What is everyone listening to?

Recently I wrote about some of the things that I think about when I'm running, and one of them was wondering what the people I see out and about are listening to on their headphones.

Is it just me, or are more and more people wearing headphones? I notice it more and more! Usually just the ear bud style, but also large over the head ones. If I'm running behind someone and want to overtake I never know if they can hear me coming, even if I try to let them know I'm behind them with an 'excuse me'.

I have a decent pair of bone conduction headphone, but even though they leave my ears free I don't feel as aware of my surroundings when I'm wearing them. I want to hear what's going on around me, especially if I'm running early and alone. So the only time that I wear headphones is at the gym, and I use the corded headphones that came with my phone - I'm still stuck in the 90s!

The children have always owned headphones which they use for travel, but recently they've upgraded to fancier ones and they seem to wear them all the time. I can't complain because as a teenager I was constantly plugged into my personal cassette player, but I do feel a bit lonely sometimes when I'm driving them back from school and they would rather switch off with their own music than chat with me!

I like to wonder what people are listening to. For exercise I enjoy some fast paced music with a strong beat, but I like peace and quiet when I'm out for a walk. Maybe some people aren't actually listening to anything at all, they just want to be left alone, I can see that being something I would do!

Photo credit Mark Rohan via Unsplash

Trying out some new running routes

At the beginning of the year I set myself a few goals. One of them was to do with fitness, specifically to find myself some new running routes. I try to run three times a week and I've maintained that fairly consistently for several years now. I like to run from my home, but although there are lots of houses my village is small, and I don't have much variation in my running routes - 5k only just makes a loop around the edge. I wanted to come up with some new routes to keep things interesting, as I enjoy using my run as a way of exploring the local area.

At university I spent a year living in Germany. There wasn't much to fill the time - no television, no phone, I only had what I could fit in my suitcase! - so at the weekends I started taking myself off for walks. I bought a big map of the area and I would pick out something interesting, maybe a church or a park, and plan myself a long walk there. I'm trying to do a similar thing now, having a browse on Google maps for a place that I've not been to before and taking myself there on a run.

I use Strava to track my running but for planning routes I use MapMyRun as I find the interface really easy to use and it's free. You can choose your starting point and then click along the roads that you want to take, it even automatically follows roads for you. It tells you the distance that you've plotted and then you can save the routes to refer back to. I think that if you use the app on your phone while you are running it will also direct you, but I've managed quite well with remembering the way I want to go. I sort them by distance so I can select my run depending on how fit I feel that day!

Last week I ran a new route which I had been putting off because it involved going over a level crossing twice and I don't like having to stop and wait mid run. But there was no train in either direction and I discovered a new park! It was a bit muddy at this time of year but it's somewhere to return in the summer when I can run across it properly. 

I challenged myself to map out five new runs, but I've already come up with lots more. Some of them are admittedly variations on a theme but even running a familiar route in reverse switches things up a bit. Now I'm going to think about how I can incorporate my run with the school run, stopping somewhere on the way back and doing a run from there that might be a bit more interesting. Hopefully this will help with my motivation when I'm really not in the mood for my run that day!

Getting back out on roller skates

This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.

On our recent cruise holiday one of the activities on board was roller skating, and I was very keen! It had been a long time since I put on a pair of roller skates, but I loved mine when I was younger. I used to spend hours going up and down the road both by myself and with friends. 

We all enjoyed the roller skating on the cruise and I was surprised by how well I picked it up again. Mia also really enjoyed it. It took her a little while to pick up the knack but she was soon skating really well and was desperate to have some roller skates of her own. And at the same time I was thinking that I quite fancied having a pair too!

So we got home and treated ourselves to a pair of skates each. We bought these ones - United Skates Vibe Camo skates in pink and blue (affiliate link) and have been very pleased with them. I chose a larger size for Mia so that she doesn't grow out of them too soon and they have been a great fit. They are comfortable to wear and sturdy, and it looks as though it will be easy to replace the stoppers and wheels if they start to wear down.

We are lucky to live in a quiet cul-de-sac so Mia has been out most days by herself perfecting her technique and she's coming on brilliantly. I've also been out with her quite a few times and we've been having a great time skating around all the local streets. I've passed lots of ladies my age while out and about, some of whom I know from various child related things, and I like to think that they are looking enviously at me as I wobble past. Or more likely they are just amused!

Now that we've improved a bit my next step is to take us down to the seafront so that we can skate along the promenade. I want to find a quieter time, perhaps first thing in the morning or maybe we'll wait until later in the year when there aren't so many tourists. Also I've not been brave enough to go out without Mia yet, I think I might get even more people staring at me if I'm on my own!

An update on my January and February habits

At the beginning of the year, motivated by reading Atomic Habits by James Clear, I set myself some habits that I wanted to add to my daily routines. Some simple things that I could do every day which would improve my health and wellbeing.

Here's how I've been getting on!

Photo credit Phrophsee Journals via Unsplash

I had four habits which I wanted to keep permanently - regular exercise, eating more fruit and veg, practising the piano daily and daily meditation.

Exercise - I've continued my existing exercise habits which I'm pleased with, especially when it came to dragging myself out for a run on the bitter January mornings. I have a regular exercise routine which suits me well, although I do wonder if I should mix it up a bit for the future.

Eat more fruit and veg - This one has gone really well. I now drink a glass of orange juice each morning with breakfast and I add more raisins to my cereal. For lunch I've been eating either a bowl of soup or some homemade bean salad, each of which I count as two portions. Most of my dinners have at least two servings of veg but if they don't then I'll add in a portion or broccoli or peas and I'll have an apple in the evening. I'm pretty confident that I've been getting at least my five a day on the vast majority of days.

