2010 - Hit the Ground Running

What a start to the year! I’ve barely had time to do nothing, let alone the time to blog about it…

We started with one of those sorts of weeks that should make your head spin, if it weren’t that things would never get done if your head was spinning all the time. After Christmas and New Year were over with, it was a hasty finish off of packing for Flâneur and then pick up the van, drive across to his parents, realise the screen-wash in the van isn’t working properly, get very frustrated as the slush on the road made the windscreen filthy and then drive down to Manchester. The latter of which would have been fine if it hadn’t been freezing cold, mucky roads and no working screen-wash. It was pretty hairy at times as I found my vision seriously impaired while driving and I was very thankful (a) that the motorways were quiet on the first Monday after New Year and that (b) it started to snow on the outskirts of Manchester, just as the traffic was building up and that meant my windscreen cleaned itself for the first time ever!

We did get there in one piece and the flat wasn’t so bad (not as nice as our Edinburgh flat) but the snow unfortunately did not stop. It was pretty at first, until we woke up to 4 inches of the stuff the next day and a rising panic about how I was going to get to Sheffield for a job interview!! (Oh, yes, nothing like packing it all in in one week!). A hasty call to my colleague to get her to check the railway websites and a phone call from the people in Sheffield to see if I was going to make it and reschedule if not (very nice of them!) and I was on my way. It was very very pretty, but I just didn’t feel like I could really appreciate it while I was worrying about whether or not I’d get to Sheffield, get back or get stuck!!

As it was, it all went ok. I got there, I got the job and I could then relax a bit. Well for a couple of days until the drive back north! I kept scouring the sky for more snow and examining the roads for signs of ice and checking the van would actually move again… The drive back was no less terrifying as this time the screen-wash was actually frozen, not just broke. We got pretty far without having to stop and splosh screen-wash directly onto the windscreen, but after that we stopped at nearly every service station to clean the damn thing. Freezing fog (and no idea where the fog lights were) made things even more ‘fun’ and by Hamilton I was ready to give up and stay the night in a travel lodge, anything that meant I didn’t have to drive anymore. But I pulled myself together and we made it home (with one or two more stops) and I have never been more glad to see my flat as I was then…

I did manage to fit in a swim when I was down in Manchester, in their lovely Aquatic Centre – the first swim in a good few months! In fact probably the first proper exercise I have done in a good few months… (so much so that I am surprised that I only put 2 pounds on over the festive period and that they have gone away again – hurrah!). It was lovely being able to go mid morning for a swim, so quiet, I could really get used to that! It was at its full 50m (and took some getting used to that there was no shallow end) and I managed my usual 1km in a very respectable 33 minutes 33. I was very happy with that. I had time to kill so I did a few lengths of backstroke too, timing myself to see which I was quicker at. Surprisingly the breaststroke beat the backstroke by a good few seconds. I’d always assumed it would be the other way round…

Now we are firmly in January, Flâneur and I are also firmly into our weeks apart. I managed to fill my first week without him to the full, seeing my dress maker (she’s starting on the sewing now!), teaching my class, trying to build a new bed with HMcM (who I think surprised herself with how straight forward it was), and then a FABULOUS night with my FABULOUS friends at Hotel Missoni, where we drank cocktails, ate lovely food, drank nice champagne and wine and generally appreciated what greats friends we are.

I shall miss them very much when I move south. Even though we don’t all get together that often, I like having them nearby, just in case an emergency night out or dinner is needed… ;o) But there will be fabulous weekends to be had in the future, and I’ve not gone yet…

I’ve had my first weekend trip down to Manchester (arriving late on Friday and leaving early on Monday), which was lovely – it’s a bit like dating again. Only with fewer meals out because we’re very poor having to run two flats in two expensive cities! It was nice to wander round the shops – Manchester is cracking for shops – and generally hang out with F. With a realisation that the wedding is only two months away now we also got a lot of the little niggly things sorted, on paper at least, if not in reality!

I find myself exhausted now though and looking desperately forward to the first weekend where I don’t have to go anywhere or do anything in particular. A real bum-about weekend with no travel!! I think I’ve got just two weekends to wait, maybe??

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…

Catch up

After a two week exercise drought due to my non-cold, I have been back at it with avengeance this week.  A fairly cultural weekend, reasonable weather (with the odd down pour to keep us on our toes), and our general propensity to walk everywhere in this fair city, saw me walking around 6 miles on Saturday and a further 2.6 miles on Sunday.  Then on Monday I was at the gym after work (the usual 12 1/2 mins run on the treadmill, with some walking either side, then the cross trainer), and on Tuesday I was finally back in the pool.  Very happy about this.  Having not been since 20 July (eek!) I was expecting terrible things.  While I was not doing my under 32 minutes that I had been in July, I did do my 40 lengths (1km) in 33 minutes, which I was pretty pleased with.  Yay!  This is not to mention walking to and from work (all but twice).

As for the culture at the weekend, this was great.  On Friday night we went to see the new dance production from Michael Clark (who I shall pretend I have heard of!) that was on as part of the Edinburgh International Festival (proper culture like).  Flâneur was quite keen to go as it was a mix of ballet and contemporary dance to Bowie, Iggy and Lou Reed tracks, all of which he is interested in.  I must say it was really really good.  In fact, as someone who is generally not interested in seeing ballet etc, I really liked it!  I think the contemporary mixed with the ballet helped here (not to mention the music).  Some of it seemed very yogic to me - a flow of strong movements - and it was quite hypnotic.  

Saturday saw us at the cinema in the afternoon to see 'Broken Embraces', the new film from Pedro Almodovar with Penelope Cruise.  It was also very good.  Almodovar's films really give Penelope Cruise a chance to show the world that she can actually act, or at least I think so, and I like them for that.  It was also an engaging story.  I am no film critic, so all I can say was I enjoyed it and would recommend it. 

After the cinema we were out at the book festival (festival season!) to see Raymond Blanc talk about his life and his passion for food and cooking.  I think it was supposed to be questions and answers with the guy chairing it, but Raymond was just too enthusiastic to talk and talk, so we'd get a question and then a massive long answer that was rambling, engaging and making some serious points all at the same time.  He couldn't sit in his seat, he was itching to get up and talk and gesticulate and show us his passion.  I loved it and could have listened to him talk for much longer than the hour we were given.  The three audience members who got a chance to ask questions all asked sensible ones (inlcuding: is there any food you don't like?  Mostly the answer was: well in Japan I had... this made me giggle).  Obviously he was there to promote his autobiography and on the strength of his talk, I really look forward to reading it sometime!  :o)

So, fairly cultural all in all.  But that's the festivals over for another year, the nights are drawing in again, the weather is turning and we're getting our city back from all the thousands of tourists.  Hurrah, I will be able to walk home again without getting stuck behind the meandering visitors.  Don't get me wrong, they are good for the economy and what do I expect living in a prime tourist destination, but during August it gets a bit much when you can't go about your usual business without wading through them.  But I shan't rant about this, I shall go back to the gym, back to the pool and hopefully, hopefully get fitter and healthier, and maybe even a little bit slimmer...  

