... and relax (#Janathon Day 31)

And so it's all over.

I'd like to say that I always knew I could do it, but when it's something you decide to do on a whim, something you've never done before and involves more exercise than you've ever done on consecutive days, there was always going to be the possibility you'd get to a day and go "stuff this, it's not worth the hassle".

Unfortunately, today was again going to be an unexciting day on the exercise bike. Stellian was at work until 4:00pm (quite impressive since she only rolled in from her Christmas night out at 3:15am!) and I had a meeting to go to in the evening. This only left a small window for me to fit some exercise in.

I'm definitely going to give my body a break over this weekend. (There isn't a great deal of choice in this regard as Stellian's off on a girly 80s weekend tomorrow and won't be back until Monday - Bognor, you have been warned!). I guess it might give me the opportunity to locate my padded cycling shorts, which are still AWOL so that if I do feel like using the exercise bike, I'll still be able to sit down afterwards!

Being a Thursday, it was also weigh in day. I was hopeful that I would have lost some weight this week, although I had treated myself to lunch at Baguette Du Monde today, which is certainly a higher calorie intake than I'd usually have at a lunchtime. OK, so they're not Biggest Loser scales, but they show I've lost 2lbs this week. I'm now less than 1.5lbs away from breaking the 200lbs mark - I'd love it to be next week, but any loss will do.

So I guess that brings me on to next targets... I'm not prepared to commit myself at the moment as the 'change taking place in the office' referred to in one of my earlier blogs will be happening in two stages over the next two weeks and I need to try and get my head around it all. The events that have provisionally caught my eye are:

•  Liverpool Spring 10k - Sunday 5 May 2013.
•  Birmingham Black Country Half Maraton - Sunday 6 July 2013
•  BUPA Great Birmingham Run - Sunday 20 October 2013.
•  Cover 2013 miles in 2013.

... and there's also the possibility of a Super Sprint Triathlon, but I'd need my front crawl to get stronger and have a bike to do that.

 I suspect that these are all actually pipe-dreams that will stay in my head as opposed to coming to fruition, but you never know. Right - I'm going for a shower...

Total today (Exercise Bike):
Distance - 11.5 miles
Time - 32m 30

Janathon:
Total Distance - 236.18 miles
Total Time - 34h 02m 49
Average Distance/day - 7.62 miles

At the time of writing, that puts me 10th in the Janathon list in terms of distance although that may change if people haven't logged all their exercise. http://www.runningfreeonline.com/Groups/Totals/GroupName/Janathon 

Janathon Breakdown:

Walking: 31.88 miles in 9 hours 27:48
Running: 43.22 miles in 8 hours 25:03
Cycling: 136.19 miles in 7 hours20:58
Cross Trainer (Elliptical): 11.88 miles in 2 hours 02:03
Rowing: 6.2 miles in 47 minutes 32
Swimming: 6.81 miles in 5 hours 03:25
Other (Wii): 56 minutes.

Created by MyFitnessPal - Nutrition Facts For Foods

 

Short & Sweet (#Janathon Day 30)

Stellian = Work's Christmas Party (don't ask!)
Kids = Bed
Tea = In Oven
Padded Cycling Shorts = Who knows - not seen this month!

Total today (Exercise Bike):
Distance - 10.6 miles
Time - 30m 00

Numb Bum - 1

Janathon:
Total Distance - 224.68 miles
Total Time - 33h 30m 19

#Janathon Day 29

Today probably saw my last trip to the gym this January. G had Brownies tonight, so it made sense to head off to the gym whilst she was there and pick her up afterwards.

I started by warming up on the treadmill, however it was clear that my legs were tired. Whether it's just a symptom of 29 consecutive days exercise or fatigue from work and another rubbish night's sleep I wasn't sure, so I decided that a little bit of time on several apparatus would be better than testing my muscles and my inclination on one for a longer period.

After the treadmill, I moved onto the rowing machine, where I took just over 10 second off my best time for 2,000 metres. Finally, I moved onto the exercise bike for 15 minutes.

