Today I plodded for 20 minutes without stopping.
No walking, no resting, no cheating, just constant plodding for 20 whole minutes.
Amazing really when you consider that just 6 weeks ago I couldn’t plod for longer than 60 seconds without feeling like my lungs were going to explode.
Yay me!
Posted via email from The diary of blood, sweat, and blisters – Training for a 10k race, oh and life in general…
Oh dear. I haven’t been very good this week, and have only done two training sessions, but I’ve got a really really good excuse and promise to make up for it next week. You see this week I was part of a big surprise. After Mummy’s recent fall to cheer her up, and because my wonderful Daddy was celebrating a big birthday on Wednesday, my fab brother flew in from sunny LA with his cute as a button eldest daughter for a special visit. They arrived on Tuesday afternoon and stayed with me for the night in my new house, which was great… although with the jet lag they both woke up at 4am on Wednesday morning, so although I had planned to go for a plod on Wednesday before heading off to the Parental Manor, I didn’t make it because by the time I’d sorted them with breakfast it was too late to plod, so instead I packed my plodding gear and off we went to Bedfordshire.
When we arrived at the Parental Manor, we had set a plan to send little niece, who will soon be 5, to the front door to ring the bell while brother and I hid around a corner. Niece was to shout “surprise” when Daddy / Granddad opened the door but no-one was home, so luckily I had my keys to the Manor and we let ourselves in. We waited for over an hour before ‘Granny and Granddad’ came home so actually I could have gone for my plod earlier in the morning after all, but never mind because when Mum / Granny and Dad / Granddad pulled up on the driveway, I opened the front door and little niece poked her head around the door then and shouted ‘surprise’ and they were both very very pleased and slightly emotional, which was exactly the reaction we expected.
I did go for a plod on Monday, and then again Thursday, so I don’t feel too guilty.
And I went to the park with little niece so that was a little bit more exercise…
I love surprises…
Posted via email from The diary of blood, sweat, and blisters – Training for a 10k race, oh and life in general…
Another week, another three plods complete. I’m up to five mins at a time now which I have to admit I never thought I would be able to do… just shows!
The park is starting to look beautiful too which really helps me to stop thinking about how out of puff I am during every plod, wondering just how long it is until I can stop the plodding and do some gentle walking instead. In the last two days alone, all the pretty crocuses have poked their blue and yellow heads out out, and it looks like the Daffodils are about to bloom within the next few days too. It strange that these things come to life so quickly when you think that just a couple of weeks ago we had six inches of snow covering everything and the City came to a total standstill. Mother Nature needs a pat on the back. I even saw a Woodpecker in the garden this morning. Spring has definitely sprung.
Anyway this week I’ve plodded 11.03km on the walk/run training, that’s 6.85 miles for those of you working in old money. And according to the fancy Garmin, I’ve worked off an additional 700 calories. Oh, that is a bit disappointing. I thought this plodding lark was supposed to be an amazing fat burner… hmmm. So if it’s just 700 calories, that means I could eat one Big Mac with Cheese and not feel guilty. Just one??? After all that hard work I want fries and a milkshake too. Oh well. Guess I’ll just to have keep on plodding.
Till the next time…
xoxo
Posted via email from The diary of blood, sweat, and blisters – Training for a 10k race, oh and life in general…
Ah, Monday mornings. As it’s half term here in the UK, and Presidents Day in the US, quite a lot of people would have had a lie in today… I would have liked the same, but the recycling and dustbin men come around on a Monday morning and obviously take great joy in making as much noise as they possibly can by banging and smashing all the bins about at 7am right outside my window. I’m sure they take all the roads worth of rubbish and decide to sort it at the front of my house on purpose. Grrr! Anyway, managed to snooze for a while once they’d gone and then eventually stuck my toes out of bed around 10.30, spent a couple of hours on the ‘puter sorting out a few things, Tweeting, Facebooking and paying a couple of bills, then went for a plod.
