Friday 14th January 2021

Cancelled the gym as wanted to get some work done this morning before heading to campus for a day of teaching, I know I need to stop doing this if I want to achieve my fitness and health goals but sometimes things have to give so that I can deliver my client work.

Got to campus, went to get my laptop out of the drawer to realise it was at home, I rarely bring my uni laptop home with me as if I do need to do uni work at home I can access most of what I need through the cloud but for some reason on Tuesday, I thought I’d need my laptop! So I drove home to get it, luckily I only live about a 10-minute drive from the campus so yes it was a pain in the arse to come back and get it but no big deal.

The rest of the day came and went, I managed to get a few things sorted and then left the uni a little earlier to take back a little bit of time that I’ve done over this week.

The evening has been me wedded to the sofa as I’m really quite tired if I’m honest, so another early night and then we go again tomorrow.

I’m seeing a very good friend tomorrow which will be lovely as it’s been a few months since I last saw them, that will be all the restorative energy I need!

I’m a day or two behind with the 100-day challenge as I totally forgot about it yesterday so did yesterday’s challenge this morning and will attempt to get up tomorrow and do the run and burpees to catch up.

Thursday 13th January 2022

Wow, today has been non-stop from start to finish. Went to intervals this morning, my legs are now starting to ache from yesterday’s workout so need to think about more active recovery as well as the cold water swimming, at the gym we do have an infrared sauna so will enquire about using it.

It’s been so full-on today that I’m still in my gym stuff I’ve simply not had the time to take a shower, a bit smelly I know but as it’s just me in the house and I’ll shower tomorrow I’m not that bothered, think nowadays we’re all a little obsessed with cleanliness and personal hygiene!!

I’ve been juggling uni work as well as my own work as well as doing some food prep as I’m away at the weekend visiting friends so need to make sure I’ve got some food ready for my uni days next week. I got to my desk about 7.30am and finished doing work about 10 minutes ago (8.55pm). Admittedly I did have an hour for lunch which I could have skipped but as a nutritionist, I know the value of sitting down away from my desk and having a proper lunch and how it affects my productivity in the afternoon and its one of my non-negotiables I have for myself.

I don’t mind working these long hours sometimes as I love what I do and there are times when I slack off so feel like it all evens out in the end.

Wednesday 12th January 2022

With being pinged last night I had to cancel my early gym session this morning as was unsure about the rules around self-isolation so had a relatively slow morning. I managed to find a number for the test and trace helpline and got confirmation that I didn’t need to self-isolate for 9 days, however, I will need to do LFT daily for 7 days. What a relief and so I booked myself into the 5pm class today to make up for the missed session this morning, I very rarely do this timeslot as I like to get up and on it when it comes to exercise but I really didn’t want to miss another session this week so had to suck it up. The gym was so much busier at this time of night which I didn’t like so a timely reminder of why I get up and do the early session.

Workwise today has been a bit all over the place, only 12 days into the year and already feel like I’m chasing my tail so need to find a way to stay on top of things as I don’t want to end up feeling exhausted like I did at the end of 2021.

Being full steam ahead for 2022 is fantastic and I’ve got lots of ideas in the pipeline but it also saddens me that since getting back into the swing of work and the business I’ve not spent any time in the reading room and I miss it so need a have a jolly good look at my life and work schedule to see if I can find a way of getting some balance in there somewhere as I don’t feel that I’ve got it quite right at the moment.

Tuesday 11th January 2022

Today has been a very long day. After not doing the work I had planned to do last night I got up early and cracked on with it before I headed off to the uni for a day of lecturing!

This was the first day back lecturing after the festive break and wow it’s tiring when you’ve had a break, I was only lecturing for around 5 hours but worked 10 hours in total at the uni day.

After getting home, again later than I planned I had a quick tea (freezer tea) and decided to chill for a bit before bed looking forward to the gym session in the morning.

