Cleared my diary of running yesterday - woo-hoo!
Sadly, my thighs are once again feeling the strain (last time this happened, I had a nice post-marathon 3-week break from training... Bliss!). And I don't have time for this, as the cycling training needs to get a move on this week... So they'll have to get over themselves and ready to cycle pdq.
Need to actually get some long rides in - as that would be the bit of the training plan that has been most lacking to date. But, hey, Boris has arrived and so this shouldn't be a problem now, should it? And if it rains... I even have waterproof trousers for cycling in! The joy! The happiness of being prepared!
*sigh*
Am slightly worried about the lack of cross-training in the cycling training plan - it's all about the cycling - as I'm already walking about with a stiff back and hunched over in an "I'm-sitting-on-a-bike" style more than I'd like.... And so I'm going to have to add that in... Which means I'm going to be doing little in the next few weeks (months!) other than working and training.
To prepare myself for all this wonderful activity, I have spent the day lounging about eating chocolate and laughing at the pictures of me "running" the half-marathon.
Tomorrow, tomorrow I shall return to the plan and begin my devotion to cycling.
If Boris feels like it, that is...
;oD
Today's stats
Walking - 1 hr 19 mins, 3.01 miles [to town and about]
Walking - 36 mins, 1.82 miles [home again more directly]
Monday, 27 May 2013
Friday, 24 May 2013
115. Boris in the building
Today we welcome a new member of the family: Boris!
Boris is a bike, by the way, in case you were wondering. The new bike. The bike fit for cycling 100 miles in under 9 hours... He is, in many, many ways, a whole lot of bike.
Went to the bike shop to pick Boris up. Walked there. Obviously, I intended to walk back. Asked the bloke in the bike shop to strap the other things that I had bought to the bike to make it easier to walk it all home. He was kind enough to do so, but couldn't quite stop himself from looking at me like I was mental (OK, well, he might actually have laughed in my face, but in a nice way....). This is the third time that I have been to that shop and made an idiot of myself in front of the same sales assistant: either I can never go there again, or I can never shop anywhere else. Can't make up my mind...
Other than the safe arrival of Boris (he's dominating the hall at the moment - I can't let him into the kitchen, Aggie might teach him bad habits) the weekend hasn't started with a bang. G&T is taking an unscheduled break en route to coming here, and so I am spending my additional free time making the house messier rather than tidier as scheduled. Fingers crossed that the mighty train service gets its act together tomorrow...
Momentarily overcome at the arrival of Boris I did try to read some of the cycling handbooks/training guides that I have been collecting. First book was bombed out on page 7 (of 208). And I quote:
"In order to select the correct gears for your bike, an understanding of gearing is necessary."
OK, thinks I, concentration turned on, I'll give this a go (again).
"Bikes come with two or three front chainrings and eight, nine or ten cogs on the rear hub."
And I'm lost... I think the basic problem here is that we have different definitions of "understanding"...
Next!
:o)
Today's stats
Walking - 52 mins, 3.38 [off to the bike shop and back, gym and back]
Went to the bike shop to pick Boris up. Walked there. Obviously, I intended to walk back. Asked the bloke in the bike shop to strap the other things that I had bought to the bike to make it easier to walk it all home. He was kind enough to do so, but couldn't quite stop himself from looking at me like I was mental (OK, well, he might actually have laughed in my face, but in a nice way....). This is the third time that I have been to that shop and made an idiot of myself in front of the same sales assistant: either I can never go there again, or I can never shop anywhere else. Can't make up my mind...
Other than the safe arrival of Boris (he's dominating the hall at the moment - I can't let him into the kitchen, Aggie might teach him bad habits) the weekend hasn't started with a bang. G&T is taking an unscheduled break en route to coming here, and so I am spending my additional free time making the house messier rather than tidier as scheduled. Fingers crossed that the mighty train service gets its act together tomorrow...
Momentarily overcome at the arrival of Boris I did try to read some of the cycling handbooks/training guides that I have been collecting. First book was bombed out on page 7 (of 208). And I quote:
"In order to select the correct gears for your bike, an understanding of gearing is necessary."
