Filed under: Barmouth-Yarmouth bike ride, Reading Half Marathon, nike+ sportband, running | Tags: Reading Half Marathon, running
If I was running a 10k race on Sunday, I wouldn’t be worried; I’ve done a fair few six and seven-milers over the past few weeks.
Today, I was on a top secret mission which I can’t talk about here in case my Mum is reading my blog. However, top secret mission complete, I was able to squeeze in another (nearly) seven-mile run – the old Nike+ Sportband registered 6.83 miles, completed in one hour and seven minutes.
Once again, I didn’t feel much like running that distance all over again afterwards – but I’m committed to running the Reading Half on Sunday, so I’m just going to have to get on with it.
Spinning tomorrow so I can keep up the pretence of training for the Barmouth-Yarmouth bike ride.
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. 
Filed under: Bupa Great Capital Run, St Albans half marathon, nike+ sportband, running, running gear | Tags: nike+ sportband, running, running gear
Judging by the number of hits I’m getting on my previous post on the subject of calibrating the Nike+ Sportband, there are a few other people out there struggling to make theirs work.
The weird thing is, after calibrating it once and being convinced it was nowhere near accurate, I’ve worn it for a couple of accurately measured races and discovered that it’s actually not far off the pace. It measured 12.56 miles for at the St Albans half marathon, and 5.86 miles for the Bupa Great Capital10k. I haven’t re-calibrated it at all.
So, my advice is, try calibrating it over a short distance – then wear it for a couple of longer runs that are accurately measured, and see what it says. Maybe I was just having an off day and thought I’d gone further than I actually had…
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: St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, nike+ sportband | Tags: half marathon training, nike+ sportband, running
Thought I’d try calibrating the Nike+ Sportband. I went out on my bike round the block, and measured a distance of 1.57 miles. Back home, I dumped my bike, switched on the Sportband and jogged round the same circuit. The Sportband measured 1.78 miles in 14:07 mins. So it was a bit out, but not off the scale. One and a half miles in 14 minutes is about my normal jogging pace, I would say.
Having calibrated the Sportband on my PC, I set off to do the river run that I did on Monday. I didn’t feel too good last time – it was a bit of a slog from start to finish – but today I felt loads better, and discovered a surprising new “top running tune” on my Shuffle: Eminem’s Lose Yourself to which I bounced along quite happily. I’d taken the precaution of wearing sunnies, which I was glad about when several flies made a beeline for my eyeballs. I finished the run in 42:44 mins – knocking three minutes off Monday’s time. Hoorah.
My newly calibrated Sportband didn’t seem so happy, clocking my run at 2.84 miles. Now, I might be a bit of a plodder, but I could have bloody walked that distance in 42 minutes. So now I’m not so pleased with my new Nike purchase. Does anyone know the best way of calibrating these things with any degree of accuracy?
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: St Albans half marathon, X-bike, gym, half marathon training, nike+ sportband, running, spinning | Tags: half marathon training, nike+ sportband, St Albans half marathon, X-bike, x-dream
It’s 18:10 and I’m drinking my first cup of tea of the day. Anyone that knows me will find this rather surprising, but it’s been a busy one.
Got up at 6am to go to the gym, and ran 5km in just over 30mins on the treadmill’s “sport training” mode, which included some nasty inclines (I hate hills, but know I ought to do more of before the St Albans half marathon). I also had a go on one of the X-dream bikes, manufactured by the same firm as the X-bikes (which are going in today for the spinning class tomorrow). The X-dream looks like a sportier version of a normal exercise bike, with trail bike handlebars which tilt from side-to-side and gears operated by buttons on the handlebars. Mounted on the front is a Dell screen, which shows “you” on a computer-simulated trail. You ride around the trail, overtaking (or being overtaken) by other riders. Your lap is timed along with your speed, cadence, calorie count, and a multitude of other stats and graphs. My only complaint is that my character was obviously male with fat legs. I shall investigate whether you can create and save your own little character, like you can on the Wiii.
After that, I headed into work for an hour or so (spilling my first cup of tea all over my brand new laptop, docking station and papers – whoops). No time for another cuppa before heading into the big smoke for a journo briefing at Yauatcha. Very lovely Japanese food, and nice atmosphere, though a little noisy for business. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but chopsticks turned out to be ideal for eating seabass with: my tooth is still not up to metal cutlery, and you can’t really eat with a plastic baby spoon/your fingers in polite company.
Based on Warrior Women’s recommendation, I managed to sneak into Nike Town on my way home to buy a Nike+ Sportband. This is going to revolutionise my running apparently. Hmmm…better get out this weekend while the weather’s nice then.
Right, time for another cuppa…
