Day 28 When Saturday Comes

Another revisit to my teenage years!

So Saturday comes around again - with hubby being on lates and not finishing til 1.30 this morning it was only fair to let him sleep in and me take the dog for his walk.   Also a perfect opportunity to get the run art out of the way before footballers appear at the pitch and spoil my fun plan.   So off we trotted down to the pitch - it was easier to do it with the dog on his lead otherwise it would have been a very wiggly T as he likes to play ball on the pitch.  

Runart T for Janathon

A nice 6k walk in 1.5 hrs - a little soggy under foot meant a bath for the dog!

Usually on Saturday I have to do the Sainsbury-Lidl dash, however Shaun had already done the Lidl bit during the week so instead we decided to go to Marks & Sparks to buy a Dine in for £10.  As we can never decide what to have we always buy two lots - oh woops that means two bottles of wine!  As he's working we decided on 1 bottle of wine to be consumed at a later date, and two brandy chocolate drinks (which he can neck drink when he gets back in the early hours).   That just left Sainsbury for bread, then home and lunch.

This afternoon's dog walk was a new route for me - from home along the cliff top to Peacehaven and then down on to the beach/undercliff walk.   It was very nice apart from the stairs you have to descend to get down to the beach.  Problem is you have to come back the same way!

A very nice 6k walk in 1hr 11mins - all helped by the fact that I forgot to switch the Garmin off when we boarded the bus - Shaun was running out of time to get to work!  No time therefore for a run or cross training today - I'm knackered and think the steps up and down should count for Janathon, oh and jumping of course - on and off the bus!

Day 28 totals

Run Art x 1 - 0.13km in 1min 10
Dog walks x 2 12k in 2 and a half hours
Steps - loads but forgot to count
Jumping - one on and one off the bus
Shop dash - 1

Day 27 Friday I'm In Love !

Continuing with the days of the week tune theme  - I've always loved The Cure - they are a band from Crawley in Sussex, a town near to where I lived until I was in my early 20's.   I even have a claim to fame - Robert Smith's wife had the same wedding dress maker as me, except her wedding dress was made of black velvet - and mine wasn't.   I've tried to download the video but for some unknown reason it won't download to my blog, so instead here is a link to youtube!

The Cure - Friday I'm In Love

Shaun is now very much on late shift - he crawled into bed at 1.15am today and having walked the dog down to the beach this morning was chomatose fast asleep on the sofa when I returned home after work at lunchtime.  So after a quick 4.6k walk with little Archie I got home and quickly got changed into my running gear to be back before he left again at 4.45pm.   Dani was also home tidying her room & revising getting ready to go out for the night with her mates.  I told her not to leave until I got back as I hadn't got a key.   I hadn't planned on going far just a quick couple of miles.  So I whizzed shuffled down to the marina and back.   I think I would have been quite quick if it hadn't been rush hour again and it seemed ages for the traffic lights to change so that I could safely cross over.   On my way back I spotted a yellow blob racing towards me on a bike - Hubby!   He skidded to a halt in front of me and gave me a quick kiss - nice one, not every day that happens.   Not only was my quick 3.2k run interrupted by traffic but also being snogged by a high viz clad cyclist.

Back home 24 mins later and Dani was ready to get out and it was just me and Archie for the evening.  Quorn Cottage Pie and veg for one - and an evenings telly of my choice.  

Janathon Day 27 stats

1 dog walk 4.6k 1hr 18 mins (lots of dog walking friends out because the weather was good)
1 quick jog/shuffle  3.2k in 24 mins
1 snog (en route)

Thursday 26th January - (Under my) Umbrella

No, not Rihanna - McFly (my daughter's favourite band- and one that I have seen live on many occasions) this popped up on my Ipod tonight - great mid-run track to lengthen the stride

Not a great start to the day - got to work to find that I couldn't get in as the two early key holders were both off today - great planning.   The only thing was to visit my local coffee bar for a small skinny latte to replace the usual vending machine liquid that calls itself coffee!

Today is the first of hubby's late shift stint - my biggest challenge will be getting to bed before he cames home at 1am and not eating everything in sight because I'm bored!   He took the dog for his afternoon walk so getting out for a run was no problem.  

Today's Janathon effort :

solo 5.7km in 43 mins

Pretty pleased with that - not the best because it was rush hour and lots of waiting to cross roads.   It's very true that exercising (especially outside) makes you feel amazing - I am now buzzing, just hope that it helps me to get out again tomorrow!

Day 25 - Wednesday Week

Thank you Elvis Costello & The Attractions 

- this time next week Janathon will be finished and another goal will need to be set - although the running will be more structured (or not as the case may be).   I will continue running as I have one 10k event booked and another couple in the pipeline.   Plus I still need to lose some weight before the summer!


I also have a holiday booked in July when teenage daughter has finished her GCSEs and caused havoc at a local hotel enjoyed her prom.   It will be great to spend some family time in the sun and warmth - hubby doesn't know yet but I'm planning on taking some running kit so I can do some running while we're in Tenerife!  I just hope that they get in the suitcase and not like last summer's trip to France when I had to sit in the car for 700 miles with my running shoes on my lap! 

Yesterday I was a bit negative as I'd wimped out on going for a run.   Thank you to everyone who gave me support and made me feel much better.  Still quite cross with myself that I didn't go.  This has happened twice during the month.   Day 24 had been a weird one - didn't seem to have any energy for much apart from consuming food.   


