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.

No Longer Obese Bird

Weighed myself today - 79 kilos which makes me un-obese! I'm not a big fan of BMI measurements as they don't differentiate between muscle mass & fatty mass - but I can't pretend that I'm not chuffed to fall into a different category.

Gym on Saturday evening, following a very pleasant day shopping with A in Bath. Stuck to x trainer and weights as my legs were still aching from Thursday.

Today should have been a stretching 20 mile route NE of Salisbury but it was soon apparent that Husband wasn't well - he wasn't delivering any power to his pedals and was looking scarlet faced & v.sweaty after just 1 climb. I failed to persuade him to turn back (he had his determined face on!) but we persuaded M&A to carry on ahead as it was going to be a long slow ride for us! The SNB then took charge & its chain then snapped, caused by a bent cog. So even Husband had to admit defeat! he did a quick repair job on the bike & we pedalled back to car. So just 6 miles!

I was still feeling in need of some exercise so went for a run this afternoon but tried off road for the first time. Started off in woods close to the house & did a 5.2km route. Resorted to walking at one very muddy section - so I was amazed that I did 5km in 33:09! Beautiful day & it helped me to remember just how pleasant the area so close to the house is. And I acieved sweaty muddiness without a bike....

Then went to Hayling Island with Husband as it was just too good weather not to be outside - I took the photos here. Wandered along the beach & Husband got his sea fix - something to do with being born/brought up at the seaside apparently.

Just spotted that A has her Race for Life fundraising site up & running - click here to view & donate!

31:50 to run 5K

I'm getting there!

Went to the gym on Tuesday with Husband - he couldn't swim as the pool was closed but suggested that I stay & exercise whilst he went shopping. Pushed up my 10kph treadmill stint to 22 mins successfully.

No Body Combat on Wed as I was driving back from Rickmansworth - really don't miss the joys of the M25 in rush hour.

Really good jog from the house tonight - 31:50 - which is excellent! I think the interval training is paying off and it was a good idea to do a timed jog the day after a rest day.

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!).

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

Another blister....

Went jogging for the first time in ages on Saturday. As we were due to go to M's beer fest 40th birthday thing, I was really keen to do some kind of exercise so that I could drink lots of beer without jeopardising the big D. We were going to go to the gym but the pool was timetabled to be a kids' session so Husband would have had a bad time. Instead, I figured I should try running again. 45 slow slow minutes to do 5km - 3X1 mile circuits from the house. Nice blister on my left foot.

I stopped running alone outside as I got very wound up about people yelling stuff at me from their cars. First 2 miles were good - but I got a car honking me on the 3rd mile - really don't understand why people do that - it tends to be young-ish blokes in rubbish cars. I'm on the pavement - not in their way or affecting their driving in any way.

So the jury is out as to whether I go out again alone. 1 car honking doesn't sound like a big deal but I'm nervous about getting yelled at again...