Hangovers are not compatible with building work

Woke up this morning with a pounding noise - took a few minutes to realise that it wasn't my hangover from office Christmas party, but the builders doing their thing... so I gave up on my scheduled lie in & headed off for retail therapy - so all I have to report for today is a fair bit of walking!

Achieved quite a bit - Christmas shopping commenced & I found a wickable cycling/walking/running top that looked as if it might help Kitty to avoid dying of hypothermia whilst pedalling to work - it's her birthday coming up very soon. I am confused though as to why outdoor clothing mfrs seem to think that women like to wear nowt but baby blue and powder pink - they should employ Kitty to zap up their colour pallettes!

Lots of dancing last night - very impressed with my new very shiny shoes which remained comfy despite not being flat. Mary Jane straps, wedge heel - and they look good too. Impressed with my colleagues' willingness to bounce around. Only party related injury was from my sequinned dress which scratched my arms enough to leave a faint rash!

Body Combat on Wed was exhausting. Instructor had gone through the archives & dug out some of the most manic tracks from previous releases.

Chilly

Very cold today - I'm huddled on the sofa wearing a fetching combination of PJs, socks and a big woolly jumper atm! So I wasn't best pleased to find a cold shower at work - hoping that it's fixed by tomorrow. I cycled from work to X's & opted to wear my very warm running tights under my very warm cycling tights - it worked pretty well.

Even better was taking a print out of the suburban labyrinth - so we got less lost on an even paced 4.84K route. Managed to choose fewer narrow pavements & less leaf coverage - all good! We discussed the irritating British habit of not letting you know what road you are on - and obscure house numbering systems & tendency not to display the house number/name - not the case in Vienna.

Apparently X did first aid when she took her driving test as it's an Austrian requirement. My first aid course on Sunday was the first I'd done since being in the Guides many many years ago - and loads has changed. It was certainly interesting and I'm looking forward to day 2 on Sunday. We covered resus stuff, bleeding choking and incident mgt. Husband is going to be my guinea pig for practising recovery position this week!

Gym last night - 30mins x trainer, 20mins stepper.

Kick Glide Breathe

Although I went swimming later on, I got most of my exercise fix on Friday from walking - home to station, Euston to Waterloo (after the presentation I went to finished), station to home. I'm not a huge London fan, but I do enjoy walking across it - lots to see!

I have no idea how many lengths I swam on Friday evening as I was completely focused on getting my breathing right. Did kind of OK, but still felt it was more like controlled drowning. I was breathing every 2nd stroke. Once Husband had finished his 50 lengths, he gave me a bit more coaching - including the little mantra "Kick Glide Breathe" ("Easy Work Enjoy" in a Guardian article on breaststroke). He got me to breathe every stroke & to try & slow my strokes - eventually, I should be doing big, powerful pulls/kicks, letting myself glide properly. Definitely improving, but I think project "swim with head under water" is still very much WIP.

I'm looking forward to being able to do a similar routine to G where she alternates crawl with breaststroke - but I'm a way off this atm. I've added a swimming cap to my Christmas list (fabric type) as I find keeping my fringe & layers out of my eyes & avoiding painful goggle strap hair interface challenging. Can't really wear a buff in the pool!

Exercise today - not much apart from heaving 21 boxes of tiles from store into car (in 2 batches as the weight looked a bit much for the Panda) & then into house, plus some more wallpaper stripping. Husband spent an heroic amount of time attempting to de-builders-dust the house - bit of a losing battle atm.

Misplaced in suburbia

It is embarrassing to admit that even after 16 years in the deep south I still get lost especially in Southampton & Chandlers Ford. Within the latter there's a high number of big houses with high hedges that seem to absorb my sense of direction - and after last night I suspect that x has the same issue!

We went for a run together for the first time and apart from getting lost, it was great - nice pace, good chat and we covered 5.9km.

