Juneathon Week 4 and a few days

Day 22 

Ab/squat challenge 20 sit ups, 25 crunches, 45 squats
Steps 12,898

Day 23

Boxercise
10 sit ups, 40 crunches, 55 squats
Steps 20,130


Day 24

10 sit ups, 50 crunches, 65 squats
10 miles on the bike
Steps 13,504

Day 25

Spin class
15 sit ups, 60 crunches, 65 squats
Steps 8,751

Day 26

20 sit ups, 70 crunches, 85 squats
Dog walk and food shop.
Steps 12,504


Day 27

Summer has officially arrived!

Saturday was all about family.   Father-in-law is still unwell and mum is still in the nursing home for respite care.   We drove up for the day, dog as well and did some food shopping for him, mowed the lawn, harvested fruit and vegetables that needed doing and Shaun and his Dad visited mum.

Luckily it was Ab/squat challenge Rest Day.
Steps 8,116


Day 28

On Sunday my Boxercise instructor Claire was taking part in the LA Fitness Coast to Coast charity bike ride.  As the ride left Hove and headed towards Newhaven I offered to keep her company for a few miles on the road up to Lewes, so at 8.30 Shaun and I waited at the end of our road for her to arrive.   Of course, I hadn't taken into account that she'd already done 10 miles so was nicely warmed up so off she whizzed with Shaun whilst I did my best to catch up every couple of miles.  After 7 miles we said goodbye and waved her off to complete her 60 mile ride.   We headed to Costa for a cappucino!   After our quick coffee break we headed off into the Sussex countryside and eventually arrived home after a total of 17.5 miles.   Not as far as I wanted to go as I'm now building up my mileage to do a 60 mile ride in September (hopefully) but we had been invited to a family BBQ at my sister in laws (this doesn't happen often so we snapped at the chance to visit them).

25 sit ups, 80 crunches, 95 squats
Steps 4,634


Day 29

I didn't get chance to do day 29's 30 sit ups, 90 crunches, 95 squats as I got up too late to do them in the morning, worked late and when I eventually got home didn't have enough time before joining my daughter at her Step 'n Tone class.

  I haven't done step for about 23 years (it was nothing like the above video) and the last time was a total disaster culminating in me being asked by the instructor never to return.   Luckily my co-ordination, timing and general confidence in my own ability have changed since those days (is that down to Boxercise?  I have no idea!)  I still have no idea how to do a "Rocking Horse" or "Around the World" but I did quite enjoy it, especially adding the hand weights to do bicep curls and shoulder press.  There were also lots of crunches and squats so I didn't feel too guilty about missing my ab/squat challenge!   I was a bit concerned my legs would feel mashed for Boxercise the next day - but to be honest they felt OK, usual twingy knees and aching quads but otherwise not too bad.

Steps 14,248

Day 30

Got up early this morning to do the day 29 30 sit ups, 90 crunches, 95 squats
 Boxercise
Steps 17,271

Tomorrow I have to get up early to walk the dog before work so I'll finish off the ab/squat challenge
40 Sit ups, 100 crunches, 100 squats.

It's also my 26th wedding anniversary and not long before our next adventure in Tribby!

Congratulations to everyone who completed Juneathon 2015 - it's been great!

Juneathon Week 3 - lots of ab work & ill parents!

Day 15

10 mile bike ride
ab/squat challenge - 20 sit ups, 30 crunches, 20 squats
12728 steps


Day 16

ab/squat challenge 25 sit ups, 30 crunches, 45 squats, 

1 hr Boxercise & 17695 steps (inc a dog walk) 

Day 17

OH swapped to early shift so dog walk before work.   Overtime today so walked to a sports shop to pick up Dad's Father's Day present at lunchtime, ab/squat challenge 40 sit ups, 50 crunches & 60 squats, 10,700 steps. 

Day 18

ab/squat challenge rest day!!!!!  Dog walk before work, token plank 1m 30 secs and 10,865 steps.   Father in law in hospital with unknown diagnosis, mother in law in respite care.   This weekend is going to be interesting! 

Day 19

On my own tonight as OH has gone up to stay with father in law who has been released from hospital.  Ab/squat challenge 5 sit ups, 5 crunches, 5 squats.  11,066 steps.


Day 20

Up early to get the dog walked and the food shopping done.  Arrived home at the same time as hubby, spent the rest of the day with mum at the nursing home, dad at home and at my parents.  Dinner at a local pub, sitting in the beer garden eating ham, egg & chips in the rain.   Ab/squat challenge 10 sits, 10 crunches, 25 squats.   10,783 steps.

Day 21

Was supposed to go out on the bike today, but let's face it, it's been a stressful couple of days with parents and overtime at work and I'm exhausted.   Finished reading Peter James Book 4 of Roy Grace series (another tick on the 2015 to do list) and pottered around tidying up and 2 hours of ironing.   Walked the dog.  Ab/squat challenge 20 sit ups, 15 crunches and 35 squats. 

