I Train Like Emma Carstairs For A Year | January 2019

Has anybody else struggled to even start their New Year’s resolutions?

I did for sure. I even posted mine on the blog and then failed to start it until January 17th. 

I have hit some hurdles. The first being that the Krav Maga lessons that I had seen for women only had actually been stopped due to lack of interest. I'm looking for a new class if anyone knows anywhere in the Liverpool area; if not I have one lined up for when I move in August. 

So how has the challenge been since I started?

I took up running again. It's been hard getting up at 5am Monday, Wednesday and Friday but after each run, I'm cold but I am also feeling so light and ready for the day that I understand why so many characters that are athletic take it up as therapy. 

My friend Hannah and I took up the challenge to run a 5k in 9 weeks back in 2018, after hitting a snag where we discovered that Hannah didn't warm up or cool down; we took a month-long break. I want to put the emphasis here, if you go from not doing no exercise to quite high intensity, get a check-up from your doctor and please (PLEASE!) don't leave out the warm up or cool down. You will experience what Hannah did and that is pulling a muscle, which can lead to tearing the muscle - neither are ideal. Hannah didn't pull the muscle, but she was experiencing pain every time her foot hit the pavement and I put a halt on our running. It is vital to prepare your body!

We were using the NHS app for beginners for running. I had some background experience with running as I had attended dance lessons and Paul made us RUN! What the NHS app 'Couch to 5K' is, is a nine-week course to get you from running 10 seconds to 30 minutes in just nine weeks; you can take it as allow or as fast as you want, and you can be coached by the selection of narrators on the app. I chose Sarah Millican for this time as when I'm running my sarcastic commentary is full throttle. 

This is our running schedule;

- Monday, 6:30am: We run 5 kilometres around our nearest high street until 7:30 where if we have time we will go and grab a hot chocolate (the best of the selection I promise.) and if we don't Hannah will go home and shower and get ready for school.

- Wednesday, 6:30: is the same but the run intensifies each time and you are walking less and running more.

- Friday, 6:30: The last run of the week. Although I am enjoying the run, when I know I have a two-day break and I am more excited to sleep in than others care to know. Although the run is the toughest of that week, knowing it is my day off and can go back to bed is great. 

In terms of finding a Krav Maga class, the original one I had decided on stopped the classes on my day off and stopped the women’s only class as they got no interest! 

I'm still on the lookout but if you know of any in Liverpool for around £6-£8 a class email me those details!

Diet - the dreaded thing. 

I'm lucky with Emma as she eats just like any other teenager. Her diet, if she didn't have chef Julien, would consist of Pizza, Burgers, Ice cream and cookies every day until she was sick. 

What I don't so is make pancakes every morning; I have cereal or Weetabix instead. In regard to lunch and dinner I tend to have what I can get for cheap or relatively quickly. I work in a super market and so when I am there my breaks to eat are only 15 minutes, so I tend to grab and a coffee from the fridge and a chocolate bar. I know, so healthy. 

I have been going half and half with my diet. I do know that with my lactose intolerance (it's caused by something in my body - I've not always had it!) it is getting worse over time and so my tolerance of just having the lactose is getting harder to achieve. I am looking for alternatives in my food, and I'm looking at ways I can make my cooking of meals go so much farther! Macaroni and Cheese* anyone?

I've not seen a drastic difference in myself, I know mentally I am a lot more at ease but physically there is no change.

Have you done the challenge with me? If so, how is it going?

Lots of Love,

Jess

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A Challenge for 2019...

Hello all!

I have an apology to make, I didn't even come close to finishing Blogmas (orginally bookmas) due to poor preperations and spontenaity. Next year I promise to plan it at least 3 months in advance, set in my calendar and everything!

