Today was supposed to be a long run day, but somehow the day slipped through my fingers. So I filled in with a Bootcamp session. This should have been day 5, but day 5 required a gym ball. I have not sat on a gym ball since  October 2013, when I was still full of baby and trying to encourage him to make an appearance. 

This is why my gym ball is still scrunched up in a drawer. So I improvised and went back to day one. I was slightly startled by how much more confident I felt, both following the routine and in how I was doing most of the exercises. A week ago I struggled to do even one kneeling press up, but now I can do my 10 reps with only a bit of a wobble at the end!

It’s never a good sign when I start lumping together Athon posts. Not only does it mean that I have missed the 24 hour ‘blogging’ deadline, but also that the ‘jogging’ part of the deal has gone a bit awry as well.

It started on Wednesday. I am normally off work on a Wednesday, but had swapped my days so that I could go to a meeting. So instead of a lovely day with Mini-Ginge, looking at ducks, playing in dirt and eating all of the grapes in the house, I was at my desk for 8. Whether or not my body knew that something was up and started to rebel, I don’t know, but I was knackered by 5. So much so that I fell asleep during Sarah and Duck (quack) – now I love Sarah and Duck, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. It was only a brief nap and I was woken by the sense of a small, thumb-sucking presence who had appeared next to me. Staring. He went to bed, I had my tea, he decided that he needed to read another five books before he would go to sleep, Ginge was home about 9 ish and I was in bed by half past. I managed about a page of my book and I was gone.

Thursday I was off and managed to fit in three miles after Mini-Ginge had gone to his grandparents’ and before I was due to be picked up to go to our staff awards dinner. Due to a hint of procrastination (procrastination is actually far too smart a word, I was just arsing around with twitter), by the time I had run and arrived home, I had 40 minutes to get myself ready. On the plus side, I definitely didn’t need to bother with blusher, on the minus side, my make up slid off my red sweaty face like a beige avalanche. Sadly we didn’t win our award, but I did manage to get into a lovely frock that I haven’t been able to zip up for at least two years. So go me.

Tonight was the last of Ginge’s late nights. Phew. Mini-Ginge was collected, fed, watered, read to, pyjama-clad and put to bed, leaving me time to listen to The Archers, do the washing up and do day three of bootcamp. I’m possibly not doing this justice by missing a couple of days but I think I genuinely did need the rest on Wednesday and I found it hard to squeeze in a run and bootcamp yesterday (I made a pair of pyjama bottoms for Mini-Ginge while he was asleep, so I could have done it then, but they are fabulous pyjamas). I actually quite enjoy them, I’m feeling more confident that I’m not doing them completely wrong (even if I am quite wobbly and wonky) and it’s nice to do something different without even leaving the house.

Despite me not breathing a word about wanting to go for an early run, Mini-Ginge clearly had got wind of my plans and woke me up at 2.30. 5.00 running alarm call was duly ignored. 

My plan b for an early evening run was scuppered by a tired boy who needed to go home, rather than wait for his sweaty mother. After an episode of The Clangers, he was put to bed and I embarked on a mission to make tonight’s tea, tomorrow night’s tea and my dinner for work tomorrow. Then Ginge came home, we had tea, we washed up and it was gone 10. 

So at 10.20, I changed out of my work stuff into something a bit more Lycra and did day 2 of Bootcamp. This was a session of upper body work that reminded me that above the waist, I am as weak as a kitten. I have very wonky shoulders that clicked and clunked and wobbled all the way through. I also had to improvise on the weight front, using 2 tins of chickpeas instead. 

There was lots of encouragement to do things at your own pace and progress as you get stronger. This was timed wonderfully to offset my thoughts of “I’m rubbish at this, it’s pathetic”, so go psychic Julia! On one exercise (I think it might have been in the warmup) it took me a while to figure out my rights and lefts, and arms and legs. It’s great to be able to pause and rewind something I’m not sure about. In reality, if I went to a class, I would get all hot and flustered before giving up. 

I suspect things may ache in the morning…

Anything involving the word ‘bootcamp’usually has me running for the hills, or more likely, skulking away and muttering curses. However, several things have come into alignment and I am trying out the Beginners Bootcamp by personal trainer Julia Buckley. 

I’ve been aware of her stuff on social media for ages and the lovely Sue (who I first met during the Athons) is a fantastic poster girl for the results that you can get with Julia’s workouts. 

The workouts are designed so that you can do them at home with the minimum of equipment. But I hate doing stuff at home, I feel wonky and uncoordinated, I’m sure I’m doing stuff wrong and then I give up. I’m totally new to all of this squatting and lunging  and as far as I’m concerned burpees are what you do to babies. 

The problem is, I want to get stronger. I get weird pangs of jealousy when I read about people’s strength training. Joining a gym isn’t an option so maybe a home programme is worth a shot. 

A version of the Beginners Bootcamp is still free on YouTube, so I had a look at the introductory video and it was like Julia was talking to me! All of the fears and anxieties I hoard were covered and solved, all of the mistakes I make, she knew about them. 

So tonight I did my first workout, in the kitchen, hoping none of the overlooking neighbours could see in. I was wobbly and wonky and I can’t do any form of press up, but it was nicely hard work and I finished it with a rosy glow.