Size 14

Skating last night - really enjoyed the lesson as we ended up with more 1-1 time than usual with the instructor. We tried switching from forwards to backwards - with mixed success but were assured that we were "progressing"! Then worked on trying to speed up our backwards sculling so that we get enough momentum to finish in a glide.... definitely work in progress...

Anyhow, bought a wide denim belt today masquerading as a skirt from Next - size 14 and it fits! Need to consult with Husband to check that it suits me as we don't have a full length mirror in the house - but it fits. And it's size 14.

Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14 Size 14

Did I mention that IT FITS AND IT'S SIZE 14?!

ps Husband has seen the wide belt & it has passed.

The Chain

Body Combat on Wed - acquitted myself better than usual on the push ups - but they are still hard work!

Then went to the gym on Thursday whilst husband swam. Did my usual CV - with the 20 mins on the treadmill at target average of 10kph - but had enough time to hit 3 weights machines.



Saturday - I had a lovely day at Nirvana Spa which I kicked off with my first visit to their gym - enjoyed listening to my newly purchased Mika album.



15 mile bike ride today with Husband and M - M's fave New Forest route which starts from (but doesn't actually go into) Markham Woods. I walked down 1 scary slope - but that's 2 less than last time! No falls, no punctures, but Husband managed to destroy his chain - already placed the order for new one from Wiggle. He did consider stainless steel to enhance the SNB's shininess but has gone for the 9 gear equiv of mine.
Overcast day, not too cold. Saw a herd of deer hurtling towards the track. They did an impressive switchback when they realised that there was a small child on a bike on the track (v.scary, obviously!).

I enjoyed the ride particularly as we went in the morning for a change - definitely quieter & it makes better use of the day as when we go in the afternoon, we tend to have a lazy morning. I missed A - especially at the end as she is the only one of us organised enough to bring a flask of coffee!

Level 3 Ice Skating

We passed!

Level 1 was standing up from a sitting position, basic skating forwards, gliding and dipping, stepping around on the spot.

Level 2 was moving backwards, half snow plough stop, forward skating and 2 foot glide on a curve.

Level 3 was a forward one foot glide in a straight line, 2 foot jump skating forward, forward and backward sculling and one foot glide on a curve - inside edge.

G and I will now be buying ourselves skates as a reward!

Roll on level 4.....

Another Muddy Sunday

Very pleased with myself on Friday at the gym - I averaged 10kph for 20 minutes. This is a significant step towards achieving my goal of doing the 5K Race for life in 30 minutes (I hope!). Just need to work up the time now to 30 mins - which is definitely achievable as I didn't feel too tired after this session.


Just as important, Husband swam - his knee is still not 100% perfect, but it was brilliant that he managed to swim his 50 lengths.


On Sunday, did the HCC Farley Mount route with Husband and M. It's normally a reasonable ride - not too difficult - but not today! Ended up carrying my bike down the Clarendon Way section - the mud was clagging up the wheels so much that they wouldn't turn. And just 10 feet after scraping the mud off to free the wheel, it clagged up again! Deep joy. I had a bramble scratch my forehead so had an arty trickle of blood down my face towards the end! Husband's knee was playing up - he is loads faster than he was.


Gorgeous snowdrops on banks everywhere. And I can't beleive that it didn't rain on us given that it had been raining on and off all weekend.

On a completely unrelated topic, I was really chuffed when one of Husband's work acquaintances who we bumped into at the gym on Friday told me how impressed with his apparent loss of weight. He's actually lost fat though rather than weight - and is gaining loads of muscle - definitely a good thing!

Ireland, Skating, Gym

Jogging on Friday - which demonstrated that rest days are important as I took about 1 minute longer to complete the route than last time!

Fabulous weekend in Northern Ireland - courtesy of C & R's engagement party. Spent Saturday walking around the 60 acres that comprise the Ulster Folk Museum - lots of buildings form all over Ireland from churches to teeny tiny cottages that apparently accomodated families with 7 kids.

Boogying on Saturday night at the party - the highlight was Husband whisking me around to Mack the Knife.

More walking on Sunday - we went up to see Giant's Causeway. The coast was beautiful and it stayed dry! Also went to Bushmills (discovered that I do like whiskey despite hating scotch) and to Dunluce castle. Husband was suffering though - he had pain in his ankles and knees by the end of the afternoon.

Flew back on Monday. Skating with G - our last session before next week's test. A couldn't make jogging last night so I spent the evening cooking soup. Missed Body Combat tonight as I had a dentist appointment - dragged myself down the gym (seriously lacking motivation!).

Gym & Food

Gym tonight - Husband was to swim but Esporta decided to shut the pool - as he didn't have his gym kit, he heroically hit the supermarket whilst I exercised. We are getting less and less impressed as time goes on - for example, it's over a month since they promised to contact us to discuss our membership fees (we are being overcharged atm). The only thing keeping us from changing to David Lloyd is the Body Combat instructor and unpredictable congestion...
10 mins on X Trainer, 20 mins interval jogging and then some weights - lat pulldown and the leg press.

Watched Truth about Food on BBC2 tonight which was all about dieting. Some interesting stuff about soup and dairy. Soup fills you up for longer (apparently) than if you were to eat its ingredients in soid form washed down with water - all down to how your stomach processes water. Dairy - there's some indication that calcium may cause more fat to be egested. Rest of the programme covered food diary (tick), portion control (tick) and protein filling you up (tick).