Update!

Have been neglecting the blog for a bit too long... And as always I am prompted by recording the efforts of some exercise!

Since the last post I have spent a week in Perthshire looking after two of my favourite pooches, who were absolutely adorable the whole week (despite a bit of whinging from Baff...). We walked quite a bit and read and it was generally very relaxing. The only annoying thing being Flâneur having to work the whole week. His boss is the most annoying man I have ever come across, he really is... When we got back from Perth though we had approximately four hours before being descended upon by my parents and two of their friends (who I've known forever, not just random friends of my parents). I had a nice week with them too, but was grateful that their stay was only til the Thursday so I could prepare myself for going back to work!

On the exercise front I managed to go swimming twice when I was on my holidays, on both Mondays, and again had great swims. In fact on the second Monday it was my fastest swim ever clocking in at about 31:15 (can't remember the exact figure now). I have subsequently not been swimming, partly because I was just knackered last week... I'd been working over the weekend and suffered two very annoying migraines, so I was left pretty tired during the week. I did try to go this week, but was scuppered by the pool being closed! Which is the most annoying thing when you've made the effort to get up and are quite psyched about going for a swim. I stood there for ages trying all the doors, perplexed about why I couldn't get in. There were no notices anywhere, and I didn't remember having seen any when I was last there, admittedly two weeks before, but even so. I had no choice but to just head to work and grab a shower there and start my day an hour earlier than intended. I was pretty cross by this point. When I got to my desk I immediately went online to see what was going on and found their website declaring the pool shut from August 3-23. They are apparently improving the reception area to make it more accessible, which is a good thing, but it's annoying that that causes the whole pool to be closed! Gah! So that's it, no swimming until the end of August... I'm not sure what I'm going to do... And I know I could go to the local council pool, but it's just annoying and expensive, particularly when I've already paid for a gym membership! It works out at about £6 a go, once you take into account the bus fare to get there...

So I might try out their gym, try the cross trainer first thing. I don't think it will compare at all favourably with swimming, but it's worth a shot. Can't do no exercise just because the pool is closed. 

And in this vein, I went for a run today. To be fair, I only went because Flâneur made me. He'd just had the all clear from the physio to do any type of exercise, provided he started off slowly, and so decided that he might try this running malarky, if it made me go out... He ruptured his achilles many years ago, which had always put him off most exercise, but having just, finally got some physio and being good at actually doing his exercises he can now give it a go. I must say it was a great thing for me (let alone him!). It was lovely to have someone to go out with, to motivate me, and to keep me going!! We did my usual route and my usual 2:1 jog to walk ratio, and did really well! Despite not having been out since June (really, this is just the third time this year that I've been out 'running'), we did the 2.4ish mile route in 31 minutes 14 seconds. I think that the fastest I've ever done it. God, I love that man.

Holidays!

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.

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!

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.

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.

Failure!

Well, that’s probably a bit harsh, but I have managed to entirely fail to lose 6 pounds in three weeks. In fact, I pretty much failed to lose 1! Which is pretty shocking… After a good start, it all slipped away after the (much enjoyed) excesses of last weekend. I am, however, pretty pleased that I did not go completely backwards and only put on one pound from last week, weighing, as I did this morning, X-2 stones 13lb 1/8. It could have been soooo much worse!

On a more positive note I found my old notebook in which I noted my measurements (another scary thing!) back in March last year when I started this weight loss drive. I am so pleased to report that I have managed to shift a grand total of:

4 inches off my waist
3 1/2 inches off my hips
2 inches off my boobs
2 inches off my back measurement

Let’s face it, it’s not all about the weight, but also about healthiness and clothes fitting not only better but getting too big as I drop sizes… So I finally had to ditch some jeans that were too big for me and have found that some of my skirts, that hadn’t been fitting properly for about 2 years, I am now able to wear properly (not fooling myself that they fit and thus creating a hideous muffin top…) I think this technically means I have dropped a dress size or so, but seeing as I had become one of these deluded women who think they still fit into things that they clearly don’t, it’s difficult to tell… ;o)

I also went swimming three times this week. Yes three! And all in a row… Tuesday and Wednesday I have already covered, but I also went out on Thursday morning too (and considered it this morning, before going back to sleep…). It was sooo lovely and quiet with only 7 other people in the pool. Bliss. I got my lane to myself the whole time and I really really enjoyed my swim. I think I may have enjoyed it a bit too much, however, as my time was really shocking when I got out! I thought I had been going really well and fairly fast and was feeling pretty pleased with myself. I had tried to work on my technique a bit (cue the excuses), but I think this just served to slow me down… Coming down the home straight on length 40 I thought, yup, this has been good, should be a good time, I wont be happy if it’s over 33 mins as it should be pretty fast. I then touched the wall, stopped the SportsCount and looked at the total. 34.18.86!! Ok, so only 30 seconds slower than on Wednesday, but I haven’t clocked over 34 mins since the beginning of April!! I was so shocked at it that I kept looking to check. When checking the other stats (fastest lap was about average) I saw what I think was the reason – a length of unutterable laziness that is unmatched in all my adventures in the Uni Pool. Yes, length number 28 clocked up a whopping 57.01 seconds!! My slowest lengths weren’t even that bad when I first started at this pool. Clearly I was entirely unarsed in that length. I was very disappointed. But, hey, I went, that’s what’s important, and I managed a whole 100 metres of backstroke after my breaststroke too (4 lengths). I did consider doing more but time was ticking away and I still had to get myself to work…

But all these adventures in swimming mean that I have also managed to walk over 7 miles this week (it’s a round trip of about 2.4 miles to and from work via the pool), not including the walk at Little Glen Garr on Monday. So all in all a good exercise week. Let’s just hope I keep it up next week and manage to get the old weight loss back on track too.

Sister Act 2

Yep, I’m back in the habit (boom, boom). After a fabulous weekend where I ate far too much (more later) I was back at the pool both yesterday and today. Phew. Partly this is in reaction to the large amount of food eaten and partly this is because I really needed to get back at it having been away from the pool for two weeks.

It was tough going and I felt like a lead weight for the first 10 lengths or so, both yesterday and today… Yesterday was worse as I thought ‘I’m never going to get through all 40 of these...’ so difficult it seemed. But as usual it picked up around the 20 mark and soon the 40 were done and not in too bad a time, either (32.55.94). It was very quiet in the pool, which is lovely, with just a few other slow swimmers to start. A couple of them looked like they were just about saving themselves from drowning, so dreadful were their attempts to do front crawl, and one old chap joined the lane, forcing me over to the next lane as he swims so sloooowwwly… But luckily the other slow lane wasn’t so busy and I even had it to myself for the last few lengths.

