Today for Janathon I went to circuit training for an hour. The session revolved around press ups and squats, or rather, how quickly someone could do 35 of each.
There were five of us this week, and five stations. Four stations had three exercises, which were done in rotation, while the fifth station was press ups and squats. The time spent on each station depending how quickly the person on the press up/squat station could finish their 35.
I've done this type of circuit before, and know from experience not to start on press ups, because if there is time at the end you end up having to do three sets! So I started on the station after press ups, which comprised bicep curls, ab crunches, and jogging on the spot (strength, core, cardio). The next station was tricep dips, back extension, and squat jumps, followed by hamstring curls, reverse crunches, and climbers (my favourite station! Apart from a slight top and pants malfunction during climbers when everything went separate ways). Finally, we did lunges, bicycle curls, and star jumps.
Then it was my turn for press ups and squats. I tried hard to focus on technique this week, to ensure I was getting the best from my workout. Hence I was a bit slow. I've noticed my knee dipping in and out when I squat, which is something my physio Kieran has told me I need to work on, so I focused really hard on keeping everything tight. For press ups, I keep hearing my Pilates instructor when I do these: "shoulders back and down". Makes the press ups super-hard but you do feel the difference. (I also need to remember "pelvic floor and transverse abdominis" and "HIPS, Sarah", but these things take time.)
Fortunately for my friend Duncan who was following me round the circuit, I was slow enough on the second set that he didn't have to do a third round of press ups. He definitely owes me a drink. He also called me out last week for not writing in my blog about how much noise I make when I workout. So I'd just like to add that he was really noisy today.
I'm happy this week because I weighed myself last night and the scales finally read under 150 lb (for a week or two I actually wondered if they were broken). I now weigh 146 lb and have lost 1% body fat. My body water has increased slightly, which is a good sign because I have been actively trying to drink more water during the day. So, 4 lb lost in 2 weeks, I'm happy with that and it keeps me on course to lose a stone by the time I run VLM. (Less than 100 days to go!)
Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts
Monday, 19 January 2015
Friday, 31 January 2014
Janathon is completed! Long live Janathon!
Ah, the end of January arrives and with it the relief that I have finished Janathon uninjured* and no longer need to blog daily.
*Slight niggles in my right knee, right glute, and left hamstring.
Today I did a tempo run of around 5.5 miles, the Strava segment run as I call it. Not quite 6 miles because my Garmin wouldn't pick up a signal for a while, and I had to go to the Co-op on the way home. But, a good run to end the month. I got a Course Record on one segment (yes OK, a female CR, but it still counts) and came 2nd on the other. If I'd eaten a proper breakfast and not had leg woe, who knows what I'd have managed?
Here's a summary of what I did this month:
Running: 135.5 miles (218 km) [19 days]
Cycling: 11 miles (18 km) [2 days]
Swimming: 0.9 miles (1.4 km) [2 days]
Walking: 3 miles (5 km) [3 days]
Cross-training: 3 Pilates classes; 2 Circuit Training sessions; 5 home workouts, including Tabata, hula hooping, or squats (9 days)
Weight lost: 10 lb (10 st 4 lb on Jan 1; 9 st 8 lb on Jan 31)
Biscuits eaten: loads
Cakes baked: several
Chocolate scoffed: too much
Soreen purchased: 5 packets
*Slight niggles in my right knee, right glute, and left hamstring.
Today I did a tempo run of around 5.5 miles, the Strava segment run as I call it. Not quite 6 miles because my Garmin wouldn't pick up a signal for a while, and I had to go to the Co-op on the way home. But, a good run to end the month. I got a Course Record on one segment (yes OK, a female CR, but it still counts) and came 2nd on the other. If I'd eaten a proper breakfast and not had leg woe, who knows what I'd have managed?
