Most bizarre

When I stood on the scales before my shower, after the gym, I mysteriously had lost those two pounds I was whinging about earlier. How did that happen?? This morning I weighed X-2 stones, 11 lb and 3/4. That was at 7am. This evening, I weighed X-2 stones, 9 lb and 7/8. That was at 7pm. How does one drop 2 pounds (or thereabouts) over the course of the day? Weird. I have eaten:

Breakfast:

1 muffin with poached egg

Mid-morning snack:

1 bag of Pret-A-Manger salted popcorn

Lunch:

1 Pret-A-Manger Italian chicken salad (which was delicious)

1 apple

1 pear

Pre-gym snack:

1 banana

Post-gym snack:

About a dozen mini twiglets (a great whole-grain snack!)

So it's not like I've eaten nothing today. I have, on the other hand, drunk over 2 litres of water. Perhaps, as I said earlier, this is the key. Maybe gone now is any water retention I had. Perhaps whining and getting a supportive boost helped? I suspect not, but I should look on the bright side that I am back where I was, and I suppose I should just be pleased.

Gave myself a pretty tough work out at the gym tonight. I wanted to see if I could run a distance this evening, rather than an amount of time. The answer? No. I am better trying to run a certain amount of time on the treadmill I think. I was trying to run for 2 miles, as I nearly did that last week. I managed 1 mile before I had to walk for a bit. It was too tough. I probably hadn't stretched enough when I got to the gym though. As I've said before, it's not a short stroll to the gym! But I did manage 16 minutes flat out at 7.6km/h, 1 minute of walking and then another 10 minutes of running, which is still pretty good (and 1 minute more of running, technically, than last week). With a five minutes walk at 5.5km/h and at 3% to cool down, it was tough, but good. I even managed the cross trainer too. And ramped that up a bit. Again it was a tough work out, but I felt I needed it and it felt good to do. Here are the stats (the boring bit):

Total work out time: 68 mins

Total calories burned: 753.4 (marvellous!)

Total distance walked/run/strode: 8.13 km (astounding!)

I'm pretty pleased with that, and generally feeling happier. Baked potato and salad for tea and today has turned out to not be so bad after all!

Disappointment

A definite set back. I stood on the scales yesterday and rather than seeing any sort of weight loss (or even plateau, I would have settled for no loss or gain), I found I had put two pounds on last week! Two whole fat pounds. To say I was gutted would be putting it very very mildly… What did I do so terribly wrong last week??

As far as I’m aware, nothing. Ok, so I did have a few sweets and a pizza on Thursday night (we went to the cinema after work), but I had eaten very little for the rest of the day, so as to be able to eat a few sweets and pizza. Other than that everything was the same. I did two good work outs at the gym, I ate reasonably sensibly (sweets and pizza aside). The only real difference was that I was drinking less water than I might otherwise. I have found that if I don’t drink in the evenings I actually sleep through the night. Perhaps that’s it? Maybe I need to drink more water and just sacrifice the sleep? Why does it have to be one or the other?? Maybe I need to do EVEN MORE exercise, which is increasingly difficult to fit into my schedule.

Humph.

There are any number of excuses I could put forth for why this weight gain happened (maybe water retention, maybe muscle gain…) but none of that will help the fact that I have had a very disappointing set back. This puts my total weight loss over the first three weeks at 1 measly little pound.

I could cry…

When you try really really hard there is nothing worse than these set backs. When you think you’re doing everything right… It takes all my effort not to jack the whole thing in and head to the sweet shop. But I know that is a terrible, monumentally stupid idea and that I must persevere. It’s just so hard! I feel like a petulant child – it’s too hard and it’s just not fair!!