I had to stop myself from slowing down because of this (no-one else there to push me to swim faster!), but by the end of the 40 I felt pretty good and because there was no-one else in the lane I thought I’d give myself two lengths of backstroke to finish off. These weren’t recorded in my time, but a nice way to wind down after the 40 lengths of breaststroke. I swim backstroke faster (and possibly better) than the breaststroke, but can be a little erratic as I fail to swim in a straight line. This is why I will only do it when there is no-one else around… I do enjoy it though and it can be quite a work out so it’s a good thing to add on when I can. Today was pretty similar and again after my 40 lengths I was able to fit in the two of backstroke, which was great. Not such a good time (33.40.93), but I figured the important thing was I went.

I did want to stay in the pool yesterday though. It was partly a general reluctance to go to work after a nice long weekend and partly a love of the water and an enjoyment of what I was doing. It was so sunny yesterday that work was the last place I wanted to be going when I got out the pool. Particularly, as I said, after a nice long weekend.

Wastrel and SAM had decided to mark the longest day by holding a BBQ on Sunday and a vigil (of sorts) on Saturday night to see in the longest day. Flâneur and I imposed ourselves upon them on Friday night, along with RSL and Wastrel’s brother and thus the feasting started. Wastrel and SAM’s neighbour but one had seen a deer nibbling at his garden and, we were told, ‘shot it out the bedroom window’. Their direct neighbour then butchered said deer (you’ve got to love the countryside) and a chunk of it was then given to W&S. This was lovingly cooked for us into a Venison Wellington, which was delicious, accompanied by yummy roast spuds and asparagus. Yum! I tried to not eat too much of it, but failed by taking seconds and eating goodness knows how many of the little crispy potatoes. Hmm… Ah well I thought, it’s all tasty…

On Saturday Wastrel had organised some activities for the six of us and up early(ish) we went off to the Hilton at Dunkeld for a spot of shooting. We were split up into two groups, Wastrel going with the boys as the tallest girl, and RSL, SAM and I in the other group. We had a really great instructor who was patient and made sure we knew exactly what we should be doing before loading any shells into the gun. My brain still freaked a little every time I went to pull the trigger, but we all managed very respectable scores from the 25 shots we got.

Next was lunch in Aberfeldy (a huge venison burger and chips for me) which was surprising quick… followed by boating and fishing on Loch Tay. Mostly this was boating with line dangled out the back (with a good 20-30 mins of poor Wastrel trying to untangle the lines that RSL and I had managed to mangle good and proper) as we failed to catch anything at all. But it was a very pleasant afternoon and lovely to be out on the water. I’m just a water-baby me.

Wastrel’s brother had declared earlier (and whenever asked what he wanted to do) that we should have afternoon tea so we piled off to Kinnaird Hotel after handing the boat back. It’s a beautiful country house hotel and very relaxing. We had to wait a bit for tea, but it was worth it when it came. It really put some of the Edinburgh hotels to shame. Between two there were 6 fingers of sandwich, about five different types of cake and shortbread. I think we should have had scones too, but were told they were all done for the day. It was all delicious and (nearly) all demolished too. Definitely recommended.

(Image taken from Kinaird Hotel website)

We hightailed it back to the house from there to meet HAL and BC who were joining us for the next bit of the weekend. BC stayed all too briefly, as he had work stuff to do, but it was nice to catch up with HAL who has had a manic few weeks with work. A brazier was lit and more food put out (cold foods this time, which I really should not have looked at let alone had two helpings of having already eaten 3 meals that day… Urgh) and we sat outside enjoying the warm night air, the warmth of the brazier and each other’s company. There was chat, singing and eventually we all turned in after a lovely, tiring, sunny day.

Sunday, then, was the BBQ itself. We awoke to a beautiful day and I helped SAM in the kitchen with salads and stuff while Wastrel, HAL and Flâneur made an effigy out of bread and hay to be burned later (a sort of wicker man who was named ‘Woodwood’ for obvious reasons). The party proper started at noon and we were soon joined by an assortment of friends and neighbours of Wastrel and SAM’s (where it was nice to finally put faces to names). There was more good food (we are always so spoiled when we visit), piñata to bash, and an effigy burned. The sun shone, my back burnt and a good time was had by all. Thankfully just when we were all getting just a little too roasty toasty with the heat of the sun (we live in Scotland for crying out loud, not the South of France) the clouds came over to cool us a little. Most folks left by 6 and those of us remaining wandered down to the pub in the village for dinner. Like we needed dinner…. By this time my poor stomach was groaning from all the meat I had consumed over the weekend (we live a relatively meat free life usually) but that didn’t stop me having lasagne for tea…

I was quite surprised when I got home on Monday (after a lovely walk in yet more sunshine at Little Glen Garr and a delicious lunch at Gleneagles Hotel) to find that I had only put on about 2lbs with all this excess. And while that sort of puts me back to where I was two weeks ago, a healthy dose of swimming and vegetables this week will hopefully put me back on track. No regrets though – I’d do it all again without hesitation! ;o)

Active Week...

Well, so far at least. My legs mysteriously didn't seize up either last night or over night after the run, which is encouraging. At least it means I might go out again this week for another one... Maybe!

Today, however, I got up early and went to the pool. I'd not been for about 4 weeks, due to visitors and a nasty cold, so I wasn't expecting great things. And boy, it was tought! That's alwasy so annoying - how quickly a built up fitness just slips away, but it takes twice as long to build up again! Despite it being hard I did enjoy it. I'd almost forgotten how much I love being in the water. The first length was just magic. But then it always is... It's from length two onwards that it gets hard!! I really should learn to pace myself a bit better. ;o) Popping my stats in to my swimming spreadsheet though I was delighted to learn that length 1 today was the fastest I have done so far! Not bad at all... (It was 38.86). As I say though, if only I could just pace myself better. A fast first lap is all very well, but no good if the rest of them are all rubbish because you've put all the effort in to that first one!

Something to work on anyway.

The pool was lovely and quite today. I got my lane all to myself for at least half the swim, and the other half it was just one other person. Just how I like it! The uni is on it's summer holidays now, so there are fewer people around to clog up the sports facilities. It'll be a bit of a shock come September again when all the new keenies turn up... Still, September's a long way away. At least I hope it is as I want to have lost more weight by then so I can get my wedding frock sorted!!

While it was hard today, the overall time wasn't so bad: 33:14:95. Only a minute to a minute and a half slower than I had got to. Not bad for 4 weeks off and after a run last night.

Keep all this exercise up though and I'll start shifting the weight no problem. Finger's crossed!!

Hat-trick

No nothing to do with football or millinery, but rather a note to the fact that I actually dragged my self out of bed 3 times this week to go swimming before work. Well, on Thursday Flâneur tried to drag me, literally by the ankles, but I was getting up anyway, so it doesn’t count as coercion.