OK, thinks I, concentration turned on, I'll give this a go (again).
"Bikes come with two or three front chainrings and eight, nine or ten cogs on the rear hub."
And I'm lost... I think the basic problem here is that we have different definitions of "understanding"...
Next!
:o)
Today's stats
Walking - 52 mins, 3.38 [off to the bike shop and back, gym and back]
Thursday, 23 May 2013
114. Sunday revelations
Woke up on Sunday morning and thought "oooh, did a lot of exercise yesterday!". And promptly took the day off (apart from a bit of walking). Followed by a Monday and a Tuesday off (just for fun, really).
In my defence, Sunday was the first time in my life that I have actually felt every muscle in my leg working as they, well, worked. I'm not sure whether this means that I am closing in on normality (although I doubt it) or if this was a sign (as I decided to take it) that I might need a bit of time off so as to not risk damaging said muscles. It was vaguely interesting for a bit (ooh, I'm using my glutes now. And my quads now. And there go the calf muscles!) but the novelty soon wore off. It is actually very distracting to be aware of all your muscles as the individually go to work. Normally, I just bimble along, thinking random thoughts: on Sunday, I bimbled along being bombarded with "glutes! Quads! Glutes!" running through my mind. It's a bit like being aware of the process of breathing, rather than just doing it. I hope that it's not a new feature of my happy life...
Anyway, all of this relaxation did not really affect the 5x50 final total - final day of the 5x50 was Sunday 19th May. My final total this year was 331km, up from 252km last year. Woo-hoo! Still failed on the basic premise (do 5km per day), but the random training plans weren't really conducive to that (they're really bid on having rest days)... Gives me something to aim for next year! *sigh*
In baking news, I still have no hand-mixer and so have been trying out recipes which do not involve creaming sugar and butter at any point. So far I've tried rock cakes and lemon and sultana muffins (OK, they should have been lemon and blueberry, but for some reason I didn't have any blueberries to hand...). These appeared to work out well enough (although the muffins were really heavy -quite dense, your average muffin, it appears). I do have to be careful with the baking, as it remains an issue that I am eating quite a lot of what I bake (for quality control purposes and so forth, of course). Although in the vast majority of cases that fact simply inspires me to bake more and not less...
;oD
Sunday's stats
Walking - 33 mins, 2.15 [off to the bike shop and back]
Walking - 21 mins, 1.27 miles [Supermarket sweep...]
Today's stats
Cycling (in gym) - 1 hour, 13.3 miles [Level 5]
In my defence, Sunday was the first time in my life that I have actually felt every muscle in my leg working as they, well, worked. I'm not sure whether this means that I am closing in on normality (although I doubt it) or if this was a sign (as I decided to take it) that I might need a bit of time off so as to not risk damaging said muscles. It was vaguely interesting for a bit (ooh, I'm using my glutes now. And my quads now. And there go the calf muscles!) but the novelty soon wore off. It is actually very distracting to be aware of all your muscles as the individually go to work. Normally, I just bimble along, thinking random thoughts: on Sunday, I bimbled along being bombarded with "glutes! Quads! Glutes!" running through my mind. It's a bit like being aware of the process of breathing, rather than just doing it. I hope that it's not a new feature of my happy life...
Anyway, all of this relaxation did not really affect the 5x50 final total - final day of the 5x50 was Sunday 19th May. My final total this year was 331km, up from 252km last year. Woo-hoo! Still failed on the basic premise (do 5km per day), but the random training plans weren't really conducive to that (they're really bid on having rest days)... Gives me something to aim for next year! *sigh*
In baking news, I still have no hand-mixer and so have been trying out recipes which do not involve creaming sugar and butter at any point. So far I've tried rock cakes and lemon and sultana muffins (OK, they should have been lemon and blueberry, but for some reason I didn't have any blueberries to hand...). These appeared to work out well enough (although the muffins were really heavy -quite dense, your average muffin, it appears). I do have to be careful with the baking, as it remains an issue that I am eating quite a lot of what I bake (for quality control purposes and so forth, of course). Although in the vast majority of cases that fact simply inspires me to bake more and not less...