Less Chocolate

Jogging with A on Tuesday - same time as our last outing which was good. The shorter run intervals definitely seem to deliver better times than just 2 long-ish runs.

Body Combat last night - I managed some of the push up exercises but still don't feel I've mastered them!

Weighed myself this morning - not somethig I do often - and I was 5kg lighter than at beginning of November - not bad considering that Christmas happened during the gap! Trouble is, this means that my calorie allowance goes down - by 2 chunks of chocolate a day. How will I cope??

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.

Rain. Lots of Rain.

14 mile ride in the New Forest yesterday - started from one of my favourite places, Fritham. There was a point where I was sorely tempted to turn back to the car - cycling on an exposed road, into a head wind with hard, driving rain. But it did get better - some great light as the sun finally got a break from the clouds. Went with A&M - and MS made a rare appearance! Lost th boys coz they were tempted by a muddy bridleway. A & I got back to the cars just before 4 - to get a call from MS declaring himself lost. Hung around & at half 4, in rapidly disappearing light, they emerged. They resorted to using MS's GPS - mostly successful apart from it directing them into a bog. Thought about explaining that GPS works best in conjunction with papaer maps - and the ability to read paper maps - but figured it wouldn't go in either set of cloth ears! A's phrase of the day - on hearing that M was going to sort out his own navigation - "it's like the blind leading the blind"....

Walkin' in the Rain

Half an hour traipse from car dent removing place to the office in the pouring rain - very glad I'm not wearing jeans today as it means I should dry off OK!

Smug last night - went late night shopping last night- slim fitting type skirt from Hobbs (i.e. not forgiving!), size 16, fits! I proclaim myself size 16 from the waist down and Gap L for my top half. But I do now have to get back into post Christmas eating regime or all these lovely new clothes I've been buying won't fit!

Husband had wiggle vouchers for Christmas so I've just piggy backed a new jacket onto his order - very orange with lots of reflective bits so should be good for winter running and cycling...

New Year, New Look

Thought the Blog could do with a revamp!

Lovely Christmas pressies

Lots of goodies received to help me with my exercise regime: iPod armband case from baby sister, fab new pair of gym pants and a huge mountain biking tome from middle sister. Hi vis vest from In Laws to prevent further car door/fat bird interface incidents plus a lovely new base layer top for cycling. The most recently appreciated gift though was from my folks to Husband - very easy to set-up & change radio alarm clock! Husband seemed to like the heap of Decathlon biking stuff I got him - and was excited about getting a wiggle voucher.
Anyhow, if any of the generous donors are reading this blog, thanks very much indeed for our gifts!

Brilliant Views – shame about the speed

I’ve been looking forward to my Christmas jog for weeks – to the extent that I was terrified that the cold I’d developed on the 22nd was going to stop play. But as it was still a head cold by the 25th, I decided to go ahead.
Loved the route – from the house over to the cliff at Babbacombe, along the road to Ansteys Cove, along Torbay’s millionaire’s row to get to the beach hut for a fried breakfast. The waves were crashing on the beach. Lots of cormorants out fishing for their breakfast too!
Shame about my speed – I averaged a dawdling 8kph but I was keeping my heartrate low-ish in deference to not being well. Just pleased that I did it.
My cold caught up with me later though & I was in bed by 9pm… Still not 100% so will skip the gym today. Will prob go tomorrow though & do a gentle routine.

Not much else in the way of exercise – Husband had the cold too but it was on his chest & causing him much more discomfort. We introduced Husband’s parents to the joys of geocaching on Christmas Eve, finding 2 micro caches in Babbacombe. They seem very keen to find more, perhaps with the grandchildren on their next visit. At least it’s motivation to get more au fait with their GPS unit!

Walk from Home

I'm trying to pretend that my sore throat, headache & sense of being bunged up is not Husband's martian death flu - but I didn't feel up to running today. We were let home earley due to Christmas & it was a beautiful afternoon, so instead of jogging or gym, I went for a walk. It was a good opportunity to experiment with my new toy - etrex vista.

So I can say with confidence that I walked 9.75km and was moving for 90 mins. The route I took was through woods and fields close to home - got v.muddy partially beacuse of the paths & partially due to a very friendly greyhound!

Very pleased with the photo I took in the woods. The fog returned about 20 minutes after I took this.

Playing Catch Up

Weekend in Northumberland with family - very impressed that J&P went running both mornings, but we restricted ourselves to a couple of short walks - into the village & back on Saturday, then a wander with the children on Sunday - I enjoyed racing D's buggy against P!

Skating on Tuesday as a pre-pub thing. I thoroughly enjoyed it (again!) but I seemed to be the only one who did. Husband had a very odd technique - threw himself as fast as he could & then crashed into the safety barrier! Kind of human curling without a broom....

I did go to Body Combat on Wed: 3 tracks from new routine - including the Killer's "Somebody Told Me" - it was tough singing whilst learning new moves.... Then Juliana put in some oldies inlcuding YMCA - very happy!

Today, went geocaching in the New Forest as a work team thing - good fun and my team won. Geocaching is hunting for tupperware boxes hidden at locations you can find through www.geocaching.com - it maybe as simple as going to the co-ordinates posted for a geocache or there maybe puzzles to solve. Exercise wise, probably not bad - we drove between the points but each involved a walk of up to half a mile once parked.

