A better run

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!

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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!

A run in the woods (and crazy animal escapades!)

I just want to start this by saying a huge thank you to everyone who has commented on my last post, both here and on Facebook.  I truly appreciate your encouragement.  I know helping my daughter to be the healthiest person she can be will be a very challenging journey.  But I also know, having nearly reached goal myself, that it can be done!  I will keep the blog updated regularly with our progress, so watch this space!

Today my 8k training programme called for a 2.5 mile run and this was also going to be my trail run for the week.  The temperatures have dropped here over the past week, so I was really looking forward to a crisp, cool run this afternoon.  We had our usual roast lunch today (today was roast chicken, with potatoes, carrots, broccoli and stuffing, followed by raspberry trifle - yum!), so I had to wait until later in the afternoon to do the run.

I got my iPhone, armband, headphones and water bottle together at just after 5pm and drove to the start of the school trail.  As soon as I arrived, I had to go to the toilet (again!) - so walked up to the sports hall.  This was my own fault - I'm so paranoid about getting a dehydration headache after my run, that I drink like a fish before my run - but need to remember to leave a wee bit of time (pun intended) before I actually head out the door to make sure it's all out of my system!  Having given birth to two kids, my bladder is not what it used to be (apologies - TMI) - so I'm not wanting to get caught short on a trail!

The start of the trail

The sun was shining just above the tree line when I started running and the wind seriously kicked up!  Why is it when I am running and there is wind it is most always a headwind?  Just once, I'd love a really strong tailwind!  I got about 1/3 of the way down the trail when I encountered the "Essex Lion" - ha!  No, seriously, it was a big ginger tomcat and he was creeping in the grass right by that hill I've nicknamed "The Bastard" - as if the Bastard wasn't bad enough, now I have cats stalking me there?!  I was worried he was going to jump and pounce on me because he was crouched down like he was stalking his prey!  He was there for the whole run - glaring at me every time I ran past!  Thankfully he never pounced!

When I got round the trail once I thought it seemed pretty quick, but when I had completed the 2.5 miles and checked my stopwatch I couldn't believe my speed!  On Friday, I ran 2.0 miles on the road with an average speed of 4.79 mph - today my average speed was 4.96 mph!!  Now to you seasoned runners, 4.96 mph probably sounds like a snail's pace - but I'm thrilled with it!  More to the point, I am thrilled that my speed is getting faster!  That means I'm getting fitter :-)

I never expected it, but I'm starting to think that trail running really suits me!  If I can make that big of an improvement in my pace simply by changing the running surface, I think that's pretty amazing!  Next week my long run will have to be on Saturday because Sunday I'm working at this design exhibition in London.  I'm thinking about doing the trail run at our local country park.  This will be a true test of my fitness as there are lots (and lots) of hills... We'll see - I haven't made up my mind yet!

Me after the run - you can't see how RED my face is in this pic!

On the drive home, there was a small squirrel trying to cross the road up to the school.  I stopped and waited for him - but he just kept running in front of my car!  When I started driving again slowly - he just kept running in front instead of going off to the side!  Eventually he discovered the grass at the side of the road and ran off (or at least I didn't feel a lump under my wheel as I drove past, sorry animal lovers!).  What a crazy animal day today!

Autumn Goals

I'm pretty sure I ate a bug during my run tonight.  I wonder how many calories "small fly" clocks up on My Fitness Pal?  Ha - thankfully I'm not easily grossed out!  I suppose eating the occasional bug comes with the territory of running outside (other such luxuries are "stepping in dog poo", "running through patch of stinging nettles", etc).

The past few days have been increasingly stressful at work (we are getting close to a big design exhibition in London where we are launching two new furniture collections).  Yesterday we had scheduled a photoshoot and had "borrowed" the house of a former client of ours in Thorpe Bay to stage the shoot.  Well, the client was meticulously clean and hadn't even moved into the house (it was a HUGE beachfront house) - they said they lived in another house 10 minutes away and this one was their "Beach hut"!!!  Long story short - they were there ALL day, watching all of us like a hawk.  It was SO stressful that I felt as if I couldn't even go to the toilet without them wondering what I was up to!  So - I got home late last night, didn't have a chance to do my scheduled run and even had trouble getting to sleep because my brain was still whirring with everything that had happened.  I'll be a much better blogger in October once this exhibition is finished, our new catalogue is launched and things at work have generally calmed down :-).