Anyway, I missed our long run this weekend as Flâneur wasn’t feeling very well on Saturday and I wasn’t really feeling in the mood either. He ended up going out on Sunday instead, but as I was away during the day, I missed that opportunity too. Not that I regret that. I was away because I was being a ‘Super Supporter’ (can I trademark that??) cheering SAM and SD on as they ran the Jedburgh half marathon. I call Wastrel, RF and myself Super Supporters (which sounds big headed) because we stood at mile 11, at the top of a hill, and cheered every single runner that came past us, individually, while handing out jelly beans and wine gums. And frankly there was no-one else doing that. We did, obviously cheer more loudly when our friends went past, but we did make sure we cheered loudly for everyone else too. In an encouraging way (not using any of the phrases runners hate, such as ‘nearly there’). And I must say it was brilliant! The enormous sense of well being when weary runners managed a smile because you were cheering for them, or the look of gratitude when they realised we were giving out energy boosting sweeties, was just great. And we’re sure we saw some runners pick up their pace a bit because there were folk cheering (no mean feat in the terrible wind that was blowing in their faces). I would recommend race cheering to anyone and everyone if you want to boost your feel good factor!

Seeing all those people getting ready to run and actually running really made me want to be doing it too. Not the 13 mile race, I’m not daft, but a bit of a jog at least. I am determined to go to the gym tonight, despite feeling like I am being hit by Flâneur’s cold. Even if I just go for 10 minutes, or just do half my usual exercise, at least I will have gone! And maybe a few of these pesky pounds will start to shift again… buggers!

Is this the start of something??

Last night I was at the gym again after work. That makes twice this week, which isn't bad. Probably seems like more because that's all I seem to talk about on here at the moment! A curious thing happened to me when I was both on the treadmill and then on the cross trainer though... I actually started to enjoy it. Properly enjoy the exercise, not just endure it because I know it's good for me.

Not sure what has come over me. I suspect it was the endorphins. It certainly was them when I practically skipped home (if my legs would have coped with that I might have!). I was very happy in that I ran for 24 minutes straight on the treadmill at 7.6 kmph with just 1 minute of walking to warm me up (note to those who believe in more warming up than this - it is a 25 minute walk to the gym from work that I do not stroll). My legs coped pretty well with this and where I usually detest running on a treadmill I found it not unpleasant. I still prefer running outside, with company, with some sort of pretty scenery to look at, but I found it not so bad last night. My ideal clearly for the treadmill would be to have some sort of screen in front of me with pretty scenery scrolling by. That would make it much much better. But alas, the ones in my gym don't have that. Do any?? For my cool down I walked for 5 minutes at 5.5kmph, on a 3% gradient. I figured just because it was the cool down didn't mean it had to be too easy. Pretty good stuff. I was quite surprised when I switched from metric to imperial (US) measurements near the end of my run to see that I had run around 1.9 miles. Good lord! Quite something. I'll be up to running 2 miles and doing about 30 minutes straight before I know it!

Flâneur and I will be going out for a long run on Saturday (weather permitting) so it will be interesting to see how I get on with running outside, with hills and people and all sorts...

I also decided I ought to work a bit harder on the cross trainer last night, so upped the ramping and resistance from 4 and 2 to 8 and 4 on the easier bits, keeping it at 10 and 8 on the hard bits (it's a 4 minute, 4 minute split between easier and tougher on the weightloss programme). It was tough, but I persevered. And find myself pretty pleased with my overall stats from last night:

Total work out time: 63 mins
Total calories burned: 709.6 (woo hoo!)
Total distance walked/run/strode: 7.62km

No wonder I was so pleased with myself! I think that's why I'm enjoying it at the moment - really seeing improvement and progress. Let's hope it helps me with my challenge and goal!

I was bloody knackered when I got home though. It's another 20 min walk home from the gym, during which time the endorphins wore off a bit. I still had the feeling of having enjoyed it, but just wanted to collapse and sleep when I got in! I suspect I hadn't eaten enough by that point for the amount of exercise I had done (I roughly worked it out as the gym having cancelled out everything else I had eaten during the day, which probably isn't good). I felt a bit better after dinner (Thai green chicken curry and rice, yum), but got increasingly tired and grumpy as the evening wore on. Having had to do dishes, make dinner and then sort out the washing when I just wanted to collapse probably didn't help! Poor Flâneur had to deal with my grumblings all evening. He's very good humoured about it (thankfully!) - I think he finds it funny. Thankfully I know it's just grumbliness so I don't mind. Otherwise... well, you can all imagine! ;o)

Today I started off tired, but am now feeling that joy of having exercised yesterday. For the sake of my health and my figure, long may this continue!

