Wk10, D3 Trying out a new app

This mornings station run was hard!!!!! I didn't have the energy or the motivation for it. I bought a new app yesterday called runmeter. It works the same way as runkeeper but automatically detects when I stop, say, at traffic lights. With runkeeper you have to physically pause it then resume when you go again. Rumeter also gives you the option to "ghost race" yourself where you race against your best time on a particular route or distance. It takes a while to get used to a new app. I like the way runkeeper works. I "know" the screen and layout better but I will keep using runmeter for the rest of this week and see if I can get used to it.
 Its also a slight problem now I have finished the getrunning programme. I need to be told what to do, I'm not good at self direction or motivation particularly. Runkeeper is a free app but they sell training programmes. At $19.99 (£12.49), I think they are expensive, hmmm, maybe still cheaper than the gym though...
Anyway needless to say I did not do a pb on the station run this morning! The rest of the day was work and housework. Vacuuming the house from top to bottom and mopping the floors downstairs must have worked off a few additional calories.

Exercise - 175 calories
Food -  1241 calories 
Breakfast
50g shreddies with 130ml 1% milk
Tea
Lunch
140g reduced fat houmous
two celery sticks
2 Ryvitas
apple
tea
Afternoon
Apple
20g almonds
Dinner
Canned tuna (54g)
Grilled chicken breast (30g)
1 boiled egg
Large Salad
Apple

Wk10 D2. Got the running bug

There was no station run this morning as I had an early client. By the time I finished this afternoon we had a huge thunderstorm. I sat at the computer contemplating going to the local gym to run on the treadmill. I surprise myself everyday with my enthusiasm for getting out there and sweating. I have definitely be bitten by the running bug.
 I have been doing this for 10 weeks now but I only think the bug hit at about week 7. It takes time, time and a lot of effort. I think that's why so many of us are overweight and unfit because it's easier to sit around and eat all day. The first 7 weeks were pure determination, now its a joy, well a joy at the beginning and end at least, but once you are in the middle, far from home and you've got to get back you may as well keep running. The pleasure, the "runners high" you get when you finish really is something to make all the effort for.
The rain finally stopped so I went out about 4pm. I decided to use runkeeper to track my run and turn left at the river because the towpath stops at the next town (if I turn right I could run all the way to Big Ben and beyond!) 4pm is not a good time for me to run. Usually at this time of day my body wants to either sleep for 20 minutes or eat something. The run was definitely a mind over matter battle - really hard going. I took a few walk breaks but covered 7.20km - almost 5 miles. My next run is on Thursday and I really need to make it a mid-morning run where I seem to have the most energy.

Exercise - 528 calories !
Food - 1108 calories !(I guess running for an hour takes up the time I could be eating! :-)
Breakfast
2 oatibix with 200ml 1% milk
Tea
Mid morning
Medium banana
10 g almonds
Coffee
Lunch
2 poached eggs on 2 slices wholewheat toast
1 small plum
Tea
Dinner
100g canned tuna
1 boiled egg
Large salad

Wk 10, Day 1. New running programme

So, now my GetRunning couch to 5k programme has finished I need to do something else to get my Saturday 5ks' easier and faster. The creator of the app kindly gave me some tips, one of which I tried out this morning. I set my runkeeper to tell me as each minute passed so I jogged for 1 minute then ran fast the next. This worked quite well for the first 9 minutes then I had to walk for 2 minutes as I was knackered! It was also really hot at 7.30 this morning. After a couple of minutes walk I started up the slowjog/fast run again until I hit the station carpark. I was really quite amazed and very pleased with myself for doing the fastest time on this route by 38 seconds! Tomorrow I have a long run to do so I will do a bit of research to work out what I am going to do. In the meantime, my Colorado friend, here is my food diary for yesterday :-)


Exercise - 196 calories
1.35 miles or 2.17km run in 16.46 minutes (a pb for this route!)
Food - 1367 calories
Breakfast
2 slices wholemeal toast with 20g peanut butter
Tea with 1% milk
Lunch
300g sausage pasta (see recipes)
Apple
Pint water
Afternoon
Medium banana (100g)
Handful (20g) almonds
pint water
Dinner
Salad
108g Chicken breast-grilled
70g couscous
60g new potatoes

Wk9 - Results and Reflection

Well. I think something has gone wrong with my withings scales. I kept within my calorie allowance for 5 of the last 7 days and when evened out I hit the calorie allowance dead on overall. Plus, I burned 2,469 calories. Plus, I got a new pb on my 5k run. Plus, I kept away from the wine for most of the week. Yet,  

I PUT ON 2LBS!!!!!!!!!