I must research better for our next session (already planned for Tuesday)- directions and avoid too many pavements that are completely obscured by soggy leaves.

www.mapmyrun.co.uk now exists - same kind of thing as the .com site but quicker to load!

Mechanical stuff

My bike isn't very well. Goldfish has kindly checked it over, and concluded that the cones and bearings (which are probably important) are dying. Husband is sorting parts for me & Goldfish has offered to to the mending bit.

Anyway, cycled to work today & will do so tomorrow. Hopefully cones & bearings will survive 7 miles of flat-ish tarmac - and hopefully we can get replacements this weekend.

I've also been asked to lubricate the chain more often. Sounds a bit mechanical to me. I think it's best to leave these kind of skilled jobs to skilled experts and I should stick to stuff I'm good at. Like shopping, eating chocolate and drinking beer.

We had a day of luverly DIY yesterday - clearing spare room of furniture & stuff and then stripping wallpaper. I'm sure that must have burnt some cals because it definitely tired me out.

Body Combat tonight - Sassy sneaked in a Body Attack track at the end. I shouldn't have gone though - completely forgot about an appointment for a facial - so I will have to phone salon & grovel tomorrow.....

Swimming

Met up with Fabulous Mother In Law after her mega yoga sesh & went with her to Osborne Hotel - impressive crescent building overlooking Meadfoot bay. Not that we could see the sea as we were there to use the pool.

Husband sulked about the pool not being 25m - and about his luverly turquoise bathers (previously referenced!) but I found a major benefit to being in an empty smaller pool - I finally got the swimming lesson I've been after. I've never got the hang of swimming with my head in the water - which has contributed to my lamentable technique & neck ache. Husband blames it - weirdly - for my screw kick that kills my left knee.

Anyway, after 20mins of coaching by Husband (who alleges that he could swim before he could walk!), I felt I was making progress. The trick seems to be to focus only on my breathing and posture - don't even think about am I pulling hard enough etc. The acid test will be whether I can apply it in a full length pool!

Brixham

Husband went fish this morning with his Dad and Fabulous Mother in Law had a day's yoga leaving me to mooch about - had a pleasant wander around ending up on babbacombe pier with the boys. Another 2 hours walking this afternoon at Brixham with husband. Silly full short skirt got a bit unmanageable on the sea wall which entertained husband too much!

The Great Escape

We're on a long weekend with the Fabulous In Laws - escaping the builders, the DIY & sorting out we need to do and a much needed couple of days off work. The plan was to install Fabulous In Laws' broadband and do a little mountain biking.

Just a gentle walk to report yesterday - I'm still not 100% although the sniffling is declining markedly. I also spent a frustrating hour tracking down the last pair of men's bathers in Torquay as we forgot to pack any swimming stuff. Husband now owns possibly the most turquoise trunks in existence - only £3 so I won't be upset if they go STCC (straight to charity shop) after our swim tomorrow. Husband successfully installed broadband & sorted out a few issues with the PC here - so i can now blog! Our walk was a wander along Babbacombe beach. Dinner with the very lovely T & B last night - more than enough calories to offset the walk!

Lungs still not up to much today so I went to the beachhut in the car for breakfast - it felt so wrong! Good to see the Fabulous In Laws' buddies J & E down there.

Dartmoor jailbreak this afternoon - we all went to Princetown & whilst the Fabulous In Laws walked, we did the 22.66K Princetown route from the Rough Guide - very impressed! Nice little climb to start with on a renovated track that still had rocks & mini gullies to negotiate - good to realise that Dartmoor granite isn't slippery when wet. Then a long rocky 2 mile descent that got technical in a couple of spots. The kind of downhill where you need to keep focussed the whole time. And yes, I had a good few walks!

Very pretty bit going across a grassy pasture with the path littered with big-ish smooth rocks. Short road section (reservoir & waterfall views) going up steeply to join a disused railway - it was the highest in England. Very muddy mile or 2 before the terrain settled into more typical disused railway mode. Stiles to lift the bikes over. The weather closed into a foggy drizzle which kept it all very Hounds of the Baskervilles - almost claustrophobic feeling. The whole railway section was a very gradual climb, taking us back to Princetown.

