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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.
I was rubbish at skating on Monday - for some reason I just didn't feel very stable - ah well! Didn't help that Husband & I made big decisions about mortgages, homes & the future direction of our lives in about 15 mins before I left the house...Tuesday - gym - 26mins of interval training on the treadmill with no ill effects - it's going well! Snuck in a very brief session on the rower weights machine and 1o mins on the x trainer too.Body Combat on Wed - the most intense it's going to be for a while as Juliana starts to phase in the new routine next week. So I don't feel too guilty about arranging to go out with a former work buddy next Wed. Some new clothes arrived in the post - very pleased with some long-ish camouflage shorts that are going to look great with my pink wellies at the allotment this summer.Tonight - proper rest day unless traipsing around the supermarket counts!
Tuesday - jogged with A. She's decided that I should talk more when we run to ensure that our rates are compatible - and she should talk more on the walk bits.... not sure I can cope with structured gossip! We swapped cookbooks afterwards - I'm into making soup atm (big batches which I freeze then take to work & nuke for lunch) so new ideas are needed.Wednesday - Body Combat. Chatted with 2 of Husband's colleagues - one from another colleagues in the class and then with A from his office on the way out. Love the way the pink bits on my new trainers look in the mirror when I kick - yes, I know, I need to get out more!Baby Sister D has resurrected her blog - the fab named Rah Lose Weight. Please have a look coz she's asking for encouragement. She's also sent me her soon-to-be-tweaked playlist which I've added to the Playlist blog. Have changed the comments settings as I didn't realise I had it set not to accept any!
Instructor came over half way through the class to ask me if I'd been dieting - and how had I lost so much weight - result!She said that she really noticed tonight because I was wearing a fitted t-shirt - so I think it could be worth having a massive t-shirt & vest clear out soon - before spring arrives. Which ties neatly into a conversation I was having with Mrs Kitty Stitch last night..... Class was great - even coped better with the push up section. I was slightly hampered though by my trousers deciding to loop over my trainers, causing my feet to slide mid push up!
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!
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??
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!
But not today! Tried tonight but I still don't have the strength in my arms....
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
Tuesday: GymWednesday: Body CombatFriday: 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......
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!
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.
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!