Piano practice - This is also going really well. I've been playing every day apart from when we have been away and I'm really pleased that I can now memorise some pieces. I can play two pieces confidently from memory and I am almost there with a third.

Meditation - I downloaded a brilliant app called Smiling Mind which is free and has a huge range of meditations and mindfulness exercises. I've been doing one most days and it has also encouraged me to be more mindful throughout the day. I'm definitely getting better at focussing my mind and pushing away negative thoughts. 

In addition I chose two extra habits for January - to stop mindlessly checking the news and to write a blog post each day.

Stop checking the news - This was very successful in January. I didn't check the news once and it really had a positive impact on my mental health. I continued into February and was a little less sucessful as we went away on holiday for half term and my usual routines were disrupted. It also coincided with the news from Ukraine, and although I have really cut back on my news intake it has risen slightly recently. I need to keep on top of this one as it really did make a big difference.

Write a blog post every day - This habit was also incredibly successful. I wrote and published or scheduled a blog post every day and now I have lots of blog posts scheduled, with the option to publish sooner if I need to fill a spot. I started this again in February, but the transcription work that I do from home picked up a bit and so I had to prioritise that.

I didn't set new habits for February but I did set myself a daily challenge which was to spend a few minutes each day decluttering the garage. I sorted out a massive pile of cardboard for recycling, finally did the trip to the tip that we had been putting off for a couple of years, got rid of lots of odds and endsd that were cluttering the place up and had a bit of a clean up. Now it's much emptier, so in the summer when the weather is better I'm planning to clear it as much as I can and give it a really good clean. It definitely needs one, we have some enormous cobwebs! 

I find that daily habits really work for me and I love seeing the difference that they can make. I will continue with my four main habits in March although I've not set any new ones. Although I am intending to be making some healthier food choices as we head towards summer and beach holidays, I have a bit of winter padding that needs to go!

Photo credit Elijah M. Henderson via Unsplash

Learning to do the splits

I've wanted to be able to do the splits since I was little, but I always thought that it was something you either could or couldn't do. It wasn't until I started looking through exercise videos on YouTube and found videos with splits stretches that I realised it was something that you could actually train yourself to achieve!

So when I spotted a video from one of my favourite fitness channels promising 'Splits in 28 days' I had a sudden urge to train myself to get my splits. I was realistic and knew that it would take longer than 28 days - I am no longer a flexible young thing after all! But I do exercise regularly and my fitness level is decent. I decided to try for side splits rather than box splits because they felt more comfortable. 

I didn't take many photos of my progress, as I didn't really expect to get there! But here are a few that I took along the way. I was probably about 7 inches off the ground when I started, and I had to lean quite far forward to support myself in that position, it was very uncomfortable. 

Day 6 - Not very much progress from when I started so I'm still a fair way off from the ground and the back leg has a long way to go down. I'm also needing to lean forwards to support myself on the ground in this position.

Day 27 - Nearly the end of the 28 day challenge! But I'm still a long way off, although I have gone down by several inches. The back leg has improved but but I'm still having to lean forward to support myself in this position. I didn't feel that I'd made a huge amount of progress at this point, but I could see that if I continued it would improve so I didn't give up. But I do remember being in quite a lot of discomfort when this photo was taken, perhaps you can tell by my expression!

There's a long gap between photos here. My progress was quite slow and went in fits and starts. But when I got to the point where I could comfortably get my front leg flat on the floor I felt more confident in my progress, even though the back leg still had a way to go. And then after about two months I was just over an inch off the ground.

Day 68 - At this point I had been working on my over split for a week or so by stretching using a yoga block to raise my front leg and this really seemed to help. I was definitely starting feel that I was getting there as you can see from the happy look on my face! It's hard to see but I'm only just over an inch off the ground although I'm still needing to support myself quite a lot with my arms.

Day 75 - Only a tiny bit more progress with the back leg but I'm now able to sit more upright without any real support from my arms. At this point I'd been continuing using the yoga block for the stretches every day and I had also started alternating my stretches with a second video (see below). To be honest at this point I was tempted to say that I had achieved my splits, but I just really wanted to get that back thigh down to the floor!

Day 114 - Finally I took this photo after a run last summer. Although I've still been working on my stretches almost every day as part of my general exercise routine I've not noticed much more improvement than this since then. I think that I have to accept that at age 42 this is the best that I'm going to get (and it's definitely as good as many of the pictures and videos that I've seen of the splits online!) 

I'm very proud of what I've managed to achieve. My flexibility has improved a tremendous amount and I can also really feel the muscles in my legs now as they have developed! 

If you are interested in trying it for yourself, there are lots of splits stretching videos available on YouTube. The one that I used originally is no longer available, but I also had a lot of success with the video below. It's quite short and can be a bit difficult at first, even though it doesn't include doing the actual splits. I think that the high lunges at the beginning in particular really helped with the stretch, and I also like the music on the video.

Good luck if you want to give it a go!

Why running is the perfect exercise for me

I must admit that the main reason I exercise is to stay fit and healthy, not always because I particularly love it. But I do try to run outside often. At the moment I'm regularly managing three times a week, and this is one form of exercise that I can say that I enjoy, or at least I do enjoy the feeling I get when I've done it!

I'm not a competitive runner and I've only ever taken part in two organised charity runs. The furthest I've ever run in one go is just over 10 kilometres and my usual run is about half an hour or forty minutes which takes me about 5 kilometres. I probably could run a marathon if I put my mind to it and completed the training, but I just don't have the urge to push myself for it. I think that it would probably put me off running forever!