More tired than i should be now - but I'm glad I was able to ride.

Sniffle part 2

My cold was fab yesterday - made even better by very little sleep on Wed evening. I cancelled Body Combat on Wed & drove to work yesterday as I was feeling very pathetic - but got back on my bike today.
I do need to think about where to store my commuter bike on days when I don't cycle in though atm because the builders have managed to get cement on it! Nothing major, but I think I will be leaving it in the hall whilst we are away this weekend...

Sniffles.....

I am trying to ignore my sore throat, tight lungs and snotty nose as I'm not in the mood for a cold! Not too sure when I have been in the mood for a cold - but it's not today.

Much discussion at work over the last few days on bike lights. R was horrified to discover how much I'd spent on new lights - esp as he'd just picked up freebie lights that are one of our company's cyclist incentives. The next day, he claimed that the freebies actually absorbed light rather than emitted it & promptly blew a similar amount of dosh to me on a new LED rechargeable job! B in our team is soon to join the cyclists as he's moving to Eastleigh from Oxfordshire & dislikes cars on principle & preference. He did suggest that R & me join him in the bike shed sometime to compare lights....

Kit discussions with C at work too - it was pouring on Monday morning, her overtrousers failed - not fun for her having to spend the day in damp trousers! I've been quite pleased with my cheap Decathlon trousers so far - definitely waterproof, definitely breathable.

Kitty's raving about cheap reflectives snapbands from Skoolkit atm - pink ones might be a good addition to the lovely branded freebies provided by work so I become a beacon of light on my ride home.

Gym tonight - 10mins x trainer & I then sweated my way to 5K in 27:12 on intervals on the treadmill. My lungs felt spent so I switched to cooldown rather than continue to 30mins. 10mins on the stepper to finish. I skipped weights as I've had a bit of a right shoulder problem recently - slept awkwardly on Friday night.

Making Progress with Running Project

I've just done the Fitness in Running & Walking coaching course with UK Athletics - another step towards my Women's Running Network Eastleigh Group off the ground. And I think I've got the venue sorted.

The coaching course was in Swindon & the tutor was one of the founders of WRN - who's a sports therapist. Very knowledgeable, very supportive. I was surprised that about half of the 11 participants were personal trainers or other fitness professionals, but apparently setting up a running group is becoming a popular addition to portfolios. 2 other WRN women - it was great to hear how their groups are going.

The area I probably got the most from was depth on warming up - ways of specifically getting more mobility into the key muscle areas was really interesting. More depth on stretching too - tips on technique and I learned a great new stretch for IBTs - very useful for me as this will help with my damaged knee. Lots of discussion and ideas on how to work with mixed ability groups so that all individual participants enjoy it and get a good workout. I think I'll be able to deliver more structured sessions with a higher level of confidence now.

We've been advised to wait before progressing to level 2 as a new road running course is to launch imminently as opposed to the current endurance athletics option (where the longest event is a 3000m steeplechase - not quite the same territory as a 10K). Only other downside of the course was the venue - it was locked up & we spent the first 45 mins standing in a freezing carpark waiting for a caretaker who never materialised. Fortuneately, adjacent Swindon FC were able to provide us with their boardroom for the day!

I have a venue too - I think! The Hub is a new-ish sports centre close-ish to home. It has parking, lighting, loo and some additional facilities that will be useful from time to time (lovely bar, studio, sports hall, big sports field that will be great for fun games in summer).

Next steps - paperwork, firm up on the Hub & then get advertising underway.

Some exercise today as part of the course - 24mins of running and a little race walking! Apart from cycling, no other exercise since Wed. I had a work dinner on Thursday & fireworks party on Friday. Lots of packing boxes yesterday preparing for builders.