My kids have been back at school for nearly two weeks and I have mentioned in earlier posts about desperately wanting to be a more organised mother this year.  So, it occurred to me that I should put in writing some goals for this autumn.  I was going to confine this to September - but given the fact that September is nearly half over and my hectic schedule at work, I thought actually it would be wiser to make them the whole of autumn goals!

1. Make a healthy breakfast for the kids every school morning (I've pinned some great recipes on my Pinterest board "Yummy yummy in my tummy" if anyone wants to have a look!)
2. Make a conscious effort to do more creative packed lunches for the kids on Friday's (they only have to take a packed lunch on a Friday).  To date, it has been ham/cheese sandwiches or variations thereon!  Get's pretty boring, I imagine!
3. To eat as healthily as possible whilst away at this design exhibition - log all my calories and not get carried away with the wine!  In fact to just eat as healthily as possible before and after the exhibition!
4. Try Yoga.  My Hal Higdon 8k training calls for "Stretch/Strength" training on a Monday evening and I've always wanted to try yoga - but worried because I'm not the most flexible person in the world!  I can only try and if it doesn't suit me - see if I can find a stretching activity that does!
5. Try Badminton.  I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to try playing this - I've not been able to find a club yet - but my hubby has offered to teach me to play properly.
6. Do more active things with my daughter.  My kids are like chalk and cheese - Josh is running around playing tennis, football, etc all the time; Verity struggles with being active - there aren't many sports or activities that she enjoys.  Unfortunately this has contributed to her weight.  I desperately want to get this under control now and to help her enjoy being active.

I hope to give regular updates on how I'm getting on with these goals.  Obviously, I will continue with my 8k training and losing pounds.  I think my scales need a new battery because they are giving quite different readings within 30 seconds of each other - so I'm keen to get this asap so I can see if there's a big loss hiding there!

What are your goals for the autumn?

First Trail Run

My first week of 8k training is complete!  I must admit to being slightly apprehensive regarding today's run - it wasn't the distance (2 miles), but the surface that had me worried.  When I signed up for the Poppy Run a couple of weeks ago I knew I would have to up my training because this was a 5k race on a trail, not road (which, to date, has been my only running surface!).  So, I decided I would utilise my kids school's cycle trail on a Sunday afternoon and do my week's long run there.

I had run on this cycle track previously, but got as far (probably) as 1/4 mile before having to stop and walk.  My distance never increased because my training at that time (about 4-5 years ago) was very sporadic and had literally no planning involved!  Now - I'm organising my life around running!  My apprehension today came from this memory - would I be able to make it all the way around the trail without stopping?  The trail is approx 3/4 mile long circuit consisting of two loops - a small upper loop and a large lower loop.  There is one decent incline ('the bastard'!) and a couple nice, swift downhill sections.  The nice thing is that none of it is particularly secluded (where you would worry that safety is an issue) and of course it's all on the school's private estate, so the likelihood of me encountering another runner is virtually nil.

I took my water bottle of strawberry lemonade Nuun with me and parked it at the beginning of the trail waiting for me when I finished and started running.  I felt like I got off at a decent pace, but knew 'the bastard' would soon be around the corner (this is the point where I would always stop and walk!).  Running on the trail was different to what I remembered - I'm sure the trainers I had previously were just completely the wrong shoes for me - my feet were squished (I have quite wide feet) and there just didn't seem to be any bounce in them at all.  My current pink Asics make all the difference - these bad boys were made for my feet!  I'm convinced the geniuses at Asics had me in mind when creating them! Perfect bounce, even on the relatively absorbing surface of the trail.  I was a happy girl.

My badass Asics on the trail

I conquered 'the bastard' with confidence!  I was just about to type 'with ease' - but, hey, who am I kidding?!  I just kept going (slowly).  I thought that one complete loop was nearly a mile, but resisted temptation to check my Walkmeter until after my second lap when it read 1.88 miles.  I kept going until it beeped that I had reached 2 miles and then I walked back to my starting point.

The end of the trail

Some initial thoughts on trail running:-

1. It's hard - yes I did have good support with my Asics, but I definitely felt my legs were working harder running on trail than running on the road.
2. It requires more concentration on where you put your feet (sounds obvious, but it's true!).  Various obstacles such as loose gravel, twigs, deer droppings (!) could easily trip you up!
3. Time went quicker - I had done two loops before I realised it.  That's great!
4. It seems trail running suits me - my average pace was faster than road running!

All in all I'm quite happy that I managed just over two loops of the trail without stopping - the old me couldn't have managed half of one!  I know it will get more difficult because each week my mileage increases - but I'm hoping the more I do it, the easier it will get.

So, now a question to all of you - 
Have you tried trail running and what was your experience?

