How to Pull Buoys...

A two part post today :o)

Swimming

Distance: 800m
Got to the pool around eleven, and the place was packed - about 10 people or more in the lane. Not really much good for swimming, and to be honest, I wasn't swimming that well anyhow! I had originally intended to do the usual mile, but in the end gave up.

I did however manage to use the pull buoy - a sort of float that goes between your thighs, and keeps the legs naturally high in the water. The result - I seemed to speed through the water much faster. I did eight lengths like this and they must have been my quickest. The pull buoy tends to press my chest into the water to compensate for the higher legs, and deliberately pushing the chest forward makes the legs rise, even without a float. An interesting point on technique

Manage to do a 4:19.8 sec 200m - not my best, but given that I only decided to bother doing more than a casual slow stroke about half way through, not at all bad!

Must do that 50m sprint, 30 second recovery drill that I did with Lindi again sometime the pool is emptier :o)

Running

Distance: 2.25 miles
Surface: 1.3 miles tarmac, 0.95 miles grass
Shoes: 2100s without the heel raise
Time: 18 minutes

My best run for absolutely ages! I followed the route shown
here from my flat, round the block, and then up onto a local playing field/park, and then a final quarter or mile so back to the flat.

It really did feel genuinely great for the first quarter mile - very natural and easy :o) The right hammy started playing up a bit at the top, but switching camber relieved this. It seemed to be worse when the left leg was lower than the right (i.e. left hand side of the road). The lateral right knee twinged a bit too. The left medial knee gave minor twinges, but nothing more than minor. I made sure I tried to even ou tthe camber as much as possible, and kept switching to rest the areas that were giving me gyp.

I got home, iced the knees, had a cold bath, and so far - no stiffening or anything that seems problemmatic :oD

Mustn't forget the knee class first thing this morning either! Must get hold of one of those wobble cushions :oS

Pizza the Action

Distance: 1 mile
Surface: Water
Time: Dunno

Swimming this morning - got to the pool about 8:45, and it was pretty much empty, apart from a few oldish looking peeps coasting up and down the lane swimming bit, which was a shame, as there was so much room in the rest of the pool! Anyhow - I set about my 64 lengths with vigour, and decided to break it up with some time trials. Anyhow, I managed:

100m - 1:50.8 (narrowly missing a PB) and

200m - 4:16.8, a PB by some 9 seconds odd :o)

The rest of the swim was frustrating - a few more people turned up, and not only did I have to content with the breaststroke mafia, but a couple of jellyfish - people who just lay on their back and flapped their arms to propel themselves. Plus a couple of rather attractive young women who insisted on swimming side by side and chatting, which made overtaking difficult.

After that - into town to meet Coco (Fiona), where I stuffed my face with copious quantities of garlic bread and pizza. Not good for the diet, but tasted bliddy good! And then off to Run and Become to pick up some 2100s.

Weigh down by 0.6kg today - great news! Thanks to Cath for all the Weight Watchers tips and info :oD Hope the weight drops again tomorrow, but somehow I suspect it won't after that pizza. Oh yeah - and a big booze up to come Friday :oS

'snot fair :o(

Trip to the chiro today - went well. Fuiirst one for a month, and of the three spine problems I've had regularly, two of them had not re-occurred. The only annoying thing was that the T6 problem, which seems to be the most persistent, has not, and it's still buggering up my adductors. Still, in many ways it's progress, I'm just keen to get the whole thing done and dusted so I can train properly again!

Sara picked up on my tight tibialis anterior and also my ITBs, and set about them with some sort of metallic instrument that she ran along them "like tenderising steak". Wibble! It did a lot of good though, so I'll be trying that myself. Might leave out that mallet thingy though!

Instructions now are to keep building up the running on the road, and make sure I do at least twenty minutes for the overall session - so 10 on tarmac, then ten on grass or whatever.

I was going to go open water swimming with IronLindi, but sadly the sneezes and sniffles that had been minor early on in the day got a lot worse, until I could barely go a minute without having to reach for a tissue :o( In the end I decided the sensible course was to call it off, as swiming in trunks in a lake in what was frankly hardly summery weather wasn't going to make me any better! On the plus side, I used the time to sort out where to hire a wetsuit :o) The downside was that all that sneezing kept making me tense my back muscles, and possibly done the usual lurgy thing of making the muscles sore, so I'm going to leave going for a computer chair for a while. I have stuck the monitor on a six inch pile of book so that it's more level with my eyeline

Weighting and Weighting

Right - it's Monday - the "official" weigh in day, and although I've lost the last few days, I went up the few days before that, and ended up exactly where I was last Monday near as damn it!

