Gymless

It only recently occured to me that I really haven't done a lot of varied exercise in the last couple of months. I have been avoiding my lovely bikes like the plague and have replaced many of my runs with sweaty but very comfortable cross training sessions in the gym. In fact, I've just been mostly doing enormous amounts of weight training and then using "having sore muscles" as my latest and greatest excuse to avoid the pool (or to sneak out of sessions early!). Basically for the whole of December I ate vast amounts of not-very-healthy food, drank plenty of dancing juice and stayed snuggly warm in the gym instead of getting out in the fresh air.

I arrived in Hertfordshire for a six week work relocation and went on a gym hunt, shortly after which I realised joining the local gym would be unfeasible. That's when it hit me just how much of a gym bunny I had become. Disappointed, I returned to the house, sat morosely upon my bed whilst mindlessly munching some celery and I pondered how on earth I was going to get through this dark time without my lifting fix.

The bike and the turbo had just about managed to fit in the car, so I set them up and vehemently told myself "this is not a clothes rack and do not use it to dry your wet towels". A bike this pretty shouldn't be sat on a turbo really, it should be out cruising along a dry, sunny road. I sat back on my bed, uninspired and with a sigh I imagined a future with skinny little arms.

My little gym..

It only took a super healthy, soy-infused quinoa and flaxseed salad to get me in a more positive frame of mind. I ventured out again and located the local pool: a 33m monster with huge, wide lanes, loads of lane swimming on the timetable and hardly anybody in it. I suddenly felt motivated to swim! I hadn't actually realised it was 33m until I started swimming and was taking considerably longer per length than normal. Then just when I had figured out what was going on, a wall emerged from the depths making it a 25m again. Bizarrely, the excitement of not knowing what length the pool will be before my sessions is inspiring me enormously.

Just after convincing myself that missing out on weight training during the week wouldn't actually be the end of the world, I stumbled upon some bargain kettlebells and I knew it was a sign. With renewed enthusiasm I shot home and scribbled down a training plan.

I still need to find some good running routes; it appears that if you run for half a mile in any direction you pretty much end up on the motorway.. but once that is sorted I have a super training regime sorted and will be back on the healthy in no time. It does also help that there is no eating allowed in the office and there is no supermarket within walking distance. New year, new location and newly inspired: Egg is going healthy!