Juneathon Day 30 - The Last Run

Whew!

That was a close one - been rushign round all day tidying, shopping, and doign web stuff and have JogBlog coming over in a bit for a meal, so the run only just got done.

Did squeeze in a quickie round the block though. Knee seemed okay, although my left leg is twanging now. Wish they'd make their ruddy minds up!

Lardathon starts tomorrow - Lots of Lovely Loss of Lard :-)

Juneathon Day 29

One more day to go after today, and in spite of doing more tidying than Aggie and Kim off that telly prog, I thought I can't fail to get a run in. So I did - once round my nice little half mile block - a few knee twinges but the 2110s seem a lot better than the other shoes for that. Odd thing is that the knee that's going in for an op has been fine the past few weeks! Doh!

Went to Tesco's for a late night shop earlier to get some stuff for an important visitor tomorrow, and it's great because it's open at all sorts of odd hours, like 24/7 (except for Sundays - does that make it 24/6?), but the trouble is everyone else seemed to have the same idea as me, including families with kids who really looked like they shouldn't have been out at 10:30 at night but they were and they were tired and a bit screamy which is well annoying so it wasn't that good a trip.

To make matters worse, they'd sold out of three things that I wanted so that was sod all good and I'll have to go back in the morning.

Tomorrow is the last day of Juneathon, and I have a spin class planned. It's the early one that is less over-subscribed but seems to have become more popular lately, so here's hoping. If not then I'll do some ordinary gym stuff.

Juneathon Day 28

Today's original plans went out the window - decided I really needed to tidy up after the flat had got messed up with me studying and had all sorts of stuff scattered all over the floor!

Anyway - got down the gym at about 8:30 for a weights session, always makes me feel good and while I don't do such heavy weights as the seriously muscly peeps I seem to do more than the fairly muscly peeps even though outwardly I don't think I'm that obviously muscly. I must have hidden muscles under all that surface lard that are just waiting to burst out.

Two sets of 12 reps on each:

• Lat pulls downs
• Chest press
• shoulder press
• upright rows
• Left and ride side bends
• Side raises

I am already nicely achey :-)

Then off to the pool for a 200m swim and to sit in the sauna and chill out which was made tricky by some peeps chucking a water polo ball about (in the pool outside, not in the sauna itself which would have been thoroughly awkward). They did get out of the way when I wanted to swim though.

Two more days to go then before Lardathon starts, and I am raring to go. I even have a big pig out meal planned for the 30th :-)

Juneathon Day 27

Today I woke up with a hangover. This is beginning to be a more frequent occurrence. Mixing with people from the runners' network of blogs seems to be having a detrimental effect on my health and wellbeing. It was a cracking night though :-)

Anyway - didn't get a lot done today, and slept through the afternoon as I only got about three hours last night. I was tempted to go for body pump but sadly couldn't be arsed when it came to it.

So - I eventually decided that a swim was in order. It's always a nice way to wind down and relax - 400m and a sauna, which hopefully got some more blood into my alcohol stream alcohol out of my blood stream. I feel nicely chilled at the moment.

A few days and then the Lardathon starts. I fear that after all this beer and eating out (another yummy pizza last night) I may well have gained weight this month - but it's all coming off! Got a bike ride to Box Hill planned for Friday if the weather lets up a bit!

Juneathon Day 26

Phew -that was close - spent too long watching the tennis this afternoon so I didn't get to the gym for weights. Off to Walthamstow tonight so no chance of exercise, but there is a very good chance of garlic bread ;-)

Anyway - one lap of the half mile block done. Knee felt marginally better.

What with exams and everything I haven't done big distances for Juneathon, but I have been out every day so far. Now that a lot of other pressures are off though - I must get down to more lengthy sessions - got a bike ride planned for Friday already :-)

Juneathon Day 25

The streak continues!

Exams are officially over for me, but for some of my biology classmates, there was a chemistry exam today - their last, so I went and joined them for a proper last exam drink, which also included our biology teacher who unfortunately couldn't make it on Friday. He's been great so I really wanted to have a drink with him too.

Anyway, after sinking five pints by 3pm (not 2:30 as reported in some trashy tabloid blogs ;-), I caught the train home, and had a sleep.

Trouble is, that left me with some exercise to do for the Juneathon as I cancelled the planned body pump class. I do really want to get to do a class, so I'll go for the wednesday evening one instead I think, but anyway - I was tempted to call my walk to the station my Juneathon, but coach Jogblog soon put a stop to that!

Anyway - I've done a run round the block - knee's still niggling, wish it would hurry up and sort itself out!

Think I might go for someweights at the gym tomorrow - got to get back to regular exercise now that exams are over - my beer intake seems to have risen the last few weeks and that isn't helping me lose weight either!

Magnum PI

Having heard several of the running blog community rave about it, I decided to do a little Private Investigation of the Magnum myself. Double Caramel variety, as recommended by JogBlog and various others, so if I put on weight I know who to blame.

