I took the day off work today - my kids are on half term break at the moment (which doesn't coincide with most other schools in the area - this is a good thing and a bad thing), so I wanted to have a day to take them out somewhere. My daughter pretty much decided that we would go to Southend-on-sea, though I think her only motivation for this was the little gift shop at the end of the pier! I do like Southend though, because it's a seaside town, a little bit past its sell by date, but charming in a tacky sort of way. The best part, for me, however is you do LOTS of walking!
The Southend pier, once the longest pleasure pier in the world (no idea if this is still the case) is just over one mile long. There is a small train that goes very nearly to the end, or you can walk - we always do the latter. We arrived just after 11:30am, so I decided to go straight to the pier and we would have lunch afterwards. We park about half a mile from the pier and enjoy the short walk along the seafront before getting onto the pier itself. When we paid our admission fee, the lady told us that there was a film crew at the end of the pier and we might be asked to wait, or we might not be able to get to the very end (where the gift shop was!), but we decided to go for it anyway - it's a good walk and it was a lovely (but windy) day.
The kids making faces at me on the seafront!
The start of the pier walk
As soon as we got onto the pier itself the wind started battering us! But thankfully, it wasn't a cold wind - just the annoying type that blows your hair in your face so you can't see where you're going! I must remember to bring a hat next time - it must occur to me every time we go to Southend - but I never actually bring one! We enjoyed our leisurely walk - and passed about 50 pensioners (the only other folk out on a Thursday morning, evidently!). When we got to the train station, there were two people from the film crew who asked us to stop and wait. There was also an elderly man who was arguing with one of them profusely about how his tax money paid for the pier and he shouldn't be made to wait while the filming takes place. It was so awkward I was tempted to leave - I asked my daughter if she was really bothered about going to the Lifeboats gift shop and she said she really wanted to go. So I asked one of the film crew how long they thought it would be before we could get through, and as soon as she replied "it wouldn't be long" they were given the all clear to let us through.
We saw a gathering of people near a little cafe and when we walked by I noticed the sign said "Jamie and Jimmy's" - instantly I knew it was Jamie Oliver! Low and behold - who was cooking in the restaurant - only Jamie Oliver himself!! I so wanted to go up to him and chat, but he looked quite busy so I didn't want to disturb. We went down to the Lifeboat shop and Verity got a few bits and pieces so she was a happy girl. When we were walking back, who came walking towards us, but Jamie! So, I ran up to him and asked if he'd shake my hand! He chatted to us for a few seconds (asked if we were fishing), before we went on our way. He was a thoroughly nice person and meeting him really made my day (I'm still smiling!). I wish now that a) I would have asked if I could take a photo with him and b) ask him a bazillion questions about cooking - but hey, you never know when I might run into him again!
Me at the end of the pier (with wind battered hair!)
All total, our Southend walk came to 3.68 miles, which was good both for me and the kids (they both fell asleep in the car on the way home - something about that sea air that makes you sleepy!). We did have a burger for lunch, but our pier walk earned me 303 calories, which was nearly the amount needed for my burger!
Last night I was due to do cross training for 40 minutes and was toying with the idea of going to our local leisure centre and doing a class called "Body Attack". I texted an old friend of mine who I knew used to go to the class and asked if she still went. She said she didn't, but was going to another gym to do something called "X-fit" - a HIIT workout and I was welcome to come along. I said I would, but I was quite frankly terrified about what I'd got myself into!
A lot of the training is with weights, but we did a mixture last night. We did 3 sets of 5 front squats (done with this bar bell machine that rests on your chest to add weight), followed by a high intensity rowing and push-up section. We started with rowing 600m, followed by 30 push ups, then rowing 500 meters, 25 push ups, then rowing 400m, 20 pushups, 300m, 15 push ups and finally rowing 200m and 10 push ups. All total that lasted about 15 minutes and by the end of it, I was exhausted and my legs felts like jello! The last exercise we did was killer - we lay on the mat holding a bar bell (with I'm not sure how much weight on it) above our heads - then we proceeded to raise our straight legs and touch each weight at the side with our knees. You touch right and touch left for one - we did 3 sets of 10 of these! Today my arms and shoulders (and abs) are seriously screaming - tomorrow no doubt they will be worse! It was a great workout though and I'll definitely add this to my routine on Wednesdays.
Tonight my run was an "easy" 2 miles. I was excited when I got home from Southend because I saw that my new winter Nike running gear had arrived and I was eager to try it out (even though it's not technically winter yet!). I've got a jacket coming too, but it's arriving in a couple of weeks, so I just wore the leggings and the top - both fit perfectly, though I'm a bit self conscious about wearing the leggings! I just need to remember that my ass is much smaller now than it once was!
Taken right after my 2 miler (which is why my face is beetroot red!)
