Cycling

Tonight we decided to go for a bike ride instead of running - Leanne has bought herself a brand new , bike and was eager to try it out.
I secretly hoped that maybe Mr SG would struggle a bit more with cycling than he does with running, sounds awful I know but there has to be something he's not good at and none of us had really biked seriously for years, I used to cycle alot as a kid and I also used to cycle to work and back every day (a good 7 miles each way) so I started out with what I now know to be an unrealistic view on how easy it would be.
Rather than being naff Mr SG tootled along at top speed, effortlessly sailing past Leanne and I - even up the hills despite his bike being stuck in 3rd gear.
Leanne and I were peddling madly in 1st or 2nd gear to get up the hills while Mr SG just bloody well glided along. I figured I would get my own back on the downhill slope, stuck my bike in 6th gear and peddled as fast as my legs would bloody well peddle - Mr SG sailed past me in his 3rd gear - bloody gutted or what.
Our first time out and we only managed 5k but we're looking forward to a mini run tomorrow night followed by 6k on the bike.

That high peak was me peddling like mad down a hill.

Calories 223 Kcal

Weight Loss 5.9 g

Carbohydrate 112 Kcal (50%)

Fat 112 Kcal (50%)

 

Wind farm running

Tonights run was at Camster wind farm again. We took a look at the map of it before we ran and figured we'd be doing a run down and turning back after a while, there was nothing that hinted on what kind of mileage it would be so we just relied on my Bryton sport to tell us.
Once we got running though we kind of just kept going, I have this mental hatred of running for a while then turning round and going back the same way - it does my head in, so I was actually ok with continuing all the way round despite not having a clue as to how far it would be.
It was a good 3.5k into the run before I stopped, my feet had gone numb and I just had to loosen the laces but Mr SG knew it was a mental thing too and literally forced me to get back up and run again. The conversation went something along the lines of
"I have to stop, my feet are numb"
"Well you won't feel any pain then will you, now get up and run"
I guess it did the trick, he got me up and got me going again. I did have a couple more stops with ridiculous excuses but Mr SG knows it's all in my head and not only did I continue to run but he even got me to sprint at the end.

The first spike drop looks like a stop but it was actually when we had to go through a cattle gate so doesn't count as a stop.

Leanne seemed to have an even better run, I tried to match her gait at one point but it was useless, she seems to run so effortless.
I'm still astounded that Mr SG can run without breaking a sweat and without a change in his breathing - the man isn't human!

Penelope Pittstop versus me.

Mr SG took us out running again! Thankfully he took pity on me and agreed to just do 2 miles, we even headed out to Camster wind farm for the first time for the run - it's so nice to run on a track and not have to worry about traffic.

I managed the first mile without stopping but we hit an incline on the way back and straight away my mind started telling me I couldn't do it and I stopped - just like that!
Mr SG got me going again but then he realised he'd dropped his tshirt way back and he had to go back for it. He left me with instructions to keep going but I couldn't drown out the idiot in my head insisting that I needed to walk and so my GPS shows exactly what happened.

It's interesting to see that Leanne has the same running style as her dad - effortless basically, kind of Penelope Pitstopish is how it looks though not quite so extravagant obviously. Whereas I run more like ..... well...

Leanne & Mr SG running style.

My running style.

I was annoyed with myself for all the stopping because it's all my head, I had no need to stop I wasn't knackered, I wasn't struggling to breathe and I wasn't puking.
I need to work on my mental attitude!

Personal trainer

Remember in my last post when I said that Mr SG was going to go running with us - well last night he followed through with that threat promise.
I was happily ensconced on the sofa in PJ's watching RHOC while Leanne was happy in her PJ's too. Mr SG told us it was time to get changed for running which kind of had me in a panic and reeling off excuse after excuse as to why I couldn't run that night - Leanne was slightly more resigned to the idea of having to do it.
Maybe I should just clarify at this point that Mr SG is 11 years older than me, he is a heavy smoker, has COPD and scarring to the sole of his foot that hurts when he walks. He was athletic as a youngster and is a builder now but running for any length of time is something completely different and it was that knowledge that actually made me agree to his plan - basically I wanted to shut him up.
Leanne and I usually pick our runs with care, it's all hills here so most of the time we avoid the steepest longest ones unless we're wanting the extra work.
Mr SG on the other hand drove us to Loch Shebster at the foot of the steepest longest bloody hill possible and I realised I'd mis judged him when our complaints of the steepness of it were met with "Quit complaining, it'll be all downhill on the way back".
Within 1/2k of this hill I was reaching for the inhaler, I kid you not it was ridiculously hard. I trundled along waiting for Mr SG to give up - nothing! waited for him to struggle to breathe - nothing!
By the time we finally got to the top of the hill I was ready for turning round but nope Mr SG wanted us to go further. He bolstered me along explaining my defeatest attitude, he kept me motivated and he didn't let me give in to the many crappy excuses I was reeling off. I can run while I'm sick, it won't kill me - apparantly!
Finally he let us turn round and the notion of heading back to the car and the downhill run was severely shattered by the knowledge that we'd just run downhill so we had another hill to conquer first.
I hate hills!
By the time we made if back to the car - 7k later - Mr SG had hardly broken a sweat and his breathing was perfectly normal - in fact he happily chattered away while running.
Leanne and I were bloody gobsmacked, seems he really can put his money where his mouth is.
Mr TG is now our trainer and has even agreed to enter the 10k with us - this means that a) he'll keep me going when my head wants me to stop and b) Leanne will be able to run off at her own pace which is much faster than mine.

