Doesn't it look wintery..
I love this one, it looks as if she is looking up at Mike adoringly!
We let her off lead for a bit when there were no other dogs.. she was running around like a maniac!
On to the farmers field.. This is Mike shouting get back here and Roxie thinking uh-oh I've done something naughty...
This is when the camera ran out.. You can just see a horse coming over to us for some apples. I felt really sorry for the horse and gave it a whole bag full 'cause it looked really poorly looked after, it's mane was all thin and knotted and it's coat didn't look like it had been groomed for ages.. plus it loved the apples!
We had a really nice walk, I'm glad Roxie can manage long walks now and seems to really enjoy them. She loves seeing the horses and would probably lick them if we let her get close enough. I'm a bit nervous to let her get too close in case she gets trampled or bitten though...When we got home from the walk we had a nice relaxing morning, for me again it was catching up on blogs! Then we went for Sunday lunch at his mum's house and I came home feeling like I might pop. We watched horror movies all night and I had planned to share some movie snacks with you guys but I didn't make any as I was too full all night! We only got two trick or treaters all night! I now have lots of spare chocolate.. I think I might take some to work, one of the residents absolutely loves chocolate so I might give some to him!
I knew I'd had a bad month training wise so I've decided to go back to my first post and look at my goals at the beginning of the year again and see how far I've come with them and make a plan from them. I seem to let work get in the way too much and get tired and un-motivated really easily. I need to find a way to work around that as people have to work. I need to work but I need/want to keep my fitness up. I hope October was just a tough month and that I can bring it back!
Here's what I did in October anyway..
99 push-ups
10 chin-ups
18.4 miles - I think my lowest all year
So - here are my goals as written last January. My comments today are in purple.
New Years Goals
Running/conditioning
Complete half marathon (current 4 miles) As of today I have completed a half marathon and my longest ever run is 13.8 miles.
One mile in >7.30 (current 7.55) This one I'm really proud of, my current fastest mile is 6.43 which I did this month... at least I did something in October!
Two miles in >15.30 minutes (current 16.23) Done in 15.24 back in March, I wonder if I could beat that again now?
Three miles in >24.30 minutes (current 25.25) 3 miles done in 24.04, 5k in 24.51, that's pretty recent, done in September.
Four miles in >35 minutes (current 37.50) 32.48 done in September too.
So, overall my running goals for the year are looking good. Even if October was a bad month. As I said in my last post I think I need a bit of a break from as fast as I can running... Shame I just spotted a 10 mile race I want to do in January... I'm in two minds over it... We'll see how training goes! I really want to break 1.30 for 10 miles, I've come close but never got under it yet! There is one in Feb too but I'm not sure if I can get a lift to it... That might be a more realistic one to go for..
Strength
Hold a plank for 3.30 minutes (current 2.30) 3.53 - acheived in May.
3 pull-ups in a row (current 0) Never managed to do 1 from dead hang - can I do it?? I don't know!
5 chin-ups in a row (current 1) Can do it but not from dead hang, only from a 90 degree angle which is not really a true chin-up. I'm going to push for this by the end of the year.
30 push-ups in a row (current 10) I did get up to 30 but I'm not sure I could do that now. I'm going to test it and have my goal to get back up there before the end of the year.
My strength goals need a bit of work.. I need to start doing little bursts of push-ups and pull-ups randomly through the day again, that would help a lot.
Boxing
Improve hooks and uppercuts – practice in sparring My hooks are getting better, they look good on the bag but I'm still not very good at landing them.. Definately need more work but at least now we're back at a club I can focus on them more in sparring.
Improve stance so weight is spread more evenly I feel like I've got a much better stance now.
Angle off – don't stand square Getting better but still needs some work!
Win my first fight! I might not have had my first fight by the end of the year but if I do, I'm hoping to get this goal!!
New Years Resolutions
Do core workouts twice a week I've not done them twice a week but I think I've usually done once a week and some weeks twice... I was better at this earlier in the year. When we stopped going to the boxing gym after all the drama back in March I lost a lot of motivation with this but I have good reason to want a strong core again!!
Neck exercises once a week Again, I stopped doing these back in March, I hate them so much and there didn't seem any point when we weren't boxing. I need to start again though.. I don't want to hit the canvas!
Wrist curls once a week Same as other boxing ones.
Isometric punches once a week Same as other boxing ones.
Boxing three times a week This one probably won't be possible with my shift work as sometimes I will be working too many late shifts but where possible I will stick to this one.
Running three times a week (distance, sprints and intervals) I've pretty much stuck to this one, bar injury or illness and bar last month when I don't really know what happened..
Follow pull-up/chin-up plan This kind of dropped off when we stopped boxing too.. Until I've looked at it all now I didn't really realise how much stopping boxing affected my motivation to train in a varied way, I only cared about running when I wasn't boxing which made missing my half marathon time goal all the more painful. But I will be back to reach it next year (I hope!).
So, that's where I am compared to where I was in January. I'm hoping I can really up the strength work and accomplish those chin-up and pull-up goals and just refocus a bit more.
I should be going boxing tonight and if not I'll be off for a run.. I'm also trying to muster up the courage to check my max push-ups and chin-ups but I'm scared the result will be poor!! I'll report back tomorrow haha
Hope everyone's having a great day!