I pay a little extra at the gym to get all the workouts for the week on a Sunday, this is a double edge sword as if I see a workout I don’t like the look of I feel less motivated to get to the gym but then when I see a work I like I look forward to it, in reality, I look at the workout briefly when they get released but don’t really give them much thought until I actually get to the gym to do it.

However, tomorrow’s workout looked a good one but I’ve just been pinged by track and trace to say that I’ve been in close proximity to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 and ideally I need to self-isolate and do daily testing… I think I’ve been very lucky up until now not to have got covid or self-isolate. So I’ve cancelled the gym session for the next few days just as a precaution but am hoping I can get back there again very soon. I’ve just done a LFT and it’s negative, PHEW!!

These things are sent to try us, I’m sure I don’t have to legally self-isolate but my brain is mush tonight so can’t make head or tail of the rule so will read them again in the morning.

Monday 10th January 2022

I was all prepped to go to the gym this morning but as soon as I woke up I knew I hadn’t had enough sleep as went to bed over an hour later than I usually do, so got up, fed the cat and unbooked myself from the gym session and went back to bed for another hour.

This is totally my fault for trying to fit too much in last night as well as getting distracted by my phone so the hour programme I planned to watch turned into one and half hours as I kept stopping it to look at my phone. Need to get back into the routine of not having my phone with me when I’m watching the telly as I simply can’t watch TV and engage in conversations on my phone.

In the past, I would have been really angry/frustrated with myself for doing both – playing on my phone and cancelling the gym, however, that doesn’t change my behaviour and is a waste of energy as well as not making me feel great either.

So it is what it is, I’ll probably do a workout tomorrow instead and use today as my rest day and leave my phone upstairs when I’m chilling in the evening.

Other than the above, it’s been a good day. I was at the uni and had a driving assessment to make sure I’m safe to drive the pool cars used for uni activities with students. I love driving and all that comes with it so was quite nice to go out for about a 45-minute drive, yes it was a bit nerve wracking knowing that I had an instructor in the car with me watching my every move but overall they said I was a very confident and competent driver so that’s quite reassuring to know and a relief!!

Got home later than I planned so the evening has been very short, comprising of checking a few emails from the business and having some tea and now it’s bedtime again…where do the days go?!?

Sunday 9th January 2022

How it Sunday again and over a week into 2022 already. After my early-ish night last night I woke up feeling pretty good and looking forward to getting back into my usual Sunday routine.

Made it to the gym and did a mixed cardio and weights workout for 30 minutes and then headed to the lake for a swim. I haven’t been since about mid-November so it was definitely a shock to the system getting into the water which was 4.8°C over 5°C colder than the last time I swam. I managed to do about 8 minutes before I felt that it was enough for today.

After warming up with a hot coffee, I headed to a local nature park for a walk with a friend who I’ve not seen since the beginning of December and did a nice long walk and talk catching up.

This is my Fitbit screen from today, it’s been a good few months since I did this much activity and it feels good to be active again.

Since getting home I’ve done some housework, prepped most of my things for today as it’s a uni day and done some cooking! I finally sat down to relax at 7.15pm. What a day, as I get back into my old routines I’m starting to feel like me again.

Saturday 8th January 2022

After a later sleep time than normal last night, I had a real fight in my head this morning about going to intervals as well as being worried about the roads being icy, as walking back from my friend’s I was slipping all over the place.

The just do it voice in my brain won out and I got up and out to give me time to defrost the car, when I opened the front door I was confronted with rain, not ice so didn’t need to defrost the car and the roads weren’t icy, yay!!

Intervals is always quite hard but today more so especially as I’ve managed to do quite a bit of exercise this week so my body is physically tired. But I got there and I did it!! Pretty pleased with my exercise this week, 3 CrossFit sessions, 2 intervals and the first 5 days of the 100-day exercise challenge. At the end of December, I took photos of myself in a bikini so I’ve got some way to compare myself as I continue to exercise, I also did my body measurements using string rather than a tape measure as I’m not really that interested in the numbers I just want to feel healthier and be slightly smaller. Maybe at the end of this transformation, I will measure the pieces of string and see how many inches I’ve lost but for now, I’ll just use them as a marker in the sand.

