>Bad week(s)

>After that good start it’s all gone downhill in the last two weeks.  At the beginning of last week I started feeling really tired, lethargic, exhausted even, my concentration at work started to wain and I even started feeling a little lightheaded every now and again.  I refer to it as being post-viral because that’s all I can compare it to, but I’ve not had a virus lately (that I know of!)  :o(  I can’t explain it very well, but it’s been very annoying.

It’s meant as well as not feeling able to exercise, I’ve missed SAM’s 30th birthday (which I was quite upset about, I was just going for drinks, but was still looking forward to seeing her on her birthday), I’ve been going to bed really early as I’m feeling so tired,  and I missed my Japanese class last night.  I slept for nearly 12 hours on Saturday night, not uninterrupted, but even so.

I haven’t necessarily been sleeping very well, as I am a borderline insomniac at times, so it’s probably linked to that.  But I have obviously been on the internet and have considered several other options – you should never let a hypochondriac near the internet!

By the way, I’m not the traditional sort of insomniac.  I get to sleep ok, I wake once or twice a night, and get back to sleep again reasonably ok, but the quality of sleep I get when I sleep is not good.  

Anyway, this has carried on in to this week, albeit a little less than last week, so I’ve booked myself a doctors appointment.  We’ll see what they have to say – I expect not very much.  I’ve also been off the last two days from work as I was sick yesterday, so no doubt the doctor will think it was some kind of virus…  

Hopefully it’s just been a short term thing and I’m already feeling better today – perhaps I’m actually allergic to work!  

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>Keeping up with intentions

>Pretty pleased with myself today – I managed to drag my sorry backside out for a run again, thus making sure that my intention to run at least once a week is upheld (at least for now!).  I didn’t necessarily fancy doing it, but the weather looked nice outside, and I thought – well, I said I’d go for a run today, so I suppose I had better go…

It was after breakfast (hmm… bacon sarnie, probably not the best pre-run breakfast, but I did make sure I waited over an hour between eating it and going out), and I was able to do the route I like to do because there weren’t thousands of other runners in Holyrood Park this week.  

This usual route is 2.41 miles (according to mapmyrun.co.uk) and apparently has me burning off around 400 calories – I wonder if that presumes that I’m running the whole time…  I used the same kind of strategy as last week, but starting off with walking this time as it’s uphill to the top of the road and there are usually lots of people around and roads to cross etc.  It’s usually a bit disruptive to timing to run at the beginning of this route (although if I was running the whole thing, I would obviously run this bit too).  There’s a nice downhill from there swinging round in to the park, which is mostly flat, and then round on to London Road which turns in a bit of an uphill slog for a while before being mostly flat/downhill to home.  

My rough (I really need to get a new battery for my sports watch, the Sportcount isn’t quite as good for running) times were:

2 mins walk

5 mins run 

1 min stretching/waiting for lights to change (this is very rough)

2 mins walk

5 mins run

2 mins walk

6 mins run

2 mins walk

6 mins run

2 mins walk

Total: 32.31 minutes

Was really pleased with the two stretches of 6 minutes running, which was better than last week, and it didn’t seem to be such a hard hard slog today.  Saying that it was still tough and I do now ache quite a bit…  

Definitely need to buy a new sports bra though, the one I have is really rubbish and I don’t think is really doing the job it should be doing.  The swimming costume will just have to wait a month or so.

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>Overtaking in the slow lane

>No, not an illegal move on the motorway, but a realisation that I am slightly faster than a lot of the other people who swim in the slow lane in the pool. Which is satisfying and annoying all at the same time!

I was at the pool again last night, desperate as I am to tone up and lose some more weight and just generally get fitter before I even think about finding a pretty white frock. The new regime and a desire to see if I could beat Monday’s time helped tremendously, and I headed off to the pool after work despite feeling like I could fall asleep on the bus.

Thursday is a general public swimming day (unlike Monday which is ladies only) and as such the pool was pretty busy. When you are trying to time your swim this is very frustrating as you can easily get bogged down in other people, so I try and use the lanes to prevent that. There were about 5 other people in the slow lane with me for most of the time I was there, and while I was a match speed wise for a couple of them, I was certainly faster than the rest, not by much, but enough to be almost swimming on top of them.

