August 2018
- George the Monkey Visits the Studio
- Testimonial of the Month
- Easy Healthy Recipe of the Month: A Vegetarian BBQ
- Urban Rush Event
- Simple Ways to Add Interest to Your Workout
- And Finally… WEGO Health Awards
Hello healthy people,
It’s festival month and school holidays, so for many of us, time out of daily routines. Shaking up your routine and doing something different is essential for staying engaged and focused on long-term goals. Do the same ol’ routine and you’ll get the same ol’ results. If you’re looking long-term fitness, coming up with novel challenges can help keep you focused. And that is the theme of this month’s newsletter – shaking it up!
A novel experience for me last month was being interviewed by George the monkey for Yellow Banana TV. George came to the fitness studio and interviewed Coco and I on keeping fit, monkey-style – check out the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTlgCjsxLao
George the monkey provided August’s Testimonial of the Month:
“Had a really interesting chat with Tracy, and she gave me loads of useful pointers on eating good healthy food and doing regular exercise, and not to gorge on too many bananas!
Tracy is friendly and fun to be around, and helped motivate me during my workout in a really positive way; not pushing me too much beyond my limits, but enough to make a difference…”
Easy Healthy Recipe of the Month: A Vegetarian BBQ
You can BBQ a whole host of vegetables, it’s really simple:
– Corn on the cob
– Sliced potato, lightly oiled
– Onion rings, chopped chunky
– Sliced sweet potato, lightly oiled
– Cauliflower, cut head in half, then 1/8 size wedges, lightly oil and season with cumin
– Courgettes, thick slices lightly oiled
– Tomatoes, largish size, halved horizontally, with ground black pepper
– Peppers (capsicums), quartered and lightly oiled
– Mushrooms, largish size, 5 minutes stem side up, 5 minutes stem side down, finish 5 minutes stem side up with a dollop of pesto.
– Not a vegetable, but try sliced halloumi cheese…
– Also sliced fresh pineapple is delicious!
New Challenges are great goals, and a new-to-Edinburgh challenge is Urban Rush, a 15 mile event on Sunday 2 September, running along the coast from South Queensferry to Cramond, along cycle paths and up through the Old Town, finishing in Holyrood Park. It’s for Shelter Scotland, a (sadly) essential charity that tackles homelessness. 15 miles / 24 km is a bit of an odd distance, so it takes the pressure off getting a PB, and the route is very scenic. I’m helping out the event as a Brand Ambassador / Front Runner (although I’ll be running near the back, helping those who need a wee bit of motivation). I’m also leading the pre-race aerobic warm-up, which promises to be great fun. So, if you’re looking for a meaningful charity to run a wonderful route for, sign yourself up and do the Urban Rush with me next month.
Alongside fitness challenges, I believe it’s good to push yourself out of your comfort zone from time to time, which I guess is why last month I did stand-up comedy to write about it for The Leither magazine… Read the article here.
Simple Ways to Add Interest to Your Workout
– Reverse the route direction of your run / walk.
– Exercise to a new fitness playlist.
– Try a class you have never been to.
– Enter an interesting event.
– Get a friend involved.
– Swim a different stroke.
– Run / walk off-road or on a sandy beach.
– Add in some sprint intervals.
– Exercise with a dog…
And Finally… WEGO Health Awards
Thank you to whomever nominated me for the ‘Best in Show’ Twitter WEGO Health Award, I’m very flattered as I really enjoy tweeting interesting health-related news. You can vote for me here and also follow me on Twitter.
Have a happy and healthy August,
Tracy 🙂