More Gyming...

Was back at the gym on Monday night, so I thought I should record my work out here, so I can keep track! It was pretty heaving and I had to wait a few minutes before a cross trainer became free. When did students get so health and fitness conscious? Even fit people I knew at uni didn't go to the gym as often as these lot seem to. Sign of the times I suppose, there wasn't necessarily the same gym culture back in the late 90s maybe... Does that make me sound old?

Anyway, on Monday I managed to do:

Total work out time: 63 mins
Total calories burned: 672.2
Total distance walked/run/strode: 7.43km

Damn. Not quite as many calories burned (ok, so only 4 less isn't so bad) despite doing the same time and same distance. And despite running for a whole 23 minutes without a break on the treadmill at 7.6kmph. Bah! Clearly I was working less hard on the cross trainer and I must rectify that this evening when I head off to the gym again. It's non stop! But it is giving me results so what can I do?! ;o)

On the plus side I ran a whole 23 minutes on the treadmill without stopping! Go me! I was most chuffed as I don't think I've done that since I was training for the GNR. And that was 3 years ago. If only I could replicate that sort of achievement when running outside... One day maybe!

Happy happy...

Back after a fabulous weekend away I was a little trepidations at getting on the scales this morning. We arrived up at the house on Friday night to lovely cooking smells as Wastrel was cooking up a delicious chilli. There were 10 of us for dinner and it was no mean feat considering her family had just departed that morning and both her and SAM were a little hungover and exhausted for entertaining a different 10 people the night before! I was mightily impressed with them both, I must say. Dinner was delicious and there was good chat and wine. I have become something of a light weight when it comes to alcohol as I don’t drink so much or so often any more, so I made sure I only had a couple of glasses so as to not over do it. (There are also a large number of calories in wine, which is not good for those of us watching our weight!). The chilli and rice was very filling so I didn’t feel that I was being virtuous when I had just a small slice of cake and single spoon of ice cream – I’m not sure I could have fitted more than that in! More chat and gift giving made for a very lovely evening and as we were all pretty knackered a fairly early night as we all toddled off to bed around 11:30-midnight! Oh, so old…

On the Saturday we were all up fairly breezily and out of the house by about 11 to go for a walk. We wanted one that was around the hour/2 hour mark and coincided with a pub for lunch. We had been recommended a pub (the Meikleour inn) by one of the neighbours and it had been suggested that there would be two walks for us to do – one to a Neolithic dyke and the other down to the river. When we got there, we found the first walk and set off. It was very flat and fairly pleasant, but nothing much to write home about. We did walk for about an hour, but it wasn’t quite the sort of walk we had been expecting. On enquiring at the pub we found that there was no second walk as you couldn’t get down to the river due to it all being private property. Bah! We had a little wander round the village (including taking in a very odd little craft fair that, in Flâneur’s words, smelt like a jumble sale). In the end we decided just to cut our losses and go to the pub instead, and get lunch earlier than intended.

It was a perfectly pleasant pub, with a nice local ale (which, to the scorn of some of the others, I had in a half shandy!), and the food was nice enough. I think those of us who went for the more traditional pub grub – the fish, the scampi, the burger – had a better eating experience as the meat for the others wasn’t quite cooked how it was requested. I had the battered fish and chips, which was very lovely, but a little naughty while I’m trying to lose weight!! Saturday afternoon and evening was then spent playing games before eating yet more food. They had got a lovely big bit of pork in to roast, and it was delicious (especially the crackling, hmm….). Having had a fairly big lunch I did make sure I just had a little of dinner, rather than a greedy amount, but I think I ended up not applying this to the roast potatoes. Which were yum. Ah well, in for a penny… HMcM had made a cake – her first – so we had that for dessert with yet more of the ice cream (which I passed on. Not the cake, I had cake and very nice it was too).

