I found myself at the gym slightly later than usual on Friday morning. I had a day off for a wedding later on, and thought I’d get an exercise unit in before I hit the wedding vino. I didn’t feel much like running but I’d missed the early spinning class so – with the spinning studio to myself – I decided to DIY it.
Good fun it was too – I plugged myself into my iPod, found some tracks with varying tempos and off I went. One of the instructors came in after about ten minutes and insisted on putting on the demo track and virtual reality graphics, which was just a bit distracting. I don’t need to pretend I’m cycling through the streets of London when I’m patently not even outside, and the soundtrack sticks roughly to the same tempo, whether it’s Walk Like An Egyptian or Acceptable In The 80s. I turned up my iPod and carried on in my own little world. My back didn’t feel too bad – certainly not as stiff as it did after running and British Military Fitness earlier on in the week. After 45 minutes, I was pretty much spent and just did a few upper body weights before heading to the sauna and spa.
The gym demographic changes as you go through the day – the frantic pre-work crowd has disappeared by 9am, to be replaced by the blue rinse brigade. Watching them cavort around in the pool to aqua aerobics while I sweated some more in the sauna wasa sight to behold. I think there was only one person under 60 in the entire pool.
At the end of last year, I made some sort of sweeping statement about getting my 10k time down below 50 minutes. I haven’t made much progress in this respect.
Instead, I’ve been using my sporadic visits to the gym when I’m not spinning to monitor my 5k times (historically a lazy 30 mins). My last attempt was on Friday, and I did the 5k in 25:41. I was sweating profusely by the end of it, and I’m pretty sure a few people actively avoided coming anywhere near me.
My times are going in the right direction, but would probably get there a bit quicker if I went more often…
- 28 May – 28:02
- 5 May – 27:24
- 8 May – 27:01
- 29 May – 26:01
- 17 July – 25:41
Haven’t been to the gym for ages, but went Wednesday morning as I couldn’t make my normal British Military Fitness class in the evening.
Swerved spinning because the instructor taking the class wasn’t one of the best ones, and had a bit of a go on one of the X-dream bikes – until I got cross because it wouldn’t move me up a level and I couldn’t find a member of staff to sort it out. My legs were still aching after the piggyback experience on Monday night, so I thought I’d just do a short stint on the treadmill.
This month’s Runner’s World suggests trying a “treadhill” workout – which is apparently good for the knees. I did the following at a steady 10km/hour:
- 2 minutes @ 2% gradient
- 1 minute @ 4%
- 2 minutes @ 2% gradient
- 1 minute @ 6%
- 2 minutes @ 2% gradient
- 1 minute @ 8%
- 2 minutes @ 2% gradient
- 1 minute @ 10%
- 3 minutes @ 2% gradient
So that was 15 minutes in total – and harder than it sounds, particularly on the 8 and 10% gradients. Looking back at the magazine, I think I was supposed to progressively increase the “recovery” gradient as well, but that was enough for a first go. I’ll try that again – it seems like a good way of getting more out of a short work-out.
Also in this month’s magazine, FitArtist and eatingtrees giving their advice on how to treat achy muscles. Available at a newsagent near you now.
Ended up in the office until 8pm last night, so missed British Military Fitness, and decided to get up for the gym this morning instead. I slept really well but woke up with a pain just under my left shoulder blade. I didn’t think too much of it, assuming I’d slept with one arm in an awkward position, and went off to the gym.
I didn’t feel quite like running, so just did half an hour on the cross-trainer (30 mins at level 10, 5.20km – just for future reference) and then some light weights. The back pain didn’t get worse, but it didn’t feel any better for a few stretches either.
During the course of the day, it’s got worse. It ’s quite painful to stretch up above my head and particularly out to the side. It also hurts to breathe deeply.
Some self-diagnosis on the internet (I know, I know, heaven for hypochondriacs) suggests some kind of a strain in the latissimus dorsi (lat) muscle. I’m lucky enough to have private healthcare cover through work, so I think I’ll see if I can get a referral to an osteopath in Thatcham who’s treated a couple of different knee injuries in the past. My back’s been a bit tweaky in places for a few months, so it’s probably in need of a bit of a service.
