Filed under: Pulse8, gym, running | Tags: gym, Pulse8, running, treadmill
Missed British Military Fitness yesterday as I was feeling a bit under the weather, but felt sufficiently better to go back to the gym today. Ran for 45 minutes on the treadmill, but didn’t get an accurate distance because I paused it part-way through to talk to an instructor (“oooh” she said “are you back into the swing of things?” – code for “haven’t seen you for a while”). Can’t imagine it was more than a standard 7.5km – averaging out at 10km or 6 miles per hour – but after Sunday I was just glad to be still standing at the end of it. No further tantrums either.
Treadmill gets bad press among runners, but I quite like it sometimes for the following reasons:
- It’s warm in the gym.
- And dry.
- The people-watching possibilities are almost endless. Spotted this morning: super-fit young lady running at 17.9km/hour – I thought she was going to go pinging off the back and across the gym; man on exercise bike wearing combats, cap, hoodie (with hood up) cycling with his arms folded; man singing to himself on the treadmill; man jabbering away on his mobile while half-heartedly lifting dumbells with the other hand.
- I stretch properly afterwards.
- The showers are lovely.
- I always gym it in the morning, and am way more productive at work that day.
Occasionally I forget to take my trousers, which is rather inconvenient, but all in all it’s a good start to the day. Off to spinning tomorrow…
Filed under: 10k, Nike Human Race, Pulse8, gym, running | Tags: 10k, gym, Nike Human Race, Pulse8, running
Congratulations to the GB team for bringing home 19 gold medals out of a total of 47. What a fantastic boost to the 2012 team, and a thorough “up yours” to all of the people moaning about how much money the Games will cost us. Isn’t it all worth it? I’m not a big sport spectator, but I’ve really enjoyed watching the achievements of the GB team alongside the other faces of 2008 – notably Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps. Let’s hope our disabled athletes share similar success as they complete their final preparations before the Paralympics start on 6 September. I hope the BBC gives them the coverage they too deserve.
My own training has muddled along during the course of August – though it’s been hard to get in my three/four weekday sessions over the last couple of weeks because of work commitments (on holiday now for two weeks, whoop whoop!)
But I haven’t done toooo badly. Here’s the rundown:
- Sunday, 3 August – Run around Hampstead Heath (45 mins/4.4 miles)
- Tuesday, 5 August – Circuit training + treadmill run (10 mins/1.82km)
- Wednesday, 6 August – Spinning (on X-bikes with virtual reality screen. Liable to cause motion sickness)
- Thursday, 7 August – Treadmill run (45 mins/7.77km)
- Sunday, 10 August – Bike ride with Dad and chums (32 miles)
- Tuesday, 12 August – Circuit training + treadmill run (15 mins/2.82km)
- Wednesday, 13 August – Spinning
- Saturday, 16 August – Run around Twyford/Dinton Pastures (60 mins/5.57 miles)
- Tuesday, 19 August – Circuit training + treadmill run (15 mins/2.63km)
- Thursday, 21 August – Treadmill run (35 mins/6.23km)
Also managed to get in a couple of good walks in the Brecon Beacons this weekend. I could feel my glutes starting to gripe a bit by the end of day two anyway.
Five days until the next event: the Nike Human Race, a 10k starting at Wembley Stadium. Unusually it’s an evening run, with music from Moby and others before we set off. This is what I’ll be wearing…alongside thousands of other runners.
Lemming top
I won’t be going for gold of course. Happy just to jog along with the crowds. First though, I’m off to Runners World in Rayners Lane to get a pair of shoes that fit. My feet hate me at the moment, as I keep forcing them into a pair of Asics that have never been quite right.
Filed under: Pulse8, X-bike, gym, running, spinning | Tags: gym, Pulse8, running, spinning
It’s become apparent that there is a hardcore group of gym bunnies at my gym – Pulse8 - who turn up every single morning without fail. I thought I’d try to emulate this myself and resolved to go every morning for a week. It didn’t start well: I was a tiny bit hungover on Monday after the post-Bupa Great Capital Run celebrations, knew I had to write a proposal when I got to work, so switched the 6am alarm off and stayed in bed for another hour and a half.
