Race For Life Target looks achievable...

Body Combat on Wed
4 tracks from the new routine, all the rest from the old. There’s a tricky bit that includes a jump sidekick and a flying forwards kick….

Gym Friday
Very pleased with myself as I did 5.01km in 30 minutes – phase 2 of achieving the 5K Race for Life in sub 30 minutes. Phase 3 will be to work further on speed and to add some incline into my treadmill work. I also need to ensure that I do at least 1 full speed 5K run per week – hoping that with the clocks going forward, I may be able to start doing more off road routes… Thanks to some very generous sponsors, my fundraising target is also looking achievable - as you can see from the ad on the right.

Swim Saturday
It’s a bit cheeky including this here as it was only 11 lengths – and that was only because our shower was out of action and we felt weird about going to the gym just to use theirs!

Bike Ride Sunday
Route from the house with Husband, C, M&A, S&X and J. C has her own SNB (shiny new bike) although it looked even better christened with a little mud!

14.3 mile route I cobbled together from Tracklog OS maps, going up through Owslebury and then over to Twyford Down. Water Lane is normally an entertaining climb – lots of tree roots – but will be avoiding it for a while as horse hooves have made it an un-rideable quagmire in places.

J headed back earlier – she was on Husband’s old bike and the seatpost was too high for off road for her. Loved it over Twyford Down – interesting tracks and good views. Good to see Husband back up to speed – and very good to see A up front! M did help with back markering – but I’ve warned Husband that he needs to take more turns with me when it’s a large-ish group.

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.

Catch up time....

Tuesday: Gym
Wednesday: Body Combat
Friday: Swimming - but curtailed by knee playing up.
Saturday: Gardening all day then a run from the house - just under 3 miles.
Sunday: 14 mile bike ride with Husband & C&M. We did the New Forest/Brockenhurst route that M&A introduced to us - perfect weather and I trialled my new skirt & tights combo! Not sure that I'm pushing myself enough atm - Husband's clothes were dripping in sweat afterwards (I noticed coz I loaded them into the washing machine) whereas mine were just minorly smelly.

Tonight, I met with A for our powerwalk/jog combo. Particularly good tonight as we had a sumi-e japanese art session later on - and she fed me! I trialled a new gadget Garmin's Forerunner 305 - a combined heart rate monitor & GPS thing that looks like a large sports watch. Still playing with the settings & getting used to it, but I think it's going to help me push myself more when exercising as opposed to comfortably bimbling along (my forte!).

Work's been active too - I spent 4 days in the warehouse heaving boxes around to stocktake. Been feeling very washed out in the evenings - can't decide if it's the box heaving or a mild bug. Or maybe I'm developing SAD problems!

Husband is complaining about me not buying clothes then him only finding out through reading my blog - I'm sure I can do something to rectify this lamentable state of affairs......

Summary of week's exercise

Swimming on Thursday - I was fine but Husband had to give up early due to cramp.
Gym last night - cross training & another pleasing interval session on the treadmill.
Today, I've done some gardening & lots of tidying which should count for something.....

I have been doing stuff honest!

For some reason, I've not been feeling much like blogging this week - feeling a bit drained due to work & some other stuff - but not too drained to exercise which is much more important than writing about it!

Tuesday: Very pleasant walk with A - the dark streets of our Victorian railway town (the last one to be built apparently) made enjoyable by a good natter. We kept up a reasonable pace & kept going for an hour. We discussed possible goals - doing the Race for Life in less than 30 mmins is the current favourite.

Wednesday: Body Combat - yay! Current routine includes some wonderfully tacky music - I'm sure Kurt Cobain would rolling around in his grave if he heard the version of smells like teen spirit. And there was a skate punk bit!

Thursday: Swimming with Husband. My shoulders were a bit achey after BC on Wed, but I think it was good to move the muscles around.

Water water everywhere....and cross trainers

Gym on Friday evening (guess what - more cross trainer!) & then went swimming on Saturday at the gym and again on Sunday at a spa. Spa day would have been great but C was very unwell - kind of defeated the objective of a nice relaxing day for her - poor thing.
Tonight we went to the gym again - yet more cross trainer - my excuse being that my chest is a little sore after boogying on Saturday night (not blogging the details!) so impact is a bad idea atm.

Beach & Spa

Not a hugely energetic weekend in terms of exercise - but a very enjoyable one.
Went to the beach on Saturday for barbecue and boules. I did swim in the Solent but I don't think that really counts as exercise as I was only actually swimming for about 10 mins tops! Husband & I agreed it was one of the best evenings we'd had for a while - great company, beautiful setting.

On Sunday, I had a day at the spa - and swam for 40 mins. The fitness pool at Nirvana is lovely - rarely more than 3 people in it and immaculate.

Last week, did 1313 calories worth of exercise - 500 down on previous week. Should focus on squeezing some more in this week, but it's going to be a busy one for me, so we'll see!