FEBRULOUS: The Journey not the Destination

I may have had incredibly sore knees - but this was my undisputed highlight of Februlous..... 

Well that and running 10km in 1 hour 6 mins with Pui-Tien and Jo......

Well actually getting an amazing pressie from the Cheiftan of Cool: My Fitblr Buddy and my first ever bunch of fleurs also made Februlous rock........  

In short there were no shortage of Februlous highlights!! THANK YOU xx

Well today is the last day of February and I'm more than a little glad as this marks the end of the seemingly never ending 280km Februlous Challenge. Today also marks the first BIG fitness challenge I didn't emerge victorious from.

Really my Februlous Challenge was over 2 weeks ago - when knackered knees and insufficient fitness made it clear that I wasn't close to ready to running 280km in a month. I managed 100km in 12 days (including 90km in 9 days back to back) so I'm chuffed to have made it that far.  I never thought I'd actually be able to run my daily 10km commute rather than walk it - and whilst it was by no means perfect running, I battled on and kept on battling repeatedly for nine days.

I also learnt some important lessons during Februlous:

• Following an actual training plan, not just designing one and adequately preparing is VITALLY IMPORTANT. I hadn't attempted a 10km for a few months prior to Februlous. Going from a mileage of 0-8km a week to 70km a week, in hindsight, was never going to be the world's best plan. Actually it's a miracle I managed 100km at all!!


• It is so good to really push yourself and see what you are capable of - I did and discovered that I could run 10km for 9 days straight. I never knew that about myself. It wasn't the 28 days of 10kms that I had originally set as my goal but surely there's no such thing as failure when you push yourself outside your comfort zone in the first place?


• I LOVE racing with friends - FRIENDS make the race and ensure you go the distance. HILARIOUS COSTUMES make the race seem shorter!


• Mental resolve isn't limitless. Life will throw you curve balls - for me that manifested over the last few weeks as job insecurities, redundancy and financial hassles which weakened my typical fitness focus. I am not a machine - I got distracted, I got stressed, I got injured and I comfort ate my way to putting on 4lbs. In the end I had to take time out from Februlous - give my knees a rest, focus my energies on other more pressing priorities to get me over this hump and to allow me to get my head back in the fitness game. Step backs in career, weight, fitness, relationships are a fact of life - but it's up to me to ensure that the step backs are only temporary. The support that my friends have shown me over the last few weeks has made such a massive difference in ensuring that I do actually effect a 'comeback' and I couldn't be more grateful.


• I need to rediscover a structured training schedule that works for me, that is sufficiently diverse, that excites me and most importantly ensures I stay active 5-6 times a week. After all the running, I've been hankering to take up swimming lessons, boxing and trampolining again - activities that my knees might just approve of - well the swimming at least!!


• Recovery days and a great stretching routine are WAY more important than I previously gave them credit for. Running everyday is nigh on impossible. Slow and steady with scheduled rest days is superior to fast, furious and unrelenting (though clearly my running is anything but fast!) Running 10km for nine days straight made me a tad loopy by day 9, not to mention, gave me rather 'lovely' blistered feet, a black toenail, sore knees and achy hips. Definitely one painful lesson I won't forget in a hurry.

But tomorrow marks a new month, with fresh challenges (better fortune?) and lighter and hopefully warmer Spring days!! My March goals include losing the four pounds I put on during Februlous, progressing through my virtual Great Wall of China Walking challenge, establishing a routine of running 25km every week but MOST IMPORTANTLY rediscovering the fun in getting fitter. After all there is the little {BIG} matter of kicking off "The Sky's the Limit" 8 month fitness challenge I am embarking on with Challenge Hannah. {As this next challenge is a little more complicated that my previous fitness challenges - I've created a separate page on my Girl on a Mission blog where I have noted, in full, the details of the IMMENSE task at hand and where I will be tracking and ticking off Challenge Hannah and my progress (OR NOT!!) to that open plane door!!}

Fortunately when one door closes, another one opens. Though if the door in question happens to be that of an aeroplane, then pray to God you are strapped to an experienced parachutist!! xx