Hey guys!

So if you keep up with everything over here on A Little Bit Of Laura, you'll know that I am quite into my fitness and sports. Recently I wrote a post about what I've been doing to stay fit and get in shape and my plans for hopefully running the marathon in the next couple of years. Well, this has now increased to doing the marathon, a half marathon, a tough mudder, and half tough mudder and a rough runner. WOW that's a lot, obviously I won't be able to do all of this within the same year, not necessarily because of fitness but because it will depend on where I will be working and days off etc etc. However I am super keen to achieve all of these, because how amazing would it be to be able to say that you've done all of these?! I will be doing some of them with my friends which of course will make it all more fun, and of course I hope to be able to raise money for charity whilst doing so, but I'll talk more about that all when the time comes.

Anyway, ramble ramble ramble, sorry. Today I wanted to talk to you all about Parkrun. Some of you may already know what Parkrun is, some of you may already do it. But for those of you who don't, I thought I'd just tell you about it. Just to clarify, I am writing about this out of my own choice and from my own experiences because I feel it needs some recognition.

So Parkrun is a volunteer run 5K run/jog/walk/skip/whateveryoulike event that takes place at 9am on a Saturday, every Saturday. What is great about Parkrun is that it takes place all over the country. If you go on their website here you can search for your nearest home race. It's completely free which is great and also gives you the opportunity to get involved and volunteer. The volunteers who run this are fab because they give up their Saturday lie ins just to support and set up for everyone who wants to run. Now I've only taken part in 6 Parkruns so far, but I am already seeing myself improve. I've managed to get my time down by about 4 minutes, which is pretty good, and that's just from 6 runs. I feel really good afterwards and living in such a scenic place such as Portsmouth certainly helps! It's just really fun, really friendly, and really healthy, so I would highly recommend doing it. What have you got to lose? It's free and you get fit!!


The second thing I wanted to talk about is my recent love of power yoga. Power yoga is basically yoga but you move through each pose quicker than normal, so holding for perhaps 5 breaths and then changing to a new pose. I really love this because it means I can work on more poses and I don't get quite so achy from holding an uncomfortable pose for too long. Personally I find it helps me more and because you are moving faster, it becomes more of a workout. It's done by loads of athletes, runners, cyclists, sports team etc etc. So, I thought this would be the best kind of workout for me, because I am trying to regain my fitness and athletic levels to be able to achieve. I've found Sean Vigue's book very useful, which I discovered through amazon and was really easy to find. It's a great book and explains everything really well so a massive thumbs up to it.


Today I was trying to learn the Crow pose which was proving difficult and I must say, if you attempt it, make sure you have lots of protection such as mats, cushions and perhaps a pal spotting you to begin with. I landed on my head. A lot. So please be careful!
After doing yoga and power yoga I just feel really relaxed and calm and sleepy but not tired (That probably makes no sense). I know it sounds weird but it does make me feel stronger and more positive about life and especially about my body. Gotta love what God gave us!

Anyway, this has just been another fitness update. To fill you in, if you haven't already guessed from this post and if you follow me on instagram, my workouts are going really well and my motivation is still so high and I have a lot of energy which is the perfect time to get fit. I hope you are all taking advantage of this good weather by getting out and enjoying the sunshine. Whether it be for a run, a walk,  a BBQ or beer in the garden, make the most of it and life and be free. And smile!

Peace out