The real killer of Saturday night though was the booze. I haven’t drunk that much wine for a very long time… We were playing poker (10 of us again!) and my glass just kept getting refilled. And then there was whisky… Oh my poor head. I did not bad in the poker, getting in to the final four with Coco, HL and Wastrel. Coco and Wastrel had A LOT more chips than HL and I, who were down to our stake and about a pound. I had decided that I was going to just play with the winnings and not my stake when I got up to that amount, but a fit of bravado, a stupid thought and too much wine made me go all in on a pair of 9s and I lost it all to Wastrel… Ah well, it was fun and I don’t regret it! We didn’t get to bed until around 3, 3:30 and even though I had stopped drinking wine around midnight and had been drinking plenty of water all night, I felt pretty dreadful yesterday. It didn’t help that I barely slept due to alcohol headaches and period pains, but I have not been hungover for a while and yesterday I remembered why not. Urgh. Last night Flâneur and I went to bed at 9 (asleep by 10:30) and boy was ever an early night needed! I also haven’t slept through the night for a few months now, and it was bliss! If only I didn’t need to be totally exhausted to do that…

But, as yesterday was supposed to be a weigh in day on this challenge but I was away from my scales, I did it this morning. As I said, with a little trepidation after the excesses of the weekend. I was more than delighted when I saw the results:

X-2 stone, 9 lb and ¾

Hurrah! Happy happy happy… This officially means that I have lost a grand total of 1 & ½ stones over all so far, since starting all this in March/April of last year. Woo hoo! It’s taken me ages to get to this point, but it’s great to see it finally drifting down rather than the dreadful plateau I had been used to of late. It also means that so far in the challenge, after 2 week, I have lost just over 3 pounds, which whilst not being as much as I would like, is a really good start.

Off to the gym tonight, got to keep up the good work! (Especially as the weekend’s calories are probably just taking their time to distribute round my body!!).

Roundup

Well, it's Friday and I haven't quite managed to do as much exercise as I had hoped this week. Which is annoying. As well as going to the gym on Monday (good), I managed to not swim all week (not good), and take the bus to work (not good), but I have been walking home (good) and I did go for a run with Flâneur on Wednesday (good). It is getting increasingly difficult to get up in the mornings at the moment as it is dark out when the alarm goes off and I just want to curl up and sleep sleep sleep for at least 2 more hours. I feel like I'm constantly fighting the urge to hibernate! Not good when you have a job to go to that inconsiderately wants you there by 9 and not good if you want to go for a swim before said job starts.

But, as I say, I did managed to go for a run on Wednesday. I was pretty tired when I got home but had already made Flâneur put off his run so I could go with him so there was no way I could back out of going. I had a drink and a banana to try and perk myself up and decided we'd do our usual 2.4mile route backwards. I always hate the end of it because it's a steady uphill through people trying to get on and off buses and thought it might be more pleasant downhill. It started out ok, with a 4:1 ratio, and a steady downhill (hurrah), but when we reached the park I was fit to drop. I hurt, I was tired and I did not want to be running. The grass looked pretty inviting and I could have easily lain down on it and gone to sleep... So we had a faltering 2:1 and 3:1 before I got my stamina back to go back up to 4:1. On the 3 minutes running I had to keep chanting 'You CAN do it, you CAN do it...' over and over to keep me going. I think it kind of worked as Flâneur thought we were running a bit quicker at that point. I definitely picked up after that and our downhill(well, it's sort of downhill) back to the flat was done at top speed - I just got this sudden splurge of energy. Shifting my stride used different muscles which probably helped. And this sprint finish definitely must have helped our over all time come in at just under 30 minutes (29:42), which is some sort of record for me!

So while it blipped in the middle, it ended up being a pretty good run all in all... For me at least - I think I'm still a bit slow for my dear beloved...

