Filed under: British Military Fitness, GRIM Challenge, St Albans, cycling, gym, muffins, running, spinning | Tags: British Military Fitness, GRIM Challenge, hampstead heath, muffins, running, spinning, St Albans
Headed up to Snorbs to meet my little brother for a British Military Fitness class on Saturday morning as planned. Dad came along too – out of genuine interest rather than a desire to embarrass his two sproglets – and luckily the camera was playing up so the episode was not recorded for posterity.
It was a really tough class – much more running sprinting than my normal class and fewer press-ups, sit-ups and burpees which tend to be relentless in Reading. It was a bigger group in general, so I went straight into a group of all reds, meaning there were no blues to keep me company when I was lagging. I struggled to keep up for much of the session, and when it came to trying to carry anther girl the length of a football pitch in a fireman’s lift, I felt like crying.
It strikes me as rather odd that I’ve been running for more than eight years yet this is definitely the weakest link in my BMF classes. And – despite the title of this blog – I do go off running periodically, which is why I take up other things from time to time. The gym, circuits, spinning, cycling, swimming (rarely) and BMF add variety.
Nonetheless, I’ve got the eight-mile GRIM Challenge coming up in two weeks’ time, so I did need to get out on Sunday. Phil and I headed up to Hampstead Heath for a six-miler. My legs were already pretty sore after the über-difficult BMF class the previous day, though I was happy enough for the first couple of miles which is all uphill. That’s progress I can put down to the strength training – a couple of months ago, I struggled to do that without stopping to catch my breath.
But, my newfound power did not last long, and before long I was throwing a bit of a tantrum because I was struggling again. Firstly, I was annoyed because I’d expected to feel much much better having been doing the BMF classes (despite actually not doing a lot of distance running recently); but secondly, I was irrationally pee’d off because Phil didn’t appear to be in the slightest bit uncomfortable and claims to have done hardly any exercise recently. Hmmm – I wonder if he’s been putting in secret hours at the gym.
The reality, of course, is that I just need to rack up a few more miles, and will enter a few more races in the New Year to force myself out to put one foot in front of the other.
In the meantime, I’m going to make some muffins.
Filed under: gym, healthy eating, running | Tags: gym, healthy eating, running, spinning
No really, it is. Not a drop of alcohol has passed my lips since about 2.30am on Friday morning. Pretty impressive for a weekend. Exercise-wise, after my session at the gym on Monday, I did my five-mile Twyford/Dinton run yesterday and a spinning class plus a few weights this morning. And I’m on a bit of a health kick to get my digestive system back on track after my holiday. Not to mention trying to shift a few pounds that crept on when I wasn’t looking. :-/
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: London-Brighton bike ride, X-bike, running, spinning | Tags: London-Brighton bike ride, spinning, X-bike
Having failed to get up early enough at any point this week to get the gym, I did manage to drag myself out of bed for one last spinning class before the London-Brighton bike ride on Sunday. As always, I was glad I made the effort once I got there. A different instructor took the class this morning – Matt – and it started off a bit slowly with some horrendous R&B crap as background music.
There’s a Sound vs Silence debate taking place on Runner’s World at the moment where two writers have swapped their usual running styles. The music nut has had his iPod confiscated, and the “running purist” has been plugged into headphones. Despite running years ago with no music before the iPod and even Minidisc player were invented, there’s just no case for silence in my book. But it’s just as important to think about the type of music. The chap who normally runs to the sound of his own heartbeat was sent out on his first iPod run with Dizzee Rascal. No wonder the poor bloke lost the will to live within the first few metres. He’s onto Mozart now. Can’t say that would flick my switch either.
Anyway, happily Matt turned out to have a wide variety of music on his iPod this morning and we left the R&B behind and upped the tempo with some guitar-and-drums rock music, involving some X-bike handlebar action and clapping during the chorus of a particularly catchy tune, and culminating in a standing climb, pumping the handlebars to Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis. Jack Johnson helped us cool down, and I left the class with a smile on my face.
Filed under: St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, running, spinning | Tags: finch coasters woodland 5, half marathon training, running, spinning, St Albans half marathon
One of my colleagues from work put me onto the Finch Coasters Woodland 5 Series the other day, which takes place over three Wednesday evenings in May, June and July. I’m always slightly nervous about events with small fields, for fear of coming last, but I need to rack up a few miles so I agreed to the challenge.
Typically I was late leaving the office, and didn’t really know where I was going. After several phone calls to E, I eventually found the carpark (why didn’t the organisers say it was practically on top of the hospital?), had to sprint across the carpark to pick up my number, then jog to the start – didn’t even have time to grab a watch, Sportband or iPod. And I needed the loo. Not a great start.
All of the other people looked very fit. And, as the horn sounded, they all shot off at quite a pace. Including my colleague. So much for finding a regular weekday running partner. I plodded along at the back, thinking I could have been pouring myself a nice glass of wine at home by now. Then I looked around me and thought, come to think of it, this is really nice. The Crowthorne Woods are beautiful and the terrain was made up of nice, soft pine needles. The weather was just about perfect: warm but damp.