I failed to go at all last week while off on leave, despite us setting the alarm early one morning… I just couldn’t do it! Thankfully Flâneur didn’t try to make me and let me just drift off back to sleep. I did manage to put about 3 or 4 pounds on over the course of the week (1 week!!), but it seems to be edging off again. Why does it never come off as quickly as it goes on??

That’s the problem with weeks off though, you loose your routine and all your good intentions go out the window (well, mine do). Although we walked quite a lot during the week, it just wasn’t enough to counteract all the extra eating I seemed to be doing… And having done well with my Easter chocolate (not getting much and then making it last over a few days, rather than scoffing it in one go), this was then scuppered by the future sisters-in-law giving us more!! I tried to let Flâneur eat most of it, but still managed about 100 grams in one day. Urgh.

We did manage a good day on Sunday to try and make up for it though. The weather was beautiful and we decided that we should be out and about in it, rather than stuck inside in our dark flat. We had wanted to picnic during our week off, but the weather stopped us, so it was nice to have an opportunity to pack some sandwiches into our picnic bag and head into the park. We had fruit kicking about that we hadn’t been eating too, so we put that in to make it a more virtuous lunch. We had been intending to walk in the park anyway, but decided that rather than going our usual route through the valley between Arthur’s Seat and the Crags, we’d go up, and (taking frequent breaks for me to catch my breath, Flâneur is something of a mountain goat when it comes to this stuff) we got up there in not too bad a time. We were so near the top that I declared that it would be rude to come all that way and not get to the top of the Seat so up we went! It was a glorious view (through all the other folk up there) and very satisfying to get to the top. The picnic was eaten half way back down and a thoroughly good day it was.

And then back down to Earth with a bump on Monday as I was back up at 6:30 to go to the pool and then back at work. Man I was grumpy that morning!! Still, I managed a fast swim (very surprising as I felt like a lead weight for the first 10 lengths), which I kept up on Tuesday and Thursday of this week too! There were some annoying people in the pool, but it didn’t seem to make any difference to my times. There was one girl whose breast-stroke technique was really lovely, text book stuff, but boy did she swim sllloooooowwwwwllly…. I ended up nearly swimming on top of her twice and eventually ended up swapping to the other slow lane (the one with the scary faster people in it!) to stop myself getting truly infuriated! I think that’s why my time was so good on Monday – I was forced to swim harder and faster for the last 8-10 lengths by the pressure of other people!! She was back on Tuesday, but we managed to keep enough of a distance between us that she didn’t bother me so much. Yesterday was fantastic though. A really great swim. By the middle of my 40 lengths I really felt ‘in the zone’ and it was just me and the water and I was just cutting through it without much real thought. Beautiful. Another annoying person (who didn’t know what stick to the right of the lane meant and nearly crashed into both me and another swimmer), but it didn’t seem to matter. Just me and the water. Bliss. Rather than bore you with all the stats (which I buggered up on Monday anyway) here are my over all times for the three swims:

Monday: 31.54.82
Tuesday: 32.20.15
Wednesday: 31.52.53

Top quality stuff. Very happy. :o)

Swim little fishie, swim…

Yes, I’m still doing it, I’m still getting up early and heading out to the pool to get my kilometre of breast stroke in before work. Phew, but it’s hard sometimes I can tell you. Not necessarily the getting up, I’m getting used to that and going to bed earlier certainly helps, but, oh, ok the getting up… Some mornings it’s just impossible. But thankfully, I seem to do ok on enough mornings to make a difference at the moment…

Last week I managed to get my backside out of bed and go to the pool twice. Monday I already blogged about, but I went on Thursday as well. This was not such a good swim time wise (I’ll put all the stats at the end so as not to bore you), doing the km in 34.00.97. But the important thing was I went. Flâneur was back on Friday morning and I went to meet him at the airport at the hideous hour that his flight got in, so Thursday morning worked as training for getting up early too… ;o)

As well as having missed him tremendously and wanting to see him as soon as possible, I always like to be met at airports when I travel alone and therefore believe that other people might also want a friendly face waiting for them when they’ve just come off a long and boring flight on their own. He’d also had a nasty twist to the ankle while away, so I thought it might cheer him up to see me at the airport when he got back and I could also help him with any bags if the ankle was still bad.

We had a nice relaxing weekend, chilling out on Friday (gave me a chance to get started on his washing), until he fell asleep on me around 8:30pm… Saturday started out relaxed and then we headed out to LS’s wedding in the afternoon. They had decided on a Humanist ceremony, which I must say I had had my reservations about. Stories of hand holding, hippy type affairs (God that makes me sounds old) had me wondering what to expect, but it was actually really quite lovely. The celebrant was very charming and warm and it was frankly miles better than the dreadful civil weddings I’ve been to in Scotland which can be extremely unromantic and legal (By this particular law of Scotland of this particular date blah blah blah). Maybe it’s just one bad experience, but they always seem short and sharp and just a bit of a let down to the romantic in me. There were two readings and we all said a Celtic blessing to them at the end and it was all about mutual trust and respect. The bride looked beautiful in a very classic style sparkly gown and very simple hair arrangement and both were beaming the whole day (which you’d hope!). There was plenty of bubbly sploshing about and the food at dinner was much better than I had either expected or it looked! We did spend most of dinner just talking to each other though, as everyone else at the table knew each other and didn’t seem to want to engage us in conversation, even though we did try. Ah well, it’s often the way when you don’t know so many people at weddings… but a bit of an effort from the other people at our table would have been nice.

Poor Flâneur’s ankle had swollen quite considerably with all the standing around before and after dinner so he was unable to join in the dancing, but I had a good boogy with TS and a couple of other collegues before we sloped off home around 11… It seemed a shame not to stay later but some of the other people we knew had left and poor Flâneur was still jetlagged and sore.

Quite a busy end to a busy week. As well as my swims I went out for dinner to The Kitchin with Wastrel and SAM, a lovely lovely treat from Wastrel. Tom Kitchin was in the kitchen too, which seemed like a special treat, and the food did not disappoint! I had new season asparagus wrapped in parma ham with scallops, followed by saddle of rabbit with stuff…. and then an apple sorbet with champagne sauce. Hmmm….all sooo sooo tasty! Good food, good chat and a good time had by all. Thursday night I was out again this time with all The Girls to La Favourita, which is a nice Italian restaurant, when it isn’t full of lots of very loud people. Which is was on Thursday. Lovely company, nice food, but a shame I couldn’t hear most of the conversation. I was also bloody knackered, so happy to sit and listen to what I could hear and join in when I wanted to. I sloped off home when they all went for a drink after dinner as I needed to do a few bits and pieces before bed and then get an early night for the early start on Friday.