The two miles went well (I managed to slow my pace down to 5.06mph this time!) and I'm loving the new running gear - it was very comfortable, warm enough for me to wear without a jacket and kept me nice and dry. I may not get on very well with Nike shoes, but their running clothes are good!
Tomorrow is a well earned rest day! My son is having a friend come round for a sleepover, so though I'm resting from running, I doubt I'll be resting in any other way! Oh well - should be fun nonetheless!
Be sure to check out my guest post on how to start running over at Live. Travel. Eat. Run and thanks very much to Amalia for the opportunity to share on her blog ;-)
The weather here today has been patchy - it started off relatively nice (but overcast) and at about 4pm the heavens opened. I stared out of my office window in despair. I don't mind running in the rain, but to date those runs have been in the summer. Now the weather is cooler and I'm conscious that I don't want to get too wet and cold - I desperately need some colder weather outdoor running gear!
Work today was very frustrating. Our printer had a malfunction that required an engineer visit and thankfully he came today. Unfortunately, he was a complete knob and didn't know how to set up the scanner part of the printer properly - in the end I had to ring our IT support people to come out to help him. He was there for three hours, during which time I could do little or no work (because he was using my desk). Needless to say I am not at all impressed with OKI printers or their engineers!
The nights are starting to draw in and it's dark at 7pm - so I knew that I needed to cook dinner, serve it to the kids and my father in law, save mine and my husband's and then get out for my run. Today was a moderate 2.5 miles. I set off just after 6pm and thankfully it had stopped raining. Due to my performance on Sunday, I made a conscious effort to try to run slower during the first mile, but when my Walkmeter beeped at the end of mile one it said my average speed was 5.25mph. During mile two I really pulled it back - right on cue my side stitch reared its ugly head, but I was determined to just slow my run pace right down, rather than take a walk break. In the end I walked crossing two roads and then just started running again very slowly. My average speed for mile two was 5.07mph.
The last half mile was hard - there is a steady uphill climb for a few minutes before a nice, easy, flat quarter of a mile home. It had started raining by this stage - quite heavy and right in my face! The stitch was painful, but I could still run. I was determined to just get home as quickly as possible - I must have looked like a real sight, squinting and grimacing my way home! My average speed for the last half mile, according to Walkmeter, was a bit skewed - it said 7mph, but then it said my fastest speed was 5.77mph! At any rate, I was home in 27 minutes, and that is officially the fastest I've ever run 2.5 miles!
Thursday's run is an easy 2 miles which I will do after I drop my daughter off at Girl Guides. I find it funny that I'm thinking of 2 miles as "easy" now! Sunday's run will be a true challenge - 4 miles on the trail - I'm gonna need lots of encouragement for that one!
We've had a mouse in the house - discovered on Sunday afternoon as I was cooking the usual roast. Well, I didn't discover the actual mouse - but rather his little brown presents! Now, I am not the cleanest person on earth, but I take exception with my kitchen and uninvited guests. Normally, I love being in there, cooking, baking, etc - but the last few days I literally cannot wait to get out the door! On Sunday night, we thought we had blocked up the hole where the mouse was coming in and I went to sleep thinking surely we'd outfoxed the little bugger - but 6am on Monday morning my son (who is the earliest riser!) came into our bedroom saying he saw a mouse in the kitchen!
The base cupboard where I found the brown presents was where I keep all my spices and so I removed all the spices from the cupboard - tossing anything that had been open and putting the remainder in a plastic tub. Well, the little blighter was only climbing on top of the spices! I happen to think he must be an Indian mouse, gathering up spices for a nice Korma!
Anyway, last night we put down the traps - and also blocked off yet another hole where we suspect he might have been coming in. And tonight my husband checked and yep, we've caught one! I'm not overly optimistic that he works alone - so we've put down another trap and will check that again tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm still not enjoying cooking, or being in my lovely kitchen in general. The plus side of this, however, is that I am less likely to snack!
I've just realised that I've not got a photo for this post - so I shall leave you with an image of my post-run treat tonight - a custard tart.... 232 calories of pure custard heaven!
As I get closer and closer to this design exhibition, work just gets crazier and crazier. Without giving away too much, we are basically working with a theme which includes my boss and I having two vintage style dresses made - this has been our only light relief in an otherwise chaotic environment. Today, I went to try on one of my headdresses (I will post loads of photos - promise!) and was literally blown away, I cannot wait for Sunday!
In addition to working full time, I have also sold some of my "fat clothes" on Ebay and it was getting to the point where I'm sure I would get emails from people saying "hey where's my stuff?!", so when I got home from work tonight it was a case of throwing together the ingredients for braised meatballs - shoving it in the oven, packaging up the remainder of the clothes I had to send, literally ran over to the post office (thankfully just around the corner from my house), post those, come back home, check the final proof of our new pricelist for work - email it back, put the linguine on - and then serve the food (keeping mine aside for post-run) before getting changed into my running clothes. My daughter has Girl Guides on Thursdays (that's the British version of Girl Scouts), so after I dropped her off I did my 2 mile run.