And so it begins again...

I just want to start this post with a massive THANK YOU to all of you who read my blog and who have been so encouraging both before the Clacton 5k race and after.  I honestly don't think I would have raced if it weren't for your wonderful words of support!

It has been a very hectic weekend, starting with the race on Friday night.  We didn't get home until about 10pm and then had an early start on Saturday.  Saturday my husband was taking my son to a tennis tournament in Middlesex and I was taking my daughter to her school to help clean/set-up ready for the start of term on Monday.  We were there for about three hours and then came home and I proceeded to bake a cake for dessert on Sunday when I got a text from my husband to say my son had won the tournament!  I was over the moon - what with my runner's high from Friday night and now my son had won his first LTA tournament!

Saturday night we went up to London to see a play called "A Progress" - it was based on John Bunyan's book "A Pilgrim's Progress" and was in a tiny theatre in the east end of London.  A friend of ours who just graduated from drama school was one of the main actors - so we went to support him and, wow, he was absolutely amazing!  The play itself was fantastic - taking a very deep subject matter and making it light-hearted with just the right amount of humour.  It was very "fringe" theatre, the audience became part of the production - with our friend handing out "lines" for audience members to read out (including my husband and kids!).   We had a fantastic time, but didn't get home until nearly 11pm - so that was two very late nights for my kids.

Today is my and my husband's wedding anniversary - 17 years!  Man, I feel old!  I was 19 when I got married and my husband was 26 - here we are, much younger, much slimmer!

17 years ago today!

We normally don't both much with anniversaries and as we had been out to the theatre last night that was sort of our celebration.  Today, though our anniversary, was back to the usual Sunday routine: church, lunch, ironing, more laundry, organise school things, run.  The same people who organised the 5k race on Friday are organising a 5 mile race at the beginning of December called the Rudolph Run.  This one is much closer to home, but again on the sea-front.  I asked my husband if he would like to run with me and to my surprise he said yes!

This ties in nicely with my next training programme.  Having "graduated" from the C25k programme, I was on the look-out for what to do next.  I had a look on Hal Higdon's website and found a Novice 8k training programme:

This will get me nicely prepared for the 5 mile Rudolph Run and gives me a new programme to focus on for the next 8 weeks.  After this I think I will try the 10k programme.  In the interim, however, I have signed up for another 5k at the end of October - the Poppy Run.  This will be my first trail run - so I plan to start incorporating some trail running into my training.  I'm very fortunate that my kids' school has a mile circuit trail that parents can use for running - so I think certainly my Sunday afternoon long runs I will do on the trail.  I have no illusions that trail running is harder than road running, so this will definitely be a challenge!

Today I knew I wanted to run, but wanted to make sure I try to keep to the days on the 8k programme, so I decided to just run my usual 2.5 mile loop.  My pace is gradually improving - and I have confidence that so long as I keep running this will continue to get faster and faster.  I'm trying to watch my breathing as well, because sometimes I feel like I get into a muddle.  I lose my rhythm or take too many breaths or something and end up feeling like I'm gasping - or I get a stitch which means I have to slow way down to recover.  This happened today - I had literally got to what I call the "home stretch" this is a downhill section where I know I can usually pick up speed - but today I had to stop and walk for a minute because of a really painful stitch.

So - my training begins again!  I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Clacton Summer 5k race report

I did it!  After all the nervousness and trepidations, I ran the whole thing and most importantly - DID NOT COME LAST!  But, I'm getting ahead of myself... let's start at the beginning!

I had such a stressful day at work yesterday - I was off with the kids on Thursday and there's always a backlog of things for me to sort out when I come back after a day off.  Plus, I'm still dealing with a bit of a backlog from when I was away in the Lake District.  We are getting ready for a huge exhibition at the end of September and some days, well, I just feel like I'm sinking... Friday was one of those days!  But thankfully, I've got a lot of support in the office and my boss is seriously great.  She let me leave a little bit early (I normally leave at 3:30pm on Fridays anyway), so I could get home and get organised for the race.

Clacton is a loooonng drive from where we live - about 1 and a half hours.  This may not seem like a lot in American terms, but here in England - that's a long way to drive just to run 3 miles!  Thankfully, I had laid out most of my race gear the night before so all I had to do was put it all in my backpack - load up my water bottle with my post-race Strawberry Lemonade Nuun (Nuun is seriously good stuff!), make sure I had my race number, safety pins, etc, etc.  I did some research online to see what the best pre-race snack would be and I decided on a peanut butter with banana and honey sandwich on wholemeal bread.  The website also recommended eating this about 2 hours before the race - so I waited as close to 5pm as I could and nervously ate it.

