When The Sunshine Makes a Difference

Have you had a good week? It is good that we have had sunshine, it can make you feel so good. I popped out and will be good when we don't have to wear a coat. Going to pick up my son from school on Thursday gone, I was boiling as in the shade in the morning I was cold. 

On the Train Travelling back from Guildford after seeing my niece in a show

Sometimes I think it is just luck that we have no rainy days and have sunshine and so it is get out and make the most of it. 

It is good to have the evenings lighter for longer. It helps with energy and that you have more time.

I did parkrun and then saw my niece in a show and ate out. We had pizza and it was nice but very filling and they didn't put out wine glasses which was strange. Its a bit like McDonalds putting chips in your hands rather then in a box, to put them in. 

I find as it gets warmer my habits change. When is the summer I love a pasta salad with some chicken, ham or a Pork Pie Salad. 

I am looking forward to wearing shorts or a dress without tights. It is good to not a drink tea a lot and have a cold coffee or a juice drink instead and I love a pub lunch. 

Playing out in the garden or working in the garden to read in the park and going for long walks gives me so much joy. I am lucky to have many parks I can go to and coffee shops. I like to check out the charity shops and yesterday, Sunday my husband took our son to get his haircut.

It is good to have a bit of a change and do different things going by the seasons and the joys that come with them. 

Spring is fresh food season, Autumn is comfort food like soups, sausage and mash and Winter, Stews and casseroles and summer, a lovely BBQ and eating out and visiting and going to many different places. 

I hope to travel by UberBoat again and visit North Greenwich. You can ride on these from Putney to North Greenwich and use your Oyster card. 

With done this two years on the trot and enjoyed it so much. My mum and Tot took my son on the Emirates Cable cars, there is a virtue rollercoaster ride, bars, shops and restaurants. 

It was so funny last year coming back by UberBoat to Putney, there were football supporters who thought there was a bar on the boat. Some of the UberBoat's do but this one didn't and was taking the mickey out of one of them and then we had a meal in Putney coming back and it was so much fun.

I will try to post through the week on my daily blog: My Daily Thoughts and feelings. On Tuesdays now, I like to go out and my son is at his holiday club, i will taking a trip. Not so sure where but just explore. 

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You can find more content on my Pinterest and you can follow me on there too. My Youtube videos will be on their too.

Many thanks for reading, 

Carrie X 

Working out in the Autumn and Winter

Yes it has turned cold now since for a while it has been mild and its like someone has pressed a switch. 

If it is possible workout later than usual or if you go out early morning when it is dark and icy or late at night you are wear visual clothing and wrap up still. 

Ashtead one place I love walking and route I take each week

Invest in good footwear if it is icy and you can get blades for trainers if you do running and I have hiking boots and a good pair of everyday training and have a different pair for walking on the treadmill. 

Use Youtube as there are a lot of workouts on there and it is free. 

I invest in good woolly clothes like jumpers, fleeced leggins and tights and thick socks. Check out hiking shops and charity shops as they have pairs and a good investment and I have invested in a pair of wellington boots. 

Investing good comfortable clothing doesn't mean blowing your budget, but on what will suit you and if they suit your needs and how much you want to get out of them. Check out my blog site: https://www.carriesversatilefashion.com  I go to Charity shops, hiking shops and Amazon. There was a time where I would use Sports Direct but they seemed to quite expensive and not much choice. 

Make sure you eat and drink, as when I went out in the morning would struggle to run and need food so would eat, like toast, porridge or cereal bar. Check sugar content. I found it hard to do any workout on an empty stomach and feeling thirsty, so would have a small cup of tea or some water, but not too much to avoid a stitch. 

I would try not to drink too much because being cold it always makes me needing the toilet more which would affect me running or walking so make sure I went to the toilet and can encourage you so if you are doing long distant, find out if there toilets anywhere and pre-planning can help and make you take your belongings like keys, phone and a bit of money. 

Yesterday when I did my walk to pick up my son from school as he has a after school club was cold but helped boost me on and it had warmed up, but by the time we were picked up to go back was cold again and that first strides battling with my walk and sit down, but carried on and the cold often be a good boost to warm your body up and so that inner critic still voices but have learned from continuing to walk or run, to ignore and push on. 