4 wheels bad

A spot of walking this morning - I was due in London for work so rather than scrabble for change for the parking meter, I walked down the hill to the station & back again later on. I think I walk faster when listening to the exercise friendly playlist on my dinky ipod shuffle. I grabbed some thermal undergarb from Uniqlo en route home (and a pair of skinny black jeans) that I'm planning on trialling under my thermal cycling tights on ultra cold mornings.

I then picked up my car, went to office, intending to head straight to gym for my body combat class - which would normally save time - but it took an hour to get there! Sitting in the static traffic, pining for my bicycle..... I missed the first 3 tracks so it could have been worse.

Lab Goggle Monday

I managed to forget my specs yesterday - so had a day of looking like a science geek as my lovely cycling sunnies look very lab goggle when their lenses are clear! This was only when staring at the screen - I found that soft focus was no barrier to effective meetings. There was a clear gender split - boys all noted that the specs were oakleys, girls just giggled.

I also decided that my new front light is effective as loitering yoofs complained that it was too bright on my way home.

Cycling and gym today. We went a bit later - after tea for a change as B & J were over at 7 to pick up some stuff. 20mins x trainer, 20 miserable minutes treadmill (at just 10kph) and 10mins stepper. I also squeezed in the incline press. I think I'm going to blame dehydration again for my lack of running prowess - or maybe having tea beforehand - or just lack of running fitness atm.

This little piggie

5 pigs on Sunday's ride - Mum was keeping half an eye on 4 adorable piglets who seemed very excited to be out & about, rootling through a soggy clearing in the Forest. We saw some distant deer too - but these were much less exciting than the pigs!

We were tight for time today as rain was scheduled for 3pm & we have a load of jobs to do as building work will soon be starting on our extension - took me 2 hours to through out back issues of Waitrose magazine for example (flick through, note which recipes grab me, load up in to an online scrapbook & catalogue...) - so a quick Forest blast seemed sensible.

Husband & I did a loop from the Portuguese Fireplace which was a variation on previous rides. We opted to avoid 2 fords given that there was heavy rain on Saturday - and I messed up the navigation earlier. 23.68km in under 2 hours - less than 100mins if we exclude fixing Husband's puncture & stopping to appreciate the pigs! His puncture was a big bit of flint - and it made the proper pssssst noise. On returning to the car, he managed to get a second puncture, but this was just as we turned into the carpark - so easier to fix at home. We got back to car at 2pm, rain started almost bang on schedule at 3!

Our mountain bikes are going to be having a holiday soon - building work necessitates rehousing. Goldfish & Kitty have kindly agreed some space for them in their garage which is much appreciated. Kitty has also donated her Terry skort to me as she's much more a fan of capris - I will get some great wear out the skort of next summer - I'm very appreciative!

Blisters on my feet and credit card

Let's see if Husband reads my blog.... blew a little cash on Friday as my favourite cycling clothing store had a 3 day sale - I know that Kitty also indulged! So I now have some capris, a new vest top, waterproof shorts (an experiment!) and a lightweight waterprooof winging their way to me.

I quite like the gym on a Friday evening - we go later as this suits Husband with Esporta's lane swimming timetable. Only downside is dreadful TV - I can't cope with Coronation St or Question of Sport! Did 20mins on the x trainer and then braved the treadmill for the first time in weeks. Knee held out, but I only managed 12 mins at my normal interval pace. Then took it down to 10.5kph to complete 5k - hey, it's a start. Concerned though as my feet were very blistered by the end - not sure if it's down to the new trainers (which I've only used a couple of times) or the socks which from past experience, I know aren't really running compatible.

We were supposed to be cycling with G today - along the seafront in Bournemouth - but the weather really wan't seaside so we went out for lunch instead. Feeling a little squiffy atm having just got back from a halloween party.