I haven't had peanut butter in ages because it's not usually something I can safely keep in the house.  But I opted for the organic version with no added sugar and bought the smallest jar available!  It was heavenly - and I'm sure I will find uses for it - if I can get any once the kids discover it!

We arrived in Clacton about half an hour before the race was due to start.  I did worry when we first arrived because I saw lots of very fit looking men, but not very many women - and the women I did see were also very professional looking!  I started to worry that I had bit off more than I could chew.  But as time drew near there were more people of all shapes and sizes with race numbers, so I calmed down slightly!  Before the main race, there was scheduled a children's one mile race.  I had entered both of my kids in the race, but decided to let only Josh run because we need to work on Verity's running (more on this in a later post).  There were just four kids - all around Josh's age (12) competing.  It was a super fast out and back mile and my little man came second!

Josh waiting for the Children's Race to start

He was so proud and got another medal to add to his growing collection!

As soon as the children finished, the adults started to line up and my heart started pumping with nerves. I made my way to the back of the pack and started chatting to the lady next to me (who was also running her first ever race).  We were joking about having a competition for who could come last (with me thinking the whole while that it was highly likely I would come last!) and then before we knew it, the race director blew the airhorn and we were off!

Everyone got away so quickly and I pretty much backed off straight away.  The race took place on the seafront promenade at Clacton - it was entirely flat (apart from a very tiny incline near the pier), so ideally suited for beginners.  I didn't want to push myself too much at the beginning, only to end up with a stitch midway through - so I just kept running, but kept my pace nice and slow.  It didn't take long before I was the caboose, but mentally I kept myself strong and kept telling myself that it was my race and to just run at my own pace.  It took about 2kms before my breathing settled into a comfortable rhythm.  I think this was because I probably started a bit too fast to keep up with the pack - but once I backed off, it settled down again.

Everyone along the race route was absolutely amazing - people clapped as we ran past, people were encouraging - telling us we were doing a great job - it was really a fantastic atmosphere.  There were just two unfortunate teenage boys who made some laughing comments about "being last" - but I just ignored them (In my mind, I was tempted to turn around and say "yeah, we'll I'm going faster than you d!ckheads" - but I held my tongue!).  For a good three-quarters of the race I was last.  I was behind an older woman who was definitely running her own race.  She had on headphones and was singing occasionally - she even did the occasional airplane motion with her arms (I thought she was a bit coo-coo for cocopops, if you know what I mean, but I thought - hey - she's running her own race and if she needs to fly like a plane to get to the finish line - so be it!).  She was doing a combination of walking and running - she would run at a faster pace and then walk a bit, and repeated this several times.  I overtook her a few times, but she would always come back around.

When I passed the 4km marker I could see the finish line.  The sea had washed up pebbles and sand onto the promenade, which made running slower and tricky - but I saw my opportunity to overtake for the final time.  Thankfully, I had saved up just enough steam to overtake and push myself to get a good distance ahead of her.  At about 4.5kms, I saw my son waiting for me - I kept thinking what he said to me before the race "please mum, don't come last" - I told him that I probably would come last and to not be disappointed if I did - I wasn't competing in the race to win, but just to prove that I could run 5km!

I was trying to see if I could hear the woman behind me - I thought I could hear footsteps!  My son ran down and told me I was doing a great job - I was nearly there!  He ran to the finish line with me and then I just gunned it - I was utterly determined to not come last!  OK - I came second to last, but it's not last!  And the best part?  I have a new PR!  My time was an utterly amazing 36.56!!!  When I ran 5k on Thursday afternoon, granted there were more inclines, my time was just over 41 minutes - so where 36.56 came from is beyond me - but I'll take it and I'm completely thrilled!  Afterwards, my boy told me he was proud of me - that is still choking me up thinking about it.  A year ago I couldn't run 30 seconds without feeling like I was going to die and now I'm a proud runnin momma!

Healthy Living Freed Me From My Life of Lethargy

I have not lost the plot (well…), whilst I know it’s not Tuesday, today I’m joining Healthy Living Blogs’ Healthy Living Tuesdays where the subject is “Healthy Living Freed Me From…”.  I wish there were one single word I could insert at the end of that sentence that could encompass how much healthy living has changed me, both physically and mentally.

