2018 – The Year of Fitness

Well it’s been one hell of a year for me!

I know I haven’t brought you as many personalised blog posts this year, and that’s honestly down to me and my very busy schedule, as I try to ration my time between work and trying to become as fit as possible. 

I’ve kept the blog as busy as I can in my absence with guest posts from fitness and nutrition experts, and I know from the feedback you’ve given me, they’ve been well-received! 

This year of fitness started on the 7th day as I completed my first ever half marathon, on a cold, wet morning on the Wirral. Despite it being my first one, it remains my absolute favourite. Running through the woods along the Wirral Way, to the beautiful coastline looking across into Wales. 

It was a run that I’d prepared for right through the Winter, in some very difficult conditions, and despite questioning whether it was worth it numerous times during training, I’m so glad I pursued and got to that finish line. Those that race will know how satisfying that feeling really is!

Since then I completed two further half marathons, one of which was the Liverpool Half Marathon that came 10 days after spending 4 nights in hospital due to food poisoning. How I knocked 9 minutes off my first time I’ll never know! 

My third and final half marathon in 2018 came on the official Wirral Half Marathon. Training was tough as I was plagued with injuries and just couldn’t gain enough momentum to compete with my PB. In the end I was just made up to finish in one piece! 

I’m currently in the process of setting my goals for 2019, as I do every year.

I need to ask myself what I want to achieve. How I can make the year a positive one and create that pride I’ve felt in 2018.

People say to me ‘when are you going to go for the full marathon?’

I reply with an honest ‘I don’t know’ – and I really don’t. 

I think the half marathon training often takes it’s toll on my legs, my knees in particular, and I have to ask myself ‘is it really worth it?’ because I don’t know what damage I might be doing in the long term. To go from that to a full marathon, I have my doubts.

My collaborators and partners support me with products that I’ve incorporated into my fitness lifestyle and they make my training so much better in so many ways. 

Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to Fuel10K. I’ve been working with them well over a year now and am continuously proud to be doing so. Their range of nutritional products and ideas are inspirational and they put the health of their customers at the forefront of their work. 

I love their peanut butters, their wheat biscuits, their cookies – basically everything! 

Going into 2019 I’ll be bringing through new recipes, many of which will incorporate their ingredients due to the low-sugar/excellent taste split, so stay tuned for that!

I also have to thank Fitbit for providing me with a brand new Fitbit Ionic smartwatch. 

Every gym session, every run, every race and even most days at work it accompanies me. It’s without a doubt the best smartwatch I’ve ever worn and I’m continuing to find so many additional uses for it.

It’s never failed me whilst exercising and I love incorporating it with the Fitbit app and seeing more detailed stats about my running, particularly my heart rate and how hard I’m working during a race. 

I hope in 2019 I can get myself down to London and finally become part of the Fitbit Running Team. 

I also have to say a huge thank you to my absolute favourite nutritional supplement partner, Herbalife. They continue to bring out new products that satisfy people all over the world with their fitness and health journeys. 

Their PRO 20 Vanilla protein formula is my go-to post-workout supplement. It tastes great, it’s low in sugar, it’s high in protein and it contains many additional vitamins and minerals to help my body grow and develop! 

My final thank you is a major one and that goes to Aaptiv.

Ever since I discovered them through a Facebook Ad on how to make running and treadmill training more exciting, I wanted to work with them. Once I approached them I was so grateful they wanted to do the same with me. 

They’ve significantly made my treadmill workouts more entertaining with their music/training experts talking you through different levels of workout. 

I now don’t go on the treadmill without tuning in to one of these workouts, which are available to all levels and allow you to mix up your training without doing the same intervals/inclines every time. 

To me there’s no app as good as Aaptiv when it comes to running motivation and I look forward to continuing to work with them in 2019. 

So that’s about it for my 2018 thank you’s! 

In terms of what you can expect from me for 2019, there’s going to be many more new recipes that are healthy, easy and, most importantly, delicious for you to try out and incorporate into your own healthy lifestyles! 

I’ll also be bringing you new product reviews with full testing so that you can make a more rounded judgement on whether you’d like them too. 

Thank you for your continued support, you’re what make this blog so great! 

Adam Warren