So I learned that I should never under estimate Mr SG - he's awesome!

Det

You can see the spikes drop where I kept sneaking in a stop, once Mr SG cottoned on to what I was doing though he eventually managed to get me to stop.

56 minutes - not a great time but I know it'll improve.

Exercise Distance 6.99 km 

Uphill Distance 3.42 km

Downhill Distance 3.57 km

Calories 269 Kcal

Weight Loss 10.1 g

Carbohydrate 135 Kcal (50%)
Fat 135 Kcal (50%)

Things are not looking hopeful!

Is a crap run better than no run at all? On the one hand at least we got out there and did some running but on the other hand we walked many times for a minute or so a time.
We started well and cleared the first mile at a decent pace but then Leanne got stitch and I started feeling like I was going to throw up - it was all down hill from there.

We even got my husband to drop us off near the forest at the 3 mile marker and to follow us slowly in the car back to the main road - he thinks our attempt was so poor that he's now insisting that he's coming with us to run tomorrow. Obviously he tried to make it sound like a good thing but it actually sounded very much like a punishment lol.
The thing is my hubby is naturally quite fit as he's a builder BUT he's a heavy smoker, suffers from COPD and has a scar under foot that makes him limp - you could be forgiven for wondering why the heck he feels he'll be of any help at running but the annoying thing is that despite his conditions he'll definitely be able to run the pants off my daughter and I.
You may also wonder why the need to even help us improve and ordinarily I would have told him where to shove his "help" (he helped me when I originally started running, it wasn't a pleasant experience) but Leanne and I have a 10k booked in September and if we carry on in our current manner we'll be walking the whole thing.
Drastic times and all that!

Today was a disappointment for me in other ways too. I was due to start a new round of Insanity, I totally believed that my back was recovered enough to do it and that it would actually benefit from the stretches that Shaun T puts us through, unfortunately my back is actually not recovered enough and so I had to admit that to attempt something as extreme as Insanity would be an insane decision. I have a new start date of 19th August so I have everything crossed for that.

Reasons to run

Running with dogs has its downsides as well as its upsides. There's the obvious upsides such as company and safety when running lonely lanes or forest tracks but there's also the added bonus of effectively having a large dog pull you at times when you would otherwise have given in and walked - this also has the added bonus of improving running speed when not running with the dogs.
However the real downside as we've found out the last few times running is that we have to pull over for every single car on the lanes, all the stopping makes it harder and harder to get going again. If we run without the dogs then we don't need to stop as we can run far to the side but it's impossible when with the dogs, I think I'm going to have come up with some different running areas but it's going to mean driving to them first.
Todays GPS results show just how erratic our runs are

I can't believe how unfit I felt during this run, 5 weeks off has left me right back at square one which is a bit of a worry as we only have a few weeks left before our next 10k run.
At times when I'm worrying about being fit enough or am feeling despondent about not being able to run as well as I want to I try to remind myself of all the other awesome reasons for running.

Running with a GPS

Today was my first attempt at running since I slipped a disc in my back 4 weeks ago, when I say 'running' I use the term loosely because it was more of a dog walk spattered with bouts of jogging / running but at least I was back out there.
I don't really know why I bothered taking my GPS watch with me because it wasn't really needed but I'm finally trying to get used to how to use the thing to help me train efficiently and that means understanding the info it records.
Seriously though, even though I'm a visual person and prefer graphs and charts to text this information is all double dutch to me

I didn't realise while I was out that the GPS had either stopped receiving a signal or I accidentally turned it off (don't think I did though) so it only recorded 2/3rds of the run.
Guess it's going to take a while to understand what it all means.

'Dietbet' is up and running and is still open for newbies if you fancy joining in. There's a $25 (£16) stake but if you manage to lose 4% of your total weight in the 28days the challenge runs for then you'll make that back and more as you'll share a stake in the total pot - which currently stands at $8425.00.

Last night I needed to use up a cabbage that I'd cut from the veggie plot and my initial thought was Cabbage and Leek as I love it but I realised I didn't have Leeks so I had to improvise (which means make it up as I went along). I diced a whole Onion (also grown on the plot) and cooked that along with diced red pepper, garlic and Black peppercorns, then added the parboiled shredded cabbage, covered it and left it to cook away. I should have taken a photo but forget but let me tell you it was bloomin gorgeous!