Early one morning just as the sun was riiiiiising

Yup - there I was, pounding the streets, even as the sun poked its nose over the horizon. It was nice - quite chilly but clear and fresh. Lovely.
Well, once I got over the initial thing of having no energy it was ok - I wonder if this is a sign of the low-carb diet working - I certainly don't get the highs and lows from having too much sugar, but whether or not this is the path to racing snakiness I have no idea.
Unlikely, frankly, as I still pack in loads of sugar in the form of fruit and alcohol.

But at least I've been for a run.

Next time (Thursday) (probably) I will do the same route (about 10k) but in reverse. As in going round the loop in the opposite direction, not running backwards. Just to shake things up, make them a little bit more exciting and unpredictable. That is how sad and dull my life has become.

44' 40", 4.67miles, 9'33" per mile, 530 cals

Something's not right - surely it's fewer calories than that?
aha - my weight was in settings as 100kg. Not quite that fat.

It's good news though - the settings were wrong cos I have a new ipod (hurrah). Hopefully I won't have to recalibrate the thing...

And, note to self - am far too old to run off a hangover. I had to curtail the run (missing out to loop by the observatory) and I had to walk for a few mins to catch up with myself. Glad I went though, it's never a waste of time. (convince yourself)

Niggles - left heel is aching, I think it's an achilles problem and I don't know what to do about it. New shoes? New tendon? Don't know. I don't think it's rest as I hadn't run for a week thanks to the dead ipod situation, so I think that would qualify as a rest, wouldn't it?
I felt quite strong today which was nice - well, strong but sick (cos of the hangover no doubt) but I'm still not all that fit - I would not finish the 1/2 marathon next weekend if I had gone in for it. Quite glad I didn't although I would like to think there is another 1/2 marathon in me before I croak. Perhaps next year? The plan is to go on holiday earlier next year which would mean a better run up to it in terms of training. (As if that's a consideration...)

So, done, dusted, showered, fed and ready to enjoy the bank holiday weekend. My cup overfloweth.

The dead ipod story continues

It was the lesser outcome - a replacement for the dead one. I know I should be grateful they're exchanging it and all that but I would have at least liked to get a different colour. Plus there was the added annoyance of not being able to get it exchanged on my first visit - apparantly you have to book a genius to get anything done there (Don't they trust their non-geniuses to make decisions?) AND they didn't have the right one in stock so I have to wait for it to come in and then go back again (third visit) and collect it. Meh.

And, no, I can't get going for a run when there is no ipod to listen to. Although, if they don't let me have a new one today/tomorrow, I will have to force myself out and run with only the sound of my own internal voices to amuse me.
Scary.

RIP ipod #2

I've killed another ipod.

The screen had the white horizontal lines at the weekend (see previous post) - but at least the thing was working.
But by yesterday the screen was covered in white lines. So I did the reset thing when you hold the menu and centre buttons down together - and the screen went totally blank white.
So I plugged it into the laptop - AND THE THING SQUEAKED - I kid you not. Ipods shouldn't make a noise.
I tried the restore option but it wouldn't have it.
Result - one utterly dead ipod.

So I'm taking it back to the Apple store this evening and the result I want is an upgrade replacement - one with the built-in radio and video camera - as a goodwill thing. We'll see how much Steve Jobs loves his customers...
What I will probably get is this one repaired or replaced with another identical one. I will have to steel myself for the confrontation.
Wish me well...

(ahh - what if they say it's my fault and won't do anything????)

BTW the upshot of the ipod tragedy is that I didn't go for a run this morning as I didn't have anything to listen to: can I force myself out on the pavements with no aural stimulation in future?
Watch this space.

Not literally.

Sunday Morning

It was a good run. Didn't have a lot of energy - obviously the low-carb thing is kicking in... - but I did the downs including the observatory without passing out or vomiting so I guess that's a good sign...
My ipod has broken again. Not sure if it's cos I carry in in my hand when I'm running and it might get sweaty. I put it in a bag if rice overnight but it hasn't helped: if anything after the run this morning it was worse. I will take the bloody thing back and see if they can mend it, but I am so out of love with ipods. I don't like the thumbwheel thing as I don't think it works very well. Perhaps I'm just too familiar with them. Either way if I didn't have the macbook I would think about getting a mp3 player which works.

Just Not Fair

I run - at the moment I run 3 times a week (well, in a good week) more than 15 miles a week in fact.
I go to the gym 3 times a week
I do yoga on Mondays
I cycle to work usually 5 days a week, about 6 miles a day
Why then am I so fat and getting fatter????

