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…

Getting there...

Well, today is the day I see the dress maker and how have I done in my challenge?? Ultimately not brilliantly. I did not get rid of the 5 pounds I had hoped. Boo hiss. I did however, put on a pound, lose it, put it on again, lose it again and then finally by today lose another two. So since I started just over four weeks ago, I am now:

X-2 stones 11 lb and 3/8.

Which, while not my target, I'm pretty pleased with, particularly I have essentially lost 3 pounds in the last week!! Or there abouts... That's what happens when you actually exercise I suppose. And eat reasonably too. I don't think not eating very much helps me very much - I think my body just hangs on to the fat and calories it is storing to compensate for not getting very much. Or something...

Flâneur and I were out for another run yesterday, geeing each other along. It was pretty tough for me as I'm not so good first thing in the morning. I'm better a little later in the day once my legs have warmed up a bit. But we went and we did our route in just under 31 mins, which is still a good time. He ran on on the home straight (the last 20 secs or so) as he likes to sprint the last bit and I'm just about fit to collapse and am lucky to still be running at all! It still felt pretty good though and we were basically doing our 3:1 run:walk ratio. We're slowly getting better! We then walked to the cinema (a good 50 min walk) to see 'Away We Go', which was a lovely little film I would thoroughly recommend. We also walked back, so yesterday was excise tastic!

Today is a random local holiday in Edinburgh that randomly we get off at work (I'm wondering how many customer type people turned up at the building not knowing today...), so I took the opportunity to have a bit of a lie in and then go to the gym. I think I'd do that more in the mornings if I didn't have to work. Great way to start the day. I did my usual treadmill then cross trainer routine, but was very pleased with myself getting up to 17 minutes of running at 7.5 kmph. I'm slowly adding a minute here, a minute there, but have already added 7 minutes since I started going to the gym. All good stuff and I'm sure the reason why the pounds finally appear to be shifting!

Not achieving goals...

Yup, I am officially rubbish at them. The appointment with the dress maker is on Monday coming and I have failed to lose five pounds (and am unlikely to do so by then). In fact, I've pretty much failed to lose any and mostly put one on. Harumph. I have now lost that one again, putting me back at my start point, and if I'm very good I may loose another one by Monday (finger's crossed) but that will mean I have lost a grand total of 1 measly pound in 4 weeks.

Ok, so I wasn't trying my hardest, I must admit, so have no-one to blame but myself. In fact even after the lovely meal Flâneur cooked for Wastrel, SAM and me last week (stilton stuffed pork wrapped in Iberico Ham with little boiled potatoes and aspargus cooked in butter, followed by lots and lots of cheese, wine and port), I managed to be 1lb lighter the next day. How does that happen?? Delayed reaction, I know, but even so... I have been pretty rubbish on the exercise front, failing to get up and swim, failing to go to the gym after work, even failing to get up in time to walk to work most days...

That was until this week! Ha ha! I realise it's only Wednesday, but even so, this week is already going better than the last two-three put together I think!! Admittedly I've had a bit more energy this week and not been quite so dog tired, but I also made sure that I just did stuff anyway as it always makes me feel better in the long run. So on Monday I managed to walk to work and went to the gym after work. At the gym I managed to run a whole 15 minutes on the treadmill without dying (at 7.5km/h), walking for 2 minutes at the beginning at 4km and 4 minutes at the end for 4. I was most impressed with how quickly I managed to recover, not just my breathing, but my heart rate too. The gym had great equipment that has integrated heart rate monitoring bits (I realise lots of gyms probably have these, but it's still fairly new to me for them to either work or be anywhere near accurate). I get a bit obsessive at checking my heart rate, partly to pass the time, and by the end of the run it was way up in the 160s. But after a couple of minutes back down to walking it went back down to the 120s. I was pretty pleased with this. Then it was on to my usual routine on the cross trainer. (See previous posts, it never seems to change!). In total I exercised for about 53 minutes and burned off around 550 cals. Pretty cool.

Tuesday was a bit of a wash out as I managed to neither walk to, nor from work, but we shall gloss over that... Tonight, however, was a lovely sunny evening. The sort that cannot help but put a smile on your face and a skip in your step (got to love September sunshine). So I thought we should go for a run. When I got in Flâneur was in the process of running a bath, but I managed to persuade him to come out for a run with me anyway (he could always put more hot water in when he got back). I'm glad I did as I think it probably did us both some good! He's still not had any holiday this year (I'm sure that's not legal) and it's really getting to him, so anything I can do to distract him helps. Even if it is going for a run! I felt really great on the run tonight and think all the gym work is helping. I certainly felt much much better than last time we went and we managed to up our run/walk ratio to 3:1 for most of the run. Hurrah! At one point we even did 5 mins of running. This is a big deal for us, so I'm very chuffed! I did nearly want to die on the next stretch of running (which is up hill in a gentle but steady and killing way), but who cares, I had just run for 5 whole minutes!

Yes, I know I can do more than that in the gym, but it's entirely different having your pace regulated and running on an entirely flat surface that is the treadmill. Anyway, I am extremely pleased with myself (and with Flâneur, who came out despite not really wanting to) and now just waiting for these endorphins to stop flooding my brain with that post exercise euphoria so I can collapse on the sofa in peace!!