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You’d be forgiven for thinking I completely fell off the fitness bandwagon in 2022, given the tumbleweeds blowing about this place. That couldn’t be further from the truth, given that I trained for and successfully completed London Marathon (not quite in the time I wanted, thanks to an injury, but that’s another post for another day). What actually happened was I fell off the blogging bandwagon… not for the first time. Anyway, now seems as good a time as any, so I’m jumping back in with some goals for 2023.

Getting back on the sober train

This isn’t a goal, so much as a means of completing my other goals. I know that my performance and energy levels are massively improved when I’m consistently sober, and if I want to make the most of my training this year it’s got to happen. I’m not too worried about it, having completed several sober stints previously.

Do a powerlifting competition

The big one! Having entered several competitions and failed to compete each time (cancellations due to covid, injury on my part) I am absolutely determined to finally make this the year I do it. I have my eyes set on the West Midlands summer comp in July, which gives me about 6 months to get my shit together. 2022 was very run-focused to make me marathon-fit (again), so it’s really just a case of getting my strength back up by lifting consistently, week in, week out.

Complete my run leader training

I started the Leadership in Running Fitness training earlier this year with a view to giving back to my local club having consistently run with them for circa 10 years. I completed the online modules, but need to submit some video exercises and its causing me major issues. Because I keep putting it off, it’s built up to be a huge issue in my head, and I’m overthinking myself in circles and getting nowhere. I need to take my friends up on their offers of help (if they can stop taking the piss long enough) and pull my finger out and get it done. This should help me with…

Keeping my running up

Although I have no long races planned for 2023, I absolutely don’t want to let my cardio fitness slip (more than it already has over a lazy Christmas). I’d like to be running 2-3 times a week, up to 10 miles max per run, to keep things ticking over from a stamina POV and help keep my heart in shape.

Get my weight back down

I’m usually loathe to set weight related goals for anything other than powerlifting competition classes, but the impact of drinking regularly on my body fat levels is undeniable and it’s impacting both my health (increased body weight tends to make my PMDD worse) and my ability to fit into half my clothes. I’m hoping that dipping back into sobriety will help my body fat percentage drop a little, giving me back my competitive advantage and saving me the cost of a new wardrobe! I don’t intend on tracking/dieting at this time, and therefore don’t have a specific number in mind, but will know when I’m back somewhere comfortable for me.

So there we have it… my fitness goals for 2023. Let’s see what this year brings!

Lead photo by Moritz Knöringer

This is the last post in a series I started after realising recently that my apathy and laziness was causing weight gain and a relapse of my more severe PMDD symptoms. You can read the rest of the posts here, from oldest to newest: Lockdown Weight Woes Lockdown Goals: Week 1 check in Lockdown Goals:… read full entry »

I first tried to take part in Juneathon in 2015, and managed to just about drag myself to day 7 before pitifully failing and never mentioning it again. (You can see how it went over on my other blog, but it’s not inspiring.) Of course, I’m a tad more active these days, so it seemed… read full entry »

For many, this time of year is the chance to have a break & enjoy the excesses of the season: booze, food and the like. Although I can see why this is tempting, it’s not my preferred way of getting through the Christmas holidays. Quite apart from the fact that all that food is a… read full entry »

I haven’t been feeling great this week. Nothing physical, it’s all in my head; although knowing that rarely makes it any easier. I’ve just ended a bad cycle (menstrual, not bike) and my mental health was in the toilet on Monday. I skipped the gym, I avoided responsibilities, I ate my weight in chocolate and… read full entry »

I have knackered my shoulder. I did it at pole last Wednesday, dropping too much into a move when I should have had my hand further up the pole. Rather than doing the sensible thing and resting it, I then proceeded to attempt to pull 100kg deadlifts again on Friday. Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t get it… read full entry »

“What?!” I hear you exclaim. “Of course you should exercise if you want to lose weight!” Bzzzt, wrong. Here are ten reasons why you shouldn’t exercise for weight loss (and what you should do instead): Exercising for weight loss turns it into a chore By choosing exercise purely as a means to reach a weight… read full entry »

Whether we like it or not, we all of us have an “identity”. It’s made up of things like gender, sexuality and social class, and is influenced by family, our peers, the media we consume and so on. We can portray our identity in different ways with the clothes we wear, the tattoos we choose… read full entry »

If you check out my workout logs on the regular, you may have seen the moan at the top of last week’s chest & triceps session: Today’s workout SUCKED BALLS. Everything felt too heavy, I couldn’t hit my usual amount of reps, bleargh. Period due in 5, 4, 3… Which, if you don’t have periods,… read full entry »

Hello, and welcome. If you’re reading this, you’re here at my brand new blog and latest project: StrongMum.com Wanting to share more of my fitness escapades but not wanting to bore the less-fit readers of my main personal blog, I decided to experiment. I created a basic layout and have been happily blogging to myself… read full entry »