Most of my lengths I managed to do with no one in front of me, which was excellent as I could swim at my pace or go faster if I wanted to. A couple of the women though would stop and chat at the shallow end, not only getting in my way when I turned (if you want to swim a bit then chat, you should really go in the main bit of the pool, if you ask me!), but also choosing the moment I was just coming towards them to swim off again, and frankly then getting in my way.

I try and be tolerant because I’m slow and used to be the really slow one, and it’s good that they are there doing anything at all. But it is starting to annoy me. I am no where near fast enough for the fast lane, but feel that it will be difficult to improve when I constantly get stuck behind people.

So, as the title of this entry suggests, I did end up overtaking last night, twice! I’m not sure what the etiquette of this is in a smallish pool, but I’m sure it’s better form than swimming over someone, which is what I felt I would have done. It was too frustrating to swim at the pace these people were and I felt that it would bugger up my times too much too.

I think, ultimately, I am going to have to find another pool and have been investigating joining the University sports centre in town as an alternative. As I teach a class through their Open Learning centre I can get a staff rate for membership and it might just work out cheaper than using the public pools. I just don’t know if it will be any less busy or frustrating!!

Despite all this perceived slowing down and a general tiredness that seemed to sweep over me in the first 10 lengths, I did do my 40 lengths, and I did do them slightly faster than on Monday – which I was surprised about! I think having a time to beat helped, as did the fact that I can’t pause the Sportcount so I don’t feel I can stop at all. Small steps and all that, but at this rate I’ll be down to 30 minutes for the 40 lengths in no time and be upping myself to 50!

I slightly buggered up stopping the Sportcount last night so don’t actually know what my fastest lap was, but I’ll say it was the first, which I have a rough idea of the time of:

40 lengths
32.20.13 minutes (woohoo, nearly a minute faster!)
Average time for a length: 47.34 seconds
Fastest length: 1 at around 38 second, I’m guessing
Slowest length: 37 at 56.08 seconds, but I was stuck behind a slow person I couldn’t overtake on this one.

So a faster average time for a length, a faster fast length and an overall faster time. I’m pretty pleased with that!

I have realised though that I desperately need to get a new swimming costume as the fabric in my current one is going bald in patches. Not good. I’ve seen one I like on the Bravissimo website (a sporty one that actually goes up to my size!), but as I also need a new sports bra and just can’t afford both I’m going to have to have a good long think about which is the more necessary!

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>New swimming regime

>After my run on Saturday I was pretty sore on Sunday/Monday – my thigh muscles ached like there was no tomorrow. I’m still glad I went and I’ll still try to go again this weekend, but boy it hurt!

Still, no pain, no gain…

Was at the pool again on Monday for my usual Monday night swim. Decided on a new tactic for this year. Rather than swimming for a set amount of time I am going to swim a set number of lengths, regardless of how long it takes me. Then I can work on trying to get a bit quicker, trying to beat my time for that number of lengths and then up the number of lengths as the weeks go on, thus helping me get fitter!

As I normally swim about 34 lengths or so in half an hour I decided to start off at a relatively gentle 40 lengths target. The pool is the average 25 yards that local pools seem to be (around 23 metres) so that would be a nice half a mile (or around 914 metres according to an online calculator I’ve just found…)

I had bought myself a new gizmo last week to help me count lengths and time myself and I must say it worked a treat (as did my new approach). Gone was the constant craning up at the clock as I watched the minutes tick past. Instead I could concentrate on counting my lengths and let the gizmo time me (and keep a track on my counting!).

It’s called a Sportcount and it’s pretty good as it just sits on your index finger and you can press the button with your thumb when you turn and it provides lap count and split times during your workout, and reports summary statistics at the end of the session.

I like to count the lengths in my head as well as it’s a way of using the swimming as mental relaxation as well as physical exercise. It clears my brain of whatever else might be clogging it up. As I was going for a nice round set number of lengths I could neatly count them in sets of 10, which I found to be a great psychological boost – it meant I didn’t have to concentrate on the large number left til the end, but on how many I had to do in this set – 10 is a much better number to aim at than 40!