It took me four ruddy newsagents before I found one as well, everywhere else had sold out, so I reckon I probably burnt off about 348 calories walking round my local township trying to find one. Which, conicidentally, is exactly how many calories are in a double caramel magnum! Never mind being "carbon neutral", this is food that is "calorie neutral" - i.e. you burn up as many calories hunting for it as it contains, and thus you don't put on weight. At all. In fact it could be argued that the walking will raise your basal metabolic weight, and so it actually helps you to lose weight!

Talk about a result eh?? :-D

Juneathon Day 24

Ha! Got this one in early - no poncing about and leaving it until 10 o'clock at night. Got up early and up to the gym for Indie Becky's spin class. Great session - lots of sweaty bodies all crammed into a room. If it wasn't at a gym it would probably be indecent and outlawed ;-)

Couldn't find the Garmin in time so didn't manage to record a heart rate trace. I'm sure my HR is going pretty high at some points, but would be interesting to see. Guess it's the geek in me coming out (you'd never know otherwise, would you, readers?). Don't answer that ;-)

The more observant amongst you will notice that it's now three months to the day until I start my course. It was 3 months and a week, but I found out the course started on 24th September rather than October 1st, so obviously the countdown changes. Can't wait now - the only doubt in my mind over whether I've got the necessary B grade is that I hope I've got an A grade, but that coutns as good enough anyway! I'll be absolutely gobsmacked if I don't get in :-D

Anyway - better get back to tidying up the place - it looks like a bomb's hit it with all that studying! It's weird getting in or waking up and not thinking about studying!

Juneathon Day 23

Great post exam drink last night, then into work for the end of year party. Only thing was I drank a fair quantity of alcohol. I really thought I'd got away with it - no nasty headache when I woke up, and I was close to making it to 9am spin, but CBA to rush - would have made it for 9:15 though.

As the day's gone on, I haven't had a headache or anything, just felt lethargic, and had a good snooze this afternoon. Maybe it's a combination of beer and the stress of exams. Anyway - hopefully tomorrow I'll be back to full throttle, although there is a bit of a gap where all the study used to be! It felt funny today taking down all my stickers and tidying away books and stuff.

Anyway - I've run - only a half miler, but it keeps the Juneathon streak going.

I do need to get down to the Lardathon - don't think the quantity of food I consumed at last night's work barbecue will have contributed in any way to finely tuned athleteness ;-)

Juneathon Day 22

Right - first up the exercise - final exam today so it wasn't a priority, but did several hours of study first thin and then headed to the gym for a swim and sauna before going to college for this afternoon's exam. Seemed to work well, although my head felt very fuzzled at one point. 200m swim, that's good enough. I can start the proper training as of tomorrow (when the hangover wears off, so probably Thursday really ;-)

Then in to college to meet the gang for the exam. We sat, we chatted, we bantered about Laura's Rescue Remedy and hw she was going to be pissed on the alcohol before the exam, how Jason musn't explode at fellow students again - all good natured ribbing of people all sharing a stressful experience. They're fabulous bunch, I'll miss them. I certainly intend to keep oin touch.

Then off to the exam hall. Usual rigmarole - rules and regs, switch mobis off etc etc, and then open the paper. It started with a bog standard kidney question - straightforward unit 4, and then onto a straightforward unit 5 question. Doddle! Couldn't believe my luck! It must be a yucky essay question?

But no - it was the one we went through in class on Monday - I was positively beaming internally and couldn't believe it! One aced paper - the only question that was remotely troublesome was one where I wasn't sure if they wanted the mechanism or the reasons behind something, so put both. Should be close to 100%. Only slight problem was I was busting for the loo with 35 minutes to go but still had shedloads to write for my essay so didn't want to waste five minutes on a loo break! I finished with 2 minutes to spare so good job I held on. Certainly made a dash for it after that!

That, I hope, makes up for the slightly dubious unit 3. I mustn't forget that I have a tsrong unit 3 project, which'll drag me up, but anyway - to cut along story short and avboid all the number, I should be a dead cert for a B (which is what I need) and a very strong chance of an A unless I've badly misjudged it all.

Now - the summer! All that stuff I've put on hold can now start to be sorted. All that fun stuff I've got line up - races, gigs, seeing friends. It starts here. Well - it starts after I've shaken off my hangover. So about August!

This has been a transitional year, and one of mixed feelings. I've made the "Big Leap" out of teaching, then gone back into it part time. I've confronted my nerves about not working full time, of chucking in a "safe" (but ultimately dis-satisfactory) career, and have broken out of the mould. All being well, I've booked my seat on the flight out of here and into physio. That still needs doing, but this chapter is over. There's another chapter waiting to be written come September at uni, andf that should be great too - but the next few pages of the book is blank - I can write what I wish in them. Having said that - I have some plot ideas and can't wait to put them into practice!

