Solution to a clothing problem

This is a tenuous link to exercise - but bear with me.... I often shower mid evening due to timing of running/gym/classes, but never fancy wriggling back into jeans or other day clothes afterwards. But 8:30-9:30ish feels way too early for pyjamas - esp if I then prepare dinner. Coooking in nightwear just feels wrong! I'm sure that Husband would like me to opt for a slinky negligee/wrap thing - but that's still nightwear in my mind (& potential fire hazard for cooking?).
Solution is loungewear. I've gone for a shortsleeved dress length hoody sweatshirt and the first non-exercise leggings that I've worn since the 80s. I could wear it outside without controversy and very surprisingly, Husband likes the outfit lots.
It's probably a good thing for my bank account that my 2 favourite clothing stores atm (Muji & Uniqlo) don't have branches in Southampton...
Walked to station at an ungodly hour this morning & then walked from Waterloo to Victoria. Pretty picture will be added when mobile decides to talk to laptop. No other exercise today apart from exploration of Euston station as it was exacuated (fire alarm) and weaving through crowds to aforementioned stores from tube station.

Big D is still MIA....

I was very disappointed in M&S sale - it's normally a great source of cheap decent wickable t-shirts, but none were stylish enough!

Big D is still MIA....

Anyway, lots of exercise this week - cycled to work everyday so far, running group on Mon & Tue and buffy-the-vampire-slayer-does-aerobics class tonight. Didn't enjoy the latter quite as much as usual - Sassy has diverted from the current routine & brought back some older tracks which tend to be a bit more manic with less kicking. Wednesday proving to be a challenge as it's Body Combat class day - but that now follows 2 days of running and my limbs feel spent. Never mind - I'll have a much needed rest day tomorrrow.

Nettle tingle on legs - yup, another bike ride!

Just cycling on Thursday. Lots of walking on Friday as I spent the afternoon in the Science Museum seeing how the professionals explain complex stuff like global warming to us effectively - even had a mini run to catch my train!

Only exercise on Saturday was digging up potatoes at the allotment - I felt like a wombat as pulling the soil away with my hands was the most effective technique. This was whilst pest control expert fumigated our house to dispose of clothes moths.

Proper exercise today: 28.73km of mountain biking with Husband, X and S. We did the Abbotstone Down HCC route that I haven't done for ages. It's not difficult but is stretching enough to feel that I've ridden now - it uses a bit of the Ox Drove way and numerous bits of bridleway and farm track. It kept on spitting, but no proper rain until we got back to the cars - very well behaved weather! Sad when Husband despatched a rabbit that was sat by the side of the road, far gone with mixy - such a horrible disease and I'm pleased that Husband gave the bunny a swifter end. Good hear about S & X's holiday on a canal boat thing in France - I am very tempted to give a boat based holiday another go some time!

Not even going to log failure on the Big D front - esp last night when Kitty & Goldfish came over for a barbecue and I rediscovered beer. Let's just say that tomorrow is another day - one when I hope to straighten my halo...

Big D collapses

I'm hoping that this is a temporary blip on the food front!

Tuesday:
Big D: Went out & had a lamb dhansak, peshwari naan, 2 poppadoms and a pint of cobra.
Exercise: Cycle commute and the first Intermediate WRN run

Wednesday:
Big D: Fish & chips, so v.poor.
Exercise: Cycle commute and body combat

My feeble excuse on Tuesday was having a house stinking of insecticide as Husband was battling the clothes moths whilst I was running. Today, we went to B&Q straight after Body Combat to get garden furniture - I hadn't eaten much & was tired/smelly/hungry and getting increasingly grumpy - and I think Husband was worried that I would be psychotic if I wasn't fed soon!

I'm hoping that damage may have been mitigated by having 2 good exercise days. And the peshwari naan was particularly fine!

In my bag

Just been reading a Guardian blog on the contents of other people's bike bags - here's mine:

In my messenger type bag:
Waterproof jacket & trousers
Reflective snapband that doubles up as a cycle clip for waterproof trousers
Fold up hair brush
Hairband
Deodorant
Shower Gel
Work clothes
Shoes
Packed Lunch
Purse
Mobile
Camera
Antihistamines
Specs & case
Keys for house & bike lock, both attached to work pass
Bike lock
String bag
At least one letter to post (these can stay in my bag for embarrassing length of time!)