But out of all the different forms of exercise that I've tried over the years I keep coming back to running.

Some of the reasons that running works so well for me when it comes to exercise:

It's individual thing. I can go out when I feel like it and when I've got the time, I don't need to organise myself around others. I'm not competing with anyone else. 

I can set myself goals and come up with challenges. For example running a certain distance in one go or getting out a particular number of times.

I can track my progress in various apps if I want to stay motivated. It's fun to look back and see a map of where I went and how quickly I managed a favourite route! I'm also currently playing Pikmin Bloom and I like getting out to grow my seedlings and pick up virtual fruit.

Photo credit Emma Simpson via Unsplash

I can fit it into my routine. At the moment I like to run first thing in the morning after a small breakfast, and then I'm done for the day.

I like exploring my local area. There are lots of new build estates nearby to have a nose around, as well as rural paths and a golf course if it hasn't been raining. I can get down to the sea if I fancy a longer run, or I can stop on the way back from school drop off to run along the promenade. 

I don't need fancy equipment. I have some half decent trainers but the rest of my running kit comes from either the supermarkets, Decathlon or Amazon.

I feel really good afterwards and definitely like I've had a proper workout. I always head straight for a nice hot shower as soon as I get in, especially if it has been raining or cold!

Do you like to get out for a run?

A cold January morning run along the beach

When I find myself doing the school run in the morning I often like to combine it with stopping for a run on the way back. Here are some photos that I took on a very cold morning last Friday along Goring and Worthing seafront.

I started in the Goring area of Worthing and headed towards town. The sun had just risen and everything was bathed in a lovely golden light. Below is one of the fishing boats at Goring. There is a hut here where you can buy fresh fish, although I don't know how much of it is caught from this actual boat!

I love the beach huts which are all the way along the seafront in Goring.

As you head towards town you pass the Waterwise Garden which demonstrates how gardeners can reduce water consumption with plants that don't need much water. It's been established for a few years now and it's a nice place to stop and look out to sea. 

Finally on the outskirts of the town centre, here are the palm trees on the seafront, all wrapped up to keep them warm over the winter!

It's so nice having such a lovely place nearby to go for a run!

How to make it easy to workout at home

I had never really been one for working out at home until the pandemic hit. I exercised regularly, but I went to the gym or for a run. When the gyms closed I started to look for alternative ways to exercise, and even though we are still members at the gym I've continued to workout at home as well. I like having that option, especially at this time of year when it's so dark and cold outside.

For exercising at home I still wear my exercise clothes, as I find that helps me to get into the right mindset. I don't buy expensive active wear though, I have several basic running tops from Decathlon that were less than £3 each, and I also buy bits from Amazon and the supermarkets. 

I do think that it's important to wear shoes when working out indoors, and some exercises like a plank are very difficult if you are just in socks. I keep a specific pair of trainers for indoor workouts so I don't need to worry about them bringing dirt inside. But they don't need to be fancy ones that you might wear for running outdoors, they just need to have a bit of support and a sole with some grip. 

I like to get my clothes ready the night before so I'm all ready to go. I also have in mind the exercise that I'm going to do the next day, whether that's a stint on the cross trainer or a selection of videos to work through.

Most of my indoor workouts are following a video on YouTube, and there are so many free ones to choose from. I'd recommend having a browse and trying out a few different styles to see what works best for you. I have a couple of playlists set up, for example shorter daily workouts and some longer cardio sessions.

A few of my favourite fitness video YouTube channels:

Rachel Gulotta Fitness - a great selection of cardio and strengthening workouts. The videos are very calming with gentle music and regular stretch breaks featuring beautiful nature scenes. You can get a great workout, especially from the longer HIIT and cardio ones. She also publishes regular daily and monthly workout schedules and challenges featuring different combinations of her videos so that you don't get stuck in a routine.

Joe Wicks - these are mainly HIIT workouts but there is plenty of choice with weights and targeting different parts of the body. Some of these are very tough so you need to take it easy at first!

Chloe Ting - another selection of very aesthetic videos, often targeting particular areas, for example the abs. A really good selection of videos with different lengths so you can make up your own workout.

For a time we also had a free trial of Apple Fitness+ which was also very good. I don't have an Apple watch myself, but my husband does, and I was still able to do the workouts. We enjoyed the trial but decided that we could find everything that we needed on YouTube, especially as we have a premium subscription so we are advert free.

Here are a couple of my favourite short workout videos:

Savage 10 Minute Leg Burner by Joe Wicks - it's only ten minutes long but the clue is in the title, it's not an easy one and will definitely leave you with wobbly legs!

 

10 Minute Lower Abs Workout by Rachel Gulotta - definitely an area of my body that I need to work on and this workout is brilliant. If you can manage the ten minutes every day then you can feel and see results within a couple of weeks.

I also have a few bits of exercise equipment. A yoga mat is probably the most important and they can be picked up for a few pounds from the supermarket. I also always have a small towel nearby. I recently purchased some resistance bands which I find really good for a different type of workout, and we have a few hand weights that we bought years ago. 

I like to keep my exercise equipment neatly stored but also easily accessible. At the moment I keep the rolled mat and resistance band on the bookshelf in my study. Having it in plain sight makes it a good visual reminder to pull it out! 

If you are serious about working out regularly at home then it might be tempting to invest in a larger piece of exercise equipment. Last year we bought a cross trainer which we are very pleased with and which is still in regular use. But we are lucky enough to have the space to use it comfortably and to store it out of the way.

