I have just set up the Wii Fit, and according to the initial tests I have a Wii Fit age of 50!!! That means it thinks I am 5 years older than I actually am ……

Went for a bike ride this morning - down past the nature reserve and along the East Beach. Posted a letter in the marina, then cycled through the marina past all the stalls for the Sailors Market, and then along the West Beach. For the first time I used the newly opened path through the old camp site (the walking path is open but not the cycling path) and turned at the end of the beach by the hill up to Guardias Viejas.

Wow it has been exhaustingly hot here in Almerimar over the past 10 days or so, and I have probably unwisely been trying to get back into my fitness, mainly by running! We’ve been meeting up with some visiting, regular Almerimar Life readers over the past week and they all seem to be enjoying this heat over here. I guess it’s the difference between living and being on holiday. I could probably handle chilling out on the beach in the mornings, afternoon siestas, and wandering out for some food, chat and vino in the evenings, and I can also see that whilst a tad hot right now, our August sunshine is definitely an improvement on the rainy UK. This is the dilema of living in a hot country all year round, and particularly somewhere where other people come for holidays. You tell yourself that you don’t need to go anyone to have a holiday, but then never actually take one. SO maybe next year we should take a 2 week vacation at home instead of trying to struggle on with all our usual work and activities in this heat.

Wow it definitely is getting warm! I still haven’t managed to get up and out for a run by 8.30 am my target time, but this morning I did manage 9ish. However that extra 30 mins seems to make a big difference now in terms of the sun’s heat. At 8.30 I was actually enjoying a cup of tea in relative cool on the roof, whilst even walking down to the bins to start my run, I was feeling decidedly warm! Anyway I got my 3-4 Kms done and running down the beach certainly makes it more bearable. Today I noticed the pedalos lined up on the East beach, another sign of peak season approaching.

Today I impressed myself by actually managing to run before breakfast. I was out the door by 10am, which felt pretty early this morning, as Sunday for me has always had that ’should be relaxing feel’, as I have normally been lucky enough not to have to work at weekends.

I am off to play tennis this morning for the first time in over a month i.e. since I pulled the muscles in both thighs football training.

Since then I have had a lot of swelling, stiffness and pain in my left knee. Combine that with a general lack of activity and far too many beers and tapas during Euro2008 and I am resembling a very white tub or lard at the moment!!!!

Wow it has become SO hot in the last 10 days. I’m going to have to get up mega early to get any running in now! My gym wasn’t much better yesterday as although I know they have air-con, they don’t seem too keen to use it. Could this be that it just isn’t worth running it for the dozen or so people who go down in the mornings? Maybe I need to check out evening work-outs. Of course it could also be that for Spaniards it just isn’t hot enough yet, as I remember an instructor telling me once before that, until it gets mega hot it is better for your muscles to be warmer. This is an interesting contrast to when I used a gym in Florida where they LOVE air-con. There you had to get working out fast to warm up!

Interesting morning at my gym today. I’m finding fitness training tougher already in this new summer heat, so I have to own up to not feeling my most motivated, which is why I thought one of Damaris’s great tonificacion classes would be just the thing to get me going.

It has definitely got much hotter in the past week, so much so that I now do need to get up and get running before breakfast. Today I didn’t get out at 8.30am which was my intention, but around 10am, after tea and a banana I managed it. It WAS hot but as i am only running around 3km at the moment it was bearable and once I hit the beach I forgot how tired I felt and thought … wow … isn’t this fantastic? It is easy to take for granted the mountain views and the sea when you live here in Almerimar most of the time, but every so often I remind myself how lucky we are to be able to do this. Of course I miss things about the UK, but running along a beach in the sunshine, definitely beats running along a busy road in the UK, sometimes in the freezing cold, or even on snow!

Interesting run yesterday morning; i wasn’t aiming to do a long one, but I was planning to run down past the old Melia Hotel and then turn onto the beach to come back. It was actually quite funny, but I discovered there is currently now no way to run down to the hotel as the footpaths on both sides are closed. I ended up doubling back and running through the Mercadona carpark. I’m not a big complainer about stuff in general but it will be great when Porto Fino and all the associated mess is finished. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this, and I know from Chris’s conversation with our neighbour’s son on holiday here, that the roadworks etc. are not creating a great impression going into the busiest season. It all seems delayed and now bad timing, but such is life … best laid plans etc.

Finally I have motivated myself to go running again, after a lazy week when I didn´t even get to the gym. I blame my trip to the UK, as, although I did a little fitness stuff during my 11 days there, I was basically pretty lazy on that front and it is SO easy to get out of the habit. This am when I woke up it was windy and slightly wet, so I was about to wimp out again, when I saw 2 men within 10 mins making the effort. When Chris suggested coffee in the port, I nearly weakened again, but finally Chris came up with a good solution. He had an errand to run, so left me to run up the beach, before we met for coffee and in my case a well-earned tostada.

