Yippee... I'm off work for two whole weeks. Whatever shall I do with myself...
Well, this morning, I still got up and went swimming. I know, on a day I didn't have to get up and everything! ;o) I did have a lie in, the alarm going off at 6:55, rather than 6:20, but I'm glad that I went. Quite often I get out of the pool, knackered, but energised (the way that you often do after exercising), and want to be going off and doing anything other than going to work. So today I did. I did my 40 lengths (1KM), got out, showered, got dressed again and then headed home for breakfast. Lovely. (I did make sure I had a banana before going to the pool in case anyone is concerned that I exercised without eating). It was a good swim again today too, despite some very annoying people again. I'm beginning to suspect that all other people in the pool are annoying and that I will only be happy if I get the place to myself, or at least the lane! I don't want to constantly moan about other people at the pool, but there was this one guy who always seemed to wait, wait and then go off just as you were about to turn. Thankfully he wasn't a slow one, but the second time it happened I just turned and shot off, forcing him to hold back. Ha!
And my new technique must definitely be working, even though I'm not sure I am swimming any faster on my fifth lengths. But yet again, today, I was under 32 mins. Yay! Having been under 32 mins on each swim last week (I went on Friday as well and clocked 31.57.81), I was not convinced that today was going to be as good - there was no way I could keep that up consistently. But for some reason, I'm not entirely sure what (!), I did. And not just that, my time was practically the same as last Monday, just 3 milliseconds slower at 31.28.70. Woo hoo! I was very happy.
And then it was home to pack the hire car that we picked up yesterday. We're dog sitting this week for Wastrel and SAM in the countryside, so it was goodbye city, hello the gentle sounds of not so far off gun fire... Ah, the countryside! Am looking forward to a nice relaxing week, perhaps a spot of antiquing, some walks, some reading, and possibly even some sewing (yes, I brought the sewing machine with me, when else am I going to get the time to start anything new?) Bliss.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
So far so good...
This should have been written yesterday, when technically that was true. I had a great start to the week, getting up both Monday and Tuesday to go swimming before work. I got up this morning too, but ended up fannying around too much that it was quite late when I was due to leave the house and I would have ended up making myself late for work. I got as far as the front door onto the street intending to go to the pool, but so harassed and reluctant was I to go that I turned back round, went back upstairs, showered and went to work instead. Not so good, but at least I have managed two great swims this week despite this morning’s hiccup.
The pool has been pretty busy this week, which is annoying, and on both days I found I had to switch lanes during my swim. Perhaps I am getting faster after all… I have been trying my new approach of swimming a bit harder every 5 lengths, and with two great times this week, I think it might actually have worked. It’s pretty difficult to do, particularly on length 5 as I’m always sluggish in the first 10, and I’m not sure I was swimming that much faster… But I did break a few personal records over the two days… On Monday I managed my Fastest Average Time per length (47.22) and my Fastest Overall Time (31.28.67) and then on Tuesday I managed my Fastest Fast length (38.30). Not bad at all. And sooo sooo chuffed with the 31.28 overall time on Monday! Sometimes I think it’s just swimming in the other slow lane – it motivates me to swim faster and harder because psychologically I think it’s a faster lane… I didn’t expect to do so well on Tuesday because I was feeling it from Monday, but again managed a pretty fast overall time: 31.42.06. Hurrah! My second fastest time…
I did get stuck behind some pretty annoying people on both days and wonder if I would have been faster if I hadn’t been. The one who annoyed me most was a man I refer to as ‘Saggy Pants Man’. He wears a pair of black trunks, which I can only describe as looking like big pants (any girls out there should know what I mean by big pants, we all own a pair somewhere). They’re (thankfully!) snug around his waist and at the tops of the legs, but sag around his arse – too much fabric in them I think… Anyway, we swim at a very similar pace, although I would say that generally I swim a little faster at times than him. Mostly he swims in ‘the other lane’ so I don’t encounter him much but on both Monday and Tuesday when I had to switch lanes, I got stuck behind him and his saggy pants. And I mean right behind him. I kept creeping closer and he could see I was getting closer, but still every time he came to the end of the length he turned without letting me pass. Miserable sod. Grr… He’s a very inefficient turner (which is saying something coming from me), so I just kept getting closer. Eventually I was practically on top of him and just had to overtake – for my own sanity if nothing else! I always hate doing that, especially when it’s busy, and I had to swim for my life as there was someone coming towards me. Thankfully for all his other faults, he did slow down a bit to let me pass, but I don’t think he was very happy that I passed him. I suspect it helped with my overall time because I pushed off very fast after that to make sure there was plenty of water between the two of us for the rest of the time, so I felt justified in overtaking! He didn’t look very happy when I switched lanes and fell in behind him again yesterday… And I wasn’t very excited at the prospect of staring at his saggy pants while I swam either.
