New aims

[Jo48]

Right so it is now about 6 weeks ago when I started attending Parkruns and its great. Last week 25th April I completed my 4th and I felt really good afterwards. Again on the 2nd lap I did break into a couple of walks but I felt good and I crossed the finish line feeling good. I wasn't able to judge my time so I had to wait the and the time came in at 34:42 so couple of seconds slower than the week before. I know it wasn't much difference but I was slight;y disappointed. Anyhow went to visit and hang out with my sister for her birthday that evening. Overindulged and didn't feel great the next day. This seemed to feed into the rest of the week. I also part take in Ultimate Frisbee which I did go to on the Monday. Anyhow it got to Thursday when I usually do a run and decided instead just to go for a walk. My boyfriend and I went to a local country park which we'd not been to before to explore and it was good just to get out.

Anyhow our 5th parkrun came about on Saturday and this time we were going around the course anticlockwise which they do every 3 weeks or so. Anyhow I started behind the 35min pacemaker and went passed him coming towards the end of the 1st lap. I was concerned I was doing too much and it got to 25mins of jogging/running and I slowed to a walk for about a minute or two. This was also about the half way mark of the course on the 2nd lap. Anyhow I took to jogging/running again and came into the straight and I had people flying pass me to the finish. I crossed the link feeling a little blah as I felt I had pushed myself to the end. I started to pickup and feel okay again within a few minutes. Well I got the result and my time came in at 33:34

That's the good news however yesterday we went shopping and I need a dress for a weeding we are going to in a few weeks. I came across a dress that was lovely however my normal size wouldn't zip up and then the next size up wouldn't work because I didn't have the boobs for it. Moved onto to another shop again saw a dress I liked and in my normal size again the zip wouldn't close so tried the next size up and it works, a bit lose around the shoulders but it works. I also tried on a different dress which looked good but it was figure hugging and I would've been very self conscience in it. So I went with the size bigger dress.

This stayed on my mind and when I came home I weighed myself which is something I'd not done since January and here it is I have gained 1.3kg in four months :S Weight was never one of the things I obsessed about however having lost my Mum in a manner where she was unable to help herself made me wake up to be conscience about it. My boyfriend and I always cook fresh dinners and have fruit etc I don't know where this has come from. My aims now need to include diet while still keeping active. This will be difficult as I said my weight was not something I concerned myself with but for my health going forward I now need to.

Thanks for reading a long winded post

[Coddfish Graduate]

Hello Jo.

Lots of things in your post. First of all well done on the Parkruns. Your times sound really good to me. You are bound to have differences from week to week - weather conditions have an impact as well as how you feel. I also don't think it matters if you walk bits of it either - whether you run, walk or do a bit of both, a regular 5k is always going to do you good. Mixing in walking in country parks is a great thing to do too.

I'd also say don't fret about the weight gain. If you are eating sensibly and taking exercise, you won'tneed to do anything radical to reverse the trend, nor do you need to reduce weight any more quickly than you gained it. Perhaps just reduce your portion sizes a little, and make sure you are not snacking on biscuits and cakes.

Clothes can be an issue whatever your shape and size. I am 'blessed' with comedy sized boobs (H cups) and find huge differences between the fit of different clothes based on their style and whether there is give around the aforementioned problem area. I wear size 14, 16 or 18 depending on style and make and whether it's a top, dress or skirt or trousers. If you have found something that looks good, it doesn't matter what size it is, you will look wonderful in it anyway.

Hope this helps.