A few years ago I took part in the running streak called Advent Running – running everyday of Advent for at least 25 minutes or 5km – but I found that towards the end of the month I had almost fallen out of love of my favourite sport. This wasn’t a great mindset to have going into the New Year, so this time around I’ve decided to move my body in some way every day. Moving through running, if that’s what I fancy, or yoga, hiking, cycling, whatever I’m feeling that day. With Christmas parties and festive celebrations gearing up towards the big day, sometimes its hard to think about how to squeeze a workout in, but so far I’ve managed it – even if that means running before sunrise so I can relax at my work Christmas lunch and not worry about how many glasses of mulled wine I’ve had so I don’t have to rock up to a Vinyasa flow class and fall out of my tree pose after one too many! (although that also happens without wine!)
I’ll pick up where I left off last week – which was a recovery week post-double ultra run – and let you in on the first week of my December –
Monday 3rd – I started off the week well with a Sunrise Flow yoga class at Tribe with Laura. The practice was a lovely set of sequences to open up the body and get it ready for the day and week ahead, building strength too with some powerful moves in a rather sweaty, but in a good way, 26C studio space.
Tuesday 4th – I led the Carnethy hill rep session in the evening from Hillend. For anyone outside Edinburgh, Hillend is the ski slope, so you get an idea of the gradient of our hills! We warmed up and then did 3 sets of effort – 5 times 1 minute, 5 times 45 seconds, 5 times 30 seconds – with efforts up the hill and recovery down, and 90 seconds rest between each set, not rep. As a finisher we jogged as a group to a longer slope and did a final 3 minute effort up, before cooling down together back to the bottom.
Wednesday 5th – strength day and I took myself to a Bodypump class at the Commonwealth Pool. Its a new release so new music and new moves, but each track still focuses on a muscle group so we get a full body workout with weights. In the evening I went along to a yoga event held by Lululemon at the fabulously festive Hub on the Royal Mile. We were treated to almost two hours of yoga and meditation under a beautiful roof with lots of fellow Edinburgh yogis.
Thursday 6th – a busy day at work and I was ready to let it all go at another Tribe yoga class, so I chose an hour of Flow Yoga – another Vinyasa style practice linking breath and movement – to revive myself.
Friday 7th – Christmas at work day, so I woke early, ran my go-to 5km loop from home and enjoyed all the festivities and food for the rest of the day.
Saturday 8th – Nige and I organised a social run in the hills but woke to high winds so chose a lower level route, meeting friends at Hillend then spending a few hours together on the trails and finishing with coffee and brunch at our favourite Cobbs cafe. We spent the afternoon at the cinema and unwinding on the sofa.
Sunday 9th – I booked in for a morning spin class at the Commonwealth Pool while Nige pottered around the hills of Arthur’s Seat for an hour. We refuelled in the best way with coffee and vegan doughnuts at Considerit before wandering around the Christmas Fair at Summerhall. A lovely way to spend a Sunday and finish off the week!
It’s Wednesday 12th now, so we’re halfway through the challenge of moving everyday until Christmas. It’s only going to get busier, with running club festivities, family dinners and catch-ups with friends so I’m more determined than ever to keep moving and squeeze that little slice of activity into my day, every day.
Are you Advent Running, taking part in Run up to Christmas, taking on the Marcothon or just simply trying to move every day until Christmas? Let me know!