Very foggy - which made it seem very atmospheric - our voices seemed to echo & there was an odd sense of isolation. Walking in the Forest definitely beats glaring at my laptop as an entertaining thing to do on a Thursday afternoon.

Struggle tonight

I can't decide whether it was my hangover, feeling sniffy or having driven over 300 miles today making me less than stunning in the gym tonight - or maybe it was just an off day. Still did everything - same treadmill routine as last time - but it was much more tiring. Ah well! At least I went...

My mammoth drive did enable me to buy some goodies from Decathlon - another pair of warm cycling tights and a couple of t-shirts. Also bought some dinky little lights for my bike & the SNB so that if we ever find ourselves in low light like on Sunday, we'll be a bit more prepared.

First sub 35 minute 5K

34:16 to do the 5K route from my house - compared to 36:20 last time - I can't believe it! I was so nervous about not doing as well as last time that I've been putting off jogging outside - it's nice to be wrong sometimes! It felt good going round - my legs seemed to be striding out a bit more than before. So chuffed!

Forerunner and iPod both behaved impeccably.

Raindrops kept falling on our heads

Apart from my puncture & dodgy brakes, Sunday's ride was fun - even though it was raining most of the way. Just over 15 easy miles in the New Forest, mostly off road.

Very grateful to M for sorting out my bike problems! And to the other M (as in C&M as opposed to Mr Kitty) for ensuring that A & I didn't lose the guys in the dark on the way back. Impressed that A came with us as I know she'd been unwell for a few days. Biggest thanks goes to Husband though for letting me get inside & into a hot shower whilst he sorted out the bikes afterwards!

I think the attached photo of A summarises the state of us all afterwards pretty well. Our kit is now coated in silty gravel - I was even sneezing grit!

Sk8er Girls

Went skating with G yesterday morning at the rink set up in Winchester Cathedral's close - and loved it! Spent the first 5 miniutes grimly clinging to the side but after that, I was OK. Nothing fancy, but managed:

• Not to fall over


• To avoid the small children, both prone on the ice & still standing

Atmosphere helped too - beautiful setting & a brass band were playing Christmas Classics like Sleighride & Lieutenant Kije.

G is really good - looks confident & cool on the ice. She can balance on 1 skate & showed me a mini jump. We're planning to do skating lessons in Jan.

Gym

Gym tonight after a couple of nights off. Same as Monday but used different weight machines - all good.

A change will do me good

I've been feeling a bit achey today - at the gym last night, I tried new approach to weights (3 sets of 10 reps, aiming to fail the 3rd set) and my arms & back are feeling a bit tired as a result. On the treadmill, I did my first 10 mins at the same rate as last time (2 min intervals, slow at 8kph, fast at 10kph) but bumped up the speeds for the second 10 mins ( 8.5 & 10.5), finishing up at 11 for the final 2 mins - so an average of over 9kph. Very pleased I did this - I'm more convinced that 5k in 30mins could be possible by next summer - but it's made my legs ache today.

No walk/jog with A as she has a migraine - poor thing. However, tried something new tonight - a Cardio Kickboxing class with my colleague V at a gym near Southampton. Didn't enjoy it as much as Body Combat - shouty instructor & very uninspiring choreography. But a change is good!

Sunday was different too - no bike ride as it was too windy so we had a lie in & pootled over to the gym for a swim instead. Disturbed to realise that there were many un & under supervised young kids in the pool and no lifeguard. Esporta couldn't even find a leisure assistant to put the lane ropes across for the session - but still found time to spend with potential new suckers - sorry members - touring the club. Prioritising drumming up new business over safety of children - hmmmmm.

Husband had his gym induction on Sunday evening - he seemed to enjoy it. Due to his rubbish ankles, it's exercise bike, rowing machine & freee weights for him.

39 seconds off my time

36:20 to do the 5k route from home - 39 seconds faster than on Monday! I mustn't expect to improve this much everytime though - one of the nice things about starting from a low level of fitness seems to be that big improvements are possible initially.

Forerunner worked beautifully & I have been assured that the calorie count glitch is work-in-progress. iPod however decded to crash half way around - it's behaving now following restoring factory settings. Forerunner does highlight that my heart rate remains constant when jogging - even on a hilly route. I seem to compensate with increased speed on the downhill bits & work equally hard (but slower) to get up hills.

Incident with bloke getting out of his car & knocking me with the door has highlighted that although my black kit does have reflective bits, perhaps I should add a high vis reflective vest to my Christmas list!

New Running Book

I've been dipping into a new running book - it seems very much designed for dipping in and out of as much of it is top tips. I like that it's written by 2 runners - a tortoise and a hare to borrow their metaphor - which takes it into slightly different territory to other running books which seem to focus exclusively into turning readers in to the next Paula Radcliffe....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Running-Made-Easy-Susie-Whalley/dp/1861057032/sr=8-1/qid=1164842018/ref=pd_ka_1/026-2973961-9931635?ie=UTF8&s=books

Body Combat

Whoa Hoe, Livin' on a Pray-yeah..... old ones were played tonight as promised. Slightly disappointed that there was no YMCA but hey, still good 'n' tacky.