By the end of my 40 lengths I could happily have done another 10 at least, which was both surprising and made me feel good. I might even have done so if I hadn’t been wanting to start off modestly (just because I had the energy for it this week, doesn’t mean I will next!), and if I hadn’t arranged for the Fiancé to meet me at a specific time.

The gizmo gives me some lovely stats, so here are last nights:

40 lengths
33.07.75 minutes
Average time for a length: 49.69 seconds (pretty slow, I know)
Fastest length: 1 at 40.25 seconds
Slowest length: 16 at 53.43 seconds

Not quite sure why 16 was my slowest, but interesting that it was one in the middle, not one at the end. It might have been one where I got stuck behind a slow person – the real bane of public swimming (particularly in January when every one has resolutions to break).

Pretty pleased with all that, particularly the overall time, which I thought was going to be slower for the 40 lengths. So next time my challenge is to try and make them a bit faster. Let’s see how I do…

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>Run!

>Yes, I went for a run this morning.  Or more accurately a jog/walk combo.  Felt the urge so thought I should act on it.  And then got annoyed that I couldn’t go on my usual route because the Great Winter Run and some crazy cross country thing is on in Holyrood Park today.  Goddamn them…  Nearly didn’t go when I found out, but was in the mood and didn’t want to give up on that.  So I decided to do my alternative route (that I dislike) instead.  

Only just over 2 miles (my ipod claimed it was 2.5 but mapmyrun told me it was 2.2) and 29 minutes, there and back.  I managed to run more than I walked and do pretty consistent splits:

5 mins run

2 mins walk

5 mins run

2 mins walk

5 mins run (this was bloody hard)

2 1/2 mins walk

2 1/2 mins run

2 1/2 mins walk

2 1/2 mins run

It’s not a great route as it’s down hill then flat then an uphill struggle back, but frankly I did bloody well not to just walk all of it at the end.  And even better to do it at all!

Probably overdid it for a first go out for ages, but I’m pleased (and proud of myself) that I went at all.  Will try and go out at least once a week this year (upping to twice when it gets lighter and I can run during the week).  If I want to lose that next stone by June, it’s got to help!  

I shall hurt tomorrow though.

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>Holiday Round-Up

>

Being back at work after two weeks off sucks. A lot. I got far too used to waking up a whole 2 and a half hours later than a work day that I managed to sleep really badly on both Sunday and Monday night this week, terrified as I was at sleeping through the alarm (I didn’t, by the way). Consequently I am slightly dazed and confused this week…

Still, it was a great two weeks off, comprising as it did Christmas and New Year. Christmas was spent in a fab country house in Perthshire (http://www.lhhscotland.com/property?id=250) in the company of all my nearest and dearest friends. We had the place for a week and it was great – a little shabby around the edges, but that just made it feel more homely. Loads of bedrooms (with a varying quality of beds by all accounts), room for the dogs, a great big table in the ‘kitchen’ for breakfasts and informal meals and a lovely country setting. I wont bore anyone who might be reading with all the details, but here are my edited highlights:

