Week 4 of Skating Lessons

We did one leg gliding, slaloms and chassis last night. The only way I could do the latter was to keep on saying (out loud of course!) "Push, Together, Lift".
G was a natural at the slaloms - and no falling over this week.
Getting sorely tempted to buy skates - everybody seemed to have nice shiny new ones last night from the hire place except me...

Dirty Weekend

Literally. Took Husband away for a muddy weekend to celebrate his birthday:

Centre Parcs on Saturday – included a mud skin thingy for us both – covered each other in the stuff & were then steamed. Spent the afternoon cycling a whole 2.5 miles around the site & in the swimming area playing in the rapids & on the chutes – great fun! It did bring it home to me how much more confident I am in the water compared to a few years ago. Husband loved this bit! I’m sure he was something aquatic in a former life (fur seal or sea otter perhaps).
Back to the spa to use the Turkish steam room, Balinese steam room, Indian steam room, Japanese salt bath (actually, it’s another steam room) and Greek herb bath (still steamy).
It’s good value for a spa thingy – about the same for the 2 of us as it would be for one of us as a one off at Nirvana. Food and drinks were fine – fab carrot cake! However, it was much more crowded and Husband was pining for the Ocean room at Nirvana as the equivalent at Centre Parcs was a bit rubbish – although it was good being able to lie on my back looking up at the moon in the evening!

Spent Saturday night in a hotel about 15 miles from Longleat – lovely room with the rare distinction of having a bed as comfortable as our bed at home.

Sunday – Biking, trying out one from our new Rough Rides book. 15 miles of hard work – total ascent was double what we’ve done recently in the New Forest and progress was slow. Mud levels in places meant that wheels wouldn’t purchase when going up hill and ground us to a halt even on the flat! It was demanding enough for me not to feel guilty about having eggs & bacon for breakfast. Ride was well put together though with a minimum level of tarmac and very varied – woodland, chalk upland, some single track. It was useful to remind ourselves what non-New Forest riding is like – not so fast & requiring more brain work.

Gym on Friday

20 mins on the X trainer & 20 mins interval jogging:

0-2 8.5kph
2-4 10kph
4-6 8.5kph
6-8 10kph
8-10 8.5kph
10-12 10.5kph
12-14 9.0kph
14-16 11kph
16-18 9.0kph
18-19 11kph
19-20 12kph

Did 3 weights machines – hampered a little on the shoulder press by my hand hurting (still!).
I’m conscious that as I’ve temporarily swapped 1 gym session per week for skating, I’m only doing 1 stint of weights which is a bit low. I think I need to make more of an effort when I do go to gym to do weights properly – and perhaps to build in a second visit that’s virtually no CV but more about weights….

My Littlest Sister D

I'm going to write some more focussed blog postings as I'd like to talk about people who've inspired me to become more active. Starting off with:

My Littlest Sister D
D is 6 years younger than me & is Mum to 2 young children, my fabulous niece A and nephew J. She juggles some especially demanding childcare challenges with a new role working as a youth worker, supporting her husband S with the family business and giving over time to her friends and her faith. She has an amazingly "now" approach to life that I love. A few months ago, she discovered the Bad Mothers Club & started a brilliant blog charting her progress in getting into a beautiful dress for our Middle Sister's wedding - which she achieved with aplomb.
D's blog made me realise that blogging could work for me in terms of tracking progress.
That she was able to find the time and energy to fit exercise into her routine made me realise that my excuses were miniscule by comparison!
D's always acted quickly on her ideas which seems to make them more likely to happen - something I've tried to learn from. I also love the way that she throws enthusiasm into everything - even bad days on her blog are written up with her distinctive sense of humour - much use of boooooo and rah.

Body Combat

Push Up aspirations were inhibited by my wrist being randomly painful at exactly the wrong time last night! No idea why - maybe it's expressing sympathy for G's hand that got bashed on Monday.
Still, it was a good routine - even the flying kicks bit that I've found tricky because it doesn't seem to fit with the music went well (Rock Me Amadeus).
I downloaded the Warp Brothers mix of Smells Like Teen Spirit last night to add to ipod exercise mixes!

Yay us!

