Lurgified

Hmmm - well the past few days have seen me taking it a bit easy - overindulging at the social, seeing mava again :oD, doing some swimming and stufff. But worst of all, yesterday mornign I woke up sneezing and with my nose running like mad (thanks for sharing!) and generally feeling lousy. I spent most of the day in bed, save a quick trip over to have a natter with WOmble mid-afternoon. A shame, as I'd wanted to do a run with her in the morning, but I really wasn't up to it.

Back at work today - the early morning meeting's been cancelled (so I missed out on two hours more in bed), and I'm writing reports which is tedious. The kids are meant to be back this week before going on study leave again, but that was never likely to happen!

I feel like I've made all the decisions I need to move on, but I can't yet because I still have to come into work for the next few weeks, and the lurgy is holding me back from training. After quite a wobble (i.e. upwards leap), I'm back to twelve pounds weight loss, but I want to get to the full stone and then into fourteen stone something :oD

It'll happen - but I'm champing at the bit on all counts at the moment!

I'm Humping a Lot...

...and I'm not happy!

I did a body pump class the other night (not the one I blogged, one on Wednesday), and very much enjoyed it as usual - pretty much the same weights as the previous few times I think. All well and good.

But as I was getting the weights out, I lugged four 5kg weights across to my step in one go. They weighed a bliddy ton! Not literally of course, as there's fifty times that much weight in a ton, but it was still a significant amount of weight.

And then I realised - I'm planning on losing around three stone altogetyher, which isn't a great deal short of 20 kgs - 19kgs near as dammit! And I'll have been running around with that - not surprising my 10k times have slowed!!

Anyway - I seem to have put on a pound - don't really know why, so I'll not pay it too much heed, and there's a social tonight. That still leaves me eleven pounds down, so hopefully by the end of next week, one way or another, I'll have got rid of a whole stone. Then it's only a few pounds more and then I'll weight fourteen stone something for the first time four several years. I'm feeling considerably fitter, and I think I'm getting a fair bit more toned as well.

Body Bum-P

Bit of an update - as I haven't blogged for a few days.

Monday I was down the gym, doing pilates and then a body pump class. It's usually packed, with not that much room between the steps. Tonight I had a young woman position herself in front of me wearing white trackie bottoms/leggings. Only problem was, there was something wrong with the fit, and as she did squats or dead lifts (part of the back track) the back of her bottoms gradually slipped down, revealing an ample expanse of bum-cleavage. Now - normally you'd pull them up, but both tracks you have a bar across your shoulders, making it not really possible without stopping, or waiting until the end of the track.

It wasn't so bad in the squats track, but in the back one, during a deadlife, the upper body leans forward as the bum sticks out - or, to be more precise, my upper body leant forward as her bum (by this time 30% revealed) stuck backwards. Not quite what I had in mind!!

Anyway - after that, it was into the swimming pool for 400m and a sesh in the steam room :oD

Last night (Tuesday) I was uncertain whether to exercise or not. I'd had a husky cough all day, which is how the chest thingy from Sunday had developed, and I was quite wheezy. Anyway, I decided to go, and I felt really easy in spite of the chest problems. I think my average heart rate for the first mile was something like 132bpm, but I'll add the garmin figures when I get home. It kept to around 150-155 for the rest of the run, and I was averaging about nine minute miles. Surprising, as it felt faster in spite of being very comfortable - I was disappointed that it wasn't quicker from how it felt :o(

I wanted to get out on the bike but also wanted to pop over to have a natter with a frined, so in the end I compromised and went there on the bike. I had a great evening, nattering about not much and taking the pee out of the Big Brotther nutters, and then rode home, getting a bit lost on the way. All in all about 18 miles I reckon :o)

Anyway - this morning my weight has really dropped dramatically - not sure if I was dehydrated or something as I seem to have lost a further two pounds. I'm not going to post it yet as I don't believe it's really going to last!

Epsom 10k

Oh joy - first race for months (I don't really count FLM or the New Year's Day race where I wasn't trying for a time) and I've got some sort of chest infection that is making me make a whirring noise each time I breathe!

Still - it's good to get back into the habit I guess. It's local, I'll see people I know, and already I'm getting the usual pre-race nerves that make me rush to the loo every few minutes. Probably a good thing as I've been pretty bunged up the past few days!