Blue = actual weight
Purple = target (1kg loss per week)
Yellow = weekly figues - irons out the "blips"

Guess I shouldn't complain, the "hump" had me seriously worried, but given all the swimming I've been doing, I'd have hoped it would have dropped more the last two weeks!

Stuck in the Slow Lane :o(

Distance: 1450 metres
Surface: Water
Time: about 50 minutes

Hmmm - bumped into Cath (Green Eyes) from the RW forums at the pool, which was nice. To be honest I'd rushed a bit to get down there, as the place shut at four, and I'd bolted my lunch! When I got there the lane was packed with about fifteen other swimmers, which isn't good, so I decided not to worry too much about speed and just do lengths, although it did make for a bit of a tedious session.

Trouble is, a lot of the people were swimming breaststroke, which meant I was constantly having to stop as they were just in front of me, or go round them, or risk getting a kick in the groin from the wide-splayed legs of a breaststroker :o( Don't think I'll be going at this sort of time again - the Friday session was just so much better!

Had to stop after 58 lengths (agonisingly close to a mile - just 6 short). All in all not bad though, particularly as the first half of it had been done with a sore stomach from only just having eaten my food! This let to a potentially embarassing moment when I let out a substantial fart just after turning at the deep end of the pool. I'm not sure if my bum was below the surface in which case it would have just appeared as a trail of innocent looking bubbles, or above the surface in which case it probably resonated around the pool. I didn't like to ask :oS

Goggles didn't seem as watertight today - only minor leaks but not as good as they had been. Maybe I need to experiement with the adjustments.

Reaching New heights!

A fabulous night last night at Crystal Palace - Justin Gatlin turning in a time of 9.89, Tim Benjamin going sub 45 in the 400m (44.77), and best of all, a fantastic women's pole vault competition, eventually settled at World Record height - 4.96m!

The Polish vaulter (who I think has already completely shattered her PB by clearing 4.80m first time) was out of her league, but Yelena Isinbayeva breezed over it, only catching it on the way down with her chest. That was it for the night, or so we thought - she's got the bonus for a new WR. But then we saw the bar being put up, and 5.00 metres come up on the score boards. We gulped heavily!

The clapping built up to an awesome level, with load cheering all round as Yelena started her run up. Half way down the runway, the start gun for the 5000m went - enough to put anyone off as they were just to the side of the pole vault. But instead of stopping, she kept on going, and cleared the bar with ease. Probably a 5.05m jump if the bar had been that high. As one everyone rose to their feet - a real moment of athletics history!

We'd already seen one world record, and now a second. This one was doubly special though - 5 metres is one of those barriers in sport like the first four minute mile, and this one had been broken pretty much in front of my nose.

Spent the morning at the gym, with the intention of doing yoga followed by Body Pump (wasn't sure whether this was a good idea as my left quad was a bit sore from yesterday). In the end the matter was decided for me as the class was cancelled. It was great to do yoga again though, and I realised early on how I'd lost a fair bit of flexibility. It did give the muscles a great stretch out though, which I'm sure they needed!

I've lost half a pound since yesterday, but still well up on the week :o(

New 400m Personal Best :oD

Distance: 1 mile
Time: Dunno
Surface: Water

Wow - great swim - 64 lengths :o) Broke that up with a 100m time trial and a 400m time trial. Wasn't the best swim ever, went too fast at one point and got way too splashy, losing efficiency. EVen so:

100m - 1:50.7 (PB by 0.3 seconds)
400m - 9:10.9 (PB by 13 seconds)

The 400m is particularly pleasing, because it shows stamina is getting better, and also long distance technique. The first few lengths felt remarkably easy, it was only when I started to deviate from the smooth slow stroke to get past people that I started losing technique.

Distance: 1 mile
Time: 8:33
Surface: Tarmac
Shows: Black 2080s with a heel lift

Wasn't sure whether to do this run - quads were tired after the knee class and swimming (not sure which did the damage, probably the knee class!) but did it anyway - felt a little heavy footed, and my right knee/hip at the back and lateral also felt a bit funny, but the left knee was great apart from the odd twinge. With fresh legs - who knows? Definitely feels like progress though!

Have been dumping for Britain today, so hopefully some of that weight will be coming off!

Weight and Knee

Nuts!

What's happened??

