Manny Pacquiao Workout

We did a workout Mike found on the rosstraining forums today, the Manny Pacquiao workout, if it's good enough for him I'll give it a go!

Manny Pacquiao Workout
12/14/16/18/20 Burpees (increase by two each round)
50 Star Jumps
100 High Knee Dumbell Press
15 Neider Press (10kg bar)

x 5 rounds = 12.10

15 minutes of continuous core work including planks, leg raises, v-ups etc.

I won't be doing any more training tonight as I'm just about to go and get ready to go out for tea for my gran's 80th birthday, I can't believe she's 80 she does so much! She's definately where I got my love for cooking from she's the best cook, I could make a sandwhich with the exact same ingredients and hers would always taste so much better!

Right I'm off to pick my outfit! Hope everyone has a good night.

Oh and check out this giveaway over at Salad and Sequins, go here for lots of UK treats!

Badminton, bag rounds and more nakd bars!

22/03/10
We just did a quick workout yesterday as we ran out of time, we were planning on running intervals before breakfast but our legs were too sore and our bellies too hungry! We settled on some mixed up 3 minute rounds before in the afternoon, ate a snack and went to play badminton! We then went to pick up some groceries so our tea ended up being at 10.30, not good! I'm not a fan of eating a lot close to bedtime! Anyway, back to the workout!

7 x 3 minute rounds (1 minute rest)

Each round was;
1 minute heavy bag
1 minute plyometric jumps over medicine ball
30 seconds heavy bag
30 seconds band slams

Badminton 1 hour 30 minutes, on and off playing Mike and my dad and getting thrashed by both of them... I don't think I'll ever be a good badminton player, those two always thrash me! In between the games I did 20 push ups. I saw a poster for a university boxing club which has boxers boxing competetively, this will be great if I do go back to uni and haven't found a new gym by that time, plus it was only 50p a session, not bad!!

Since we were waiting for my dad to get changed and hadn't managed our intervals we did a sprint suicide relay! What were we thinking with such sore legs!! The quick turns absolutely killed my bum!! We did 3/4 of the court then back to the start then the full length and back to the start and took it in turns to run, we did it 10 times. I'm sure Mike got the good deal cause I was slower than him giving him more rest... his turn seemed to be over before it begun!

Nakd Cocoa Orange
Really nice texture like the cashew cookie
Loved the flavour, like a Terry's chocolate orange, only good for you!
This bar is my favourite so far... closely competing with the Trek cherry flapjack!
Ingredients since I must have forgotten to photograph the back of the packet - Dates (40%), Cashews (40%), Raisins (14%), Cocoa (5%), A hint of natural flavour



Nakd Banana Bread
Nice sweet banana flavour
I enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would actually cause I'm not a huge banana fan, it was really nice though it was quite delicately spiced you could taste a little cinnamon which I liked


Today I had my midweek rest day, I just did 30 minutes of yoga from our new dvd, I needed the rest today, my legs are still so sore and I'm struggling with some arm pain. I got knocked on my forearm last week and it still hurts, it hurts to grip stuff and is really wierd! I think I must have knocked a nerve or something, I don't know, I wish I knew more about anatomy!

Weekly totals and 21/03/10

How has everyone's weekend been? I had my rest day Saturday and I was going to join a last minute race on Sunday but I didn't in the end as although there was on the day registration none of the registration money went to the charity it was supposed to be supporting. As we didn't have any sponsers we didn't want the only money we could give to go to the council and Sainsburys and not where it was needed. I think it's pretty awful actually as the race entry fees will actually have been making profit for someone on an event which was supposed to be for charity. I understand them breaking even but did they really need to make profit when it could have gone to charity.. has anyone else noticed this? There have been a couple of races I've been put of entering as they make out they are for charity but when you actually look into it very little, if any, of the entry fee goes to charity.

