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!

Another lovely weekend that was rubbish for Big D

Torquay with Husband, B&J to visit in laws and to enable B to try sea fishing from a pier (he's only done it from boats before). It was great but I ate & drank way too much and didn't do much exercise bar a little walking.
Highlights included finding some good watercolours in an exhibition of local artists - 1 for us and 1 for R&T.

Plymouth Gin Distillery tour - small but extremely well led by an enthusiastic & knowledgeable tour guide - it explained why I prefere Plymouth to Bombay Sapphire!

We tried playing bowls for the first time on Sunday - interesting & very good of T to show us how it's done but it's not a sport I'm now itching to take up!

Sunday breakfast was a full english at the beach hut - always a winner but I'm a little pink due to not using enough sun block.....

Husband & B enjoyed their fishing - Husband has a great photo of sunrise from Babbacombe pier. Apparently, B apologised to each mackerel he caught before despatching them to the great ocean in the sky.

Friday ramblings

This is going to sound a bit mushy but I am so so chuffed that Baby Sister and A have been so supportive of the Big D and increased exercise campaigns I've been boring them with! It does make a huge difference - being able to rant with A about the randomly inaccurate WLR food ratings, cycling with A again, seeing how well Baby Sis has been sticking to her programme - and seeing just how strong her self motivation has been - all v.inspiring!

It's almost enough to make me think again about WW and the like - it must help meeting up with others in the same situation. But I still can't get my head around weigh ins - seems a bit too much like the village stocks & public humiliation!

3 Times This Week

Gym last night - 45mins cycling, 18 on the cross trainer. Might compensate for not doing much exercise this weekend!
Made it to the allotment on Wed night & did a brief spot of digging - prepping soil for Husband to plant purple sprouting seedlings into.
Had a disproportionately good feeling last night - tried on a red sundress that I wasn't expecting to fit into until mid Sept - but it fits now - yay me (to use my Baby Sister's phrase)!

Gym again

2 nights running - good huh? 30 mins on X trainer and 20 mins of treadmill - which incorporated a little interval work. Followed up with a big-yet-not-calorific tea of smoked haddock, peas and a tub of Waitrose colcannon which is as close as I get to cooking in my rabbit hutch!

TMI

Gym last night - 15 mins X trainer & 40 mins cycling followed by some weights. I opted to keep it low impact as I am avoiding bouncing around due to injury sustained at the weekend (see my last blog!). Air con was working a bit better.

And some unexpected exercise this morning. Came downstairs & when I got to the block's door, remembered I had forgotten my lunch. Up to 2nd floor to get it, go back down again. Get half way acrosss car park & realise that I've forgotten my tooth! Back up to 2nd floor & down again. According to WLR, that's 50 cals burned already today....

Testway, Danebury and lots of mud

Rain delayed the start by about an hour, but Saturday's ride was great. About 14 miles-ish with Husband, M & A. A did absolutely brilliantly - opting to do a much more challenging ride than I'd expected and completing it without appearing to be too wiped. Husband is complaining about how M is harder to keep up with since he quit smoking - good bit of motivation for Husband to get faster!

Due to the torrential rain, there were big unavoidable puddles that meant we were very wet right from the start - as you can see from the photo of M's legs further down this blog!

Nice, varied route - started on the ultra flat ex railway that is the Test Way. Then we moved onto undulating tracks with better views of the countryside. Brief bit of road & then onto very rucked tracks - I did fall off and bruised my chest with the handle bars - it's a lovely burgundy colour atm!
Final bit was road but going across a very picturesque bit of the Test with thatched fishermens' huts and eel traps - as you can see from the photo.
A reckons my bum has got smaller - she did get a good view as she was just behind me for some of the way...
Lots of nettles & brambles - my legs are covered in little scratches.
Only wildlife stuff I noticed (OK, I was chatting too much to notice much!) was a v.pretty pair of goldfinches. Blue scabious stood out in some of the field edges.

Later, Husband & I walked to & from the pub - another hour of exercise to add. I felt very justified in enjoying 2 pints of summer lightning (an appropriate beer for a day with thunderstorms) in addition to gin & slimlines.