Weight has now gone steadily up for the last trhee days in a row, and I haven't been eating for England. If anything - I've been holding back - having fairly small meals, eating healthy stuff, and getting in exercise :o( And yet since Tuesday, my weight's gone up from 101.5kg to 102.8kg - a gain of over three pounds! Something must be wrong :oS

Week 1 - big drop

Week 2 - steady (small gain)

Week 3 - big rise :o(

The weekly trend is shown in yellow. Still - week 3 is not yet over - I'll console myself with that!

Just back from my first knee class up at the phsyio's. This involved an hour of doing knee specific exercises, and I learnt several that I didn't know. It certainly gave my knee a work out! I was planning onn running afterwards, but I might rethink that given how much of a pounding my knee's had! A swim sounds good, and then off to the athletics at Crystal Palace this afternoon :o)

2KOK!

Distance: 2km
Time: 65 minutes
Surface: Water

100m PB of 1:51

Went to the local pool with the aim of swimmming 80 lengths, which is 2km. This went well, except for when I drank some of the leftover lucozade (not sport version, so fizzy) from the weekend, and had a fit of burping for the next few lengths!

After 40 lengths I took a break, and went back in for a timed 100m. I couldn't find my sports watch, so it was done via the pool clock, but even so I got a new PB of 1:51, which was excellent! About time to try a few drills with the pull buoy and stuff I think and hone the technique further.

Was tempted to go for 100 lengths, but the pool was getting crowded with lunchtime peeps!

Weight up to 101.8kg :o( No idea why - was pooing for Britain after all the flapjack of the last few days!

Body Pump for Lunch

Down the gym for a quick 45 minute BP sesh at lunchtime - went well, but did leave my knee and left quad slightly twingey. Nothing too bad though. Did the lunge track with zero weight, and shoulders and abs, which was great :o)

5 Minutes and We're Almost There...

Distance: 0.62 miles
Time: 5:28
Surface: Tarmac
Shoes: Black 2080s with heel raise

Wow - bit worried about that but remarkably trouble free. Set out running down Grange Road, and ended up reaching Cornwall Road before turning round (2:38). Iced the knee afterwards, but no obvious twinges and it's an hour or two later. Fingers crossed!

Weight has been steady this week - after going up a bit it's now gone down again and is 101.5kg.

The blue line is my weight, the purple line is the target (1kg per week) and the yellow line is the actual change but done evenly. At the moment it's slightly above the target line, which is not good! Still - nothing too drastic so don't panic. Actual weight as of this morning was 101.5kg, so a 1.9kg total loss in just over two weeks.

Swimming with Dinosaurs?

Distance: About 1 mile
Surface: Water

A hot day, so Lorna and I decided to go swimming. I wasn't counting lengths, just rather enjoying the feeling of being cool, and practising my stroke while keeping my body straight, which seemed to really help a lot.

The lane got really busy at times, and we got fed up after about an hour, but not before a mile or so had been swum!

Trailwalker Support

Distance: 100km
Surface: Grass and flint/chalk paths
Time: 25:05

Not me! Just supporting for this fab event! Lorna, Allison, Fran and John did a great job to finish in just over 25 hours.

Full report to follow!

My piccies - the supporting role

Do Seals Wear Goggles??

Distance: 1 mile
Time: 45 minutes
Surface: Water!

Having done all of three minutes exercise this morning, I decided that a swim was in order. Having the moped means I can just pop over there in ten minutes :o) Plus my new goggels had arrived from Wiggle, so I wanted to try them out. They're called "Seal XP", which sounds vaguely like an operating system, but did make me wonder - when the feck do seals wear goggles? Anyhow - so far they seem excellent, and don't let water in even when I'm doing fairly high power strokes and turns. Did 32 lengths before taking them off, and didn't need to empty them out once :oD

It was a fairly uneventful session - got chatting to a bloke about the London Tri, and very little Breaststroke Mafia interference, thank heavens. I could easily have done another 16 lengths and made it 2km, but decided to get back by three as I was expecting people around then. Anyhow - I was hungry!

The First Three Minutes

Time: 3 minutes
Distance: 0.37 miles (approx)
Surface: Road

Been feeling a bit carp regarding the running since Monday - particularly down the tibialis anterior on the left leg. Was somewhat apprehensive of doing another run on tarmac given this, and also given the heat - I meant to do this yesterday in the afternoon before Body Pump, in the end I didn't do either! Way too hot!

This morning is cooler, but I woke up with twinges down the shin and across the front of the ankle :o( Decided to give it a go anyhow. Pulling on the black 2080s, complete with heel insert, felt odd after wearing the Brooks Vapours around all weak for standard wear.