Walking & Jogging with A

Sad geeky bit:
Distance: 5.63km
Time: 53.3 mins
Average Speed: 6.3kph (power walked with a few bursts of jogging)
Top Speed: 9.8kph
Average Heart Rate: 142bpm

I've given up on even looking at the calories bit on the Forerunner having discovered that it doesn't use heart rate in the calculation - just distance, elevation & weight - so no adjustment for efficiency. As a keen off road cyclist (which should - but isn't - be treated as a different efficiency depending on terrain to road cycling) who counts calories, this is a very bad thing! Can't even get my head around how it calculates the calories for running - seems to be arbitrary. All I can think is that it was developed with serious athletic types in mind who don't obsess about calories....

Champagne & dented cars

Saturday did incorporate walking - probably around 45 mins - making our way from Waterloo to Chelsea for a wedding, walking to a venue off Sloane St for the reception, to the pub & then back to Waterloo. The other major exercise was lifting champagne glass. Lots. Repeatedly! Anyhow, congrats to P & A - hope you enjoy marriage at least as much as I seem to be doing - sad, but I can still gush about liking being married to Husband. Especially as martian death flu seemed to have abated by the time I got home on Friday!

15 mile bike ride in the forest yesterday from Fritham with Husband & C. The SNB (Husband's bike) fell off bike rack, bashing the car on the way down - car was dented, not a mark on the SNB. We think that the clamp wasn't done up properly & not locked - the mitigating factor was that we were putting the bikes on the car on torrential rain. Good ride though - very entertaining cycling up paths that had turned into streams & through fords that wouldn't have been there before. Cute pigs at the end, rootling in the forest for acorns.

Luck wasn't on our side on Sunday - we then went to the gym for Husband's induciton - but it was postponed due to double booking - Esporta, I like your club but your admin is not great! 20 mins of interval training and 20 on the X trainer.

Jog today - 36:59 to do exactly 5km. I was faster than last time - went past home on lap 3 at 34:30 compared to 35:00 last week. Forerunner was working well - fo a change! I had my ipod for company which made a difference to my boredom level. Nice blister on my instep - never mind.

Mozart's Balls

I've spent 2 hours wandering around Munich - bit of sightseeing (a little limited in the dark!) and bit of shopping. And I feel as if I've spent lots of time on my feet today - traipsing around electrical & other retailers in Munich & Salzburg. Feeling very pleased with myself at resisting buying yet more kit in a fab Intersports store.....
Anyhow, bought Husband some Mozart balls & was really looking forward to telling him about them - and seeing how long I can go before revealing that they are chocolate - but just called & he is too far gone with martian death flu (a cold to a woman) to even talk to me. Ah well. At least I have 24 hours to build up some sympathy for the poor soul (sympathy 4 man flu is not my strong suit).

Technology fails

Tuesday's walk & jog today with A - good apart from our technology!
My Forerunner failed miserably to find a satellite - and I failed miserably to remember the heart rate monitor strap. And A's HR monitor was playing up too. More techy issues when I got home - lost my camera charger which I need 4 tomorrow's business trip - A saved me though.

On a more positive techy note, collected my sexy new Ipod video - and it works! Planning a Christmas list of gadgets & gizmos to keep it company now - really want an arm strap case so I can jog with it. Perhaps the god of techy stuff does love me after all.....

Feeling pleagh

I don't think I do this very often (at least I hope I don't!) but I'm feeling decidedly pleagh. Might be going down with a cold, the squash I had for tea tonight is sitting in my stomach like its morphed back into a whole butternut squash & is going to remain there forever, I was rubbish at the gym tonight, my head hurts & I keep on sneezing.
Pleagh pleagh pleagh pleagh pleagh pleagh pleagh pleagh pleagh.

What a difference a bit of rain makes

Tiring Bike ride today - 19 miles from Cheesefoot Head using a route we've done twice before:
http://www.hants.gov.uk/pdf/cycling/Cheesefoot%20Head.pdf

But this is the first time in winter & just after some torrential rain - and that made a huge difference. Claggy mud made it tricky to get traction in places - and tricky to stay on the bike in others. Thinking about the myth that the Inuit have umteen words for snow, I reckon that mountain bikers should have many many words for mud! The route took longer than I expected despite virtually no breaks.

S & X joined me & Husband - really good to see them both after a couple of months. S & I were both playing with heart rate monitors. X was amazing - she has back problems which make going uphill painful - you could see on her face that she was in pain but she just carried on. However, I will ensure that the next rid we do with X involves fewer countour lines crammed together.

There was a strong smell of crab apples in places - so many over the track. Beautiful day.

Saturday - went to the gym to offset party attendance later on! X trainer, interval jogging on the treadmill & finished with the incline press.

Rest day on Friday as we went to G's for very tasty dinner - excellent veggie curry!

Hopes of YMCA

Body Combat on Wednesday went well. The Instructor was singing alot into her mike - kind of endearing & added to the not-too-serious atmosphere. At the end, she mentioned that she's going to resurrect some older tracks next week for a bit of variety - I got very excited when somebody suggested she dig out 2005's superb YMCA routine. Now I have to go next week!

Gym tonight - X trainer, interval training on the treadmill & the incline press for a bit of weight work. I ramped up the interval training a tad - by 0.5 kph for both fast & slow speeds - so now at 8 & 10 kph. It was tiring at the time - but it's now well past midnight & I can't sleep so I don't think I pushed myself too much!