When I used to play volleyball years ago, we had a team chant that was "If you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly". I wasn't known as Bear then, but I remembered that chant the other day. Seems kind of appropriate. This bear is going to get out there and be a grizzly - which in this case means have a fab time and live life to the max. Bring it on :-)

Juneathon Day 21

Phew - just about managed to get in another ginormous half mile run round the block! Go me!

Today is my last day of study. I'll do some tomorrow morning early, then take a break before my exam at 2pm. Then from about 3:30, I'm off with the college crew to the pub. Then into town for the end of year piss upparty. Could be I don't do a lot of exercise Saturday, but I'm planning to do a swim tomorrow inbetween my last bit of study and the exam.

Wow! Quite a watershed for me. My head's been full of all this exam stuff for the past few weeks, and I've found it increasingly hard to think abolut other stuff, even though I do want to, somehow I just can't give it my full focus. Now, after several weeks of being in exam mode, I'm going to be able to focus entiely on fun stuff for the next couple of months. It's going to be a great summer :-)

After the hols - I start properly on my new direction - this year has been in many ways just a holding pattern before starting the course proper, although an intrinsic part of getting into the course. From September, I've started for real. Properly. 100%. Bring it on :-)

Got a run lined up, various other fun stuff, and who knows what else but a trip to Brighton is a must. Plus hopefully, even with the knee problem, I'm still going to be able to do gym stuff and see definitely see more of friends than I have done the past few weeks!

Juneathon Day 20

Not done anything yet, planned a Body Pump session at the gym but my alarm clock didn't go off and I slept through. Which was rather nice all things considered. Hit the books already, so will probably go for a run this evening.

My suggestion for the August "athon" event is the Offyathon. This involves

1) Walking three miles to an offy - thus getting aerobic exercise
2) Buying a 24 can pack of Stella (or another tipple of choice) - weights session
3) Walking back home with said 24 pack, more arobic stuff
4) rehydrating (consuming the content of the 24 pack).

Who's up for it? :-D

And specially for my one woman cheerleading team, but way of a thankyou...

Update: pidddly little half miler round the block to keep my streak going :-)

Juneathon Day 19

Phew - big exam day over. One was stuff I'd not been examined on before, the second was an exam I did in January and wanted to improve on. If I don't I keep the January score, so it took the pressure off. My best guess is that I need to score about 70 on each (so about 63% raw mark) to bring me up to an A, but possible I'm being a bit optimistic on the AS scores. The mod 2 seemed to go fantastically and the mod 3 not too well, but there was a good project in there. Basically I'd like 80 on today's stuff to make me have a bit more confidence.

Anyway - exams were somewhat weird - mainly familiar stuff, but with a twist on them so that they weren't immediately obvious. Hopefully if I made the right interpretations I'll score well, and others may struggle, meaning relative to others (which determines the final mark as opposed to the raw score) I'll do better. Fingers crossed anyway. I still think it'll be close. I'm hopefuly for an average of 75-80 final mark on today, but who knows. I still think it could be touch and go!

Anyway - I'm really pretty confident of a B (on some predictions I've scored it before Friday's exam) but need more to get me up to an A. B gets me into St George's so ultimately is the most important bit, but I really would like that A!

My head is mashed right now - going to chill, get up in the morning and do a bit of practice for Friday, and not work myself into the ground. I went up the gym to do weights and a swim, found the weights chocka, so did some stretches, abs work (might show up more if I laid off the pies!) and then did 400m swim.. Early night for me!

Special thanks to my one woman cheerleading team :-D xx

Juneathon Day 18

True to my word (well, sort of - I did say somethign about swimming) I stuck to the programme, thanks mainly to some nagging friendly encouragement from JogBlog. She really is a right royal pain in the arse tremendous motivator.

Anyway - decided on a short run today - my half mile loop, as I still had some study to do. I opted to play "Bath Water Chicken" today, for the first time in ages. For those who haven't played, it's a game of daring, where you turn on the bath taps ready for the post run deminging session and then leave them on while you run. How long do you dare stay out for? If you time it just right, the bath is all lovely and ready for you to leap straight into (having first undressed), but stay out too long and you flood the bathroom and possibly the flat below. It's a new extreme sport that for thrills and spills is comparable to bungee jumping or white water kayaking. Or tiddlywinks. You decide :-)

Anyway - used the 1120s or whatever they are, run felt okay, no probs at all, it's done and dusted, adn now to focus on study.

Hope Coach JogBlog is pleased with me :-)

Wibble!

Today is the last day before a big exam day. Tomorrow morning, at 9:30am, I kick off with two very important exams. The first I've not done before, and there's one sixth of my A level riding on it. The second is worth as much, but I did it in January, and got a relatively decent mark (72%), so I'm just trying to improve on that. Less pressure on that one.