Weekly Totals
Miles - 13.39
Push-ups - 55
Chin-ups - 0
Pull-ups - 0
Neck Exercises - 1
Isometric Punches - 0
Wrist Curls - 1
Core - 1

21/03/10
4 x 2 minutes sparring
3 x 2 minutes mitt work

ICT #4
Part 1
10 burpees
20 lunges
30 squats

x 5 rounds

Part 2
10 second pull up hold
10 push ups
10 upright band pulls

x 5 rounds

14.25 mins (last time (27/12/09) I took 21.02 mins!)

The sparring was frustrating this morning, we don't really have the space for it but whilst we're not at a gym we don't want to lose our sparring fitness and endurance. One thing I'm having problems with is that it seems to hurt a lot more at home cause I don't have the same amount of adrenaline as I do in the gym I suppose... The mitt work was good, Mike said I was punching with good power and I thought it went a lot better than the sparring where I just didn't feel like I was landing much, he assures me I landed at least one good body shot though!

I'm pretty impressed by how much I beat my old time on the ICT workout! That was a big surprise! I was really dreading doing it cause I clearly remember last time not being able to walk for days, my legs are feeling pretty sore now, hope I can move tomorrow!! I have a few more Natural Balance reviews, we've recently tried a Trek bar and a chocolatey Nakd bar, both went down well!

Trek - Peanut and Oat




Really nice peanut butter taste
We both felt it delivered good energy
Good protein (11g)
Good ingredients (Dates (38%), Raisins (12%), Peanuts (12%), Soya Crispies (10%), Peanut butter (7%), Apple Juice, Oats, Ginseng Extract, Gingko Biloba Extract.)
On the packet it says 'A sweet, rich, wholefood combination of fast and slow release carbohydrates, protein, fibre, ginkgo biloba and ginseng for sustained alertness, endurance, recovery and hunger control.' - pretty good food! Mike and I shared it after our morning workout but I think it would be good before workouts too.
We both liked that it had the ginseng and gingko biloba extracts.

Nakd - Cocoa Loco





This bar was Mike's favourite (so far!)
Great healthy replacement for a chocolate treat
We thought they would be great in a children's lunch box
One small, or half a big one is enough to satisfy a sweet tooth

Hope everyone has enjoyed the weekend!

19/03/10

Well I tried the cherry raisins in my breakfast this morning and yummmmm, they were really good! I tried them by themselves too and they were good that way too, kind of like sweets. I think when I start doing runs that are long enough to need fuel I will try these, I think they would be easy enough to digest and give me some extra energy! Anyway... I've gone off topic... Back to my breakfast, it's quite an art form the amount of things that go into it!

I have two natures path cereals, optimum power and millet rice oatbran flakes, then I have plain musli to which I add dried apples, blueberries, cranberries and today cherry flavoured raisins!

Optimum power, cereal with soy, flax and blueberries

Millet rice oatbran flakes

Musli

+ cherry raisins!

Served with semi skimmed organic milk and xylitol, my milk of choice is soya actually but today it was cows milk.

Yoga AM
Our yoga dvd arrived this morning so I just had to try it out, I did a 30 minute routine which was supposed to aid digestion. It's hard to say if it worked but it felt like it did, I was fairly full when I started and my tummy felt better by the end, not sure if that was just cause time had passed though... will have to test it out after a restaraunt meal!! The dvd looks good though I'm looking forward to trying all the other routines.

Run - Afternoon
I ended up having a good run today! It was going to be a tempo run but my tempo miles ended up not very good tempo but good overall, I beat my old 3 mile time! Yipeee! I didn't even realise how much until I checked the time at the end, I just ran as hard as I could. Mainly thanks to a man on a bike who cheered me on in the first mile when the wind on the bridge felt unbearable and I just felt a bit crap, he put a smile on my face for a good mile or so :-) Here's my stats!