I am very tired now today – all this vigorous exercise is just knackering me!! But it’s probably good to have the odd day off. I’ll be back there tomorrow, fingers crossed!
The pool has been pretty busy this week, which is annoying, and on both days I found I had to switch lanes during my swim. Perhaps I am getting faster after all… I have been trying my new approach of swimming a bit harder every 5 lengths, and with two great times this week, I think it might actually have worked. It’s pretty difficult to do, particularly on length 5 as I’m always sluggish in the first 10, and I’m not sure I was swimming that much faster… But I did break a few personal records over the two days… On Monday I managed my Fastest Average Time per length (47.22) and my Fastest Overall Time (31.28.67) and then on Tuesday I managed my Fastest Fast length (38.30). Not bad at all. And sooo sooo chuffed with the 31.28 overall time on Monday! Sometimes I think it’s just swimming in the other slow lane – it motivates me to swim faster and harder because psychologically I think it’s a faster lane… I didn’t expect to do so well on Tuesday because I was feeling it from Monday, but again managed a pretty fast overall time: 31.42.06. Hurrah! My second fastest time…
I did get stuck behind some pretty annoying people on both days and wonder if I would have been faster if I hadn’t been. The one who annoyed me most was a man I refer to as ‘Saggy Pants Man’. He wears a pair of black trunks, which I can only describe as looking like big pants (any girls out there should know what I mean by big pants, we all own a pair somewhere). They’re (thankfully!) snug around his waist and at the tops of the legs, but sag around his arse – too much fabric in them I think… Anyway, we swim at a very similar pace, although I would say that generally I swim a little faster at times than him. Mostly he swims in ‘the other lane’ so I don’t encounter him much but on both Monday and Tuesday when I had to switch lanes, I got stuck behind him and his saggy pants. And I mean right behind him. I kept creeping closer and he could see I was getting closer, but still every time he came to the end of the length he turned without letting me pass. Miserable sod. Grr… He’s a very inefficient turner (which is saying something coming from me), so I just kept getting closer. Eventually I was practically on top of him and just had to overtake – for my own sanity if nothing else! I always hate doing that, especially when it’s busy, and I had to swim for my life as there was someone coming towards me. Thankfully for all his other faults, he did slow down a bit to let me pass, but I don’t think he was very happy that I passed him. I suspect it helped with my overall time because I pushed off very fast after that to make sure there was plenty of water between the two of us for the rest of the time, so I felt justified in overtaking! He didn’t look very happy when I switched lanes and fell in behind him again yesterday… And I wasn’t very excited at the prospect of staring at his saggy pants while I swam either.
I am very tired now today – all this vigorous exercise is just knackering me!! But it’s probably good to have the odd day off. I’ll be back there tomorrow, fingers crossed!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Sometimes you just can't plan...
Things didn't quite go to plan this week...
