Week 7/17

Day 43/119

2014; 
Another week - more tiredness

After the morning's usual debacle (pilates) I left for the gym feeling I'd left something behind

As I sat in the car.... WATER - I'd forgotten my water - thank goodness I remembered

I walked in just as Joss was finishing up and as I emptied my pockets of phones etc to get on with my 40 minute jog - where was the blooming pager ??

I know I put it in my pocket so Joss came to the rescue and searched the car - nothing

Then she dashed home and after much searching found it wedged between the cushions on the settee

While this was going on I was jogging and I have to say that panic must be a real pain-killer as I felt nothing bad those 20 minutes

Maybe for the marathon someone should whisper, just as I start, that the brewery making Doombar had gone bust and while I fretted about that I could have a pain free run :-)

To be fair the latter 20 minutes was also pain free and if it wasn't for the fact that my legs hurt for the remainder of the day, I'd be hard pushed to reconcile that I'd exercised at all

Start Weight - 84.4 kg
Last week Weight - 81.6 kg
Current Weight - 79.1 kg
Weekly Loss - 2.5 kg
Overall Loss - 5.3 kg

2011:
Not a good start to week 7. I spent yesterday evening lying on the floor but have woken up with still a bad back. I have been walking around looking like I've had an "accident" but, dosed up with painkillers I went for a jog down holes bay. The run itself wasn't too painful as long as I could run in a straight line - any deviation or side step sent shooting pains down my leg. Ran for about 40 minutes then spent the next hour or so getting my socks off. By the time I'd showered I'd started to seize up so after a further hour and a half I gave up on socks..and shoes...and trousers... Much chillier afternoon than I had planned but home now and hopefully another evening lying motionless on the floor will work wonders

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Day 44/119

2014:
I know I have banged on already about being tired but today really did top it all

After a shocking night's sleep due to the heat I felt like death warmed up

It was just as well I was working from home as my visage would have been enough to curdle the milk

It was x-trainer day today and I was determined to get the end trainer just to foil the old man that keeps getting in Joss' way

I even had to throw away all my principles and become the ultimate gym ***** (I know, I probably had that title anyway) and go next to another guy despite there being free machines down the line

This gesture was all the more gut wrenching and disappointing as he turned up only a minute after I'd  finished

He didn't even have to blooming wait

A rubbish end to quite frankly a poor workout - no energy - little effort - I'm going to have to do MUCH better than this tomorrow

2011:
Today the plan was to get up at 6:15, be in the gym for 7:00 and do some weights. What actually happened is that I woke at 6:45 and could only get out of bed backwards, with a fair amount of wimpering. It took 3 goes to get in the car successfully and a similar number to get out at work. But, slowly but surely, with the aid of painkilling tablets, gels and pads my back started to ease. By the afternoon I decided to go to the gym with Joss and was pleased to be able to get changed in the changing room without having to ask for help. Joss ran for 40 minutes while I sat on various weights' machines. I say sat - I did push the weights up and down and to the side but it wouldn't be honest to say it was a full workout. Had plenty of time for stretching though so hopefully building myself up for the sprints tomorrow. A wise man would probably give them a miss - but where's the fun in that.....

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Day 45/119

2014:

Today it was sprints and I was up to 16

Luckily, despite another heat wave of a night I slept well enough to get up for Pilates so that I could loosen my back

Again Joss was finishing as I started - I swear she does it on purpose !!

As I started running I felt a stone or something in my left shoe so I took it off but found nothing

Off came the sock and still nothing

I then had a dawn of realisation - despite my back being loosened a bit there was no way I could stand up and put them back on with any grace and all the machines behind me were loaded

Blast - 2 minutes later and NOONE was left in any doubt just how old I was.....

The run started again and instantly I felt the stone again - I wasn't going through that again so I just had to run with it

As I was running it was clear that the manufacturer of my particular treadmill was a sadist

What kind of maniac has the 2nd decimal place in the distance readout 2mm above all of the other digits????

It was an OCD nightmare

I made it though all the runs almost pain free and I attribute that purely to this distraction 

No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't stop staring at it

A blessing in disguise? Not as far as I'm concerned - I'll be fretting over that all night ...

2011:

I've looked at my last couple of posts - what a bleeding moaner! This was meant to be a great adventure, stretching myself to the limits and enjoying it. Right - back on track! Today it was 16 x 400m at 12 kmph with 2 minute breaks between each run. I had a murder / investigation book playing on my ipod and tried to concentrate and focus on what I was doing. You can tell the age of the other gym goers though as they found it rather harder to concentrate. Was it a celebrity training amongst us - no. Was it a new piece of gym equipment being unveiled - no. It was a man having good luck, opening boxes. Yes, someone did well on deal or no deal. A crowd of 6 women were gathered around the telly and at the end they were hugging each other as if they actually knew him. "He played a good game" one was heard to say, yes he did randomly ask people to open random boxes very well! Training was tough but I made it and may reward myself with a day off tomorrow....who knows?

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Day 46/119

2014:

In a radical move to beat the nighttime heatwave I slept downstairs as it was so much cooler

Unfortunately the advantage gain of the temperature was lost on comfort and so I awoke with my back in bits

Pilates jsut seemed to make it worse but I was determined to go to the gym as it was just an easy 30 minute jog

On a rare note of pleasure it was good to feel that my legs didn't hurt at any time and I didn't even have a shiny thing to distract me so it really counts this time

I had hoped it was going to be a rest day as the training seems to have been a bit full on but now I've done it I couldn't be happier - bring it on!!