It's important to think about the sort of exercise that you want to do and which can't be replicated elsewhere. For example I wouldn't buy a treadmill because I enjoy running outdoors for free. Think about how a larger piece of equipment would fit, both into the physical space that you have and into the time that you have available for exercise. 

I hope that these tips were helpful if you were thinking about upping your exercise this year!

Main image credit Elena Kloppenburg via Unsplash

How I motivate myself to get out for a run

As I dragged myself out of bed this morning, knowing that I had 'Get out for a run' on my to do list for the day, I found myself thinking up excuses. I was feeling tired, it looked like it might rain, I had lots of other things that I wanted to get done. But I managed to get out, and of course when I got back I felt so much better for it - both for having done the exercise and for having encouraged made the effort.  

It made me think of sharing a few of the ways that I motivate myself to get out for a run, and some tips to make sure that you always manage to get out when you are planning to.

 

I like to schedule regular days for exercise. At the moment that's Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with anything extra at the weekend being a bonus. So I always know that these are my exercise days and I can plan my timetable accordingly, whether that's a run, swim or cross trainer workout. I've had this plan for over a year now, and although I do occasionally miss a workout or swap things around, for the main part it has stuck.

I like to get exercise out the way first thing in the morning. Of course this doesn't work for everyone's schedule, but I feel much happier when it's done. It's all about eating the frog!

So to help with this I always make sure that to get everything ready the night before. My clothes are laid out and my running belt and headband are by the front door. If I'm planning on wearing my headphones then I make sure that they are charged and that I've got a running playlist in mind.

If I'm not feeling particularly inspired at the thought of a run the following morning then I pull out Google maps and try to find a new running route. I have a number of different routes that I like to run from my house, and sometimes even just running one in reverse is enough to switch things up a bit. 

If I really want a change (and if it's not too windy!) then I'll drive down to the seafront and run along there. I also use MapMyRun which makes planning routes of specific lengths really easy. Sometimes I like to look for points of interest on the map, like a church or a park, and plan a route to take it in.

I've also begun to reconsider whether tracking runs is really a good idea. I used to log every run that I did in Strava, just for my own information as I only have one friend on there. I liked seeing how far I'd run, how fast and so on. But then I realised that if I only fancied a short run I didn't want to log it, as it didn't feel like a proper effort! And so then I'd wonder whether it was actually worth going out at all. 

So now I tend to just check my watch when I begin, and if I've been running for half an hour or longer then I call that a good run. I can always go back and plug the route into MapMyRun if I'm feeling curious about my distance. 

Finally as I get ready to go out I always remind myself that I've never felt worse after going for a run. Barring injury or an accident of course, it would be very rare to come back from a run and regret it!

Main image credit Emma Simpson via Unsplash

My goals for May

A new month means a new list of things that I want to focus on! May is one of my favourite months, it's when the weather finally starts to warm up properly, the garden starts looking nice, and there's a half term holiday as well as a couple of bank holidays to enjoy. 

So here are my goals for this month:

Publish a YouTube video. My YouTube channel doesn't do too badly, considering that I rarely promote it and I have very low production values. It even brings in a small amount of money from advertising, and so I want to make sure that I keep publishing regularly. I don't have any thing specific in mind for a video yet, although I do have a few ideas.

Don't go on Twitter. I'm very bad at mindlessly scrolling through my Twitter feed and as well as being a waste of time it also causes me anxiety so it's best for me to just avoid it entirely. Only exception - following a direct link to a specific tweet from a friend or news article, then leaving immediately before I get sucked in.

On a related note, avoid constant refreshing of the BBC news website. I'll aim to check first thing in the morning and then late afternoon. Ram is constantly on his phone, I won't miss anything.

Read at least two of the books stacked up on my Kindle and ideally more. I love searching for free books on Amazon, I use the Prime Reading library selection and also browse through the top free Kindle books to download. But then I go to the library and come home with a pile of physical books that call to me first because they are more visible. It's time to make a dent in the digital pile.

Get even closer to my flexibility goal. I'm hoping that my new yoga blocks will help me to deepen my stretches.

Publish at least two crafty blog posts. I like to think that I write a craft blog, but it's been ages since I posted a real craft tutorial. 

Make a start on the border of my cross stitch project. I've spent the last month working on a more fiddly area of the piece, so this month I'm going to take it easy with some mindless repetitive stitching.

Make Mia's birthday special. It's at the end of the month, and last year we promised her a sleepover with her best friends which of course had to be cancelled. Fingers crossed it will be able to go ahead this year!

Photo credit Glenn Carstens-Peters

I'll update with my progress at the end of the month!

How my exercise routine has changed over the last year

As restrictions ease, our gym is now open again. But we've not been going regularly for a long time - we stopped visiting in March 2020 when the speed of coronavirus ramped up, and we only went back for a few tentative visits in October before they closed again. 

So a few months ago we made the difficult decision to cancel our gym membership. It was a shame, because we've been members for years, but we are hesitant about the covid risks and it's a lot of money to pay if we aren't going regularly. I do feel bad, because even though they are a big national chain I know that they will have suffered from the closures. 

It has worked out well for us though. Luckily we didn't have to pay any membership fees while they were closed, and so we have saved a significant amount of money. We have put some of this towards our own cross trainer, and also bought a few other pieces of exercise equipment - sports bras, leggings, new trainers, exercise mats, resistance bands, all sorts of things which are now in daily use!