What should be in my bag but rarely is:
Pump
Puncture patches or spare tube
Spare front light & spare batteries for rear light
Multi tool
Moisturiser (there's a little tub of vaseline on my desk though)

Running was OK last night - it was great to greet a new standard member & to see JK for the first time in a few weeks. Less good was one of the Beginners having to drop to a pained walk with knee problems - she may have to quit which is depressing. I was very impressed with her carrying on walking the route instead of going straight home. Knees are a tricky area - the general advice is that as your legs strengthen, you'll get fewer problems and that the right shoes can help enormously. I've added knee mobilisation to the warm up and I'm hoping that this helps as knee stretches that can be done outside are pretty limited.

Monday
Big D: OK, under with exercise cals
Exercise: Good! Cycle Commuted and 2 runs with WRN.

Infested!

Sunday:
Big D - non existent. Been resisting the temptation to comfort eat properly though. Beer is calling to me from the fridge...
Exercise - negligible unless housework counts

Normally on Sundays, I post a pretty picture of the Hampshire countryside and talk about cycling. Today, I was woken at 4:30am by Husband (who'd been working late) telling me that the lounge is infested with clothes moths who've been feasting on the carpet. Couldn't sleep as I kept on trying to work out how many wool based clothes I own! And then we had a fabulous day of cleaning, broken up only by a very welcome cup of coffee with Kitty and a shoe rack quest at Ikea. I've washed every wool based item of clothing, emptied all cupboards, sprayed, tidied clothes back in, removed 5 carriers of stuff that I'm not going to wear again. Husband worked hard too but I'm glad he spent most of this afternoon asleep as he's out working again tonight.

The only silver linings:

• I have a reason to dispose of the lounge carpet! It was limiting options for paint colours and we need to redecorate this year.
• There is only one other carpet in the house & that's not wool and already up for replacement as it's falling apart.
• None of our clothes have been chomped.
• Have discovered many items I'd forgotten about.
• Space in the wardrobe for more clothes!

Doesn't quite make up for the house smelling of flyspray & the modern take on moth balls (OTT floral scent added to what are presumably insecticide laden discs). Fun fun fun.

Hurdled the rubbish excuses

Friday:
Big D: Good!
Exercise: Cycle commute & gym
Saturday:
Big D: Not bad but have eaten all my exercise calories
Exercise: Walk & gym

There is a universally acknowledged truth that when faced with "there's no need to drive on trips of less than a mile or so" in theory, most of us would agree. However, when faced with the "do I drive to the paper shop/friend's house/post office?" conundrum, I almost always find a great reason to take the Panda. So although a 15 minute walk to the beautician this morning doesn't sound like much, I need to feel smug & celebratory that I got over the rubbish excuses (might rain, want to pick up a paper and they are so heavy on Saturdays...). And the 15 minute return journey was uphill!

I am now working on preparing my 40th birthday project. I've drawn on a number of sources including My Name is Earl and "Sleeping Naked is Green" by Vanessa Farquharson. Before I reach 41, I will work through a list of 40 things covering big goals like the Great South Run, stuff I should be able to do but never have like fixing a puncture and a few green enhancements to my life - a Top 40. Ideas welcome!

Return of the Forerunner

Wednesday:
Big D: OK
Exercise: No cycling, but did Body Combat
Thursday:
Big D: Sabotaged by BBQ at lunch at work with surprisingly tasty food. Have given up on food today & finished the damage with my new invention - pinky porky risotto (using some beetroot).
Exercise: Only the cycling.

I haven't been to Body Combat for ages and ages so the routine was completely new to me. I was chuffed that there was a bit less dance music and more rock. Husband's current guilty pleasure is there ("Hot n Cold") and I loved messed up mix abominations of Tutti Frutti and Tubthumping. And very pleased that we stretched at the end to Kings of Leon. Today my arms and shoulders are aching - a sign I need to get to the class more often.

Another welcome return (tenuous link) was the arrival of my Forerunner which I'd left on a minibus in Kelowna, Canada in June. This gadget has become an essential piece of my coaching kit - being able to tell everyone exactly how far they have run & being able to double check our pace. Its return also means that I can return Kitty's to her - she very kindly lent it at short notice, for which I am very grateful. And very grateful to Monashee Adventure Tours for its safe return.

Photographing vegetables

Tuesday:
Big D: Reasonably OK
Exercise: Just the cycle commute

There is a reason for me wielding vegetables in this pic - launching a photo competition at work in our internal magazine...

Yay I'm being supported!