Set out feeling slightly odd, and with a twinge on the outside of my right knee/ITB. Strange - that's a new one on me! Maybe it's a stability issue. Running didn't exactly feel fluent, but better than the last run on tarmac. Guess I have to get used to the surface as well.

Turned round after 90 seconds (conveniently placed drain cover!) and returned to base. No probs in left shin throughout, although the front of the left ankle twinged slightly afterwards. Progress I guess, although three minutes is hardly a huge run - I managed that several months ago before all the chiro - it was only when I built up further (to about 12 minutes) that the problems started to really hit, although to be fair, the run today felt a lot more even than then. It was a better pace than I'd thought - measuring it afterwards showed it to be around 8min/mile pace. No wonder I had got a little hot and sweaty!

Weight up 0.1kg, no big deal - been eating a fair bit of bread and stuff. Would really expect it to drop soon - it's actually crept up since the start of the week.

Trailwalk this weekend! Vrap and Heebs due to arrive soon. Should be a fun weekend. Just been doing some cooking of flapjack and banana bread :o)

Weight and C

Rest day yesterday, and imbibed a fair amount of alcohol!

Today the plan is to try a short run on tarmac, and then to do BP down the gym. I might stick a swim in there as well, as it's sweltering outside! I won't get much chance to exercise over the weekend, as it's Trail Walk and I'm doing support crew for the Feral Bananas :o)

Anyhow - this post is supposed to be about weight. This time last year I was about 13 stone 10, and I've gained over two stone since then, mainly through eating lots while not exercising (either through being lazy, through injury, being busy or just CBA). Anyhow - at the start of the summer hols, I decided to tackle the problem. The graph is shown below

The pink line is the target weight (losing 1kg a week) and the blue line is the actual. I seem to be on a bit of a "Bounce" at the mo, but hopefully all the vitamin C (in fruit) I've been having will get that down. Monday and Tuesday I was very active, so hopefully once all that fibre gets through me (!!) the weight will drop again.

Mad Dash but no Run!

Busy day today! Woke up early, and toyed with going for a swim at 7am! In the end left about 11am, and had decided against BP at 1pm as my quad was a bit sore from yesterday, but this eased off during the swim (was going to be 2km but ended up being a mile due to lack of time) and so I decided to do a mad dash to BP, pciking up my gym kit on the way!

BP was great - a short sesh, so we missed out lunges, which suited me. Did get in a panic as I heard the musci for the warm up track being played about five to one and thought the class had started early!

Running Again

Distance: about 1.8 miles
Time: 15 minutes

Decided to run across Banstead Downs again, round the edge of the gold course. Wasn't quite sure whether it was a good idea sa my left quad was still a fraction tender, but I wanted to try out the strapping.

All went well, although I did have a few twinges. Afterwards though, by left tibialis anterior muscle was tight, and the inside of my left knee was sore. I iced both, which seemed to help, at least for a bit, but it was worrying. The bit across my left ankle (ftony) was also quite sore. My right knee had twinges too. I feel like I'm going backwards again. Maybe my back has popped out again (dfoesn't feel like it), or maybe it was the "older" (200 miles as opposed to new) 2080s I used for the run. I had the heel raise back in - not sure if that had anything to do with it.

Decided to hammer myself as I'd really enjoyed the exercise this morning, and went for a 500 cal burn off at the gym - stepper was fine, as were the bikes and the rowing machine (about 100 cals each, with 200 for the stepper).

DOMS - Delayed Ouch My Sodding (legs)

Was going to go for BP again today, but yesterday (and even worse today) my quads (particularly my left one) have been agony, not to mention my upper body. Bad case of DOMS. Time to rest I think :o(

ITB and BP for me!

Physio in the morning, which was interesting. She can't look at my back as I haven't been referred for that (it was a bit sore after yesterday's swim) which seems daft as it may well relate to the running problem! Anyhow - she said my knee was still not tracking properly when I squatted, and that I had a weak VMO on my left leg, which you could see just by looking at the muscle bulk. I had the ITB strapped up.

Feeling brave, I haeded for Body Pump that evening, which was great - hadn't done it for ages, and the knee felt a lot more stable.

Like a Duck to Water

Another swim, a mile this time!

Can't believe it - the breastroke mafia were in the shallow end, and didn't move (to get out) until I'd done 20 lengths. What puzzles me is why if you want to gasbag, do you not just get out of the pool and go for a sodding coffee, instead of getting in everyone's way!?

Going Swimmingly

Decided to swim today as Vrap was down and it was hot!

Had a fun swim, did a kilometre, which felt good :o)