Frankly, I was happy to be running to try to melt some of the stress of the day away. I honestly think I just switched off during tonight's run and that's exactly what my brain needed - some downtime! Now the past two runs I have had an annoying side stitch just after the first mile - on Tuesday it was quite painful, so much so that I had to walk briefly twice (which I hate!). Tonight, thankfully, I just kept the pace steady and slow (when needed) - but when I finished the two miles I was TOTALLY thrilled to see that for the first time since I started running on 17th June, I have busted the 5mph average speed barrier! OK - this may sound slow to some of you more seasoned runners, but when I started running my average pace was 3.95mph - yep, that's barely faster than walkin! So to see my speed improve like that is really encouraging!
My next run is actually scheduled for Sunday, but of course I will be at this design exhibition, so I'm going to do this week's long run on Saturday. Next week will require a bit of juggling too and I'm toying with the idea of taking a Jillian Michael's DVD with me to the hotel in London - I may not have any energy but at least if I have it with me, I will have the option of doing it. I have a feeling that my running next week might have to be three days on the trot, which isn't ideal, but needs must.
So - thank you to everyone who entered my very first GIVEAWAY! Thanks again to Lizi for giving me the opportunity to share her wonderful granola with one lucky reader! Without further ado, the Random Number Generator picked comment number 14:
Which was:
Congratulations! Please can you email your name and address to me: pilliepop@aol.com within 24 hours and I will make sure that lovely granola is on it's way to you by Saturday!
Autumn is just around the corner - the days are still warm, but there's definitely a chill in the air. The blackberries and elderberries have started ripening and some of the leaves have started to turn. I love this time of year. I'm looking forward to my autumnal weekend runs where I can take in the beautiful scenery.
Today, I took my daughter out for a walk. We walked just over three miles and though I had to bribe her with a new magazine, she didn't complain and kept pace the whole time. We even broke into a jog three times. It didn't burn as many calories as my Jillian Michaels DVD, but it was totally worth it. I've mentioned before that my kids are like chalk and cheese. Josh is crazy about sports, always active and he loves it. Verity generally doesn't like sports, she would happily sit and watch TV all day and not be active at all - plus she loves food. All of this put together means that I have an overweight child.
Verity has always had a bit of a tummy since she was quite young, but in the last couple of years the "little tummy" has expanded. In addition to not being very active, she does overeat and this is something that I really struggle with trying to control. She's 10 years old now and much more independent. She will regularly go into the kitchen and help herself to food. It's got to the point now where I don't buy anything that she can snack on. However, she will still find something - a piece of bread, a piece of fruit, yogurt, etc.
I guess because I feel like now I've got control over my own overeating and my own lack of doing any physical activity that my next priority should be to make sure my kids are as healthy as possible. I know how it feels to be overweight and to just have no energy. Verity is 10 years old and should have bags of energy - yet today when we went on our walk she was struggling to keep pace. She should be running circles around me, but instead I was holding her hand in order for her to keep up with me (and I wasn't going particularly fast).
Although I was never overweight, I was teased and bullied as a child (and a teenager!). We moved to a small town when I was 9 years old and I just never fit in - I guess everyone's way of dealing with me was to tease me. My nickname in high school was "the freak". It hurts a lot being different and there were times when I was in high school when I thought about taking my own life. I don't want my kids to go through anything even remotely similar. We are blessed in that our kids go to a private Christian school with small class sizes and thankfully Verity hasn't yet been teased about her weight. But I'm very aware that as the kids get older and start to go through puberty that things could change. Not only that, but Verity will be more aware of how she looks and I want her to be a confident young lady!
So - this is my mission. Having discovered for myself how to lose weight and get fit, I'm now focusing my attention on my daughter. This explains one of my autumn goals - making breakfast for my kids everyday. I want to teach her healthy habits - breakfast is not a time to have a big bowl of cereal, then a piece of bread, then a pot of yogurt - it's about having a wholesome, healthy start to the day in a right portion size. In addition to a healthy breakfast, I'm stopping the needless snacking. This one is going to take some discipline (and hearing like a bat! sometimes she will sneak into the kitchen and eat something while she's in there - I can hear rattling of packaging, so I know she's eating something!).
I also want her to find an activity that she enjoys. At her age, she needs to have fun - heck we all need to have fun with whatever exercise we do! I don't want to force her to do an activity that she doesn't enjoy - but she must get some regular exercise. And this is where some good family time can come into it - if we find an exercise that we can all do as a family.