;oD
Sunday's stats
Walking - 33 mins, 2.15 [off to the bike shop and back]
Walking - 21 mins, 1.27 miles [Supermarket sweep...]
Today's stats
Cycling (in gym) - 1 hour, 13.3 miles [Level 5]
Sunday, 19 May 2013
113. Feel the burn
There's a fantastic line in the RideLondon training plan, as follows: "exercising fasted is a means of encouraging the use of more stored fat as fuel". Basically, this means that you should try to do some of the cycling in the morning without having eaten beforehand. And you burn off fat. Woo-hoo! Sign me up!
Except for the fact that I can't fit in an hour-long cycle before going to work in the morning... Although the proposed "cycle to work" plan would sort that... Next week, maybe...
Anyway, today was the first morning that I managed to do an hour-long cycle without food first. It was OK. Although I did become ravenous shortly after finishing the cycle (which was inconvenient because I had to head off to Bodybalance. And once home from Bodybalance I could have eaten my body-weight in chocolate (which is why I avoid having such an amount of chocolate in the house nowadays). Note to self - obtain healthy snacks which can be consumed quickly to restore equilibrium post morning cycle. And then hide them so that they are only eaten in that circumstance.
There are other words of wisdom, but I understand them far less... ""at moderate Zone 1 effort" and "Stay in Zone 1 for more than 75% of ride time.". No idea what they're on about. There is a description, but it doesn't really help. I'm back in the "how am I supposed to know that?" world - unless you have a trainer riding alongside you, and a heart rate monitor that you're watching all the time, how are you supposed to know that you're spending 75% of the time at 60-80% of your max heart rate?!
When I'm running or cycling, I'm mostly just about the "keeping going". I don't have the time or energy for complicated mathematics. I'm pretty much ignoring the Zone thing (as well as 50% of the training plan, currently.... Hmm...) and hoping that this won't work against me in the long, uh, cycle.
:o)
Today's stats
Cycling (in gym) - 1 hour, 12.5 miles [Level 5]
Bodybalance - 1 hour
Walking - 43 mins, 2.43 [off to have my hair cut - an up-hill trudge in the lovely seasonal rain...]
Walking - 37 mins, 2.11 miles [home after coffee with ZG]
Except for the fact that I can't fit in an hour-long cycle before going to work in the morning... Although the proposed "cycle to work" plan would sort that... Next week, maybe...
Anyway, today was the first morning that I managed to do an hour-long cycle without food first. It was OK. Although I did become ravenous shortly after finishing the cycle (which was inconvenient because I had to head off to Bodybalance. And once home from Bodybalance I could have eaten my body-weight in chocolate (which is why I avoid having such an amount of chocolate in the house nowadays). Note to self - obtain healthy snacks which can be consumed quickly to restore equilibrium post morning cycle. And then hide them so that they are only eaten in that circumstance.
There are other words of wisdom, but I understand them far less... ""at moderate Zone 1 effort" and "Stay in Zone 1 for more than 75% of ride time.". No idea what they're on about. There is a description, but it doesn't really help. I'm back in the "how am I supposed to know that?" world - unless you have a trainer riding alongside you, and a heart rate monitor that you're watching all the time, how are you supposed to know that you're spending 75% of the time at 60-80% of your max heart rate?!
When I'm running or cycling, I'm mostly just about the "keeping going". I don't have the time or energy for complicated mathematics. I'm pretty much ignoring the Zone thing (as well as 50% of the training plan, currently.... Hmm...) and hoping that this won't work against me in the long, uh, cycle.
:o)
Today's stats
Cycling (in gym) - 1 hour, 12.5 miles [Level 5]
Bodybalance - 1 hour
Walking - 43 mins, 2.43 [off to have my hair cut - an up-hill trudge in the lovely seasonal rain...]
Walking - 37 mins, 2.11 miles [home after coffee with ZG]
Thursday, 16 May 2013
112. All the excitement of the gym
Am starting to experience daily (upper) back pain, which I am going to have to put down to the cycling tosh (rather than weird sleeping positions. Or just generally exercise being bad for you).