Keep yourself safe and lets encourage each other and still workout when it is cold and make sure you stay, if you can in a lit up area.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X  

Getting fit for 2024

So Christmas day tomorrow and then it is another year over, and so it is time to set our goals.

I set my goals into three categories, Home, Work and Play, and was putting my fitness in Play but going to go into Home. Getting fit for the first time, is to start slow and then work your way up. Or if you already exercise, then it is progressing to the next level, which tests the body but not to over do it. 

Then it is choosing your workouts and location. I miss going to the gym, and so have a local pay as I go gyms, and so going to do once a week go, as the gym also has a swimming pool, and so will be taking Henry there too,  I will still be working out at home and walking, to continue to build my steps and then eventually return to running.

This year I did too much too early, instead of spreading it out, and caused me to stall, and the top of my right leg hurt and felt sprained, and so going to walk and build up my fitness, and just progress, by listening to my body.

Be realistic when it comes to your goals. What results do you want to see? And what results do you want?

It is important to be specific, so I want to exercise because I want to lose a stone, and so will workout every morning, before my kids wake up. I enjoy short workouts, and in the afternoon lunch and using my husbands treadmill, and walking around the local park, and love my Sunday morning walks with my son. I love walking by the river. So your goal could be, to jog along the river between Putney to Hammersmith bridge. Just an example, and I have done this and makes me feel a peace when walking or running along the river. 

Tomorrow, on Christmas day, I will be going for walk, and I like to do this each year, and so set this as a goal, to start my fitness journey on Christmas day and work up an appetite, and many people workout to prepare for Christmas, as we tend to eat a lot.

Go through them as you go through the year, and journal or log it in a notepad of your progression and building your fitness. Go through the year to plan your fitness, and mark of days where you won't be able to workout. Such as a family event or your travelling, and like me, a parent, school events going on, that it will be hard to fit in some exercise.

I create a Pinterest board each year: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/thetypicalLondongal/sports-and-fitness-coaching/

So, lets work together and if you'd like to share on setting fitness goals, you can leave a comment below.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X 

Where I am at with my fitness

Sorry it has been a while since writing this blog site. I have been super active and been focusing on spending time with my son and doing my Life coaching programme check this blog I created; https://everyonecanbuildacastle.com 

Image of Youtube video linked below. We were walking through Morden Hall Park in London

I started running again, but had a few injuries so stopped, but been walking a lot more, along with some home workouts to gain strength in my legs as I think with running it caused a bit of a strain and then had injury on one side near by ribs and so had to take it easy. 

However I have been enjoying my walks and building my steps with home workouts. 

Enjoyment is important, because if not, you won't get the benefits from it and are likely to give up.

I like to do short workouts to work my legs and I will use my dumbbells again, but because of side hurting, and think I strained my side using to heavy weights, been a bit dubious in using them again, so going to pick this up next week. 

It has been super hot and it has been hard to walk far when it is boiling hot, but I do feel so good once I have done a walk and need to invest in thin size rucksack as would be easier to walk far, rather than my tote bag, so going to find one and also want to have more nice fitness clothing to wear for my walking. 

Investing in good comfortable clothing for walking is important as want to avoid chaffing and blisters. 

My son and I go for morning walks where we stay in Wimbledon, at the weekends, and walk along the River Wandle or through our local gardens, and be with nature. I have filmed a lot in my week in a life videos of places we like to walk and discovered new places to visit, and really would like to explore some more, and just go where my legs take me. Check out my most recent week in a life video: https://youtu.be/UZlq8tbCtgY

There are so many places I'd like to walk, like taking Henry to the South coast, and see friends whilst we do that, and so I have booked a trip to Bognor Regis so we can do that, and do more as the School Summer holidays draw nearer, and have more nice weather at the weekends. 

You find that there are others doing the same. It can be a good community and really am itching to get back in doing fundraising events again and so going to keep building so I am fit enough and then get back running again, but slowly this time. 

So have a good weekend. It is Friday the 16th June 2023, and I will be posting more.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X 

Exercising in the Autumn and Winter

It has been a while since writing in this blog because my exercise regime has changed. I play football each week with my son or rugby. I walk wherever I can, and use a Crosstrainer when in my son's home in Epsom, and use this whilst I am waiting for him to return from school. 

