Bloggy Award

I can't remember if I mentioned the job interviews I was having last week and this week for some care homes.. I found out about both of them today, I actually got offered both of the jobs! I couldn't believe it. I've taken the one which is closest to my house and seems to be better experience for mental health nursing. I'm really looking forward to starting, I'm a little nervous of course, but in a good way!

I didn't do any running today, I was supposed to be meeting my mentee for a jog but she didn't show up and didn't answer her phone.. I hope she's ok. It worked best for me in a way because I've pulled a muscle in my right calf I think.. It might be just sore I'm not sure, all I know is it hurts to walk so running wasn't a good idea really, I was glad to rest it in the end. Fingers crossed I can run tomorrow, I've decided to have a light running week this week to give my legs a bit of recovery, Mike is doing the same, we both feel like our legs are a bit battered! We'll be back on the programme next week.

Laura @ Keeping Slim and Getting Stylish and Neen @ Broad Bean to Runner Bean both kindly gave me this award :-)
Here are the rules:

• Thank the person who gave you the award.
• Share seven things about yourself.
• Nominate fifteen newly discovered blogs.
• Let your nominees know about the award.

1. I love Disney, my family used to go on holiday to Florida every year and I have very fond memories of the place.
   
2. I have tattoos on each hip, my back and shoulder, I'll probably get more!
   
3. One day Mike and I would like to open a safe house for people with mental health difficulties where we have an office and the residents have their own rooms and independance but lots of support.
   
4. We'd also love that house to have a room spare so if people were stuck for a night we could help them.
   
5. I'd also love to be able to have a home for animals in need, I wish I had loads of money so I could just do voluntary work for the rest of my life!
   
6. When I was about 16 I considered becoming a body piercer and actually worked in a body piercing shop but never pierced anyone, I just sold jewellery and greeted people.
   
7. I want to move to Germany one day, or maybe America, or maybe both, at different times of course!
   

I nominate...
Zupakat
Cazza
Happy @ Thirty
Becky
Fitness and Cake
Running Slim
Kat
Amy
Gluten Free Tries Vegan

They might not be new blogs but they're new to me!

New Gym and New Job

Mike and I went to the new gym for the first time last night, the training times are pretty late so we pretty much got home ate tea and crashed! I also had my first day at my new job today, I'm really behind on reading all my favourite blogs which makes me sad! I'll be round to say hi soon!

So, the new gym! The training seems pretty good and we got to spar yipeee! Sadly though, we went in our boxing boots so when everyone went out for a 5 mile run we had to skip... I'd pick running over skipping any day of the week so I was gutted! At least we know for next time, take trainers!

There was another girl very close to my weight and similar experience to me so I got some good sparring. Only problem was after the coach saw me on the bags he asked me to go light on her and I ended up going a bit too light on her in the first round and I wasn't throwing enough punches.. I always worry when I have to go light on people cause I don't want to hurt someone who isn't ready for that level.. This girl didn't really need me to go too light on her though which I didn't realise at first. The first round I just took all her shots on my gloves, and she threw a lot! I've never had anyone come flying at me like that before haha, she tired quickly because she threw too much but it was good to be bullied. Now I know that I can block shots when someone comes out like that and that I don't clam up. The second round I still wasn't as busy as I could have been but I continued to block most of her shots and get some good ones in myself. The coach told me in the third round to up it a bit so I did! The third round was definately my best, I threw a lot of good shots and controlled the ring but she did land some good shots too, she threw a lot of hooks which were landing well for her so I had a sore ear at the end haha!

All in all the sparring was competetive and I think we could get a lot out of each other! It seemed like the coach underestimated her as I heard him say to her afterwards that he'd never seen her spar like that! Maybe having another girl to spar with was what she needed to be more competetive and bring out her best. Here's the training we did;

Skipping 30 mins! Damn not bringing trainers!!
Heavy bag 8 x 2 mins 30s rest
Sparring 3 x 2 mins
Cool down 10 mins

I enjoyed it apart from the skipping! The training finished at 9.30 so although I had all the good intentions to write my blog straight away and share my training with you I crashed as soon as I got in!

I had my first day at the new job today. It went pretty well, there was a lot to take in but nothing too hard. I enjoyed the job but I did have a major gripe about it. I was asked to be there at 8.30am until 6pm but I am only paid from 9-5.30... I didn't say anything today because the other manager is in the same position and it's not up to her it's the head office who's saying that but I am not happy about it and I'm not working an extra hour for free every day. I was out from 7.30am and didn't get home until 7, that's almost 12 hours I'm out and to only be paid for 7.5 hours is really frustrating... I'm not sure what to do about it... If anyone has any ideas or suggestions or advice I would really welcome them!