I'll be back later to report on how it went (see below)

Weight's up a pound on the week, which is pretty disappointing given I only had one blow out - hopefully it's just a blip and all will be well by next weekend :o)

Race Report

Riding over on the scooter I realised just how wet it had the potential to get -dark clouds were gathering overhead and the rain was drizzling gently, which would be quite pleasant if it stayed like that. Anyway - here's a Google Earth pic of the race:

The first problem was actually finding the start - there was no clearly marked start like, so I just joined Cookie and WOmble and waited with them. The hooter went, and we were off, although the point at which I started my watch was a bit arbitrary!

I quickly realised I'd started too far back, and had to thread my way past quite a few people. Cookie was doing the same, only better than me, and I quickly lost him. I stayed pretty much with WOmble, and was happy to see my Garmin say that the pace was 7:32 and I was feeling okay on it. That wasn't to last! I went with WOmble for about the first half mile, then moved ahead as I felt comfortable, not with the intention of going miles clear, but judging by the finish I moved gradually forward ahead of her.

I reached the first mile in 8:04 by the Garmin (slightly ove rby the mileposts) and felt pretty pleased with that. I even though briefly that the sub 50 might still be on, although this wasn't too realistic, I was bound to slow a bit.

The next chunk was quite a long slow climb (off as I hadn't noticed a downhill), and then we turned sharp right back into Epsom, with the dreaded hill. I didn't actually find it too bad, and the second mile was chalked up as 8:19. A quick slow down to take a dink, and then into the second lap. This again went well, and I was pleased with how I kept up my pace. I traded places with a woman about three times, and we had a bit of a joke about it. Even including the drink slow down, the third mile took 8:16, and then I started to slow slightly, hitting 8:26. The hills had started to kick back in at this point, and my drink sbelt was working loose. I stopped at the four mile marker, sorted my drinks belt, and took a big swig. A kindly female ginger runner said "are you okay?", I replied "Yes thanks", and set off in pursuit. She provided a good person to chase, and we were joined by a third person (also ginger, but male), and we helped each other along well.

Finally, we crested the hill, and had some nice downhill - although my legs were too weakened to take full advantage of it!Then it was left back into Epsom (from slightly further out this time), a steep downhill (female Ginger shot off at this point, and I left male ginger a bit behind). Then the uphill, which wasn;t as bad as the long drag uphill, and we were then heading into the sprint finish. I knew that sub 50 was out of the question, but as I passed the six mile marker, my watch showed 50:21, so I hoped to get under 52 minutes but thought it was a long shot as it would require a pace of under eight minute miles. I went for it, and surprised myself that I could keep up the pace. A car pulled out, in spite of a marshall, and the marshall directed me behind it (nice - but it would have been better if he'd stopped it in the first palce, as the gap was rather narrow). Then into the finishing straight, keeping pushing, and I could see on the clock I was going to get under 52 minutes.

Just to make matters tricky, a female who'd pssed me at about mile three decided to walk back along the course, right across the finishing shute, which was narrow enough already. I hope other runners show more consideration. I yelled something about "get out of the f**king way" at her. That sort of thing is bad enough from non-runners who perhaps don't appreciate what it's like running, but from runners (who must know what it's like at the end of the race) it's really inconsiderate. I managed to avoid her, but it was one thing I could have done without - grrrrrrr!

Anyhow - bit disappointed not to go sub 50, but I think that even without the cough I probably wouldn't have managed it. Sub 51 probably, but not sub 50. That's going to have to wait for Dysart, and will now be my target. Sub 48 will have to wait for Elmbridge (unless I do surprisingly well at Dysart!).

All You Can Eat

I went over to mava's last night to see her before she flies off to New York. I did wonder if she'd be frantically rushing round, but as it turns out she'd not got much left to do, so we went out for a meal to a nearby "Eat as much as you can" Chinese Buffet place that we'd been to before, that serves gawjus food. Unfortunately it really isn't the best food if you're on a diet, even if you do restrain your intake!

I didn't restrain my intake (well - I suppose I did - I stopped before I threw up!) but even so had three platefuls. Unsurprisingly, I weigh newarly a kilogram more than before, although I suspect some of that is just the mass of the food rather than calories, and may well dissappear over the next couple of days. Not sure I'm going to make my target of a stone by the social, but I shouldn't be far off. I certainly don't plan on missing the sosh, but I might stick to healthy stuff (lime and soda - fanks Wumbly!)

I think part of my problem is that I find it all too easy to eat food like that from last night - it gives me a lot more pleasure than diet type food, and once I tempt myself with some it's easy to slip back into bad habits. Okay - in theory I don't have to have any more, but once I've done it once it's easy to go for some more sausage in batter and chips type stuff (as I did before the last two socials!).