Sunday:
Big D – OK-ish but didn’t count calories properly
Exercise – according to WLR, weeding for 2 hours for me is 580 calories – so not too bad

Monday:
Big D – Pretty confident I was under, but didn’t count calories properly
Exercise – cycle commuted, WRN so pretty good

I was pleased to meet the new area coordinator for the south east for WRN and Run in England yesterday, Brian. Had a good chat about WRN/RE plans for Hampshire & around as well as about Eastleigh WRN and it’s great to learn that there are plans for more groups. I’m very motivated now – must look into doing my Level 2 coaching course. We were all impressed by Brian staying to run with both groups – although he did bow out from the beginners after 15 mins or so to drive home to Cambridge.

I’ve decided to add a third group to WRN. The standard group runners are very diverse in terms of speed and I’ve been worrying about not supporting everyone in reaching their goals. The new group will be “Intermediate” although I suspect it may appeal to some experienced runners who are happier with a gentler pace. Major negative is that it will be on Tuesdays as I can’t shoehorn a 3rd group into Monday evening! Positive is that I’ll get an extra run done.

Poppies & Cornflowers

Friday:
Big D - just under!
Exercise - just the cycle commmute
Saturday:
Big D - Who cares! I used over 2,200 calories on today's bike ride
Exercise - refer to above!

B's a proper cyclist. He's ridden from Lands End to John O'Groats. He has 4 bikes. He complains that his cycle commute isn't long enough. He loves big hills. He watches the Tour de France. But as he is primarily a road cyclist, I was kind of hoping that lack of bumpy mud experience might keep him at a pace that mere mortals (ie me & Husband) could aspire to. Fat chance! We did a route from the house as B hasn't lived here for long & I was keen to show him the off road options locally. We got started a little later than planned due to tyre & tube replacement and Husband was dubious about the weather - it was spitting. Good ride though - we pushed up from the planned 20k route as B seemed to be enjoying himself (difficult to tell from a distance though) to a 41k spoon shaped route including up the impossible hill (we all walked some), SDW and Cheesefoot Head where the poppies and cornflowers were looking pretty. 2 punctures for Husband but he opted to simply keep the 2nd pumped up as it was towards the end and the rain was setting in for the day.
I'm hoping we can persuade B to come out again as I'm curious about his uphill prowess compared to Goldfish & Whippet Boy.

Breif visit to allotment on Friday as I'm in frantic preserving mode. Quite pleased with my first ever jam attempt (blackcurrant) but disappointed with how little juice I've extracted from 1 whole bush.

Halo straight again

Thursday:
Big D - OK - under for the day taking exercise calories into account
Exercise - WRN run with D in addition to commute, so pretty good!

I made my cycle home more challenging by buying 2 bags of sugar at lunchtime, ready for some domestic goddessery this weekend with allotment berries.
It was lovely evening to be running - light, not much wind, quite cool. D was suffering on the hils though due to a long standing injury problem so I trimmed back teh distance from a planned 10K to 7.5K.

Bead play

Wednesday:
Big D - Not disastrous, but not great either - shouldn't have had the final glass of wine! And the pretend carrot cake I had at work (71 calories a tiny slice) really wasn't worth the unimpressive taste.
Exercise - OK - cycled to & from work.
No Body Combat tonight as I was playing with beads with Kitty & X - very pleasant & a neat project with a new technique, spirals. X's were definitely the neatest! And I was impressed with Kitty's choice of beads - very stylish monochrome. Think I may try a few more ideas form this website...

Just under my calories today

Tuesday:
Big D - Touch & go, but in by 19 calories for the day!
Exercise - S'alright - just my pedal to/from work that was miraculously dry! We did go to allotment but as my only activity was picking rasberries, I don't think I can count it.

Test Way and Beach

Monday:
Big D - Pretty good - even with insomniac opening of dried apricot packet
Exercise - Fine!

My blogging is taking second place to the new beginner WRN group - but as Big D has commenced (again!) and exercise has slipped, I resolve to do better....

No gym last week and apart from some gardening and cycling to work, no exercise to report.


Had a fab beach barbecue with Husband, G, Kitty & Goldfish on Saturday - it had been rainy, but cleared up in time for us.


Gentle 30km yesterday with G, X, S and Husband along the Test Way. G coped brilliantly with my mountain bike despite it not having an armchair saddle. We had a very pleasant (if ridiculously priced!) lunch at the Mayfly at the half way point and admired the very fat trout in the river there.


I had a longer cycle home today as I managed to leave my mobile at a friend's last night but needed it for running. And it rained lots. And my front brake was scraping. Grump!


Better time at running even though only 2 came for the standard run. 4 new recruits for the beginners group who forgave me (I think!) for not checking my watch enough & having them run 3 mins by mistake!

Thought for today: Is very nearly 40 too old to be walking around with 10 year old style scabby knees?