UKIP don't love cyclists

If I was even entertaining the idea of wasting a vote on UKIP, I'd be persuaded otherwise by their attitude to cyclists! Walk at roundabouts, don't ride on roads, pay for bike parking. Barking.

Persuaded myself to jog in the woods tonight - I've been checking out paths & tracks to see which would be suitable for the fabulous WRN runners. 6km, not fast, thoroughly enjoyable. I now have a bigger portfolio of runs which will take advantage of sunny evenings and the beautiful Hampshire countryside. I really didn't miss repeatedly fiddling with my ipod's headphones - the new ones stay put & sound good.

Pedalled to work today - love the sunshine.

Less than boundless energy

Note to self - do not expect to be able to keep up with the speedier running group on Monday after pushing yourself on a Sunday. I was pathetic - didn't even manage to do the same distance, opting to have a brief chat with my neighbour at the top of the hill in the woods. I've got a couple of Mondays coming up when this might be repeated, so I will need to experiment with coaching from a bicycle - megaphone would give a great image!

Anyway, running took in more scenery - love the sunnier evenings & for very selfish reasons, I urge all to sign up to 10:10's Lighter Later campaign. Woods on Mon, river on Tue. Deer, sunsets, daffodils - what's not to love (excepting midges!)?

Brief swim tonight as Husband & CC Captain Chaos were installing gutter to the shed early evening and we only had 20mins or so before Aquafit took over the pool.

Pedalled to work today & yesterday. And a little wii.

The Big D - again

Apparently, 21% of UK adults smoke and that number is declining. 40% of UK adults are overweight - 20% are obese - and this number is increasing. So is it easier to give up nicotine or chocolate??

I'm embarking on the Big D - yet again - and I am trying to remember how I succeeded in 2006. Hence a photo of me in beautiful NZ in Jan 2005 as my stick - and prove to myself that I can lose fat - after all, I have done it! Carrot is the sailing holiday in May - I'd like to be more toned & look cool in the photos (yes, I am that shallow!). I do need to drink more liquid - I often eat when I'm probably thirsty. I've also re-done my WLR account - clean start!

New beginners on Tuesday - not many so I need to work on getting a few more & retaining all. Very pleased to have a few more in the 7pm Tuesday group now that it's relaunched as the "easier" regular run.

Gym last night - deliberately didn't run & did 35mins spinning and 20 x trainer. I've been walking a little more than usual as I've been on a course in Ealing this week & getting there on the train. But only 1 day of cycling to work.

Another wander on the beach

Bike shop fessed up - the pedal/coggy bit falling off was their fault - I'm actually impressed as it would have been very easy for them to bluff it & blame me instead! All fixed now & ready for a pedal today.

We went for a walk at Mudeford yesterday as we had much on our minds to discuss having just had an offer accepted for a house! I am trying to work out if pedalling to work will still be possible after the move, but it's 13.7 miles, about 4 times my current commute so I'm looking at ways to make it feasible at least a couple of times a week. I have a few months to work it out as we're hoping to do building works before moving in.

The walk also provided us with the opportunity to research which is the best cafe on the beach. My favourite so far is the one east from Avon Beach carpark & cafe - in the middle of the beach huts. Great soup, reasonable carrot cake, loved sitting outside.

Pedalled 3 days this week. Meeting in Sutton on Tuesday meant a train day and I had stuff to transport on Wednesday. Running went OK this week, with an extra 10K session on Wednesday. I've been trying to fit more wii in - surprised myself by having aching abs on Friday following exercising on Thursday evening.

Sports bras wear out

Let's just say that I bear the scars of a worn sports bra after running on Monday. Tuesday's choice of undergarment was a very different design - so nothing was exacerbated! Shock Absorber (which the offending bra was not) suggest replacement every 6 months - and other sites suggest 3-12 months.

You may note that Husband is on foot in this week's photo. My parents stayed for the day on Sunday unexpectedly - so we decided against cycling. Mum was too wiped out from a stomach bug for them to visit friends as they'd originally planned - so they watched the rugby whilst Husband & I went for a gentle walk in the woods. We also hit the gym where I tried a spinning bike for the first time - so much better than a "normal" exercise bike - felt much more realistic and great to focus on cadence. I think I can make more use of this as part of prep for South Downs Way. I also linked iPhone to the machines - exercise geek happiness!

Another 10K on Monday with WRN - and again, it went well. All other groups were fine - except 7pm Tuesday which didn't happen for the 3rd week. Cycled on Mon & Tue, but not today as I was walking around Earls Court all day.