Here's a summary of what I did this month:
Running: 135.5 miles (218 km) [19 days]
Cycling: 11 miles (18 km) [2 days]
Swimming: 0.9 miles (1.4 km) [2 days]
Walking: 3 miles (5 km) [3 days]
Cross-training: 3 Pilates classes; 2 Circuit Training sessions; 5 home workouts, including Tabata, hula hooping, or squats (9 days)
Weight lost: 10 lb (10 st 4 lb on Jan 1; 9 st 8 lb on Jan 31)
Biscuits eaten: loads
Cakes baked: several
Chocolate scoffed: too much
Soreen purchased: 5 packets
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Marathon planning, it's Week One!
Now I've got Stevenage Half out of the way, and I'm still buzzing from my new personal best time (*skips about the room*), I'm starting to think about training for Milton Keynes marathon. I really want to do my best at this distance, because I don't know if it'll be the last one I do (the last one, again!).
Based on my 1:45 half time, the pace calculators I've looked at seem to think I can manage a sub 4 hour marathon. Well, I know it's not that simple! My aim is to beat 4:58, remain uninjured, and finish knowing I've run the best race I can.
There are 26 weeks between now and May 5th. I've made a rough plan of my long runs, and I've decided to cut the long run distance in half and run that as a tempo midweek. So that means I'll be running 10 miles with some fast sections on the Thursday before I run 20 miles on the Saturday or Sunday. There will be at least one other run midweek, on the Tuesday (of about 2 miles with running club), and then perhaps a 5-6 mile alternate recovery/tempo on Mondays or Wednesdays depending on my work schedule. As far as I see it, the long run is important, as is fitting a longish tempo in if I want to maintain my speed and fitness.
This week is Week One, and I'll be running 5 miles on Thursday and 10 miles on Sunday, and possibly a fast run today, if I manage to get my arse in gear.
Other stuff this week, I'm recovering nicely from Stevenage half, my legs aren't destroyed, although my calves feel a bit sore. I had a good recovery run last night with the beginners group at the club, and a lovely stretch out later at Pilates.
I've also weighed myself to check I've not ballooned after gorging myself on smarties and pasta on Monday and Tuesday. I've lost 2lb, which brings me to 47lb total weight loss (since I began counting in Jan 2011). I'm nearly back at the magic 50lb lost mark, which I've been aiming at all year! It was good motivation for me to eat a healthy lunch, rather than open a tin of curry and eat it all (I do have a habit of eating to excess when it's cold outside, when I'm working, and when I'm a bit distracted).
Random thoughts purged, time to work before I run later.
EDIT: I ran 4 miles in the rain, not fast though, I couldn't manage fast...
Based on my 1:45 half time, the pace calculators I've looked at seem to think I can manage a sub 4 hour marathon. Well, I know it's not that simple! My aim is to beat 4:58, remain uninjured, and finish knowing I've run the best race I can.
There are 26 weeks between now and May 5th. I've made a rough plan of my long runs, and I've decided to cut the long run distance in half and run that as a tempo midweek. So that means I'll be running 10 miles with some fast sections on the Thursday before I run 20 miles on the Saturday or Sunday. There will be at least one other run midweek, on the Tuesday (of about 2 miles with running club), and then perhaps a 5-6 mile alternate recovery/tempo on Mondays or Wednesdays depending on my work schedule. As far as I see it, the long run is important, as is fitting a longish tempo in if I want to maintain my speed and fitness.
This week is Week One, and I'll be running 5 miles on Thursday and 10 miles on Sunday, and possibly a fast run today, if I manage to get my arse in gear.
Other stuff this week, I'm recovering nicely from Stevenage half, my legs aren't destroyed, although my calves feel a bit sore. I had a good recovery run last night with the beginners group at the club, and a lovely stretch out later at Pilates.
I've also weighed myself to check I've not ballooned after gorging myself on smarties and pasta on Monday and Tuesday. I've lost 2lb, which brings me to 47lb total weight loss (since I began counting in Jan 2011). I'm nearly back at the magic 50lb lost mark, which I've been aiming at all year! It was good motivation for me to eat a healthy lunch, rather than open a tin of curry and eat it all (I do have a habit of eating to excess when it's cold outside, when I'm working, and when I'm a bit distracted).
Random thoughts purged, time to work before I run later.
EDIT: I ran 4 miles in the rain, not fast though, I couldn't manage fast...
