Weird Wound Prevention

We did a bit of loft sorting on Saturday. Given that we are moving house in a couple of weeks (COUPLE OF WEEKS??!!), this was getting to be urgent and it's a job we are great at putting off. No I'm not going to claim this as exercise, but in the sorting, my ipod armband appeared for the first time in years. And it fits my iphone. So this means I no longer have to risk chafing my waist due to bum bag or arms due to gilet rubbing on solo runs.

Found about €140 in euros too - but this was so much less exciting than the armband.

To reward ourselves, we went to Hurst Castle in the evening where Husband caught pollocks whilst I messed about with my camera. It's a 1.5 mile walk to get there from the road, all along shingle which makes it much tougher than the distance would indicate. I shouldn't have been surprised that Husband's rubbish ankles rebelled on Sunday, refusing to do much at all. They loosened up enough by late afternoon for a swim - and I joined him in the pool for a change.

Hurst is a bit of a conundrum - Husband can't really walk well enough to get there but he loved the fishing spot. I guess we stick to times when the ferry is running - or perhaps dig out the inflatable canoe!

Weird Wound

15.5km ran last night. I have a half marathon to train for in September - and I've been procrastinating about getting my training underway. Club runs do help big time - but I need to do more mileage & add in more sessions at my pace. And I've struggled to get motivated!

There's a loop from my house that's a bit over 5km so I figure that 4 times that will be close to the race distance of 21km. 3 loops last night, but I stopped at 15.5km. Next week, need to take that to 17km (following the 10% rule) - and if I keep that increment going (big if!) should be up to race distance by early August.

Far more interesting to report is that I enjoyed it! Bunnies, puffballs and a buzzard swooping right in front of me, confused horse riders (I passed them twice) and avoided a drunk bloke in the woods.

My legs are OK - ITB was a little bit achey afterwards, but nothing major. However, I must find a better way of transporting my iphone as my left arm chafed on the arm hole of my gilet (has pockets) & I'm in need of sudocrem!

Decent Threshold Session

I made it to the gym tonight - I am determined to try & get my cost per visit down, but it seems tricky to fit in any more than 1 visit per week in summer.

And I actually managed a decent threshold session on the treadmill - a rarity as I really don't love speedwork. Threshold is all about pushing my body's aerobic/anaerobic border so I ran at a gentle pace for a few minutes before switching to an uncomfortable pace for 4 mins, 1 min recovery pace, back up to the faster pace for another 4 minutes. The idea is that by not letting myself fully recover and then going up to the faster pace again, my body develops the aerobic threshold.

Anyway, I did this for 30 minutes - and almost enjoyed it. I need to learn not to beat myself up about being slower than I was a couple of years ago - it doesn't help! A Pollyanna attitude works much better for my motivation.

Bit of spinning, bit of stepping, rower weights machine & lats pulldown.

Big Run

I did number 34 - Half marathon - on Sunday of my top 40 list. 2 hours 16 minutes & felt OK afterwards. Couldn't walk very well on Monday, but hey, the WRN-ers didn't seem to mind me leading from a bicycle!

A general catch up on the top 40 list - 15 complete:

1. Not Yet - Get into size 12 jeans (defined as Uniqlo - brand makes a difference!)

Making things:
2. Yup - Follow a crochet pattern
3. Yup - Crochet something wearable that isn't a scarf

4. Not Yet - Make vanilla ice cream

5. Yup - Make some home made Christmas presents

6. Not Yet - Make something from foraged food

7. Not Yet - Bake soda bread

8. Not Yet - Make a curry paste from scratch

Culture stuff:
9. Not Yet - Discover a piece of classical music that I don't already know

10. Yup - Finish a George Elliot novel

11. Not Yet - Watch Citizen Kane

Fitness:
12. Not Yet - Go to a circuits class

13. Not Yet - Do a press up (not boxed!)

14. Yup - Swim a mile of proper head in water breast stroke

15. Not Yet - Try pilates

16. Not Yet - Try a dance class

17. Yup - Use my wii fit

18. Not Yet - Use our canoe

Home & Green stuff:
19. WIP - Grow something new to eat
20. Not Yet - Plant a tree in the garden

21. WIP - Fit a water butt
22. Yup - Get a thermal mug to wean myself off disposables at work

23. Not Yet - Improve our loft insulation

24. WIP - Redecorate hall & landing
25. Yup - Redecorate living room

Bike stuff:
26. Yup - Fix a bike puncture all by myself

27. May not happen - Get the hang of berms - Might replace this with swimming in the sea at New Year.
28. Not Yet - Get the hang of my GPS
29. WIP - Do the South Downs Way

30. WIP - Try somewhere new for mountain biking

Running stuff:
31. No - parked to Sept & replaced by Land yachting - Do level 2 coaching training
32. Yup - Eastleigh 10K in sub 57 mins

33. Yup - Great South Run

34. Yup - Half Marathon

35. Yup - Organise a WRN non-running event

Travel stuff:
36. Not Yet - Go somewhere new

37. Not Yet - Go to the Isle of Wight

38. Yup - Try a new spa or gym
39. Yup - Sleep in our tent

40. Not Yet - Organise a work social event

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.