I ate half of my chocolate pulsin pre workout disc on the bus on the way home, it was pretty nice and wasn't too heavy on my stomach before I went out and run a 5k time trial!! The run was soo bloody hard! Even though Mike came with me for some moral support and company I felt sick from mile 1.3 onwards! I think I started a bit fast but that's always my problem! My legs felt bad on the run cause I'd had tough sparring the night before and been on my feet all day.. I absolutely could not believe it when I beat my old 3 mile time, 3 miles in 24.20! 13 seconds off my old time :D aaand that's my new years goal for 3 miles ticked off so maybe I can go for under 24...

Anyway... here are my stats!

3.1 miles in 25.08 average pace 8.06 average HR 179 max HR 190

Mile 1 8.02 HR 169
Mile 2 8.22 HR 183
Mile 3 7.58 HR 185
0.1 .47.58 HR 189

Right I'm off to try and catch up on all my blogs! Hope everyone is good!

Double Digits

Yesterday was such a busy day! I had a job interview in the morning, it lasted 1hr 20 and I think it went well. The job is really cool, I hope I get it!! I'm not sure when I'll find out, the lady had a lot of people to interview and said there might be a second round... I feel quietly confident, I know I could do the job, I just hope someone with lots more experience didn't turn up after me!

EDIT! I just got a phonecall.... I got the job!! I will be an assistant manager at Holland And Barrett, I'm going to get lots of training about all the natural supplements and sports products they do which is really interesting to me :-) So excited! I've been unemployed way too long, it will be great to get into work! The only downside is it will probably take a little while for me to find my fitness rhythm again and figure out when I find it best to train when I'm working but that will come with time! :D yay!

After my interview I got home, ate lunch and we went straight to a course, Coaching and Mentoring. The course was just awful... and I have two more 4 hr sessions!! From the syllabus I expected something like sports coaching and the type of mentoring I'm going to be doing with Mind. It was all corporate mentoring and coaching. And it was done in such a school classroom style, it felt really oppressive and the information just didn't seem useful. I didn't agree with a lot of the things he was teaching and on several occaisions he had really obvious grammatical errors on the slide show... I'm not saying I'm grammatically perfect, especially in my blog posts because I don't always check them thoroughly but come on - if you're leading a course you should have checked your course material! I'm dreading the next two weeks, seriously considering not going back... It could get better though, maybe? Who knows, I hope so!! They need a better description in the prospectus haha

When we got home from the course we were soo tired! We ate tea and sat down for a bit before getting some push-ups and chin-ups done. I was really concentrating on the chin-ups from dead hang so Mike was giving me a little support so I could get the full range of movement, I think I'm improving, I wish I'd started from dead hang in the beginning though, I have so much catch up to do now! I got 10 Chin-ups and 35 push-ups done, some of the push-ups on the dreaded handles!

Today I ran 10 miles!! My first double digit run, it was tough! A lot tougher than 8 was, I got pretty dehydrated too, I need to start taking water on my longer runs I can't get enough in me now! The run was a relaxed run at no specific pace according to my plan so I just went on how I felt, I was going to go on HR and keep it in a comfortable zone but something went wrong with the heart rate readings, think it needs a new battery... it was telling me my HR was in the low 90s for a lot of the run... I know that's not right! So I'll just give you the mile times!

10 miles in 1:35:43 average pace 9.35

Mile 1 9.36
Mile 2 9.37
Mile 3 9.32
Mile 4 8.54
Mile 5 8.58
Mile 6 10.11
Mile 7 10.12
Mile 8 9.41
Mile 9 9.33
Mile 10 9.25

The wierd time differences between miles 4-5 and 6-7 were down to wind on the bridge, it was clearly helping me in miles 4-5 but it was pushing me back in miles 6-7... they were tough miles, I just wasn't close enough to the end to not be bothered by the wind, 3-4 miles seemed so far at that point!

I felt so poorly after the run, I had the worst stomach cramps and for the first time after running had no appetite what so ever. I felt really sick and I thought I was going to be sick several times! I had to force down a bowl of cereal cause we had to go out as soon as I'd showered... Not nice! Anyone have any tips or ideas for how to avoid the tummy troubles after running? I hope it was just a bad day and not to do with the distance increase because that will make the half marathon training pretty grim!

Well I'm off now to refuel with a takeaway at Mike's Mums, it's her birthday tomorrow so we're off to celebrate!

By the way, head over to Marcia and Karyn's blogs and wish them luck for Boston on Monday!! They are going to be awesome :D