OK I do accept I drink too much wine and I don't consider my calorie intake particularly carefully (loving buttery toast), and I know that's got to change, but I did believe when I joined the gym almost a year ago, that I would at least get thinner if not lighter. Well I've put on a few pounds since joining and I think I might have lost an ounce or 2 of actual fat, but I am still carrying 10lbs too much disgusting fat.

I actually thought when I went on holiday that I looked ok in a bikini - well I didn't. Self-delusion is a terrible thing.
For example - running up the slope from the holiday house (an unmade-up track, steep) I was putting a lot of effort into the run, and I was OK with taking 5mins 40" over it. But when niece did it in under 3 and a half mins I completely lost heart and started hating myself for being so utterly crap. I embarrass myself.

So this is the time to end the self-delusion.

I'm not a good runner - I'm an adequate jogger and would never break the 2 hours for the 1/2 marathon even if I dragged myself off the couch to train for it.
I can't just eat crap and think it doesn't count - everything counts. A hangover fried breakfast DOES count even though it feels like medicine. The answer - don't have hangovers.
I am getting older and this makes a difference - hormonally fat gets laid down a lot more easily and is harder to shift therefore I have to consume fewer calories and keep up with the same (or more) level of exercise

Life is not fair - some people don't have an issue with putting on fat, they just don't get hung up on eating, or their metabolism is different. Other people don't seem to care one way or another what they look like and they seem quite happy to live with that. I don't have that kind of confidence. It's the same kind of fairness which means that no matter how much effort I put into running, someone with longer legs will run right past me with no effort at all. I can't get hung up on that - I am a shortarse and that will never change. So I have to live with it.

So, Atkins or f-plan or what? Am cutting down on bread and especially sugar, will cut down on the wine. And generally eat less that I have been. It can't be that bad can it, considering I think I comfort-eat a lot, so all I have to do is think happy thoughts and the flab will melt away.

Or I could get a tape-worm...

omg a nice run - apart from the toe issue

So it was a 6am start, weather fairly perfect really. And it was fine. Really, pretty much fine. In terms of leg aching and lungs bursting, it was one of my better runs.
But I have this toe thing. My little right hand toe (right foor toe?) kind of curls under the rest of them and gets squashed. This results in a massive 1/2-toe blister. Which has been ok - the last one's been and gone but left an edge where it rubs even more. So ater 1/2 an hour or so into the run I can feel the squashedness coming back and my toe starting to hurt.
It's not nice and I don't know what to do about it.
I have thought of surgery - possibly a bit extreme.
A splint to straighten the toe out but that would probably make it worse.
Amputation - again a little on the extreme side of things.
So what can I do??
Vaseline to make it slip around rather than squish? (messy)
Plaster to corset the thing a bit - have tried that  - am worried it's going to make the next toe in get blisters.
Different shoes - another £100 on trainers - would be worth it is there was some kind of guarantee with the things.
It may go away.

blighty

Well, I'm straight back into the old routine of Sunday morning runs - and it was ok. Nothing like as hot as I've been used to, but that's probably not a bad thing.
Just did a trip around the downs, without the loop by the observatory, so it was pretty easy - but I still had to walk for a few minutes as I felt faint. No idea where that came from, but there you go. Useless!

no more bestest miles

I did run as hard as I could for a while this morning but didn't get another fastest mile thing from some american sportsperson. hey ho

Also, I got lost on the way back - there I was coming down the evil track towards the house, thinking about angels' wings (don't ask, but I've been reading 'angelology' this week) and when I came to my sense I realised I didn't recognise the bit of road I was going down. In fact I was about to get to the neighbours' house. So I had to about-turn and go back up the 100m or so of hill I'd just come down and take the right fork in the road which took me back to the safety of the holiday home... What a nit.

encore une fois

Yeah yeah yeah another run in the baking heat, aren't I just a marvel? Surely a medal is all but in the post right now.
Funny how once you get over yourself things like going for a run become very mundane events.

Fastest. Mile. Ever

Have now done 3 runs here in the s of f. None of them has been particularly pleasant, what with the heat and the danger etc etc, but this morning's went quite well.
I got to the top of the track from the house and pootled around the local hamlet and failed to find the door with all the feet tacked onto it.
Then I headed off down the road towards La Guard-Freinet and turned back at the junction. When I got back home, I turned off the nike+ thing and whaddyaknow, but here comes Tiger Woods no less to tell me 'congratulations, you've recorded your fastest ever time for a mile.' Whayhay, really.

foreign running

Shortest. Run. Ever.
Well, it was very uphill, unmade roads, traffic dangers etc etc and I actually felt proud of the fact I ran for 3 miles. It was also hot as we're in the south of France at the mo on holiday. So I think I'm allowed to lay off the running a little. But I will go again another morning I think as it will help counteract the copious amounts of wine and beer and cheese I seem to be consuming...