And so on to this week and back to the swimming. I managed to get out of bed both yesterday and today for my morning swim, today being randomly easier than yesterday. Going to bed around 10 last night probably helped… I have now joined the university sports centre too, so don’t need to worry about having enough swims left on my voucher (got Thursday’s last week free as the girl didn’t check my card when I went it, result!). I certainly am still enjoying it and was delighted yesterday to see my quickest time yet (33.07.81, nearly the same as the first swim of the year, which was in a smaller pool, you will recall).

The pool is a little quieter as the university is on holiday and I managed to get into a nice rhythm with another girl in my lane so that neither of us was bothering the other. I like it most when it’s like that. Today was a little different as it was mostly me and this bloke who swims at about the same pace until we were joined by this deeply irritating guy who I’ve seen there before who swims with a float and just kicks his legs. He is the most inefficient swimmer I have seen in a while – rather than neat, steady kicks he almost thrashes in the water which means that he not only goes quite slowly, but if you come up behind him you get tons of spray in your face. Which is what happened this morning. Most of the time he’s ok because he’ll wait and let you turn and go off ahead because he knows you are quicker, but on at least two lengths I was trapped behind him, forced to go a bit slower and to tilt my head away from the massive splashes. Sigh. I ended up swapping lanes to the other slow one, which was a bit quieter, and finished my lengths in peace. I don’t usually like to use that lane as it tends to attract faster slow swimmers than me, but it was just one other girl who was not so fast, so it wasn’t so bad.

I was a bit sore this morning and seemed to be going quite slowly so I was extremely surprised when I looked at the final time on the SportsCount and saw 32.47.81! That’s the first time I’ve been under 33 minutes in this pool and coming close to the times I chalked up in the local one. Woo hoo! I had been trying to improve my technique a bit this morning, having found a few tips online yesterday and maybe it actually paid off! Goddamn, get down to 30 mins and I’ll have to add another 10 lengths… Knackering!!

So the tedious stats for the last three swims are:

Date: 02.04.2009 / 06.04.2009 / 07.04.2009
Lengths: 40 (1000m) / 40 (1000m) / 40 (1000m)
Time: 34.00.97 / 33.07.81 / 32.47.81
Average: 51.02 / 49.70 / 49.20
Fastest: (1) 40.11 / (1) 38.88 / (1) 39.30
Slowest: (32) 54.77 / (14) 53.94 / (10) 53.27

It’s not quite the table I would have liked (quite difficult to make out sorry) but if you squint you can really see the progress over the last three swims. Very excited about getting my first lap in at under 40 seconds now, but I should probably aim at consistency over the 40 rather than a very speedy first lap and then slowing down through overexertion! Something to work on…

Hmm… I really ought to blog more frequently, then you wont be stuck with massive posts like this!! Ah well...

Busy, busy, busy

Phew. So starting with the exercise, which is the boring bit. I'm still going to the pool, which is good, but I still haven't got above twice a week. And last week I only managed to go once. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as I only got a five swim voucher for the pool and want to join the Sports Center when I get paid in April. So no point in getting another one really when pay day is tomorrow! So, I went last Monday and was pleased with my times. Quicker than before and I even overtook someone in my slow lane. Not ideal as I'm not fast enough for the other lanes, but the other people in my lane kept stopping at the shallow end and then setting off just as I was about to turn! Grr... So, the stats for last Monday:

40 lengths (1000m)
34.13.74 (nearly a whole minute faster!!)
Average time for length: 51.34
Fastest Length: 1 at 43.12 (the slowest for a while, but it didn't seem to matter)
Slowest Length: 28 at 55.38

So not too bad. My Flâneur went off to Jakarta on Tuesday so I didn't want to get up early and bugger off to the pool when we could spend a bit more quality time together on Tuesday morning before going to work. I meant to go on Thursday instead, but when the alarm went of at 6:30 I just curled up in bed and refused to get up. There being no-one to either make me get up or lure me out of bed with breakfast, I just stayed there until I had to get up to get ready for work. On Friday I was a bit hungover so that was definitely out!!

But I managed to get my backside out of bed today and head off to the pool this morning, which was pretty impressive as Flâneur isn't back yet... I think a little habit may be forming, which is no bad thing. The pool was really quiet this morning, which was nice. Just me and one other girl in my lane for most of the time, with most of the other lanes pretty much the same. Usually there are between 20 and 30 people in the pool, but today it was probably 12-15... Must be University holidays or something.

And today was my best day yet at this pool. It didn't seem like it was going to be when I started off. I felt slow and the swimming felt hard work. Well it is hard work I suppose. I felt so good when I finished and checked the time on the SportsCount for my total. That's partly why I do it, I must say. So (just to bore you some more) today's stats:

40 lengths (1000m)
33.35.28 (that's nearly at the time of my first swim in the local pool at the start of the year! Yeah man!)
Average time for length: 50.38
Fastest Length: 1 at 40.84
Slowest Length: 10 at 53.24 (nearly my fastest slow length of the year!)

So really really pleased.

Other than not swimming this past week has been pretty busy as I try desperately not to miss Flâneur too much (didn't quite work). Everyone has been very sweet at making sure I'm ok and not too bored without him! Very lovely... He left on Tuesday last week and that evening I was out having dinner with TS who I teach palaeography with. We had a great time, but I'm not used to drinking half a bottle of wine on a Tuesday and it went right to my head!

On Wednesday it was the last of my Japanese classes of this term. It's gone really well and I can't believe how much we can now do! It was Japanese 1, Course 2, so we're talking beginners stuff here, but I don't think that at this stage in any other language that I have learnt have I been able to say what I have done/will be doing/am doing using past and not past tenses. It helps make me feel like I'm getting somewhere! I was even able to construct the fairly complex sentences of: "Yesterday, R-san went to Jakarta by plane. He is doing research work there. He comes home on Friday next week." I'm not sure if this will work but:


きの　ラエイさんは　ジャカタに　ひこきで　いきました。レセチャの　しごとを　します。　ラいしゅ　きにょび　うちに　かえります。

Cool. I think I might have got 'Jakarta' wrong, but otherwise it's not bad!! Impressive, no?? ;o)

Thursday I was out again, this time at HMcM's for dinner and chat. We were joined by RF and HAL and talked about all sorts of grown up things that made us feel very old... Again, too much wine was drunk and my head was sore on Friday morning. I'm lucky if I have a few glasses of wine on a Friday/Saturday these days, but at H's I had two glasses of Prosecco and then the best part of half a bottle of white! Urgh... Made me feel totally out of it on Friday and I ended up leaving work early because of the stinking headache. That'll teach me. I was very glad of a night in to myself on Friday night. It's lovely seeing people and having company (eating alone is miserable), but it was good to have a night off!!