Fat Bird’s Guide to Exercise – Cycling to work in Winter

Now the clocks have changed, I think it's time to ponder the joys of commuting on a bike in winter. I managed quite a few days last winter, but I want to up my cycling this year - an added incentive is that on Mon & Tue, I have to park over a mile off site & be bussed in - not my idea of fun on a Monday morning.

But enough whining!

On a crisp, sunny winter morning, pedalling is difficult to beat. And given the extra traffic, there's even more benefit to getting out of a car & onto a bike. Having the right kit makes a big difference to comfort - and as with summer, it's a great way to integrate more exercise into a daily routine.

I find that I have to take more care & kill my speed in quite a few places - the cycle path through the golf course is a bit lethal with wet leaves - a pity as it's the fastest downhill stretch. I m very grateful to Eastleigh Borough Council for putting a less slip surface on the very slippery wooden bridge over the stream at Fleming Park - a tumble there a few years ago meant 2 months of physio....

Have I done it?
Yup and planning on cycling most days this winter.
Sociability?
Unity in adversity against the elements and the recognition that we've lost the fairweather cyclists seems to elicit more smiles & acknowledgements in the bike shed than in summer!
Convenience?
3/5 – As I mentioned in summer, I have a workplace within easy cycling distance. I also live in one of the sunniest parts of the UK that rarely gets snow. But even with all of that, winter cycling is higher hassle - more kit, more wear & tear on bike, more challenges.
Calories per 5 mins:
50 for me. However, as it replaces a drive, dividing total calories by the extra time spent getting changed etc makes it a 200 calories per 5 minutes result. I'm sure the count goes up in winter given that keeping your body warm must use cals!
Fun Factor?
5/5 on a sunny day in the light. Goes down a bit in the dark & when pouring with rain.
Pros:
Stress relief
Sheer bloody minded smugness when walking into the office - you've now really demonstrated that
you are saving the planet single handed & look lean & buff to boot - well something like that!
Fewer loitering yoofs to pass than in summer.
Shorter queues for the shower at work - which now acts primarily to warm me up!
Cons:
Drivers are even less likely to spot you.
Extendable dog leads - esp when wielded by an owner engrossed in a mobile phone call.
Leaves - slippery when wet.
Cycle paths aren't gritted!
Winter clothes - esp boots - are heavier to carry.
Salt & crud will do mean things to your bike, making maintenance a must. Husband is great at this!

Kit:
See the summer guide for basics. In addition:

• Lights - "Light up, light up - as if you have a choice" - Snow Patrol. You can't have too many lights & they can never be too bright. I've invested in a powerful little rechargeble LED number this year as my main dog-lead avoidance tool. I've kept the old front light on as a flashing "look at me, don't run me over" backup. On the back, I have a constant light under my saddle & a flashing LED by the chain. I think the lights are now worth more than the bike....
• Reflective bits on clothes/bags and bands - when you see a cyclist covered in these in the dark, you realise just how effective these are in increasing visibility to drivers.
• Good warm gloves are the difference between getting to work and enjoying the ride!
• Glasses - clear or yellow lenses, nice & big to keep cold winds out of your eyes as well as crud/eye interface prevention.
• Layers seem to be the answer to being warm without overheating. I'm currently sporting thermal cycling tights, breathable t-shirt as a base layer, long sleeved jersey & my waterproof - primarily as a wind stopper.
• Buffs provide much appreciated ear tip warmth! I have heard of using a shower cap in the rain over a helmet but I haven't tried this yet.
• Waterproof bag or panniers so you can change into dry stuff at work.

Other Cyclists:
G is heroically continuing - I'm impressed as she is so not into cold.
C is also carrying on with her much more substantial commute than mine - and Kitty continues to brave her scary route a couple of times a week. Goldfish is still using his single speeder.

Resources:
Your employer –I'm so appreciating the towels & showers now!
Kit - wiggle, chain reaction, minx, girls run too, she active, venus sports, evans cycles

Big Mac Index: 50 minutes