Last British Run

Before going to France tomorrow that is.
I wasn't going to run this morning but frankly there was no reason not to. And I'm glad I did, now that it's over.  I didn't feel particularly energetic so it was a struggle but I"m pleased to say I did the full run round the water tower, about 6 and a bit miles. More than enough in anyone's book.

one of the last runs...

..before going on holiday.
I think I will take my trainers even though it's likely to be so hot I'll have to run at 5 am... Seeing that written down makes it feel less and less likely it's going to happen...
This morning's was OK - was disappointed that I didn't get that brief feeling that I was enjoying it. And then afterwards I got the distinct impression that my old knee problem was beginning to recur. Age, it's not for the faint-hearted.

Early one morning just as the sun was rising...

There was a moment this morning when I realised I was actually enjoying my run. I was about 1/2 way through, 3 miles or so in, the sun was shining, I was on a very (very) slight downhill bit and there was nothing wrong with my knees, my feet, my head, my ipod... Will this moment ever come again? It didn't last all that long, but it was truly very nice.

2 run update

I did do a run on Sunday but for some reason I just didn't blog about it. Possibly cos it really wasn't all that interesting - no aliens, no freak hailstorms, no eureka genius moments. Nothing. Nada. Just 5.9 miles in 56'05" which is 9'29" a mile and naturally 590 calories.

And of course there is this morning's run as well - another 6am ish start which is OK but now the days are getting shorter I just know my huge enthusiasm for early morning runs will undoubtedly fade... But for now I'm getting out there, soaking up the business news on Today and hating the first mile or so.

But my new passion is the Tour de France - I am loving the lads in lycra and their weird sense of fair play (that's aimed at you, Bertie Contador) - I mean, isn't it supposed to be a race, fcs? Can't wait for today's stage - another pyreneean palaver. Bring it on.

why?

It was raining again this morning - not great, but it didn't rain the whole time.

I had to walk for a short while which was annoying but perhaps just got me enough energy to keep going. I missed out some of the route to get back home - but I guess it was still about 5 miles.
It just all felt a bit rubbish, frankly.

And then when I got home I weighed myself for the first time in a while and I found out I've put ON weight. This is despite the new regime of 3 runs a week, 3 gyms a week, cycling to work every day and yoga on mondays. I know I haven't cut back on calories but if 'they' are to be believed then upping your exercise is enough to make you lose weight. What's going wrong here?

Now I feel there is no point to any of this - I might as well eat and drink what I like and give up the exercise cos it seems to make no difference. I know this isn't true but some days you just have to wonder - 'is it all worth it?'

early morning in the rain

It seems Summer is on a break and we're back to winter weather. Except it's not cold, just rainy and dark. But in truth, once you're out there a bit of drizzle doesn't hurt - it's the darkness that gets you. Waking up with the sun streaming in through the curtains is great - when you can't tell if you've opened your eyes or not - not so super.

But the run was fine, usual things, usual radio stuff - except I mistakenly tuned to 1xtra just before 7am and got very confused. Quickly found R1 once more and relaxed. Sad, I know, but I do find R1 quite amusing and takes my mind off the pavement-pounding in a way R4 just doesn't.

And then I cycle 5 miles or so to work. And go to the gym 3 times a week. If there was any justice in the world I would be super-model skinny by now. I mean, just cos I eat too much and like wine by the bottle rather than the glass (oh, and the small matter of being middle-aged) I am still the shape of a weeble. But with legs. And I do wobble quite a bit, but also fall down.

greugh 47'20" 9'35"/mile 4.93miles 493 cals

Of course I already knew that a bottle of wine the night before won't make for a good run in the morning, but I did it anyway. And had a rotten run.
I could learn from this experience
Even leaving it til 1030 didn't make it any better.
greugh, indeed 

btw do you think they work on 1mile = 100 cals??? I have my suspicions

routine

Well, it's almost becoming a routine this early morning running thing. I see the sainsbury's delivery van as I cross Gloucester Rd, I see the prison staff arriving for work with their carrier bags (presumably with their lunches inside) and I listen to the business news on Radio 4 then change to the nonsense of Radio 1 and lighten up for the journey back home.

It takes about an hour, and I think it's over 6 miles which I find quite amazing. Not sure if this link will work...
http://gb.mapometer.com/en/running/route_689625.html

And then I walked to work which seemed far harder work than cycling the 6 miles... I can only hope that it's doing me some good and I'm not just piddling in the wind.

And by doing good I mean making me lose the flab as well as being fitter and healthier. I don't feel healthy right now I feel knackered. And in need of a veggie sausage sandwich...