Jen Rutherford shares some Christmas fitness training tips for those planning on taking part in the 2013 Great Adventure Race to Cure Kids.

So you think maybe you will get fit next year and enter the Great Adventure Race to Cure Kids? But you are not sure about this whole fitness thing and how to start training?

Oh and it is Christmas party season, and busy and who has time for that training anyway – I can hear you putting it off til the New Year already.

Well here are some tips to make things easier when you start seriously next year :

Go Shopping - it is the Christmas shopping season so get in the spirit and buy yourself a present: Invest in a decent pair of trail running shoes, get fitted properly, wear them in as per the instructions and make sure you look after your feet – they will carry you a long way!

Christmas Parties – commit to a 30 min exercise window before the event – it won’t matter if you are 30 mins late to the party, so put your exercise gear in the car and go for a walk/jog/find a set of stairs to climb up 10 times, then shower and go the party.

You will also drink less as two drinks after exercising are way more effective ;-) oops that might not be 'pc'. Dance wherever possible at all parties (ok maybe not during the MD's speech) – the exercise is all the more fun.

And don’t eat the party food – have sushi at 4pm beforehand, (not KFC at 11pm on the way home from the party!)

Family time – some people find it hard to fit in training/exercise around kids. Here are a few of my ideas:

Saturday sport – drop off the kids, give them a pep talk, watch their first 10 mins, then head off for a short bit of exercise – walking will do if you are just starting out.

Or if you can’t bear to miss a single over of kids cricket, walk around the ground so you can still see – 10 times around the ground at a suitable distance so you don’t look like a stalker!

Take the young kids to the park, with a ball, and run around with them – you will be knackered in no time! Take them with a rugby ball to a rugby post, and while they all try to get the ball over the post, run around the rugby field – one minute running then one minute walking, do that 5-6 times and you are done

When at home doing quality family activities like yelling at them to do their homework, clean their rooms etc, instead of pouring a glass of wine and tasting the dinner, put some shorts on – do 100 squats, 100 lunges, 'some' press-ups (on the knees will do), and some tricep dips – seriously it will take 15 minutes and you might even get the kids to join you (after their homework of course)

When the kids are bored this weekend take them out to a hill where they can roll down it on the grass. While they are larking about making themselves dizzy, try sprinting up the hill (20-30 seconds ), then recover, walk down, do it again – see how many times you can do it – five sprints? (And 'sprint' can be whatever that means to you even if it is just a change of facial expression.)