At the start of lockdown we replaced our gym workouts with running. We both ran nearly every day, although we tailed off a bit as the summer drew on. But when the children went back to school in September I picked it up again and was running regularly three times a week.  

As the weather got colder in December I investigated home workouts on YouTube. I started with Joe Wicks after the success of his PE with Joe videos over lockdown. I found his workouts really tough at first but soon I could manage them without too much trouble, and I increased the intensity by adding weights. But I found that it was becoming a bit repetitive, and I also wanted to work out to music. 

I had a brief fling with YouTube dance workouts, but I never found them very satisfying as I spent most of the workout trying to follow along with the moves and failing miserably. So I settled on HIIT workouts to music, and with so many to choose from it's easy to keep a bit of variety.

I also found that I wanted to do some more targeted workouts, and I was really impressed with the difference that they made. I've been doing some two week ab challenges which really have helped to tone up my stomach, and I've noticed a huge difference in my leg flexibility after I started a ten minute daily stretching video in February. These are exercises that I wouldn't have thought of doing if I was still going to the gym. I have also developed the habit of exercising throughout the day rather than cramming it into one intensive session. 

The one thing that I will miss about the gym is the swimming pool. I enjoyed a swim after a workout, because as well as the exercise I find it a good way to stretch out and relax. Our local public pools are busy and expensive, and I can't see us using them. So I think it is very possible that we will pick up our gym membership again in a year or two, especially once the infection rates are down. 

My exercise routine is another one of those everyday things that has had a massive shake up due to the lockdown, and it's been a really positive thing for me. 

Review - The DKN XC-140i Elliptical Cross Trainer

A review of our new DKN cross trainer.

Our gym has been closed for most of the last year, and although we've continued our exercise at home, over the winter we started some research into buying a large piece of gym equipment. We settled on a cross trainer, or elliptical machine, chosen because it's not an exercise that we can duplicate ourselves (like running or cycling) and it provides a good full body workout. 

For clarity in this review, this is the first large piece of home exercise equipment that we have owned, and I can only compare it to the heavy duty cross trainer that I've used at the gym. 

We settled on the DKN XC-140i Elliptical Cross Trainer and we paid £599. This machine seemed to represent good value for money, being a high quality machine and with good reviews, yet not at the highly expensive end of the scale. We ordered it from Sweatband in mid January, but due to delays related to Brexit and Covid we didn't receive it until the end of March.

The cross trainer was delivered to our downstairs hallway. Since we planned to install it on the top floor we had to carry it up two flights of stairs. Some pieces could be removed from the box, but the bulkiest section was all in once piece, and because of the unpredictable moving hinged parts it was easiest to keep it inside the box for transport. It was very heavy, and although we managed it we didn't find it easy. 

Assembly took the two of us about an hour. It wasn't too difficult and there were only six steps, but a couple of times we were left scratching our heads and trying to work out what went where. It really takes two people to assemble, as you need someone to hold awkward pieces in place while they are screwed together. I think that it would be difficult to assemble alone.

The control panel is very basic compared to some on the market, but that's a good thing for me as it's simple to use. You just press Enter to select your options and use the Up and Down buttons to scroll through. During use, the Up and Down buttons are used to decrease or increase the resistance. There are four saved user profiles, although we don't use these as we track our exercise separately through an Apple watch. 

There are 12 pre-set programmes that you can choose from, although personally I prefer to use manual mode and set myself a time or distance goal. To use one of the programmes , select the programme you want and the amount of time that you want to exercise for and it will automatically work you through the different resistance levels. You can override the resistance level using the controls at any point.

The stride length on the cross trainer is shorter than on a larger machine, but it's not a problem for me and my husband as we aren't very tall. There are small wheels so that you can move the machine around, although you still need to lift it a little. On a wooden floor it can easily be slid around (without moving while in use!). We also bought a good quality mat to place underneath and protect our floor. We tried it out with a cheaper foam mat underneath but found that it felt a bit too bouncy. 

The cross trainer features an inbuilt Bluetooth Smart wireless receiver which means that you can monitor your heart rate with a compatible device and also connect to a device to keep track of your workouts. However we've not used this facility apart from to test it as we track our workouts using an Apple watch. 

There is a small shelf for a tablet or phone, but no water bottle holder or any other storage, although I manage to hook my small towel over the handles. You are quite high up when using it, so it's a bit awkward to reach down for items on a nearby table or chair. 

The cross trainer is pretty quiet when in use. You can hear it in the room underneath, probably because of the wooden floor, but it's not too loud. We've noticed an occasional knocking sound from inside the wheel that comes and goes. You can easily listen to a tablet or phone using the speakers while working out, and my husband has used it during work calls. I should mention that my daughter managed to cut herself very slightly on the sharp underside of one of the pedals, so that's something to be aware of and it should be used and stored in a place away from young children or pets. 

I must admit that I don't always find it the most exciting way of exercising, but I do enjoy being able to watch and listen to my own shows and music while using it without the need for headphones. I'm intending to use the cross trainer for a longer workout once or twice a week, combined with outdoor running and core workouts.

We are really pleased with our purchase. It fits neatly into the space that we've set aside, and it's very motivating to know that it is there and so easy to jump on and use. It's definitely going to be very useful when I don't feel like going for a run outdoors.

You can find further technical information and reviews here - DKN XC-140i Elliptical Cross Trainer

Our new cross trainer

We've been dedicated gym members many years now, since well before the children were born, but of course it has been shut for most of the last year. Even when it reopened over the summer we only actually returned in October for a month or so, and it has been closed ever since. 