London to Brighton Bike Ride

I've been threatening to do this for several years now, with Gordon, Claire and Daphne at work doing it, but never actually got around to it. It seemed a good way to do some Ironman training, and to ride home as well, but in the end I'm opting for a single journey and enjoying the social afterwards.

Anyhow - it's for a good cause, and since it's for a heart charity, one particularly relevant to me as dad died of a coronary when I was twelve :o(

So - here's the link to my fundraising page - all help greatly appreciated :o)

I have been *Very* Naughty!

Sniffle...

Okay - I admit it, I was bad.

After eight days abstaining from the work biscuits (and we've had the nicest biscuits all bliddy year recently) I finally gave in to temptation and had a choc chip cookie.

[hangs head in shame]

Cardiac Drifting

Right - well did you know that Garmins can generate lots of graphs, or to be more accurate the software that comes with them can. Not that I'm a geek or anything (ahem!), but look:

Now - there's a lot of noise in there, variations as I went up or down slopes, stopped to cross a road, or take a drink occasionally, but basically, there's a trend. The red line at the top has a definite upwards trend, whereas the blue line at the bottom stays roughly horizontal. i.e. Heart Rate is going up while the pace stays roughly level (going down if anything, if you look at the figures in the previous blog entry).

This is a phenomenon known as cardiac drift. Now - I've heard various theories, but there is a school of thought that you can train to get rid of this. Some say the best way is to train hard, and then your body gets more used to a pace, so if you back off your fastest pace by a bit then you can run comfortably without cardiac drift. Others say that the trick is to train your aerobic capacity (the bit that does the work before you start working hard), and that this is a much neglected thing. However, top triathletes do train this, and get used to burning fat etc and building what they can do at a low Heart Rate. It's called Base Training, and is something I'd tried before and it had pi55ed me off big time as it was sooooo slow!

However - for some reason (partly after re-reading Windsurfin' Susie's article), I decided to give it another crack. And here are the results:

A shockingly slow pace, but the trends are roughly level (although the figures do still show a weeny bit of drift - see below). In my defence a lot of the last mile has an uphill slow (and equally, the first mile has a downhill slope as it's an out and back course - the Nonsuch one I've been using a lot recently.

Interestingly, I measured my Resting Heart Rate today, and it was 52. The max HR I've observed is 207, so that give me 155 inbetween. Using the Karvonnen wotsit (please check WUmbly) this gives 70% wotist (RHR + 0.7 x (MHR - RHR)) as 52 + 0.7 x 155 = 160, and 60% as 144bpm. So today I was running below 60%. Not sure if this is good or not - it should certainly burn fat. I want to get rid of the cardiac drift, so I think it has to be done, however low the percentage!

Half Marathon then an Eleven Mile Run :oD

Okay peeps - just a quick one as I couldn't get on blogger at home and all the Garmin data is there; I'll update this tonight!

Spent the morning cheering on Mava and co at the Ranelagh Half marathon in the morning - I half wished I'd entered and could then have had a nice training run on a very pleasant route in good company, possibly pushing myself to a better time. In the end I watched, cheered, took piccies (going to RichK as soon as I can upload them - small problem there) and ate a hearty lunch.

Went to Womble's for a bit of a natter over coffee while the food went down, and then off home to prepare for a run. I'd originally thought of an eight miler, but then decided on ten, and set out without a definite route in mind. I did the first three through Nonsuch Park as per my last few runs, and was chuffed when my HR stayed down pretty well.

I then had a decision to make - I took the route down towards Stonleigh, and then along Ruxley Lane (turning right at the roundabout) and then back into Ewell. I tried to avoid the climb over the railway bridge at Ewell West, but in the process got lost, although it was a really pleasant little run through some parkland - I may well see a bit more of what the route is about on Google Earth, and make it a deliberate run one of these days. I eventually found my way back through Ewell, up by the scooter shop, and then did the return route through Nonsuch Park. I hit the ten mile point at 1:28 - which was pretty pleasaing all things considered. I eventually did just over 11.3 miles in 1:40. By my reckoning that would make a half mara in something around 1:55 - and with company possibly better. Not fantastic, but I'm doing under nine minute miles pretty well now.

Slightly worrying was the tiredness in the soles of my feet over the last few miles, and the way that the average heart rate climbed. I think I'm going to have to do some cardiac drift training a la winsurfin' Susie, although I do find that slow running stuff deadly tedious.

