Give Blood, Spend 650 Cals

I've failed miserably to find out if my extreme rubbishness at the gym last Thursday was connected to giving blood the day before. Lots of websites are keen to emphasise that your body replaces the fluid loss very quickly, but I can't find anything that tells me how long it takes it to manufacture replacement red blood cells. I did find out that it burns 650 cals!

Anyway, tonight was a bit better at the gym. I managed my 30 mins at 10/12 2 minute intervals & although it's still tiring, my recovery time is decreasing. Also did 15 mins x training - together with cycling to/from work, I don't feel too guilty about having fish & chips tonight.

Cycled yesterday too - so my new cycling cumulative total is 206.65km. Running total is 18.5km.

Skating - I enjoyed it, but it was so busy - new year resolution factor, people following up on enjoying a mini outdoor rink at Xmas plus dancing on ice back on telly combination! Our coach decided to teach 2 girls who'd turned up too late for the 8pm class so was split with 3 levels - not ideal.

Whilst I was out, Husband fixed my work bike - the bottom bracket was sounding its death rattle as it was badly corroded. He did co-opt M at one point. It's running beautifully now!

Sunny Weekend

Lots of crisp bright light this weekend so a few more photos here than usual.... it's seemed more March like than January. Snowdrops, I expect, but it seems early for all the daffodils we've seen.

Husband's parents came over to help him celebrate his birthday. We squeezed in a short ride from the house before they arrived on Saturday - 16.65K, bringing my 2008 total up to 182.65K. Thompsons Lane was very claggy at the bottom, but on the whole, the circuit we did was OK for mud. For some reason, I was convinced I was ultra slow (prob as I do more road riding now on my commute) but was persuaded otherwise.

We then went to Old Winchester Hill with our visitors - gentle walk around the top to the hill fort & back again, enjoying views across to the Isle of Wight. Stopped to look at a kestrel for a while that was doing lots of low level hovering close tot the path.

And then went to the gym - Husband and parents swam whilst I (finally!) managed to run for 30 minutes at 10/12 splits. X trainer too. So I felt very justified in enjoying the Japanese meal we went out for that evening - and in downing a few beers.

No "proper" exercise today - but lots of walking as we went to the Weald Down Open Air Museum which has old buildings retrieved & reconstructed from the surrounding area all spread over 50 acres. It was sunny enough for a picnic! The totem pole type photo was taken of a sculpture that's now by a forge there.

Drained of energy - literally!

Truly rubbish at the gym tonight - I was OK on the x trainer but ran out of steam after only 20mins on the treadmill. A few weights but then I was feeling awful - and down at my performance. Traipsed around the supermarket with Husband convinced I was about to pass out.

I finally twigged why (I think) - I gave blood yesterday. I guess my body just hasn't fully manufactured enough replacement blood yet! No real problem but I guess that cycling to/from work then hitting the gym was a tad too much with depleted levels. I'll know for next time!

Accumulation

I've had an idea about how I track my progress in 2008 - I'm going to add up distances for each activity. Apart from skating which would be tricky!
So, 2008 to date:

Running 5K (pathetic huh?)
Swimming 0.88K (all tonight - went swimming with Husband)
Cycling 154K (much more satisfying!)

I think I should try & come up with a geographic expression of this - suggestions welcome.

Happy Birthday to Husband - 43 today!

First Ever 3 Turn

Just the one, can only do it on my right leg - but hey, it's a start!

Newspaper Splint

Today's ride was a bit more eventful than usual - we spent some time with a couple of students who'd crashed their bikes into eachother about a mile from Brockenhurst. The girl was looking really upset with grazes on her head & the bloke was cradling his wrist & seemed to be in pain. A was with us - which was good for the students as he's an ex nurse. The wrist seemed to be broken & A improvised a splint out of zinc oxide tape from my first aid kit & a newspaper - v.impressive! Very kind passing walker who was on her way back to her car offered to take student to the station - otherwise, I think we'd have had to have called an ambulance. I suspect she took him all the way to Southampton General. Having checked the girl was OK, we left her to walk both bikes to Brockenhurst station. Talked to A afterwards about stuff I should think about adding to the first aid kit - will be blogging soon on this!

Anyway, the ride was the circular Burley/Brockenhurst route - a very easy 32K which we did in 1 hour 56 of riding time - impresssive as A's girlfriend K came & she's not done as much cycling as the rest of us (Husband, me, A, C & M). Grey skies, but not cold. We did get wet but from puddles & standing water, not from rain. Lots of ponies & just one deer.

K brought brazil nut brownies - very much appreciated at the end!

Unrealistic expectations

There are days when I question my intelligence. Today is one of 'em! I haven't run since trying to do so with a post cold chest infection 3 weeks ago & having to have a break after 3.5K. I was dreading running again & decided that the treadmill would be the best option. It's been so long that I couldn't remember what speeds to enter - & ended up running my fastest ever 5K as a result - 26:20. And my lungs were complaining bitterly so I switched to slow jog & then to walk. I guess that after a break, expecting to run faster than before is dumb. I am dumb!