Filed under: 10k, Reading Half Marathon, gym, half marathon training, running | Tags: 2TENfm, Amy Macdonald, Beats International, Death Cab For Cutie, Duran Duran, Elbow, Fall Out Boy, Gabriella Cilmi, Girls Aloud, gym, iPod Shuffle, Jackson 5, James, Kings of Leon, Madonna, Mark Ronson, Meatloaf, Michael Jackson, Rose Royce, running, Spotify, The Killers, The Trammps, Toto, treadmill, Weezer
Today was a good day. Everyone at work was in a fab mood, the birds were twittering outside my office window, Brenda (my plant) was very happy basking in the sunshine and a client said “thank you”.
I also discovered Spotify today. That is to say that I’d heard the name quite a bit but hadn’t had a play with this new(ish), free music streaming application that enables you to share playlists with other Spotify users. And it’s pretty cool. We opened up the decks (spare PC) up to anyone in the office, and invited people on Twitter to add tracks to our playlist. The results were fairly eclectic, and included Duran Duran, The Killers, Madonna, Kings of Leon, Meatloaf, James, Michael Jackson, Elbow, The Trammps, Death Cab For Cutie, Amy Macdonald, Weezer, Mark Ronson and some strange tracks selected by my (slightly younger) colleagues that I’d never heard of and am never likely to hear of again.
Having failed (unintentionally) to set my alarm this morning in time to get up for the gym this morning to do a 10k run, I decided to go after work to do my 10k run, but nearly reversed back out of the reception area when I realised my iPod Shuffle needed charging. “But no,” I said to myself, “I’m open-minded about new music today – I’ll use the in-gym equipment.”
Unfortunately, it’s a bit shit. I remembered almost immediately why I bought my trusty little Shuffle last year. On the gym system, there is one MTV channel, two audio channels that play completely random tracks and a radio station (the horrendous 2TENfm-in-Berkshire-and-North-Hampshire). The other entertainment possibilities included Sky News on a loop or cricket, neither of which were likely to give me much motivation.
Not to worry, I started out on the treadmill toggling between the various musical options. Once I’d ruled out MTV, which was broadcasting some kind of McFly-fest; and the radio for just being crap, I went on to the audio channels and got this random selection as I jogged on:
- “Africa” – Toto (which I’d never noticed includes the line As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengetti which I thought was impressive in its non-rhymingness)
- “Blame It On The Boogie” – Jackson 5
- “Sweet About Me” – Gabriella Cilmi
- “Dub Be Good To Me” – Beats International (Wikipedia says it was written by Fatboy Slim, and I didn’t know that)
- “Promise” – Girls Aloud (which made me laugh, because Phil loves this but likes to think his music preferences are somehow cool)
- Erm, can’t remember what else came on.
So then I went back to MTV and listened to/watched “I Don’t Care” by Fall Out Boy. The video is jolly funny – boys doing all sorts of rude and inappropriate things, like flashing their bits in the street, stealing money from buskers and dressing up as kleptomaniac nuns.
One more toggle through the channels, and I returned to 2TENfm-in-Berkshire-and-North-Hampshire, which was by now playing “Club Classics”. I could just about cope with “Carwash” by Rose Royce and cranked up the speed for the last kilometre.
And then I realised I’d run 10k, yippee. That took me 59:23 – nice and steady, and I’d actually be pretty happy to run the half marathon at that pace which would put me on track for a 2:10 race. It’s nowhere near the 2-hour milestone, but I just haven’t put enough training in to do that sort of time.
As I cooled down, I thought how brilliant it would be for each treadmill to have an in-built Spotify application and an internet connection so you could listen to playlists you’d made in advance or just play around with new music to make the time go faster without having to resort to 2TENfm-in-Berkshire-and-North-Hampshire. Does anyone want to make me a prototype?
