Getting better

Well, I did run again after that last disastrous one and it wasn't so bad

Then last weekend I went for a run along the seafront at Whitstable - it's the nearest I'll ever get to running for sheer pleasure... I love the sea air and the flatness of the course... It was only 35 mins or so and I'd forgotten the nike+ thingy, but I felt a lot better for going and it made the day of eating and drinking seem a little less reprehensible.

43'19", 4.45 miles, 9'43"/mile, 435 cals

Had to walk. 3 times. Felt rubbish.
Possibly something to do with the wine last night and the lack of breakfast. But still crap.

46'17", 9.31 min/mile, 4.86 miles, 474 calories

OK - how do you get ipods to put a podcast into a playlist? There I was a-running, wanting to listen to the Friday night comedy thing from radio 4 - and nothing. The music was there, but no podcast. Very, very annoying

The run was good though - fantastic weather for once, and I actually felt good. Towards the end, I even put more effort in and went faster, but I'm not sure how long I could keep that up. Does that even matter? The important thing was I felt good - hips aching just a little, the  slightest of twinges in my achilles, but really, nothing to worry about at all. Now I am just waiting for the weight to fall off me...

6.21 miles - 59'21" - 607 cals - 9'33" / mile

The one thing I've discovered about the whole running around to get fit lark is - it's bloody time-consuming.
In order to get going, I now have to stretch - a lot - 6 stretches, each held for 4 mins or thereabouts (sometimes I wimp out cos it hurts too much)
Then I have to decide what to wear which takes ages because now it's getting hotter, I don't want to cover up so much but I do want to conceal my wobbly bits with something tied around my middle. And my long trousers are in the wash, my tight cropped ones are ugly and my baggy cropped ones are ugly and a bit too small, but I have to go with those.
So now I'm up and running - and I go further than I have for a long time - over 6 miles according to the nike+ and when I finish a nice American lady who's probably very famous in America - pops into my ear and tells me I've done very well. I don't feel patronised at all...
But I haven't had the ache in my hip joints which I've had for a long time now. As long as I remember to lift up my knees and make sure my core bits are busy. There is also an element of that chi running - trying to lean forward in order to keep going and that seems to make some daft kind of sense.
So that's all lovely.
Then I see myself - bright red face, quite alarmingly so.
The shower seems to have a blockage, but I need a shower so badly I get in and just paddle. But when I get out, I'm still bright red, so there then comes the make up challenge of piling it on to cover up the red without looking like I'm wearing make-up...
And at last I'm ready to face the world - it's a lovely world today, all sunny and a weekend... but I'm having to spend most of the day getting prepared to be seen out in it. I know I'm probably a bit over-sensitive about such things, but the reality is, as you get older it takes longer and longer to look like you haven't spent hours on getting ready to face the world. Sometimes I do wish I was one of those people who genuinely don't care what people think, but then I look at them and feel they ought to make a little bit of an effort. Am I very shallow?
Possibly.
It's now been an hour or so since I finished and my arse is aching, but in a way suggesting it's been exercising, rather than anything injurious. Slightly worrying achilles heel twinge... So getting old also includes loads of extra aches and pains, but I think I knew that already.

Calibration news

mapometer - 3.62 miles
nike+ - 3.6 miles
I think the nike+ might be calibrated - yay! About time too and all that. There is still the issue with my crap ipod not working very well and it takes several goes to get anything through to the thing. Not happy with it, but at least it's something to listen to while struggling with the terrible realisation that I'm out on a run and suffering from being old and decrepit. Either that or a bit unfit.

For some reason my return button's not working. Hmmm








 - well it it - cos look, I'm way down here now, but it didn't show on the screen.
hey ho - now it's working again
life's rich tapestry and all that 

Double done it

1. I have been for a run - hurrah. Not the most elegant as I am feeling very fat and unfit, but it's done. I just did the short run - about 3.5 miles - but it's a start.
2. I have calibrated the nike+ - amazing, I know. I used Sefton Park rd as a measured distance (0.3 miles) and ran down it first, managed to mess up the calibration, so did the run and came back the same way and the lady in the nike+ said it was successful. So next time I drag myself out, there should be some kind of accurate measurement.
We shall see.
My aim for the next few weeks is to do 5 miles twice a week, plus the gym and cycling. That should shift some pounds. Oh, and cut out the over eating. I would like to think I could lose half a stone by May (about 6 weeks)
Again, we shall see.