So I headed off to the gym tonight to work my upper-back and arm muscles in a different way on the cross-trainer (and not just to avoid having to go for a run. Honest! Well, mostly honest...). Which was largely uneventful, as gym visits go.
Although, the gym remains busy. There is a new repeat-user of the cross-trainer on the block - a young man who is clearly hard of hearing because he has to wear HUGE headphones over his ears in order to listen to his tunes while training. He looks like he's wearing ear-muffs... Or like he has a not-so secret Mickey Mouse obsession... And so Mickey Mouse (M to his friends) has joined our little troupe of gym-goers. Welcome!
Also in attendance were Gym Club Barbie (looking more Gym Club than Barbie today with a sombre all-grey outfit going on, and more actual exercise than flitting and fluttering), and Mirror Bloke. Mirror Bloke was behaving rather oddly (Gym Club Barbie and I shared some disconcerted and worried looks over this). He was using the treadmill (I'll admit, quite ferociously) and every so often... Exclaiming. He was in a part of the gym that was particularly prone to echo and this added to the effect, but... He was either exhorting himself to additional speed or distance, or singing along for a couple of works to his tunes: but to those of us not in tune with him, he was basically just shouting incomprehensible gibberish every couple of minutes. Quite distracting, and possibly a little alarming.
Luckily, getting off the treadmill seemed to cure him of the urge to exclaim to the room at large (perhaps he had been vocally fending of the power of the Sith?). I left him and Gym Club Barbie wordlessly arguing over who got to do their floor exercises right in front of the mirror (Gym Club Barbie was winning by virtue of having flung herself to the ground first).
The good news is that my upper back is not hurting like it was before. The bad news is that it is hurting in a different way now. Pah! I now intend to ignore it until it stops malingering. That's bound to work...
:o)
Today's stats
Cross-trainer - 37 mins, 5 miles [Level 5]
So I headed off to the gym tonight to work my upper-back and arm muscles in a different way on the cross-trainer (and not just to avoid having to go for a run. Honest! Well, mostly honest...). Which was largely uneventful, as gym visits go.
Although, the gym remains busy. There is a new repeat-user of the cross-trainer on the block - a young man who is clearly hard of hearing because he has to wear HUGE headphones over his ears in order to listen to his tunes while training. He looks like he's wearing ear-muffs... Or like he has a not-so secret Mickey Mouse obsession... And so Mickey Mouse (M to his friends) has joined our little troupe of gym-goers. Welcome!
Also in attendance were Gym Club Barbie (looking more Gym Club than Barbie today with a sombre all-grey outfit going on, and more actual exercise than flitting and fluttering), and Mirror Bloke. Mirror Bloke was behaving rather oddly (Gym Club Barbie and I shared some disconcerted and worried looks over this). He was using the treadmill (I'll admit, quite ferociously) and every so often... Exclaiming. He was in a part of the gym that was particularly prone to echo and this added to the effect, but... He was either exhorting himself to additional speed or distance, or singing along for a couple of works to his tunes: but to those of us not in tune with him, he was basically just shouting incomprehensible gibberish every couple of minutes. Quite distracting, and possibly a little alarming.
Luckily, getting off the treadmill seemed to cure him of the urge to exclaim to the room at large (perhaps he had been vocally fending of the power of the Sith?). I left him and Gym Club Barbie wordlessly arguing over who got to do their floor exercises right in front of the mirror (Gym Club Barbie was winning by virtue of having flung herself to the ground first).
The good news is that my upper back is not hurting like it was before. The bad news is that it is hurting in a different way now. Pah! I now intend to ignore it until it stops malingering. That's bound to work...
:o)
Today's stats
Cross-trainer - 37 mins, 5 miles [Level 5]
111. Moles in holes
It often takes me a lot of effort and energy to do relatively simple things - like leave the house. Not that leaving the house is difficult in and of itself, but it depends why I'm trying to leave the house.