Decided to give British Miltary Fitness a swerve last night, as my legs were a bit tired after the weekend’s exertions. But after another night’s sleep, I was ready to hit the gym this morning. Didn’t quite get up early enough to do the six miles that I intended to do, but settled for five (50 mins / 8.36k) so that I could have a stretch afterwards. Knee was absolutely fine on the treadmill, perhaps reinforcing the off-road-wobble theory. Just got to keep it straight while skiing next week. :-/
As I plodded along on the treadmill, I reflected on the different types of gym-goer. I reckon most of them fall into one of the following categories:
- The Regular – goes to the gym absolutely every morning, without fail. Hates any form of change, and moans about other gym-goers and sometimes instructors with other Regulars. Appears to think it’s their right to hog the one and only three-pin plug socket with their hair straighteners in the changing room afterwards.
- The Human Waterfall – very sweaty. Drips all over the machines and leaves a puddle on the floor underneath the spin bikes. To be fair, I fit into this category, but I do wipe up behind me.
- The Dolly Bird – flits on and off machines without appearing to exert any energy. Hair and make-up is always immaculate. Boob job optional.
- The Grunter - emits some kind of a noise with any kind of effort. This may be a Sharapova-style grunt while lifting weights, or heavy breathing during a spinning class. Probably made crank calls before caller ID existed.
- The Hunchback – or at least will be in later life if he keeps up those bicep curls and chest presses wearing that tight T-shirt. A rare breed before 9am.
- The Fitty - reaches speeds on the treadmill that I didn’t know existed and hone their perfect muscles on the weights machines. I aspire to be one, but like food to much to actually succeed.
Filed under: 5k, British Military Fitness, Pulse8, X-bike, food, gym, spinning | Tags: anna friel, british rmilitary fitness, gym, jonathan ross, running, sauna, spa, spinning
As I said to a few people at work today, I’m really trying to like the snow, but I can’t get away from the fact that it’s just so flipping cold. I can cope with this when I’m wrapped up all warm on a ski slope, clutching a mug of hot chocolate and tanning my panda-eyed face in the mountain sun – but it’s just annoying when you’re trying to get on with your normal day-to-day life, it’s chucking down half-snow-half-rain, it’s not quite bad enough to shut the office or cancel meetings, so you carry on, your feet are soaked, people are still driving up your backside even though they’re skidding all over the shop and the underground is closed. Why is that? I mean, it is – by definition – beneath the snow line.
This week has been a bit crap exercise-wise. Monday brought chaos to the roads and I needed to see the doctor first thing for another whopping dose of antibiotics. Tuesday wasn’t much better. I managed a spinning class on Wednesday, was in London all day Thursday and got up this morning – intending to go to the gym – but then I looked out of the window, decided I didn’t fancy de-snowing the car at 6am…and I went back to bed for an hour and a half.
I decided enough was enough this evening, and headed to the gym on the way home from work instead. I’ve never done this before. I have a fabulous pre-9am membership at Pulse8 which costs just £22 per month. I go before work for a spinning class, or circuits or a run – and it works well for me. My visit in the evening was most confusing – the place looked more or less the same, but all the people were different. And there were considerably more of them.
Anyway, did the 5k challenge = 26:55.
Then some upper body weights – Red Bucket tells me he’s doing some work on his arms before our ski trip. My arms are weak.
Then about 20 minutes on one of the X-bikes – did a random routine in time to whatever appeared on my iPod. That worked quite well.
Finally, I loafed in the sauna and spa pool for a while.
I have to say, it was rather nice to not have to rush around and get to work afterwards. I’m home now, feeling all tingly after my workout and full after my omelette and several handfuls of chocolate chips (had to raid the baking cupboard for those as I’m all out of Lindt balls).
I’ve got one eye on Jonathan Ross and Anna Friel drinking some foul-smelling green juice. Presumably she lives on that in order to stay so skinny. And I’m trying to decide whether to brave British Military Fitness in the morning, or be a wuss and go to the gym…
Filed under: British Military Fitness, food, gym, healthy eating, running | Tags: blood pressure, British Military Fitness, cholesterol test, doctor, food, gym, running, spinning, transient ischaemic attack
I seem to have been in and out of the doctor’s surgery a bit too much lately, which is annoying on many levels. I hate being ill: it slows me down, stops me from doing any exercise and therefore prevents me from eating what I want. And I get really annoyed that the old people can’t work the self check-in screen in reception. They really can’t cope with using the touchscreen to enter their sex and date of birth – sends them into a complete spin and causes a queue out the door while the receptionist sorts them out. It would be quicker to check them in the old-fashioned way.