Mile 1 (warm up) 9.51 average HR - 160

Tempo(ish) miles - 3 in 24.33 average HR - 183
Mile 1 - 8.31 (181)
Mile 2 - 8.13 (183)
Mile 3 - 7.47 (187)

Cool down miles 2.39 at 10.03 per mile average HR - 169

Total running = 6.39 miles in 58.25, 9.09 per mile

With my lunch I tried the apple pie nakd bar, Mike and I shared the big one, it felt like good running fuel and didn't make me feel sick whilst I was running so that's a big plus for me! It was really tasty too, similar to the apple cupcakes I make only more healthy! The big bar has two of your five a day crammed into it too... Check out Mike's hand model skills!



It had a similar texture to the berry bar, I liked it more than Mike as it was very appley and he's not the biggest apple fan! I really liked the apple chunks in it and the cinnamon flavour, I can't decide if I prefer this or the berry one... too many choices I think hehe.

Mike has started a blog!! In face we're both blogging sat in bed at the moment haha, anyway go check it out and say hi if you have time! Here it is Fighting Fit. It's similar to mine but he is going to include more fitness articles such as training without much equipment, high intensity methods, strength and combat sport articles. I might be slightly biased but it's definately worth keeping an eye on, he knows his stuff and spends a lot of time researching fitness techniques and the body's energy systems. He writes most of the workouts we do together at home if they aren't a Ross Enamait one that is!

A mystery parcel and strength workout

I got a great parcel yesterday morning!! The lovely people at Natural Balance Foods sent me some bars to try out! And what a stash they sent too! We ripped open the box and shared a berry cheeky and cashew cookie before we went to do our strength workout. I also tried one of the trek flapjacks, the cherry one after the workout, a girls gotta get her protein in post strength work (plus I really wanted to try it)! Look at what they sent me, I can't wait to try all this lot!!

That box contains two trek flapjacks, one cherry one oat, three trek bars, mixed berry, peanut oat and cocoa brownie, four flavours of raisins, cherry, orange, lemon and pineapple, big and little nakd bars in berry cheeky, apple pie, cocoa loco and banana bread and nakd nudies in cashew cookie, cocoa orange, ginger bread and pecan pie.... Wow! I'm so excited to try all these flavours :-) Thanks for such a generous package Natural Balance!



Berry Cheeky
ummm I think I need a haircut!! or at least to straighten it before posing for daft pictures!


Here's what we thought;
It had a really nice taste of the strawberrys and raspberrys
It tasted fresh
It was good workout fuel - didn't make me feel sick even though I'd eaten it right before, that's a biggie for me, most things I eat don't agree with me if I eat them too close to the workout, will test another bar before my run today!
Great ingredient list - Dates (39%), Oats, Mixed Nuts (14%) Raisins (13%) Apple Juice, Raspberries (2%) Strawberries (1%), Natural Flavouring.

Cashew Cookie



It had a really nice cashew taste
It was quite cake like more than a bar
It was very moreish - tasted a lot naughtier than it was!
It was also good workout fuel, see berry cheeky review!
Another great ingredients list - Cashews (51%), Dates (49%) - I can't believe that's all that's in the bar!

Trek Cherry Flapjack


It was nicer than any flapjack I've had before (was only going to have half but ate the whole thing...that says it all hehe)
The cherry raisins were lovely, I can't wait to try them in my breakfast
The ingredients list was not quite as good as the Nakds as it has some added sugar and oils but it's got better ingredients than other flapjacks and has the bonus of lots of protein
It kept me full for ages
I will definately buy this again




Strength Work
Dumbbell Lunges - 2 x 12 25kg (go up in weight next week)
Dumbbell Clean and Press - 1 x 2, 1 x 1 10kg (+1.5kg from last week)
Dumbbell Bent Over Row -2 x 5 15kg (+1.5kg from last week)
Dumbbell Bench Press - 2 x 8 8.5kg (+1kg from last week)
Dumbbell Curl - 4 x 2 7.5kg (+0.5kg from last week...how did it make it so much harder?!)
Barbell Wrist Curl - 50 reps 20kg
Barbell Reverse Wrist Curl - 40 reps 11kg
Neck Curl - 50 reps 10kg

The strength workout wasn't too great today, I tried adding weight in most exercises and my body just wasn't feeling it on some of them, especially the clean and press, I only added 1.5kg and went from 2 x 8 reps to 2 then 1! Maybe I should have gone 9.5kg before 10kg.. I used to clean and press 15kg when I did a lot of weights a few years ago, can't believe 10kg feels so hard now!