No other active stuff to report. Christening on Sunday and a prolonged search for a car 4 me took up most of the rest of the weekend. A little over on calories for Sunday, but looking good for the week as a whole.

Big D has gone to pot

Close to 1900 cals consumed yesterday and over 1600 the day before & naff all exercise. I could go for feeble excuses about being in a hotel & how self restraint is difficult when lunch is consumed during meetings (and sandwiches are plonked in front of me!).

But to be honest, I've just lost a bit of focus this week. Going to have a virtuous dinner tonight chez baby sister who is a paragon of nutritional intake virtue atm - hopefully it will inspire me to get back on track....

V.impressed with Husband's support so far - he's even said that if I do go down a couple of dress sizes, he won't moan about any resulting clothing expenditure - now that's motivation!

Wilting

Yesterday was a great day for the air con in Esporta in Hemel to be having a bad hair day. Allegedly, it was working - but pretty ineffectually! Gym instructor came to talk to me about it & suggested that I drink lots and don't push myself too hard - useful advice but I'd already decided that I needed to adapt my routine for heat.

So, 30 mins on the X trainer followed by 30 mins cycling and some weight training.
The showers at Hemel aren't reliably suppplied with hot water - last night though, I was very grateful for the tepid-cold shower experience!

Good weekend for me - rubbish for the big D

Lovely weekend! Thoroughly enjoyed it but it was rubbish for the big D as I ate and drank loads. And loads. And then a bit more.... I'm still OK for the week as a whole if I count my exercise calories - so it could be worse.

Should have gone to gym on Friday but was too tired post interview & commute so hit the supermarket instead. Then curled up with husband & a bottle of rose.

Saturday: 19.5mile bike ride (v.virtuous) with husband, A&M, S&X and Z followed by pizza, wine & DVD (much less virtuous!) with A & Z. Ride was in the New Forest - probably the easiest 19.5 miles ever (never needed to come down from 3rd gear) but beautiful weather, great scenery & good company.

X came off her bike after splashing through a ford but was unharmed - and back on her bike again very quickly. I was quite pleased with my speed. Hit the pub afterwards and kind of wished we could have just stayed there.

Really good to see A out on her bike again - I missed you!!!

Sunday: presentation writing & housework followed by last minute barbie with husband, A & M. Feeling moderately merry now following a couple of gins.

Devotion Diversion

Nothing to do with exercise at all...... just looked at Devotion Corsets website - the place where I got my wedding corset - and I'm on it! www.devotioncorsets.co.uk I'm in Bridal on the top row of thumbnails.

Beeney whilst I work....

Longer gym session last night than usual coz I got there for about 7:45pm and started watching Property Ladder at 8. Managed to time things so I was switching machines in the ad breaks! Cross trainer, interval jogging on the treadmill with some cycling to finish.

Only downside is that I don't think I drank enough water coz I'm fighting off eyestrain type headaches today.

Big D vs Quitting Smoking

I've been thinking about whether controlling diet is easier/more difficult than giving up smoking - was talking to M about this last night. The chemical addiction is virtually absent from controlling diet (unless sugar rush/crash counts) so the first week or so should be easier for someone dieting (hate that word!) than for someone quitting smoking.

After that, when the ex smoker goes into losing the habit as opposed to the chemical addiciton - not so sure. M asked if I was thinking about chocolate all the time - I'd have to say no, but if I'm not doing something, I am thinking about food - it's my default thought. When I'm stressed or bored, I miss being able to eat lots - but having said that, I don't miss the down & guilt feelings afterwards. I don't feel hungry, but I do feel the absence of eating.

It's also made more tricky in that I seem to be exposed to unhealthy food & eating behaviour - it's really difficult not to eat a chocolate biscuit when it's offered to you - but I know it's difficult for M not to cadge a cig off smoking buddies when in the pub...

Licenced to drive powerboats

It was a very active weekend - but not many calories expended unless frantically spinning the wheel of a RIB counts.... Husband & I completed the Level 2 Powerboat course that now enables us to rent powerboats out. The course was great - 2 days on 7.6m RIBs with 3.2L engines delivering 250bhp. 1 instructor for the 2 of us on day 1 and 1 for 3 of us on day 2.