Only problem is the first one involves what is known in the trade as a synoptic - that means that they can ask anything that we've covered, so I'm having to make sure I'm sharp on stuff from all through the year, which is a lot of stuff. The other half is new stuff, and in a way it's annoying that stuff we spent three months doing is all going to be covered in a few rather small questions.

Anyway - I'm pretty much done, it's all in there somewhere, just want to do one more run through of everything. If it doesn't stick by then then there's not a lot I can do - there's so many facts and sequences to learn that I'm bound to forget some detail, let's just hope it's not one they ask a question about!

Friday exam is a synoptic too, so I should have already covered the material by tonight anyway, and it's just a bit of last minute polishing and keeping it fresh in my head. A bit of essay question practice would help too, but I don't need to work as hard. Unless I seriously stuff up a B is pretty much a given, but I want an A and that needs a bit more. Personally - I'll be glad when this is all over and I can relax and get back to fun stuff :-)

Juneathon Day 17 Exercise

Felt a bit flat in the afternoon and had a snooze - going a bit stir crazy and need to get out and not spend so long with the books! Going to take an evening off after the exam on Tuesday and go down to the running club or maybe do spin at the gym - anything to get away from study!! Still - for the next day or so that's what I'm going to do, and then tone it down a bit after that - have fairly light days Wednesday and Thursday as I only need to keep the same stuff fresh in my mind.

Anyway - eventually decided I just needed to get out there and run. I decided to try my Asics 1120s to see if it helped my knee at all, and surprisingly, it did. Here's the route

Not sure what to make of all these shoe shenanigans, one day one pair works well, another day, another! Anyway - I did the route 25 seconds quicker than I did the other day, About 4:41 min/km :-)

Just Had a Quick Shuffle

Some peeps may know that a couple of weeks ago I went onto Ebay and made my first purchase. I fancied an Apple iPod shuffle so I typed that in, and it came up with one for £25. GymFreak had got one for this price so I snapped it up. It didn't actually say it was an Apple iPod Shuffle, but since it had come up on that search, and presumably Apple have the trademark on the word shuffle, it's a proper shuffle right?

I got it just before heading off ice skating, and guess what? Nothing on it about being an iPod. Didn't want to let that spoil my night out (it didn't!) but have sorta left it since then as I was a tad disappointed. Anyway - to cut a long story short, I've wired it up, and apart from the earphones, one of which falls out of my right ear, it seems to work fine. Perhaps I've spent £25 on a £10 cheapo mp3 player, but I guess it's ok. Need to sort these earphones and get some of those over the ear ones. I do have a set already but they have a bigger plug on them and won't fit.

What's up with my right ear?? Answers on a postcard please to PO BOX 123

Any suggestions for what I should call it, as Windows Media Player keeps asking me. I've already discounted "Five Knuckle" ;-)

Juneathon Day 17

Don't get too excited - I haven't done it yet!

The plan was to get up early, do some study, and then head off to the gym to try and blag a spare spot in spin. There's usually some even though the class is fully booked (in theory), but peeps don't turn up and CBA to cancel, which is annoying in a way.

Anyway - study's been going well, and tbh I want to exercise today but just not right now. The trouble with classes is that they're timetabled, and if you're in the middle of something they won't reschedule them. Would be cool if they did, but it just isn't going to happen. So - anyway, I'm pressing on with past papers, and I'm going to get the push bike out later and go for a ride. Haven't used it for ages, it's a gorgeous day out there, and being out in the fresh air is definitely more appealing than sitting in a stuffy spin studio. So - once I've killed off some study, I'm off out on the road.

Have entered (just about to post) a 10k race that JogBlog told me about. I hope my knee's okay, but if it comes to it I'll just jog round. Not fussed about a time, and may pace JB as I've been promise a pint of beer and a packet of cheese and onion crisps. How good is that :-D

Juneathon Day 16

Been studyign all day and my brain is about to explode. It's full of kidneys and eyes and stuff like that, so it's goign to be messy when it does blow up, so stand well back. Only a couple more days to go before I can chill. It's goign pretty well though. Just could do with a nice relaxing night out :-)

Anyway - Juneathon done, 0.7 miles round a slightly larger block - knee still twanging annoyingly - think I might try some other shoes from my vast collection!

Juneathon Day 15

Day 15 and still going - this time early. Got up early to study and got three hours in before heading to the gym for a spin class, which I haven't done for a few weeks. It was a Becky one, and I always like those because she plays lots of Indie music, which makes a change from the dance stuff. Not that that's bad for exercise necessarily, just not quite my favourite stuff.

Anyway - was good to get back, sweated buckets, the air con isn't exactly great and pretty much everyone was dripping with sweat when we came out. Only trouble is that the bikes are packed in a bit close together and when you go forward on hovers your nose is practically in the butt crack of the person in front!

Damn! Just remembered I meant to wear my Garmin today :-(. Not that I expect to move far(!) but I wanted to see what my heart rate was doing during the class.