I feel quite tired after all that lot, so an early night may be in order.


Running:
Distance - 2.03 miles
Time - 23m 26

Exercise Bike:
Distance - 4.42 miles
Time - 15m 00

Rowing Machine:
Distance - 1.24 miles
Time - 9m 11

Total today:
Distance - 7.69 miles
Time - 47m 37

Janathon:
Total Distance - 214.08 miles
Total Time - 33h 00m 19

Getting back on the horse (#Janathon day 28)

... well kind of!

A bit of a switcheroo this week saw my long day at work moving to a Monday (short days until the weekend - woo hoo!) I hadn't slept too well, so completely bottled the public transport and walking option in favour of the foot-connected-to-the-accelerator choice. I did, however, put some running kit in a bag and took it with me. At 7.30am on a Monday morning, running is the generally the last thing on my mind, however now the snow had gone, I decided that I'd be more miffed if I didn't take anything and got to lunchtime to find I was really in the mood to get some miles done.

To be honest, I'm not sure I was in the mood for a run when lunchtime arrived, but somehow I clicked into autopilot, got changed and headed out. It felt good... somehow easier than I expected for the first mile and a half or so. Small puddles were easily avoided and larger puddles didn't get my feet too wet, which was a bit of a result.

The canal looked odd today. The top of the water had ripples, but underneath, it was clear that the ice hadn't quite melted. Certainly the ducks weren't impressed as the did their 'walking on the water' trick and one poor bird came into land and skidded right into the small branch under which it had made its nest (fortunately it was unhurt, but it was on the side of the canal with no towpath so there wouldn't have been a lot I could have done about it anyway.)

The first problem arose when I rounded a corner and saw barriers and fencing. This was well over 2 miles into my run and having to choose another route could have seen me be seriously late back after lunch. Luckily, they were just guarding a hole that the gas board had dug. The second problem explained why I'd thought my run was going so well to start with. As I came around the corner from the sheltered canal spur, the wind hit me. I'd obviously had the wind at my back pushing me on and now it was right in my face. Although the temperature had risen to around 8 or 9 degrees today the wind made it feel a lot colder and I was quite rosy cheeked by the time I got back to the office.

The combination of getting home after 6.30pm and having to write my annual review tonight (compounded by the 'not being allowed to e-mail it home' policy), will pretty much ensure I won't get anymore exercise done today. Still - 4 weeks down. Only three days left to go!

Total today (runing):
Distance - 3.91 miles
Time - 44m 31

Janathon:
Total Distance - 206.39 miles
Total Time - 32h 12m 42

An easy day (#Janathon Day 27)

After my efforts yesterday, today was going to be an easier one.

Of all the bits of exercise I've done this month, one of the things I'd like to keep doing is my Sunday morning swim.

This morning was a total of 50 laps at Tipton Swimming Centre, which makes a total of 1.1km. This afternoon I covered 6 miles on the exercise bike, but it was a very half-hearted effort and may have had something to do with trying to watch the car crash that was the Liverpool match on TV.

Still it brought my total for Janathon over 200 miles, which is probably the last milestone I'm going to reach - apart from completing it!

Exercise Bike:
Distance - 6 miles
Time - 21m 35

Swimming:
Distance - 0.68 miles
Time - 29m 24

Total today:
Distance - 6.68 miles
Time - 50m 59

Janathon:
Total Distance - 202.48 miles
Total Time - 31h 28m 11

In the mood to exercise (#Janathon Day 26)

Exercise for the day started off waving a spade around in the courtyard where the cars are parked trying to dislodge some ice so we could get the car out. After that, it was off to the gym.

When I got on the treadmill, I didn't start off with any particular plan in mind, I did a five minute warm up at 6kph and then pushed the speed up to 10.7kph - a little slower than usual, but since I was undecided as to what I was going to do, I was leaving my options open. As time passed, I wondered whether I could still run 5km without stopping for a break and if so, what would my time be. Admittedly at the 2.5km mark, I reduced the speed down to 9kph, but it soon started creeping back up again as that pace felt a little too slow.