Now that we have swiftly moved on passed blogmas/bookmas 2019 is slowly approaching us.
Along with the new GoodReads reading challenge I plan on doing something I saw someone else do on YouTube.
In 2019 I plan on training like Emma Carstairs from The Dark Artifices series created by Cassandra Clare in 2012. As i said before I found a similar idea on youtube by the creator Sanna Vander with her video "I Trained Like A Victoria Secret Model For A Year" and the experiement intriegued me greatly.
I mean I am a book blog and so doing a challenge liek that couldn't be done under the category that my blog is posted so like I had planned to do during blogmas, I decided to choose a book character I am obsessed with and eat and tarin like they do. Of course this challenge sin't going to be easy, Emma is a shadowhunter and has runes that could never work on a human like myself so my stamina and strength is going to be less than Emma.
In terms of who Emma is, this drawing of her in 'An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters and Denizens of the Downworld' is a good representation (and you can imagine that Julien was the one to drew it too!);

"What I have is trying. I can try harder than anyone else in the world. I can make revenge the only thing I have in my life. I can do that, because I have to. But it means it's all I have"


There is elements of Emma that I may not be able to upkeep; read: she trains witha  short sword...
but I've also written a word doctument on the information that I found without all the faff.

Workout Routine

"She'd wondered how many miles she'd run 

She runs 5 miles every-day (lived in the institute since she was 12, Lady Midnight marks Emma as 17 – 4 years.

2009, 365 x 5= 1825

2010, 365 x 5= 1825

2011, 365 x 5= 1825

2012, 366 x 5= 1830

1825 x 3= 5475

5475+1830= 7350 miles)

"The sky above the ocean was streaked with the pink and rose of sunset. Emma slowed from a run to a jog, gasping, her heart pounding in her chest. Usually Emma trained in the afternoon and evening and ran in the early morning, but she’d woken up late after staying up nearly all night with Christina."

Emma also trains for three hours in the afternoon doing Hand to Hand combat (on glass! No thank-you.) and learning free running (jumping and landing from high distances)

In the evening it is unsure how long she spends doing this but it is assumed that she spends her evening practising with a short sword (Cortana).

“She wondered how many miles she’d run up and down this stretch of beach in the years she’s lived in the institute. Five miles a day, everyday. And that was after three hours at least in the training room. Half the scars Emma had on her body she’s put there herself, teaching herself to fall from the highest rafters, training herself to fight through pain by practicing barefoot – on broken glass.” 

Appearance

Emma is often seen as beautiful and extremely attractive. She has brown eyes, long, pale blond hair, wide cheekbones, a pointed chin, and pale skin. As an effect of working extraordinarily hard at her training, her body is strong, tough, and scarred. She has a deep scar up her right arm, which she got when she was young for hugging her sword Cortana.

§  Emma is left-handed.

§  Emma hates video games.

§  Emma does not like coffee, but she likes the feeling of holding a hot mug.

§  Emma has a trunk full of her parents' belongings, including the suit her father wore to his wedding.

§  Emma's middle name, Cordelia, is shared with her own mother's and that of a distant Carstairs ancestor, Cordelia Carstairs.

§  Emma was meant to have dark blue eyes before it changed to brown.

Cortana

• Cortana is a short-sword that has been passed down through the Carstairs family for many centuries. “I am Cortana. The same steel and temper as joyeuse and Durendal” – Enscribed on the sword.

What I may be able to do

•         Running. I am already training to complete a 5K by the end of January so the running is something I can do.

-       Krav Maga! There is a women’s only class in Liverpool on my Internships day off at only £6 a class. Pretty accessible and I’m already looking at alternatives for when I move to London in September!

What may not happen

•          Short Sword training. From my research a lot of people say to truly gain the skills and knowledge you need to find a teacher (although in Krav Maga they can move your training to have a weapon so it’s a maybe). Just making a Cortana out of wood and bashing it around with some choreography is apparently frowned upon… If you have any tips or know of a way to learn that’s not expensive hit me up!

UPDATE: I found a few places that teach long sword fighting and a place in London that teaches Sword and Buckler (it’s a single hand sword fighting!). £15 a session and I’m only planning on doing one or two sessions a month.

Everything I’ve put a note down on in London is going to be metaphorical due to not knowing my University timetable.

In terms of diet, here is my list of ‘restrictions’;

•        Lactose (lots of lactose free variety though!)
•        I don’t eat meat due to the environment, but I do eat mostly veg with Quorn every now and then.
•        I want to try and lower and sugar intake that has risen since giving up caffeine and Emma doesn’t like Coffee but likes holding onto a warm cup!

So in terms of how this year is going to work, I'm unsure. What I do know is that the #ITrainedLikeEmmaCarstairsForAYear is going to be a common tag on here!
I will be doing videos along side these posts that show me as I am recording them whereas writing means I have to process my thoughts, each video will be posted below the blog post.

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