Get Up and Go

12/04/2019

Big woo-hoo 🎉 for a women's sports and leisure festival in Bedford!

26th-28th April, various different types of activities, all sessions FREE 👍

If any of you go along then let me know how you get on 🙂

[Can't get through to the relevant webpage but the link below should take you to the pdf programme for the festival.]

08/04/2019

Just seen an email about this new event - sounds completely bonkers. Which means some of you will probably love it 😉 5k snow obstacle run. Yup, you read correctly. In the SNOW ❄❄❄

On at the Snozone in Milton Keynes on 20th July. (And Snozone customers get a 20% discount off the early bird entry fee until Sunday, availability allowing).

06/04/2019

So you may be as disappointed as me to learn today that you have missed out on International Carrot Day (yesterday, apparently). But fear not! Below is a recipe for carrot cake overnight oats. (So okay not actually a cake. But all nom.)

Serves 2 (or eat half and keep the rest for the next day)
- mugful of oats
- 1 grated carrot
- juice of 1 orange (or equivalent from carton)
- couple of handfuls of sultanas
- teaspoon (or adjust to taste) of ground mixed spice (or cinnamon, or nutmeg - see what you prefer)
- 3-4 large spoonfuls of natural yoghurt (I love St Helen's Goat Milk Yoghurt)
- chia and flaked almonds or other nuts and seeds of your choice to serve

Combine all ingredients except the nuts and seeds. You want it just liquidy enough for the oats to be able to soak and expand so adjust if nec. Leave overnight in the fridge et voila! Serve in the morning topped with chia and flaked almonds....

Pic from foxeslovelemons.com, recipe is my own 😀

21/02/2019

Habit Creation Tip No. 4: Scheduling 📅

So we’re back to our tips from Gretchen Rubin’s book Better Than Before... and this one is definitely a good ‘un.

Scheduling – i.e. “setting a specific, regular time for an activity to recur” – is a really powerful tool in creating habits.

If we block out time in our diaries for our new habit, it makes it much more likely to happen – and less likely that something else will invade that slot.

If we can set a regular, repeating time, this is extra-valuable as it helps eliminate decision making – and decision making requires self-control and will power. This makes sense when you think about it: it’s much easier mentally to KNOW that you are going running at 7.30am on Saturday, than to wake up at the weekend knowing only that you want to run at some point, then having to decide when to go (with the risk that we put it off / start procrastinating / get caught up in other activities etc...)

There was so much in this chapter that I could go on and on... but here’s just a couple of extra points that stood out for me:
• It can be really helpful to schedule a habit every day. Daily repetition can have a certain power and appeal all of its own, and strangely may be easier than doing an activity on just some days. (If you’re using apps to track yourself as per the last habits post, you can think of this as the power of the streak 😆)
• Tying a new habit to an existing habit or event (e.g. ‘immediately after my shower’) can help, because it gives you a built in trigger to start the new activity and saves you from having to keep track of any particular start time. (As someone whose schedule changes from day to day I have found this idea really useful. For example, breakfast might not be at the same time each day but it will always happen, and therefore by tying a new habit to it I can make sure that it happens too 👍)

07/02/2019

Today is Time To Talk Day, encouraging everyone to get talking about mental health. And to get a conversation flowing, it can sometimes be easier to do something else at the same time. Which is why I think the England Athletics / Mind campaign is brilliant 👍 Why not have a go in the next few days at heading out with family and friends for a mile and chatting as you go? Or give me a shout - knee injury means not much running happening but I am very happy to ☺️

PS Time To Change has lots of tips on how to talk about mental health - https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/node/100953/

02/02/2019

If you're worrying how to keep your exercise mojo going now that the New Year is rapidly fading into the distance, Cancer Research's Fitness February may be worth a look. Perfect if you need a challenge to stay motivated, the aim is to be active every day for the whole month 🚶‍♀️🕺🏊‍♂️🏋️‍♀️🏃‍♀️🤸‍♂️

Remember you can always drop me a message or email if you'd like help getting going, or want a programme that's tailored to you 😊

The 28-day exercise challenge this February for Cancer Research UK.

28/01/2019

Lunges. Some people love 'em, some people hate 'em. And apparently some dogs too 😂

25/01/2019

Our minds as well as our bodies like it when we get outdoors and get moving 🙂

Quite simply, we believe in the power of the mountains to change lives for the better and improve mental health

24/01/2019

Just saw this. Wow 🤩

Next session anyone??

23/01/2019

Habit Creation Tip No.3: Track It (Right)

Super-useful but comes with a warning: be clear exactly what you are tracking and why. Thinking about this is in itself really helps, by ensuring your goals are precise and measureable (and therefore have a better chance of success e.g. ‘I am going to walk a mile every day’ vs a vague ‘I am going to be more active’).

Tracking is fab because it can be a little bit like magic – just by recording what we’re doing, we often start making changes (I have found this is particularly true for food diaries – if you know you’ve got to write that extra biscuit down, that’s one less reason to pick it up 😆). And when we monitor, we get rid of those guesstimates that often muddy the waters (e.g. I think I get eight hours sleep most nights, but actually it’s closer to six).

Technology obviously makes tracking some things much easier these days – but find the method that works for you and the habit you’re focusing on. For me pen and paper often still rule ✊ – but what about you? Any tracking tips?