We are 4 months into 2023 and let's just say my fitness goals are really not going to plan but it is now time to get my act together and really put my all into my journey as I am starting a new training block to get me ready for the inflatable 5K that I am taking part in at the start of June. I have booked onto this with various members of my football team and now it is getting closer I am starting to see how much of a challenge I have set myself up for. 

With just a few months to go until the inflatable 5K I have realised just how far I have to go so my training begins now. My fitness and stamina is absolutely useless as has been proved every weekend when I have played football so I need to really improve on this with adding some running into my training. The 5K is going to involve plenty of inflatable obstacles too so it is going to require some different training than if I was just doing a standard 5K, I am going to be on and off obstacles rather than continuously running so I need to train for short bursts of running followed by strength on the obstacle which is mainly going to be for my legs and core for balance etc. At the moment I have a long way to go with leg strength and core strength so this training block is going to be crucial for me.

My online coach Emma has come up with a new training block for me in the lead up to the run and it is going to be a nice new challenge from the sessions I have been doing so far on my journey. I haven't run outside of football since back in my college days so it will be interesting how my body adapts to adding those into sessions too and how it will cope with a few extra sessions thrown in the mix every week up to the run date. I have gone from having one session a day max to some days being a run and a strength session, to some that might sound like a lot but honestly I am 100% ready for this I definitely need this mental challenge to get me back on track and hopefully get me seeing some progress all round once more as I seem to have hit a bit of a plateau lately and really need to pick up pace if I want to smash the goals I have set myself this year and do the best I can for this inflatable 5K. 

I know that between now and the date of the run I am going to need to be hitting every single one of my sessions to make the most impact and I am really determined to hit everything and finally get on top of my nutrition as I know if I do that I might drop some of the weight towards my target too so fingers crossed that goes to plan. I am going to hopefully manage my time a lot better too to make sure I don't miss a session and the laziness I have had lately is going to disappear as I want to become the best version of me rather than making up excuses like I have been doing a lot so far this year. It is time to own up to my actions and hold some accountability to myself to make the best progress possible. I am hoping this plan is going to help me when it comes to playing football too as the stronger legs will certainly be beneficial as will the increased fitness levels I am hopefully going to have gained during this new training block, the best part is that this will fill up pre-season training too, a time where fitness was always going to be a huge focus, this is just a good starting point for that break and a starting block for me to build upon.

The training is mainly for the inflatable 5K so I am 100% ready and not likely to pick up an injury however, I really do think this could be a starting point for me and I could see myself really start to enjoy running off the back of it and if that is the case I will be going ahead and trying to complete a standard 5K before possibly progressing to longer distances if it comes to it in the future so fingers crossed I do enjoy this original training period and run.

Overall I think that this new training block is really going to change things up for me and should help me get some motivation back and keep me really pushing for those goals for the year, I just need to sort the nutrition side out alongside this and I really should see the weight start to drop, my fitness increase and my strength finally increase too, all of which will be massively beneficial as I push on with some pretty big targets in sight. 

I am excited to see what sort of shape I am in by the 10th of June, the countdown really is on and I am ready to see that progress now lets get things moving in the right direction.