Saturday saw me in Glasgow with RF trying on actual bonafide wedding dresses! God, it was terrifying... Mostly the hideous monstrosities that these places sell (we saw one girl trying on a Jordan-esque poofy thing that had a sky blue top and too much netting on the bottom. Eek!). It was all very eye opening and confirmed that that is definitely NOT what I want. I just didn't look right in them. So we came up with a good list of dos and don't to take to a dress maker and I'll get what I want, not what someone else thinks I should wear. So there. ;o) Two things though that the woman said that had me raising my eyebrows:

'when you find your dress, you'll know' - hmmm...
'Is your mum coming up to help you dress shop at all?' (answer: 'no') 'so she trusts you then...' Err? sorry? I love my mother and respect her opinion but wtf? Did she think I wasn't able to chose a frock without mummy?? That she had any say in what I wear on my wedding day?? Anyway, I know there are plenty of mothers out there who do hold that kind of sway over their daughters, but mine aint one of them. I would take her opinion (at a pinch), but other than that, she'd be the first to say that it's my choice not hers.

Anyway... it was a great day with RF and it was really nice to go back to her gaff in the country for the night so I didn't have to spend the weekend at home on my own. AB made us dinner, which was yummy and 'all organic, all local' as he'd been at the farmer's market in Edinburgh that morning. Hmm... It was a lovely chilled evening and much appreciated. RF dropped me back in Edinburgh on Sunday around lunch time, which gave me loads of time to get the (much needed) housework done. Phew. All this stuff going on though and I've not yet finished the quilt!

It's been great while Flâneur's been away. I've missing him like crazy, but my lovely friends have made sure it's not made me too crazy. ;o) Thanks guys!! More to come this week...

The last few days...

Well, I did pretty well this week - I was up and at the pool again on Tuesday morning, which is pretty impressive after going on Monday...  This could be the start of something!!  Getting up was a bit easier but the swimming was still tough.  I think I still ached a bit from Monday.  I should probably build up to doing it more often... On the plus side I'm clearly using my legs properly in the new pool as my thighs and gluteus maximus were really quite sore on Wednesday/Thursday.  In that, using muscles you don't usually, kind of way.  It was good, but hard on Tuesday and for most of the time quite satisfying as it was just me and this one other girl in the lane and we appeared to swim at roughly the same pace, passing each other in the middle of the lane and turning at roughly the same time.  Then she left and I was joined by this big Polish guy.  I saw him come in as I thought - gosh, he looks like he swims aaaallllll the time, all muscly and stretching himself out quite thoroughly.  All professional like.  And then he got in to my lane!  Not the fast one at the other end of the pool, mine.  And I was quite surprised as he wasn't that fast at all.  Faster than me, which isn't difficult in that pool, but not the super swimmer I took him to be.  Just goes to show you shouldn't judge people based on what they look like!!

So, the stats, the stats... Slightly slower overall on Tuesday, but not that much and I went which was the important thing:

40 lengths (1000m)

35.09.10 (only 26 seconds slower than Monday)

Average time for length: 52.73 (the reason for the above)

Fastest Length: 1 at 40.80 (quicker by 15 milliseconds!)

Slowest Length: 26 at 56.52 (also quicker)

It's funny, my fastest length is always number 1, which makes sense, but the slowest one changes every time!  No consistency what so ever...

Anyway, didn't go again this week as have Japanese classes on a Wednesday evening, which makes for a long day anyway, and I was off work on Thursday/Friday for a bit of leave.  This new regime isn't crazy enough to get me up to go for a swim early on days when I'm not then going to work...  Not yet, anyway...  ;o)

Had a very lovely lazy day on Thursday, sleeping in, picking up a car for the weekend and pottering about.  We dropped some old electrical bits that still work off with the Bethany charity shop on Leith Walk, and then headed to Portobello for a stroll along the prom.  It was a beautiful day and nice to be out and about enjoying the sunshine.  

Friday we headed up to St As for a look around and to stay in the Guest House that I want to use as a base for the wedding next year.  Decided that it was better to try it out before booking it.  Had only seen it on the web, and while it looks lovely, you never know until you try it out...  We were not disappointed at all.  Brooksby House is a lovely little house set away from any noisy streets, tucked away near my old hall of residence from my Uni days.  We were met by the proprietess Caryn, who greeted me by name.  It probably helped that they didn't have many other guests staying, but it was a nice touch.  We had picked Friday night to stay there as it marked a year to the day before the wedding, and it was nice that she also remembered that I had mentioned that when booking back in November.  We stayed in the Nicklaus room, their luxury room and it was just lovely.  Very clean, great sized bathroom (with long bath), super comfy king sized brass bed and a view over the garden.  We were very pleased.  

It was another beautiful day on Friday so after checking in we went for a wander round St As.  We popped in to the Chapel and found ourselves in there spookily at the exact time at which the wedding is booked for next year!  I found my heart racing with the anticipation and we've still got a whole year to go!!  We also took a nice long stroll with ice cream from Janettas (essential) and enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine.  It really was just lovely.  To the point where I was getting a bit fed up with people saying 'oh, I hope it's like this for you next year'.  Honestly.  It's not going to be.  It will rain.  Guaranteed!  But having been there on a 20th March will beautiful weather, it's difficult not to hope...  ;o)

We dined in Pizza Express that night, both of us feeling the pinch by all the saving for the wedding and honeymoon that meant a more pricey meal somewhere else was not really an option.  But we didn't care.  We like PE and the most important thing was spending a nice evening together.  It was a bit cold after dinner for a walk, so we headed back to Brooksby where I practically fell asleep as soon as getting in!  All these early morning are getting to me I think!

Had a good nights sleep in the comfy bed and woke early as usual.  Breakfast was between 8 and 9, so we headed downstairs around 8:30.  It was another beautiful sunny day and we chose to sit in at the window in the dining room, thus roasting ourselves in the sunlight!  This is Scotland in March, for goodness sake....  Breakfast was served up by Chris, the proprietor, who was just as nice and friendly as his wife.  They have a good range of items on their menu and both deciding that a full fry would just be a little too much, we both plumped for tattie scone and bacon.  With a fried egg added at the suggestion of Chris!  Hmmm... it was great.  The tattie scones (2) were great and the bacon (2 large rashers) cooked perfectly.  Not overdone with lovely crispy edges.  And a perfect fried egg too.  Yum!  

You can tell we liked the place, yes?!  Well on leaving I asked if it would be possible to book it in it's entirety for next year.   For the bridal party.  I could think of no better place away from home to have as my base when getting ready etc.  Chris said he'd confirm in an e-mail, but that he didn't think it would be a problem.  They do exclusive bookings quite often I think, and can cater to your requirements when doing so.  They have a golfing group coming in the week before we want it, but he was pretty sure they were staying only til the 18th.  Finger crossed, crossed, crossed!  It will just be too disappointing if he comes back and says it's not possible...  As they only had one other couple staying he was able to give us a tour of the rest of the guest house and show us the rest of the rooms (other than the one in use).  They are all finished to a really high standard and I can't see any of the party being disappointed with any of the rooms.  They look even better than they do on the web.