Husband loved the high speed stuff, I was pleasantly surprised that I could do the slow speed manouvering OK, given my inability to reverse or park cars well!

Lack of gym & cycling means that my weekly calories expended was way under 1,000 last week. This week may not be much better as I've got lots of stuff to do in my spare time - but will be cycling next weekend.

Getting my energy back

After months of feeling down & sluggish, I seem to be getting my bounce back - which is good.
Gym tonight - cross trainer, weights & some interval work on the treadmill. Also did about half an hour of walking today as I had a meeting in central London.

Finally booked a cute looking B&B in Dorset for our anniversary weekend - so I have something to add to my "reasons to be cheerful". I wonder if G knows all the lyrics to that one..... I strongly suspect yes!

Tiny amount of exercise this week

No gym visits so far - the warning light for my brake pads came on when I was driving to work on Monday & its taken a few days to sort out - Kwikfit have just phoned to say they are now sorted. As a result, I've been reluctant to do any unnecessary driving - and that does include driving up to the gym at Hemel after work.

Still - will have done about 30 mins walking today (Kwikfit-station-office & back again) and I spent yesterday afternoon on my feet doing store walks - better than being a complete couch potato - but I'm aware that I'm getting close to that!

It was too hot!

Not the most active weekend in terms of exercise - but didn't feel that it was inactive overall.

No booze at all - good for the Big D - but it's not something I want to repeat regularly.

Went to the beach on Saturday - but no swimming - just a very virtuous bbq (discovered marinaded courgettes work very well as a meat subsitute for me!) and enjoying Husband's company - came to the conclusion that we're not good at womance.

Sunday - bits of gardening but it was too hot for our planned bike ride. Instead, we went to the pool - where I discovered I'd managed not to bring my costume (a new feeble excuse!). However, as I had a change of clothes in my bag, did 25 mins on the X trainer instead.

I have 2 sets of gym kit in my bag - and may manage to go Mon & Tue. I have a very strong motivation - my flat is horrendous in hot weather whereas the gym has aircon....

Gym last night

Normal stuff - X trainer, bike & weights...

And the feeble excuse of the day is.....

Headache and achey mouth due to having just had the dentist yank my mouth around into revolting positions to take photos of it, local anaesthetic followed by lots of prodding and measuring. This is all in aid of the plan to replace my denture with screw in tooth. Starting to wonder if it's worth it as I feel very drained & fed up this evening.

I shouldn't be really as today has gone well - good conversation re. my career this morning & purchase of a fab new casual shirt.

Made it to gym last night though - 30 mins on cross trainer followed by 10 mins interval jogging and a few weights machines.

Yay - back in my cycling trousers again!

Just completed a 14 mile circuit from the house.

Went with Husband, M, S & X. X has a lovely new shiny bike, S has just bought MS's and M was showing off lots of shiny new parts on his bike that he got 4 his birthday as well as new cycling shoes. So I would have felt a bit left out of the "exciting new stuff" conversations - except I am just as excited about achieveing my first Big D objective - back in my cycling trousers again!

Route was pretty good fo the first half - skirted stoke woods and took bridle pathsup to Owslebury then up towards Morestead. Not so good for the second bit as we stuck to road so that S & X could get back in time fo the football. Apparently there's a game on today....

Nature stuff - hedgerows are still loooking good with dog roses in bloom. Poppies are in full gorgeous red bloom atm in the fields. Apart from that, not much out of the ordinary. However, I did see a striking red moth whilst jogging yesterday that I must look up.

And more exercise is planned for later today - only a 35 minute walk down into Eastleigh to pick up the car but every little helps.

2103 calories of exercise this week - well up on the 1313 last week. I feel smug!

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...

Blisters on my feet

Not as good as going to the gym, but I did a fair amount of walking yesterday - office to station, tube to go to another office, extra 2 mins of walking up & down the same bit of road failing to find the right building, back to tube, station to office to pick up car.... carpark to M&S to pick up lazy dinner...

Anyhow, I have blisters on my feet as all of this was done in heels, so I figure it counts!