Mike and I got a bit snappy happy after taking the bar pictures and decided to take some pics during our strength routine, the camera ran out half way through though so I only have a pics of the first few exercises... please ignore my weight lifting face haha... not the most attractive look I've ever sported!

Setting up the weights

Lunges (I have weights in both hands)

Clean and Press

Bent Over Row

...and then the camera decided it had had enough!

Well I'm off to get some breakfast, think I'm going to be trying some of those flavoured raisins in it! It looks like a lovely day for a run today, so glad spring is here!

17/03/10

AM
I went for a long slow run today trying to keep my HR around 160-165, it was frustratingly slow to keep in this HR range and it took all my willpower not to speed off! But I need to work on my aerobic fitness for the half marathon, I'm a lot more anaerobically fit from boxing I think. Anyway here are the run stats, I figured out how to set it to lap after every mile :-) I feel very clever about that haha

7 miles in 1:17:46
Average pace - 11.08 per mile
Average HR - 165

Mile 1 - 10.26 HR 161
Mile 2 - 11.06 HR 164
Mile 3 - 10.48 HR 165
Mile 4 - 10.57 HR 167
Mile 5 - 11.21 HR 167
Mile 6 - 11.32 HR 166
Mile 7 - 11.48 HR 166

I just had to get slower and slower to maintain a lowish heart rate, I find this really odd as my 6 mile run last week at 9 min per mile pace gave me an average HR of 175. Maybe it's because I'm still poorly but it seems so much slower just for 10bpm less!

The run was pretty boring, the most exciting thing happened in the third mile when a bee nearly flew down my top, actually change exciting to SCARY!

Does anyone elses garmin say you've run less than you have when you upload it, I stopped at 7.00 today and when I upload it it says 6.99, this happens all the time and Mike's always upload as 4.01 or just over! Mike doesn't wait to press it I think we both stop it at the same time, the garmin must have some conspiracy to give Mike my extra .01 miles haha. So frustrating cause it looks like I'm always cutting my runs short but even when I wait for it to go past the mile it comes up short, what is going on!

Wooo according to my ticker I have now run 100 miles in 2010, maybe I ought to change the goal though, don't think I'll be getting to 1000 in a year, just don't think my legs have coped with the increase in mileage as well as I'd hoped they would do. I'm going to leave it for now in case I manage to up my mileage a lot coming up to the half marathon but I'm way off target I needed to be running 83 miles a month and it's 2.5 months in and I've only just made 100, that means I'd need to run about 95 for the remaining months, I just can't see that happening!

PM
Boxing workout at home.
Warm up - 10 minutes
Shadow boxing/Heavy bag (alternating rounds) - 8 x 2 minute rounds
Focus mitts - 2 x 2 minute rounds
Cool down - 10 minutes yoga, I'm a convert!

This workout felt really good, we did it to a Bas Rutten tape which I've mentioned on the blog before. He is shouting combinations to throw, it's good cause he doesn't let up or let you slack! I was totally amazed at how good I felt during this workout, still being poorly and having jogged 7 miles in the morning I expected to be pretty slow and tired but I wasn't out of breath for much of it at all and I was really going for it it wasn't like I was being lazy and that's why I wasn't tired.. I remember the first time I did a Bas Rutten routine just shadow boxing and I felt close to puking/passing out, this one felt like a breeze :-)

We finished with some yoga, this is the dvd we've ordered, it's called yoga for stress relief, should be very suitable since we want to do it as a relaxation type exercise. I can't wait for it to arrive!

Check out Marcia's running skirt giveaway here.