Anyway, the good news is that I appear to be normal:
Height: 1.62m (5′4″ in old money)
Weight: 64kg (10 stone 2 – that’s three pounds lighter than at Christmas – yay)
BMI: 24 (ok, very top end of normal – but still normal)
Blood pressure: 120/70
Cholesterol: 2.56 (has to be under 4)
The blood pressure and cholesterol were pretty important – my Dad suffered two transient ischaemic attacks (mini strokes) a few years ago – one of which I witnessed, probably the scariest moment of my life. His blood pressure and cholesterol level turned out to be off the scale – and had never been checked. I had to go through a telephone grilling before the doctor would agree to me having one – despite the family history – and she gave me a lecture on eating properly, even if my level turned out to be below average. Obviously I sounded like the type of person that would get a good result, go off and eat only cheese for the rest of my life. I’m not entirely sure how to analyse the result, but I’m relieved that it is – well – normal.
I’m also a pretty normal January exerciser, as it turns out. After doing 14 “units”of exercise (British Military Fitness, running, gym, spinning) in the first 18 days of the year- I’ve done nothing for the last nine days. In my defence, I’m on antibiotics that have wiped me out and made me way more sleepy than usual, but it is time to get back in the saddle. I intend to start tomorrow morning by going back to the gym.
Thought about going for a run once or twice between Christmas and New Year. But didn’t acually get to the point of strapping on my running shoes. Oops.
First day back at work today, so hauled myself out of bed at 6 to get to the gym for a spinning class. The instructor looked even less enthusiastic than the four people that had bothered turning up for the class. But I did have the sauna and spa pool to myself afterwards, which was nice.
At work now, so a very quick post. Has it ever felt less like a Friday?
Filed under: 10k, British Military Fitness, Bupa Great Capital Run, Nike Human Race, food, gym, nike+ sportband, running, running gear | Tags: 10k challenge, British Military Fitness, Bupa Great Capital Run, Nike Human, running
I pretty much run at one speed: 10k/6 miles per hour, whether I’m running 5k or a half marathon. I’m a great pacer at that speed and can slow down other people if they set off too fast, or speed them up if they’re lagging. But that’s been my speed for the eight or so years that I’ve been running reasonably regularly, and I’m not exactly progressing. It hasn’t bothered me much in the past, but seeing the likes of my little brother doing a 40-odd minute 10k with apparent ease only months after taking up running makes me think I should push myself a bit more.
Doing British Military Fitness classes is starting to take me out of my comfort zone, making me sprint and do hill reps that I wouldn’t normally bother with. I’m already noticing a bit of difference when running, and am definitely capable of tackling hills with a bit more gusto than previously.
So one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to get my 10k time down during the course of the year. I’m aiming for around the 50-minute mark, but I haven’t got a clue how feasible that is. I’m going to use the gym to gauge my progress, because I can accurately measure the distance. (The Nike+ Sportband really isn’t that accurate. Maybe I should have asked Father Christmas for a GPS thingy).
I do try to get into the habit of writing down my times, but don’t always remember. Here’s a few:
20 July – 57:35 (Bupa Great Capital Run)
31 August – 60:14 (Nike Human Race)
13 September – 60:00 (gym)
30 September – 56:02 (gym)
today – 55:24 (gym)
The times over the past couple of months do indicate I’m going in the right direction, but there is clearly some way to go. This morning’s effort was hard work, especially around the hip flexors/top of my quads – perhaps I can do some work on stretching those out more. I had a long hot shower at the gym but, by the the time I got home, I felt weak and shivery. I don’t feel unwell in any other respect, despite the germs flying around my office, so I guess I just needed some food. I walloped down a power smoothie (banana, Skippy peanut butter, yoghurt, milk) followed by scrambled eggs on toast, and am feeling much better now. 