Right - back to the books :-)

Another Feeble Run :-(

Knee still playing up, which is annoying as I want to get back out there and do some serious training. Bit dispiriting when the other guys are putting in fantastic runs all the time. Well done to everyone though, there's some great stuff going on out there :-)

Tonight I did about a kilometre - thought it was 0.7 of a mile but wasn't quite as far as I thought.

And now it's back to study for me - essential that I do this stuff as the exams are only a few days away but I can think of more fun ways to spend my evening :-)

Tomorrow I have a spin session booked at the gym - going to get up early again to try to get a few hours' work done before that :-)

Juneathon Day 13

Hmm - well so far I haven't done anything exercise-wise. I have been studying. For those who don't know yet, I have two very important exams coming up on the 19th and 22nd of June, that willl hopefully lead to me getting a place on a physiotherapy degree, which is my chosen career change.

Now, maybe I'm getting a bit overkeen and obsessive and stuff, but I want to give myself the best chance of that. I should be fine tbh, but would rather be as well prepared as possible, so while I'm going to try to keep up the Juneathon, if it comes to a choice between that and important study, the study wins. I'm even giving up tempting offers of drinking beer with JogBlog for the next few days, so it must be serious!

Anyway - the Lose the Lardathon is officially on for July. I'm told I don't need to lose any lard, but but personally I'd like to, i've put on about a stone since my knee went funny back at the end of last year, and I'd like to return myself to full finely-tuned athlete status.

I've just had a nagging an encouraging email from JogBlog telling me that the Juneathon is the law so I have to do it. So there! Okay okay, I'll get out there after my class tonight.

Goal for Lose the Lardathon - get to back under 14 stone again, which means losing about 5kgs :-)

UPDATE: Measly little run done at half past ten - half a mile. Knee really twanging which is odd because it wasn't earlier.

Juneathon Day 12

Nearly half way through already, and I still have a 100% record! Might have to let that slip in favour of exams, but it would be good to fit something in every day. Six days left before the next one - gulp!

Anyway - today - went to the gym, humped some weights around, then went for a nice relaxing swim, except it wasn't because the women's institute decided to have a gas-bagging session in the middle of the pool, which means you have to swim round them - heaven forbid they might move!

Juneathon Day 11

Wow - can't believe this streak is still going, even if it is more by virtue of some creativeness on what counts as exercise rather than maniacal training. Still - it has once again got me out of the door for a 2k run when I was thinking "No, I really should concentrate on study". Anyway - it's done, and in a time ten seconds quicker than Saturday. Same route as well.

Now - bath, some food, and then back to study - will probably do weights and a swim earlyish tomorrow.

Fairground Attraction

Met up with JogBlog for a relaxing Saturday at her local fairground. Well I say local, there was quite a walk to get there, but we're both finely tuned athletes so it was no problem. To be fair (badoom-tish!) a lot of the rides were weeny ones for the kiddies, but we did find two that we rather liked the look of. I've swiped some of JogBlog's piccies.

This was the first one we tried - didn't like it much as the harness thingy was digging into my shoulder and our weight seemed to go forward against the metal bad. There was also a point where we were actually falling forward and looking straight at the ground.

We then sort of double dared each other to go on this monstrosity, which was a lot taller and faster. Personally I enjoyed it a lot more, although it was a lot more open than the other one but somehow it felt safer. Anyway, we managed to get to the end of the ride without reviewing what we'd had for lunch and gratefully climed off. We did have a look round for more rides, but decided that a swift adjournment to the pub was called for, and sat by the river outside the pub, pints in hand. Fabulous! Then off for a pizza at this place, which was utterly scrummy!

After that we mysteriously found ourself in a pub again, and unfortunately it stayed open until midnight and it seemed rude to leave early. It did however mean that we got in the Juneathon day 10 exercise early - a mile and a half walk back from there to JogBlog's house :-)

Juneathon Day 9

Heck it's humid out there!

Knee is still playing up - worse than the one that I have an op scheduled for! Anyway - stuck with 2k (same route as the other day) as I'm off to see JogBlog this afternoon. 10:39, so just over 8 min/mile pace which is a tad disappointing as I'm sweating buckets. Well, I'm sweating sweat, but buckets of it. As in lots. See - I can use punctuation ;-)

Been studying a lot this morning, including human evoluation, which includes them discovering alcohol. How appropriate that seems today!

One Over the Eight!

Eighth day, and I did eight sets, and then one more on the weights :-). What? You expected another JogBlog inspired drinking session?? ;-)

Feeling slightly more recovered from earlier in the week, I do wonder if some of that was stress from the exams as I can't honestly believe it was Tuesday night. Okay, we did drink, but not *that* much!

So - upper body weights, lots of abs stuff, would like to do some more running but the knee's still giving me grief (right one this time FFS!).

Then into the pool for 200m swim and a sesh in the sauna - luvverly!

