Showing posts with label lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lifestyle. Show all posts
To avoid setting my goals and expectations too high, I set myself a goal to go for just one 5k run per week. I've been running on and off for a few years but never managed to make it a consistent habit. Now, nearly 4 months into the year, I'm pretty amazed to find I've stuck with my plan. I even did my weekly run in Thailand when I was on holiday and swallowed my million excuses and did my 5k in -22 degrees Celsius at the end of January. Old me used to run only in the summer when it was nice and warm outside.
I did run on a treadmill all of February and March, though, thanks to the icy roads and the fact that my favourite running track in the nearby forest turns into a cross country skiing track in the winter. I'm not a fan of running on the treadmill and never have been. I find it boring and all too easy to quit whenever I start feeling the slightest bit tired. Running outside, on the other hand, I've slowly grown to enjoy. The change of scenery and the fact that I need to run back home anyway make me much less likely to stop half-way through. I was therefore excited when the snow and ice finally melted away and I could start running outside again. I even invested in a new pair of trainers to motivate myself.
I was expecting to enjoy running more now that I can run outside again and have some new gear, but I was definitely not expecting to get absolutely addicted to it. I received my new shoes in the mail on Wednesday, and was outside testing them within a half an hour of getting home from work. I ran my fastest ever mile straight away. I was so excited about the shoes and how much fun it was to run that the next morning I got up extra early and went for a run before work, which is something I never imagined doing. I ran my fastest 5k that morning. Yesterday, I set out to go run 10k (a distance I've only ever run twice before) and ended up running 12k, my farthest ever. It also ended up being my personal best for 10k. I never thought a pair of new running shoes could make that big of a difference.
I'm literally so excited about it all. I mean I'm still a rather slow runner and my personal bests are not impressive, but to me they prove I'm moving to the right direction and getting better. They motivate me and as a naturally competitive person, I can't wait to try to beat my own records. The most amazing thing is how much I find myself loving going on runs. I feel so accomplished when I'm done with a run that I've got addicted to that feeling of achievement.
Now I just hope I can keep up the habit and stay motivated. Any great tips and tricks on how to do that are more than welcome!
Now I just hope I can keep up the habit and stay motivated. Any great tips and tricks on how to do that are more than welcome!
I really wish I had more to post about, but my life for the past few months has been filled with the library, academic journals, staring at a word document titled 'DISSERTATION' and hoping I could get it done faster. I just have no life at the moment. The deadline is in exactly a month, and I should be done with uni in just over two months, which makes me happy and scared at the same time.
It is, however, time for the Easter break in a few days, and I am off to the Alps for one last time with the ski society. It's exciting and sad at the same time, I'll really miss these insane weeks of boarding with my uni friends. I just hope I can forget about all the dissertation stress for the week and make the most of it. Hopefully all my stuff will make it to the resort this time as well so I'll actually be able to do my job as the photographer.
We're going to Val d'Isère this time and I haven't been there before, so it'll be nice to explore a new resort. We leave on Friday and I just can't wait to get there for a week of snowboarding, apres and nights out. In preparation, here are some of my favourite songs from my snowboarding playlist.
I can't believe it's already the 9th of March. I'm so late with this post and everything else too at the moment. I did manage to go on a great road trip to Manchester and back the other weekend with a few friends to unwind, but other than that my dissertation is just slowly sucking out all the life in me. After a 9-5 in the library I have no energy for anything other than a bit of TV, food and my bed. It doesn't help that the deadline is getting closer and closer and I still have so much to do...
Anyway, here are a few of my favourites from February:
January has been and gone (so fast!) and I thought I could start making monthly compilations of my favourites and other things that were in one way or the other important during the month. So, here's the January edition.
I know I mainly post photos but this time I am actually planning to write as well, just to go over what I've been preoccupying myself with lately. I do apologise for the shit quality of the photos, they're all from my phone this time.
I know fourth year of uni is crazy busy and I should be in the library drowning in books, but that's just not at all been happening lately. I've found it really hard to motivate myself to do any of the work and this was probably the worst decision possible, but I took off and went to Lapland for a week, blissfully forgetting all my work ( the work I wasn't even doing when I was here).
I know it's already September, but I still haven't done a post about the summer here in Levi. It was warm in July and August everywhere in Finland, even up here in Lapland. I've been at work most of the time and didn't get to enjoy it as much as I would've liked to, but then again all the mosquitos and other annoying insects sometimes make it a little less desirable to spent time outside in the summer...
I did get to go on a really nice river cruise through work one afternoon in July though, which was pretty great. The weather was perfect, there was a nice sand beach where we stopped, and most importantly, pancakes.
I fell in love with a longboard cruiser in San Sebastian and ended up buying it. I used to want a skateboard when I was younger, but my mum wouldn't let me have one. I'm absolutely in love with this board, and can't wait to take it with me to Bournemouth to go longboarding by the beach.
Although longboarding in the sunset here in Lapland is pretty amazing too.
My day off on Thursday was meant to be
relaxing. Instead, I agreed to go mountain biking to some old gold mine.
The guys said the trip would be like a 50km and I was sure I
would never be able to do it, but somehow they convinced me to go along
anyway.
Spring is definitely the best time of the year for snowboarding. Although you might not get too much fresh powder, the sun makes up for it. It's not that cold, either, meaning that you don't have to wear so many layers of clothes that it ends up being hard to move. The past few weeks here in Levi have been amazing. Here are a few photos I took on the slopes.
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