This is going to be a learning curve. It's one thing getting yourself motivated to lose weight - but it's a whole different story motivating a child. I haven't shared this before because I've been working through in my own mind about how I can tackle it. I would be really grateful if anyone reading this has any constructive suggestions on how to help. I love my kids so much and want them to be happy, healthy people.
This morning I got a fantastic email. I went through my usual morning routine - checking facebook (seriously - I read it like the morning paper), twitter, blog stats and then email... I had to do a double take because the subject said "Sweat Pink Ambassador - welcome to the team!"! Yes, I am officially a Sweat Pink Ambassador and I just want to thank the lovely ladies over at Fit Approach for the opportunity!
I've been hearing more and more recently about Fit Approach and the Ambassador programme, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what this new chapter brings. Fit Approach promotes all round healthy living and that's certainly what I'm all about. Losing weight is not just about seeing the number on the scales go down, and it's not about deprivation - it's about getting healthy and most importantly staying healthy!
So - I've made a little progress with my Autumn goals today. I was planning on making the kids wholewheat pancakes this morning for breakfast - but when I got up my son had already made the pancake batter (albeit NOT wholewheat!) and was asking me to turn on the stove so he could cook them! He's 12 and is doing food and nutrition at school and of course what did they make this week - pancakes! He can even flip them in the frying pan (none on the ceiling - woohoo!) - so my kids had a kind of healthy home cooked breakfast courtesy of my son!
Verity started Girl Guides again tonight and the scout hut where they meet is precisely a 7 minute walk from our house - so she and I walked there and walked home. Walking home wasn't so much fun because we live in a village without street lights and it was very nearly pitch black on the way back! Verity said something to the effect of "this is what you see in horror movies just before somebody gets killed" - uh yeah, thanks kid - walk quicker!!! And, how does my kid know about horror movies?! Thankfully, we made it home without incident!
And - no bugs were eaten or harmed during my walk this evening!
For the past five years or so our main family summer holiday has been spent in the Lake District. My late mother in law passed on her love for this amazingly beautiful part of England. In addition to the beauty of the area, she also introduced me to the writings of Alfred Wainwright. For those not familiar with Wainwright, he was a gifted author and artist who literally devoted his life to painstakingly map every fell in the Lake District. All of his guides were handwritten and beautifully illustrated. He had a wicked sense of humour to boot - so reading his books has become a favourite pastime of mine. So well known are his writings that the fells in the Lake District have affectionately become known as "Wainwrights". I've added a new page to the blog, listing my summits thus far! There are 214 in total - we'll see if I can climb all of them!
We were pleased to add four new summits to our list of accomplishments - we actually climbed five, but the fifth (The Dodd), we've climbed at least ten times previously! At just over 1600 feet, we tend to "warm up" with this one every year as it's such a pleasant walk (albeit steep) and the views from the summit are some of the best to be seen in Lakeland. So, this is where we started on Sunday. But before I tell you about what we climbed, etc, I wanted to just take a little step back to this time last year... While we were away I happened to find a video on my husband's phone of us climbing Blencathra (alt 2848 ft) last year - I was the last one up, huffing and puffing and nearly ready to die when I reached the summit (it's very windy at the top, so apologies about the sound - and I haven't figured out how to edit, so you get to see everyone else reach the summit too!):
I got to the top through pure determination alone, but I think you can see how unfit I was. This year was a different story altogether! Unfortunately we didn't take any videos of me bounding up the summits, but suffice to say, though they were all hard work, I didn't struggle to get up one!
Back to the recap: On Sunday, we went to a lovely little restaurant out in the back of beyond for lunch and reckoned we would climb the Dodd to burn off our lunch! On Sunday's, Mae's Tearoom (in a beautiful old converted school in Uldale) serves a roast dinner - it was roast beef with Yorkshire Puddings the size of my head! I was smitten from the moment we walked in the door - and the food was delicious too!
At Mae's Tearoom
The initial stiff climb up the Dodd
Me at the Summit of the Dodd
The forecast for the week was dire - rain nearly every day. On Monday, however, like seasoned fellwalkers - we were out the door with sandwiches packed on our way to climb Great Gable! Great Gable is one of the higher fells in the Lake District (alt 2949ft), and would also serve as our highest summit of the week. Our walk began at the tiny little village of Seathwaite - about 20 minutes drive from Keswick. I wish I had taken a photograph, but there is actually a plaque as you drive into the village that says it is officially the wettest place in England - with the most rainfall each year! And yes, it did rain while we were there!
We had a bit of a walk to even get to the "start" of our walk to the summit, but there was lots of interest along the way. I hadn't realised, but this was also a frequently used path to get to the tallest mountain in England, Scafell Pike, and sadly we met a couple on the summit of Great Gable who believed they had climbed the Pike only to realise when they met us (and another couple who had just come from Green Gable) they were on the wrong mountain!