Cycled to work on Thurs & Fri. Body Combat on Wed.

X joined G & I for skating on Monday - she has her own skates & looks good on the ice which I'm putting down to being Viennese. I love watching G skate - she's developing so well - looks graceful & much closer to dancing.

Forest Pootle

Husband & I went biking in the Forest yesterday - just the 2 of us as he's still getting over his cold/chest infection so we knew we'd be slow and that we may have to cut it short.

In the end, he pushed for an extension at the end, pushing up the route by 5k to 26.8k. Ascent was 576m.

It did take Husband a good 4-5k to warm up properly, but after that, he was almost up to normal speed. I found myself slower up hills than pre Xmas - it's a route I expect to be able to do primarily in 3rd, but used 2nd quite a bit.

We started from Swan Green, went up the road to Acres Down, across to Canadian War Memorial, towards Burley but turne left to come out on Bolderwood Drive. South the Rhinefield Drive, then left towards Lyndhurst. Husband's extension took us back via the Portuguese Fireplace.

3 deer shot across the path in front of me at one point - close enough for me to think about braking!

Helmets

Cycle helmets are interesting - they've gone from something absolutely nobody who wasn't a professional cyclist would wear when I was a kid to being almost standard bike gear.

My nephew J is currently very unhappy as he's not allowed to ride his new bike or use his new rollerblades until Wiggle manage to send Baby Sister a helmet in his size (they have been failing miserably up to now).

I don't cycle without one following my accident - mine's a full face version as I'm specifically nervous about the prospect of smashing my face.

So why interesting?

My standard helmet wouldn't have helped me much at all when I smashed my face - I'd still have lost a tooth, my top lip would have required a surgeon to put it back together, I'd still have broken my nose. It would have prevented the grazes on my forehead. But I now won't cycle without one - my helmet is a device I use to kid myself cycling is safe!

On a business trip to Utrecht, I was pleased to see so many cyclists but surprised to see very few helmets. Some children (but by no means all) but virtually no adults. There's plenty of infrastructure for bikes - loads of paths separate from traffic - but also plenty of cyclists on roads.

Arguments for helmets are pretty straightforward, but there is another set of views - it can be linked to a decrease in cycle use - so from a public health perspective, helmets could be argued to be detrimental as they may put people off taking exercise.

There's also an argument that wearing a helmet may encourage cyclist to take more risks and drivers to approach cyclists with less care. Even with lots of cyclists, the Netherlands had the lowest number of cyclist deaths per billion km cycled in 1996 - apparently! The BMJ article argues that the injury rates per cyclist are lower when more people cycle - so in a weird way, helmets may be detrimental to cyclists' health as being compelled to wear one, puts people off cycling.

Having said all that, I'd be unhappy if I saw any of the kids in my family cycling without a lid - so I guess I'm not convinced by the arguments against!

Skating Anniversary

We started our lessons at Gosport on 8th Jan 2007 - 1 year tomorrow! There are a few of us who are still regulars. Our lesson has been changed to 8:30pm which really suits me - we can leave a bit later & rather than hanging around getting cold for 20mins waiting for the rink to be opened at 8pm, G & I can aim to get there for about 8:10pm & actually warm up properly pre lesson. We can then mess about for 10 mins or so afterwards & leave at our normal time. Result!

Cycling to work was hard again - but more down to a strong head wind this morning than my fitness. It was tough getting across the railway bridge - exposed & headlong into the wind.

Back on the Big D - determined to stick to it for at least a few weeks! I'm in the enviable position today of needing to eat a bit more before bed as I deem 1200cals for today to be unsustainably low!

Taking it easy

Husband persuaded me that I'm still not well enough to exercise properly atm, so we declined requests to cycle today. Went for a walk instead - on the spit that separates Keyhaven marshes from the Solent to Hurst Castle & back - 2 hours of wandering. Saw lots of birds on the marsh - Egrets, Oystercatchers, Curlew, Turnstones & Dunlins - we did remember some of the species from the boat trip up the Exe in November!

The Christmas decs are all now down - we took the tree to the big compost bin at the tip yesterday. I treated myself to tulips & daffodils as the lounge was looking very bare afterwards.

I'm feeling quite a bit brighter today so I'm hoping I'll be back to exercise properly next week.

Still Snotty

Still not feeling 100% - I cycled to work today & yesterday & it's left me feeling very tired both days. Curled up on the sofa now with a beer & feeling very uninspired to leave it. Ever!
My chest is mostly cold-free but hurts when I exercise, my sinuses are sporadically hurting - I think that's a legacy of breaking my nose in my accident - and I have the energy levels of a spent battery....