Did make it to the gym!

30 mins cycling, 25 on the cross trainer and some weights - all this despite extreme boredom brought on by all the TV channels showing the "build up" to the football at 8. I've discovered that there is one thing worse than watching football - watching/listening to people talk about it as it seems to take much longer than 90 mins to discuss future game & then dissect it afterwards.
Still, it meant that the gym was nice & quiet!

Lacking Motivation Today

Not feeling like going to the gym tonight - I have no good (or even any rubbish) excuses - I have my kit with me, I have my card, I have a strong desire to shift vast quantities of fat off my body.....

I looked at baby sister's blog - she managed to fit in physio in Oxford and a GOSH visit and still found time to do her health walk yesterday - I really don't have an excuse not to go.

Still, it's the gym or an evening alone in the flat with only Big Brother for company - so it'll be the gym...... now, if I was looking at demolishing a bottle of wine with a buddy, it would be a very different proposition! Must find out if A will be up for that post her exhibition.....

Beach & Spa

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

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

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

Walking done

About 40 mins walking last night & 30 mins this morning. Counteracted any possible benefit by going out for drinks & dinner - but I did stick to G&T (all slimline bar one), a brandy & some v.tasty pasta with seafood. Last week's hangover when I opted to drink instead of eat was not something I wanted to experience again...

Had my first "have you lost weight recently?" comment from a colleague at work yesterday - very gratifying!

Gym last night & some walking planned

Gym last night - cross trainer & bike. It was 9pm by the time I finished so I skipped weights.

Got some not-terribly-exciting walking planned tonight & tomorrow - meeting a friend in Paddington later on so will be walking from office to station (10 mins) and later on, walking from tube station back to my rabbit hutch of a flat (about a mile). And tomorrow morning, will be tubing it to the office - so another mile plus 10 mins. Which all sounds moderately virtuous until I explain that all this is to facilitate a little drinking tonight!

Finished the WS book mentioned in my profile last night. Great little thought to keep myself going - as Gwyneth Paltrow probably doesn't compare herself to me, why should I compare myself to her? OK, so she isn't really in my list of "women I would like to look like" (Angelina Jolie & Natalie Imbruglia sadly!) but it's an admirable sentiment.

Does boogying count?

Got to the Dungeon on Saturday for the first time in ages - Arrived at about half 10, left at 2 and I seemed to be dancing most of the time. SF is great coz he tends to dance by default - like me - as opposed to MS who saves his energy for his faves. Music was good - no idea what most of the recent stuff was - but enjoyed it - older stuff that included AC/DC and Blondie. SF and MS had curry afterwards whilst I tried to pretend that waiting to eat rice cakes later on was of comparable gastronomic pleasure....

No bike ride today coz Husband haas been bombarded with pollen and has been struggling with his hayfever - poor lamb. Instead, we hit the beach and went to the gym later on. Husband swam whilst I did 30 mins on the X trainer, 20 on the bike plus some weights.

Tenuous excuse to include a gig....

I promised myself this wouldn't be a general diary as such - I really was going to focus on exercise...... but seeing as it did include about an hour in total of walking followed by much bouncing up and down with my arms in the air, I've decided I can include the Bon Jovi gig I went to last night in St Marys Stadium. He still is one of the sexiest men on the planet. The set was close to 2 hours 20 minutes and included considerable quantities from the old days - Bad Medicine was a particular highlight! And so was Keep the Faith, Dead or Alive, Runaway, Livin on a Prayer etc etc. Weirdest bits were a cover of Rocking all over the World and working Jumping Jack Flash into Bad Medicine. I didn't know if they would be good live, I'm not a huge fan of big stadium venues, but it was one the best gigs I've been to recently.

Gym last night

Cycling, Cross Trainer, Weights. They had "10 years younger" on the TV whilst I was there - quite motivating really. She had the dental surgery I'm planning to have - and it did look to be a gross process. Didn't realise that for a few days I should not have my denture in at all - v.scary prospect.