16/03/10

I was feeling really poorly yesterday :-( stupid throat infection! I didn't feel up to doing any conditioning work or cardio so Mike and I decided to try yoga for the first time, we did the three videos beginning here, I'm a convert!! My body felt so good afterwards, I couldn't believe it. I really enjoyed it, in fact we ordered a yoga dvd from amazon already, it has 6 hours worth of yoga on it. I've never been a workout video fan but it seems to work for yoga cause looking at pictures and trying to figure out what they want you to do is too confusing! We did try that first but it was too much time between each pose figuring out what the next one was.. I'm still feeling poorly today but it feels more like a head cold now, my throat isn't so sore so I'm going to try going for a slow run, not sure on the distance yet, I'm hoping to go long but I'll see how my chest feels when I get out there.

Does anyone else do yoga? I'm jumping on the bandwagon very late haha ;-)

Weekly totals and 15/03/10

Thanks for everyones support on my last post, your comments mean a lot.

Weekly Totals
Miles - 8
Push-ups - 50
Chin-ups - 0
Pull-ups - 8
Neck Exercises - 1
Isometric Punches - 1
Wrist Curls - 1
Core - 1

Hmm my push-ups are a bit off this week and I only got one core workout in, I also missed my chin-ups!! Hopefully I can push a bit harder and get some better totals this week!

Mike and I did a deck of cards workout today, for those of you who are unfamiliar with this concept, you pick four exercises and assign them to a card, shuffle the deck and turn them over one by one. If push-ups are hearts, for example, and the 10 of hearts comes up you do 10 push-ups, you also do 10 for the jack, queen, king and ace. If you want the workout to be extra horrible you can put a joker card in with a tough move on, we did 50 tuck jumps (non stop bleughh).

For our cards
Hearts were push-ups
Diamonds were lunges
Clubs were 30 reps of a core exercise (whatever number came up we did 30)
Spades were burpees
Joker = 50 tuck jumps

Over the workout I totted up 55 push-ups (I halved the push-up numbers for cards over 5 and always rounded up for an odd number), 94 lunges, 94 burpees, 390 core movements and 50 tuck jumps.

It was a good workout today cause it didn't require much thought and we're both poorly (throat infections) so we just wanted to get on with something and not spend too much time planning it out. Quick and effective! I felt like I was going to puke several times, but I think that's the illness not the workout hah

Since I noticed I have been slacking on my core work I have just signed up for this it's a core challenge and you can win some gu, I have never used gu before cause I haven't really needed to yet but it might come in useful for my half marathon in June. At least I have some core today to count towards it :-)

A crappy weekend and a 2 mile PR

Sorry I've been missing since Thursday, I had a really rough weekend and I wasn't really sure about posting the details on the blog, don't want to be all whiny! I'll just try and keep the bad stuff to a minimum so you all know what I'm doing as it affects stuff I blog about..

Friday night ended up being pretty bad, Mike's fight got called off cause a group of men tried to mug him outside the venue and he got punched, punched back and messed up his knuckles on the guys head. I'm just so relieved nothing worse happened I think it put me in shock all weekend thinking about what could have happened. The problem now is that it's ended up with there being loads of animosity between ourselves and our coach now as he still wanted Mike to fight but Mike didn't feel he could with his hand... A load of drama later and I don't feel particularly welcome to go back to the gym. I'm feeling totally awful about everything today I don't know what to do, I don't want to move gyms again but I feel pushed out of this gym because of the way the coach has acted even though I've spoken to him and he doesn't seem to think he's done anything wrong. So I don't know what is going to happen on the boxing front which I'm really feeling down about it just seems like things keep going wrong and I'm never going to be able to box... Mike and I will be keeping the boxing training up at home as we have a heavy bag, pads and we can spar each other so I won't lose any skill or fitness through not being at a gym, I just hope we figure out what to do soon!

