Latest update

After a slightly rubbish week for exercise last week, I am determined to make it better this week. After a good start last week at the gym, my life then ran away with me and I managed no other time to do any serious exercise. On Tuesday evenings I teach an evening class in Palaeography, so no chance for doing anything on a Tuesday night. On Wednesday I had an appointment with my dress maker (very very exciting. Fabric is all chosen, design is being finalised, and she wont really start work on it until the new year, giving me loads of time to shift a bit more weight). On Thursday there was a do on a work, which netted me some much needed flexi time. I had considered running home from the office as I had all my kit with me and it's nearly 2 miles, but after a couple of glasses of wine that was so not happening (did help me power walk home though)!! I suppose I could have done something on Friday, but I was way too knackered by Friday... ;o)

On Saturday Flâneur wasn't really up to going for a run as he's still pretty bogged down with a hideous cold. It was a beautiful day though (at that point!) and he had promised to get cheese for Wastrel and SAM who we were visiting that evening. So we decided what the hell, we'll walk to Waitrose. It's a good 5 mile round trip from our flat, but it was a really nice walk and we got some lunch in a coffee shop on the way home, so it wasn't so bad. And the walk will have done us both the world of good!! When we got home I spent the afternoon making apple chutney with apples from W&S's apple trees. There were about 2 or 3 different types of apple and it made a lovely sweet and tasty chutney. I was very pleased with it in the end. The last batch of chutney I made (with apples from their last house) I thought was a bit too vinegary, but this stuff was much much better, in my opinion!

Chutney made we then headed on up to The House (W&S's place) with BC and HH, armed with two jars of said chutney and a truck load of cheese. It was Halloween and Wastrel and SAM had done a wonderful job of making their house spooky and full of creepy things! It was really superb! A warm welcome and a tasty green drink (orc's blood, apparently) greeted us and a good crowd of guests. I was pretty tired and flakey and headed to bed around midnight (but did appreciate the brazier and toffee apples before going). Flâneur slunk into bed around 3:30, having joined in apple bobbing and poker and more wine, and declaring my friends a bad influence before snoring away... I'm sure he needed no influence or arm twisting to stay up! To say he didn't look so great on Sunday would be putting it mildly and he was nearly entirely responsible for us going to bed at 9:30 last night! Yes, I know, 9:30!

So, back at work today (boo hiss) and then was off in the gym this evening. Oh, and today was my weighing day... I was X-2 stones 9lb 7/8. Which is ok. Not great, but better than last week! And means I'm back to having lost 3lb in four weeks. Which is not so good... But hopefully it will pick up from now on. And if I really am going to keep weighing myself on a Monday (rather than Sunday), well I was actually X-1 stone 0lb on the Monday (the day after the official start day when I weighed X-2 stone 12lb and some). So that would mean I've actually lost 5 pounds, which would be much better. Who's adjudicating this thing??

Anyway, yes the gym. It was a bit quieter tonight (perhaps the students are away?) and I got to do both the treadmill and the crossramp without any waiting around. I was extremely pleased with my treadmill performance tonight. I didn't think it was going to be that great as the going was pretty tough at the beginning. I thought I was going to have to stop and walk at one point and decided I should at least try and do 10 minutes before walking, and as I wasn't sooo bad at that point, I just kept going. So after my initial 1 min of walking while I fiddled about with the settings on the machine I managed to run for a whole 25 minutes, straight! Go me! Over two miles... I was doing it at 7.7km/h too - gently upping the speed. I'm looking to get to 8km/h soon, but need to do it gently rather than ramp straight up to it. I think that's sensible. I don't want to go up in speed but loose my time in doing it...

So my stats for tonight are:

Total work out time: 68 mins

Total calories burned: 767.6

Total distance walked/run/strode: 8.18 km

Woo hoo! Better than last Monday, just, and when you add the fact that I walked to work this morning (in a good 35 mins), hot footed it to the gym (a good 20 mins) and then home again (another 20 mins) I ended up having exercised off a lot more calories than I had eaten today (before dinner). Which is good for weight loss at least!

Right, I'm off to stretch again now before my legs seize up!