#Juneathon Week 2 & A Night Away in Tribby

End of week 2 already - I don't really feel like I'm putting in much effort this time around but I'm still trying to keep up my step goals daily and I'm doing the 30 day ab/squat challenge.  I've not been able to get out on the bike since last Sunday - fingers crossed for some bike time in week 3!

Day 8

30 sit ups, 40 crunches & 60 squats - 12,686 steps - not bad considering my knees were killing me after Sunday's bike ride

Day 9

16,493 steps, 1 hour at Boxercise - Rest Day for ab/squat challenge. 

Day 10


Ab/squat challenge 10 sits, 10 crunches & 25 squats, 10,369 steps 


Day 11

Long unexpected overtime at work, got back too late for spin!  Ab/squat challenge (nearly killed me!) 40 sit ups, 50 crunches, 65 squats - 6,962 steps 

Day 12

Ab/squat challenge 45 sit ups, 60 crunches, 70 squats - 14,296 steps - No overtime today so walked the dog and did the food shop. 

Day 13

Campsite ab/squat challenge - 5 sit ups, 5 crunches & 5 squats - 10,500 steps


Day 14

Ab/squat challenge 10 sit ups, 10 crunches & 10 squats - struggling with steps today! 

On Saturday we headed to Slindon in West Sussex to the Camping & Caravanning Club site.   After setting up (which didn't take long as there was no electric to hook up) we headed out for a walk round the Slindon Estate.   

Pre walk drinkies & snacks

Enormous foxgloves - they were at least 6 ft tall

Pitch 33 was perfect for Tribby 

Playtime

Steak dinner - Saturday night wouldn't be right without!

Messy campers!

 We've had a lovely relaxing couple of days - next trip is in a few weeks time when we're going on a road trip to Salisbury !

#Juneathon Week 1 & Davina's Big Sussex Bike Ride

Following on from last week's post - here's a week of Juneathon stuff

Day 1

Ab & Squat challenge - 10 sit ups, 10 crunches and 25 squats & 10,785 steps (Vivofit)

Day 2

1 hours boxercise, 20 sit ups, 15 crunches and 30 squats, 14,045 steps

Day 3

5 sit ups, 20 crunches and 35 squats and 10 miles on the bike, 10,712 steps

Day 4

10 sit ups, 25 crunches and 40 squats and 14,097 steps

Day 5

5 sit ups, 10 crunches and 20 squats - 9,275 steps

Day 6

15 sit ups, 30 crunches and 50 squats - 10,561 steps

Day 7

40 miles on the bike (Davina's Big Sussex Bike Ride)
20 sit ups, 35 crunches and 55 squats
I've still got over 2,000 steps to get to goal but I'm a bit wrecked after the bike ride!

Total mileage for Juneathon - 50 miles


Today was the day of the Davina Big Sussex Bike Ride - an absolutely brilliant ride around 20, 40 or 68 miles of Sussex country roads (and some busy ones).   The ride set off from the East Sussex National Golf Centre at Uckfield and did a nice figure of 8 route, VERY undulating via a feed station at Horam Golf Course (at 20 miles).   I was supposed to be riding with my mate Nik and Boxercise Instructor Claire, but unfortunately Nik sprained her ankle the week before so it was just me and Claire

Before we left - I was a bit nervous

I also managed to catch up with Michelle, @lipglosslass on Twitter.  We've been trying for ages to meet up, today was the perfect chance

Davina McCall started us all off on our way - no photos unfortunately, it wasn't allowed.   I'd also spotted Jayne Torvill but didn't manage to get a photo of her either.  I later found out that Shaun, who had ridden the route after we left, had passed her at some point.

The first 20 miles went quite quickly and it wasn't long before we reached the feed station - a quick wee stop, fill up bottles with water and a jaffa cake and we were soon on our way.  It wasn't long after the feed station that I decided to stop and swap my bottles over and add a glucose tab to my water bottle - big mistake!   Much to Claire's delight the back wheel of my bike decided to spin and before I knew it, although it was slow-mo action, I was on my arse and sat on the tarmac.  My comedy fall has left me with a LOT of bruises and some marks on the Dolce - not happy.

The next 20 miles were fairly uneventful - the hilly bits kept us on our toes and crossing a huge roundabout was a bit scary.   When we reached the finished it really didn't feel like we'd just ridden 40 miles.

Our reward for all our efforts - a hot dog or a burger

which went down very quickly, with a cup of tea!   and it wasn't long before Michelle and Sam joined us

I'm well chuffed with today's ride.   I was convinced that the 40 miles would take me at least 4 hours, but actually the time according to Garmin was 3 hrs 20 mins.  Most impressive of all was my maximum speed of 50kph - must have been one of those lovely downhills.   I was less impressed by the goodie bag which consisted of a brown paper bag, a bottle of water and a Mars bar.   Stunning medal though so I'm not complaining, and I've raised over £100 for Action Medical Research, the charity behind today's ride.

Need to start looking for a new challenge!

Good luck fellow 'athoners with week 2 - here's to more squats and some mileage on the Dolce.

What? June Already?

Time is really whipping along this year - can't believe tomorrow is the 1st of June!