Rewind to Friday afternoon and we'll get on to something positive! I beat my two mile time and beat my new year goal of under 15.30 coming in with a time of 15.24 hell yeahhhh!! It was really windy and horrible out there, I thought I had no chance, hopefully without the wind I could get an even better time :-)
2 miles in 15.24
Average HR 181
Average pace 7.44 (mile 1 7.58, mile 2 7.26)

I was going to do a longer run but I ran out of time, quite glad as it ended up in me PRing by 59 seconds!

I had my scheduled rest day on Saturday and rested on Sunday too, I feel a bit guilty about that but the way Sunday panned out but I didn't eat properly and couldn't work out on an empty stomach.. I'm not letting one bad day get in the way though, I really struggle to have an appetite when I'm upset about something but no more moping! I'm back and I'm not sure what workout I'll be doing today but I'll make sure it's a good one!

Now I'll try and leave this dreary post on a good note, go check out Anne Marie's giveaway here!

10-11/03/10

I had a pretty good run yesterday, I wanted to see if I could run 6 miles at my goal half marathon pace, I have no idea if a 9 minute pace for my first half marathon is attainable, but I would absolutely love to do a sub 2hr one! That of course may be impossible! And honestly all I'm really worried about is finishing it but sub 2hrs just sounds good, a nice round number!

I couldn't fit my run yesterday morning so it had to be an afternoon run, this is my least favourite workout time so I hoped it wouldn't affect me too much. I don't think it did...

Afternoon 10/03/10
6 miles 53.59
average pace 8.59
average HR 175

On a side note, the Waitrose shop came yesterday, I was pretty impressed, we got a lot for what we spent considering it's known as one of the more expensive stores, I think perhaps their prices have gone down a bit.. When they had somehow forgotten to deliver two items they re-delivered them with a five pound voucher, not bad! I think we'll be shopping from there again, the food is nice and it actually worked out cheaper than Tescos...who'da thought it!

I also got a freebie at Lush yesterdat, if you take in 5 empty pots you get a free face mask and we'd finally got through 5 pots, I have a yummy smelling oat, banana and vanilla facemask sat in my fridge called Oatifix, I tried it last night and it was lovely, and I still have loads left. Fab!

Today I was at my mental health mentor training again, I'm now all trained up, all I need is my CRB, goodness knows how long that will take! It's my scheduled rest day today but since I didn't get my core or isometrics done yesterday I've done them today, they're not too strenuous so I don't think it matters too much for a one off!

PM 11/03/10
Core - Standing Ab Roll-outs (to a wall) 5 x 10
Isometric Punches - Jab/Straight/L.hook/R.uppercut

09/03/10

Boxing was awesome tonight! I got some really good sparring in and I felt really strong. I didn't get to spar both girls that came down though which was a shame. One of them stormed off before I got to spar her because someone had hurt her, I asked her to come back in with me but she didn't feel up to it. My coach said I would have took her down haha I like his confidence, I think she is a better boxer than me but I would have liked to test myself against her, it would be a real marker of how I've come on since moving clubs as her reach always caused me so much trouble before, I think I would have handled the reach tonight and it would have been competetive. Never mind, I hope they both come back some time soon.

My new guard position is working really well, I didn't really take any shots to the face or body, only one to the eye (which I think will be black tomorrow!!) but really that was my own fault as it was a rebound off my glove so I mustn't have had my guard high and strong enough for that to happen. But I'm happy that was the only thing to go wrong tonight, as I was trying out a new guard I expected a lot more kinks to iron out, and I'm sure stuff will appear over time but for now it was good!

The only major criticisms my coach had for me tonight was that I was showing too much respect and too little aggression. I was finding it hard to be aggressive as I was sparring someone who I knew was nervous and I didn't want to take advantage. I probably should have upped the level a bit though, she is a good boxer she just doesn't have enough confidence in herself, I know she can take my shots cause we used to spar all the time.. I know in a fight this wouldn't be a problem cause I wouldn't have the attatchment as a friend to my opponent, they would just be my opponent so I wouldn't feel any urge to hold back.