Today hasn't been much better and having got back from the dog walk I was soaked through to the skin and cold - which made me feel more like sitting down with a nice cup of tea.  I was trying so hard to push myself to get changed into running gear - instead I wimped out once again and did half an hour on the Wii Active doing jogging on the spot, tennis, lunges, squats and an upper body workout.   Sue blew me out again, but not until I was 15 minutes into my workout!   


The rest of the week is going to be a challenge running wise - Shaun is on late shift!  I am determined that I am going to get back and do at least one run before Sunday's next long run with Sue. 


Today's Janathon efforts include


30 minutes cross training on Wii Active
7 minutes (800m) of run art
6.2 k, 1hr 37 mins of dog walk in the pissing rain 
   
Hubby took this video of the dog playing on the beach the other day!  Have absolutely no idea what he is trying to achieve - but it is very amusing!

Ruby Tuesday - 24th of Janathon

I wonder how far I can go with the song titles this week.

I awoke this morning with a strange "feeling" at the back of my knee - is that my hamstring waving hello just to remind me that exercise efforts for January are coming to an end and it needs a rest!  Well it won't get one just yet.   A run with Sue was planned tonight but she cancelled before I had chance to get my running kit on.   If I'm changed and she cancelled I normally go out by myself.    Consequently having done a 7k dog walk in the damp and cold, I wimped out at going back out on my own again.   Instead I went up into the attic and used the Airwalker for 45 mins.   Hopefully Sue will join me tomorrow for either an industrial estate/harbour circuit or hill training circuit as she can't run Thursday due to work commitments.  So far this month I have had a painful ankle/heel, painful right knee, sore calf muscles, tight right quad and stiff hips - nothing that hurts when I'm running or walking, just when I'm sitting down!

So a rather wimpy day :

7k dog walk in 1 hour 45 mins
Airwalker 45 mins

23rd Janathon - Monday, Monday (thanks Mamas & Papas)

It's Monday, again, the fourth one of Janathon, and another musical title for my post!  A lot of stuff sorted out at work today connected with my future at the firm so pretty pleased with getting that out of the way! 


Shaun was on a rest day today so we went for a walk with the dog together - 7.2km down to the beach with a bit of excitement as we spotted a helicopter landed in a field (not something we see everyday).   Once  we got close we could see a very flash Aston Martin parked up with an aviation firm's truck and fuel tanker.  The helicopter had a huge camera attached to it and 5 minutes later the rotor blades started up and off it went into the sky.   No idea what was going on but it was buzzing backwards and forwards the whole time we were on the beach.


The tide was out when we got to the beach so we decided to walk along the sand for a change.  

As soon as we got back from the dog walk I got changed into my running stuff, just a quick jog to the marina and back to take advantage of loosened off muscles from the dog walk.   Not bad considering I haven't actually managed to run on a Monday during Janathon because my lower half has just been so uncomfortable on a Monday, together with family stuff that goes on on a Monday.   The only problem was that I arrived back at home at the same time as the Asda shopping delivery and I forgot to turn my Garmin off.   I felt like I was running quite fast so I'm hoping I was quicker than the last time I did this route!


Janathon 23rd stats


Dog walk : 7.2km in 2 hours
Recovery run : 3.4k in 30 mins (including walking round the house sorting out the shopping!)

Day 22 - New Route - Undulating! Really?

Sunday is long run day!  Sue and I had already decided we needed a new route for our long run.  Since the bad weather has moved the beach onto the footpath it has made the run to Seaford difficult, and the Peacehaven uphill and undulating run is boring, boring, boring.   Hubby came up with a fantastic idea after going for a long dog walk the other day.   Instead of carrying on the cycle path to Seaford why not cross the A259 (busy road!) and head into the picturesque village of Bishopstone and follow the road till you get to the track?  Wow we thought, brilliant idea, so that's what we did when we set off this morning.

The first 4k was OK as usual, a few miserable fellow runners who refused to acknowledge us, a few little kids with parents on bikes, lots of dog walkers and people heading to McDonalds for their brekkie (yuck).   We crossed the road and ran down into the village, chatting about the lovely houses which line the lane - deciding which one we wanted to buy - as you do!   Well we hadn't even done half a kilometre when we were presented with the first incline - Sue powered away as she always does going uphill (but then she's not doing Janathon) and I coaxed my tight lower limbs and huffed and puffed up to meet her at the top! It's ok I said it can't get any worse than that, and least it'll be a nice one to run back down!  So we carried on further into the village, another uphill.  Off we go again, except this time I couldn't run up it, it was way too steep and not enough recovery time from the last one!  Ok, so we're not quite at 5k at this point.   Sue kept encouraging me to carry on, there couldn't possibly be another one, could there?   Hahaha - one more, 5k was about halfway up.  Sue decided we should aim to get to the top of this "incline" and then head back.  On the way back down we were both cursing Shaun and his brilliant ideas, think he got called every name under the sun!  

It's a lovely route - rolling hills all around, the odd pretty cottage, people filing out of the village church - lovely.   We are going to do it again (mugs) but only because we want to conquer the hills inclines.  It will be good to be able to get up them without having to resort to walking.

So today's stats :

10.44k in 1hr 20 mins

Not by any means fast, but there was some rulking up them hills and afterwards the hips were done in.  Feel really good that we've found somewhere new to run, and we've got a challenge on our hands to do it again next Sunday - will be good to end Janathon with me saying I've run up all of them - hahahaha.

No dog walks today - Shaun stole the dog this morning to take advantage of the goodish weather and go for a long walk, the only thing I have left to do is cook the dinner and plough through another 2 hours of ironing.