Jogging with A tonight:

• This week: 46:35
• 2 weeks ago: 48:57
• 3 weeks ago: 47:39

We took a different approach tonight - lots of shorter jogs as opposed to 2 big jogs - motivated by the cold weather (it actually feels like January today!), but given these times, I'd say it was an experiment worthy of repeating.

Old Winchester Hill

Saw Mum & Dad on Sunday in between the end of their first cruise as staff & their return flight to Newcastle. Went up the Spinnaker Tower - which doesn't count as exercise apart from some steps to get to the Crows Nest.


On the way back to the house, we detoured North & had a very pleasant wander on Old Winchester Hill - unresolved debate about what breed the sheep up there are! Mum & Dad walked the South Downs Way a couple of years ago and I know that they've also been to the hill with us before, but they still seemed to enjoy the views.




Skating tonight - I thought G had damaged her hand badly at one point - she fell really hard on it. She recovered her composure so well - most impressive! We did (more) sculling, gliding on one leg (easy!) and jumping (less easy). Tried to convince the instructor that we were rabbits on ice but she seemed to prefer a frog metaphor - no accounting for taste.

It is Husband's birthday today. He very generously insisted that I go skating tonight - don't think I would have been so understanding if roles were reversed! Very grateful as I was keen not to miss a lesson.

Currently making marmalade - lots of stirring but even I would struggle to justify calculating calories expended! Seems to be taking ages to get to setting point - don't think I have the patience to become a true domestic goddess.

Not quite to plan...

Cycled 20km today - and walked 3.1km - what my Forerunner describes as a "multisport" session.
Husband came cycling with us today - yay! We did the Portuguese Fireplace loop again.
He had a slow start, but after 6miles or so, his lungs started behaving & his speed wasn't bad at all.
But he had a puncture - boo!
Took ages to sort out - gave up in the end & got through way too many inner tubes - couldn't work out what the problem was. Thought it might have been the pumps (even though we tried 3!) so Husband applied our ultra reliable footpump when we got home - and also failed to inflate tyre. So it looks as if there is a problem with the wheel & that we really have destroyed about 4 inner tubes!

Fastest 5K so far - but I felt it!

33:13 last night to do my usual Friday night jog! It was drizzling a little - but not enough to cause me concern about ipod getting wet.
I had a new soundtrack which made things more interesting - I included many guilty pleasures - stuff that I've heard at the gym that falls into categories I don't normally like much but due to over exposure, they seem to be in my head!
These include:

• Nelly Furtado - Maneater
• Madonna - Hung Up
• Horny as a Dandy
• Chistina Aguilera - Ain't no other man

I think I'm going to put together 34 minute playlists for jogging..... music makes a huge difference to my boredom levels.

One Day I Will Do a Push Up.....

But not today! Tried tonight but I still don't have the strength in my arms....

3 days, 3 different activities

Cycling on Sunday - 15 miles in the Forest with SF and M. I was pleased with my speed - kept up with the boys OK - but I was a real chicken with some steepish downhill bits. Both SF and M fell of - SF heroically following a v.impressive run down a slope & M because he was attempting to unwrap a chocolate bar without stopping! Both OK. Puncture again - grateful to M for sorting it out for me so slickly.
No beautiful sunset to show here though coz my camera's battery was flat & my mobile phone's camera button has stopped working. Not sure I can be bothered to sort that out as I intend to change provider in April. It was a gorgeous day and a fab sunset - take my word for it!

Skating yesterday - G was really good at sculling & was invaluable in helping me to get the hang of it. She looks so cool when skating around - makes it look easy. Sculling was hard work for my inner thighs - no bad thing. I'm fighting the urge to buy skates as my hire pair were truly rubbish... we both ditched jeans in favour of leggings (I wore thermal running tights) which made it more comfortable.

Gym tonight - just some X trainer & interval running:
0-2 mins 8kph, 2-4 mins 10kph, 4-6 8.5kph, 6-8 10kph, 8-10 8.5kph, 10-12 10kph, 12-14 8.5kph, 14-16 10.5kph, 16-18 8.5kph, 18-19 10.5kph, 19-20 12kph.
Fascinating huh?

26 seconds to tie my shoelace?

Slower on Friday for my 5K jog - 34:30. Just looked at the forerunner data to work out where I was slow - and it looks as if tying my shoelace made all the difference! However, I'm convinced that my time wasn't helped by not squeezing in a gym sesh this week - will have to see what I can do this week.