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Why I started running: a series of challenges
I've been helping at Stotfold Runners for over a year now. I enjoy the club, it's good to meet new people who want to run. Everyone has a different background, they come along for so many different reasons: to run with other people; to have fun; to lose weight; to run 5K, 10K, a marathon. This post is for the new beginners at Stotfold Runners, who have just met me and aren't aware of my running history.
I started running with Stotfold Runners in January 2011; I gave in and joined the club after about 3 months of gentle persuasion by friends to give running a go. My reasons for running were to lose weight (I weighed more than 14 stone) and improve my fitness. The last time I'd run before 2011 was cross-country at school, back in 1994 I think. 15 years of inactivity. Terrible... but I'm sure a lot of us are guilty of that, finishing school and just stopping all exercise.
For my first session I was run-walking at 5 minute intervals, and I covered about 2.5 miles. There was no Stotfold Runners beginners group in 2011. The beginners now who are allowed to run for 1 minute then walk for a minute are LUCKY! I ran with the club every Tuesday and then again on my own at the weekend. After a month I was running three times a week, for a couple of miles each time; after 2 months I could run 4 miles. I'd also lost about 2 stone in weight, through cutting alcohol and bread, not snacking, eating smaller portions, and I'd changed my hair colour several times! I decided to set myself a challenge, to run in a 10K race, the Flitwick 10K in April 2011.
On race day I was so excited; the atmosphere was amazing, the buzz beforehand and the noise from spectators and other runners at the start gave me such a good feeling; I just loved the whole event. I was completely hooked on racing! I finished that race and immediately wanted to run another one! I began to train again, this time for a half marathon.
I ended 2011 having raced in three 10Ks and two half marathons. I was also at my lowest weight ever (a never-to-be-seen-again 8 stone 12; I lost 50 lb in weight in 2011). I didn't want to stop running ever!
In 2012, I ran two other half marathons (I set my current half PB of 1:46:30 during the Greenway Challenge) and Flitwick 10K again (setting my current 10K PB of 48:16), and I ran an amazing 22:42 5K at Marston Forest in June (I don't think I'll ever run that fast again!). I also attended Run England's Leadership in Running Fitness course, and became qualified to lead sessions at Stotfold Runners. Around this time the Stotfold Runners beginners group started.
My next challenge began soon after; I started to train for my first marathon in October 2012, the Preston Guild marathon, which is every 20 years (very special indeed!).
Don't ever think that running a marathon is easy "because so many people do it". The training is long and hard and tiring and painful. I'm not sure I ever want to go through it again. I picked up a bad knee injury that forced me to physiotherapy, made me miss running Standalone 10K, and has resulted in me doing Pilates once a week ever since and leg and core strength work most days. But it did teach me how to become a "better" runner, about foot striking (toe vs heel), cadence (number of steps per minute, 180 is best), posture (upright and tall, not slouched!), and to concentrate.
After the marathon was over I didn't run for several weeks, apart from a few beginner club nights. I just didn't really feel like I wanted to run anymore, because of my knee problems mainly, but I'd also lost a lot of speed (perceived at the time as loss of "fitness", I was disenchanted). But some long, hilly, slow runs around Lancashire with my sister over the Christmas period got my mojo back and in 2013 I was ready to start over again.
This year I've been focusing mainly on getting faster again. I'm still plagued by leg and knee problems; I've had two periods of non-running from knee and shin problems, and a sore heel that comes and goes. But in a way that's been good; because I wasn't running I started to swim more and to cycle. I took part in an aquathlon in August, and I loved the challenge of a dual discipline event. I've also started to refocus my training, concentrating on heart rate, making sure my training plans incorporate speedwork and long slow runs, ensuring every run is a quality run.
It's been really good to help out at Stotfold Runners these past 2 years, to coach "non-runners" to become runners. I don't want to push advice at people, but I am happy to chat if asked. And I'm always ready to explain why it's important we do speedwork! It makes me incredibly proud to see friends now running 5K and 10K and training to run their first half marathon. 2014 is going to be amazing!
Now to think of my next challenge.