A run that clicked

6 of us braved a cold and damp dark evening to give the Eastleigh 10K route a go. Some runs go OK, some really click - and this was a click. L came along who I haven't seen for ages & it was great to introduce her to the other runners. We weren't amazingly speedy - darkness, puddles, tree root bumps on pavement and road crossings meant it was never going to be a PB kind of evening. Immensely satisfying though.

My only opportunity to cycle to work happened on Wednesday this week due to commitments in Portsmouth.

My mountain bike has finally been repaired - £340 of repairs! All wear, tear, salt and general abuse - no calamities. Price tag includes new brakes - but not the still needed new saddle. The bike shop bloke hinted that I may now be able to out pedal husband up hills - will have to see if that's the case on Saturday....

Objective revision time!

I'm changing a few of my top 40 goals - some circumstances have changed and I'm having to apply a little realism!

31. Level 2 coaching - UK Athletics have revised their coaching qualifications and the new next level for me to do isn't available until September. And I'm 41 in August! If I did do the existing level 2, it would train me in coaching all types of athletics. Katharine from RiE apparently had to coach someone to do triple jump - having never done triple jump before. The big change with the new qualification is that it specialises in "Off track endurance" and specifically mentions mass participation running in the description. I think this will be more useful for me so I'm holding off. So I'm swapping objective 32 for "Swim in the sea on New Years Day" - which I did in Wales. So that's another done - yay me (with some fudging!).

32. Eastleigh 10K in sub 55 minutes - I'm changing this to sub 57 minutes - and that will still require some hard work between now and 28th March. I've found that coaching running 2 nights a week has done wonders for my endurance - but has not directly helped with speed!

I've been feeling a bit under the weather this week which may have resulted in me feeling like I was about to die at 6.5km at 10.5kph in the gym on Friday - or I might just be rubbish! Pedalled on Thursday & Friday - and I'm proud of pedalling to the pharmacy & paper shop this morning.

Fitness Equipment Al Fresco

I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo here (poor quality - sorry!) but some intriguing equipment has appeared outside the Hub (home to Eastleigh WRN amongst others). It's next to the kids playground, but appears to be gym style equipment - there's a cross trainer thing, strider thing and a weird skiing thing. We did give it a try after running on Tuesday - fair play for trying something new for adult fitness.

I was really impressed with Cragside's "fitness trail" that was more of an adventure playground for grown ups that I tried in the summer - and the popularity of Go Ape demonstrates that this is a potential growth area.

Monday's 8pm group did some great hill work, but numbers were as patchy as last week. My marketing efforts are going to be helped by WRN linking with Race for Life again this year - and I think I can organise the required training sessions around the Winchester and Southampton events.

Too pooped to go to Body Combat today - I slept badly last night and had an earlyish start - so it was just a walk up the hill today plus I will dig out the wii in a sec. Pedalled on Mon and Tue.

Haggis and a Hangover

Good party on Wednesday night hosted by Futerra, but I'm not sure that I danced enough to justify alcohol & haggis calories. Damage was made even worse by not having pedalled that day (overslept).

I had the opportunity to walk off my hangover on Thursday, making my way to the Eco Home exhibition at the Geffrye Museum somewhere near Hackney - some great items and well put together if not exactly huge or surprising! It's interesting that even when using the tube, just how much walking I do when I'm in London compared to home.

Just a bit of wii last night & lazed on sofa, crocheting.

Pedalled today & hit the treadmill. I decided to just run - no x trainer, no step machine, just running. And I really enjoyed it - did just over 9K at 10.5kph, so used it as my "long easy run" of the week. I was helped by the TV - when it was just 4 screens, it seemed to be Question of Sport & soaps on a Friday evening, neither of which float my boat (honourable exception to the gloriously trashy Hollyoaks), but I got to see the 1950s with Andrew Marr which most definitely does!

Uneven

Finished tonight's runs with a warm top half, but frozen from the waist down! It was so cold that the Panda's windscreen was already icing up when I set off home. It's been a bit uneven with WRN this week - 1 advanced, many Monday standards, 2 Tuesday standards and just 3 beginners. It is spurring me to actually do some marketing which I've let slip a bit of late. Given that I'm more of a career marketeer than I am career runner, you'd probably expect otherwise! Some of my laxness is down to confidence - can't quite bring myself to do a press release, even though it's well within my skill set.

I try to convince myself that communicating too slickly would be counter productive - but I'm so so far off slick atm. Pretty far off competent to be honest.

Pedalling to work has been great - Husband has serviced my commuter bike & I can really spot the difference. He also had to sort out the bike shed lock today after I managed to reset the combination without realising - a blonde (dyed) moment.