For example, shopping which actually involves talking to a sales assistant. Meeting new people is one of the top ten most stressful things for me to do, and speaking to shop assistants counts. They're people too, you know... One of the reasons that I find this so stressful is the ever-present risk of appearing to be some kind of mentally-challenged loon. And I'm often told that I'm worrying too much, and that this is not a valid fear.
I offer as evidence an excerpt from my conversation with the sales assistant in the bike shop on Sunday. Bloke in shop (BiS) has just agreed that we need to get the right size of bike for me: he suggests I try out a 55cm frame before buying a 52cm frame (I thought that there would be measuring, but no, all a bit more interactive than that). He gets a suitable bike down from the display.
BiS: "So, you should just try this out and see if it fits."
Me (looking at bike): ""
BiS: "It looks a bit big, maybe, but you should try it to make sure."
Me (looking at bike): "Um..."
BiS: "So, just, uh, try it out, and..."
Me (looking at bike): "Well, you see, um, the thing is, well, um, I don't quite know how to get on it."
BiS: ""
Me (looking at bike): "Um..."
BiS (rallying, it has to be said, with aplomb): "Uh, well, you can just tilt it over like this and then, yes, get on it that way."
As you can see, my fears were completely groundless. Completely. This weekend, I might just play it safe and stay home, do some housework, avoid ever going into that shop again. That sort of thing.
Incidentally it was too big. The bike. 52cm frame it is!
(O~O)
Today's stats
Cycling (in gym) - 1 hour, 13.1 miles [Level 5]
Sunday's stats
Walking - 32 mins, 2.1 miles [to the bike shop and back - shattering]
For example, shopping which actually involves talking to a sales assistant. Meeting new people is one of the top ten most stressful things for me to do, and speaking to shop assistants counts. They're people too, you know... One of the reasons that I find this so stressful is the ever-present risk of appearing to be some kind of mentally-challenged loon. And I'm often told that I'm worrying too much, and that this is not a valid fear.
I offer as evidence an excerpt from my conversation with the sales assistant in the bike shop on Sunday. Bloke in shop (BiS) has just agreed that we need to get the right size of bike for me: he suggests I try out a 55cm frame before buying a 52cm frame (I thought that there would be measuring, but no, all a bit more interactive than that). He gets a suitable bike down from the display.
BiS: "So, you should just try this out and see if it fits."
Me (looking at bike): ""
BiS: "It looks a bit big, maybe, but you should try it to make sure."
Me (looking at bike): "Um..."
BiS: "So, just, uh, try it out, and..."
Me (looking at bike): "Well, you see, um, the thing is, well, um, I don't quite know how to get on it."
BiS: ""
Me (looking at bike): "Um..."
BiS (rallying, it has to be said, with aplomb): "Uh, well, you can just tilt it over like this and then, yes, get on it that way."
As you can see, my fears were completely groundless. Completely. This weekend, I might just play it safe and stay home, do some housework, avoid ever going into that shop again. That sort of thing.
Incidentally it was too big. The bike. 52cm frame it is!
(O~O)
Today's stats
Cycling (in gym) - 1 hour, 13.1 miles [Level 5]
Sunday's stats
Walking - 32 mins, 2.1 miles [to the bike shop and back - shattering]
Sunday, 12 May 2013
110. Over-crowding
The requirement to go cycling for an hour (I do better with miles than times, but the Challenge 5 training plan is all in times) means that I have to get myself to the gym earlier than usual (otherwise it'll be shut before I'm finished my hour). This means that there are more people in there along with me (aaargh! Company! Hide!!), and that it's still daylight when I start my training.
The other night I was surrounded by: Mirror Bloke (who once again prostrated himself at my feet to bend and flex most enthusiastically - I'm not sure why he needs to study himself closely while in the mirror while he does so, but there you go); Serious Bloke (who was weights and running focused - mixing things up by leaving out the rowing); and a new gym-goer who really has to be named Gym Club Barbie. She was little and very thin (and had to have Serious Bloke help her adjust the weight machines to her delicate little frame), dressed all in pink (pink shoes, pink socks, pink trousers, pink top), and no matter what she did she never quite managed to break a sweat. What other name could you really give her? Not only that, but she shared Mirror Bloke's obsession with the mirrored wall. After spending a little bit of time delicately using the machines in the gym, she cam over to the mirrored wall, kneeled down, and then lay herself back flat on the floor with her knees bent double and her calves running parallel to her thighs. All very impressively flexible - but at the end of the day she just looked like a human pretzel.