Eastleigh 10K

My time this year is 56:53 - just 7 seconds under my target of 57 minutes. I did make an effort this year - I have been guilty of treating the event as another run as opposed to a great opportunity to see what I can do! KB, J & KL were fabulous running partners - especially at 4.5km when I hit a bit of a bad patch. I found a second wind at about 7km - shortly after this pic was taken, but was running out of energy at 9km. And KB kept me going.

So proud of the WRN runners today. 7 of us completed the course - 4 in less than 1 hour - no drop outs!

A big improvement was pedalling to the race. Parking is always frustrating and it provided a good low impact warm up/cool down.

Husband was fabulous. He looked after my bag which was bulging with WRN runners jackets as well as cheering us on. And he took some great photos - more of which I'll be sending around soon.

I've been avoiding hard exercise as part of my prep for this morning. Bit of gardening yesterday & pedalling to work most days last week. We went 10 pin bowling with Kitty & Goldfish tonight - which must count at least a little as exercise!

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.

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....

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!

Fantastic Start to 2010

We spent New Year in Pembrokeshire with friends in a cottage near Saundersfoot on top of a cliff, but a short walk down a steep lane to get to the beach at Wisemans Bridge - and I had a fantastic time.

On New Years Eve, went for a mostly on-road pedal with Husband and Goldfish to Pembroke, following Sustrans Celtic Way. 4 hours to do 53km - with some challenging hills. I loved the stretches along the coast - and some pretty villages inland. Chips scoffed by Pembroke Castle & then back. Husband & I both had to walk up quite a bit of Slippery Back near Tenby, accompanied by a drunk but friendly bloke!

Short walk at midnight to the beach to let off fireworks - to cheers from the pub nearby!

On New Years Day, S & I participated in the New Years Day Swim at Saundersfoot - surrounded by hardier souls in fancy dress. The Simpsons group impressed me - although Lisa's hairy chest was a revelation! There were some mankinis too... a bloke wearing normal swimwear took the p*** out of our wetsuits, but boy I was glad of mine! "Swim" was more of a brief dip with a couple of strokes, but it was a great event to take part in - and I now have a wetsuit.

Husband & I then went west to Solva for a short walk - and as we drove back, the snow started. The lane to the cottage was transformed into a "treacherous" (word of the week on weather forecasts) snow/ice slope. So later in the evening, we played with our sledge on the driveway & had a snowball fight.

S, X, Husband and E joined me for a walk the next day - ostensibly to hunt for razor clams using a technique with a bottle of salt. Not successful - a beautiful location though and a fun fruitless task!

A new activitity on Sunday: land yachting at Pendine which is where various land speed record attempts have been made. A land yacht is a plastic tub on wheels with a mast & dinghy sail - we sat back & let the wid blow us along the beach as we jibed (is that spelt right??). Couldn't get the hang of tacking. It was very much like dinghy sailing - and I think the skills I picked up will be useful next time I try sailing. X looked really nervous at the start, but got the hang of it well. S and Husband picked up the skills quickly.

Ran with X later on - I'd been feeling jealous of every beach jogger we'd seen and I was so glad to get the chance to run myself. We teetered cautiously down the lane from the cottage, but once on the coast path, the route was mostly ice free. 5K and loved it - although X was having some hip pain which was not good.

We planned to go mountain biking at Brechfa on Monday but as it was higher up, too much snow and ice stopped play and we walked instead. -7oC at 2pm! And the walk was ended prematurely by seeing a buzzard caught up on barbed wire - we couldn't work out how to release it without injuring it - or us - so got the Forestry Commission involved. We did get a short walk later on - with Kitty & Golfish to a seafood restaurant in Saundersfoot.

More snow today and forecast to get worse so we headed home a day early. I have decided that I will sub 2 activities from my Top 40 list for the NYD swim and the land yachting - hope this is acceptable to any readers of my blog!

Had a Happy Christmas

I ran for the first time since the Mince Pie run - and I'm not feeling better for the break, indicating successful over indulgence over the last few days. My Dad's got great choice in beer, my middle sister makes great ginger puddings, my brother in law cooks fantastic pork, my Mum's mince pies & Christmas cake are the best, my other brother in law aided and abetted the beer drinking and even the sight of my littlest sister looking decidedly svelte didn't halt my calorie intake! So it's not my fault. OK, it is. A little bit.

I had to cancel all runs last week due to ice & snow. It was too snowy in Northumberland so my running shoes stayed in the suitcase & I scrounged a pair of walking boots from Mum. It's great having walking addicts as parents as there's always spare kit!

Walking was required between our lodgings at a pub and my parents' home - only about 10mins, but a slippy operation on ice and compressed snow.

Middle sister & I escaped for a brief moon/snowlit stroll on Christmas Day in a vain attempt to create more food space.

