How to stay on top of your fitness regime this summer
Many people who read my blog regularly will know that I’m a keen fitness enthusiast. That’s not to say that I have washboard abs and toned arms. I certainly don’t, although it would be nice!
My preferred sport is running. I’m not the kind of person you’ll find in the gym, although whilst training for the London Marathon last year and earlier this year I did go to Pump class once a week and Barre class also once a week.
I enjoyed both classes and they, without a doubt helped me build up the strength I needed to run the London Marathon injury free. My recovery was also pretty good too and I put that down to good strength training and a good stretching routine after each run and workout.
Of course, the London Marathon was back in April so how has my fitness regime been going since then?
Well, I’ve not run as much as I did whilst training, and my new job has put to pay my Friday morning Barre classes, but I do still run. My aim is to get outdoors a minimum of twice a week to do two 5k runs. A total of 10km a week. If I can do any more than that, well it’s a bonus. Now and again I’ll find the motivation to run 10k, but I mainly stick to 5ks nowadays.
I like to run early in the morning or in the evening when my girls are in bed. That way they don’t really know I’ve gone and I’m back before they know it, but now that the summer holidays are in full swing, how do you stay on top of your fitness regime?
Well, here are some things I do that I find help me to stay on top.
With the warmer here it can be super hard to find the motivation to workout, especially when the sun is bearing down on you. If you can find a spare hour to an hour in the morning, get up early and get out before the full heat of the sun hits mid-morning then that helps. The same goes for getting out in the evenings. Early morning or evening workouts are best as it’ll be cooler.
If you’re struggling for time or childcare, then why not get the kids involved too. Quite often I’ll bring my girls with me on a shorter run first thing in the morning. They enjoy donning their running gear and trainers to run with mummy.
If running isn’t their thing, perhaps you could take them swimming or to a parent and child class. There are more and more of these starting up so it’s worth looking into.
A big part of fitness for me is eating healthily. I like to plan my weeks meals in advance and having family friendly meals that we can all enjoy is a must. Popular family meals in our house are: chicken stir fry with noodles or rice, chicken wraps with wholemeal tortillas and salad, cheesy pea risotto, vegetable pasta and a good chicken dinner!
How do you stay on top of your fitness regime during the summer?