2011:

I was meant to go for a 30 minute jog to get over yesterday's sprints but I think now's the time to think of the run on saturday and whether my back will make it if I run today. So I decided on a 30 minute cycle and some stretching. There were lots of "strangers" on the stretching mats and I'm sure they didn't mind as I went over, picked up a mat and walked to the corner of the gym to do my stretching alone. Rude? Well, maybe. Joss has been really good to me today by driving around Poole trying to map out a new route so that we don't become bored during Saturday's 17 mile run. My only slight concern is that I've fallen foul of her "short-cuts" before - so I may be running the marathon ahead of schedule ;-)

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Day 47/119

2014:

Today was a 30 minute cross trainer day but being a bit nervous about the run tomorrow I decided to opt for weights

Again I didn't really fit in with the real men lifting cars over their heads and the way I lifted / pushed / pulled I don't think there is a gym in the land Iwould have fitted into, unless you counbt the local jungle gym

Despite there being hardly a bead of sweat on me I knew this was goibng to hurt later on as I had a 5 minute loss of co-ordination in my arms - discovered when I went to take a drink and put the water bottle in my eye

Just as well there aren't mirrors everywhere so that the whole gym could see - D'oh!!!

Still, relatively unscathed I survived and have even gone to the shops to buy a pre run energy bar for tomorrow - I think in this heat I'm going to need it

2011:

Rest day today and boy do I need it - feeling as nervous as I have ever felt about tomorrow's run - will my back hold up....

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Day 48/119

2014:

As we are getting to the nitty gritty now, I bought myself a pre run chocolate / fudge energy bar and had it in a cool bag by my bed as the alarm went off at 5am

I may not be the best runner, but preparation is something I don't lack - score one for OCD

I was on the road at 6:05 and it's fair to say that it was warm

I had 17 miles ahead of me and the only way I could avoid the heat was to get up even earlier and there was no way I could do that

Luckily, for the first 7.5 mile circuit I was mostly in shadow as the sun was low enough to be behind houses / trees etc and so I got round in a reecord slow time which was exactly what I was trying to do as I'd still been running too quickly previously

For the second lap, however, the sun was high in the sky and the temperature seemed to rise with every step

I kept taking the energy gels and plenty of liquid but it was really energy sapping

Sub-consciously I must have just wanted to get it all ovr and done with as I soon went from running 10:40 minute iles to 10:20 as an average for the whole run which really brought on some pain in the right hip

I started day-dreaming of ice cream and cold beer and somehow managed to lose a couple of miles with those lovely thoughts

Then my music volume dipped which meant I'd got a text

What if it was important ? I'd better look, Ithought

What it actually was was my calendar reminding me to run 17 miles today but as I looked at my watch I thought "actually, I've just got 1 mile left" 

A huge smile spread across my face and stayed there for the remaining run which much have looked bizarre to all on-lookers as the rest of me looked so ragged

I got to the end though, and it  took a full 30 minutes in a cold bath to rid me of the Swan Vesta look but it didn't matter - I'd done it!!

There are worse runs to come - but at least I'm on track for now

I did go to Poole again afterwards and I was fine as long as I wasn't going upstairs or downstairs, or forwards....or sideways...

I didn't actually try backwards - maybe I'll use that genius idea next time .....

2011:

Blooming heck it was cold this morning!!! Had my woolly hat on and had no intention of taking it off!! As mentioned before, Joss had scoped out a brand new course and got the measurement of it down to the last few yards which is pretty impressive. That was the good bit. Have you ever seen that picture of the stairs on the top of a building where they have purposely got the perspective wrong? It looks normal at the beginning but if you use your finger to trace the path of the steps, it goes round and round and the beginning joins the end in an everlasting circle. Well, Joss had managed to replicate this but instead of the trick being that it never ended, the trick was that no matter where we went, it was uphill !!! Now I don't mind the old up hill section, but 17 miles of it !!! My only consolation was that Joss lost the feeling in the lower half of her body with about 5 miles to go. Seriously - this was by far the toughest run. There was, however, that fantastic feeling of euphoria as it finished and that lasted a full 3 minutes or so. It was at that point that the endorphins faded away so the full horror of the pain of the run could get through. If I were to offer to swap my hips with Karrsey I swear he would have the worse of the deal!!. Still, stretching and a bath has managed to ease the pain and I can now sit here rather smug that I managed it. Just think, on the day, I'd only have another 9.2 miles to run.....

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Day 49/119

2014:

Rest day today and after the belly-full of beer last night I'm not sure I even did this well. When will I ever learn.....

2011:

Today was a rest day - was it restful - no!!! At 4 in the morning, as the effects of some well-deserved wine wore off, there wasn't a place in the bed that I could find that wasn't agony. Luckily, Joss didn't seem to notice my constant moving for the rest of the night...well, she might have mentioned it once....

Standing up is fine but sitting or lying down - not the best. In the evening I had a couple more medicinal wines and managed to find a comfortable position on a bean bag. I just hope it's the bean bag and not the wine that is working...