I feel bad because I know that businesses like this, even a large national chain like our gym, are going to struggle with the  loss of income. But we have paid them a huge amount in membership fees over many years, and the truth is that not only have we saved a fortune this year, we've also realised that we can manage extremely well at keeping ourselves fit without it. So we have handed in our notice, and unless they are able to offer us a good incentive to stay then we will be leaving once we've worked through the notice period.

We decided to put some of the money that we have saved towards buying ourselves a cross trainer. We placed the order back in January when it was darker and colder than it is now, but due to supply issues we only actually took delivery of it this week. It was very exciting!

Thanks to having cleared and decorated one of our top rooms as a good sized office for Ram, we had plenty of space to fit it. It means that he can use it while he's working, and if I do feel the urge to exercise during his working day he can usually take calls in another room. 

We've only had it a few days but we are really pleased with it so far, and I'm planning to share a full review when we've been using for a couple of weeks. A big benefit is that I can prop my phone up and watch my own videos while I'm working out, instead of relying on the gym televisions, and it's nice and quiet so I don't need headphones. I haven't used a cross trainer much before so it's still quite new to me and I'm finding it very hard work. I can manage twenty minutes on the lowest setting before I wobble back down the stairs and collapse. 

Ram has been eyeing up those fancy sheds that you can install in the garden to use as a home gym. Probably with the amount that we'll be saving on gym membership it won't be long before we can afford one!

An update on my March goals

I did so well with my February goals that I was really keen to keep the momentum going with my list of goals for my list of goals for March. I had found it really motivating to have a list of things to work on through the month and I was pleased with my progress.  

When I started to write this post I wasn't feeling very positive, but when I sat down to think about it I realised that I'd actually done really well! The only thing that I didn't get do was to make my garden planter, mainly because it was too cold outside for me.

Here's what I achieved:

* Get back into the school routine. This went pretty smoothly and the children have settled back in nicely (albeit only for three weeks before the Easter holidays started). The first week back was rough, and they were both overtired and overwhelmed. But they benefited so much from going back. Harry had been anxious about the lateral flow tests but he soon realised it wasn't a problem and we've been continuing them at home with no issues. 

* Continue my exercise. I'm pleased to say that I've been doing very well with this. I managed two long runs along the seafront despite the freezing winds. I also joined Ram and the kids for school drop off and ran back home - it's nearly ten kilometres so I definitely felt that I'd earned my cake that day! I completed the shredded abs challenge that I was working on and my stomach definitely feels tighter and flatter. I'm doing a flexibility challenge for my legs, and I'm noticing big improvements there too.

*Get out the garden furniture. It has been out for two days now and I spent ages out there today reading with a blanket round me!

* Sort out the garden. The strawberry plants are weeded and the dead leaves removed, I've raked over the empty vegetable patch ready for later in the spring and I've made a start on the planting - tomatoes and sweet peas so far. 

* Continue with the healthy eating and lose the last bit of weight. I'm delighted to announce that I have just hit my goal weight, I'm now the lightest I've been for a couple of years! I'd like to lose a little more to give myself a buffer, as I always put on weight during the summer what with the barbecues, the delicious pizzas and the ice cream that I can't stop buying. 

* Find some podcasts to listen to on the school run. This one was half achieved. I found some interesting podcasts, but I found I couldn't concentrate on them while I was driving! I realised I prefer to put some familiar music on and sing along.

* Try and manage some socialising. I went up to see my parents and I went for a lovely long walk with a friend. I have also scheduled in some more meetups for the Easter break.

* Clean out the kitchen cupboards. I cleaned the two worst ones at least!

* Plan for the Easter holidays. Another success, you can read about my Easter holiday planning here. 

* Publish at least one blog post a week. I managed this but it was tough, and I didn't feel very inspired when it came to writing blog posts. But I'm feeling a lot more productive at the moment so I'm hoping to step it up a bit this month.

I'm so pleased with the progress that I've made, and I want to continue making these lists because it definitely helps to keep me focussed with long and short term goals. So look out shortly for April's goals!

Goals and resolutions for 2021

 After the unexpected way that this year turned out, I'm a little wary of setting too many concrete goals for 2021! But I didn't do too badly with my ten things to do in 2020 so I thought that I'd still find it helpful to put together a list of things that I want to accomplish this year. Not New Year's Resolutions exactly but just a few changes that I want to make, or new habits that I want to continue.

Lose the Christmas weight. I haven't dared weigh myself recently. I was doing pretty well at losing weight until the beginning of December, when the Christmas chocolates and treats began to appear with the weekly food shop. This last week has been particularly bad, as I've been busy eating up all the cheese, biscuits and chocolate tubs ready for the New Year diet. I'll be making a start today and I'll weigh myself next Monday, to give myself a starting point that hopefully isn't too horrific!

Keep up the exercise. When the children went back to school in September I picked up my running routine again. I designated Monday, Wednesday and Friday as my exercise days and I have managed to stick to it pretty consistently until now. On days when it rains I've been doing a Joe Wicks home workout. We are also looking at buying some home exercise equipment to keep us going through the winter now that we can't depend on the gym being open. So I want to keep up this routine of a decent workout three times a week.

Photo credit Bruno Nascimento via Unsplash

Continue with my reading. I've read so much this year, and it's mainly down to my local library. They shut for several months from March, and when they re-opened they offered a service where you could request a selection of books to be chosen for you, along with free reservations. I was so pleased with the books that the librarian chose for me. When the library opened again for browsing I because a regular visitor, bringing home armfuls of books to keep me going during the inevitable continued closures. They are closed again at the moment and I'm down to my last couple of books, so I've just reserved a few more which I can hopefully collect later this week.