However, I did make it the rest of the week:
Tuesday - half-hour circuits class with Miki, (Pulse8’s resident motherly figure, a 67-year-old former triathlete who puts us all to shame with boundless energy). Then 20-minute run on the treadmill, experimenting with songs with varying beats per minute (more about that some other time). 3.57km.
Wednesday - spinning with Richard “pull those abs in tight”. Exciting because the 35 new X-bikes have been moved to the other end of the studio onto a tiered platform arrangement so that everyone can see the instructor on the stage at the end. They’ve got some nice floor lights and bought some new speakers as well, I think, as the music seemed to be louder. After spinning, did some abs and lots of stretching.
Thursday - gym again for 30-min run on treadmill with more new music. 5.27km. Some random exercises on the Swiss ball, in a vague attempt to improve core stability.
Friday - spinning again, with an Aussie called Luke I think, who I’ve never seen before. Lowlight of the class: a Fleetwood Mac number.
I have to say it’s actually easier to get up every day at the same time than it is to get up at 6am one morning, and 7.30 the next because my body seems to cope with a regular wake-up call better than a randomly timed one. I’ve slept consistently well every night – though that’s partly to do with some very long days at work and not going to bed early enough – and felt more productive during the day. So maybe there’s something in this early bird business…
I also remain quite impressed with the facilities at Pulse8. There’s clearly investment going into the equipment, but my pre-9am fee is just £23 a month. There’s quite a lot of griping among the regulars about some of the instructors, but I think they’re all pretty sound. You get some that are better than others, but that’s the case wherever you go. I just need them to change the radio station in the changing rooms from the inane 2TENfm to Radio 4, and get them to install a few more plugs for hair straighteners, and I’ll be an even happier gym bunny myself.
Filed under: Pulse8, X-bike, gym, spinning | Tags: gym, Pulse8, spinning, X-bike
“We’re going to christen these bikes with our SWEAT!” yelled Shyam over Candi Staton at Pulse8 this morning. The 35 people perched on the spanking new Trixter X-bikes in front of him looked slightly nervous; he’s a nutty spinning instructor at the best of times.
The X-bikes have the same tilting handlebars as the X-dreams, but the gears are operated by a twisting action on the right-hand side of the handlebars and there is no need for a screen. Shyam showed us some of the basic moves with the handlebars…and we were off.
Just had a gentle pedal to start with – wobbling the handlebars to simulate an uneven road surface and get used to the feel of the clicky gears – which are more sensitive that a traditional spinning knob that you turn 360 degrees to get resistance.
Next track we did some seated carves – the idea is to push the handlebar down to one side as you pedal, without leaning the whole upper body. This works the arms, shoulders and core as your legs work the pedals – give much more of a full body workout than normal spinning.
Shyam soon had us up and out of the seat, climbing and rocking the handlebars at the same time. It was quite tricky to get this right – as it feels slightly unnatural to push the right handlebar down as the right knee comes up, particularly as the pedals don’t seem to turn quite so smoothly (maybe I need to increase the resistance even more to overcome the slight jerkiness). You also need to maintain a pretty good sense of rhythm in time with the music to get the full benefit. After a couple of minutes of this, I thought my lungs were going to explode.
Thankfully, there were a few seconds of respite here and there. Unlike traditional spinning bikes, you can stop pedaling and “coast” in a seated or climbing position. But you can still pump the handlebars or squat to work the arms and abs while your legs take a break.
I always have been a bit of a sweaty betty, but I’ve never ejected as much water out of my body during a 45-minute class as I did this morning. Consider my bike (second row, second from the right) well and truly christened. Can’t wait for the next class though…
It’s been a while since I wrote a post, but my life has been a bit up and down of late. I’ve moved house, joined a new gym and put my hand up for a number of events as part of the Septathlon Challenge. They include the Hastings Half Marathon, London-Brighton bike ride, British 10k, London Triathlon, Great North Run and Grim Challenge. I’ve already completed the Leicester Half (slowly) and a rather silly race that involved trying to catch a man dressed as a Christmas pudding…so after all these other ones, I can put my feet up and drink gin for the rest of the year.
But before that, I need to do some training. I have got myself into something of a routine – trying to do a circuits class, a spinning class and a gym session on three separate weekday mornings before work…but I really need to start racking up the running miles if I’m going to be ready for Hastings on 16 March.
