Blue Monday

Monday was my first "official" training session for the 5k Race for Life in May.  I knew that a loop walk from where I work was just about 3 miles, so I wanted to walk that route, as fast as I possibly could now to get a time to beat for the race.

My walking buddy, Fiona, is currently away on holiday so it was me and the iPod - but that was fine with me - at least this was testing just my pace.  I've often wondered if passers by can see when the song on my iPod changes and if it affects my pace!  I've compiled a fast beat play list and thought rather appropriately, as it was Monday to go for "Blue Monday" as my first song!  I was quite pleased with my overall time, which was 48:39 for 2.99 miles.  I now just need to add a tenth of a mile to that and shave off four minutes to achieve my goal of walking the 5k in less than 45 minutes.  I was wondering on Monday if this goal was at all realistic (I've got quite short little legs!), but seeing my pacing time really encouraged me.

The plan now is to walk this route on Mondays and Thursdays, followed by another walk on Saturdays at the country park, which is where the Race will take place in May - this should give me my most realistic times as the park is quite different terrain to my usual suburban route.


I love fish, and thankfully for my diet fish is both low in calories and fat.  I'm quite adventurous when it comes to cooking, much to the annoyance of my 'meat and two veg' father in law, who lives with us.  So, on occasion I will cook something spicy and different for myself and the kids, and something more traditional just for him.  On Tuesday, I made a very healthy Jamie Oliver recipe from his 20 minute meals app - Spicy Cod and Lemon Cous Cous.  According to My Fitness Pal, this fantastic little recipe has only 452 calories per serving, which is quite good considering it's a whole meal.  It's not that spicy (well, I try not to make it that spicy, because the kids need to eat it too!), but it is utterly delicious.  The cous cous has a combination of courgette and red onion with a little cumin to add some extra flavour - yum!  And I love it when things look as good on the plate as they actually taste!

So tomorrow is my second talk of the 2.99 mile route and I'm hoping that my pace will improve from Monday!  Fingers crossed!