It was the first day of the next stage in the training, going from the 90 seconds and three minute intervals and on to the three mins and five mins intervals. Now the three minutes last week nearly killed me so I wasn’t too sure that I’d manage the five minutes section today, but thought I’d give it a try and would see just how far I got. Well imagine my surprise when I managed the five mins without too much trouble. OK, I’ll admit that people walking their dogs are still overtaking me, but still, I can plod for 5 mins without stopping or running out of puff. *pats herself on back* Hmmm, I wonder if you can actually really ever run out of puff?
No sign of Ninja Warrior Man today which was a shame. Perhaps he’s taking half term week off…
‘till the next time
xoxo
Posted via email from The diary of blood, sweat, and blisters – Training for a 10k race, oh and life in general…
It’s Valentines Day. February 14th, and I’ve just 14 weeks left before the big day… YIKES!
After I’d had sent Interflora away as I’d run out of room for all the flowers I received, and once Royal Mail had sent the last of the 27 vans full of cards, I set off on a romantic run for one.
Now I don’t know what it is about Valentines Day but it seems that everybody decided that today was the day to go for a romantic stroll through the park, holding hands, looking lovingly into each others eyes, and taking up the WHOLE pavement. OK, I know that part of my rant is just jealousy, but seriously people, get out of the goddam way! Snuggle up together so that you only take up half the pavement, then the people who’d like to get past you don’t have to tippytoe and slippyslide through the soggy muddy grass, or, as one man seemed to thoroughly enjoy doing screaming at the top of his lungs “coming through” every time he tried to pass some young lovers! There was no Ninja Warrior Man today though… perhaps he’s got a date! Anyway, completed the blob of 3.54km, burnt off 235 calories, and managed not to get a soggy foot.
‘Till the next time
xoxo
It might be 4° outside but it was jolly freezing inside when I got up this morning. Having had the boiler serviced on Monday, it’s been making a strange squeaking noise since then, until this morning when it made no noise at all, and didn’t work. I got very technical with it, and whacked it on the side a couple of times, swore a lot, and *tah-dah*, it seemed to do the trick. So I went off for a plod looking forward to the fact that the house would be nice and toasty when I got back home.
I set off with the iPlod, gloves and jacket and the Ruth Maddox podcast and headed off in the direction of the park to plod my way around. Not as many people out there today which was great, although the strange man doing a sort of tai chi zen karate meditation type thing was in the corner again… I say strange because he is there every day, come rain or shine, 7 days a week, ALL DAY! Seriously, he just waves his hands around chopping at imaginary things, with his trousers tucked in his sock and a big thick sheepskin coat on, puffing breath out in that “ffffooosss” kind of way… Someone the other day thought he might be some kind of Ninja Warrior, but I’m a bit too scared to go up and ask him…
Anyway, plodded around the park, enjoying the sunshine, but not enjoying the ice patches and puddles… I didn’t realise the new trainers weren’t quite watertight on the top, so spent the last 10mins with a soggy right foot. Yuk!
Finally Ruth Maddox played her xylophone for the final time, so I wandered home. It’s not really Ruth Maddox, oh, but wouldn’t it be good if it was? You see every time the pace changes in the Podcast, from walk to jog, or jog to walk, there is a little “bing bing bing”, either going up in tune to get faster, or “bing bing bing” down, to go slower. It sounds exactly like Gladys Pugh from Hi-De-Hi when she used to make her “Hi-de-hi Campers” announcements. Makes me smile every time…
Anyway, got home, did my stretching (so that my legs will still move tomorrow) and realised that the house was still cold. My great technical achievement hadn’t worked after all, and the boiler was still not working. So I called British Gas out to come and fix it… Well they broke it, they can fix it! I’m going to hide under the duvet until they arrive….
‘Till the next time…
xoxo
**UPDATE** The nice man from British Gas came and “oiled my bearings” as apparently that was my problem… he doesn’t know how close to the truth he was! Have heat now, but still staying snuggled under the duvet – without the British Gas man in case you’re wondering!