I NEED MOTIVATION

I'm feeling overweight, depressed, under the weather, unfit - and a whole heap of other negatives, so I ought to be throbbing with motivation to get out and run.
But I'm just not.
It's grey and cold and miserable outside. And I'm scared of not being able to run. I don't like the thought of the 'out of breath feeling' and the aching legs. Even though all that is temporary and unimportant.
And I know I will feel better once I've been. And it will do me good even though I have serious doubts about that. 
So why the hell can't I just get out there and go for a little run?

A level playing field

Well, if not a level playing field, then level hips and shoulders...
The osteopath discovered my left hip is way higher than my right and my left shoulder is way lower than my right. It was quite a marked difference - and a little unnerving and embarrassing really.
But, after a session of manipulation which was curiously enjoyable despite the pain, I seem to be well on the way to being far more level headed. (See what I did there)
It explains why I've liked running on a camber which drops off to the left - it was my body crying out for levelisation
So, with all that sorted there are no excuses for not running like the wind and becoming one of those irritiating people who live to run and get all twitchy when they can't. Are there?

More spending

Spending, this time, is on an osteopath to get rid of the niggles - the niggling lower back pain, the niggling shoulder pain.
If it works, it's money well spent.
I know there'll be an element of me having to do stretches and exercises at home, ones which I expect I would get from going to yoga more often, but sometimes by simply paying someone to tell you to do something, it makes it a gazillion times more likely that you'll do it.
That is the theory...

day off work...

...and I went out for a run - how very.

Really hard work but, like going to the gym, never something to regret.
Except when I go for a long run and mash my feet and toenails.

So now I have to up the distance, up the frequency and up the nike+ calibration efforts.

I have run!

...and it was horrid - hard work and painful - but at least I was out there in the glorious spring sunshine pounding the Downs with a load of other people. I think it's cos it was sunny and it really feels like spring is round the corner - at loooong last.

I think was the Bath 1/2 marathon today - how I ever dragged myself round the Bristol 1/2 all that time ago I have no idea.

I still haven't calibrated the Nike+ but it's ok I will get round to it sometime soon. I wanted to listen to the radio today anyway - the Archers omnibus, how very middle-aged...

Spring is sprung...

...and that means it really is time to get the nike+ calibrated and get some serious running under my belt. And it's going to happen very soon. Honestly, it really is.
For instance, this weekend I may very well calibrate the thing and take it for a run.
Or I might just calibrate it.
No point in ploughing in there all guns balzing and risking an injury is there.

Pigging nike+

I think I have it sussed at last.

The instructions for calibrating the nike+ left out a whole step. Now that I've worked it out, I really truly believe I'll be able to calibrate the thing.

Hooray  :)

I'm sure it must be doing me some kind of good...

It's like this: I've started down the road to middle-agedness by developing sciatica. At least I think that's what it is. It's pain in the right place and I don't like it, makes me feel OLD. Harumph.

The gym doesn't do it any harm, ibuprofen helps a lot, but I think the key to curing/alleviating it is actually yoga. After my first session for about 6 months last Monday, my back felt fine. It's come back since then so I've been trying out some stretches to see which ones unlock the pain. I think I'm getting there. I blame it partly on sitting at a computer for hours at a time at work, and also cycling as I'm not sure my bike's the right size for me, I could do with further away handlebars I think.

But despite the agony, it hasn't deterred me from going for a run. Amazing, a mere 3 weeks after the last one.

Only 3 1/2 miles, but according to the pigging nike+ thing, over 4 miles run at a very respectable pace. Much as I'd like to think that was all down to me, I know it's cos I still haven't calibrated the thing yet. And only today I have found out that the instructions were missing a step - no flaming wonder I was getting cross with it. But you have to calibrate it over less than 1.25 miles which is hardly a run, is it?

Still, it was horrible, I am getting increasingly unfit and despite what the lovely people at the gym say, it's not just me being out of practice, it's cos I is a fattie. I have less back flab wobbling around than I used to, but my arse is still astonishingly large. I am going to have to bite the (chocolate) bullet and cut down on calories as well as pile on the miles...