Tomorrow I will be taking my life in my hands and risking another night out with JogBlog. If you don't see me again it's been nice knowing you ;-)

Got Out There - Just!

Can't say I'm exactly proud of today's efforts - I still seem to be suffering from Tuesday night's excesses with JogBlog! Have spent about 3 hours in the middle of tthe day asleep, and still feel pooped. Going to watch Big Brother and get a fairly early night. Hopefully tomorrow will be better - have a bike ride planned.

Anyway - half a mile again tonight - go me!!

After months of left knee problems, my right knee has now started to play up. WTF??

Juneathon Day 6

Phew! Well today I was suffering from the excesses of last night. I'm convinced my dizziness must be something to do with going round and round the ice rink and had absolutely nothing to do with the alcohol consumed. Oh yes!

Anyway - I was never going to do a 22 mile rune today, so I've settled for the "Minimum" run of half a mile.

Even that felt tough!

Early night for me - zzzzzzzzzzz!

Juneathon Day 5

Today was going to be a bit different in terms of exercise, today, for the first time sine I can't remember when, I was going Ice Skating with JogBlog. Well - never doen skating with JogBlog, but my first ice skate for ages.

We met up at just after 6 and promptly headed off to a pub for some food. And beer. You can see a real health kick theme here can't you? We had to walk to the pub as well, so that all counts as exercise. Anyway - three pints later, fish and chips and a mushroom melt, we arrived at the ice rink.

The first problem were the shoes! In my day they had laces, but these had snowboot type bindings on them. Fortunately I've snowboarded so I knew what to do, but Cathy and I had great fun gettign them adjusted properly. Then the iffy bit - getting onto the ice! It's slippery stuff!

We lost count of how many times we went round, must have been about 40, so that's all exercise, and we had several races to see who could be quickest. What was amazing was that neither of us fell over once, until right at the end when I tried to do a flash jump spin type thing and did fall over. Actually, that wasn't meant to be the end, but our half time pint in the bar sort of extended right up until closing time.

The trouble was, we then went and found a bar to drink in. Then Gary turned up, a friend of JogBlog's, and he knew a late night club, so we went there. So - probably burnt off about 300 calories skating and consumed about 3000 in beer. Still - I kept the Juneathon streak going, so I've done my bit!

Woke up this morning with an atrocious hangover, was not fun getting back from JogBlog's where I'd crashed for the night. No milk or coffee either! Tsk! ;-) Still - a great night out :-)

Juneathon Day 4

When I got in tonight I have to say I felt seriously cream-crackered. I had some food, lay down on my bed, and then promptly fell asleep. Fortunately I woke up, as otherwise (gasp!) I'd not have done my exercise for today, and tbh it was only a nagging encouraging email from JogBlog that persuaded me to keep up the creed of the Juneathon!

Anyway - got to the gym with about 5 minutes to spare before they stopped letting people in, headed for the pool, had the pre-pool shower (essential just in case we've been covered in marmalade before swimming), and found that the boiler had broken and in spite of being on the red setting, the shower was icy cold! Woke me up anyway.

So - into the sauna. That's exercise isn't it? I even had to go and fill the water bucket up, what more do you want - blood? Ten minutes in the sauna, then into the pool for ten lengths, back to the sauna, and then ten more lengths and another ten minutes sauna and I felt pretty much cooked. One more cold shower and I headed home - feel a lot more chilled now and I think I'll sleep well rather than that uncomfortable "I've had a stressful day and am exhausted but can't relax enough to sleep properly" type one that I'd have had otherwise!

Phew - Thanks F*** That's Over

Finished the exam hours ago but had to dash into work, grabbing some lunch on the way. Had a class (in theory) but they didn't turn up, so it was a bit of a wasted trip - but I did see my maths group who had an exam today and spoke to the biology teachers at work who had copies of the paper.

Just to explain a littel - the A level is made up of six modules. In the case of biology, it is unusual in that all six modules count for equal marks - 100 each so 600 in total. I di two modules (200 points) in January, so have 400 other points to do. Some of these come from the two projects I was doing a while back - something around 90, although that isn't exact. Each of the two practical projects has a theory paper to go with it, and I'm doing those this summer.

To make matters more complex, the course is split into two halves - AS and A2. The AS is what you'd normally do in the lower sixth, the A2 the year after. Both halves are worth the same - 300 points, but the AS half are understandably easier.

In January I did one module from each half. Module one is AS and I scored 100. Module 4 is A2 and I scored 72. My concern is that I thought I'd done better on the module 4 paper.

Anyway - what I need to get into physio school is a B grade, which needs 420 points out of 600 - or an average of 70 in each paper. An A (which I'd ideally like) is 480, or 80 in each paper. An added complication is that marks are scaled slightly according to how other students did across the country - so my 72 in module 4 was actually 64% as the "raw" marked - which is why I was so disappointed when I thought I'd got at least 90%!

