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.

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.

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!

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.

Another Top 40 done - thanks boss!

No ordinary paper cup, but a porcelain mug with silicone prevent-hand-burning wrap & silicone prevent spillages when taking drink upstairs lid.

Very pleased with my Christmas present from my boss - it's been used and it knocks number 22 off my Top 40 project!

Snow prevented exercise yesterday bar a thoroughly good walk in the woods with Husband - we went up to our wedding wood at Crowdhill Copse. And a bit of wii fit later on - I am determined to master skateboarding.

Less fun walking today to work & back - especially when I slipped, landing square on my backside on the way home.

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!

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.

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.

Dimpsy at the end

Bike ride in West Sussex today. I had an email flyer from Paramo advertising a clearance thing in a church hall in Emsworth - so we shopped for outdoor clothing then drove north a bit to make the most of a beautiful Autumn day.

The notice on the carpark gate stating that it would be locked at 5pm prompted us to review our planned route - still adjusting to the clock change - and we cut back our plans. We should have been concerned anyway - I didn't have any lights & Husband's are very much of the "get me home just about legally" light level.

It still took longer than anticipated - proper hills and some lethally slidy downhills with wet leaves over wet tree roots with that special chalk/chalk mud combo that makes for no grip whatsoever! And a stick nearly brought our ride to a premature end - bending Husband's gear hanger quite impressively. Brute force brought back all bar 2 gears - but it will be going to the bike shop this week.

Stunning scenery though - enhanced by the light and golds/reds/browns of the leaves. We saw a stag run across the path & you could hear them rutting from the track. Husband bumped into a collague he hadn't seen since her maternity leave started in August - and met her baby for the first time. no time to chat though as the light was going.

28.3km in total - but we both feel like we had a proper work out, probably due to the mad dash to get back in time at the end and the proper hills! As you can see from the lower pic, it was definitely dimpsy (fabulous Devon word) with fading light and the moon was out. Mist hugging the lawns around the big house definitely gave an appropriate look for Halloween. Turned into the car park at 4:55pm!

It's been quite a sedate week though - just 3/4 runs on Mon & Tue, pedalling to work & a little wii.

Allsorts

Just cycling to work on Thursday & Friday. I have decided that panniers are the way to go - my laptop is just too heavy on my back & I'm not sure it will fit in my bag now I'm wearing more clothes at work (that sounds like I've been working semi naked - please be reassured I haven't been!).

Our new tradition of No Cook Friday (which I'm really enjoying) resulted in a little walking in high heels in Winchester between pub & cinema.


And next to no exercise on Saturday bar the wii.



Sunday was more active - I saw off P, K & L who were cross country running in Hursley (their first race) then went mountain biking with Goldfish, X, S and Husband. S & X were curious to try the South Downs Way to see if doing the full thing in May would be a good training goal. Unfortuneately, X wasn't well so we changed our plans slightly - which pleased Husband as it meant we were able to do one of his favourite impossible downhills. It's been tamed a little though which means it's just steep now as opposed to lethal. Beautiful weather- golden autumn light.

I swam quite well later on - up to 50 lengths now & the breathing is so much easier! I tried to think "hands are paddles" - still got some work to do...

Running tonight. Did some speedwork with the 7pm group then 5K with the 8pm group.

Bloke Flu

It's probably a good thing that I didn't blog much last week as I was in hypochondriac mode - I had the world's mildest cold & whinged & whined like a bloke about it!

Very grateful that I didn't pass the virus over to Eastleigh WRN's Z who completed the Great North Run on Sunday in a very creditable 2 hours 33mins - impressive stuff, especially as she ran it all and raised over £500 for the Alzheimers Society.

Due to my life threatening illness, I didn't do much apart from cycle to work on Wed & Friday and some wii-ing. Gym on Friday was kept gentle - 5 mins running on the treadmill and I was dead, so switched to x trainer!

Lots of walking at the weekend at the Boat Show and at the Goodwood Revival - I especially enjoyed the latter & plan to go in costume next year. The pic is of Rowan Atkinson going around the circuit on top of a mini...

Pedal, wii, mackerel and mixed feelings at running

Bike Ride on Saturday to celebrate S's birthday. X organised a gentle pedal along the Test Way with lunch at the Mayfly. It wasn't quite as sunny as we'd hoped - but it didn't rain. Phase 2 of birthday celebrations was later on - I demolished vast quantities of sparkling wine and some of Kitty's very good pizza - and we adjourned to S & X's dedicated wii room (very jealous!) to play tennis. G is no longer a wii virgin. Finished the day with some fabulous cheesecake.

On Sunday, Husband made good on an offer he made a long time ago to take our godson H fishing. He headed over to Hengistbury Head with H, his brothers & dad whilst I attempted crabbing with K & W. Boys caught 1 fish, we failed miserably to get a crab. The mackerel provided lunch for H's semi veggie brother A whilst we had burgers - love beach bbqs. I figure that we walked a couple of miles at least - so a bit of exercise.

Running was a bit mixed yesterday. I was really impressed with J & N achieving their first 10k, but I felt really bad about D who had to cut back early with hip problems. Mystery injuries are so frustrating. The later standard group did well on their first hill. Running tonight was just me & L - beautiful evening jog in the woods with light best described as golden!

Does technique make a difference?

No cycling today as I was in London - not as much walking as this normally entails as Husband kindly dropped me at Winchester station which gave me a very painless train journey.
Following a fruitless search for my goggles, we went swimming tonight. I'm finding the head-in-water thing much more natural and I had no half drowned moments - a result!
Less successful wer Husband's spare goggles which dug into my eye area quite painfully - I now know why they are his spares.
I really appreciated Husband giving me some coaching at the end - my arms haven't been contributing very much to my stroke which I now know is more down to lousy technique than my lack of upper body strength. So next swim will require:

• Not drowning - still getting my breathing better!
• Using my hands as more definitive paddles (as opposed to vague ones)
• Not letting my hands come further back than my ears when pulling back.