Injury Prevention

Gym last night - I focussed on low impact (40 mins on the X trainer) & the leg press machine as I was concerned that I'd jogged on Sunday & was planning on walk/jogging tonight - 3 nights of torturing my knee wold have been cruel!

However, A called tonight's activity off as she isn't feeling well - I'm hoping her eyestrain doesn't develop into a full blown migraine - very glad I don't get 'em. I umm-ed & ah-ed about going to the gym but as I've got Body Combat booked for tomorrow, went shopping instead. I now have a gorgeous lbd (more of a long bd than a little!) for the Christmas party next month.

8 minutes faster!

Went to Brighton for the weekend to see the Scissor Sisters with Husband, M&A. No boogying exercise at the gig as Husband & I were sitting on the balcony – his legs aren’t up to being stood up & moshing all evening.

However, we did plenty of walking. I had a half hour bracing stroll on the seafront on Saturday morning (woke up feeling very bloated after drunkenly demolishing burger & chips on Friday night), followed by a day of wandering around Brighton. On Sunday, came back via Wealdstone open air museum – again, plenty of walking. V.cute Tamworth piglets - one of whom is pictured here courtesy of A remembering to bring her camera. Lots of eating too though...

Went for a jog last night – the .97 mile circuit from the house. Failed miserably to make good use of my Forerunner – forgot to put on the heart rate monitor & for some reason, GPS wise, it only picked up my first circuit. May have to resort to rtfm.... But the good news is that I did it in 35.5 minutes – a good 8 minutes faster than last time!

My weight - eeks!

Just weighed myself for the first time in about 3 years - to discover that I'm the weight that I thought I was in May.

Bad news is that it's going to take even longer than I thought to achieve "target" weight.

Good news is that I burn lots of calories in exercise - so I really did burn around 765 cals on Tues night's walk. And my real target has always been jeans rather than weight as I want to be less fat....

Anyhow, didn't go to gym tonight as was feeling very weary after what felt like a long day at work - feeble I know!

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......

Running blind

WLR has collapsed on me! I can't enter any food & I feel weirdly bereft & unsupported!
Having said that, they did respond v.efficiently to my "please help" emails today - but as of this evening, still no diary....
Wen to the gym this evening - 30 mins X trainer & 20 interval on the treadmill. It was much harder work than last time - but I've been feeling very washed out the last couple of days. Hoping, really hoping, it's not a cold.

Theme for Sunday: Mud!

Started with a couple of hours at the allotment - digging & weeding. Husband seemed to spend most of the morning chatting to other allotmenteers. I managed to chat to M (well, insult him mostly - but he doesn't like it when I'm nice to him...) and work simultaneously - proof that women can multitask!
We went cycling in the afternoon- v.enjoyable 12 mile circuit from Preston Candover. Lots of opportunities to practise cycling in ruts - having to decide:

• Can I get the pedal down?
• If not, can I get it part way down & apply flat partial pedalling?

If no to both of these, resort to hobbyhorse riding technique! It all got very muddy and Husband's Shiny New Bike (hereafter SNB) was christened. It's definitely getting colder - I just had a long sleeved base layer on top which wasn't really enough.

Huge sloes this year - I guess the mild October, wet August & v.hot July suited them.

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.....

Walk in the Park

Actually, we ran the park bit! Another good walk/run with A - I think we ran about 2/3 mile according to mapmyrun, over twice last week's distance.
No buffy aerobics class tomorrow as I have a dentist appointment.

Gym & a good link

30 mins cross trainer tonight followed by a very satisfying 20 mins of interval training on the treadmill. Finished up with some leg presses.

Found a brilliant link today - www.mapmyrun.com - find your area, plot your running route & it tells you how far it is. Much easier than messing about with an OS map or street atlas. It's also got other people's routes. It was good to see that the route that A & I have been following for a couple of weeks is 5.7km - further than either of us expected. Now, would I still like the site as much if the distance had been much less??

Husband picked up his new shiny bike today - v.sexy Specialized hardrock pro thing with disc brakes & go faster looks. I'll never catch him up now!

So need to get back on the straight & narrow

Thursday dissolved into an inappropriate amount of drinking for a schoolnight - one of the side effects was not having to worry about how many calories were in the seafood pasta I'd had earlier in the evening...... good to see J again but a killer hangover on Friday.

Went to Torquay this weekend to celebrate Husband's Dad's 70th birthday - lots of food (birthday cake, marzipan sweets made by 6 year old nephew, roast chesnuts & ice cream) & not masses of exercise apart from playing with nephews on the beach on Saturday & escaping for a faster walk on Saturday afternoon at a pace dictated by my ipod. Great views & very autumnal light. Highlight for me was showing 2 year old nephew sea anemones & getting him to tease one with his finger so its tentacles gently grabbed at him.

Shopping

Exercise this evening will be a walk down the hill to meet up with an ex colleague for a catch up. I'm hoping that the walk will compensate for pasta & wine.

I've ordered a new piece of bike kit that I'm hoping will help me look good this winter on the bike - it's a short wrap skirt from Minx. The idea is that I can wear it with my thermal cycling tights to ease my paranoia about my bum looking big (because it is!) in leggings & this un-lovely view being exacerbated by cycling off road on bumpy routes....