Wish I'd had my kit with me over at Womble's - she went out running a similar distance with GymFreak, and some company would have been good. We compared notes as we both got back at around the same time, and were running at damn near identical pace!

I was a bit worried after yesterday's lunch that I might put on weoight, but I've dropped another pound - so that's nine in just over two weeks. The full stone by the social looks distinctly possible :oD

Double Century - 200 Posts

So - my 200th post on this blog :oD

Did BodyPump last night - and in spite of the legs starting a little tired, it worked. We did some old tracks, which were great to revisit.

Muscle Group	Weight (each end - kgs)	Comment
Squats - Quads	12.5	Felt fine - legs ok the next day too
Chest	11	Hard going but okay - will stick with it
Back	12.5	Sore wrists - don't like the fatter bar that doesn't rotate
Triceps	7.5	Will definitely leave it a bit longer before raising this one
Biceps	6.25	Some tough mini-reps but fine
Lunges - calves and quads	5	Lower end ones kill me whatever, no point risking injury
Shoulders	5 on bar, 4 each hand for side raises etc	Very track dependent - will stick with this for a bit - was using 2.5s in each hand before

Then into the pool for 400m of swimming - must do some more serious stuff some time soon.

Weight back up to 100.0kgs this morning, think it's probably a blip though so I'm not worried - the overall trend is downwards :oD

Half Stoned

Wooooo!!

Well, yesterday my two diet recipe books arrived. I haven't actually cooked anything from them yet, but they make interesting reading. I've added them in since peeps have been asking about them:

Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook

GL 7 Day Diet

Anyway - That run last night seems to have helped, and I've actually made it to the first half stone lost, in ten days. I don't expect this rate to keep up, but I'm not complaining if it does! I seem to be back into the regular exercising as well - running, body pump, swimming etc, so it's all looking good from that point of view.

Must get out there and do some cycling in preparation for London to Brighton!!

Slowly Does It

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 55:20
Av min/mile: 9:13
Av HR: 148bpm
Shoes: kayanos as before

Well - a deliberately slower run, with the average HR 16 bpm slower than last time, and the average pace just over a minute per mile slower. I did also take less breaks - only one for a pee and one when I needed to cross the road and it was either stop or run into a metal object moving at high speed (not recommended!). The route was the same as last time, only I turned left out of Nonsuch rather than right and have to faff about crossing the road (no pavement on the Nonsuch side if you turn right).

Oh yes - I headed to mum's afterwards as I'd dashed out in a rush and forgotten my keys! As it happens it came out as bang on 6 miles - spooky!!

Anyway - the HR started out really low, and was below 140 for the first half mile, and then the hill of Mulgrave Road towards the bypass bridge put it up. I didn't notice the time at the end of Mulgrave Road - it was 7:03 on the last run, which is the best for a while, but this was a slow easy run, and felt a hell of a lot more comfortable for it.

Anyway - here's the figures - might be worth analysing them to see just how speed affects HR. There was a rather terrible increase in HR in spite of slowing the pace, and I don't think it had a lot to do with hills either in the last two miles!

Under Three Figures Again!

Right - well last night was a mad dash to the gym, gulp down a protein drink and a 'nana, then into Pilates, which is a fantastic tum and back workaout, followed by Body Pump and then a swim. Something like two hours continuous exercise - I used the swim more as a loosener than anything, so only did about quarter of a mile, but my stroke was feeling good.

Body pump's getting easier - I'd recently put some weights up, and may well put them up again based on last night!

Muscle Group	Weight (each end - kgs)	Comment
Squats - Quads	11.25	Too light - will try 12.5
Chest	10	Bit light, may try 11.25
Back	11.25	Bit light last night, was tough on Saturday - may try 12.5
Triceps	7.5	No probs until the tricep dips - may try 8.75 but prob not yet
Biceps	6.25	First time on this weight so will stick with it for a bit
Lunges - calves and quads	5	Lower end ones kill me whatever, no point risking injury
Shoulders	5 on bar, 4 each hand for side raises etc	Very track dependent - will stick with this for a bit - was using 2.5s in each hand before

And then the great news this morning - I've lost 0.3kgs since yesterday and dropped below 100kgs for the first tiem for a while. Okay - it may bounce back tomorrow (although I do plan to run tonight), because of natural variation, but the general trend is downwards and it's a milestone. Realistically I expect to wobble above and below (maybe) for a day or too, and then wave goodbye to three figures for ever :oD

Slightly achey now (DOMS I guess), but looking forward to my run. Got another BP class booked for tomorrow as well.