Many of you know that when I started my weight loss journey in January this year, I weighed 240 pounds.  It was nearly my all time heaviest weight.  I was sluggish, exhausted and yawning constantly, had zero energy, my skin suffered greatly and I fought constant acne breakouts on my face (while other areas of my skin, such as my legs, were so dry and itchy).  I also had horrible bouts of low blood sugar, which caused me to binge uncontrollably.  I knew that I not only wanted to lose weight and improve my appearance, I also wanted to get healthy.

Me at nearly 240 pounds

Part of my problem came from an undiagnosed adrenal fatigue condition (you can read more about that here).  I went to see a naturopath in London who prescribed natural supplements that would correct this imbalance.  This helped greatly with improving my energy levels and I now also no longer suffer with low blood sugar. 

Regarding my diet - I had previously followed the principles of the GI & GL Diets and knew that the science behind them was just good common sense – eat healthy, whole, nutrient rich foods – feel fuller for longer.  Whilst I haven’t followed either the GI or the GL to the letter, I do employ a lot of the principles in choosing what foods I eat on a daily basis.

I also started looking at the ingredients of what I was eating in much more detail.  A lot of so called “low fat” or “low sugar” foods are actually stuffed with artificial sweeteners or E numbers – thankfully I’ve never been one to rely on artificial sweeteners, but the thought of eating foods (or serving these types of foods to my children) really made me feel sick. 

I switched from sugar to Xylitol – this is a natural alternative to sugar that is not only lower in calories than sugar, but it also doesn’t create the spike in blood sugar and is even suitable for diabetics (most importantly to me, it has no aftertaste)!  I also changed my normal breakfast cereal to a low GL granola (Lizi’s) with all natural ingredients.  My standard lunchtime sandwich has been replaced with lentils, couscous, pasta, salads and low fat fish.  I’ve also kicked my soda habit (having switched to sparkling water instead).

The results have not just been confined to weight loss!  I’ve enjoyed a massive improvement in my complexion (no more acne – woohoo!), an annoying hoarse voice that plagued me previously is now gone, my energy levels have come on leaps and bounds, I no longer struggle with sluggishness and feeling tired – all this combined means that I can enjoy life to the full now!  Even more importantly – by improving my energy levels, it also means that I can enjoy my new found passion of running!

So, to finish that sentence: Healthy Living Free Me From my life of lethargy.  My life has not only changed for the better because I feel better about how I look and have more energy, but I can also be a better mother to my children, and crucially, set a healthy example for them to follow.

Decisions

First off be sure to check out my guest post today over at Half Size Me.  Thanks to Heather for giving me the opportunity to share my story ;).

I was trying to decide whether it would be better to run today and have a rest day tomorrow (the day before my race), or have a rest day today and run tomorrow - but I think my evening meal has made that decision for me!  I made one of my favourite low cal main courses - Goan Prawn Curry.  I've added the recipe to my recipes tab and really recommend it - it's quite spicy but can be calmed down for little ones, if needed.  Trouble is - a belly full of curry and rice doesn't sit well with an evening run :(.  I actually think it would be better to run tomorrow anyway - a sort of "warm up" before the race on Friday.

My kids go back to school on Monday, so tomorrow I have a day off tomorrow and plan to try to get everything organised then.  My son needs new trainers and I'm sure they both need various bits of stationery - so I will doubtlessly be traipsing around all those shops!  I'm determined this year to not be the disorganised mother!  We shall see how long that lasts and I'm sure I'll be complaining on here about something I've forgotten or something that has been misplaced!

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After my post yesterday, I've been doing a little research about the gym near where I live and have found that it's £37 per month for all activities (or £33 for one activity - which would mean that I could ONLY go to the gym, I couldn't do any of the fitness classes, or swim).  In the whole scheme of things, £37 per month for the gym, here in England anyway, it darn right cheap.  Most gyms charge £50 upwards per month and many of them don't have pools or fitness studios.  So, I suppose it is good value for money.

Source

By comparison, your average treadmill costs in the region of £400-600 and some of those don't even have an incline!  Plus, I started thinking that my track record with personal gym equipment has not been the best.  First - there was the rickety old exercise bike (and the freezing cold garage in winter), then there was the mediocre cross-trainer.  I'm sure there was a rower in there somewhere too...  All of them were either consigned to the scrapheap, or sold on eBay for a small percentage of what I paid for them. Paying monthly for a gym membership, that I can literally cancel during the summer months when I love exercising outside, definitely seems to be the way to go.

I appreciate this is quite a stark contrast to my previous post, No Gym Membership Required, and I don't mean to be a hypocrite here.  My main reasons for hating the gym have been motivated by saving money and not feeling that I have to compare myself with others.  Somehow I'm going to have to overcome that last one!  As mentioned in yesterday's post, I really don't want to give myself any excuses for stopping running simply because there's not enough daylight!