I tried on a black blouse last night that Husband doesn't know I own (it was in a sale....) that didn't fit. Still doesn't fit but the buttons do actually make contact with the buttonholes now! It feels like I've been on the big D forever, but as I only started on 22nd May, I shouldn't be expecting to see results for a while! Husband reckons my middle is looking less spare tyre-ish though - and he is not one for saying stuff to make me feel better...

Using my big D website, I can now track calories expended through exercise - which look quite impressive:
w/c 22nd May: 1674
w/c 29th May: 2293
this week so far: 571

If I had a brain, I'd be dangerous...

AKA feeble excuse #2 for not exercising
Managed to leave my gym card at home this week so am unlikely to make it to gym tonight. I'm not good at remembering to pick stuff up at 6:30am - so i must remember next week to pack properly on Sunday night!

Virtuous Weekend - mostly

Gym on Friday night pre pub - normal bike/x trainer/weights routine followed by only 1 G&T and 1 bottle speckled hen.
Gardening on Saturday - planting and watering.

Highlight was bike ride on Sunday - 10.8 miles from Butser hill. Route was odd - serious downhill at the start folllowed by a mix of up & down, then a seriously uphill bit where even Husband walked, finishing with a level/ gently rolling section.

Track was in a very dodgy state in some places - as you can see from the photo of Husband stuck in the mud! One bit would have been more aptly named a bridle ditch than a bridle path. Bikes got caked in mud - so lots of digging out mud with sticks at break points. Pity that Husband did such a good job at cleaning them on Saturday (which was much appreciated)....

I did wimp out on one uphill (the serious one) and on some of the downhills - in one place, in order to enable me to get off the path to let some dirt bikes past - I'm glad I don't cycle with an ipod as the path was narrow, bendy with sightlines obscured by trees - I heard their approach so could get out of the way.

Went with Husband and M. M insisted on telling me about how his bottom ring was claggy and his underhang was smeggy - I do feel sorry for his wife at times - but apparently, he was referring to his bike...

Fab views from Butser hill - south down to Portsmouth and the sea, north over rolling downland.

Not very much nature noticed - the ragged robin and cow parsley are now dominating the hedgerows. I heard a blackbird at one stage - no it's not unusual, but no more gorgeous to hear for that.

No gym today - but did go Tuesday

30 mins on the bike, 15 on the X trainer plus 2 weights machines - all fine except my headphones were only half working - must get a new set.

Very brief bike ride yesterday - took my spare bike over to A's as she's decided to try cycling to work, her mountain bike doesn't have a rack and her hybrid isn't very comfortable. M was on about how he was going to service it, so I think it's gone to a good home!

The big D is going well so far - apart from road rage on Saturday, I've not felt serious hunger pangs and sticking to it is made easier through being away in the week. Apparently, I wil reach my target weight on 17th February 2007....

I'm starting to feel less lethargic - I'm even missing running which is very unexpected!

Farley Mount - Bike Ride

14.7 miles accordng to my speedo. We chose the route on the basis that traffic in the New Forest would be likely to be awful on a bank holiday - and I was curious as to how I would find it as we last did this route just over 1 year ago.

All good news:

• I didn't manage to keep up with Husband, M and C&M, but I did not walk any of the uphills.
• The downhill bit I remembered as being ultra scary was very do-able - to the extent that I wondered if the path was the same one!
• An uphill section that Husband and M remembered as being horrendous last time was also OK - a bit slippery, but I think we've nailed the technique for getting over tree routes.
• Weather - we hit a couple of showers (including hail) but nothing long enough to get us properly wet.

Nature stuff: I could hear a buzzard but didn't get a glimpse. Bugle is in flower and there were some pretty wild strawberry flowers close to the start. No bluebells left!

Gym & Gardening

Got to the gym on Saturday - 30 mins on the bike, 15 on the cross triner and then some weights.

4 hours at the allotment today - weeding & digging - good way to clear my fuggy hungover head.

Great Manchester Run - so slow!

Position was 19,099th out of 25,000 entries and time was 1 hour 26mins... ah well!
Middle Sister achieved a very creditable 53mins 52 seconds and Brother in Law to be in 49mins 23 seconds. Given that 10kph feels like a sprint to me, I'm very impressed.

Gym last night

30 mins on the bike, 15 on the cross trainer.