It's a long way to the top!
On the final path up the side of Great Gable
Me at the summit of Great Gable
Descending Gable in the mist...
Tuesday was deservedly a rest day, so we drove down to Ambleside and took a short cruise on Lake Windermere. This was a very busy place - lots of young families and people who come to the Lakes not for walking (how they could possibly visit the Lake District and not go for even a short walk is beyond me!). I happened to snap this cheeky picture (pun intended):
Say "no" to crack
Now, it's very breezy on these boats as the sides are open, so I reckon this dude knew what he was doing - in any case, it did make me laugh - a lot.
Wednesday came and the chosen mountain(s) were Red Pike with a possibility of going on to ridge walk the High Stile range next to it. Again, the weather was not cooperating and as we drove into Buttermere - the village where our walk would start - the tops of the mountains were all in mist. Our walk started by the lake and ascended steeply to a tarn (a pond) where we would climb again. We decided to just get up there and see what it was like before making a decision to continue with the ridge walk. Now I should start this by saying that I can read a map, but I can't use a compass - so navigating in the mist is not going to happen and Red Pike does have some sheer drops from the summit, so I wasn't about to hike off in one direction, kids in tow, trying to find a ridge!
I love Buttermere - it's easily my favourite place in the Lakes. The mountains there have a sort of fairy tale beauty - tall, black, majestic and inspiring. But, Red Pike seems to be the odd man out. The summit is covered with thick red clay and scree (loose rock) - giving it its name. This would be our very first encounter with scree and with a summit that required a scramble. I should have known when my father in law recounted his summit with my mother in law quite a few years ago - she sat down and refused to go up. On her third separate attempt, she made it to the top.
The scrambling described on the route description was "easy" - if that's easy scrambling, I would seriously hate to encounter "hard"! I do not have a head for heights - hard to believe for someone who enjoys climbing mountains, but most of the time when heights are involved, I just take it really slow, keep my head down, swear profusely (because my kids are usually a mile ahead of me!) and get on with it! Due to the tricky nature of this summit, we all had to stay very close together. I went up first, followed by both kids and then my husband. I made it - but it was not an experience I would like to repeat and for once I think going up a mountain in mist was beneficial as I couldn't see the drops around me!
Looking back down the Buttermere valley
The start of the steep scramble - the summit is in mist
At the summit of Red Pike
A particularly tricky bit - about the only time I smiled! (over that ledge is a sheer drop!)
Guess what mountain we've just come down?!
Needless to say, I was happy to get that one in the bag and get the heck off the summit! The mist was getting thicker on the summit, so we decided to pass on the ridge walk. The Dodd (separate Dodd than the one mentioned earlier) was literally a leisurely walk next door - so we went to the summit to tick another one off the list. Sadly, it's not a Wainwright, but it's little more than a hill and unfortunately was shrouded in mist so the amazing views we would have had from the summit were blocked :(.
Thursday again was another "rest" day and we decided to take another lake cruise - but this time at Ullswater. My father in law came with us and we even had lunch at a pub he used to go to when he was a young man! It's at the top of a hill in Glenridding and is called The Travellers Rest. Easily one of the smallest pubs I've ever been to - but what they lack in size of the building, they make up for in abundance on your plate! HUGE portions! Thankfully, I just ordered a sandwich, but even that was big!
Friday, we were toying until the very last minute about which fell to climb. My daughter was pretty exhausted and protested at climbing anything, so we settled on a small climb - little more than a hill just north of Bassenthwaite called "Binsey". Binsey is pretty much just a grass and heather covered hill - but I was intrigued to climb it because Wainwright says that the views from the summit are some of the finest in Lakeland and I would be inclined to agree. It took us about 45 minutes to reach the summit and a grand total of about 15 minutes to get down again! Quite possibly the quickest climb ever - but I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who has a spare hour in the lakes!
Binsey 1467 ft
The beautiful tree lined avenue at the start of our walk
Old stone gate
Heather
The view of lakeland from Binsey summit
You can see why I love it!
And here I am with one of my handy Wainwright guide books! (By the way, I'm talking here which is why my mouth looks weird!)
We drove back yesterday and the rain was seriously heavy! I hate driving (or even being a passenger!) in the rain! Thankfully we made it home safely. All total, we walked 23.5 miles. I tracked all of my food - even though internet access was sketchy, hopefully all of my logins on MFP will still count! I haven't weighed myself yet, but will wait until tomorrow. I did eat more than I normally would, but even if there is a weight gain, I know it will come off as quickly as it went on. And the best thing is that my leg muscles got a serious workout last week!