A missing lion

My race pack arrived today.  I feel sick.  I feel SO nervous that I will be outclassed by all the other runners at this event and I've literally been searching my mind all week to come up with an excuse not to go through with it.  I guess I'm scared that I will be last - I shouldn't have checked previous race times - that's really messed with my brain!  But - I've just got to get on with it and stop being such a baby!  Everyone starts somewhere and I know many moons from now when I'm running my first marathon (ha!), I'll sit back and remember how nervous I felt running my first 5k!

My nervousness hasn't been helped by rumours that there is a lion loose in Essex - and supposedly in the very same town where my race is on Friday!  The authorities now actually think it's a hoax - but I must admit having trepidations when I went for my run last night - I even kept one headphone out when I was running past a field just listening out for the pounce and roar!  Evidently, they think it's a big ginger tom cat and people have got confused?!  Seriously people?!!  How the hell can you confuse a CAT with a LION?!

I'm sexy and I know it

My post-holiday weigh in was up 2 pounds from before I left.  I weighed myself the day we went and I was 185.4 pounds - Monday's weigh in was 187.2 pounds.  I did weigh myself again this morning and I was back down to 185.5!  I'm hoping that next Monday there will be a decent loss because we did so much climbing last week, combined with my 5k race on Friday.  Plus my eating is getting back to normal, without the temptations of eating out and desserts, etc.

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So, Saturday is the 1st of September and earlier this week I started to worry about daylight running hours.  I'm worrying about everything lately!  But seriously - we are really far north and in the winter months it gets dark here at 4:30pm!  We live in a bit of a rural area and basically, running on my own at night is not a wise idea - not that anything has ever happened around here, but I wouldn't feel comfortable, so as I see it I have three choices -

1. I can run during my lunch hour at work (pros: daylight, cons: sweaty betty all afternoon)
2. I can invest in a treadmill (pros: running available at home regardless of time of day/weather, cons: treadmills cost a lot of money)
3. I can join a gym (pros: treadmills, plus other equipment available, cons: I have to travel to the gym, it costs money and you all know that I loathe the place!)

I'm unsure what to do.  If we're talking about spending money part of me thinks that the money I would be paying to join a gym could actually be going to pay for my own treadmill.  I don't really think that running at work is an option - I get seriously sweaty when I run and there aren't shower facilities available where I work, so it would be a case of spraying deoderant and holding your noses around Mary!  I've never run on a treadmill before, but I don't want to stop running and I feel that when the daylight hours start closing in it would be more likely for me to start making excuses for sitting on my arse!

Advice would greatly be appreciated here!  How many of you own your own treadmills and do you find it's better than the gym?

I hope you all have a great week and wish me luck for Friday!

Guest Post from Back at Square Zero

When I started thinking about incorporating some guest posts onto my blog, literally the first person who came to mind was Abby!  I've been following Abby's blog for a month or so now and was inspired by her determination with running and adopting a new, healthier lifestyle.  I'm sure you'll be inspired by her story too...

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Hi guys, I'm Abby and I normally blog over at BackatSquare0, but am extremely excited to be here with you all today.  My blog focuses on my story of learning to live healthy.  One of the biggest steps along this journey has been getting active and learning to be consistent with my exercise.  I discovered I actually enjoy running (most days) and set a goal - to turn myself from the girl who couldn't even run to her own mailbox into a marathon runner.  I'm currently training for my second, the Marine Corp Marathon, this October in DC. 

One thing I have noticed happening  a lot lately is the discussion on what makes someone a runner.  I have reflected on this on many runs and wanted to share with you what makes me feel like a runner and let you see if these apply to you too.

Top 5 Reasons to Feel Like a Runner:

5. You Skip Activities to Run - Friends are shocked when they call and ask you to a movie, brunch, etc. and you say "Sorry, I've got a run."  They wonder why you don't just skip it and think you're a bit crazy.  However, sticking to your running plans makes you feel good about yourself as a runner. 

4. You Have Run in Pouring Ran, Freezing Cold, or Blazing Hot - Miserable isn't it?  It you have pushed through any of this you're a runner for sure.

3. You Desperately Want to Stop, but Don't - Every fiber of your body is exhausted, or bored, or just over it, and all you want to do is stop and walk, but you don't you keep running.  Now that's a runner!

2. You Set Running Goals - Whether it is your first 5K or marathon, a new race PR, or new running workouts you find that you suddenly have running related goals.  Only runners set running goals, looks like you're a runner. (To PR MCM is my next big goal.)

