Easter Family Fun and Fitness

Like many parents I a) have less time to exercise in school holidays and b) worry that my children don't get enough exercise when not in school. So over the start of the holidays I've tried to combine getting/staying fit with some family fun.

First up now I'm running for around 30 minutes non-stop its actually easier to go out with the children. I just need to workout a route that is feasible on their scooters (i.e. not too many road crossings or steep hills) and that has a bribe at the end of it. Luckily Kendal is fairly good for this as we have routes along the river and old canal bed. The bribe at the end was a trip to Abbot Hall park playground. This was the resulting mapped route from MapMyRun:

Yes it was a little bit extra jiggly as I had to retrace my steps a few times to chivvy along a reluctant 6 year old! I also had to run round the park several times at the end to finish the run as my children were about to go on strike so I called a halt to the proceedings for them and sent them to the play area. The run was anything but a steady pace with having to look after the children but my split times weren't bad:

The children enjoyed a good play in the park with a quick picnic whilst I recovered (amazingly its getting easier much quicker!). Then we all needed to warm up so nipped into the cafe at the Abbot Hall Art Gallery (see yesterday's post!). It was then a team decision to cross the courtyard and visit the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry as we had never been. It cost £5 for me but the children were free so an inexpensive visit. We all enjoyed looking at the recreations of historic shops, industries and homes:

Shoe samples

Victorian Chemists

Bobbin Making from Staveley

16th Century bed

Arthur Ransome's sketches and notebooks

I will have to back sometime on my own as the children didn't let me read a lot of the information as they kept rushing on to the next exciting display!

Afterwards we did some shopping in Kendal (have you ever tried buying gloves in March - apparently its the wrong time of year!). The children had their last Christmas book tokens to spend so we spent forever in Waterstones. A minor miracle occurred as I came out without buying a new book for myself!! I did attempt to run part of the 3 kilometers home but the 6 year old went on strike so I had to content myself with walking.

Today we met up with the extended family and with 3 children and a dog needing some exercise we again mounted up on the scooters (this time I took mine) and headed to the park from my parents' side of town. Once again the old canal path is perfect for this kind of expedition:

It was a bit chilly at the park but the children still had plenty of fun on all the equipment:

We could also just see the Kendal kite festival up at the castle:

And there were plenty of birds enjoying the River Kent:

The scooting looked so much fun that we even persuaded granny to have a go on my scooter:

Then it was a return leg along the canal path and my son spotted this cheeky little thing in the tree:

Later we rewarded ourselves with a yummy Easter tea:

Next challenge is the annual Easter egg hunt at Sizergh but I'll have to get the children to scoot across town first so that I can get in a run!

Couch to 5 k Progress Report

Well I am now nearly through week 6 of my NHS choices couch to 5 k podcasts. They are really well put together to teach complete novices how to run. There is just enough talking for instruction and motivation with plenty of music to keep you going.

It now seems a long time since week 1 when I found the 60 second runs far too easy! Over the last 2 weeks the podcasts have had me doing things like a 20 minute continuous run or today two lots of 10 minutes. It doesn't even feel all that tough - except when battling against rain or cold winds...

I am now a familiar sight trotting around the roads and paths in Staveley in my luminous pink jacket! There is nearly always someone I know to encourage me on with a comment or even a beep on the horn. The fact I can record and share my progress on MapMyRun and I can see what I have done helps a lot too:

Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyRun

The village itself has plenty of beautiful views to inspire me with too. Its just such a shame that when I'm running I can't stop to take a photo... However when I'm on my warm up and cool down legs (or on the now redundant recovery section) I am only walking briskly and can snatch a few photos like these as I go:

Martins Bank 

Staveley Wood Turning Weir

St Margaret's Tower

St James' churchyard

View from Miles without Stiles bridge

I do have to remember that my goal from all this (apart from getting fit) is to raise £100 or more for CancerCare. Here's hoping that by May 18th I can complete the 10k Star Walk run and do my sponsors proud!

If any fitness and sports companies want to help me achieve my goal in return for an advert and plenty of mentions then follow the links up the top to e-mail me or find me on social media!

First Run of 2013

Not only was this my first run of 2013 in fact it was the first run outdoors for a considerable time! Quite possibly I haven't been for jog in the fresh air since I retired from rugby in the late 1990s...

Undaunted by the fact it started snowing again and the roads looked slippery and it was rather cold I donned my running gear and took to the road:

You can just about see the polystyrene looking snow at my feet. My neighbour was quite concerned about me but I promised to take good care of myself. I switched on the NHS Couch to 5K podcast, activated Endomondo on my phone and set off at a brisk walk round the estate. 

Just towards the end of my warm up walk I realised Endomondo had been paused so I managed to get it going. The podcasts are designed for real novices so week 1 had me doing 60 second runs interlaced with 90 second brisk walks. There was music to help you keep up the pace and a lady telling you when to change from one speed to the other.

After a while I found the estate too slippery so headed down the hill towards town as the pavement was clearer. On the way I met our local postman and he suggested heading round the back of Kentrigg so I turned round and ran back up the hill.... It was interesting going down little roads and paths I'd never discovered before.

Then I ran out of route so went back on to my estate and tried a few of the little streets and pathways out of the way. They turned out to be a little too slippery still so I returned to the main road through the estate which had mostly cleared due to traffic. For my cool down 5 minute brisk walk I had to wander up and down my own road (hope not too many people were watching!). 

When I got home after 30 minutes outside I had a nice rosy glow to my face and felt like I'd tried hard but wasn't too shattered. I was disappointed that the Endomondo app hadn't plotted at least half of my route as it must have lost the GPS round the back of Kentrigg. 

I have been warned that even though I found this first run pretty straightforward I may not be feeling that way tomorrow when my body complains about running on roads... If it aches a lot then I will repeat this level of workout just maybe on a better stretch of path/road. If I don't feel too bad then I will try the week 2 podcast which has longer running intervals on it. 

Wait and see how long it takes me to get up to running 5k...