I'm off work today. It was supposed to be a day to spend with the kids, but whilst they're running around playing on the Wii, their bikes, etc, I'm sat on the sofa with a tissue shoved up my nose (sorry TMI)! In typical "sod's law" fashion, we are due to go away to the Lake District on Saturday for a week of fell walking and yes, I'm getting sick! In addition to that I've had two unscheduled rest days, in all likelihood it will now be three to four and I'm worried that whatever this is won't shift before we leave for our holiday!
So, I don't know if it's the cold medicine talking, but this morning I created a Facebook page for A Walk in the Woods. You can "LIKE" it by clicking on the link over here ----->
What's even more bizarre is that I've just invited umpteen of my friends to Like the page, which means if those friends visit my blog everybody will know how much I weigh! Normally I would cringe at this thought, I'm not happy advertising those digits, but then it occurred to me - I've lost 54 pounds! That's not something to be ashamed of!
I'm coming clean, I guess. Admitting to all whom I know in social networking that, yes, I was a great big fat thing - but this time I've cracked it! Not only have I found the key to losing weight (for me), but also discovered some fantastic activities that will help me maintain that loss. OK - I haven't reached my ultimate goal yet - but I know I can reach it and more importantly, I know I will! Another thought that occurred to me was that there may be other friends of mine who are interested in getting fit or losing weight and don't know where to start. Maybe, in some small way, they would be inspired by something I've written. So - to all of my Facebook friends reading this, thanks for visiting :-)
Last night I had another crazy idea (seriously, what do they put in this cold medicine?!). I want to try to play a team sport. This may not sound like a crazy idea - but my experience of team sports was limited to trying out (and failing) for the middle-school volleyball team. When I was in school, I was not interested in sports at all, in fact I loathed them - I avoided them at all costs. Why I chose to try out for volleyball, I'm not sure. I did enjoy it and I was disappointed that I didn't make the team - whether making the team would have changed my view of sports I don't know.
My husband on the other hand is an all rounder! He has played, at any given time in his life, in football teams (that's soccer to all you Americans!), cricket teams, badminton, squash, etc. He's one of those annoying people who seems to be good at whatever sport he tries (hopefully he's reading this!). I, in stark contrast, don't seem to be much use at any sport - but I figured this is because I've never really tried! So, last night I asked him to teach me a bit of Badminton.
Badminton is fascinating to me - I watched the players on the Olympics and were just staggered at the speed of play. I'm not for a second thinking that I would ever be able to get to that sort of speed or standard, but aside from flicking a shuttlecock around the garden, I'd like to learn how to play properly. The husband has agreed to book us a badminton court and he's going to teach me (he will need some serious patience!) and then I'm going to look at joining our little village badminton club. Watch this space for news and embarrassing pictures...
I've been so focused on 5k training lately that walking has taken a bit of a backseat. I still love walking, and will be doing a lot of it when we go to the Lake District later in the month. But, because I've literally fallen in love with running - every time I go out to exercise, it has been to run. I suppose what it comes down to, is that I started to think that walking (compared to running) is the easy option.
I can honestly now say that I was wrong. This morning, we did what we've been doing for the last two weeks - watched the Olympics! I noticed that the finish of the Men's 50k Walk was on - yes - that's right 50k (or 31 miles)!!! Not being familiar with racewalking, I googled it. Basically, one foot has to maintain contact with the ground at all times. In order to do this and to maintain a race speed they propel their pelvises forward and this gives them a unique little 'wiggle'!
I was a bit skeptical at first ("Walking, an Olympic sport?!"), but when these dudes started crossing the finish line, I knew this was no joke. Man, after man crossed the finish line and collapsed into a heap. Olympians were literally being carted away in wheelchairs as their bodies gave in from exhaustion. I was hazard a guess that 80% of the men who finished either collapsed, or 'wobbled' and needed assistance. What those men will feel like tomorrow is anybody's guess, but suffice it to say I think any amount of muscle soreness, blisters, or any pain we mere mortals have experienced in our fitness journeys probably doesn't even come close!
I've been thinking the past few days about inspiration. I've been inspired by so many people in the blogging community - ordinary people, like me, with families and jobs and busy lives - who have done extraordinary things in terms of weight loss and fitness. I'm really grateful to have that inspiration - in fact I would go so far as to say that I wouldn't have got this far in my journey without it.
But these last couple of weeks watching the Olympics, I've found myself with renewed inspiration. This time the inspiration comes from the extraordinary people - the Olympians. The people who literally personify fitness. I suppose it comes down to the fact that Olympians prove that anything is possible if you work hard enough.
So, the next time I'm out for a run (or a walk!) and my body is hurting, I'm struggling to catch my breath, and I want to give up, I'm going to think about those amazing racewalkers - literally pushing themselves with everything that is within them to finish.
