Goggle Grump Update

• First pair - grey lensed speedo - lost.
• Second pair - black speedo - worked fine but cut into my eye sockets, making me look like a red eyed panda after a few lengths. Pain did take the edge off my swimming experience.
• Third pair - lovely lilac lensed speedo - leaked badly, causing pool rage to set in as I attempted to tweak every length.
• Fourth pair - considered stealing Husband's zoggs as they work perfectly - but instead bought my own at a ludicrous £17 from the gym shop. And they are perfect! Big lenses allow a degree of peripheral vision (a bit academic as I am a speccy four eyed creature and swim in soft focus). No leaking. Comfortable - even with hair/strap interface. Easy to adjust. Very happy!

41 lengths and I feel I'm starting to really get used to this head-in-the-water concept - so much that I was able to try & get my arms to perfom better. More upper body strength would be useful - I managed to burst into tears today when husband presented me with a too heavy box of books from the loft & I found myself stranded in pain half way up the step ladder. Not my most dignified moment! He did rescue me.

Uber Burley Loop

I had the chance to try out Husband's new Forest route today - which takes in some of our favourite sections from 3 different routes. Starting at Burley, old railway line to Brockenhurst, up to Emery Down & over to the Portuguese Fireplace via the hibernating Reptile Centre. Husband fixed puncture and I admired cute pigs. Up to Highland Water towards Milkham, then parallelling the dual carriage way before cutting underneath it, going back to Burley via a pretty bit with a pond. 39.15km and we got back to the car just as it started raining.

We were still drenched though thanks to loads of surface water - and I got cold - esp at the end. My top half was well insulated with a wool base layer and windproof top - but my bum and legs weren't warm after first soaking.

I also managed to burn 140 calories on the wii - not quickly - in between jewellery construction.
My knee and backside have been a bit achey this week so all I did after Body Combat on Wed was pedal to work & back.

Running went well on Monday - and I think I have the sessions scheduled OK for the Christmas break. I do need to do some research and thinking on training plans though - so the group can approach the Eastleigh 10K next year with a measure of confidence.

Why haven't I been to Bristol before?

Liked Bristol lots. Bit like Vancouver, Istanbul & Auckland (stay with me...) it's got water breaking it up at different angles and like 2 of the 3, has had lots of harbourside re-development. We had 2 objectives for the weekend - catch up with J who's in Bristol & try out the Thermae Spa in Bath. Hotel prices led to us staying in Bristol - and to be honest, I preferred it to Bath.
Lots of rain on Saturday. We got drenched waiting for ferries - but still enjoyed getting our bearings on the water.
Bit of a Brunel theme started - SS Great Britain was much more interesting than I expected. Husband told me about his Grandad being on HMS Exeter in WW2 when it was shot almost to bits, limped into Port Stanley & cannibilised metal from SS Great Britain's scuppered hulk to become seaworthy again.

Fabulous catching up with J & B that evening - and meeting their very cute son for the first time.

Got up a bit late on Sunday & walked over to Arnolfini to see a Climate Change art thing before breakfast in a cafe/bike shop. Then more Brunel - Clifton Suspension Bridge and a walk up to the Observatory for a better view.

Shopping in Bath was a bit disappointing, but the Spa was good. Busy, but apart from not having enough showers, it was well able to cope with the numbers. I loved looking out over the cityscape in the dimming light (and rain) from the rooftop pool - but goggles weren't needed. Very pleased that hugging Husband was socially acceptable in the pools - it was kind of romantic in an odd way. The water didn't smell bad - but didn't taste great - kind of old badoit! Steamrooms were very non-plastic and immaculate - although we couldn't tell which aroma was in each. The meal included with our package was better than we expected. I was surprised that we had to rush at the end in order to meet the 3 hour deadline - I'd expected to have exhausted its charms much sooner! My skin is now very soft and I almost relaxed. Not a cheap way to spend an evening - but enjoyed the experience - and it's another Top 40 objective ticked off.

A good week

It's been quite a good week for exercise. I pedalled every day except Wed. Got myself to Body Combat on Wed and to the gym tonight. And running on Tuesday was fine.

Feeling a bit achey in the legs and feet tonight - weirdly, foot ache went away when running. I did better on running intervals than any session over the last few months, keeping it up from 12 mins to finishing at 30. I'm going to have to do more though - way off my Eastleigh 10K target pace.