We jogged down a long straight stretch that went gently downhill and up again, then veered off into the woodland. It got a bit sticky there, with dense mud and big puddles. After trying to dodge the wettest bits (and nearly breaking my ankle in the process) I gave up and just splashed through them. Over another track, round a big log and down a ditch into some more forest, we then came up to a whopping big hill, laced with tree roots. Not so long ago, I probably would have walked some of it- but I have made a recent discovery: hills are easier if you run them with your glutes instead of your quads. It’s taken me years of running – and quite a lot of spinning – to find that out. I overtook several stragglers on the hill and continued down into the next patch of woodland.
I must have lost my bearings then, but found myself on the long, straight stretch again. I could still see E a few runners ahead of me, which was encouraging. Into the sticky stuff again, I had to stop briefly to tie my laces, but carried on. As I rounded the corner into the wood, a blonde marshall told me there wasn’t much farther to go. Oooh, I thought – I really am getting fitter…well done me, I don’t feel like I’ve run anything like five miles…
I hadn’t. She was lying. As I found when I got to the bottom of the big shitting hill. Oh well, head down and up I went, overtaking a couple more runners. Round the loop we went again. A girl in front seemed a bit peeved about the distance. Her Garmin said we’d already done 4.8 miles and another marshall (who seemed to know what she was on about) said we had another mile to go. It took us through the muddy bit again – at which point I started to think I was going to need go to the jetwash to get all the mud off my legs. Each one of my feet felt as heavy as my head and there was no indication that my trainers and socks had ever been white.
I passed the blonde marshall and remarked that it felt like Groundhog Day. She laughed like a drain for some reason…maybe everyone else had been a bit abusive about her words of “encouragement” on the last loop. One more sweeping turn, and I reached the home straight, crossing the line a minute or two after E. I reckon the distance was more like six miles than five, and estimate that I ran it in a shade under an hour. Not bad considering I don’t really like exercising in the evening. I wasn’t quite the last to cross the line, so I’ll be back again for the other runs in the series. Next time I will remember to take another pair of shoes so I don’t have to drive home in bare feet; I wouldn’t recommend it.
So, having done that and a really lovely 8.5 mile run in Derbyshire featuring some squeaky baby goats, many sheep and a pheasant at the weekend with RedRocket, I reckon I can manage the St Albans Half Marathon in ten days’ time. That’s assuming I don’t get trollied at my cousin’s wedding the day before…
Filed under: London-Brighton bike ride, X-bike, cycling, nike+ sportband, spinning | Tags: cycling, London-Brighton bike ride, nike+ sportband, spinning, X-bike
Last Saturday I decided it was time for a “proper” bike ride, so headed up to my parents and went out with my Dad. He cycles several times a week to meet the other retired old gits at the “nursing home” (in reality a garden centre that makes homemade scones and beans on toast for them, before they go toddling off to the pub for a lunchtime pint. One of Dad’s mates drank eight pints the other day, and still cycled home in time to cook a Sunday roast. Which was a little confusing for his family on a Thursday evening.)
Anyway, he agreed to take me out and suggest that we go off-road through the Gorhambury House estate near their house. That turned out to be a good plan – because, on the main road that we needed to cycle along to get to the estate, I was cycling a bit like a granny driving a Rover 200…clinging on for dear life and braking my way down any slight descent, on bends and whenever a car approached. I got down the bottom of Bluehouse Hill and into the estate, feeling like a gibbering wreck.
Once into Gorhambury though, I started to relax a bit. Dad gave me some tips on my grip, when to indicate and brake, which made me feel a bit more secure – and we had a really nice ride. Not very far – Dad’s bike showed 12.8 miles (mine showed 14.5, which may be part of the reason I couldn’t accurately calibrate my Nike+ Sportband last week) – but enough to give me the confidence to go out on my own a bit. He’s also put me on to Wiggle to buy gloves and a lock for the London-Brighton. Fantastic service too – my order placed on Saturday arrived on Tuesday morning.
I’ve also done a couple of spinning classes this week. Class sizes are a bit depleted at the moment – not sure everyone’s enjoying the new X-bikes. Admittedly they take a bit of getting used to – and the classes are way harder than normal spinning – but I’m really enjoying them. It’s about as close to the sensation of outdoor biking as you can get indoors.
Filed under: London-Brighton bike ride, Pulse8, St Albans half marathon, X-bike, cycling, gym, half marathon training, nike+ sportband, running, spinning | Tags: cycling, half marathon training, London-Brighton bike ride, nike+s sportband, running, spinning
It’s been a week since my last blog. Contrary to probable assumptions, I have done some exercise; just been too busy at work to write about it.
