To start my bank holiday weekend I took the day off work and headed up to Angel to Be Fit London for the day with my friend Emma. Think Ideal Home Show but health and fitness related and for women only. We were VIPs for the day and so had full use of the VIP lounge and everything in it.
First on the agenda was using the Braid Bar to have our hair plaited – sounds slightly odd but the first thing a woman does when she is working out is shove the hair into a bun or ponytail and braids are perfect (Braid Bar can be found in Selfridges in London). I went for two ponytail style plaits as I have thin old lady hair so actually felt a bit bad for the poor girl trying to make it look like big bulky plaits but she was amazing!
Next was to get our make up done – we did this all in the wrong order as we were booked onto a fitness class too and, for me at least, make up and fitness are not the best partners! Sara Hill were there with a team of make up artists – I’m not a big make up user so for me it felt a little odd but my friend Emma looked gorgeous!
We were treated to Skinny prosecco – didn’t even know that such a thing existed and was really nice too with half the sugar! Then it was time to shop and there were loads of stalls to look around. I stocked up on Nakd bars for all my upcoming training they always work a treat and managed to get some more running tights from Reebok, one of the partners for the event.
But I have to tell you about the class we attended run by Gym Box called Pound because it was simply amazing! It is described by Gym Box as:
“Pound is a full-body cardio jam session, combining light resistance with constant simulated drumming. The workout fuses cardio, Pilates, isometric movements, plyometrics and Isometric poses into a 45-minute series. Strengthen and sculpt infrequently used muscles, and drum your way to a leaner, slimmer physique – all while rocking out to your favourite music!”
All I can tell you is that it was so much fun and a great workout and I will be looking into both Gym Box and wherever I can get this class as I need it in my life! If you check out my Instagram I reposted a video added to Instagram but the fabulous instructor.
Great event and will be back for more next year!
On Sunday a group of us headed to Cambridge for the Bike Events 100 mile bike ride – the boys headed off together and Laura, Helen and I set off together as our first 100 miler in preparation for our big Newcastle ride.
This ride was my idea and last year Helen and I took part in the 50 miler but the weather was vile heavy rain and wind and cold for the whole thing but it is flat and I figured it would be a good way to get some big miles in fairly early on in the season.
The first 50 miles were great and when I look at my ride results on Strava it is personal record after personal record. Poor Laura got a puncture at mile 20 and we had to stop a few times to keep pumping it up as the first rest stop had no pump (poor show Bike Events) and we managed to convince her to use a gas canister before we got to a pub rest stop at mile 55 were there was a mechanic who sorted it with a proper pump (hand pumps and gas canisters are great to fix the problem but do not keep the tyre pumped up like a proper pump). As we were in a rest stop in a pub it would have been rude not to have a cheeky shandy before we set off again and so we did!
But then the second 50 started and we hit the wind, excuse the language but the bast*rd wind! It was pretty much 50 miles of relentless strong heavy winds for the rest of the ride, which was through what seemed to be the same field over and over and over again and again and again! The three of us got split up pretty quick but we kept regrouping though it was pretty much a case of get through as best you can without falling off your bike from the sidewinds that seemed to hate all cyclists in Cambridge. Oh and the cobbled speed bumps at 86 miles through the town of Ely, for a woman, were nice and comfortable!
I think all three of us were feeling pretty miserable and disheartened but then with less than 20 miles to go we found out the boys had only just finished and realised everyone was struggling with the wind and quite selfishly that made us feel better!
We finally finished and collected our certificates – Bike Events when will you do medals? I am a complete medal whore! I think we all got sun burnt a little though Helen seemed to have suffered the worst!
One day left of the bank holiday weekend so enjoy!
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