More energy required

It's been a tiring week. Running went fine apart from having to decide whether an idiot bloke was being menacing - or just an idiot - and having to revise our route. On both days, I had to do a manic sprint back to the Hub to greet the 8pm group vaguely on time - very grateful to both 7pm groups for tolerating this!

On Wednesday, I experimented taking my bike to Cosham on the train as I am fed up of having to drive to work in order to go to a merchandising lab. Going was fine - I used the lifts to get over the bridge at Eastleigh station, direct train and I was directed to where the guard wanted my bike to go. Not so great coming back as I got the time wrong & had to change at Southampton. Complete lottery as no information about what train went from where, lots of lugging bike up/down stairs, no idea where the bike should go - but hey, I got home!

Body combat that evening after which I retrieved Husband from a country lane - he had destroyed a tyre in a pothole and like most modern cars, his doesn't have a spare - or even a jack!

Thursday was really tiring but more of a mental endurance exercise. I was representing my work area at a press event - try and engage journalists and spend hours on feet attempting not to let the boredom between journalists show on face/body language! Amazing venue and the whole thing was extremely well organised. Walked home from the station at about 8 & was asleep by half 10.

Just cycling today - a bit more coming home as I wanted to get Husband a birthday cake. Very proud of getting it home in my panniers with the frosting intact!

Very bright new jacket

8km in 50 minutes wasn't quite the pace I was hoping for on Friday evening - but my solo run was my first outside since New Year and did include a fabulously vicious hill (Olympic Way to Stoke Heights) that I've only done downwards before. It was a useful opportunity to try out my new branded convertible and luminously bright windproof- as I was drenched on the inside when I got back, I remain to be convinced on its breathability. I think I had overdressed a little to be fair - it was much warmer on Friday evening than it's been for a while. I pedalled too on Friday so felt reasonably justified in stuffing face with pizza and wine.

Lots of walking on Saturday on a very enjoyable jaunt to Brighton with G. Probably not enough to justify my Choccywoccydoodah chocolate & ginger cupcake! Picked up a pair of leggings that should be great for Body Combat in the Sweaty Betty sale - deep and secure feeling waistband.

I'd been toying with the idea of joining Goldfish in Stockbridge today for a runners vs mountain bikers 8 mile thing but lost my nerve - still aching a little post

Friday, guilty about deserting Husband having spent Saturday without him. paranoid about my shoes slipping and sliding on wet mud and paranoid about ensuring that this week's WRN runs go well after last week's cancellations. Pathetic huh? Goldfish did really well too.

So went for a bike ride in the Forest with Husband instead. We did a 26.73km version of the Portuguese Fireplace ride. I was proud of cycling through the fords - lots of water and a noticeable current.

Anyway, pizza and cupcakes contributed to a weight gain of 2lb this week - so much for getting committed to dropping a dress size!

I bet Danny MacAskill isn't scared of cycling on snow

This is fantastic - well worth a view!

I pedalled today - just as the snow/ice subsides, I've finally found a decent main road route to work that doesn't involve teetering past static traffic & waiting for a hundred traffic lights. The problem at the moment is that although roads are increasingly clear, the pavements and cycle paths are still lethal - although much better today. And with the ice's departure, my mood is so much improved.

And I swam today. My breathing is so much more natural - but my technique is still in need of the tutorial Husband gave me at the end.

No pedalling yesterday due to trip to Portsmouth for work - but I enjoyed Body Combat that evening. It's Juliana again & the new routine is refreshingly different with more of a Muay Thai empahsis (apparently). Not so sold on the music this time - bring back Foo Fighters...

Lots of gym - but I need sunshine

Gym tonight - x trainer, 16 mins of intervals followed by 20min at 10.5kph. I really need to get to 11kph to stand a hope of reaching my Eastleigh 10K goal of 55 mins - still, baby steps.
I should have been running but the pavements are still too ice bound - and failed my risk assessment. What makes it even worse is that my next Beginners programme should have started tonight.
Gym on Friday and Sunday too - so I am getting some exercise. I'm also getting used to the new treadmills which have fabulous personal TVs and fans, but do take longer to set up.
I did cycle to work yesterday. It wasn't much fun as I was restricted to the busy roads I normally try to avoid.
Lots of wii fit - I'm on a mission to accomplish skateboarding atm.
Not feeling very good about life at the moment - I think it's lack of daylight, attempting to drag my eating under control and acclimatising to normal life post holiday. It's normally Husband who has a sad January - maybe it's transferred!
I have some new running kit about to arrive - maybe they will cheer me up.