Did some wii sport later - he beat me at tennis again & I attempted the boxing game which exhausted me as I didn't worry about technique and simply pummelled my opponent!

Staycationing in Northumberland

Our final summer staycation was in Northumberland, staying with my parents. I've been very keen to try the new Lonesome Pine trail at Kielder as we'd enjoyed the Deadwater Trail so much last year. Mum & Dad arranged a walk up in Kielder so we were able to travel with them (and cadge afternoon tea afterwards in Bellingham).

The trail was 12 miles long. Deadwater has had its red rating disputed by some as it has black leanings in places - Lonesome is also likely to be discussed but more in the other direction as it seemed more blue in areas - not esp technical (yay!) but enough challenges to keep the little grey cells ticking over. They seem to be in the process of adding more bits to it so I'm hoping that it grows more comfortably into its grade. All a bit academic really as I still chickened many sections! I did manage the north shore at the summit - a rarity - but it is a whopping 2m wide apparently to counteract the strong windy gusts across the exposed hillside. Husband did very well. I loved the views - especially with purple heather contrasting with red rowan berries (the latter is the sign of a hard winter apparently).

Middle sister, BIL and my nephews D (4) and C (nearly 1) came over so we spent the day at Cragside where we all got the chance to try adventure playgrounds - their trim trail is designed for 10-adult. I still can't do monkey bars! Fair amount of walking around the grounds - landscaped hillside, lakes providing HP power to the innovative house, formal gardens all surrounded by Northumberland hills. Pleased to discover that it takes much more effort to allow D to just about win running races now!

Coast on Sunday - 22 mile bike ride from Dunstan (should have been Craster but we couldn't get a parking space) whilst my folks walked again. Easy bridleways and byways. There was a scarecrow fete thing at Rennington which was entertaining - never seen an ostrich scarecrow before! Stepping stones across the river Aln were non existent so we took off shoes & socks to wade across. My favourite bit was along the stunning coastline - views to Dunstanburgh castle to the north, sand, rockpools, seabirds, fabulous! We took the bikes onto the beach at Boulmer to try out the hard sand. Very different to Friday's ride, but just as memorable.

Very grateful to parents for hospitality - which included packed lunches which are a novel addition to our bike rides.

We got back in time for a little allotmenteering before running.

The Beginners are no more - they all ran 30mins non stop so are now Intermediates. I also enjoyed the earlier standard run (soon to be renamed the advanced run I think!).

Big achievements tonight as well - 5K in under 40mins which I know is a milestone for L - both she and J ran really well.

30mins wii-ing tonight, 15 last night. Have discovered that I can't do shoulder stands.

Scheduling dilemma

Running was much better this week than last - although I'm now a bit concerned about a scheduling issue I've managed to create. Beginners don't all want to switch to Tuesdays and Intermediates like their 7pm slot. The worst case scenario is that I will have 4 groups and am in a state of exhaustion by Tuesday night - arrrgggghhh. Have asked WRN for some advice!
Some walking this week - station to home on Monday and home to park & ride site on Tue as I had a visit to London on Mon afternoon & left bike at the office.
Too dead to wii on Monday, just 15 mins on Tuesday but over 30 yesterday - it made for guilt alleviation for pizza that I had over at D & W's later on! wii fit is now my friend as it's telling me that my age is 39!

Milkham

We tend to avoid the New Forest in summer - it's when the muddy bridlepaths are ridable to tempt us away from the forest tracks and crowds - and Lyndhurst in particular grinds to a gridlock. However, C now has a bump and she's been finding cycle commuting harder work recently so she requested a less strenuous ride. Kitty's 26km Milkham route has many fine qualities - including many possible shortcuts and cut backs, not too much in the way of hills and a couple of sections that are more engaging than the average New Forest pedal.
M & I were both glad we'd opted for a t-shirt single layer as the sun soon came out. Husband employed wrangler style whoops to shift ponies out of the tunnel under the dual carriageway where they were enjoying the shade - I'm sure they soon wandered back in.

There's normally top entertainment in Burley and today was no exception - a birthday girl and buddy were squealing wildly whilst vaguely attempting to ride a tandem. The squeals were inferior to C's guinea pig squeals - although I was relieved to not hear too many of the latter today as I was hoping she'd find the ride gently pleasant.

A little gardening when we got back - Husband had to mow the lawn as we have a rat problem atm. i did venture into the back garden - giving my feet a sauna in wellies. And a little wii tennis in addition to 30mins wii fit.

Like Richard Hammond's hair....

... my performance is wildly inconsistent and not as good as it used to be! I was watching Total Wipeout at the gym whilst dripping with sweat running slowly.
Lots of exercise today - 30mins wii-ing plus after which I discovered that Husband likes the wii sport tennis game. And spent the afternoon carefully exposing pak choi, beetroot and leeks by removing a jungle of weeds.

Wii and swimming

Quads are back to normal so I cycled today. I didn't want to push my legs so opted to swim with Husband tonight - and I can now do 40 lengths of proper, head under water kind of breaststroke - even enjoyed it. In the spa bath afterwards, I used the massage blast on my quads which felt like it was a good thing to do.
I've been having fun with the wii too - esp hula hooping (might have the courage to try the real thing sometime at G's now!) and the neglible fitness benefit balance skiing game. The yoga isn't driving me to rage as it's very functional & it's single moves so I can pick'n'mix.