I started running with Stotfold Runners in January 2011; I gave in and joined the club after about 3 months of gentle persuasion by friends to give running a go. My reasons for running were to lose weight (I weighed more than 14 stone) and improve my fitness. The last time I'd run before 2011 was cross-country at school, back in 1994 I think. 15 years of inactivity. Terrible... but I'm sure a lot of us are guilty of that, finishing school and just stopping all exercise.
 |
| January 1st, 2011 |
 |
| April 2011, before Flitwick 10K |
On race day I was so excited; the atmosphere was amazing, the buzz beforehand and the noise from spectators and other runners at the start gave me such a good feeling; I just loved the whole event. I was completely hooked on racing! I finished that race and immediately wanted to run another one! I began to train again, this time for a half marathon.
I ended 2011 having raced in three 10Ks and two half marathons. I was also at my lowest weight ever (a never-to-be-seen-again 8 stone 12; I lost 50 lb in weight in 2011). I didn't want to stop running ever!
In 2012, I ran two other half marathons (I set my current half PB of 1:46:30 during the Greenway Challenge) and Flitwick 10K again (setting my current 10K PB of 48:16), and I ran an amazing 22:42 5K at Marston Forest in June (I don't think I'll ever run that fast again!). I also attended Run England's Leadership in Running Fitness course, and became qualified to lead sessions at Stotfold Runners. Around this time the Stotfold Runners beginners group started.
My next challenge began soon after; I started to train for my first marathon in October 2012, the Preston Guild marathon, which is every 20 years (very special indeed!).
 |
| After Preston Guild marathon |
Don't ever think that running a marathon is easy "because so many people do it". The training is long and hard and tiring and painful. I'm not sure I ever want to go through it again. I picked up a bad knee injury that forced me to physiotherapy, made me miss running Standalone 10K, and has resulted in me doing Pilates once a week ever since and leg and core strength work most days. But it did teach me how to become a "better" runner, about foot striking (toe vs heel), cadence (number of steps per minute, 180 is best), posture (upright and tall, not slouched!), and to concentrate.
After the marathon was over I didn't run for several weeks, apart from a few beginner club nights. I just didn't really feel like I wanted to run anymore, because of my knee problems mainly, but I'd also lost a lot of speed (perceived at the time as loss of "fitness", I was disenchanted). But some long, hilly, slow runs around Lancashire with my sister over the Christmas period got my mojo back and in 2013 I was ready to start over again.
This year I've been focusing mainly on getting faster again. I'm still plagued by leg and knee problems; I've had two periods of non-running from knee and shin problems, and a sore heel that comes and goes. But in a way that's been good; because I wasn't running I started to swim more and to cycle. I took part in an aquathlon in August, and I loved the challenge of a dual discipline event. I've also started to refocus my training, concentrating on heart rate, making sure my training plans incorporate speedwork and long slow runs, ensuring every run is a quality run.
It's been really good to help out at Stotfold Runners these past 2 years, to coach "non-runners" to become runners. I don't want to push advice at people, but I am happy to chat if asked. And I'm always ready to explain why it's important we do speedwork! It makes me incredibly proud to see friends now running 5K and 10K and training to run their first half marathon. 2014 is going to be amazing!
Now to think of my next challenge.
Monday, 26 August 2013
Summer holiday training
My last training post was written in the middle of July, at the beginning of the school summer holidays, and this one is written at the end of August, when they are almost over. I find training in the summer holidays quite tricky. My children are home with me, so I can't run in the morning anymore (unless I get up at silly o'clock!), and my evening routine goes out of the window when we are away on our camping trips.
I've managed to continue to attend my weekly Pilates class, which has been a great help with healing my leg injury. I also continued to attend circuits, cycle, and swim whenever I could.
I restarted running in August with a training day for the Duck N Dash organised by Freedom Tri. We had an hour of swim training at 7:30 am, then we ran the First Saturday of the Month 5K around Norton Common. It was a good opportunity to see how it feels to do a dual event. I found the swimming really difficult, but the running went well, possibly because I didn't strictly race the event, I took the first mile "easy" and then began to speed up towards the end (26:27).