It started off well enough, getting up and going to the pool on Monday. It was another nice quiet morning in there and I had my lane to myself for most of the time. I started off ok and tried not to do those dreadfully slow lengths of last week and got on ok. Not brilliant, but ok. If the lane had stayed empty of all but me, I would have done my backstroke at the end again, but with about 4 or 5 lengths to go one of the Chinese girls I sometimes see in the pool joined me so that option went out the window. On the plus side, she's very nice and always waits so as not to hold me (or anyone else in the lane) up. She's a fairly new swimmer so starts off just swimming up and down the part of the pool before the floor slopes away. About 10m I think. If you're coming down the lane towards the shallow end when she's about to turn, she hangs by the side and waits for you to go past, which is really very lovely and considerate! This then makes me swim this bit faster as I don't want to hold her up for too long... On Monday this proved to be something of a revelation as I got considerably more hot and out of breath with my heart beating faster. Hmm... I thought... I should perhaps be swimming at this pace more often! The knackering sort of pace, rather than the comfortable one. That way I might actually lose some more weight as it will be having a better effect!!
So that will be my challenge for next week. I might start just by doing one power length every five or something, see how I get on with that. It means only 8 power laps (if I've got my maths right), but that might prove to be 8 too many!! It'll have to be a challenge for this week coming because I managed to fail to do any exercise the whole rest of the week just gone. And I had planned to try and go as often as possible last week, hoping to make it to the pool four or five times...
Alas on Monday at some point, I'm thinking in the evening some time, I ate something that should by all rights have been in the bin. I suspect it was some hummus I had bought the week before that smelt and tasted ok, as that was the only think that I ate that Flâneur didn't. My gut started grumbling after dinner, but I thought it was just a general grumble as I'd eaten healthily that day! It woke me just after 3, however and refused to let me get back to sleep. By morning proper I was sick as a dog, knackered and there was noway I was going anywhere. Thankfully the sickness only lasted one day, but I was off work again on Wednesday with exhaustion, and probably should have stayed off on Thursday too (it's not like I managed to do anything and everyone kept telling me I still looked ill!). So no exercise for the rest of the week while I carefully looked after myself so as not to overdo it while I still recovered from being sick. Bleugh.
So that will be my challenge for next week. I might start just by doing one power length every five or something, see how I get on with that. It means only 8 power laps (if I've got my maths right), but that might prove to be 8 too many!! It'll have to be a challenge for this week coming because I managed to fail to do any exercise the whole rest of the week just gone. And I had planned to try and go as often as possible last week, hoping to make it to the pool four or five times...
Alas on Monday at some point, I'm thinking in the evening some time, I ate something that should by all rights have been in the bin. I suspect it was some hummus I had bought the week before that smelt and tasted ok, as that was the only think that I ate that Flâneur didn't. My gut started grumbling after dinner, but I thought it was just a general grumble as I'd eaten healthily that day! It woke me just after 3, however and refused to let me get back to sleep. By morning proper I was sick as a dog, knackered and there was noway I was going anywhere. Thankfully the sickness only lasted one day, but I was off work again on Wednesday with exhaustion, and probably should have stayed off on Thursday too (it's not like I managed to do anything and everyone kept telling me I still looked ill!). So no exercise for the rest of the week while I carefully looked after myself so as not to overdo it while I still recovered from being sick. Bleugh.
On the plus side (or not) I got down to X-2 stone 10 lb and some ounces by Wednesday... That's a nice and unhealthy 3 1/2 pounds in one day!! Oops... I have managed to put most of it back on again (shame!), but was still at a respectable X-2 stone and 12ish lbs by the end of the week. Not so bad...
Being off did mean I got to watch more of the tennis than I would usually, even if I did keep falling asleep at key moments. It's slightly disconcerting to be watching an Andy Murray match one minute and then waking up to see Hewitt and Roddick playing without a scooby about what happened to Murray... But it's been a pretty good Wimbledon, from what I've seen.
So it's back to the grindstone tomorrow and I'll have to make sure I make this week really counts. We're off up to Perth the week after to house and dog sit so there will be no swimming for me. Hopefully lots of nice long walks instead, but it's all so easy to just eat when you've got a week off and not exercise it off as you go along! I will have to be careful of that.
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