Back into my normal routine of going food shopping after intervals and it was very much needed as the fridge was looking very bare.

Once I got home shopping, all my energy seemed to disappear! I had planned to continue doing some house sorting today by making a start on the kitchen, but once I had some breakfast I felt exhausted so haven’t done as much as I would like to, not going to get annoyed about this as I know that sometimes my body knows best and I need to rest.

So, an early night tonight, well not that early for me but feels early as it’s a Saturday night and usually I do stay up a little later than normal as my alarm goes off a bit later on a Sunday morning.

Friday 7th January 2022

Made it my third Crossfit session of the week this morning, feels good to be back into the swing of it, although I am aware it’s only the first week so not getting ahead of myself.

My body does ache a fair bit and I feel physically tired which is a good thing I guess so do feel like I’m sleeping better as I’m tired rather than going to bed just because it’s night time.

It was a uni day today and getting used to doing quite a bit of prep the night before making it so much easier in the mornings.

The day was busy as getting ready to start teaching again next week after the festive break as well as doing some marking. The day seems to go in a blink of an eye.

Had a lovely evening at a friends where we cooked tea together and chatted about our week.

My friend lives only a few streets away from me so I walked there and back. On the way back, it took a little longer as the sky was beautiful and I could help to just stop and look up! It’s a clear night so the stars were shining so brightly it took my breathe away. I love looking at the stars as its a reminder of how small we are not just on our planet but in the whole solar system. As well as thinking about friends who live don’t live near me and knowing that we are still under the same sky.

Thursday 6th January 2022

A good day today, it was a business day so slightly slower paced than the other days I’ve had this week. Another workout in the bag this morning, this time it was intervals – I have to say it was bloody freezing leaving the house at 6.20am, -3°C was the temperature on the car’s thermometer which isn’t that cold really but it felt cold and colder than it has been recently. The movement soon warmed me up though, I had managed to do my 10 squats in my PJ before my brain had actually woken up as this was the exercise on my 100-day fitness challenge poster.

Once I got home, I jumped into the shower earlier than I usually do. I tend to get home and get stuck into some work and then have a shower mid-morning but today, I couldn’t seem to get warm so the hot shower helped.

I cracked on with a few things on my to-do list and before I knew it was time to take a break for lunch, I’m running short of food now as it’s been over 2 weeks since I did a food shop, as you know I do my food shop on a Saturday morning so I’m trying to hold out until then so lunch was a store cupboard meal, nothing wrong with that & filled a gap.

This afternoon I met a colleague for a catch up which was lovely to see her and we put the world to rights!

Not managed to get back into the reading room this week since getting back into work so need to find a way to incorporate this time into my schedule as I kind of miss being in there. The house is looking like a bomb has hit it again, at the weekend I plan to make a start on sorting the kitchen and clear out the stuff I don’t need to attempt to bring some order into that room. Since clearing out my bedroom, I am finding it easier to keep clean & tidy and also feel that the energy of the room has definitely changed so can’t wait to do the other rooms in the house, know it will take time so not putting any pressure on myself to get it done, I’ve got until July!!

Wednesday 5th January 2022

Today has been a good day, all the prep I did last night meant that my morning was less stressful so need to remember this when I’m feeling lazy and don’t feel like doing the prep.

My body is quite achy from the workout on Monday, but know that I have to work through it and not let me stop me! I know it’s only muscle soreness and nothing more serious. Got to the gym this morning and there were more squats in the workout so I know tomorrow will be just as painful walking up the stairs and sitting down. That’s what you get when you don’t move your body much and get back into exercise.

It was a uni day today and I was in the office on my own, so managed to get quite a bit done and thankfully I remembered all my food after last night’s prep so was fully nourished for the day.

As I’ve had two fairly full-on days, I’m feeling quite tired tonight so a bit of tellybox and then I’ll head to my reading room to do some reading, not been in there since Monday so will be nice to snuggle under the fur blanket for a bit especially as it’s going to be a cold night here in the UK.