A distraction arrived at the 3.5km mark as S's tennis teacher came into the gym to interrupt Stellian's workout as he was refusing to do as he was told (can't imagine where he gets that from!) I realised that I wasn't going to be able to do anything after the session on the treadmill so I pushed the speed back up to 10.7kph again and hit cooldown as soon as the 5km was up. So today, I've divided my time on the treadmill into two walking stages (my warm up and warm down) and the time I spent running, which I timed on a stopwatch as well. To say I'm chuffed, I think, an understatement. I'm not sure I've ever run 5km in under 30 minutes before - well I have now and it feels good!

After lunch, the kids were playing nicely in their room and Stellian had gone shopping, so I took the opportunity to jump on the exercise bike. Somedays, the kids will play nicely for ages at a time. Others, barely five minutes will pass without World War III erupting. I set the bike up for 6.5 miles (c10km), which I reckoned would take me about 20 minutes. Fortunately, the children played beautifully for the duration and longer, but that was enough for the moment.

Four hours of shopping later, Stellian returned home and I headed out to the swimming pool. Tipton didn't have a swimming session on, so I went to Smethwick baths instead. I'd driven past the baths many times, but hadn't been in. It's a traditional Victorian pool and slightly longer than Tipton at 33m so I had to start my swimming maths from scratch. It was a little strange to have an audience of people on treadmills and crosstrainers in the gym above the pool. In the end, I swam for 50 lengths, which just about tipped me over the mile mark.

I can now undo all my good work with beer, wine and/or whiskey!

Walking:
Distance - 0.65miles
Time - 10m 00

Running:
Distance - 3.11 miles (5km)
Time - 29m 19

Exercise Bike:
Distance - 6.5 miles
Time - 18m 58

Swimming:
Distance - 1.03 miles
Time - 40m 35

Total today:
Distance - 11.29 miles
Time - 1h 38m 52

Janathon:
Total Distance - 195.8 miles
Total Time - 30h 37m 12

Slippery When Icy (#Janathon Day 25)

A couple of days ago in my blog, I mentioned the "You might as well" part of my brain. The opposite part of my brain is "You've got time to". This part doesn't necessarily take everything into account when making a decision. For instance, "You've got time to stay in bed for another 5 minutes" or "You've got time to procrastinate on the computer for another 5 minutes". Both of these suggestions were duly accepted and turned my usual Walk/Train/Walk trip to work turned into drive.

As the snow has started to thaw, it has become compacted and icy. So much so that I couldn't get Stellian's car out of its parking space onto the road this morning without Stellian and a bit of pushing. She then decided she wouldn't make get my car out as well and let me take hers (She drives a Kia Picanto, I drive a Toyota Verso. I wouldn't have liked to have tried pushing that off an ice patch.)

There was absolutely no chance of me going running at lunchtime, but I wasn't going to stay in the office and out for a walk I went. It was very icy along the canal towpath and I very quickly decided to leave and do a bit of a road walk instead. The problem then became what route to take... so many options! I kind of worked out a route in my head, but I quickly realised that my pace due to the conditions under foot weren't enabling me to go at my usual walking pace and there was no way I was going to cover the route I had in mind in the time I had available. I therefore shortened my route and slid back towards the office.

I have pretty much lived in my walking boots this week due the weather. They were ideal when we climbed Snowdon in August (Stellian blogged about it here), but I think I've managed to get a blister on one of my toes. I can't wait for the ice to disappear so I can wear some different footwear outside besides walking boots and wellies.

Total today (Walking): http://runkeeper.com/user/plockplock/activity/144408730?&tripIdBase36=2dz6hm
Distance - 2.71 miles
Time - 46m 31

Janathon:
Total Distance - 184.51 miles
Total Time - 28h 58m20