No cheese no chocolate no chips no life

Embarked on the dreaded "D" word today - resurrected my membership to the www.weightlossresources.co.uk website which I've found suits my aversion to diet sheets/plans and the weight watchers opaque points system. So long as calories in minus calories out (i.e. exercise) = less than 1500 calories per day, I'm OK.

Blog title is misleading as I will still be ingesting cheese and chocolate - but will be exercising restraint! I think it suits me because I feel that it allows me to enjoy food by having what I fancy.

Anyway, back to exercise - some interesting numbers - the calories that are expended doing everyday type stuff (based on 20 minutes and applying to somebody my weight):

Ironing 42, Hoovering 74, Laundry 45, Weeding 111, Digging 190, Mowing 164, Supermarket shopping with a trolley 74, Going up & down stairs 201

Hmmm - is ironing less appealing than going to the gym?!

Fat Bird Goes to Lake District

Part 2 of our hols!

Wednesday: Slipped in a very brief gym visit before driving up to stay with middle sister & family. Glad that Husband convinced me that we did have time. 10mins on the X trainer, 10 mins jogging and then some weights.

Thursday: Very pleasant 9 mile bike ride around Claife Heights on the west shore of Windermere. Resorted to walking quite a few of the ups and a couple of the scarier downs. The rain held off, but it wasn't the brightest of days. The ride was very much 2 halves - the first included a long climb to the brow of the heights in rugged looking upland landscape. The second half was a gentler whizz along the shore line, with some gorgeous bits of mossy oak woodland, carpeted with bluebells.And we also had a toddler paced amble later on - my 17 month old nephew did lots of pointing excitedly at absolutely everything - sheep, goats, tractors, vans, river, trees, ants....

Friday: Dragged Husband out for a half hour consitutional walk before dinner. It was a good opportunity to scope out where Middle Sister's wedding will be in August - a spot with great views of the countryside east of Kendal. I was pleased witht he light in both the attached photos.

Saturday: Grizedale forest - we did a 7 mile circuit (more would have streched my nephew's tolerance of being in a bike seat too far) although Husband and Brother-in-Law-2b did escape off for 1 stretch of the downhill course. Now have plans to go back there on the Friday before middle sister's wedding to do the full downhill route and to see a few more of the sculptures in the forest.... I used my sister's bike for the last part - it's a very fast, urban bike - big slick tires, no suspension and beautifully built. If I ever find myself doing lots of road cycling, it'd be tempting to trade up my hybrid to something similar.

Sunday: Great Manchester 10K Run - completed it, albeit following my "I haven't trained enough plan" of walking alternate kilometres. That worked much better than attempting to run all of it & resorting walking after 5K as I didn't feel as if I had failed. Plus, having the shorter targets for each bit I ran worked very well.

Middle Sister & Brother-in-Law-2b did brilliantly. I was able to see their final sections due to the staggered starts & parallel bits of the route. Seeing Middle Sister bounding along, looking very comfortable with only 1.5k to go was a fantastic sight!

It rained - which I prefer to blazing sunshine - but that did mean driving back down south with wet feet in soggy trainers!

Fat Bird goes to Wales

Went to Bala for a few days - staying in some holiday cottages with Husband and 14 friends. The cottages were very pleasant - www.cyffdy.com for more details.

As there were so many photos from last weekend, they are in a separate blog: http://fatbirdgoestowales.blogspot.com/

It was a great weekend - lots of active stuff combined with lots of eating and drinking so hopefully, no overall detrimental additional strain on the zips of my jeans.

Friday: Went to Coed y Brenin - which is apparently well known as a good place for mountain biking & did their Sports route. The hardest 9.3 mile route I've ever done! Lots of custom made downhill stuff that's designed to challenge you. Husband and Z flew down, whereas I "made my own way" - lots of walking, paddling, panicking & general wimping out. And it was Z's first time ona mountain bike - insult to injury! Gorgeous views of a river carving its way through the hillside. More details of the route are on www.mbwales.com


Saturday: Quad Biking - which should have been a 0 exercise, but clinging to the handlebars and gripping the saddle with my thighs thinking "I'm going to die, I'm going to die" for nearly 2 hours caused some aching bits afterwards..... Laser clays were definitely 0 exercise but my tired arms struggled to lift the gun!

