like knowing he’s there not too far away! So tonight as well as being ridiculously hot, I was also running solo!! At first I thought to myself that I would try to run a full mile, then about 3 minutes into it, I decided that a small loop (roughly about 10 minutes) was all I could manage!! And it’s like I always tell myself……

So with that in mind I didn’t feel too bad!! I made it home just before Luke did, which gave me a few minutes to compose myself! I looked like one sweaty mess!!!! So attractive!!!

Moving swiftly on to Friday!!! (The bank holiday weekend is nearly here) and of course Friday only means one thing…. it’s run night!!! Another ridiculously hot day and I wasn’t really in the mood for a run (like when am I in the mood for a run?!) I had made my mind up earlier on during the day that I would not be doing a 2 mile run, and instead settled for a mile. Luke tried to persuade me to go the extra mile, but tonight I wasn’t budging, and sticking firmly to my guns!! So the first thing I noticed when we started our run was how many of those little flies were about, I had 2 stick to my lip gloss in the first 3 minutes! I then must have swallowed one because I then choked on something, which then made my eyes start watering, which then meant that A) my vision was impaired and B) my left eyelash stared coming unstuck!!!!! So now my mind wasn’t even on the run, it was on the fact that I didn’t want to lose my eyelash!!!! Can I also just say that this all happened within the first 5 minutes of my run (off to a great start!)

Luke obviously noted my struggle and had chosen another route for us to do, which would miss out the steep incline (which I have named Everest) and take us up a slightly less steep incline, which to be fair I tackled a lot better! Not to say that I was struggling because I was, but not as much as I did the week before when I almost gave up! I’m finding running in the heat extremely difficult, and we’re only in May! So I know for a fact it’s going to get worse as we head into summer which I am dreading!!!!!

Anyways I was SO happy to finally be on the home stretch of my Friday night run, I’m proud for getting out there and doing it, but I know I need to up my game! The best thing about finishing a run is running down the drive to my house and seeing Luke standing there perfectly composed like he’s just been for a stroll in the park…. But what’s even better is the big cuddle I get at the end of my runs! They are so worth the pain and torture.

So now that’s out of the way it was time to enjoy THE……

And we sure did have a great one, okay so the rain on Saturday did throw our plans out a little bit, but it all worked out in the end.

Included in this bank holiday was hanging out with the little gorgeous Amelia and Luke’s lovely sister Charlotte with a picnic in the park.

I had my brows and nails done at Shine hair and nails

How gorgeous do my nails look!!!!

Luke and I went to watch Alien covenant (I don’t recommend that at all, as it was pretty boring) before heading to chimichanga for some dinner. On the Sunday we also went to watch the new pirates of the Caribbean movie (which I do highly recommend, it was really good) and had dinner at pizza Express with Luke’s Mum and Dad.

Monday was for getting my car cleaned (it was filthy) and heading on over to the discovery centre for a bit of stroll. Before heading home for some lunch and spending a bit of time with the equally gorgeous Grace and Luke’s lovely sister Mel!!!

Oh and in between all that Luke and I have had some great long lay ins, and slept right through the thunder-storm that everyone’s been chatting about on Facebook today. 

I love weekends (all weekends) but especially long weekends, spending my time with Luke and both of our families is extremely important to us both.

Now it’s Monday night and I’m spending the last few hours with Luke, before we head back to work tomorrow and I miss him.

.

The post Long Weekends are certainly NOT for exercising (My Tough Mudder Journey) appeared first on Lifestyle Lisa.