I had meant to go to the gym again on Thursday as I wont be doing anything so strenuous over the weekend, but a mare with timing on a project I had to finish meant I had to go straight home instead. We're off up North tonight to celebrate Wastrel's birthday and we have been instructed to bring walking gear, so there should be a nice long walk on the cards that should help (yes, I know I could take my running gear and go for a run, but it's in the wash - I really need more than one set of everything...).

I have been very good with my eating all this week (like last week), but still sitting at a weightloss total of a couple of ounces for this week so far, so I shall have to be careful (but not in a boring way) whilst away. Don't want to find myself undoing all the work I've done so far... This weightloss malarkey is hard enough as it is! Honestly I exercise my butt off and I eat a lot less and a lot more healthily and what happens - 1 measly pound, that's what. That doesn't seem fair to me...

Anyway, I don't actually 'weigh in' for the week until Sunday so we shall see what the scales say when I get home.

More exercise (no wonder I'm knackered)

Was at the gym again last night. This is getting to be a habit (no bad thing!). Tried to push myself a bit, but didn’t quite work out – I think I was still recovering from the long run on Saturday! Rather than doing a full 22 minutes of running on the treadmill (which I was aiming for) I did 11 minutes, then walked for a minute, then did another 10 mins. All at 7.6km/h. Which is still pretty good. Had to stop and walk as the muscles at the back of my legs were seriously burning. A short walk and a pause to stretch them and they were back in fine fettle for the rest of the session. I also upped my resistance/ramp levels on the cross trainer. I don’t know what I was thinking! ;o)

I’m bloody knackered today though – was asleep by about 10:30 last night, and then vaguely awake by about 7:15, but I felt like I could sleep for at least another 2-3 hours. Not quite sure what’s up with that! Meant I missed my swim this morning (there was no way this carcass was being dragged anywhere at 6:20 this morning!), but there is always tomorrow…

So last night’s gym episode resulted in:

Total work out time: 63 mins
Total calories burned: 678.6
Total distance walked/run/strode: 7.43km

Which is an improvement on last week at least!

On the weight-loss progress front, I can report that after week 1 of the challenge I have managed to loose approx. 1.5 lb. not a bad start, but not quite the start I had hoped for! I should look on it a bit more philosophically though as I’m sure I put on a pound or two at the beginning of the challenge, after weighing myself on the Sunday, so actually I must have lost more like three last week. Or something… Hoping not to put any on this week and just lose them – otherwise why I am putting myself through all this??

Long Run!

Flâneur and I decided that we ought to go for a run today. I wasn't too excited about the idea of doing our usual route (I find the end leg really tough) so he suggested that we up our milage a bit and run round Arthur's Seat, something we had been talking about doing at some point. Seeing as I wasn't sure I was entirely up for a run today, I'm not entirely sure why I agreed... (possibly something to do with my new sports bra having arrived). This crazy tough route is not something that I have done since training for the Great North Run as it's bloody hard work! I did suggest that we walk to the park and just run round Queen's Drive and then walk home as round Queen's Drive is a good 5km (just over), and I'm pretty sure is what RF and I used to do when she was training me for the GNR. Flâneur wasn't so keen on that though, and said we should just run there and see how we got on, we could always abandon the crazy notion of running round the hill and do our usual route instead...

So we started off on a 3:1, run:walk ratio and, while it wasn't easy, it wasn't so bad and before I knew it we were starting to climb uphill. We went clockwise round and the stretch from St Margaret's Loch to Dunsapie Loch is bloody tough. Flâneur is a bit of a mountain goat and can do up-hills with little effort. I am not and therefore cannot. I found it very tough so we had to go down to a 1:1 ratio, but at least I was running half of it! We went back up to 3:1 when we got back on the flat round Dunsapie Loch, and then on the downhill stretch (which I'm much better at) we managed a 4:1 and a 7:1 and then a 5:1 and even ran home. Which was brilliant! I had initially thought that the whole thing would take us well over an hour as neither of us had gone that sort of distance either before or for a long time, but we managed a very respectable 1 hour, pretty much dead on. I was so chuffed I was practically jumping for joy when we got in (if my legs would have taken it!)