Today is probably a day I'll remember for a long time, because for the first time in my life I ran 3.1 miles! I cannot even believe that just a little over seven weeks ago I was a walker, not a runner. I had tried running previously, but gave up quickly because it was hard work. Discovering the C25K programme changed all of that and I discovered - hey, I can run! I just want to say a special thank you to Adam at The Boring Runner for hosting the Sweat Your Thorns Off 5k virtual race! He really gave me the motivation I needed to just get out there and do it!
So, this morning came and went and the weather here has been up and down - raining one minute, sunny the next. I looked at the forecast and decided that I would do the race later in the afternoon. I had lunch and then wanted to wait at least two hours after that for the race. I drank a lot of water this morning to make sure I was properly hydrated - which means I literally spent most of the morning in the toilet! sorry TMI! 3:30pm came and I headed out.
I decided to start by walking one loop of the field next to our house - this was my warm up because I didn't want to start the run totally cold. In all my 5k training, I've always started with a 5 minute warm up walk and I think this is an excellent idea. I finished that quickly and soon it was time to push the start button! The first part of the run for me is always the hardest. My body is getting used to the motion, I'm finding my stride - it probably takes nearly a mile before I start to feel "comfortable" and where my breathing isn't quite so laboured.
I ran my usual loop, but dipped down some side roads - one which provided a full additional small loop and one that I literally just ran up and ran down. The weather was quite hot all of the sudden and the sun was baking down on my back. I started to really feel drained around mile 2.3. I got a mild stitch in my side, so slowed my pace way down and tried to focus on my breathing. Having checked my distance, I knew I could keep going, so just tried to keep focused.
When I was nearly home, I saw my husband drive past me in the car with my son in the back. He slowed down and my son was waving frantically cheering me on! It was a fantastic sight! Actually throughout the whole run, every person I passed along the way offered a smile.
My official time was 42:33, which I don't think was bad for my first ever 5k attempt, and now means I have an official time to beat!
Gimme 5! I sweated my thorns off!
I would just like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, I really could not have done it without you! I also want to thank God for giving me muscle in my legs and air in my lungs (and an iron-will determination to finish it!), my kids and husband for encouraging me always, my Asics for never letting me down and the Black Eyed Peas on my iPod for encouraging me to pump it!
I'm reading more and more reports of others who have participated in this race, so well done to everyone. Laura at Spicing Up My Life completed hers this morning - well done Laura!!! I'm looking forward to reading about everyone else's experiences soon :-)
I wanted to just do a very quick post today because I had a sneaky midweek weigh in this morning and discovered that I'm firmly OFF the plateau and back onto a losing streak - WOOOHOOO! I'm down another 2.3 pounds and I'm SO excited because this means I'm finally out of the 190's!
There are three factors that I can attribute this loss to:-
1. I haven't had any Pimm's this week
2. I have upped my calories to 1632 allowed per day. I'm still struggling to reach this most days, however I'm averaging between 1450-1600.
3. I've been having a Click Protein shake every day at about 3pm
About Click... It really is not 'clicking' with me, but I'm drinking it more out of necessity than anything. I struggle with mid-afternoon energy dips and also felt it would be a good way of getting a few more calories and a lot more protein into my diet. I'm now on the lookout for a good plain chocolate flavoured protein shake because I'm not loving the Mocha flavoured Click. It's a shame because I did think that a mid afternoon iced Mocha would be lovely, but I just can't get used to the flavour!
Today has been a fab day with that weigh in this morning, but I'm very worried for my virtual 5k race tomorrow because my throat is seriously feeling itchy and scratchy, so I hope I'm not coming down with something! I'm due to run again this evening and will see how I feel afterwards before I decide whether or not to go through with the 5k race tomorrow.
So, I have been thinking about goals recently. I think I mentioned previously that I had a goal to walk 500 miles so my sister in law could sing that song by The Proclaimers to me! Well, I'm going to do it! I'm up to 178 miles for the year already, which leaves 322 left. There are 21 full weeks left in the year which works out at 15.33 miles per week - or just over 2.5 miles per day with a day's rest. Between my regular walking and running I think this is wholly achievable - so this is my goal for the end of 2012!
I know Melinda at Does This Scale Make Me Look Fat has set some goals for August - you can read about them here. What are your goals for the remainder of the year?
I went a little bit fitness mad today! I did a 4.8 mile walk with the kids, followed by a 2.7 mile run when I got home! More on the run later, but first - the walk! I took the day off work to entertain the kids, so we drove about 40 minutes north to a town called Takeley to walk part of a path called "The Flitch Way". This path has fascinated me from the moment I stumbled across it in one of my daughter's homework books. Basically, it is named after something called "The Flitch Trials", an ancient tradition taking place in a nearby village every leap year where married couples - who can prove that they've been happily married for a year and a day - compete to win the trial and a "flitch" (or a side of bacon)! I so loved the thought of this kind of tradition, that I've desperately been wanting to visit the path ever since!