Seriously people, I thought this place was great!  Pricier than you would expect from a B&B, but I think it was worth it.

We pootled back to Edinburgh after a long walk along West Sands, enjoying the morning sun.  We decided to take the coastal route through Crail, Anstruther etc, to enjoy the best of the day.  We stopped in Anstruther to stretch the legs and have a chippy lunch.  You can't pass through without going to the Anstruther Fish Bar...  Hmm...  We're not very good with the grease of f&c anymore, but it was good.  One fish and a portion and a half of chips between us was quite enough!  So nice to be able to enjoy the sunshine while we have it.  Great to have a car too, even if the Ford Fusion is basically quite an ugly car.  ;o)  

Good to be home and we still have one whole day of the weekend left.  Phew.  Need to recover from all this galavanting!  

A new pool and a new regime...

Well, I did it. I got up at 6:30 this morning (or thereabouts) and was out the house by about quarter past 7!! And when I say I got up I should be clear that this was after much protesting and whinging and whining… If it wasn’t for my Flâneur I would have very easily gone back to sleep. But he’s a real trouper and a real motivator and just a truly wonderful person (pass the bucket. ;o) ).

It didn’t help that I had a terrible night’s sleep last night (again…). Tossing and turning, periods of being awake, periods where I’m fighting between being awake and asleep (the only way I can describe these episodes) just generally rubbish! And I had been really tired yesterday owing to a similar period of sleep on Saturday night. That was entirely caused by alcohol (not even that much), which always disturbs my sleep, but I could think of no reason for it last night. Humph.

Anyway, despite all that I got up when my Flâneur made me, ate my breakfast (poached egg on a muffin, prepared by himself), sorted my lunch and swimming gear and was out the door before I would normally be thinking about stirring! Well, when I’d be creeping under the duvet pretending the radio wasn’t on and I didn’t have to get up…

The early start meant I could finally try out Edinburgh Uni pool. And I must say I liked it. There were a reasonable number of other crazy people there, but enough lanes (6) variously marked out that I could just pootle at my own speed up and down the slow lane without feeling I was keeping anyone back, and certainly with no chance of overtaking anyone! There was one girl in our lane who clearly didn’t realise the lanes were marked by slow, medium and fast, as she was way quicker than the rest of us, but mostly it was just me and these two guys, swimming up and down.

It is a larger pool the Uni one, at 25 meters, rather than 25 yards. I still made myself do my 40 lengths, but owing to the extra 85 meters or so I was a bit slower and a reasonable bit more knackered!! Feel the burn, oh yes. Still feeling it in my thighs I think! But it was great. Despite it being hard I enjoyed it and felt great coming out. Meant that I could face the readers at work without too much pain and with a smile, which was good because we were really very busy today! Normally I’d be practically slumped at my desk, but not this morning. I’ll be slumped on the couch later, but that’s ok, I’ll be at home then…

So pretty pleased with my times, considering I was doing the equivalent of an extra 3.7 (or so) lengths of the municipal pool, and here are the stats:

40 lengths (1000m)
34.43.99
Average time for length: 52.10 (not that much slower really)
Fastest length: 1 at 40.95
Slowest length: 6 at 56.76 (but I paused at the end of it to demist my goggles)

Pretty pleased, all things considered and love the fact that I swam 1km! Cool.

More swimming

Yep. Back at the pool last night. Which after having taken most of January and February off is a good thing. Good to get back in to it and remember just how much I enjoy it and how good it makes me feel. Like last week it would have been so easy to have just gone home, particularly as I was running late having bumped into HMcM on my way to the bus stop. Haven’t seen her for AGES so good to have a brief catch up, leaving on a promise of catching up properly when both our boys are away in a couple of weeks.

So despite feeling tired and running late (have to be out of the pool by 6:30 as an Aquafit class takes over the shallow end at 6:40 thus making it impossible to get a decent swim), I still went and still got in my 40 lengths. It was touch and go whether I was going to complete them in time, but I managed it and it probably helped me push myself and swim a bit faster!!

I am getting increasingly frustrated and annoyed with the other women in the pool though. Like black ducks just bobbing around either end they seem to do nothing except get in my way! Oh dear, I am becoming one of those swimmer that I always disliked… Still, if they’re actually swimming I can just about tolerate them getting in the way, it’s when they are casually chatting (in the middle of the pool people!!) and getting in my way that I get irked. I spent half my time trying to come up with a suitable analogy to fit them. Crows… hmm.. they don’t really bob about on the water, but they do hang out and are dressed in black… some sort of watery things then – fish? No they actually swim. Ducks was the best I could come up with as they bobbed about in the water, but if anyone can come up with a better one, please let me know!

So I still think that I need to find another, quieter pool and am still determined to try the University one at some point. If only they had better opening hours and didn’t restrict numbers in the pool (although I imagine I might actually be thankful of that). I am actually seriously considering getting up early to go before work. Yeah, will believe that when I see it!

So my stats from last night (for anyone who is interested and to keep track myself):

40 lengths
31.44.65 (yay! over 45 seconds quicker!)
Average time for length: 47.62 (yay! Quicker)
Fast length: 1 (it’s always 1) at 38.78 (way quicker)
Slowest length: 40 at 52.94 (in my defence I got off to a slow start on this one due to people in my way!)

I also decided to keep track of my progress using good ol’ Excel and was pleased when I input all my data so far that last night was quickest all round! Fastest 40 lengths, fastest fast length, fastest slow length, oh, except the average which was 30miliseconds slower than the previous fastest. I think I said I would go up to 50 lengths once I got to doing 40 in 30 mins. Not far off now!!

Sorry to bore you with all the stats. I have been doing other stuff too, but that will have to wait for another time…

Back at it

Not such a lazy slug today!  Yes, I was back at the pool today.  Hurrah!  I said I was going to go and I went.  Phew...  

I didn't sleep so great last night.  Well I thought I slept ok until around 4:30 (ish) but was told that I was thrashing about and muttering during those first few hours, so maybe not!  But after 4:30 I was in and out of sleep until the alarm went off at 7.  Urgh...  Hate those sorts of nights.  Was similar the night before too.  Not so great for my poor Flâneur either who didn't even get to sleep properly in the first 5 hours or so...

Anyway, I didn't expect the swimming this evening to be up to the same standards as before, seeing as I hadn't been since mid January (the 15th I think, shame on me) and was pretty tired today.  It wasn't too busy when I got there, but I figured there were too many people in the slow lane for me to have a satisfying swim in there, so I joined the main bit of the pool.  It got busier as the evening went on, but I was mostly able to swim up and down unhindered.  There were two women who seemed to just be chatting in the shallow end who were a bit irritating, particularly as they were stood exactly where I wanted to turn after each even numbered lap.  Grrr...  They only did 2 lengths the whole time I was in the pool doing my 40.  And they probably wonder why going swimming isn't making any difference to their fitness...

