Do the right thing?

Skating on Monday - started the level 5 moves which include our first spin and cross overs. It's seeming scary but I think achievable atm.

Good run with A yesterday - 45:34 to do the 5.68km which compares to 46:19 on the 20th - definitely progress.

I'm struggling today - I was given a cadburys flake easter egg by a printer and I'm failing to do the right thing - which is to give it away! It has 2 flakes - which are 178.5 cals each....... and I should be saving my cals as it's Husband's turn to cook tonight and I hate saying "please can you make this low cal?"..... but I am planning on going to Body Combat later.......conscience, arrrrrggghhhhhh...

Not a lazy weekend...

Jogging with A on Friday evening – we didn’t get anything like as wet as I thought we would, given that it was raining en route to A’s. I’m now in non-thermal tights as the weather is gradually improving. A’s waterproof is looking huge on her now – she’s definitely starting to look more svelte and trim.

Digging on Saturday – planting potatoes at the allotment. We’re doing charlotte for the 3rd year, but are experimenting with pink fir apple as a maincrop. None of us eat masses of spuds and M has an aversion to floury potatoes – so having 2 lots of salad varieties will probably suit us better. Good to see D down there – who was the beneficiary of all the spare chitted seed potatoes.

And boogying too on Sat – saw a Guns’n’Roses tribute band at the Brook then went to the Dungeon. I danced lots (well, bounced around lots) and was sporadically joined by J, S&X. Very grateful to S for the lift home.

31.7 km mountain biking route from the house on Sunday morning. A wasn’t feeling good so M&A headed back around the halfway point – which was a shame as the 2nd half was so much easier than the first. I’m starting to think that getting all who set out to complete the route is turning into a new major objective! I’m enjoying the routes from the house – so good not to have to mess about with roofracks & to spend time driving to the start. It’s a good reminder about how much countryside we have on our doorstep.

Sunscreen – must start using it again! Didn’t this weekend but looking at the area on my face that was most mushed in my accident, it’s now discolouring, giving me white patches. Discounting leprosy, I figure that it’s worth re-discovering my factor 40 as something I don’t leave the house without applying…..

Shallow

Walked down the hill last night for a meal with a former colleague J & her flatmate K - although I'm not sure that 30mins walking completely justified a fab plate of tagliatelle, cream and mushrooms... bad indigestion followed & I couldn't sleep.

So I read instead - Louise Kean's "The Perfect 10" - which despite being a light chicklit novel has well observed description of what it's like to lose lots of fat & how it impacts your head. Now thinking about "what's it all for?" is making me think - I'm not down as such, but definitely not overcome with the joys of spring. The main character stating how she's become more vain definitely hit home! Feeling shallow about being so focussed on my weight, my appearance and my own fitness level.

31:04 - getting there

Went for a run last night from the house - 31:04 - so I'm getting there! Convinced that I lost a few seconds by messing about by the headphones/specs/buff interface on my left ear way too much. Fat Boy Slim may be getting erased from my playlist as his track has a getting slower & slower bit - not great for timing.

We passsed!

G and I both passed level 4 ice skating tonight - we both felt we'd been judged a bit generously - but the tester did point out that she's looking for us making roughly the right moves, getting the gist of it - not making perfect moves.

Having said that, I was so not convinced that I'd done enough to satisfy one bit (turning from backwards to forwards) that even after she said that I'd passed, I asked to be able to do it again [did it marginally better - but hey!].


Level 4 (in case you are interested) involved skating backwards into a 2 foot glide, going forwards & turning to backwards, going backwards & turning to forwards, one foot glides on the outside edges and forwards chasses.

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.

Nice problem - but still a problem

Dressed up smart-ish for a meeting today - crisis 1 was not being able to find the only pair of smart black trousers that fit me atm. Crisis 2 was not having a jacket that goes with the only smart skirt that fits me atm. Crisis 3 (more of a mini crisis though) is that the only smart skirt is a tad loose - to a level where I will need to be careful to wear long-ish tops with it to avoid displaying underthings to the world - and I only bought it in Jan (tweedy Hobbs thing)....

Losing fat is costing me a small fortune in clothing - and I resent handing over dosh for smart work stuff I only wear once a month or so. And even more bras now need to be consigned to charity shop bags (now 36B - how depleted is that!).

Anyhow, skating went well on Mon although I suspect I won't be passing level 4 at next Monday's test unless I miraculously get better by then or unless the instructor is very very kind!

Last night - good run with A. 46:19 to do the 5.6km route with a good chat as a bonus! Planning on running with work buddies starting next month after work as part of Race for Life prep.

In Laws do Cycling

Went cycling on Saturday with Husband & his parents in the Forest – very very impressed with them both!

Mum-ish hadn’t been on a bike for approx 16 years and Dad-ish hadn’t done much more than that. We hired bikes for them both from Burley & found an empty coach park for them to practise before heading off. We’d chosen a route with loads of options to cut short or to take an easier route, but all not necessary. We did over 15 miles – mostly off road – including a ford and some changing of gears. Both said they were saddle sore afterwards. Even more impressive is that on Sunday, both of them were fine – no aches/pains/strains – which indicates that they are fit!


On Sunday, did some walking coz we went to London for Mum-ish’s Mothering Sunday day out – very pleasant wander across Hyde Park as we made our way from the Serpentine Gallery to the National Gallery.

Went to gym later on – 10mins X trainer, 26mins interval work on treadmill. Think I’m ready to push it up to 28mins next time.