We did a more substantial walk on Boxing Day, heading down to the Tyne and the east along its south bank. My older nephews used this as an opportunity to try out their new wooden swords - very impressed that they restricted hits to dragons and other such monsters and not each other - or youngest nephew who joined us in a rucksack. Nieces headed back earlier with their Dad as it certainly wasn't very warm. As you can see in Husband's photo, the light, snow, mist and landscape all made for a memorable walk.

And more walking yesterday at a lake close to Belsay - just with Husband, Mum & Dad. The snow and frozen lake made everything monochrome - our colour photos could easily be black & white! Lots of swans & canada geese hung out on the only non frozen bit of the lake, competing quite viciously for vistiors' bread!

The Mince Pie Run

10 uf us braved the ice and cold today & ventured across the icefields of Bishopstoke for the Eastleigh WRN Mince Pie Run. Very slidy & icy so we mostly walked, fitting ina few jaunty runs where the conditions allowed. And as you can see from our shoes, a little muddy!

Back to mine for mince pies & mulled wine - expertly served by Husband - in our very warm dining room.

It was great to get the different runners in the different time groups together. And Husband was able to put names to faces at last!

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.

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.

Great South Run

10 miles, 1 hour 41 - I'm quite happy with that! Helped by fab supporters, good company (thanks L!) great weather & a text from Z this morning reminding me to watch my pace at the beginning! It was a great event. Transport was the only bit I'd tweak if doing it again - parking looke too tricky, but it's a long walk from the station to the start for Husband's delicate arthritic ankles - so we'd probably take bikes next year!

I was very excited to meet WRN members from Canterbury and Weston Super Mare at the start - and to actually bump into L. We ran the first few miles together which was great. I also bumped into L from Garmin on the run too, looking very steady.

Not much other exercise to report this week bar lots of walking on a business trip. I was grateful to WRN members for allowing me gentler runs!

A little more conversation please

My last long run tonight before the Great South - 16K in 103mins so a tad quicker than last time - but it was more important to me to prove that I could do the distance. I missed the WRN runners though - chunks seemed abnormally long without a quality conversation to occupy my head.
Bumped into Kitty doing her WRN homework - her halo was shining brightly!
4km - 6km, I was accompanied by a bloke on an invalid scooter with 2 incredibly fit looking red setters. He was updating me on my speed - very sweet if not necessary for a Forerunner wearer.
Later, a fox shot out ahead of me, disappearing into a hedge. A cyclist coming the other way convinced the fox he was cornered & he shot past me again.
High fived a yoof who was giving encouragement (kind of!) at 11km.
So quite an eventful run!

PW for me at Beaulieu 10K

To be fair, I didn't set myself a time goal for the Cancer Research 10K yesterday at Beaulieu. It was still a shock though to achieve my Personal Worst for this run - 61mins.
Not the case for the other 5 Eastleigh WRN runners - 4 of whom were doing their first ever 10K race (and for 3 of them, I think it was their first ever 10K). All acquitted themselves brilliantly. LH was ahead of me all the way through. I did the first 4km with N before she moved on. Spotted K later on looking extremely comfortable. Spotted C & LW making their way over the finish line looking great.

Panniers were christened today - full load including laptop. The bike feels heavier but I think I'll adjust OK. Braking is really different with the weight so far over the back wheel and I can't do my dreadful powering up hills using my weight to push the pedals down - no bad thing I guess. All my stuff stuffed in very easily with plenty of room to spare and the transition to office was fine.

Running tonight was the first time I've kept a second long sleeved layer on - quite chilly. I was really chuffed that X came out with the Advanced group - and she ran very well. 4 runners in the 8pm standard group. Neither group was very speedy tonight - we all seemed to find it hard work. I think I need to rework & structure the warm up a bit more for colder weather when it's even more crucial.

My first 10 mile run

I was so pleased when Z agreed to do a longer run with me tonight. She has the Great North Run coming up so it fitted pretty well with her training. Agreed on 10 miles - 16K and further than I've ever run before. One of the reasons I was chuffed is that Z is the Queen of Pacing - she is incredibly consistent so I figured she'd be the ideal partner. I was pleasantly surprised to get a a note from L who I hadn't seen for a few months saying that she'd be coming too. And J, despite feeling a little sore from her first ever 10K on Monday, decided to join us for part of teh route.
We did a figure of 8 route - starting off climbing up through Stoke Park Woods as it would have been criminal not to on a beautiful evening! The rest of the route was road - and comparatively flat - so we did the hard bit first.

And we did it! 110 minutes which I'm pleased with - esp as the aim was to simply do the distance, not to push speed. J did the first 7.5K as she'd planned. So good to have Z, J and L to chat to which made it enjoyable rather than a slog. And the Queen of Pacing's skills were much used - my knee was starting to declare its presence after 9K, but all I had to do was slow slightly to Z's perfect speed and it cleared.

Best of luck to Z - I'm convinced she'll be fine with the half marathon based on tonight's run. And I'm no longer dreading the Great South - just need to watch my pacing!