Also did some shopping to reduce exercise - a tank top so I only have to iron the sleeves & cuffs of my shirts! I'm roadtesting it today & very successful so far.....

Body Combat

It was good, as usual! I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of "flying" kicks - the instructor broke the move right down to components.

One weird side effect of getting a bit fitter is that my balance appears to be getting better. For example, I've always struggled not to fall over when doing quad stretches (balancing on 1 leg whilst grabbing your ankle to stretch the front of the thigh) but no problems recently.... maybe I'm getting more stable as wobbly fat goes away or maybe it's just easier to reach my ankle these days - who knows!

Walking & Nirvana covers

Went out with A for a walk with a little bit of jogging added in. Good chat, good exercise.

I was prompted to book my Body Combat class for tomorrow by a discussion in the office about dodgy Nirvana covers - we were trying to decide if the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain's cover version of "Smells like teen spirit" was more entertaining than the Richard Cheese one. So I have that to look forward to.

Puffballs & Chestnuts

Went cycling Sunday morning with Husband from our house - a slightly downsized version of a route we did back in August. Saw a fantastic amount of puffballs in a field close to home - we did contemplate asking the farmer if we could sample them but satisfied our hunter-gatherer instincts through grabbing some of the many chestnuts from the path instead. We're off to Husband's folks next week - they have an open fire & we have a pristine chesnut pan! Hopefully, nephews will enjoy them.

Went to Bournemouth to try on boots with G but I didn't purchase. Then we went to the gym. Husband swam whilst I did some cross training & jogging.

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.

And back to normal....

Gym twice last week - Tuesday & Friday. Tuesday was just a quick blast on the x trainer but added a 20 minute jog on Friday. I think my big goal may be to do race for life in sub 30 mins...

Bike ride on Sunday - 18.5 miles with Husband & A. Fab route - forest tracks then a bit of off-national-park bridle way, a ford, some mud then back on the forest tracks - the concrete bits that were used for planes in WW2.

Have agreed with A that we will aim to do something exercise-wise on Tuesday evenings - prob walking - it'll be great to be able to combine calorie burning & a good natter again!

And back on the Big D today - boo hiss - and had some birthday cake so I can't eat much this evening!

Paved with Good Intentions

I did mean to blog wholst on hols - honest!

Anyhow, a summary:

• 3 jeeps
• Desert
• 2 bike rides
• Hoodoos
• Umpteen mini hikes
• Humungous portions
• A natural water slide
• More Desert
• Chipmunks, mule deer, turkey vultures, wild turkeys & lots of flowers I'm yet to identify
• And Desert

Vegas

Counts as exercise coz we walked alot & I was the only person in the city going up steps when there was an escalator alternative! Liked our hotel (NYNY) mostly coz it didn't involve too much walking though...
Like it, but so glad to be out of there. The noise just got to me on day 2 - there is no quiet anywhere - and the slot machine noise just drove me out of casinos!
It's an impressive showcase though - everything is done well whether its the roller coaster around our hotel (bigger thrill than we expected) or the sphinxes at Luxor or the stoned grand canal inside & upstairs at the venetian.
Pics later....

Mourning my gold card!

Gym on Wed night - 40 mins on the x trainer.

Now in the Virgin Lounge at Gatwick - champagne, bacon roll, cut & blow dry...... I'm going to miss my gold card when it gets relegated to a red at the end of the month!

Not a great weekend for calorie burning

I seemed to be rushing around all weekend without getting to do any exercise! That's unless you count emptying my Watford flat of its bed and stuff and transferring it to G's new house - I guess there was lifting & stairs.....

Anyhow, gym last night - 45 mins on the cross trainer & some time on the leg press. Just bear with me until next week when I will have pretty pics & much more interesting activity to record!

Buffy Aerobics - at last!

Very happy coz I got to do Body Combat for the first time in getting on for a year - and it's still great! Music is still as cheesey (Pink's "Trouble" and Europe's "Final Countdown" both featured tonight), Juliana is still terriffic, I still get left & right mixed up - and as for flying kicks, the less said the better. It gives me more of an exercise high than any other class I've tried and I'm so glad I'll be able to go more often - but not next week coz I'll be at the dentist and the 2 Wednesdays after that, I'll be in the states - but hey - more often than once a year!

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.

New Photo

Taken by Husband today....
and taken by him back in May...

As Wednesday

Ditto!

Really should review my training schedule.....

Gym - back at the Hampshire

40 mins on the x trainer & some weights. Dull TV!

Dog Walking

I couldn't cycle on Monday as my face was still tender & swollen from the bone graft. So instead, I hitched a lift with Husband who was meeting J&B and A&M for a bike ride in the Forest. Whilst they pedalled over the horizon, I took J's corgi Sally for a walk. Horrendous traffic - we should know better by now than to attempt the Forest on a bank holiday!

2 and a half hours later, came back to car park with slightly tired looking corgi. She was very tolerant of being dragged around by me, posed for some pics and was very well behaved but she seemed very pleased to see J afterwards!

Very grateful to Sally that I didn't have to bag up any dog poo en route as I think that falls into the category of life skills I don't intend to acquire (along with changing nappies and changing tyres).