Ice and mood enhancement

I haven't been feeling too good this week - been getting very anxious about a kazillion things that don't merit a high level of anxiousness. So it was great to get out for a pedal today in the Forest - and what a day. Blue skies, sunshine, little wind - crisp and icy. We were joined by Goldfish and did the route I think of as Kitty's route from Milkham. Lots of frozen puddles to crunch through. I'm not very brave with ice (or many other things) but managed to do a few - loved the sound of the ice breaking like glass. And as you can see in the photo, some of the ice wasn't crunchable! The boys whizzed past 3 deer really close to the trail - but at my sedate pace, I spotted them & we stared at each other for a bit before my camera scared them off. The ice meant that I didn't get as wet as last time - so although it was very cold, I stayed quite cozy in my layers. I am really appreciating my merino wool base layer and I put a pair of thermal leggings under therma cycling tights.

The ride did the trick with my mood and I feel much more relaxed now. I had been hoping that the treadmill last night would work - but no. It was a short but quite satisfying session with a nice solid 20mins of intervals. Husband should have been swimming but the pool was shut due to having been vomited in!

Just cycle commuting on Thursday, made a little more challenging by lugging 2 bottles of liqueur in my panniers.

Not to plan

I haven't exercised quite as much as I hoped this evening. Body Combat didn't happen - the services of the previous instructor were discontinued last week and a very apologetic gym manager explained that he'd messed up with sorting out a replacement for tonight. Irritating, but these things happen. I've got mixed feelings about the change - liked the instructor, but also love her replacement. So by the time I got to exercise, I just had 25 mins - 20 on the cross trianer and 6 on the stepper.

And no pedalling today as I had to go to Portsmouth for work. None yesterday as I went to London. I did walk to & from the station in freezing weather.

Very proud of the Beginners - they completed their 30 minutes last night with aplomb. More important than my pride, I hope that they are all feeling suitably proud of themselves.
Running was good on Monday too - with one of the Beginners doing her first WRN 5K.
All good!

Sunshine in Noss Mayo

I'm starting to feel Christmassy - despite the sunshine. We enjoyed this weird sun thing this weekend in Devon with the Fabulous In Laws.

Husband's legs withstood a 5ish mile walk near the intriguing named village of Noss Mayo on Saturday - loved the coast views from NT stretch called The Warren. Woodland with creek views through the trees, then up & over a hill back to the car. He was suffering afterwards though - shuffling when we popped into Dartmouth to see the Candlelit Christmas thing (great Irish band).

I got to do my favourite beach hut run this morning with my Fabulous Mother In Law. Nearly couldn't as I'd managed to leave my running tights at home - but despite being a svelte size 8, FMIL managed to find a pair of shorts my bum would squeeze into. I'm hoping that I haven't stretched them too much! We tried a variation that avoided the worst hill and involved some downwards steps - interesting, but I prefer the original.

Gym on Friday - new machines! All very impressive - individual TV screens and ipod docks - but its going to take me a while to adjust - wasted about 10mins faffing about.

Christmas party on Wed did involve a little dancing, but offset any benefit by feeling too delicate on Thursday to do anything except wii. Pedalled 3 days this week as I had 2 trips to Portsmouth. Running was fine on Mon & Tue - but low numbers which I'm attributing to Christmas!

My first puncture repair

Heavy rain through the week meant that choice of bike ride this weekend was restricted to Forest tracks - unless we wanted to spend hours ploughing through bog. Chose a route we haven't done for a while - another Kitty creation which combines classic forest fire tracks with a stretch of "proper" bridle way just south of Brockenhurst. The river you can see in the pic is normally a Husband-ridable-ford - even he didn't fancy it today. Several mushy bits but as it was New Forest silt as opposed to central Hamphire clay, it wasn't too claggy.
Big news is that I fixed my first puncture, with a little supervision. And it was a back wheel one. And I patched it rather than just swap the inner tube. Another Top 40 thing to tick off my list.
No deer, but some pretty birds at the beginning - loads of bluetits and a couple of nuthatches, and a v.handsome fox in the carpark at the end.

Other exercise this week - I tried tempo running with J on Monday. This consists of running faster than's comfortable. The benchmark is speech - normal steady runs have normal steady conversation. Tempo running means mono syllables - but not as fast as sprinting. We did it as a pyramid - after warming up & a steady paced start, we did 1 min at tempo followed by 1 min at steady pace. Then 2 mins at tempo, then 3. Decided that would do for now, so repeated 3, then did 2, finally 1. It went OK & we did the 5km in under 30 mins.
Cycled to work Mon-Thurs, but had a day off on Friday so heaved around 60L boxes of books instead.

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.

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.