Photo credit Ed Robertson via Unsplash

Start regular blogging regularly again. I love blogging, but this last year I've really struggled. We haven't done much worth writing about, and I've definitely lost my inspiration. It was difficult when the children were at home so much, and I've also been doing some transcription work which has been keeping me busy when the children are occupied. I'm going to aim for two regular posts a week for the time being, and see how I go from there.

Practice the piano more often. I enjoy playing the piano, and when I play familiar pieces I definitely get into a flow state. It keeps my mind busy and also helps with my anxiety. Also I think it will encourage Harry with his practice too if he sees me playing for pleasure. So I've bought myself a couple of new piano books including an easy book of Hamilton songs and I'm going to try and play for a few minutes at least every day.

Enjoy the summer. Hopefully things will be looking a lot brighter by then. We spent so much time in the garden last year, playing, relaxing and eating. It's definitely something that I want to do again this year. I need to make the effort to get out there as often as I can once the weather starts to warm up.

It's quite a simple list and full of things that I enjoy (well, apart from the giving up chocolate and biscuits part!). Hopefully doing these things regularly will also help me to keep my mental and physical health in a good state as we try to get through the next few difficult months!

How I'm planning to make my exercise routine more interesting

I've been going to the same gym for a long time, and I've definitely got myself into a rut which doesn't help with my gym motivation. So I've been trying to think of some ways that I can make my exercise routine something that I look forward to, rather than a chore to get out of the way.

To start with I've discovered interactive workouts on the fancy treadmills. Instead of my usual half hour running on the flat, I've been 'running' through different scenery alongside avatars of other runners from around the world, with the incline automatically adjusted to reflect the terrain. I quite like setting my sights on another runner in the near distance, then stepping up the pace a bit so that I can overtake them. Are they real people or not? I don't know, but that doesn't really matter!

I've always enjoyed using the stair climber machine, a mini escalator that you climb without going anywhere, making sure that you keep the rhythm going so that you don't fall off the bottom! I've also recently been having a go on the cross trainer. I've always rejected it in the past as I find it quite difficult to co-ordinate arms and my legs at the same time. I'm getting better at it, as long as I don't go too fast!

I've finally dug out the headphones that go with my phone, and I've been using our Spotify subscription and Google to put together some exercise playlists. I've discovered that the songs I like to workout to come from searching for things like 'angry workout music', and putting together a new playlist makes me excited to get down the gym and listen to it.

Photo credit Gina Lin via Unsplash

The one thing that I do baulk at is trying an exercise class. I used to love Body Pump, but since having children and suffering from abdominal separation I'm a bit wary of using my stomach muscles too much. I'm also a bit terrified of going into a new class by myself and not knowing what to do. I'm perfectly happy working out by myself!

Let's hope that I can keep up my new good work!

How I motivate myself to go to the gym

We have had a gym membership at a national chain for a long time, and I also try to get out for regular runs. When we first joined a gym we were child free, with all the time in the world to visit several times a week. Our attendance has dropped since having the children, and I am always trying to pick it back up again. Now that January has come around again, I always find it difficult to balancy my New Year eagerness to keep fit with the dark mornings and evenings that make motivation difficult.

So here's how I motivate myself to get to the gym or to go out for a run.

* I remember how much it is costing us. We pay for a year, or more, in advance to save money, which means that we don't have a regular monthly payment. It's a huge chunk of money which we really do need to make the most of.

* I try to fit my gym trips around doing the school run, as the gym is on the way there and it makes sense to save petrol and combine the trips. It also takes less time out from my day if I go straight after drop off or on my way to pick up.

* I plan to go to the gym in advance and make sure that everything is ready to remind me. So if I decide that I'm going to go for a run first thing the next morning, I get all my running clothes out and put my trainers by the front door. If I know that I'm doing the school drop off the next morning I'll make a plan to go to the gym afterwards and pack up my bag the night before so it's ready to load into the car along with the school stuff.

* Our gym has a large collection bin for charity shop bags. If I am tripping over a bag of things that I want to pass on, it's a good way to encourage me to go to the gym if I can clear some space by dropping it off!

* I don't really reward myself for exercise, but I am much more inclined to enjoy an extra piece of cake or chocolate bar if I feel that I deserve it.

* And finally, if my husband has been making the effort to increase his gym visits then I try to make sure that I'm matching his commitment - I don't want to be the one that isn't making the most of our investment!

Photo credit Bruno Nascimento via Unsplash

We bought the children Fitbits

A couple of weeks ago we treated the children to a Fitbit each. Although Ram and I do exercise regularly, I often think that the children don't get active enough. We can't walk to school as it's several miles away, although I do make them walk to the road that I park in. But they aren't the most athletic of children, and I can't imagine that they get particularly involved in PE lessons at school. Aside from swimming lessons they aren't interested in doing any sports clubs.

I've had a Fitbit for a few years now, and I find it really interesting and motivating to keep track of my steps. For the first year after I started wearing it I managed to reach my step goal of 10,000 steps every single day, and although I'm not as obsessive about it now I do feel better when I've made that goal.

A great deal of deliberation went into purchasing the Fitbits. The children don't have phones so they need to connect to a tablet, and they have small wrists so it needed to be one designed for children. I was keen to go for the Fitbit brand because then we could share our stats and enter challenges together, and we eventually settled on the Fitbit Ace. This is an older model, so it was a reasonable price.