1. You Run! - This is the biggest and most important one.  Do you run?  Then guess what… You're a runner!  It doesn't matter if you run a sub six minute mile or a fifteen minute mile.  If you’re an Olympic runner or tackling your very first 5K.  I've got great news for you - We are all runners!  So rejoice in the fact that you are a runner and do your best to encourage and praise all the other runners you know. 

I'd love to hear about your journey.  If you ever have any questions, need motivation, or just want someone to brag to about how you stuck to your goals please let me know.

Abby

Please feel free to connect with me:

Twitter/Instagram: @BackAtSquare0 

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Packing, Socks and other oddities

Our annual trip to the Lake District is upon us!  We leave tomorrow and boy, do I feel like I need a holiday!  Sometimes I feel like I'm running on empty all the time and this week especially as I've been nursing a cold - which unfortunately means I've not been for a run since Sunday!  I've been sitting on my backside all week and feeling very frustrated!  Last night, however, I did perk up long enough to fit in a Jillian Michaels Kettlebell workout, so I felt as if I at least made some progress.

Today has been spent packing - probably one of my most hated jobs!  Who remembers Snoopy and his famous "bleah" noise?  Well - that's my reaction to packing!

I've said before that I am not a very organised person and packing requires organisation in abundance!  Bleah!  I hesitate to call myself lazy - because clearly I'm kicking ass and taking names on the fitness front - no way am I a lazy girl!  BUT - when it comes to pairing up socks after laundry, I'm NOT that girl!  Little do I realise that this not only frustrates my husband no end in the mornings when he is looking for a pair to wear to work - but it was also very frustrating for me packing for our holiday!

Sock after sock was pulled from my husband's drawer with literally NO sign of their mates anywhere!  Seriously - where do these socks go?!  Even if they are not paired in the washing machine, they all get washed and therefore they should all end up in the drawer.  I don't use a tumble dryer, so the socks go from washing machine, to washing line, to drawer - somewhere in between these three locations is a veritable Sock Twilight Zone.

Sockie no mates...

Despite the lack of sock pairs, I have managed to nearly complete the packing - including virtually all the contents of my kitchen!  We generally always go "self-catering", which means that despite the fact we're on holiday - I still have to cook.  Strangely, I don't mind this.  I actually really enjoy cooking.  Even more than that, it means that I can still reliably maintain control over my calories while we're away.  By the time you've packed all the dry ingredients like pasta, tins of tomatoes, beans, fruit juices, bottles of water, spices, salt, coffee (a must!) you've virtually filled your car before you've even left the house!  Thankfully my father in law is coming with us and driving his own car, so we can share the load.

This year I'm trying to be as organised as possible with food (food, yes I can organise, socks, not so much!) - so I've managed to get most of our food (apart from the fresh stuff like milk, meat, butter and cheese) here and we will take it up with us.  I've done the 'buy it all from a local grocery store' idea before - but it ends up costing a small fortune!  Another good money saving tip, seeing as I'm on that subject, is packing your own lunches.  Since we mostly go on day walking trips when we're in the Lakes, I always pack our lunch so we can find a scenic stop and enjoy our sandwiches.  This is a must for longer walks, but makes good sense in my opinion anyway!

So - while I'm away from reliable internet access (and it is quite patchy up in the Lakes!), I've arranged for a couple of guest posts, which, all being well, should come up on Sunday and Wednesday, respectively.  In the meantime, make sure you're following me on Twitter (@walksinthewoods), as I'll be tweeting about our summits conquered and other lakeland adventures!  I hope you all have a fantastic week!

So now what will I do?!

So the Olympics have finished.  Done.  Great Britain finished third on the medal table, which considering the population of the two countries who finished first and second, compared with the population of Britain - is pretty amazing.  I may have been born in America, but for the past two weeks I've been very proud to be British.  So now that the games are done - what on earth will I watch on TV?!

I'm actually not that much of a telly addict.  All the exercise and blogging gets in the way!  I'm much more of a blog addict than a TV addict, but I suppose having the Olympics in the background for the last two weeks has become so much the norm that I'm starting to wonder what on earth I did before!

This weekend has been quite busy - not filled with anything particularly exciting, per se, just normal stuff that never gets done.  On Saturday morning, for example, I proceeded to clean the stove with all those special stainless steel and glass cleaners you buy but never use!  It was sparkling.  My mom would have been proud.  Then I decided to organise my jewellry.  It had all been chucked into a bowl and necklaces were tangled, etc.  I have these lovely necklace and earring stands that were literally gathering dust in my bedroom - well, now dusted off and voila - organised bliss!