J did incredibly well - cycling 19.7 miles, almost all off road, despite not having cycled at all for at least a year. A was also chuffed as she could remember doing the same route just a few weks ago & finding it so much easier this time.

Rounded off the day nicely with a drink & meal in Burley.

Walking

Half an hour yesterday to walk to the dentist - which will be about all the exercise I will do fora couple of days as post dentist, I look like a lopsided bloodhound & it's all quite tender if not too painful!

Big D - what works for me whitter

Food that's really helped me so far with the Big D:

• Rice cakes - weirdly nice - I like the plain ones with low fat soft cheese but also love caramel snack-a-jacks.
• Big punnets of cherry tomatoes - I've been getting through 275-450g per day, snacking whilst I work. High fill factor & I feel as if I am eating lots of food.
• M&S ready meals - way too many of these recently but I love the Steam range that manages to taste good as opposed to just being virtuous.
• Parmesan cheese & high cocoa solid dark chocolate - loads of flavour in not very much volume.
• Smoked trout, smoked haddock, smoked salmon - again, oodles of flavour.
• Microwave porridge for breakfast - quick, satisfying & keeps me full til lunchtime.
• Cereal bars - esp alpen light - v.useful for breakfast in the car.
• Courgettes at barbecues this summer - I can have a plateful of food without blowing out big D.
• Solero ice lollies - much more satisfying than a low fat yoghurt!

Food that really doesn't work for me:

• Low fat yoghurts - no fill factor & often taste bad...
• Fruit juice - loads of calories for no fill factor & not as good for me as eating the fruit instead...
• Diet ready meals that are only a tad under the calorie level of tastier options.
• Boring cereal bars which appear to be nought but puffed rice.

Last ever visit to Esporta in Hemel

40 mins on the x trainer, 30 on the bike. I thought about jogging but my knee was a tad achey so cycled instead.

Unwanted consequence of being more active...

My wedding ring doesn't fit me anymore - I have weirdly knuckle-less fingers & my ring was secured solely by flab. It's been loose for a while but when it fell off whilst we were packing bags at the supermarket on Sunday, I decided to switch to my spare - which isn't quite so loose and is nowhere near as valuable if it does fall off! I think I will leave off deciding what action to take on adjusting the ring for a few months - see what happens with my weight....

Belated Birthday Celebration

Saturday was good - even the weather behaved - surprising as there were many heavy showers, but none that hit us whilst outside!

14.5 mile bike ride - even better as it was from the house so no funny business with bike carriers involved. We skirted north of Bishopstoke Woods then took a tree root infested lane up to Owslebury. Climbed even higher onto teh chalk downs followed by a speedy descent, mostly on quiet & pretty lanes. I can't believe how much stronger A is now on her bike. M, Husband & MS did over 16 miles as they can't read maps....

In the evening, got drunk at Mudeford beach in great company. I'm not going to reel off a list of initials but G will be miffed if not mentioned (only coz she reckons she's not been referred to so far in this blog!) - it was brilliant to see her & everybody else. It wasn't warm, but it was mostly dry. Played swingball, boules & rounders & ended up bringing vast quantities of sand into the house. Grateful to M & A for driving.

Sunday was active too - dug up potatoes at the allotment and then spent time sorting out the debris at the side of the house - it almost looks tidy now! This did entail evicting a large hedgehog so we are hoping that he finds another home in our garden soon....

Gym - just for a change

Another good interval jog on the treadmill:
8 mins 7.5kmph, 2 mins 9kmph, 2 mins 7.5kmph, 2 mins 9kmph, 2 mins 7.5kmph, 2 mins 9.5kmph, 2 mins 7.5kmph, 2 mins 9.5kmph, 2 mins 7.5kmph, 1 mins 9.5kmph.
Plus 15 mins on the x trainer, 15 mins on the bike & some weights.

I think I'll only be going to Esporta at Hemel a couple more times before leaving Watford. The lack of TV channels has been a bit frustrating (Music/Sky Sports/Sky News/random terrestrial) but apart from that, I've enjoyed using the gym - there's always equipment available and the changing rooms are a little nicer than the Hampshire's.

Smug!

This morning I am wearing a size 18 Boden skirt - 3 months ago, my size 20 Boden skirts were a tad snug. I am also wearing a size 18 M&S blouse - previously was wearing size 22 M&S shirts. Last night, established that my new size 18 Monsoon skirt fits me - 3 months ago, was in size 22 Monsoon skirts (admittedly, they were on the loose side even then!).

So I figure that in the eyes of M&S, Boden & Monsoon, I can declare myself mostly a size 18 (my size 20 Boden shirts are still not baggy though).

Feeling smug - get me (to quote Baby Sister)! Apologies for the gloat!

Gym last night

Treadmill to wam up followed by 25 min treadmill jog, finishing with 25 mins on the x trainer. Pleased with my jog - 8 mins at 7.5kmph then did the rest as 2 min intervals between 9 and 7.5.

Yesterday was a challenge for the Big D - I bought cakes at lunchtime for the office to commemorate my birthday at the weekend & had lots of calories sat on my desk for most of the afternoon. Gave in to 1 M&S mini-mini roll.... Still got quite a bit left today so more will power required!