The children were so thrilled when they arrived. They soon worked out that they could 'cheat' the step count by waving their arms around, although I don't mind because it still feels like a form of exercise! Mia also discovered that when Harry challenged us to a step goal day challenge she could adjust her goal to one step and complete the challenge before she even got out of bed! But they've become used to them now and are using them as they are intended, checking in their step counts with each other and with me throughout the day.

I'm really enjoying how it has been encouraging them to get out for a walk. At the moment in our town there is a brilliant initiative called Beat the Street running. Electronic boxes have been placed at regular intervals across several towns in the area, and you can use a map to find them and swipe them with a special card to collect points. We've really enjoyed going out for some walks together, and many of the boxes are at playgrounds which is added motivation. I've found that because they have such small legs, their step count racks up much faster than mine does!

I'm very interested to see what their step count looks like once they are back at school. It's only a small school but there are lots of steps up and down so it may well add up quite quickly! I'd definitely recommend a fitness tracker if you want to see how active your children really are, and take literal steps to improve.

My 2019 goals update

Back in December last year I wrote a blog post about my goals for 2019 - so I thought I'd do a quick update and see how I'm getting on so far!

My fitness goals

I've definitely upped the fitness this year so far. We pay for our gym membership a year in advance in February, which is very good motivation to remind us how important it is we go regularly - it's a huge amount! I've been trying to get to the gym twice a week, and also going out for an outdoor run once a week.

Last week I even managed a 10 km run which I'd not done for ages and found it relatively easy, so I'll be looking to continue with that distance outdoors once every couple of weeks. Then I'm aiming to increase my speed on the indoor treadmill runs. I love running outdoors at this time of year when it's warm enough to not need lots of layers, but cool enough that I don't get too sweaty and uncomfortable.

My crafting goals

I'm making good progress on my main crafting project, my Christmas ABC sampler which I want to finish by the end of the year. There are 27 boxes, one for each letter plus an extra one, and I have just three and a half to finish. Then it needs beads added and a few gold accents and it will be done. I'm hoping to get the stitching done by the end of June, and I think I can manage that if I make an effort to get on with it.

Another of my goals was to do some craft evenings with friends, and I'm pleased to say that has been very successful! I hosted an evening where we did diamond painting and then we made beaded bracelets at another friend's house. I love my bracelet and matching earrings, I'd never done any jewellery making before so it was really fun to try, and it's given me some ideas for new projects.

My blogging goals

I've slacked off a bit with my blogging lately. One reason is that I have picked up some work from a home working company which has been filling my time, and also I've been suffering a bit from bloggers block. Sometimes I feel that there are so many bloggers out there now, saying more than I could ever say and putting it much better than I can.

I'm also finding it more difficult to blog about the children and family issues. I don't want to embarrass the children as they get older, and don't want everything about their lives shared online. I need to have a good brainstorm and think about the direction that I want to go in!

My home goals

We've not made much progress here yet, although I've started calling some fencing companies as we need some repairs done, and hopefully we can get some quotes for a new side gate. The trouble is that we'd rather spend our money on travelling than home improvements! I do continue to declutter and the house isn't looking too bad at the moment, although it could definitely do with a good spring clean!

Did you set 2019 goals? How are they going?

My goals for 2019

It's the time of year when I start to look forward to the New Year, and think about all the things that I want to achieve. So I thought that I'd share some of my goals for 2019 across different areas of my life.

My fitness goals

In November I set myself the challenge of running 50 km across the month. I managed it pretty easily and found that it really motivated me to get myself out for a run. I haven't got off to a good start in December due to having a cold and the freezing temperatures, but I'm determined to meet that challenge again in January. In August 2019 I've been invited to take part in a local 10 km race for a friend's birthday so I need to work on increasing my distance a bit. I probably could run 10 km but it would be quite a struggle and I wouldn't manage it very fast! So I also need to work a bit on increasing my distance per run.

I also need to make a much bigger effort to get to the gym regularly. We pay a huge amount in gym fees and at the moment we don't get anywhere near our money's worth. I need to do what I used to do and make a gym trip a regular part of my schedule.

My crafting goals

I am determined to finish my Christmas cross stitch sampler by Christmas 2019. This was always my goal when I first started it, but I must admit that I've been neglecting it a little bit lately. I'm about two thirds of the way through with the stitching, but there are lots of beads that will need to be added and I also need to allow time to get it framed so that I can display it when we put up the Christmas decorations. I'm going to aim to finish the basic stitching by the end of June, and have it framed by the end of October.

I also want to make a lot more progress on my Persian Tiles crochet blanket as I was doing very well but haven't picked it up in a while.

Finally I want to set up a regular craft night with some friends. Everyone always gets so booked up, so I want to try and get organised so that we can get some dates in the diary well in advance. I have a few ideas for some crafts that we could try - I'm going to buy some mini diamond painting kits to have a go at and maybe some silver clay because that looks fun to work with.

My blogging goals

My blog has just been ticking along lately, I'd like to give it a bit more of a push. I stopped taking on many review posts and hardly do them at all now. I prefer it, but it does mean that I can't keep up with publishing so regularly. I want to make sure that I have plenty of craft content on the blog and also post more about trying to live a more simple and minimalistic life. I'd like to improve on writing some posts in advance so that I have regular content going out which is hopefully interesting and engaging.

My home goals

We have a few things that need doing around the house. We need to replace our side gate as the old one is falling apart and we have a few windows that need repairing. I want to buy a big headboard for our bed as we've never had one, and I think it's finally time to decorate our scruffy dining room.

What are your goals for the New Year?

Photo credit - Maddi Bazzocco via Unsplash