Clearly, dusting behind the organised necklaces was not part of the plan!

In fact, I did so much cleaning and organising on Saturday, I started to think I might be pregnant and 'nesting'!!!

I did my 5k training on Friday evening and Sunday evening.  Friday was a 28 minute run, and Sunday was a 22 minute run.  Both were quite hard work.  I'm not sure why, but I felt quite sluggish during both runs.  I did have relatively big meals before both runs, but left sufficient time between eating and exercising.  It may have been the heat - this weekend has been a real scorcher for England.  Either way, I just didn't feel my best.  My pace wasn't bad though - it's gradually improving  and that's what counts.

I got a little bit freaked out because I have a 5k race coming up on 31st August - my first 'proper' 5k race!  Anyway, I looked online at the finishing times for previous races and they are ridiculously fast - seriously, the slowest person to finish was like a 70 year old women who finished in 35 minutes!  I'm actually starting to worry that I may have bitten off more than I can chew!  Part of my says "Go on - do it!  It doesn't matter if you finish last, the point is that you finished!".  But another part of me is saying "Are you crazy?!  Do you want to finish behind a 70 year old woman?!".  I'm seriously torn, but I'm not making any decisions right now.

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So, speaking of TV.  Melinda over at Does this scale make me look fat has a blog hop and the question this week is:

What is your TV guilty pleasure?

Hmmmm.... having just said earlier that I don't watch that much TV, I guess I should probably clarify that!  I do watch a lot of TV shows on DVD.  This is mainly because I like to watch something just before I go to bed and - confession time - I do like to watch the same episodes and series quite a lot.  A friend of mine recently introduced me to Big Bang Theory and I have to say that I absolutely love it.  In a weird way, it sort of reminds me of high school.  I was always friends with the science geeks, and not being particularly intellectual myself, I always felt a bit like the Penny in the group - the eye candy!  Ha!  Anyway - I love Big Bang Theory.  Sheldon is without doubt my favourite.  For those of you who watch it, I love 'Soft Kitty' and I love the fact that Sheldon calls his grandma 'memaw' (I called my grandma 'mamaw' - so I relate!).

OK, that's my confession - now it's your turn!  Join in the blog hop - it's a great way to get new readers for your blog!

A new respect for walking

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!

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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.

GOLD!

Today has been a good day!  I'm on a high after my successful 5k run yesterday, and SO many positive words of encouragement from all of you and from everyone on the Marathon Weight Loss Challenge board on Facebook.  You guys are all AWESOME!  It also occurred to me what a wonderful thing we are all witnessing here in our little blogging community...all over the world loads of people are taking their lives back and getting super fit!  Don't you think this is absolutely amazing?!  I am loving reading about people who not only have lost vast amounts of weight, but also people who just decided one day to start running.

I can't take credit for finding this video - but it's very inspiring.  Adam over at The Boring Runner posted it just before the 5k...

I am also on a high today because my favourite tennis player, Andy Murray, has just won the gold medal in the men's singles final!  I actually stood up and screamed when he won!  He is now playing for the mixed doubles gold medal - so hopefully today will be double gold!

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This morning, I made cupcakes.  I haven't made cupcakes in a while - and actually today was the first Sunday when we've had a proper English roast dinner in weeks.  Today it was roast lamb and the cupcakes for dessert.  They were glorious, as expected - but it's amazing to think that in one little cake there is lurking over 500 calories!  Yikes!  Nice for an occasional treat, but definitely not an every day dessert!

Sprinkles make everything better!

I did go out for a run today.  I was toying with the idea of having a rest day, but Sunday is normally always my first run day of the week, so I wanted to stick with the training programme.  I'm now on week 8 of the 5k training and am running continuously now - it's just a matter of working on endurance and speed.  I can't believe that I've now effectively "graduated" into running after only 8 weeks!  It's pretty amazing that your body can adapt so quickly!

Today's run was short - 5 minute warm up walk, 20 minutes running, 5 minutes cool down walk.  I was pleased that my pace has actually picked up too!  Seeing all the 5k race times yesterday had me in awe and wonder - some people ran 5k in 20 minutes - that's less than half my time!  So today I really made an effort to increase my pace but without wearing myself out.  This is definitely what I need to concentrate on going forward.

The weekend is nearly over, but I can honestly say it's been a blast!  I hope you've all had a fabulous weekend too!

Sweating my thorns off 5k race report

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'm such a loser!

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?

The Flitch Way

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.

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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!