Today was module 2 and the second half of module 3 - both AS modules. I'd done the project bit of the AS a few months back, and while I don't know the mark I anticipate a very good score. Even so - I wanted to get as many extra marks "in the bank" today to take the pressure off the other two papers which are A2 and seem a lot harder to score well on. I am redoing module 4 and if I do better will keep the better score, but I may well not have time to study too thoroughly for that.

The module two paper was first, and while I may have dropped the occasional mark here and there, they were very occasional, and I found myself knowing the answer to most of the questions immediately - standard answers I knew backwards, and the ones I slightly struggled on I've found out from talking to the bio teachers at work that I got correct. I don't have to score 100% to get 100 - as it gets scaled up. In January I got 100 for module one in spite of scoring 53 out of 60 on the paper - it gets scaled up. So - I think I dropped a mark or two, but I anticipate scoring somewhere between 95 on that paper. I sat there in the break feelign evry chuffed - all was going to plan!

Then onto module 3. This is worth roughly 55 marks as the project counts for the other 45. Hopefully I'd scored at least 40 out of the 45, but still wanted to get as close to the 55 available marks for the written paper. Unfortunately this wasn't the case. While the questions were undoubtedly on the syllabus, they were on a few semi-neglected areas, that although I'd studied I wasn't as razor sharp on as on most of the syllabus. I put down what I hope were sensible answers, and I've since foudn that they probably weren't bad, but I'm sure to drop quite a few marks. Let's just hope I can score at least 70 on module 3 - with a good coursework that should be reasonable likely. I'd need something like 30 out of 55 - probably something like half marks given there will be a slightly scaling up. It's possible I may do even better, although that'd be thanks to the coursework!

Anyway - so - I'm hoping to take something around 270 from the AS modules, leaving me with 210 to get on the A2 bits. I've already got 72 from module 4, even if I don't improve, and realistically a raw score of something like 65% should see me safe. The A2 project went well but the marking is less predictible.

I'm left feeling that an A is highly achievable, but after the shock module 4 mark I'm nervous about it. I can afford to drop a further 60 marks to get the B I need to get into physio school, which would mean more like 40% on the remaining papers - which I really can't see happening! Than again - who knows!. Physio school next year is the ultimate aim - but I would like an A - after saying how A levels have got easier I'll feel a right dumbass if I don't manage it! Then again - I have been doing a course that is acknowledged as tough in one year while working three days a week! I could always re-sit a module next year if I don't get an A and it bothers me!

I should do some exercise tonight - but frankly I'm mentally exhausted. A run might help me relax, but my right knee is still a bit stiff, and I don't want to agitate it before the great Ice Skating extravaganza tomorrow!

First Exam

OMG!

First exam is here at last, and to be honest it will be a blessed relief to get the damn thing out of the way and I can start clearing some space in my brain for the next exam. I really enjoy biology, but all this cramming of the fiddly details (which is memory work) is tedious although essential.

Exam starts at 9:30, when there's two papers of an hour each. Unfortunately then I have to go straight into work to be there even though the students aren't likely to turn up, but hey - I get paid so WTF! Even so, think I'd rather just crash for the rest of the day.

I've prepared well, I should be okay - and I don't need to get an A even though I'd like one. Just wish I didn't get nervous at exam times - can't remember being like this when I was at school and doing A levels first time round!

Juneathon Day 3

Hmm - Day 3 of the Juneathon, and it's June 3rd! Do I spot a pattern here mebbe? ;-)

Took a break from study to hit the gym - not for a terribly long sesh but enough to get me out of the house. I left the lower body well alone after two days of running and still having a twangy knee and decided to do upper body weights and some abs. I just love that nice achey feeling the day after.

Bloomin' water machine in the gym had broken so I ended up using tap water - bum!

Did about 10 lengths in the pool as well - not a lot but it's a start.

Back to the books. Must. Not. Carry. On. Too. Late....

Last Day of Revision

First exam tomorrow - two modules - and they're crucial as these are the last two for the AS (normally lower sixth) part of the A level. I got 100% in the first exam and have done what I think is a god project, so I'm scoring well. The AS counts for the same as the A2, so the better I can do tomorrow the more slack I've got for the other exams to come. Not that I don't hope to do well, but after the shock of getting 72 for an exam I thought I'd got 90+ for, I'm feeling a tad nervous.

Been up since 5am and have got through two past papers already, and gone through some tricky bits. Just doing my last module three paper - less of an issue as it's only about half a unit - the other half is coursework, so hopefully even if I only get about 65-70% I should still make the 80% average I need for the A grade. Any I gain above and beyond that though is good, and of course a B gets me into physio school :-)

Going to take a break after this and hit the gym. Right knee (the one that's been okay) has been giving me gyp the last few days - even a twang before the 2km run two days ago, so I'm going to take it easy for now.