I did it…! I finally managed to drag my sorry state out of the house, away from the computer, Facebook and Twitter, and went out for a run. Bravo me! You see, when I got up today the sun was shining, the sky was blue, there were just a few lovely white fluffy clouds to be seen (the ones that look like cotton wool balls), the snow had all melted, the spring bulbs are breaking through and the snowdrops are about to bloom and I thought what a wonderful day! That happy thought quickly changed to oh heck I’m going to have to get my shoes on and go for a run. Ugh! From Disney’s Cinderella to the Wicked Witch in two seconds.
So, armed with the iPlod, the fancy Garmin, the running shoes and a new running jacket (well it’s longer than a sweatshirt so keeps my bottom from getting cold – and there’s a lot of bottom that gets cold!) off I went. The Garmin located the satellites, the Heart Rate Monitor located the Garmin, my fingers located the iPlod play button and my feet located the pavement, off I set with a spring in my step and a smile on my face…. along with everyone else in my neck of the wood so it would seem! I’ve never seen so many people puffing and shuffling around the park… Either lots of people have started their new year resolutions in February, or they all decided to come out and humiliate me as they each streamed past my sorry blob, jogging around, all of them super fast and super fit. Humph!
Anyway, I managed the run (3.51km, 32.05mins, Av.Pace 9.08km/min and 209 calories (just 209 calories, is that all!?)) and that included two – count them – TWO x three minute runs. That’s the most I’ve run since coming last in the 400m at middle school! Do I get a prize now? No? Oh… Well, in that case, I’ll have to have a cuppa tea and a hot cross bun. Yum!
‘Till the next time…
xoxo
OK, so now that Mummy is home and on the mend (hopefully) and the snow is nearly all melted, I’ve run out of excuses for not going out running, so I joined the gym today, but when I got my membership card (and after I had handed over my first months money) I was told that I can’t use the place till Monday! Apparently it’s so that they can show me how the machines work in a “supervised induction”. Now, I realise Health and Safety is important, but seriously? I’ve got to wait 5 days before I can use the place but they’re still taking my money…? I’m sooooo not happy about that. I’m not stupid, I’ve used a gym before, and really I only want to use the treadmill, so what’s the problem? If you go too fast, you’ll fly off the back… simple! Then to add further insult, the photo they snapped on the cr*ppy webcam and then put on my membership card is really really really atrocious. I soo should have insisted on photo approval before the man snapped my picture… Don’t they know who I am!?!? Grrrr…
Anyway, I’ve booked my “supervised induction” for Monday, so until then I shall continue to keep warm indoors dressed like Hugh Heffner and shall stay in my pj’s all day! So there!
xoxo
I’ll join the gym tomorrow and use the treadmills. For today – I’m staying tucked up in the warm.
‘Till the next time…
xoxo
Brilliant! I thought is was just my lack of discipline that causes me to have a hard time saying no to yummy treats, cakes and chocolate (in fact anything that is bad for me) but it looks like the reason I’m fat is actually because I’m of the girl variety. New research indicates that women are less able to suppress feelings of hunger than men.
In a recent study involving 13 women and 10 men, scientists taught the participants a technique called cognitive inhibition, to enable both genders to ignore feelings of hunger. Then all the participants were asked to fast overnight. The next morning, the scientists showed the men and women delicious foods and scanned their brains monitoring their reactions, while the participants practiced the cognitive inhibition technique. Both men and women say the technique worked, but the brain scans showed the part of the brain that responds to food remained active in the women, while it decreased for the men. Even though the women said they were less hungry, the part of the brain that controls their drive to eat was all fired up. Those clever Scientists say that this gender difference when it comes to food and hunger may explain why more women overeat, and therefore have a higher rate of obesity and think it may have to do with the difference in our hormones.
Well, I don’t know about you, but now I have something to blame next time I reach for the Dairy Milk – it’s not my fault, it’s my hormones!
‘Till the next time
xoxo
BlobbyJogger 