2018 — I learned to exercise
Me, my sister, and my mum ran the race for life in Bath in July where it was 28C!
Last year I wrote a post about why I learned to crochet and why learning a new thing each year was helping me grow. For 2018 I wanted to exercise better. So how did I do?
First achievement: I actually stepped foot in a gym! I asked a personal trainer for a few sessions and actually I learned how some of the machines worked! I had major anxiety over looking stupid not knowing what to do at the gym. Or being really shit at everything and I’ve definitely conquered that fear! Would definitely recommend a personal trainer to anyone who wants to learn to exercise better!
Second achievement: I signed up for random exercise classes to try different things. I made some friends doing this and I’ve learned that I’ll push myself a lot more if I’m with other people. This is something I’m going to take forward into 2019 too!
Third achievement: I ran two separate 5km races and didn’t die! I was really sure I would die. Especially the first one, which my mum, my sister, and I did on the hottest day of the year in England!
My friend Jo and I ran a 5km race for life in Finsbury Park but it was mismanaged and we had to make our own 5km route up!
I also got to run around some exciting and different places too! Turns out it’s a lot easier to run around the Bay Area, California than it is in Singapore or London!
I got to run around Stanford University one morning before work.
I had to run at like 6am in Singapore so it wasn’t so hot! It was still too hot and sweaty!
I used some fitness apps to help quantify and track my progress. I ran 24 times in 2018, totaling 98km (I just missed out on 100km!), averaging 4km per run. The fastest I managed to do a 5km was just under 35 minutes. I might try to do some interval training this year and see if I can bring my time down at all.
A really great side benefit to this was the health benefits. The nurse at my local GP surgery had been worried about my blood pressure over the past few years. She’s noticed that my blood pressure has been significantly lower in recent appointments, which is a great thing!
I wanted to finish this post with an Instagram-able photo, but in reality I ate too many cakes over Christmas so here’s what peak Danielle looked like in October:
Pretty impressed I got a few muscles!
I also didn’t forget my crochet skills from 2017 and I’ve learned how to move on from 2D hexagons to making 3D animals! This year for Christmas I made all my friends and family something!
So what about 2019? I don’t want to lose my newly developed exercise skills, I’ve already been doing my Barre Classes once a week, and I’ll run twice a week! I’m also signing up to do two 10km races this year!
But in regards to my something new, I read recently that you should split anything you want to do into 12 week chunks. If you give yourself a year you’ll spend too much time not on task which is totally true for me. This year I didn’t really start exercising until May and that’s already 5 months of the year gone!
So I’m going to set myself 12 week goals, and I can do 4 of those each year! So firstly, I’d like to learn how to journal! I’ve got myself a few bullet journal guides, and bought the best self journal to more easily get started! But I really like the idea of keeping track of what’s important and staying more organized!
the books i’ve bought to learn how to journal!
After the first quarter is over I’m not really sure what to push myself with. I want to learn how to get the most out of my savings. And I’ve been very kindly given a violin (which I’ve always wanted to learn). I’ll follow up next January and let you know what happened!