Although it does occur to me that I should be careful with the names that I invent for the other gym goers. After all, if I was inventing a name for myself, it would probably be "Long John Silver" at the moment, due to the on-going trouser-shortening issue when I'm cycling. I should probably bear that in mind in future. Or start wearing different clothes when I cycle in the gym...
Other exciting things that I've noticed in the gym - after only 18 months - is that the windows between the 2 mirrored walls are not blacked out or mirrored (as I've always assumed). They are in fact perfectly normal windows which look out onto a wall. When it's dark, they look mirrored (i.e. they are black and all I can see is me on the bike), which I find a lot less distracting. Yes, it's true, I can be distracted from exercise by a wall. Not entirely sure that the "habit-forming" element of the 5x50 challenge is working...
:o)
Today's stats
Cycling (in gym) - 1 hour, 12.1 miles [Level 5]
Walking - 25 mins, 1.47 miles [to the library and back... Forgot to do anything else!]
The other night I was surrounded by: Mirror Bloke (who once again prostrated himself at my feet to bend and flex most enthusiastically - I'm not sure why he needs to study himself closely while in the mirror while he does so, but there you go); Serious Bloke (who was weights and running focused - mixing things up by leaving out the rowing); and a new gym-goer who really has to be named Gym Club Barbie. She was little and very thin (and had to have Serious Bloke help her adjust the weight machines to her delicate little frame), dressed all in pink (pink shoes, pink socks, pink trousers, pink top), and no matter what she did she never quite managed to break a sweat. What other name could you really give her? Not only that, but she shared Mirror Bloke's obsession with the mirrored wall. After spending a little bit of time delicately using the machines in the gym, she cam over to the mirrored wall, kneeled down, and then lay herself back flat on the floor with her knees bent double and her calves running parallel to her thighs. All very impressively flexible - but at the end of the day she just looked like a human pretzel.
Although it does occur to me that I should be careful with the names that I invent for the other gym goers. After all, if I was inventing a name for myself, it would probably be "Long John Silver" at the moment, due to the on-going trouser-shortening issue when I'm cycling. I should probably bear that in mind in future. Or start wearing different clothes when I cycle in the gym...
Other exciting things that I've noticed in the gym - after only 18 months - is that the windows between the 2 mirrored walls are not blacked out or mirrored (as I've always assumed). They are in fact perfectly normal windows which look out onto a wall. When it's dark, they look mirrored (i.e. they are black and all I can see is me on the bike), which I find a lot less distracting. Yes, it's true, I can be distracted from exercise by a wall. Not entirely sure that the "habit-forming" element of the 5x50 challenge is working...
:o)
Today's stats
Cycling (in gym) - 1 hour, 12.1 miles [Level 5]
Walking - 25 mins, 1.47 miles [to the library and back... Forgot to do anything else!]
Thursday, 9 May 2013
109. Creatively stymied
Well. Just when you think that it's safe to step back in the kitchen... Your hand mixer stops working. Huh.
I tried turning it off and on again (well, off and not-on again, anyway) but it's not a computer and so that didn't work. Which has rather put a crimp in the cake-making shenanigans (I'm not creaming butter and sugar by hand - been there, done that, it wasn't fun). It might have been time for a break, though: I was at the point of making cake just for me (I had eggs to use up. As you do.). After lots of fairly easy cake-making fun, this cake (just for me, stirred together by hand) refused to exit the cake tins once cooked. Which is a bit of a cake fail, really... It was quite tasty (and perfectly edible straight from the cake tin, as it happens), but perhaps it's time for a short break from the baking.