So, I did my 40 lengths and surprisingly enough they were a little bit faster than last time I went!  Not sure how that works, but I'm not going to question it too closely...  Think I could have not counted one length or something, but here are the stats from the SportsCount:

40 lengths

32.06 minutes (that's nearly 20 seconds faster than last time!)

Average time for length: 49.38 second (hmm... slower)

Fastest length: 1 at 43.03 seconds (again, slower)

Slowest length: 34 at 54.18 seconds (ah, faster)

Really pleased I went.  Feel really good for going.  Just need to keep it up again now.  

Quilt...

Well, the exercise has been taking a bit of a back seat these last three weeks or so, which is pretty shocking.  Never going to lose the next stone if I don't get back to it, so will be back at the pool tomorrow, snow willing!  Well, that's a bit of a hope really, because although it's snowing quite heavily now, it's unlikely to get so bad as to stop me getting to the pool tomorrow, this is Edinburgh, not London!  I did try and go swimming this week, but was hampered by the queueing system at the Uni pool - they only let 30 people in at any one time, so if you go at a busy time you have to wait.  The queue was too long that I decided to try again another time.  Monday's are particularly bad apparently, so I'll just go back to my usual pool tomorrow.  

I do love the snow though - I am like a small child, getting all giggly and excited by it.  Was very jealous of all the snow down south.  I live in Scotland surely it's supposed to be worse here! 

Anyway, what I have been doing in the meantime, while not exercising, is starting work on my quilt.  I bought the fabric in the middle of last year to make a patchwork quilt and it has taken me this long to finally get round to doing anything about it.  The fact that I had to cut nearly 200 pieces out was probably a big factor putting me off...  It's an Amy Butler design and is her 'brick path' quilt from her fabulous free patterns she puts on her website (www.amybutlerdesign.com).  As well as liking the look of the finished design it appealed because I thought the structure would be easy for someone who has never made a quilt before and who is still getting to know her sewing machine.  I picked some fairly muted colours for the quilt, mostly creams with some goldy colours, but just to make it a bit more interesting there are some really nice reds in there too.  

It took me several weeks to cut all the rectangles out (mostly because it was as tedious as I had imagined it to be and back breaking stuff), but it was a fairly impressive stack of bits when I was done... 

That's them all stacked up after I undertook the mammoth task of laying them all out on the floor to work out where they should go.  As there were, I think, 7 different fabrics and the quilt is 11 rows by 18, it was important not to get two of the same piece of fabric next to each other, and also to make sure that it has an element of the eclectic about it, so that it doesn't follow too much of a prescribed pattern.  I'm very lucky that our living room has a big floorspace so I could undertake the laying out exercise being able to see the full quilt and get a sense of what the finished piece will look like:

It's a big old quilt being roughly double bed sized (it should be 72" by 72" when finished).  I pretty pleased with how it looked laid out on the floor (it took several hours to complete that).  Here's a close up of some of the fabric:

I'm particularly fond of the bits with birds on (you probably can't appreciate them in the picture), but love all the fabrics and how well it will go with whatever bed linen I put on the spare bed.  Our spare room is also the fiance's study, so anything to make it less of a work space when we have visitors is a big bonus!

I completed the laying out stage two weeks ago and now am on to the sewing stage!  I have so far completed the sewing up of the first 9 downward rows, sewing the short ends in each row together, creating 9 long strings of fabric.  I'll not sew the downward rows together until I've finished them all, but it's nice to see it starting to come together already.  Very excited to see the finished thing!

Overtaking in the slow lane

No, not an illegal move on the motorway, but a realisation that I am slightly faster than a lot of the other people who swim in the slow lane in the pool. Which is satisfying and annoying all at the same time!

I was at the pool again last night, desperate as I am to tone up and lose some more weight and just generally get fitter before I even think about finding a pretty white frock. The new regime and a desire to see if I could beat Monday’s time helped tremendously, and I headed off to the pool after work despite feeling like I could fall asleep on the bus.

Thursday is a general public swimming day (unlike Monday which is ladies only) and as such the pool was pretty busy. When you are trying to time your swim this is very frustrating as you can easily get bogged down in other people, so I try and use the lanes to prevent that. There were about 5 other people in the slow lane with me for most of the time I was there, and while I was a match speed wise for a couple of them, I was certainly faster than the rest, not by much, but enough to be almost swimming on top of them.

Most of my lengths I managed to do with no one in front of me, which was excellent as I could swim at my pace or go faster if I wanted to. A couple of the women though would stop and chat at the shallow end, not only getting in my way when I turned (if you want to swim a bit then chat, you should really go in the main bit of the pool, if you ask me!), but also choosing the moment I was just coming towards them to swim off again, and frankly then getting in my way.

I try and be tolerant because I’m slow and used to be the really slow one, and it’s good that they are there doing anything at all. But it is starting to annoy me. I am no where near fast enough for the fast lane, but feel that it will be difficult to improve when I constantly get stuck behind people.

So, as the title of this entry suggests, I did end up overtaking last night, twice! I’m not sure what the etiquette of this is in a smallish pool, but I’m sure it’s better form than swimming over someone, which is what I felt I would have done. It was too frustrating to swim at the pace these people were and I felt that it would bugger up my times too much too.

I think, ultimately, I am going to have to find another pool and have been investigating joining the University sports centre in town as an alternative. As I teach a class through their Open Learning centre I can get a staff rate for membership and it might just work out cheaper than using the public pools. I just don’t know if it will be any less busy or frustrating!!

Despite all this perceived slowing down and a general tiredness that seemed to sweep over me in the first 10 lengths, I did do my 40 lengths, and I did do them slightly faster than on Monday – which I was surprised about! I think having a time to beat helped, as did the fact that I can’t pause the Sportcount so I don’t feel I can stop at all. Small steps and all that, but at this rate I’ll be down to 30 minutes for the 40 lengths in no time and be upping myself to 50!

I slightly buggered up stopping the Sportcount last night so don’t actually know what my fastest lap was, but I’ll say it was the first, which I have a rough idea of the time of:

40 lengths
32.20.13 minutes (woohoo, nearly a minute faster!)
Average time for a length: 47.34 seconds
Fastest length: 1 at around 38 second, I’m guessing
Slowest length: 37 at 56.08 seconds, but I was stuck behind a slow person I couldn’t overtake on this one.

So a faster average time for a length, a faster fast length and an overall faster time. I’m pretty pleased with that!

I have realised though that I desperately need to get a new swimming costume as the fabric in my current one is going bald in patches. Not good. I’ve seen one I like on the Bravissimo website (a sporty one that actually goes up to my size!), but as I also need a new sports bra and just can’t afford both I’m going to have to have a good long think about which is the more necessary!