So the day after the big race and I can still move! My knees and hips are surprisingly ok, I have a couple of bruised toes that bled and friction rubs on my thighs and underarm…but mentally I’m still thrilled.
Now 8 weeks into my new fitness regime, I’ve achieved more than I ever dreamed possible, however I had noticed my mental discipline was slipping on the healthy eating and bad habits were creeping back. It was time for a ‘reset’ day.
Oddly as our bodies get used to a routine, around the 8/9 week mark we hit a dip in our energy cycle and need to shake it up, take stock and remind ourselves why we are on this fitness journey. So today’s task – active/total rest and goal setting.
With three dogs and a city to explore, I opted for active rest in the form of a gentle walk around looking for gnomes. Wroclaw love gnomes, and have lots of little sculptures dotted around the city. I’d initially started tagging them on google maps, then read there were over 300!
So after a lovely walk to the centennial park and multimedia foundation with the dogs, Mark and I caught the tram into town, visited the creative courtyard of murals and began the gnome off! Yes we made gnome hunting competitive š
This is actually a genius idea by Wroclaw, as you walk miles and are constantly engaged, scanning the ground, features, buildings for little gnomes. If anything you are so busy scanning the small stuff you forget to look up and take in the big picture or key sights. Mark thought we had missed the cathedral, but I remembered a trio of gnomes was next to it š
Things really sped up around the beautiful Market Square with a flurry of gnomes and us dashing about trying to be the first to spot and claim them. Haha I know it’s so rediculous, but here are some of the ones we found.
Fast forward an hour or two, Mark is bored of gnome hunting (I’m winning), we stop for coffee and cake at a lovely bookshop/vegan cafe called Vegedajnia Nalanda, take in a few more sculptures then head home.
Then for the goal setting. I spent the whole evening, playing with washi tape to make my journal pretty, and watching my nutrition/fitness coach Dean Byers (Primal Tribe) video on the holistic 10, and thinking up goals around each of them.
The holistic 10 are ten areas of your life that aid your overall well-being. If too few of these are in order then you risk burn out. So you read through and give yourself a point for each you have in order and then strive to get as close to 10 as possible by thinking of new goals and ways of achieving them. I scored 6/10, but am happy there are a few easy wins I can put in place to improve.
Holistic 10
- Clothes/Trinkets – are there things you wear that make you feel good (I love my Fitbit and am still wearing a string bracelet as it reminds me of last acro festival with a friend.
- Morning and Evening Routines – do you have one? A regular wake up/bedtime
- Food – I aim for 40% carb : 30% fat : 30% protein, vegan diet and use MyFitnessPal to track
- Sleep – aim for 8hours
- Exercise – are you getting some? Doing something you enjoy?
- Reading/Inputs – are you taking in knowledge?
- Meditation – doesn’t have to be daily but a fortnightly/monthly ‘think hour’ with just pen and paper is a nice exercise for the mind.
- Environmental – do you have a place that makes you feel happier? Perhaps the coast/forest/friends house. Do you make time to go there?
- People/Relations – we tend to lean towards specific people depending on what our mind/body needs. Do you have a network around you? Do you reach out?
- Miscellaneous – something in your routine that has been out of place.
It’s a great exercise, and my mind was still musing over possibilities as I was trying to sleep. I say trying as Jasper and Mabel had opted to sleep horizontally across our bed leaving Mark on the sofa with Ernest and me snuggled same as the dogs grasping as much of the limited duvet as possible. At some point in the night Ernest and Mark swapped in and Jasper left. We might need to think about dog discipline again š
If you fancy trying the holistic 10, do let me know. Or if you have any fitness challenges you think I’d enjoy, I’m always game to hear them.
SofaWolves 