The path itself is a disused railway line and goes from Takeley 15 miles east ending in Braintree. As much as I would have loved to have attempted the full 15 miles, there's the small matter of getting back to your car, etc, - not to mention the fact that walking 15 miles in one day is a pretty big ask, even for a mega-fit person! It actually took some patience to find the start of the path anyway because the "station" in Takeley is tucked behind houses, not sign posted from the road, so I had to do a wee bit of digging and take quite a few wrong turns before we eventually found it! When we arrived, we noticed that the old train station is now council offices and there was a meeting taking place as we walked past the front door! A very nice man came out and said we looked a bit lost, could he help us. I told him we were looking for the Flitch Way and he directed us to an opening in the fence behind the station where you can access the trail. He asked which direction we were heading, I told him we were going east towards Great Dunmow, but he recommended heading west which would bring us to Hatfield Forest - he said it was a much more interesting walk, so we decided to take his advice!
The start of our walk, Takeley old station is on the right
Me and Verity at one of the "stations"
This was sweet - a swing on a rope at the end of someone's garden
The fabulous thing about the trail is that it's very well maintained, mostly flat and very quiet. A beautiful canopy of trees covers most of the path, so when it started raining about 30 minutes into our walk, it provided much needed cover! We walked for about two miles before dropping down into the forest briefly. There was no distinguishable path in the forest and I was worried about finding our way back to the main path, so I decided we should just re-trace our steps.
When we got back to the car, I decided to drive a few minutes to a pretty little village called Hatfield Broad Oak that we had driven through on the way. It was a typical old English village with a beautiful stone church and crooked old buildings. We wanted to find a tea shop to have a nice cup of tea (or coffee for me!) and a slice of cake, but apparently the only thing people in Hatfield Broad Oak like to drink is alcohol because there were two pubs and not a single tea shop!
Crooked old archway in Hatfield Broad Oak
Crooked old house
Frustrated, we started walking back to the car and Josh said "this village stinks", just very matter of fact! It was SO funny! An ice cream from the only shop in the village made up for it, though! All in all it was a good day - I'm glad I finally got to see the Flitch Way and hopefully one day we will go back and do much more of it.
So, the reason I went a little bit mental today with my exercise is because I'm in a hurry to bring my running up to speed for Saturday. A bit slow on the uptake, I noticed that Adam at The Boring Runner is hosting a virtual 5k race on Saturday called Sweat your Thorns Off 5k! Basically, anyone can join in and you just run 5k where ever you want! He's got some wicked prizes up for grabs too! I thought I would join in because I'm running a 5k race at the end of August and if I run the whole 5k on Saturday, it will be a good benchmark for me.
I repeated session 2 of my 5k training today so walked 5 minutes, ran 3, walked 3 and then proceeded to run the whole way home. Walkmeter stopped counting after 25 minutes - but I reckon it was more like 27-28 minutes in total. The run was fine - it was a bit hard going, but I figured that was due to my long walk earlier in the day, and the heat (it was HOT today!). Now the only thing standing in my way is finding a 3.1 mile route! I added a bit extra to my usual loop, but it only seemed to add about 0.20 of a mile - making the total about 2.7 miles. My Walkmeter has a programme where you can set distance - so basically you tell it you want to run 3.1 miles and it will tell you when to stop. I think I'll just have to do this on Saturday and hope I can find a bit more distance somewhere!
Well, that was my very busy, very active day! Wish me luck for the race on Saturday!
I decided to get my shredding done early today, well, 4 o'clock early so I could spend the rest of the evening relaxing. The morning was spent cleaning, doing laundry and then my usual 3.1 mile training walk at 12noon. I got back at 1:15, just in time for a quick bowl of soup for lunch. After lunch I finished the cleaning and laundry and then got on with preparing supper (I'm cooking a beef curry, which needs to cook for a few hours). After that I decided to just get the DVD finished and that way, I can have a shower and enjoy my Saturday evening beef curry guilt free ;-).
Today's Walk
All total, my cardio activities today have burned 804 calories! The good news today is that my muscles are far less achey today than they have been in the previous days. I must be getting used to Level 1 and today I'm officially half way (through the first level)! I'm slightly dreading what is coming next, but definitely looking forward to the results at the end.
In a couple of weeks our family is having a short break up north in Chester. I knew this when I started the 30 Day Shred programme, but was tired of coming up with excuses so decided to start the programme anyway, knowing that I would only have 19 days to do it. However, today I thought I could bring the DVD with me (how desperate is that?!). I have a portable DVD player, and it's only 20 minutes - I could do it in our hotel room! Well, we shall see if I still feel the same way in two week's time! It would just be nice to keep going for the full 30 days, and also have some reassurance that by getting in my training every day I will be less likely to gain weight while we're there.