Because I've been away a lot over the summer, when I do get chance to run I've been trying to make it count. I've maintained my long run distance by running at least 10K once a week. On the other run day (I usually only managed two runs a week) I was focusing on speedwork, either hill sprints or intervals. It's been good to attempt speedwork on my own because I usually leave run club to organise my fast runs! On my last run (5.5 miles) I concentrated on maintaining a faster pace than usual (I aimed at 9 min/mile vs settling into a 10.5 min/mile plod). I also aimed to run fast up all the hills. It was a good run, despite the faster pace I felt comfortable (and wondered to myself why I'd never pushed myself before this day!). It's definitely given me some confidence that I've not lost too much fitness and I can get back something from this year (aim is still to achieve 10K and half PBs).
This week I'm taking charge of run club. My plans aren't too complicated because I'm not very confident on my own! Tuesday will be about negative splits, taking the beginners to Arlesey and back to see if they can make the return journey faster, and intermediates will be attempting to run a progressive 5 miles. Thursday will be speedwork for the beginners at the Norton Rd underpass, and intermediates will be running 4-6 miles depending on who comes (we might race the distances).
I don't really want to risk injury on Thursday, because Sunday is the Duck N Dash. I can't believe it's less than a week away. I need to concentrate on my diet this week, I need to lose some weight but I also need to keep my energy levels up. I'll be blogging about my diet on soggous.blogspot.co.uk.
Thanks for reading!
I've managed to continue to attend my weekly Pilates class, which has been a great help with healing my leg injury. I also continued to attend circuits, cycle, and swim whenever I could.
I restarted running in August with a training day for the Duck N Dash organised by Freedom Tri. We had an hour of swim training at 7:30 am, then we ran the First Saturday of the Month 5K around Norton Common. It was a good opportunity to see how it feels to do a dual event. I found the swimming really difficult, but the running went well, possibly because I didn't strictly race the event, I took the first mile "easy" and then began to speed up towards the end (26:27).
Because I've been away a lot over the summer, when I do get chance to run I've been trying to make it count. I've maintained my long run distance by running at least 10K once a week. On the other run day (I usually only managed two runs a week) I was focusing on speedwork, either hill sprints or intervals. It's been good to attempt speedwork on my own because I usually leave run club to organise my fast runs! On my last run (5.5 miles) I concentrated on maintaining a faster pace than usual (I aimed at 9 min/mile vs settling into a 10.5 min/mile plod). I also aimed to run fast up all the hills. It was a good run, despite the faster pace I felt comfortable (and wondered to myself why I'd never pushed myself before this day!). It's definitely given me some confidence that I've not lost too much fitness and I can get back something from this year (aim is still to achieve 10K and half PBs).
This week I'm taking charge of run club. My plans aren't too complicated because I'm not very confident on my own! Tuesday will be about negative splits, taking the beginners to Arlesey and back to see if they can make the return journey faster, and intermediates will be attempting to run a progressive 5 miles. Thursday will be speedwork for the beginners at the Norton Rd underpass, and intermediates will be running 4-6 miles depending on who comes (we might race the distances).
I don't really want to risk injury on Thursday, because Sunday is the Duck N Dash. I can't believe it's less than a week away. I need to concentrate on my diet this week, I need to lose some weight but I also need to keep my energy levels up. I'll be blogging about my diet on soggous.blogspot.co.uk.
Thanks for reading!
Friday, 7 June 2013
Juneathon day 7: plank
Although Friday is usually my rest day from running, I wanted to run today because yesterday's wasn't great. However, today I'm really busy, I have so much to do before this weekend (my son's birthday party tomorrow, and we have guests this weekend). So my day 7 Juneathon effort is a full plank for a minute.
I've also weighed myself for the first time in 2 weeks and I'm pleased to see I'm maintaining my 10 stones nicely. I'd like to drop half a stone but I'm weak for lager when it's hot so my dieting is being compromised somewhat. Oh well :)
Looking back at this week, my highlight was the mile time trial on Tuesday when I ran 7:20. I'm still buzzing from that!
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