All of which leaves me without a creative outlet. Bit dangerous that. I'll start dramatically re-designing things around the house any minute now. Possibly in preparation for the house-cleaning which is going to happen any day now...
Other than that, I am now in week 1 of the Challenge 5 training plan.. Kind of. Tonight's hour-long session should have been Wednesday's training fun. Tuesday's training fun is unlikely to happen (1-hour cycle in the morning? Hmmm... Getting up extra early - my favourite thing!). Today's scheduled training fun (1 morning and 1 evening training session) might happen tomorrow. Depending on whether it rains and the strictures of the half-marathon training plan which I am also supposed to be following...
I need more days in the week, I think. More hours in the day wouldn't help - that would just give me more time to fit in some sleep!
:o)
Today's stats
Cycling (in gym) - 1 hour, 12.2 miles [Level 5]
I tried turning it off and on again (well, off and not-on again, anyway) but it's not a computer and so that didn't work. Which has rather put a crimp in the cake-making shenanigans (I'm not creaming butter and sugar by hand - been there, done that, it wasn't fun). It might have been time for a break, though: I was at the point of making cake just for me (I had eggs to use up. As you do.). After lots of fairly easy cake-making fun, this cake (just for me, stirred together by hand) refused to exit the cake tins once cooked. Which is a bit of a cake fail, really... It was quite tasty (and perfectly edible straight from the cake tin, as it happens), but perhaps it's time for a short break from the baking.
All of which leaves me without a creative outlet. Bit dangerous that. I'll start dramatically re-designing things around the house any minute now. Possibly in preparation for the house-cleaning which is going to happen any day now...
Other than that, I am now in week 1 of the Challenge 5 training plan.. Kind of. Tonight's hour-long session should have been Wednesday's training fun. Tuesday's training fun is unlikely to happen (1-hour cycle in the morning? Hmmm... Getting up extra early - my favourite thing!). Today's scheduled training fun (1 morning and 1 evening training session) might happen tomorrow. Depending on whether it rains and the strictures of the half-marathon training plan which I am also supposed to be following...
I need more days in the week, I think. More hours in the day wouldn't help - that would just give me more time to fit in some sleep!
:o)
Today's stats
Cycling (in gym) - 1 hour, 12.2 miles [Level 5]
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
108. Rolling back the plague
At last, at last the plague seems to be letting go. I very nearly feel like myself today. I got home from work and didn't immediately go for a lie down... Well, I gave it some serious thought, but managed to resist...
Went to see Iron Man 3 on Saturday evening, which was jolly good fun. Although I have no strong desire to see a fourth film - more Avengers films, yes, but I think that Iron Man has had his journey. The next film would have to be a descent into darkness again (which happens a lot in the comics), which would be a bit of a stretch.
But more exciting than that was the Star Trek trailer. Not that it made any sense... But still, it's here! At last!! And then I came home and the first film was on the TV and I sat and watched it (which is a bit silly, as I own it on DVD and so could watch it any time). And that's my next cinema trip sorted (if not actually scheduled).
Otherwise it's been a bit quiet. I've sort of abandoned the trying to do the 5x50 challenge daily (due to general fatigue). But on the plus side I'm already at 226km and will probably go past my total for last time (252km) this week. And then there will still be another week to go! I'm very nearly approaching excited about this. Although I still seem to have managed to not do 30 mins exercise daily for 19 days in a row (and thus have not formed a habit of all this exercise stuff), which is probably something to work on next time!
:o)
Saturday's stats
Walking - 21 mins, 1.28 miles [Here, there and everywhere...]
Walking - 23 mins, 1 miles
Walking - 52 mins, 2.69 miles
Walking - 19 mins, 1.15 miles
Went to see Iron Man 3 on Saturday evening, which was jolly good fun. Although I have no strong desire to see a fourth film - more Avengers films, yes, but I think that Iron Man has had his journey. The next film would have to be a descent into darkness again (which happens a lot in the comics), which would be a bit of a stretch.
But more exciting than that was the Star Trek trailer. Not that it made any sense... But still, it's here! At last!! And then I came home and the first film was on the TV and I sat and watched it (which is a bit silly, as I own it on DVD and so could watch it any time). And that's my next cinema trip sorted (if not actually scheduled).