Wii fit plus is here. The new calorie count feature satisfies my inner anorak - and confirms my hunch that it's nowhere up to "proper" cv work in terms of energy burned. It's not a huge deal for me as I tend to use the wii for yoga and muscle stuff. Some very odd new games - the cycling is especially odd.

I have invested in new goggles ready for a spa visit on Sunday - really looking forward to going away esp as some work pressure has just been eased. I'm almost feeling human already - much earlier than last weekend.

Goggle Grump

I had such a grumpy swim yesterday - I couldn't get my goggles to stop leaking & was swimming with 1 eye shut for the last chunk of every length. Then wasted time fiddling about with them every length trying to get the fit better. Length 20 - they finally stopped leaking, but misted up so I continued to 40 in soft focus!
Windy pedal this morning but the weather calmed during the day and it was dry for running. Not a great turnout tonight but enjoyable, speed with first group & hill with the second. My knees are aching which I'm really hoping is a temporary state of affairs.
One of the runners was telling me how much fitter she feels now - I'm reallly chuffed for her. It makes it all seem worthwhile!

In touch with my inner anorak

Through (finally!) connecting our wii to the world, I've discovered that 30mins of wii tennis burns 122.85 calories for one of my weight! So not as good as a jog or pedal, but still something. We're addicted to wii snowboarding though in the remote mode which I suspect is negligible in benefits other than entertainment. I've ordered the wii fit plus software - which will satisfy my inner calorie anorak as it gives calorie estimates. And sadly, this was a major motivation in purchasing.

Husband went cycling yesterday whilst I had a most enjoyable afternoon with G. The only glitch was having my purse swiped - in a busy shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon. John Lewis scored huge brownie points - their Card Services team were really helpful when we came in to stop my partnership card - allowed me to use their landline, looked up phone numbers and even brought us both a pot of tea. I now intend to do as much of my Xmas shopping as poss in John Lewis!

So apart from my wii fit, no exercise to report since Thursday. Hoping to do something today.

Back on the bicycle

Two wheels better - even if I did get a little soggy pedalling home today. Traffic has been dreadful over the last few days- which is good for cycling motivation. Lowlight was an hour sat on Oxford southern bypass - lorry overturned on other carriageway causing gridlock. It's been the first proper soaking for my panniers - they passed the test.

No pedalling at the weekend as my folks were here en route to a stint working on a cruise ship - have convinced Dad that they are really galley slaves. The ship will slow down when he's teaching bridge as there will be one less rower...

Anyway, enough of the excuses. Gym on Sunday and tonight - overheated big time tonight as the ventilation is up the spout, probably due to the gym renovation.

Running was calorie-anorak-interesting on Mon & Tue as I took all groups bar the beginners on the same route. The one we looped back to do a little speed used 451 calories. The gentlest one used 331 calories. So that's 120 extra down to higher intensity and 0.21km more distance.

I am a slug

No exercise whatsoever today - absolutely diddly squat (is that how diddly is spelt)? I attempted to collect my Panda from the garage & got stuck in traffic everywhere - the highlight was 10 minutes underneath the M27 at J8. So as the chap I spoke to had to collect his child from nursery rather than keep the place open just for me (he was apologetic - bless), I gave up & collected car today - so a third non-pedal day. The traffic was a useful reminder of just how much more I benefit from pedalling to work.
Gym last night - I hadn't been for so long that I didn't realise that it's getting a spruce up. This includes some "floor classes" - so my new mission is to persuade Husband to give a Spinning class a go with me sometime.

Curiouser & Curiouser

Getting very confused about the relationship between Run in England & Women's Running Network. I'm hoping that the new RIE county activator will help to un-confuse me! I met her on Tuesday - she has a remit to develop new RIE groups across Hampshire - and I was hoping that this would mean more groups that Eastleigh WRN members would be able to run with - but I've been reading up on t'internet & am now more mystified. Anyway, she was lovely and is keen to support me which is fabulous. And she ran with us - very much appreciated!
Useful chat about development - I think I may need to review my top 40 objective to become a level 2 coach - might investigate alternative ways to improve my running coach skills.

No pedalling today as I was due to attend an off site meeting - which was moved to on site. And my Panda is being serviced tomorrow - so another petrol fuelled day.

I definitely spent a few calories on Saturday night bouncing around a dancefloor if the level of sweatiness I achieved was anything to go by! Nice gentle relaxing Sunday followed.

Body Combat tonight - haven't been for so long that the routine had changed. I'm plesaed that the new tracklist includes Metallica!