Overall we did:

Total distance: 7.52km (4.67 miles)

Total Time: 1:00:12

Total time spent running: 43:15

Total time spent walking: 16:57

Total calorie loss: 780 (according to mapometer.com who we map the route with)

Really happy with that. May even do it again, maybe in a couple of weeks when my legs have recovered!!

Gym

Mini extra post...

As I said, I went to the gym this evening. I had a good work out (despite it being so busy). I did my usual treadmill/cross trainer routine. Here is my run down:

Total work out time: 60 minutes

Total calories burned: 639 (according to the machines)

Total distance walked/run/strode: 7km

Not bad. And I managed a full 20 minutes of running at 7.6kmph, which is great. Creeping it up every time, little by little. Oh and this doesn't include the walk to work this morning and the very quick walk to the gym and home again, which totals around 4 miles. Woo hoo!

Knackered now. ;o)

Motivation

I was thinking today (as I sat unmotivated at my desk and then as I ran on the treadmill in the gym) about what motivates me, in particular to do exercise. In no particular order I came up with:

1. New kit - there is nothing like a new pair of running shoes or a new sports bra or other item of exercise clothing to make you want to get out there and try it out. In my case I recently bought some new running leg wear (Ronhill's Powerlite Capri, in the pink), which I tried out on Monday on my run with Flâneur and at the gym today. I must say, I love them. So light you barely notice you're wearing them, no chaffing, and just brill. It was nice not to feel the fabric against my legs that I would get with joggers. I am also awaiting a new sports bra, which will make me want to do more too. Hurry up Bravissimo...
2. Encouragement - the sort that comes from friends and Flâneur and comments on the blog. Today, for example, I knew I wanted to go to the gym, I had all my kit with me, but I was having a crappy day and by 4pm I just wanted to go home. Flâneur had been encouraging me all day, telling me I should go (even when I was saying that I'd do some desperately needed food shopping on my way home instead) and it was a great boost. Then I checked the blog and found an encouraging comment from Wastrel and I thought, right, sod it, I'm going to the gym no matter what. So I did. Yay! Thank you both. :o)
3. Guilt - if Flâneur went out for a run and I stayed at home and sat on the couch, I would feel pretty dreadful. He doesn't make me feel guilty, I hasten to add, I do that all by myself... If he's going to go out, then I'm going to go too as he only started running to encourage me!! There is also the guilt that comes from eating something not so healthy too...
4. Progress - seeing improvement is a powerful motivator, although you have to be careful that it doesn't make you complacent!! But starting to see improvement in my time when I run and in my swimming I am motivated to go again and keep improving it. Honest...
5. Music - I have a collection of upbeat cheesy and not so cheesy toons in a playlist on my ipod (labeled 'running') that just make me feel great and pick up my step and get out and do stuff. I have also used them to just dance around my living room on a Saturday night. They are great whenever I am feeling the need of a little pickmeup or boost in motivation. I recently rediscovered my ipod shuffle so that I don't get them all in the same order every time too. ;o)
6. Seeing other people doing stuff - I watched the World Swimming Championships when they were on and boy did it make me want to get in the pool and swim. I watch Strictly Come Dancing and just want to dance (and sometimes even do, see (5) above). I have even kept going and kept going because someone next too me was too, in the gym, on the treadmill. I get a great surge of joy and motivation to see other people doing active things and it makes me want to do them too.
7. And at the moment - Not wanting to lose TV for 3 months!!

New Challenge

Or what Flâneur calls a ‘foolish bet’. I like to think of it as not foolish, but a kick up the backside… Which is why I call it a ‘challenge’ rather than a ‘bet’. Basically Wastrel has set herself, BC, Coco (CMcM), and myself a weightloss bet, as we are all desirous of shifting the pounds and clearly need some sort of incentive to do it! You may recall Wastrel and I have done one of these before and it didn’t work out so well for me… I think this is why Flâneur refers to it as a foolish bet.