Otherwise it's been a bit quiet. I've sort of abandoned the trying to do the 5x50 challenge daily (due to general fatigue). But on the plus side I'm already at 226km and will probably go past my total for last time (252km) this week. And then there will still be another week to go! I'm very nearly approaching excited about this. Although I still seem to have managed to not do 30 mins exercise daily for 19 days in a row (and thus have not formed a habit of all this exercise stuff), which is probably something to work on next time!
:o)
Saturday's stats
Walking - 21 mins, 1.28 miles [Here, there and everywhere...]
Walking - 23 mins, 1 miles
Walking - 52 mins, 2.69 miles
Walking - 19 mins, 1.15 miles
Saturday, 4 May 2013
107. An on-going education
It's been a rather educational week all told. Things I've learned include:
1) I know a surprising number of people who know an awful lot about bikes... And who are willing to spend about as much on a bike as I am on a small car...
2) Apparently, it is considered quite mad to sign up for things (like, I don't know, marathons, bike races, etc) that you are not already capable of doing (including already having all the necessary kit). Who knew?!
3) I'm not a morning person (this isn't the thing I learned this week). Therefore, it's probably not a good idea to try to do anything complicated in the morning. Like try to make buttercream topping for cakes. Because this seems to lead to covering myself, the kitchen counters and the kitchen floor in a generous coating of icing sugar...
4) Having a kitchen coated in icing sugar can be quite motivational. For example, kitchen covered in icing sugar? Ah, well, nothing I can do about that now, must get to work. And, kitchen covered in icing sugar? Ah, well, nothing I can do about that now, I've got to get to the gym!
5) Trying out new chocolates as an excuse to eat chocolate is a plan with potential. But fraught with risk... Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations, for example. The Cookie Nut Crunch is quite edible and not at all offensive. The Jelly Popping Candy Shells? Uhhh... It's a bar of Dairy Milk chocolate, with jelly pieces in it (which is strange) and every so often some fizzy popping candy too (which is disturbing). Strange and disturbing is probably not what they were looking for, but I assure you that's what they've marvellously created...
Another exciting week of educational experiences stretches before me... Can't wait!
;oD
Today's stats
Cycling (in gym) - 49 mins, 10 miles [Level 5]
Thursday's stats
Walking - 21 mins, 1.28 miles [Quick trip to the supermarket and back... I seem to do that rather a lot...!]
1) I know a surprising number of people who know an awful lot about bikes... And who are willing to spend about as much on a bike as I am on a small car...
2) Apparently, it is considered quite mad to sign up for things (like, I don't know, marathons, bike races, etc) that you are not already capable of doing (including already having all the necessary kit). Who knew?!
3) I'm not a morning person (this isn't the thing I learned this week). Therefore, it's probably not a good idea to try to do anything complicated in the morning. Like try to make buttercream topping for cakes. Because this seems to lead to covering myself, the kitchen counters and the kitchen floor in a generous coating of icing sugar...
4) Having a kitchen coated in icing sugar can be quite motivational. For example, kitchen covered in icing sugar? Ah, well, nothing I can do about that now, must get to work. And, kitchen covered in icing sugar? Ah, well, nothing I can do about that now, I've got to get to the gym!
5) Trying out new chocolates as an excuse to eat chocolate is a plan with potential. But fraught with risk... Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations, for example. The Cookie Nut Crunch is quite edible and not at all offensive. The Jelly Popping Candy Shells? Uhhh... It's a bar of Dairy Milk chocolate, with jelly pieces in it (which is strange) and every so often some fizzy popping candy too (which is disturbing). Strange and disturbing is probably not what they were looking for, but I assure you that's what they've marvellously created...
Another exciting week of educational experiences stretches before me... Can't wait!
;oD
Today's stats
Cycling (in gym) - 49 mins, 10 miles [Level 5]
Thursday's stats
Walking - 21 mins, 1.28 miles [Quick trip to the supermarket and back... I seem to do that rather a lot...!]
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