My diet has changed and it not all good, I still crave chocolate, but I will have good home cooked food thanks to my family and make sure I still have breakfast and jotted down today on my food habits and making progress. I am not spending a lot of food, and I am thankful for that, and cut down on waste. This all helps with motivation to stay active, and it is nothing strenuous, but helps clear my mind and get rid of the cobwebs.

Exercise is about moving the body, and so making sure I do get some, but I stop with the guilt. This just I have realised demotivates me and so I exercise when I want to and have a treat, but not too much, and make sure I do have vegetables and fruits to help me. It is about being healthy and not size and just writing makes me feel a ease, rather than under pressure.

I enjoy playing football with my son and I am sure we will play some today. That should what exercise should be, doing some that feels good and even though it can take a lot of persuading, once it is done it you wake you up and want to do it again. 

As it gets colder it can hit you like knife when it is super cold, but for my it is really good weather, just be careful of frost because this can make the pavement slippery but I like the fact I can layer up and let my feet take me. 

So lets get outdoors and grab a coffee on the way, and reward yourself as you do. 

I have a new book published. It is called Mum&me and is available from Amazon and available to read on Kindle: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mum-Me-Gucci-Tits-Virtue-ebook/ and paperback. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mum&Me 

Many thanks for reading, 

Carrie X 

Typical London Gal    

  

Training when you are tired and got too much to do

This is the time of year that I usually take a break from exercise as it is a busy month. I feel shattered today and I think it could be with travelling a lot doing the school run, thankfully today is my son's last day of school before he goes back in January, and off for the Christmas holidays and boy it is flown so near that I can feel I can catch Christmas day in one hand. 

I did have goals for this year, which was to get back walking and do more home workouts which i did but wanted a dancersize and boxing class I wanted to find and do, but didn't happen. 

I feel a little disappointed in that, but I still kept with my workouts just not those. Having goals is beneficial to keep the energy of exercising regularly in place, but want to carry fitness goals over to the new year 2022.

I know that I will get those things in place, for me it does depend on when, and even if it doing exercise whilst my sons watching his tablet I will do some, and often if he sees me exercise he will join in. 

As I carry on this blog whicb is now the end of the week, from when I began, I thought I was too tired to write this blog and do any writing but no, I am using the rest of my energy I have left to complete this blog as it is important to me that I do, and I did do a workout yesterday whilst looking after Henry. 

Never train if you feel exhausted as it can be counterproductive and can be too much stress for your body and often working on the laptop whre I am sitting down a lot makes me do a workout and its when I have 10 minutes, I just make sure I continue to keep fit and healthy and so I walk a lot. 

Walking is so easy and free to do, and so I training when tired I will when I get that burst of energy I get a workout done, and you can too. 

Many thanks for reading, 

Carrie X

Getting fit during the Winter and taking on different weathers

Hello and welcome to a new blog and in this blog I am talking about Getting fit during the winter and taking on different weathers, and I do still do my training and some years and because I don't do a massive routine of exercise in one session, it has allowed me to keep fit, but as I go about my everyday. 

I do find when it is bitterly cold to get fit outdoors but I do, but when it would be icy in the Winter I would wait until late morning to get fit, but you can buy running trainers for Icy weathers, and they have more of a grip, but for me I never invested in this type of weather so would go for a run or walk when the temperature and services are clear of ice. 

When it comes to snowing I will tend to leave it until the snow has cleared and not turned to ice, as this is dangerous and again you can buy trainers for snow, but for me I will wait until the snow has gone. I still walk through the snow, but running is off the cards for me. 

I do wear a hat and scarf and like to layer up, and there are some good running tops you can buy so you don't need a load of layers and I bought mine when I had a thermal top from Amazon and they were cheaper compared to Sports Direct, which at one point was my go to store for running gear. 

I like to have a good hat aswell and bought one last year in pink from Sports Direct and make sure when exercising outdoors this time of the year, it is during the day or if later or in the morning when it is still dark you have bright colours on for your own protection and others who will be driving or walking, and good to be seen than not. 

I mention this a lot when it comes to keeping fit in the Winter, but that is because you do have to exercise safetly and so make you self seen and not, as you can cause an accident when doing so and keep head and feet warma s this is where we lose our body heat. 

Many thanks for reading, 

Carrie X