After my spinning class last Saturday, I headed out with some friends to the Reading Beer Festival. Only we didn’t quite make it, due to excessive queues, so ended up in a very pleasant beer garden drinking shandies in the sunshine instead. I ended up at E&D’s, who introduced me to Wii Fit. For the uninitiated (moi included) it’s a modern and rather more sophisticated take on the 80s aerobics video, to encourage people do a workout in their own home. You have to do various exercises on the Balance Board, which also measures your weight, BMI and…weirdly…your age. Aside from the fact that my BMI was right at the top end of normal, veering dangerously towards overweight, it established my age at 45. I was less than impressed, given that I am really only just about nudging 31. I was even less amused when it classified me as “unbalanced” – not just once – but three times after slalom skiing, ski jumping and hulahooping. Now, I had had a few of the aforementioned shandies and a couple of Long Island Iced Teas, but that is seriously unstable. Maybe that’s why I keep falling over/off things.
By Sunday – with six weeks to go until the London-Brighton – I could put off a bike ride no longer. For the first time since my little tumble, I strapped on my helmet, gingerly put my feet into the toe clips and ambled off down the cul-de-sac where I live. It was hardly rush hour; in fact, there were no cars whatsoever. Which was nice. This hurdle overcome, I took a deep breath and left the cul-de-sac to cycle off around the village, complete with speed humps, corners and an A-road full of cars. I didn’t fall off. Ha! Up yours, Wii Fit.
Tested the Nike+ Sportband on Monday. In the absence of Nike trainers with a hole in the sole, I used the cling-film-and-sellotape trick. Note to self: must get one of those little pouches, otherwise I’m absolutely bound to lose it. Anyway…the device measured my little jog along the river to Dinton Pastures and back at 4.90 miles, in 45:47 mins, during which time I burned 506 calories. I think that’s overstating it a bit to be honest, so I need to calibrate it. I assume these things are set to some kind of average stride length and – as I have little legs – it’s going to think I’ve gone further than I actually have. Anyway, I like it: it’ll give me some kind of idea of the mileage I’m doing during training without forking out for a Garmin, the calorie counter is a nice touch, and I could set myself a few targets online – though after the Wii Fit experience, I’m not sure I enjoy being berated by a computer.
Didn’t make it back to the gym until Friday morning, when I did another spinning class on the X-bikes. I’m getting to grips with the rock-and-roll handlebars, and can pump along in time with the best of them when I’m standing up. Co-ordinating my arms while sitting down is harder. Maybe that’s why I was never any good at the piano at school either.
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…
Filed under: London-Brighton bike ride, St Albans half marathon, X-bike, half marathon training, running, spinning | Tags: half marathon training, London-Brighton bike ride, running, spinning, St Albans half marathon, X-bike
Enough is enough: it’s time I got myself in shape for the St Albans Half Marathon on 8 June and London-Brighton bike ride on 15 June.
I managed a spinning class on Friday when I was at the very lovely Henlow Grange with my Mum, and again on Monday at the gym. Then got back onto the treadmill this morning, doing a comfortable 5.2k in 30 mins. I won’t be breaking any records at the St Albans race, but I am desperate to finish it after having to pull out of the Hastings half due to illness.
I’ll try for the gym again in the morning, though normal spinning is off while the instructors are trained on new X-bikes. No, I’d never heard of them either. According to the manufacturer’s website, the X-bike allows the rider to:
“…functionally engage the upper body and core musculature while the legs do the pedaling. The exercise offers enhanced total-body fitness benefits while bringing the natural movements of outdoor cycling indoors.”
Crikey. I’ll be back to the gym for the Saturday morning class to give them a test run. Watch this space…
Filed under: London-Brighton bike ride, cycling, spinning | Tags: cycling, London-Brighton bike ride, spinning
Having had a few weeks off exercise following a bout of the flu, I’ve done five or six spinning classes over the past couple of weeks to start preparing myself for the London-Brighton bike ride. It’s been good to get back into the gym especially after putting on a few pounds and I enjoy the group experience of spinning. It’s a lot harder to quit when you start flagging if there are other people in the room.
I was feeling a little bit fitter for it so I decided to go out on a proper bike yesterday with one of my mates. The ride started well enough, apart from some slippy gears that had developed a mind of their own over the winter. Fortunately we came across a man wandering the lanes with a bag of spanners and some WD40 (as you do), who kindly lubricated the gears and sent us on our way again. I wasn’t feeling great about the ride – which may have had something to do with the fact that I was on an unfamiliar bike that was ever so slightly too big for me – but we plodded along without incident for a couple of hours.
On the home straight, around two miles from my friend’s house, we had to take a right turn. I indicated with my right hand and started braking with my left – then several cars appeared ahead and to my right, disorientating me slightly. I stopped braking, careered right, missed the road and mounted the pavement which threw me over the handlebars and onto the tarmac path…face first. It wasn’t my finest cycling hour.
Luckily I was more shaken than badly injured. One of my front teeth was displaced slightly and my face is a bit battered and bruised. Managed to get an appointment with an emergency dentist within a couple of hours of my fall – the NHS comes into its own when you really need it – and she strapped up my tooth with some metal wire. Time will tell if it’s too damaged to be saved, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Meantime, I look like the love-child of Bugs Bunny and Mick Jagger and am on a liquid diet. At least I might lose those few pounds I’d put on. Mind you, drinking soup through a straw isn’t very dignified, so I’m moving onto gin and tonic shortly…