Kill Bill in Paradise City

Most surreal moment in Body Combat tonight was being asked to imagine wielding a sword, as if we were starring in Kill Bill, to Guns & Roses' "Paradise City". I like this class!

We did the difficult bit....

... which was getting going on our jog/walk - windy night & A wasn't feeling too good.
So it's pretty impressive that we were only 90 seconds or so off last week's session - when we were both on good form.
Good chat, thoroughly enjoyable.

Return of the Sk8r Grls

Started a 6 week ice skating course in Gosport tonight - organised by G. We did penguin impressions, dipping and stopping - helped massively to get our confidence levels up. The instructor was hampered by a very sore sounding throat & not much voice, but she was still good at explaining what we were to do & helping us improve.
Then we spent half an hour whizzing around (comparatively!) - good chance to practise.
Definitely fun, definitely different, definitely looking forward to next week's lesson already!

Missing Husband

Bike ride in the forest today - good fun but would have been even better with Husband who is still very under the weather.

24.4 km route went up to 28.32 as we missed a turning. Classic forest scenery, going along the fast, well drained tracks that make the forest so good at this time of year. 2 fords - one huge one that everyone bar me cycled through and a more modest, faster flowing one that even I mustered the courage to go through! Went with C&M and M&A - should have been SF too but he was late & I had no mobile reception. He did his own thing then met us afterwards for black coffee that A was organised enough to bring!

New specs worked great - I now have peripheral vision....

Fastest Ever 5K. Again.

34:04 last night. That's better than last time & a few seconds towards my target...
The Forerunner is coming into its own - it's so useful being able to track speed/distance - for example, I know that excluding the mad/uncontrolled dash at the end, my first lap was the fastest so I now need to focus on either starting slower so I've got more to give later on or focus on pushing myself later to run at the same pace that I start with.
My heartrate was high - which I'm putting down to still feeling a little under the weather.
New ipod armband worked well.

And then I walked to the pub - just 25 mins but its all good stuff.

I think Husband has flu - can't believe he's had such lousy health over the last month.

Food

Had a very satisfactory meal last night - huge portion of mashed celeriac (made with a load of coarse grain mustard, bit of half-fat creme fraiche & titchy bit of butter) with griddled venison steaks. I love it when I have a big plate of food that I struggle to finish - and still know that I am not eating oodles of calories.... I must remember venison as a healthy, tasty steak alternative next time I'm shopping.
Husband is unwell - his 3 week cold has now morphed into a nasty bacterial chest infection, complete with fever. He can't go outside for a few days and can't exercise for a week or so - poor thing! Very grateful that this didn't happen to me as I'm not sure I could cope with the no exercise bit.

Gym

Nope, can't make this sound interesting! Same routine as Monday with the addition of leg press & rowing weights machines. Even TV was dull!
At least I made it off the sofa.....

The Walk/Jog is getting more Jog/Walk

Out with A tonight - feeling pleased coz we took just 47:39 to do the 5.66km route compared to 53:28 last time - jogging faster and for longer. Average speed was 7.1kph compared to 6.3kph last time. A's improving so well!
Got some homework to do though - A's providing some much-needed support in my image rethink project... trying to think who my style icons are as a starter.

Cliche - New Year = Back on the Big D

After a couple of weeks of (most enjoyable) over indulgence, back on the Big D today. Logging all food & booze onto WLR again along with my exercise calories.

Went for a very wet walk with Husband yesterday at Mudeford - lots of Ringed Plovers, Oystercatchers - and very dedicated windsurfers. After a drunken New Year's party at B&J's, walked up the hill rather than waiting for a taxi. About 90 mins walking in total.

Gym today - still feel that my cold is holding me back. 20 mins x trainer, 20 mins interval jogging (8 & 10 kph, 2 min intervals, pushed up to 8.5 & 11 for the last 4 mins). Husband swam - really chuffed as his cold has been so nasty & long lasting - said he found it hard, but I think he's pleased that he managed it.

So, the new year resolutions are to keep up the big D, run 5k in 30 mins and to ensure that I have fun achieving my objectives through doing loads of what I know I enjoy (e.g. mountain biking) and through trying new stuff like skating.