Oh happy day

Annoying

Well I dragged myself out for a short run this morning - the first one in a couple of weeks - mainly to calibrate the nike+. Except I messed up somehow. I blame the sodding ipod - the thing is useless - it's impossible to do anything with the wheely thing in the middle as it just goes backwards and forwards rather than staying where you put it. Plus I did press the wrong thing to calibrate the run.

I've since worked out (by looking in the instructions...) that you put in the distance you're going to run BEFORE you set off rather than try and mess around with it when you finish and are all sweaty and shakey.

And this was after 3.57 miles, hardly a marathon.

I do feel stronger than before I started going to the gym, but there is still the issue of not having the puff to keep going with any sense of ease. I know it's from not running very much and I also know it will get better. But not that much better as I am getting older and it'll be increasingly hard to make a difference. I would just like to lose some flab through running and to feel the benefits of being a fit and middle-aged person...

Up on the Downs

Well, I have been for a run with the nike+ runny thing which works - but needs calibrating for me - I can assure you I did not run over 5 miles at just over 8mins per mile yesterday. Quite a lot out really - 4.8 miles in fact.
But it's very good - tells you how fast and far you've gone when you stop your 'work out' and then you plug it into the computer and it gives you a picture of your run - though sadly not on a map, it's a read out of the speeds you've gone over the distance.

But it's a nice nerdy thing to have.

And it was very hard work and I felt like a middle-aged desperate housewife trying to get fit - not far off the truth. And I sadly thought that the reason my fat wobbles less now is cos my new top is one of those compression things (not a proper one, but it's very snug) so perhaps my efforts in the gym aren't really worth it - but I can't believe that as I now have biceps.

But I will continue with the wobbling round the downs - it's getting harder the less I do (obviously) and I have to remind myself to keep my knees up and not slump into energy-saving mode.

Please tell me it's worth it!!!

Shoe thingy

I have now got the nike+ thingy which the thing goes in and you attach the thingy to your shoelaces.

But it's big - way too big for what it's used for really - you could put a key or something in it but most trousers or tops have a zip-up pocket something for that kind of thing.

Of course Nike want you to go out and buy their special shoes with the thingy built in but even £5 for the separate thingy is better than £???? for even more new shoes.

So now I need warm runny clothes and I can head off towards the running horizon (or am I simply making excuses not to go when the weather is SOOO COLD???

The Big Plan

Today's Big Plan is to go for a run.

But - it's very cold (there is black ice on the road which means I don't want to run locally and might drive up to the downs for a grassy run - but I have to drive on black ice as opposed to run on it - what's better???)

Also I had a curry last night and you don't want to know the rest...

But there's another but - I feel sluggish and crap and would like to think I have done a run already today. It's just that getting to that particular stage requires that I go for a run...

Later...
I have been for a run - hurrah and huzzah and everything. It was really hard work though - I have got quite unfit through being sat at home/at work and although I do go gymming I don't do the aerobic stuff so much. And afterwards I reckoned I was completely free to eat whatever I wanted all day.
So many new year resolutions to take up over the next few days...
Still, I am mighty pleased with myself and am happy to have kicked off the new year's running. Wonder how many miles I'll manage this year - if only there was a gadget which told you how you were doing.. oh, wait ;) - as soon as I get plumbed into the world of nike+ I can bore anyone who cares to listen about my progress.

New Year, New Gadget

I still have the Nike+ thingy to help me play at running and I promise I'll get it working as soon as I get a thingy to attach it to my shoe. Looking forward to hearing the motivational comments as I run and then letting it work out how far I've been and all that.
And perhaps work up to some sort of a goal (might that be the 1/2 marathon goal again???)

So, no, I haven't been for a run for a while - too flipping slippy on the ice if you ask me... But tomorrow I might venture out - any advice to stop slipping on the ice?? Socks over shoes??

I am slightly looking forward to running again - I am now a regular gym-bunny but nothing quite beats the freedom of running the dark cold mean streets... apart from a nice hot bath and a cheese toastie maybe... Reminds me - it's time to run off the Christmas excess...

post-Christmas pre-New Year

I now have one of those nike things which tells you how far you've run and that sort of thing,

Haven't tried it out yet of course, but I may well do so tomorrow... After all this is the ideal time to work off all the over-eating, over-drinking, over indulgence of the past few days.

Haven't been to the gym since last Tuesday (it's now Sunday) so I may also have to go there tomorrow as well. hmm sounds like a lot of exercise - but I do have an awful lot to catch up on...