Playing in the sunshine

This gorgeous Spring weather we're having now, has definitely kicked my ass in to gear. Suddenly it's fun to get out and play in the sunshine again.

I spent a lot of last week, after getting back from Wales, being in a bit of an emotional funk, stewing over something I felt was unfair. The result of that was that whilst I jumped straight back on plan food-wise, the exercise portion wasn't happening.

Friday's weigh in had me 1/2 lb up on the previous week - not too bad for 4 days away and off plan.

Whilst I was being lazy on the couch last week and stewing, I did do one positive thing - I decided it was time I had something new and exciting to look forward to, so I looked up local biking clubs in my area. There weren't so many of them in Worcestershire, but there's one promising looking one just over the border in Gloucestershire. Their website looked fun and friendly, and specifically said they welcome riders of all abilities, and since I work over that way anyway, I dropped them an enquiry email ....

..... and a day or two later I got a very encouraging email from a lady called Janet, inviting me to a ride with them this coming Saturday!

This past weekend has rolled by in a blur of social stuff and sunshine. We had a birthday night out on Friday for my friend Alex, at a gorgeous local Indian place - very posh and a superb menu. Also - their food? NEVER oily or greasy which is great. Still, I was a fair whack over points by the end of the day, owing to a stressful day at work which threw my whole schedule out on my half day.

To make up for that, I decided to make the best of the weather and get some decent exercise in over the weekend.

After running some errands on Saturday, I slung on my walking trainers and stuck a few essentials in my pockets and went off to explore up the hill. 2 hours and a hilly 5 miles later I was content. It was sunny enough to be out in a vest top, and I walked a mixture of the busy main paths (kind of unavoidable if you want to head over the Beacon), and explored new smaller ones, saw some of the prettiest cows you'll ever see (I'll post a pic later - they were so cute!) and generally cleared my head.

After a quick shower and change, I took up a last minute invitation to go over to Jo and Lissa's for a BBQ - the first of the year! It was so chilled out just sitting on their terrace, food on the grill, chiminea merrily burning away providing some heat as it got cooler and admiring their garden. Owing to the earlier walk and not having eaten much during the day, plus driving and not drinking, I didn't have to worry too much about what I was eating either. We chatted about Costa Rica, and stuff we want to do out there and other plans for the summer .... lovely!

Sunday I organised to go down to Bristol to go cycling with Hannah, on what turned out to be another lovely day. We finally opted for a gentle stroll down the Bristol to Bath cycle path on the bikes, which is along the route of the old railway.

Initially, we thought we'd bike the 15 miles to Bath and catch the train back, but after a glorious stop for some sneaky cake by the river at Saltford (at The Jolly Sailor by the weir - highly recommend it!), we decided that the remaining 4 miles to Bath wasn't enough of a finale so instead we'd bike it back. 20 and a bit miles and happy :-) In fact I think it might have been Hannah's longest ride to date!

And now for the only part of the weekend I regret. For some reason I talked myself in to getting takeaway on the way home. I don't know why, as I didn't particularly want it - I think it was more that I'd decided there was nothing I wanted to eat in the fridge at home. Needless to say I felt sick afterwards.

And cursed myself for a fool roundly.

Yesterday, spurred on with my disappointment in myself, I jumped straight back to it, and along the way reminded myself how much yummy but healthy food you can eat for so little points. Sweet potato, marrow, tomato, and mushrooms all featured in my tea. Yum!!!

I was also planning another expedition outside last night, but ended up working an hour over (again!) in the office. By the time I was driving home I was in a royal sulk, but somehow I talked myself into kicking my ass out the door anyway.

Not enough time to go walking on the hills, and not really feeling like running, so I compromised .... I walked partway up the Beacon as fast as was comfortable, and then ran round a swoopy path and on back down by a different route! Totally a revelation and the best of both worlds. No hideous hills to run up in my deeply unfit state, but way more fun and much prettier than running on the road, and with the added bonus of running on an unstable surface to concentrate on - very good for my stability.

Not a long outing - 16 mins rapid walking up and a 22 min run back round but I felt good and returned satisfied. I'll definitely play with this format again :-)

-- Posted from my iPhone