I’m impressed. My legs are feeling far more fatigued today, after this morning’s yoga class than after my cross-training and leg lifts in the gym yesterday, AND I thought I was merely doing some stretches. Of course it could be the cumulative effect of yoga, dog walking up sand-dunes, and the fact that Mum directed me to a parking area a good 20 mins brisk walk from the shops we wanted to go to this afternoon. Seems to be a problem in Southport, that even if you are willing to pay, near to the shops you can only have max two hours, which as any self-respecting woman knows just isn’t enough time. Anyway I’m giving the credit to the yoga class, and am so impressed I will be digging out my beginners yoga DVD when I get back home. This is the DVD I have only watched once in 2 years and that was recently sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea and little Saidi cat sitting on my lap!

Ok so it was only for about 20 minutes but I’ve actally just done my first run in at least 2 months! Well motivated Chris as I was definitely going off the idea, but I got to be pace-maker as I’m not that good at running slower even when not very run fit, AND Chris took over to lead us up the last hilly bit which I didn’t give up on. I was keen to get one run done to see how everything felt before I go to the UK as I may struggle to get to a gym there, so aim achieved and here’s to getting some longer runs done on those summer evenings!

Maybe it was that Monday morning feeling after a particularly relaxing weekend, but tonificacion was really tough for me today! there seemed to be about twice as many people as usual so Damaris went for lots of boxing and kicking moves mainly on the spot. Each time I do a class I realise that I am kidding myself if I think I am anywhere near as fit as I used to be, but I will persevere and give it time. Fitness is as much about patience as hard work, as it is so important not to give up, and to recognise that unless you are very young it is pretty tough getting back into it. Next I have to motivate myself to do something while I am in the UK for 11 days visiting friends and family. I have a school reunion at the weekend in a health spa hotel and have good intentions of using the gym, but I have the feeling that we will all be lounging around in the sauna chatting! Anyway, lovely though Almerimar is, I’m looking forward to a change of scene, AND some shopping with my sister!

Chris showed me this article that he read while travelling back on the plane last week. It is about a new craze in fitness training that has recently started unsurprisingly in the States. It basically takes the form of an unchoreographed, instructor-led workout, and is the brainchild of an American fitness physiologist. Why is it called chaos training? The scientific theory of chaos says that a series of seemingly random actions can achieve a predetermined goal.
Of course!

OK so I have been posting about how I have been struggling to get down to the gym much. Well last week I actually achieved what I set out to do, so am feeling positive for next week. I managed to get down there 4 mornings for 2 tonificacion and 2 pilates classes, with a little warm-up on the bike thrown in. Great classes @ 10am (pretty civilised time), and all pretty frienly and as fun as is possible when you are working hard. I´m sticking with mornings now as this was always the best time for me to work-out. This week I´m going for 4 classes again but also want to fit in at least one run. I haven´t been for weeks as I was having slight problems with my back, but as I´m about to go to the UK and will need to run a little there, it is time to get back into it. Here´s hoping it won´t be TOO tough! At least I have my new trendy iPod arm-band (all the way from Dubai … thanks Chris) to inspire me!!!

Or not! I was determined to get to the gym this morning having been only once last week, partly due to having my Mum to stay. I have to say though that when I left the house at 9.20am in another minor gale, I wasn’t really up for it! Once again I went to another great but tough Tonificacion class and as usual there were a lots of grins among the grimaces. This is the camaraderie you get with a bunch of women working out together. AND I have to say that I felt much better afterwards, but then I like that slightly aching sensation of knowing you’ve just used some muscles! I’ve also decided that i do much prefer working out first thing, and it becomes more friendly if you turn up at about the same time or to the same classes whenever you go, as your face, as other,s becomes familiar, and for me even with the language barrier we are staring to say hello.

Unlike Sands I have not been doing anything regards keeping fit for about 4 months now. As a result the run that I have just been for in Dubai was the toughest I can remember for a long time. The humidity (think Florida) doesn’t help, nor the lack of food since I have been here, but I managed just under 30 mins which was more than I thought I would after the first 10 mins. The fact I am running through a building site aka The Palm doesn’t help either.

I’m feeling suitably good after another great Tonificacion class at my gym. I’ve was feeling tired this morning and it is always handy to have some hugely enthusiastic energetic instructor to add a little motivation when you are struggling to summon your own. It also distracts from the pain when you can grimace at a fellow sufferer and end up laughing.

Having a frustrating week with lots to do and things not working out too well, including having problems with our Internet router. Consequently I hadn’t actually managed to get to the gym at all this week until this morning’s Pilates class which was great as usual, with lots of good stomach work and stretching, the latter of which made my slightly iffy lower back creak comfortingly.