Sunday: Back to Coed y Brenin & repeated the Sports route as I'd decided that "intermediate" was the limit of my ability and all the others were "advanced". Glad that I did repeat it as I was much better than the first time - especially on the final downhill. Tried out the technique picked up from New Zealand (drop saddle, hang arse over rear tire, keep pedals level) which really did work. Still felt like the coward that I am - but improved.
Then went white water rafting at the National Whitewater Centre near Bala. Not a coward with this - I think I'm fairly practised as I've rafted there quite a few times. Good fun, good company and very soggy.

Gym - did it!

25 mins of jogging, 15 mins on the cross trainer and..... some weights for the first time in ages. I'd been put off by the machines not being quite the same as the ones at my home club, Hampshire, but decided that I was being stupid. Just pleased that I managed to remember my card this time - and that I got away from work before 7.

I've realised that I should now be able to make my much missed body combat class on Tuesday night at my home club- aka Buffy Aerobics - woo hoo! I have found a class close to work so after the Manchester run, will see if I can switch to that.

Really enjoying the WS book ("Fat Girls' Guide to Life") even though it's american and is a novel length rant - and I love her assertion that it's better to be fat & fit than slim & sedentary.

We dig dig dig

4 hours hard labour at the allotment - digging, weeding and sifting soil. I didn't realise why my husband was taking a close interest in my soil sifting technique until afterwards when he confessed to having been fixated with the way my chest was moving around as I shook the sieve....
My thighs hurt!

Another failed gym atempt

Sat through traffic jam on the M1 last night to get to the gym - only to realise when I was there that my card is at home - and as it's not my home club, signing in wouldn't be possible! Still had 20 mins of walking at lunchtime - up to Monsoon to buy much needed summer skirt.
Have added my sister's blog to the links on the right - along with my stitch obsessed buddy's.

French Exercise Volume 3

Tuesday 2nd May
Our only "proper" walk. Having gazed up at the ridge of hills south of Fougaron for 3 years, we finally made it up onto it. To save Husband's ankles, we drove as far as Fontaine de l'Ours to minimise the length of the walk by starting at 1100m. It was still a good hour uphill to the Tuc de Tucol - at over 1500m it definitely qualifies as a proper hill! Terrain was steep beech covered slopes with the occasional bit of limestone poking through. Again, I took the poles up and Husband used them to come down - I'm impressed that he managed the full thing comparatively pain free. Took about 45 mins to descend.
Superb views from the top of the Pyrenees proper - snow capped and looking like proper pointy mountains.
Nature Stuff: Deer and red kites. From the summit, we saw a pair of vultures riding the thermals, drifting over the valley. Wild daffodils and stunning blue gentians (I think!) also on the summit.

French Exercise Volume 2

Monday 1st May
Husband's knee and ankles were still hurting so we did plan a zero exercise day of visiting Albi and Cordes, both NE of Toulouse.
Didn't quite work out like that. Albi was much more than just an incredible cathedral so we spent a good hour or so just walking around looking at dyers houses. Not exactly hard work, but I reckon it counts!

Cordes was a different proposition - it's on top of a hill and traffic is banned so a walk up to reach the town was kind of inevitable. Good 20 minutes of uphill on cobbles followed later by a much easier descent. Husband's legs kind of held out!

French Exercise - volume 1

Sunday 30th May - Did the very pleasant walk up to our barn from Fougaron for probably the last time. Exercise wise - a good half hour of uphill walking at a level where I was glowing well and where Husband was asking me if I was OK! I used poles uphill and passed them onto Husband for downhill - a system that worked well as he still feels self conscious about using them before his ankles hurt. He still managed to knacker his knee though.

Nature stuff - Saw a pine martin! It shot across the path ahead of us - just about clocked the body length, head shape and big fluffy tail. Plus primroses and violets. The woods were looking beautiful - new almost lime green sweet chesnut leaves contrasting with the dark conifers. And the stream was as picturesque as usual.