Anyway, the bet (or challenge) as it stands, for me at least, (there are slightly different terms for the others who had already been partaking of one of these and are on a double or quits), is that I must lose 1 stone (14 measly pounds) in 11 weeks.

As I weighed in at X-2 stones 12lb and 7/8 on the morning of 4 October, by 19 December I must weigh in at at least X-3 stones and 12 lb (and presumably some ounces).

Eek!

I’m not very good at these things…

The forfeit, for not loosing 1 stone is to lose TV (hell, hell!) for 6 months! 6 months…. Swoon… I am lucky, that I do have a bit of lee-way in that if I manage to lose 8 pounds or more then the forfeit will be only 3 months. Well, that’s alright then. (Sobs quietly). Flâneur (unhelpfully) suggested that he could take the TV to Manchester with him. To say I was not impressed with this would be putting it lightly.

It’s quite an incentive to do well, I must say, particularly with my dear love away most of the week from January… Although I’m sure I will be all the better for relying only on the radio…. But far far better for losing that pesky stone!!

After consuming vast quantities of cake on Sunday (it was my birthday and lovely Flâneur made many fabulous items of baking for afternoon tea (for as many people as we could seat, so sorry if you didn’t get an invite it wasn’t personal, just practical). It was fab, and I got lots of lovely gifts and had a fabulous time), I am off to what I like to think is a fairly good start now.

On Sunday I was helped in that I was so full of sugar that we had barely any dinner (just some oven chips, which are surprisingly good for you). On Monday Flâneur and I both had a day off so we started the day after breakfast (two boiled eggs for me, a bacon sarnie for him) with a run. We did our usual 2.4ish mile route and managed it in 30 mins 29 seconds (well, 30 mins smack on for Flâneur who always sprints off on the final straight home). I was very pleased with it all as we were pretty much doing 5:1 run:walk ratio. Hurrah! Getting slowly better… Slow being the operative word! I think we’ll need to up the distance soon, but perhaps when we’ve upped the running time a bit more. We then wandered around town (at least another 3-4 miles of walking), getting some converse trainers and walking shoes for me, and a suit and some running shoes for him. Finally he has his own running shoes and will not be borrowing an old pair of mine. We went to Run 4 It on Lothian Road and the man in there was so lovely and helpful, making Flâneur walk and run on a treadmill to assess him and then suggesting some good shoes. He came away with some Saucony shoes and a hole in his bank account! ;o) We did have lunch out, which was not so good, but only a light dinner of salmon and spinach (in low fat crème fraiche) with pasta. Oh, and a slice of carrot cake. That’s healthy right? Oh… the carrot cake… hmmm…

Today, against my better judgement, I got up when the alarm went off at 6:15 (well, after 5 minutes of psyching myself up), had my poached egg breakfast and then went to the pool! For the first time in a month… And it was really really busy. Which I don’t like. Boo… There were a couple of annoying slow people in my lane, which made me think that people in general just don’t swim in the appropriate lane in that pool. I was swimming in the first slow lane, and to be fair to the slow people, there was no where else for them to go. The people in the other slow lane are much faster than me and should probably be in the middle lane. We should probably all just shift across one. I feel bad when I overtake people, like I’m hustling them or something. Anyway, I managed my 40 lengths, even though it was hard, and did it all in the very respectable time of 31.53. Hurrah! I thought it would be much slower than that. Checking back in my spreadsheet the last time I went was 1 Sept and my time was 33 mins. Double Hurrah! My time today was on a par with the sorts of times I was doing back in July when I was going much more regularly. Phew.

Anyway, I’m rambling today and this is long enough. Check back in on my progress reader(s), cheer me on, chastise me when I’m failing… I know Wastrel will be, well checking up on me at least!! ;o)


* apologies for all the asides and asides to asides… I’m very tired today and my brain keeps wandering off…