The week had a slow start after a weekend with too less sleep. And the week wasn’t what I hoped it would be running wise. But it is a case in point of a normal week, and a great reminder, that we tend to overestimate our competence. It was a constant battle between running, some social engagements and the summer heat. Social responsibilities are a good battle to fight, weather not so much. But I still got in some good workouts though. Here’s how one typical exercise week went! I had a hard time increasing my mileage. It’s the summer and the heat, which is all true, but it does tend to concern you if it goes on for months. So anyway, I’m gradually increasing the mileage. Monday Rest day I had plans to go trail running after work, but it was so hot, that it was better to stay inside in the AC. Mother nature won that one and it wouldn’t be the last time this week. That’s the glory...

I started my new year kind of eh. My hubby worked, and kids and I didn’t do anything special. Since I had just run on New Year’s Eve for the first time in almost 2 weeks, I was sore and decided to skip a day to give my body time to heal. Instead of running, I decided to do 5 sets of 20 of Clean & Press with my Ultimate Sandbag!   Rest days and cross-training with sandbag I need to take my running “rest” days more seriously and do more cross-training. I seriously love my sandbag too. It will be a big part of my cross training this year! I may have to set some small goals of adding one new exercise with it each month! As far as my goals, I forgot to include that I want to run 800 miles this year. That’s a lot of more than last year since I just started, but I think it’s completely doable for me. Especially with so many half marathons this year...

For anyone that is tempted to start running I would say just go for it, but start much slowly than you ever could imagine! Now when I think back, I tried to run too fast and too long too early. Training plan something like this would have been much better to start with, but I was too impatient. Mix running and walking (I still mix, allthough I can run longer time straight, because it’s better exercise that way). Walking parts should be brisk enough. Easy Walk-Run Training Plan Try to have 3-4 around 30 minutes walk-runs every week Week 1: 2 minutes running/4 minutes walking Week 2: 3 minutes running/3 minutes walking Week 3: 4 minutes running/2 minutes walking Week 4: 5 minutes running/3 minutes walking Week 5: 7 minutes running/3 minutes walking Week 6: 8 minutes running/2 minutes walking Week 7: 9 minutes running/1 minute walking Week 8: 13 minutes running/2 minutes walking...

Since I’m just starting out my running hobby, I’d like to follow other bloggers and runners to get some inspiration. Here are some of my favourites. 1. Lazy Girl Running Quote from the blog: “I wanted to run. I wanted to be the person I saw on TV running down a beach carefree. It looked so easy. I could do that, right? A trip to the gym made me think otherwise. Running was HARD. Everything hurt. Everything felt wrong. I managed just two minutes of running before I had to stop. But many miles down the line running stopped being something difficult and started being enjoyable.” 2. Maria Runs – Running, baking, tea, chocolate… Quote from the blog: “I have a tendency to ramble a lot, so I will also blog about baking, yoga, the marathon talk podcast, and other topics that take my fancy.”