Ice skating on Tuesday, and while I'm not expecting to be brilliant I do want to have legs working properly, apart from any side-effects of alkyhol beforehand - can't resist a pint I reckon :-)

Will be relieved when tomorrow's exam is over - got a load of other stuff to learn and my brain is full at the moment. I do need to remember it to some extent for the synoptic paper (22nd) but not in so much detail. Going to have the rest of Monday and Tuesday off study though to chill!

Juneathon Day 2

Up at sparrow-fart and hit the books, managed to do a past exam paper by about 8am, and breakfsated on somethign I haven't had in a while - a Min butty! (That's a sausage and egg butty to any new readers to this blogged). So called because ages back when Pink Minnie from the RW forum was down we had lunch, and that's what she had, and said she had them all the time!

Anyway - after being studious for a few hours, I headed off to Bushy Park - leaving it a bit close as usual, and manage to locate Stumpy and Puffing Bertie before the start for a quick chat. No sign of Warrior Woman, although tbh I'm not 100% sure what she looks like. If you read this - must meet up one Saturday!

Today I had my Garmin on - as did half the runners! Although it's a measured course, I was a bit dubious about the 1km mark from last week, and anyway I find pace incredibly hard to judge, so the Garmin is useful. It also tells me how hard my heart is working, so is useful. My plan was to run 4:50min/km for the first 4km, and then see what I could do on the final straight and see if I could get under 24 minutes (a 4:40 last km).

Not sure what time the race actually started - it seemed late, but then in spite of being able to tell you your pace, heart rate, lap splits, and the air temperature, the Garmin doesn't haev a time display! Okay - that's not true, it does, but it's too much fiddlign to get at it. Ruddy thing kept dropping my heart rate as well. The manual says it has a range of three metres - which is bollox as my arms are not over 3m long!

Anyway - we started - I was nearer the front this time, but managed to position myself behind too men with jutty elbows who were running too close together to get through, I dropped back, and ran round the outside, but felt out of breath rather too quickly. I slowed down a bit, and a fair few runners went past, and about the half kilometre mark I was passed by Cookie. WTF?? He runs close to 20 minute 5ks, and although he's not quite as quick as he was, I definitely shouldn't have been ahead of him! I slowed down and tried to get my breath back as I'd clearly overcooked it! Even so, I went through the first kilometre in 4:46, which wasn't too far off the pace I'd wanted, and I'd have been happy with that if it had been run at an even pace!

Second kilometre things settled down a bit, people were still finding their positions but generally far less competing for space. I like running on the grass on this bit as it's softer underfoot, and less peeps run on it, and I slowly went past a fair few runners. I got to 2km in 4:51, feeling a tad out of breath but okay. Third kilometre was 4:52, so a nice even pace, and everything was looking good. I was pretty much bang on my target time.

The fourth kilometre was my ddownfall - it felt uphill, even though the Garmin says it isn't, and my pace slowed throughout. It came in at bang on 5 minutes, but I knew I was not going into the last kilometre with as much to spare as last week, and it was going to be tough to get under 24 minutes.

To give some idea of the comparison, last week I reached the last turn (just before 1km to go) in 19:53 and crossed the line in 24:46, so 4:53 for the straight, whereas today I got there in 19:07 but didn't cross the line in 24:13 - so 5:06 for the same straight. The long home straight really was done at a high heart rate, I suspect I wqent into it with a much higher heart rate. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that my speed endurance just isn't there yet. It was a fair bit hotter today and that may have had an influence.

Right - well that's today's exercise done - think tomorrow it's up the gym for spinnign and some weights, assuming there's space in spin. I really think I'd be daft to do running every day from scratch, so it's going to be a mix of stuff.

The Juneathon Starts...

That'll teach me - get chatting to someone new at a social, a week later (nay - less than a week later) I'm signed up for some weird "run every day" thing for a whole month. It's called the Juneathon, which has nothing to do with running in terms of name, but has everything to do with June. So - I've pledged, as of yesterday, to do some exercise every day. It was supposed to be running every day, but I've got an iffy knee, and a note from my mum, so I can do other stuff too right?

Anyway - around 11:30 today, I set out - Garmin fully charged, and got my first run of the month in there. I nearly decided not to do it, as I have the BPTT tomorrow, and I want to improve my time, but I compromised by doing a run of about two miles. The route is shown below.

(sorry about the edges but I've managed to mess up SportsTracks installing Visual Basic so I'm using an alternative :-(

The air today seemed full of pollen or something, and I did find breathing rather difficult. I've never really had full on hay fever, but the last few years on days like today I have found myself breathing rather noisily, so I think I have some sort of low level thing.

Anyway - it wasn't far, but my legs feel okay, and I managed to do an average pace of 4.44/km, which I'm quite chuffed with, as it's only just over 7:30 min/mile. I can now sit back and that's my run done for today. Must be a rest day tomorrow surely?? ;-)