1. Everyone arriving and taking a tour round the house and squealing with delight at it’s size and perfectness for the occasion (disclaimer – ok, maybe not everyone squealed, but you get the idea)
2. A dinner party every night. Well, that’s what it felt like as every couple took turns to make dinner. It was lovely to sit around a big table and chat. Mostly about boobs it would seem…And that wasn’t the chaps! Anyone who was there who doesn’t now know my bra size can’t have been paying attention!!
3. Getting the chance to speak to most people individually as well – it’s a much better way to really catch up with people.
4. A walk up Ben-y-vrackie outside Pitlochry. Beautiful day, lovely walk, even if I did turn back before most people and therefore not actually walk up Ben-y-vrackie. As usual I was the slow crap person at the back, but luckily there were enough of us walking that the fitter, speedier people could push on ahead, while I was encouraged up the (lets face it, not that steep) hill by the Fiancé and Wastrel. Who were both totally lovely and encouraging when I wanted to turn back after 5 minutes. In my defence the first five minutes was the steepest bit (as I noticed on the way back down), and I’m not that good on hills as rubbish hamstrings and Achilles tendons make it really really bloody hard for me. But they encouraged me up and spurred on also by a pregnant HMcM, who said she was planning on turning back after half and hour and surely I could do that much with her and then we could both head for the pub (she didn’t, by the way, she outdid me!), I pushed on up. But I’m very glad I did go further as the view was lovely and the walk exhilarating. And good for me too, no doubt! So thanks to those who kept me going.
5. A trip to the Damn and Fish-Ladder in Pitlochry with Wastrel, HL, BC and the Fiancé. Ok, so this is slightly strange, particularly as the only real attraction is the salmon moving up the fish ladder, which they weren’t doing in the depths of December, but I had a really nice chat with Watrel in the Drover on the way there and the light was lovely (the promise of snow that never came).
6. Watchnight Service at Kirkmichael Church on Christmas Eve. I probably shouldn’t have gone to this because by Christmas Eve the slightly annoying cough-ette that I had been suffering had turned itself into a full blown nasty cough that had left me croaky and horse. However, Christmas is not Christmas for me without a trip to Church and some carols. So I trooped off with H and CMcM and croaked my way through a great number of carols. It was a slightly odd service as the minister had rushed there from another service in Rattray, there was no organ but a CD player that kept refusing to play the tunes (the minister gamely just started us off without music and as we all know the words and tunes anyway, we survived), and half the congregation seemed to be visitors, but it was friendly and Christmassy and we weren’t told we were going to burn in hell, so it was all good.
7. Christmas Day itself. Which was marvellous. It started with stockings in the McM’s room as they had the biggest bed and chairs, followed by a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and bucks fizz. There were presents throughout the day and black tie for dinner. Which was brilliant! We all love dressing up at the best of times, but it was great to see everyone all poshed up for the Christmas meal – which was goose, quail and ham, with various sides. All delicious! Fabulous presents were given and got, games were played (I highly recommend Sardines in a big house and posh frocks!) and it really was a magical Christmas.

On the down side I spent nearly all of Boxing Day in bed feeling rotten as my cough had stopped me sleeping both on Christmas Eve and Christmas night. I was also turning in to a snot monster and really not looking forward to the drive back on the Saturday. I was so worried I wasn’t going to be well enough. This meant I had to miss the bracing Boxing Day walk, which I would have liked to have done. Thankfully a day in bed was what was needed and I was able to drive back the next day, even if I spent most of the drive trying to hold back the cough, resulting in a massive coughing fit when we stopped the car at any point.

When we got home all tired and coldy, we found our Freeview box was no longer working. As analogue is not worth trying in our flat, this left us in a rather quiet flat (we listen to the radio through the TV). Unable to bear this we just had to buy a new telly (go figure) – sucked in as we were by the offer in Sainsbury of a Sony Bravia 32inch TV for £349.99. We only went in for groceries, but neither of us is very good at being the sensible, can we afford it, one. By the time we used up all our Nectar points it only came to £300, which was a total bargain, even if it was bigger than I wanted to get… But it’s working well and I’ve got used to it in the living room now…

New Year was much quieter, partly down to me getting over my cold and the Fiancé getting it. Thankfully he was never party to the cough, but it hit him hard none the less. Poor thing. He’s still only just getting over it now. Thankfully (again) we had planned on a quiet New Year, just the two of us, so I braved the kitchen and made us lamb shanks with mash potato and asparagus. Washed down with lashings of Prosecco (if you can’t kill a cold with Paracetamol, try alcohol!), it was a lovely evening. We dressed up again too, because, well, why not! And the first thing he said to me after the bells? ‘We’re getting married next year’. Eek! So much to do…

And then it was back to earth with a bump and back to the beginning of this post. Work. Bleugh. On the plus side we’ve been really quiet, so I shouldn’t complain too loudly… On the downside 7am is a real shock if you’ve got used to 9:30…

But I did manage to go swimming on Monday and, miracle or miracles, PUT ON NO WEIGHT over Christmas and New Year (and no, I don’t know how). So to record the swimming:

32 lengths
30 minutes

Not my best effort, but not bad for the first go after the festive period. I’m going to try and up my swimming this year as I would like to lose another stone in the next six months. A tall order that may see me resorting to going running again, when it’s lighter, watch this space!

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