Saturday :D

Hi there lovely lovelies! And happy Saturday!

This week seemed to go forever for me and so when I woke up Friday morning to the knowledge of the end of the week.. well there was a bit of a smile on my dial!!

Not as big a smile than the one on my face today though! Because unlike Friday, Saturday's mean I have absolutely no commitments/ schooling/ activities planned at all and whilst it may seem kind of dull/ boring, when in year 12 and seemingly busy all. the. time. A day of nothing is one of the best things that could possibly be thrown my way in this season of life.

Season of life- handy that I mentioned that because that is something that also became a lot more evident to me today in particular as well. I've mentioned it before in previous posts whereby I talk about in a similar way to the changing of the seasons, our lifestyles; activity levels, meals, appetite etc. also change and we need to listen and honour these changes even if our minds (generally influenced by what society perceives as 'acceptable') tells us no.

For example, I've just come out of a season of reduced activity/ exercise, with a greater focus on rest/ recovery and looking after my body and this was quite a long period in my life. It followed the over-exercising I put my 14-year-old self through that left me completely burnt out and resultantly lacking any motivation after I recovered from predicted injuries from the amount I was pushing my body.

And for the past few weeks I've moved into a season in my life where my body wants to be pushed. Thrives on working hard, sweating lots and seeing gains I've never had before! I think I'll write a bigger post about this in the near future but this was all to say that we can't keep up an extreme and intense workout schedule every single day. It's not healthy and like the changing of seasons, the body goes through different phases which require different methods of movement.

I'm a firm believer that the body will always benefit from some form of movement every day but I also believe that if that form of movement is a nice, easy, relaxing yoga session as opposed to a high intensity hour long cross-fit training bootcamp, that could be just as beneficial to the body because that could be exactly what the body needs then and there.

So how did my Saturday turn out with all this in mind?

Well, it involved a lovely lie-in (refer back to first point- no school/ plans/ ANYTHING!!) to around 6:30am (this is definitely a lie-in when you consider the usual alarm sings at 5:45am most school mornings!) where I literally did smile with joy at the weekend.

Following this, my body did want to just get up and move. This was a clear difference to the times when my body felt tired and exhausted and I knew a longer lie-in would be beneficial (during recovery for over-training. I also just want to re-iterate that this recovery does take quite a while and you shouldn't feel upset or angry at a lack of motivation/ body's ability to move- your body needs this time to recuperate from the intense training you put it through).

So up and out of bed, hopping down the stars, grabbing my iPad and a cup of water, hopping back up the steps (it's also really cold in the winter mornings in Aus now- I do not cope well with the cold!) and jumping back into bed for a bit of blog reading and water sipping (this is a daily ritual I always do as getting some good hydration into the bod first thing in the morning makes a considerable difference in the way I feel for the rest of the day!). Recently I've loved reading Tina Muirs blog, especially her personal running/ eating posts- super interesting!

After around 15 mins of this I was ready to go! The night before I had already planned a long, easy run as my entire body just felt super stiff and rigid after an intense sprint training on Thursday (yep, even after rest day Friday!) and a looong easy run I knew would be just what the body needs to unwind, unravel and stretch out (my gluten were so tight!).

Running clothes on, shoes laced up, leg-swings done and straight into a jog up the hill out of my court.

I ended up running for a good 90 minutes or so, clocking in around 13.5km with a slow, easy pace and I felt from the very beginning my body beginning to loosen up and get comfortable in the easy stride that I maintained throughout the entire run.

For the first time in months I got that runner's euphoric exhaustion, the heavy legs that just pushed me to keep going and the fatigue that I crave (it's the type of fatigue that rids your mind of any stressors in life/ ability to think of anything really- good fatigue!) It was just me, my legs and the pounding of pavement (well, in my case grass, because I am utterly prone to injury if I only run on pavement!).

And it was a great, great run.

Post-run sweaty selfie :P

Flick back a month or so and my body would have been burnt out by kilometre 5, whether that was my mental state, my physical endurance, or something else, that was absolutely fine and now, I'm going with the increased endurance and determination/ motivation.

And after a long run, fuelled only by the previous night's dinner, breakfast becomes a major priority as soon as I enter through my front door! What a great breakfast it was:

Chic cheesecake protein oats, using a scoop of the delicious Sunwarrior vegan chic protein powder. Quick to whip up, filled with so much goodness- carbs, fats, proteins- perfection!

Did I mention it also tastes like eating a wickedly rich dessert? For breakfast? Yeah, life is good! :)

After sitting down with my warm, gooey mug of oats with crunchy peanut butter melted throughout, in front of the warmth of the heater, I will admit it was quite the challenge to move again. I would happily pause that shot and be happily warm, exhausted (in a good way!), filled with endorphins, with a delicious breakfast in between my hands.

A perfect Saturday.

So to sum up? Life changes, our bodies change, and we have to accept that or result in fighting our body likely leading to injury/ burning out.

And also main take-away from this post? Dessert for breakfast is always a good idea :D

Your turn:
What phase of your fitness do you think you're currently in at the moment?
What's your favourite type of workout at the minute? I'm finally falling back in love with my beloved running!!
Breakfast this morning was?

I hope you all have a fabulous rest of your Saturday/ weekend, do something you absolutely love to do, honouring your body and what it wants/ needs in this period of life and of course; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS! Bye for now friendly friends! :D