I think my fitness has improved, the running must be doing the trick! After the end of the first round I wasn't out of breath at all. That has NEVER happened before! I was so surprised and so pleased! I think it was in part to do with the fact I was trying to box more inteligently and I was picking my shots more carefully, a lot of the time before I have just gone out and thrown masses of punches which can be effective but it's very tiring and I'm probably landing equal amounts just by picking my shots and countering.

My coach told me I should be having my medical on Friday which means all going well I'll be fighting in April. Exciting!!

PM - Boxing
Warm up - 15 minutes of jogging, stretching and plyometrics
Skipping - 4 x 2 minutes
Heavy bag - 4 x 2 minutes
Shadow boxing - 3 x 2 minutes
Sparring - 5 x 2 minutes
Cool down - 10 minutes

*included 23 push-ups (I joined the circuit for about 3 stations)

Right, I'm off to read some of your blogs and chill out now! Need to come down off this high so I can sleep tonight haha, I love how good a good sparring session can make you feel though :-)

08/03/10

Didn't quite get to posting yesterday, I just don't know where the time goes some days!!

PM - Boxing
Warm up - 15 minutes of jogging, stretching and plyometrics
Skipping - 2 x 2 minutes
Heavy bag - 10 x 2 minutes
Focus mitts - 1 x 2 minutes
Power circuit - 2 rounds/ 1st rd 20s each station/ 2nd rd 15s each station

• Upright rows
• Leg raises
• Bench dips
• Db punches
• Box step ups
• Mountain climbers
• MB Slams
• Neutral Grip Pull-Ups
  
• Military press
• Sit ups with a twist
• DB Shrugs
• Push ups
• Full jumping jacks

Cool down - 10 minutes

* Included 27 push-ups and 8 neutral grip pull-ups

Well you might notice I didn't quite get the planned core work in this morning! Mike's friend came round and before we knew it it was almost time for boxing! I'm really looking forward to the gym tonight, two girls from my old club might be coming down for some sparring so that should be good, and it will be nice to see them again too. One of them gave me a lot of difficulties when I sparred her in the past cause she is 10kg heavier and has a good reach advantage so I'm hoping I've improved enough to hold my own against her now, we'll see!

Mike's got a fight scheduled for Friday night, I'm excited for him, he's looking really strong and I'm confident he'll do well :)

Animals and lunch... not together though!

There are lots of pictures ahead! Let the animals out yesterday to play in the garden since it was such a nice day, Tia, our kitten hasn't been spayed yet so we have to let her out carefully in case she runs off and meets a tom cat! Much as I would love more kittens, it really wouldn't be practical and I'd have a really hard time letting them go!

Running around

Needing a rest now!

Explorer kitty!

Trudy and Grace our guinea pigs, doing what they do best, munching! Grace is the long haired piggy and trudy is the ginger, white and brown one.

A brief moment away from munching...

Lunch! Start off with a salad, lettuce, cucumber, baby plum tomatoes, green olives with pimento and sundried tomato, no dressing just a little sea salt, I'm not a big fan of salad dressing, the humous was more than enough to flavour it!

I had the feta and kalamata olive humous, it was really nice but I would have preffered it to be a bit more feta-y and olivey!

Add some crispy jacket potatoes and done!! Yum yum!

I had soo much trouble uploading these pictures! Blogger kept messing up the pictures to be added, like just missing them out when I click upload and telling me it had uploaded three photos when there was nothing there! Has anyone else had problems with this lately? Maybe it's my computer! It took over an hour to get the pictures up, so annoying!!

What's everyone's plans for today? I'm probably going to do some core work and get myself to the boxing gym! Might take the animals out to the garden again cause the weather's pretty good today too, colder but sunny, I'll take it! It's soo nice having a garden again, Mike and I had been living in a flat for so long we had nowhere to let the guinea pigs run around, it's lovely for them to be able to play/eat outside again!