Training Update – Late October

I had an absolutely lovely day out on horseback with my friend Regan at a gorgeous stable called Cotswolds Riding at Jill Carenza Equestrian near the village of Stanton at the northern end of the Cotswolds. The scenery was spectacular, and we hacked through some lovely moorland and up to some gorgeous views across rolling hills.

In a totally unbelievable coincidence, our horses were called Major and Tom. I can’t imagine the odds of us riding a pair of horses with such a perfect space-themed name, though the stable does have a mind-boggling number of horses (more than 130+ by the sound of it!!). And it was so good to get back in the saddle after so many years. Though I definitely paid for it with my hip adductors remaining sore for a whole week!

I completed Week 3 of C25K but did four runs instead of three because I had a few too many days without running and I wanted to make sure I was going into Week 4 well prepared. Also, Lance was getting pain in his hip so I was biding my time to see if he was going to be able to join me running again or not. It turned out to be a “no”, so I’m heading into Week 4 solo.

Moved into my dayglow pink outfit for dusk runs

I created a better exercise diary that listed out in a grid the exercises that I was expecting to do regularly and I used this is a way to motivate myself to do more reps or more exercises on a day where I might otherwise not have bothered – it definitely feels like a good day when I do a mix of cardiovascular exercise and all of the strength and stability-building exercises at home.

My current exercises include:
2 minutes of balancing on one foot on a nice squashy foam pad
Split squats
Side plank clamshell
Glute band bridges

Glute Band Bridge image from Redefining Strength‘s website

Side plank clamshell image from Redefining Strength‘s website

And now into November with its cold, dark, blustery evenings. Good to start getting used to the cold I suppose!!