Monday Update

A busy weekend - first the run - described in my previous entry, which left no bad effects, even with the body pump sesh afterwards (see below).

Body Pump was a new instructor to me, who was built like a prop forward but who had a slightly camp style (odd!) but delivered a great class. I decided to stick my weights up to elevent for squats and back tracks (although in fact it was 11.25 because the small weights are one-and-a-quarter kgs).

Sunday started early over at Maryanne's, then a rush over to marshall etc at my club 10k. This dragged on rather, as first there was 75 minutes of car park duty, followed by ninety minutes of cheering and pointing, and then dismantling the marquees etc. Great fun, but also a shame as I missed meeting up with Pink, Cookie, Aiki and assorted other forumites over ath the Hogsmill five, and didn't get to sample the cake (not that I would of course!)

Then I met up with Vrap and the raptorites for coffee and a natter, and I had planned a bike ride after that, but it tipped down so I didn't actually head out of the door. I had thoughts of a 5am six miler (run) today, but when the alarm went I thought "sod it" - I am training tonight after all!

Another pound seems to have fallen off - rather disappointed at the fast start to the week and then the slow down towards the end - I seemed to be missing out on an awful lot for not much weight loss the past few days! Still - that makes six in total, so if I can average three a week for the next few weeks, the first stone will be gone within the first month :oD

XTC for XFR!

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 48:45
Av min/mile: 8:09
Shoes: Kayanos with heel raise, loop laced

The weight loss seems to have slowed (nay - stopped) for the past few days, but then I haven't ben exercising, even though I have been exceedingly good at keeping off the biccies at wuk, and even skipped a curry and beer last night (having three pints of orange juice and lemonade and then heading home instead). I was soooo tempted to stay!

Anyhow - I was a bit pooped last night so didn't run, but set off at 7:30 this morning. I'm rather chuffed I did too. It was a flatter run today, through Nonsuch Park and the potential hazards of mutts snapping at my legs, but the run went without incident. I think the fact that the marathon has completely gone out of my legs may also have had something to do with the improved time (three minutes off my last run over the same distance).

Anyway - overall I'm pleased with that run - I was stopping for drinks every mile or so, which did give me a bit of a chance to get my breath back, which obviously I won't be able to do in a 10k! I do think that perhaps sub 50 at the Epsom 10k is a bit ambitious, but I'd say it was a pretty good bet for Dysart at the end of June, provided I don't get injured or something :o)

You Need Glands...

Bollox - Thursday and I was all ready to do a run, but during the course of the day I felt increasingly run down, and by the time I got home I was not feeling liek a run. The glands in my neck were (and still are) swollen, and I was all shivery and feeling woozy. I decided to can the planned six miler.

I'm feeling a bit better this morning, but not fantastic. A damn shame as I really want to get that six miler in before the weekend, and do a ten on Sunday. I've got Body Pump booked for tomorrow morning and don't want to do both on one day again (ouch!), so unless I get the run in tonight, something's going to give.

I've so far managed to keep to three biccies all week at work - one was a super deluxe chocolate chip one (way too good to let sit there), and the other two were sort of my pudding with lunch as I hadn't bought any in. All in all not bad going.

Weight isn't exactly pouring off, but the trend is slowly downwards. If I can get some more exercise in then I'm sure that'll help. I'm even foregoing tonight's curry so that I don't take a backwards step. By next month's one, I'll hopefully be well on the way to a stone lost and will feel more like it, but at the moment I feel I don't want to lose any momentum :o)

I ordered two cookery books from Amazon last night - they should arrive in the next few days, and hopefully give me some cool new recipes :oD

Pump That Body...

Body Pump last night - great to get back and do this more. I'm going to aim for three sessiosn a week, although this mroning I have sore wrists from probably the clean and presses. The bigger, rubber coated bars andn't as easy to rotate in your hand, so I think my wrists were working harder. my medial right hammy was twingeing on the squats, so I didn't spread my legs too wide.

Squats: 10kgs each end (go easy on the legs for running!)
Chest: 10kgs
Back: 10kgs - will take this up)
Triceps: 7.5kgs
Biceps: 5kgs (may raise it to 6kgs soon)
Lunges: 5kgs - could prob go to 6
Shoulders: 5kgs, but mostly hand weights (2.5s - will get some 3 or 4s)
Abs: N/a

Then off for a quick swim - shame the class isn't a bit earlier as the post BP swim and spa felt a bit rushed. Booked in again for Saturday morning :o)

Lost a pound this morning, but feel like I should have more to come off soon :o)