So what's happened since my big newsflash at the end of April?   Not much to be fair - Shaun celebrated his 50th birthday, although I wouldn't really call it celebrating.  He's not one for massive birthday celebrations for himself - didn't want a party and told me to not spend loads as he'd rather keep the money for Aus!   So birthday day consisted of me going to Boxercise and him coming home to an empty house and cooking dinner.   I did organise a cake which was made by my friend Julia (she made Danni's 18th & our joint wedding anniversary cakes), and we went out for a nice meal the following day.

At the weekend we trundled off in Tribby for the weekend to the Newbury Motorhome Show.  We booked a lovely quiet site just outside Didcot called St Peter's Farm.

 It was a lovely weekend, with lovely weather, and we spent far too much money on stuff we didn't really need.  Since then Shaun has been working most weekends so not much chance of getting away!   Lots in the planning stages for the latter part of June and our 2 week break in July and going on into August.

So that's just about it!   What's next?   Juneathon starts tomorrow - I'll probably not do a proper full blown blog every day but micro blogging on Twitter (@Lilbeeloo67) and the Facebook page - maybe a weekly round up on the blog, and I'll be logging all rides on Strava.    If you're taking part good luck - I hope you've got all your Juneathon essentials ready - blister plasters, washing powder, frozen meals for the family to heat up quickly etc.

NEWSFLASH !!!!!

Some very exciting news and something to tick off the "To Do" List.   AUSTRALIA IS BOOKED

We leave the UK on 9th January and our first stopover will be Kuala Lumpur - it's only a couple of hours, just enough time to stretch our legs & maybe freshen up.   We decided to stay in Sydney for a couple of days before heading to Melbourne to stay with Lou & Andy.  

Andy's very excited about the whole thing and has started making plans - there is talk of a road trip to Adelaide to take in a couple of stages of the Tour Down Under and also take part in the BUPA Challenge, even if it's only the short one!

Now we start on all the planning - where to go, what to see.   We might even try and fit in a couple of days on Tasmania.   So many things to think off - and all very exciting.   To be honest I don't think it's actually sunk in yet, we've only paid a £50 deposit each plus the Sydney hotel - maybe it will be more real the closer we get.

A Big Adventure

Last weekend we spent the weekend away in Tribby - our annual pilgrimage to Roubaix for the Hell of the North bike race - Paris Roubaix.    For the last 2 years we've had the comfort of staying in a hotel, but now we have Tribby we were really keen to head away from the finish at the velodrome in Roubaix and spectate on a cobble sector (or pave).

Before we left there was the small business of picking up my birthday present - a brand new Specialized Dolce Triple,

 which was then stored away carefully in the man cave until we returned on Monday!

On the Friday, having dropped the dog off at my parents, we drove to Dover for our overnight stop before crossing over to Dunkirk on Saturday morning.   We stayed at a lovely site not far from the port in Martin Mill called Hawthorn Farm , lovely big pitch with electric and very clean facilities which we used instead of using our own - why not it's all included in the pitch price!

The next morning we headed to the port for our crossing, parked on the ferry and headed for the first class lounge - oh how I love the first class lounge!   Piece and quiet for a couple of hours and endless cups of tea and coffee and snacks and a selection of newspapers to read.   There's supposed to be free WiFi but I've yet to work out where the best place to sit in the lounge is.   An uneventful crossing and 2 hours later we were on the road to our weekend spot in Rumegies at a lovely site called Camping Le Petit Clos .

When we arrived at the site we had a choice of pitches - all on grass (or mud in one case) with electric hook up and water serving each pitch.   We chose the smallest one !

Our home for the next 2 nights!   It was very peaceful and the dawn chorus the next morning was lovely!

Sunday morning we were up early to drive to Beuvry La Foret where we'd decided to watch the cyclists come through Sector 14.   First of all we parked up on the kerb but whilst I was cooking breakfast the Gendarmes asked us to move as we were in the wrong place!

Before breakfast we went for a wander towards the start of the sector

Those cobbles kill your feet walking up them!   Breakfast consumed and Tribby moved to a safe parking spot we packed our snack bag and headed for our spectating spot

One thing we've missed the last two years is the passing of the event partners with all their freebies - we managed quite a stash for our first year on the course including two new baseball caps and a drawstring bag.

After the cavalcade the junior teams cycled through - a good warm up to the pros cycling past.

 After the excitement of the cavalcade and the junior race there only remained the passing through of the pro peleton.

Bradley Wiggins

Geraint Thomas

It's really hard to convey the excitement of the peleton cycling through and the team cars thundering past trying to keep up with them!   The noise is phenomenal, even from the bikes and the shouts from the cyclists when they hit a bad patch of pave or shouting instructions to team mates.   Watching the riders is always exciting and being on the pave was as good as sitting at the velodrome.   We had no idea who won until we got on the boat the next day.

Being on the course meant I could pick up a souvenir (no, not a cobble - although tempting for next time)

The only other excitement was witnessing migrants being removed from the back of a lorry in a service station on the way back to Dunkirk on Monday!

An absolutely brilliant weekend as usual - can't wait to do it all again.