Grizedale Biking & Sister's Wedding

We tried the North Face trail in Grizedale on Friday http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-69hbp2 - less scary than Coed y Brenin but still challenging enough for me to walk quite a few bits and to fall off, breaking my chain! Fortunately, broke my chain just before the last singletrack section so I don't feel that I lost out and it was fairly easy to get back to the car. Wonderful views of Coniston Old Man at the highest point as well as seeing more of the sculptures within Grizedale Forest. Ate bilberries and saw a couple of wrens.

Saturday was Middle Sister's wedding and Oldest Nephew's naming ceremony - which included walking (a mile-ish?) from Village Hall to an open access area (very young woodland) close to their house with views across to the Lakeland fells. We had a picnic after the ceremony & then walked back to the hall for hog roast followed by a boogy. Wonderful day!

No pics of the wedding here as I'm now deliberately avoiding pictures of people unless I get permission or they are unrecognisable (it's me on the bike in the pic with this post - so that's OK!). Middle Sister looked stunning in a blue floaty long grecian kind of dress, New-Brother-In-Law had an indian embroidered jacket and Oldest Nephew looked very cute.

Back on the Big D today after a weekend of excess..... in particular, lots of courgette cake. Very impressed that Middle Sister found the time to bake me a birthday cake and that Mum & Baby Sister iced it for me in amongst the preparation for the wedding.

First Wedding Anniversary

First Wedding Anniversary this weekend - we've decided that rather than doing gifts/flowers/chocolates/womantic meals, we're going to try & go away for the weekend closest to our anniversary. So we've just come back from Dorset - 2 nights in the very pleasant Cross Keys House www.crosskeyshouse.com in Broadwindsor - which gave us the chance to try out a book of mountain bike rides in Dorset that I've had for a few months: "The Mountain Bike Guide to the Highways and Bridleways of Dorset" by Steve Wrann.

On Saturday, we did a 14 mile ride which started on the Golden Cap Estate near Charmouth. Very up & down with a killer climb at the end. I'm very proud of only walking up 1 hill (a little one at the start where I was worried about catching up with a very excited looking horse...). Some good views over Lyme Bay but too hazy to photograph well. 14 miles which took just under 3.5 hours - reflecting just how hilly it was! Having got a little rained on and very very sweaty form the hills, we decided we should change before continuing our daytrip - so got changed in the carpark! We had beach stuff in the car so it wasn't too tricky (sarongs are so useful!).

Then went down to Charmouth for crab sandwiches & a wander up the beach. Evening was spent in the very local pub – delicious meal included scallops & bacon in a cream & brandy sauce & then sea bass with tomatoes & piri piri. Palmers beer was good & Husband appreciated proper cider.

On Sunday, we went to Forde Abbey - just over the border in Somerset - didn't bother with the house, just the gardens. Brilliant veg garden - much better onion harvest than ours! The gardens have inspired us to try some different varieties of dahlia next year.

In the afternoon, we tried out a second ride from the book near Sydling St Nicholas. Finding the start proved interesting - the book described it as "Batcombe Hill Picnic Site", the OS map shows it as the carpark closest to Gore Hill and the sign on the car park gave it another name again (something beginning with H - can't remember!).

Once we had parked up & started riding, the route was great - following a chalk ridge and then working back up the valley. 13.7 miles which took us about 2.5 hours.

Overall, we liked the book but it is showing its age (published in 1993) as it recommends pubs which have closed and this may also have caused the start point issue already described. Aside from that, I would suggest using an OS map with any of the rides as the descriptions were a bit detail light in places. Excellent weekend - great way to spend our anniversary!

The end of Watford is in sight!

I will be leaving Watford on 23rd August. Things I am looking forward too when I'm based at home again (some of them anyway!):

• Body Combat class
• Going to a Gym that shows more than 1 non-sports/news channel
• Not feeling wiped out all the time I'm at home
• Mid week allotment visits
• Seeing more of my buddies - and not feeling like I have to choose between spending time with Husband and friends coz there will be enough time to go round
• Air conditioned bedroom
• Proper food (Big D will require more discipline though)
• Not having to cram my social life into Saturday nights

Straight & Shiny Halo

Gym last night - 40 mins on the cross trainer, 8 on the bike (I got bored - rubbish TV!) and then some weights focussing on my arms & upper torso.
I want to find something exercise-wise that will enable me to develop stronger core muscles as I think that it's weakness there that's contributing to shoulder problems. However, since I've stopped going to bed with wet hair, this has been much less of an issue!

New Blog for the Fat Bird Portfolio

Fat Bird Does Cooking: http://fatbirddoescooking.blogspot.com

This blog aims to be a collection of recipes using home grown produce - also suitable for farmers market veg and box schemes.

Every year, we seem to get gluts of something at the allotment (although none this year of peas sadly!) - and I'd like to make more enjoyable use of the veg rather than getting fed up of runner beans!

Never mind the exercise - my hair!

Gym last night - 20 mins on the treadmill with an interval segment built in followed by 30 mins on the cross trainer. Did 3 X 2min higher speed intervals - I want to get it up to 5 X 2mins within 20mins & then build up to 30mins.

But very fed up afterwards. I had a fab haircut on Monday evening at an excellent hairdressers close to the office. Much shorter & even looked a bit funky rather than resembling a haystack. Tried blow drying it for myself last night - nowhere near as good. Will dig out the straighteners tonight - the hairdresser didn't use 'em but she is capable of decent blow drying!