Well, I am not happy. Hmmmph! It probably serves me right for really overdoing the calories in week 8 and losing 2lbs. I suppose it really does come back and bite you on the bum. I could blame it on "womens hormone things" but that was what all the munching in week 8 was all about. I'm not giving up though. Oh no. I have dropped my allowance down to 1346 calories a day. I'm going to up the running this week and eat salad. Yes, wobbly thighs, we'll be seeing less of you in no time at all!

Wk9 D7, Change to my posts?

Sunday, lazy Sunday - rest day from running so no exercise today, just roaming around in the scorching heat of June. The back of my knee on my left leg is a bit sore so I need to do some stretches today. Other than that there really is nothing to report.
I forgot, yesterday in my excitement, to put down my food diary. I'm not sure if it's actually of any help to anyone. I started to do it for me really to track my food intake but then I got mynetdiary and do it on that. If you want me to carry on with the diary on here then let me know in the comments section at the bottom of this post. If not, I am thinking that from now on, I will just let you know how many calories I have consumed against how many I have burned off through exercise.

Exercise - none
Calories consumed - 1450

Wk9 D6, The final run with the Get Running - Couch to 5k programme

So, today is the end of my 9 week running programme, which literally did get me "from the couch to 5k". I cannot believe how this programme has changed the way my legs look and feel. The way my lungs work, the way my whole body feels, the fact that I wouldn't, couldn't contemplate not completing the programme or not going for a run. I still cant believe that I "go out for a run"! But today is the end for the programme.

It's Saturday. Another day for the parkrun 5k run. I got ready and we went up there. Last week I was left behind with a few stragglers as I fiddled about with  runkeeper, music and getrunning on the iphone. This week I was more organised. I made my way to the middle of the crowd of 623 runners. The music was on, runkeeper found a good signal for GPS and getrunning was set to start and off we went. I started off too fast because I was swept away with the momentum of the crowd I was in. The back of my throat tightened a few minutes into the run so I slowed to my normal jogging pace and soon everything was right again. Yes, people were overtaking me, quite a lot of people actually, including an 80 year old woman wearing a parkrun 100 top. Meaning she'd done it 100 times. That will be me in 40 years, still running in my 80's. So overall the run went well. there were a couple of women my age-ish that were run/walking, as they walked I overtook them and as they ran they overtook me. Eventually they gave up and I got quite a distance between me and them. I caught up with an older man, say 50's, and overtook him, I think he saw this as competition and ran in front of me at the last minute!. I decided to open up my gait a little to go a bit faster towards the end and I'm glad I did because I beat my PB by 1.08 seconds and did it in 39 minutes and 8 seconds! I was very pleased to get below 40 minutes. I felt great at the end and hubby was there with the camera this time so here is a photo of me running...and sweating!

Wk9 D5, The day before the final run with the Get running - Couch to 5k programme

I had an early start today, no station run as I had an early client, then off to Tunbridge Wells in Kent to see my niece for lunch.

Eating out is a bit of a minefield when one is calorie counting. We could have got a sandwich and sat in the park, but I wanted it to be a treat for all of us - I am a great aunty too! So I took them to Pizza Express where they do leggera pizzas, which literally have a whole cut out of the middle, replaced by salad. They claim it is "about 500 calories". For the full menu of calories click here. So I had one of those. My great nephew, who is 14 months old, had the children's menu which was £6.95 for 3 courses. Why a child would need 3 courses is beyond me but it was good value. Of course, at that age, most of the food went on the floor, we helped him out with the garlic dough balls for his starter and the dough balls with nutella for his dessert. The 500 calorie lunch was quickly heading upwards with every bite.
So in conclusion, Pizza Express Leggera range of pizzas are good for the calorie conscious but you do have to leave the starters and desserts alone.

Exercise
none
Breakfast
2 Oatibix with 1% milk
Tea
Lunch
Elderflower drink
Leggera pizza
1 garlic dough ball
1/2 dough ball with a bit of nutella
Cappuccino
Afternoon
Tea
Dinner
Homemade sausage pasta (see recipes)

Wk9 D4, The penultimate run.

I was 10 seconds slower on the station run this morning due to the traffic lights being on red when I reached them and slight fatigue. I cant wait for my lie in on Sunday!

So today was my penultimate run on the get running programme which makes me a little anxious about what I am going to do next week. Thank goodness for parkrun though. It gives me something to keep going for each Saturday I am free.

I went out about 10 am. The weather was warm and breezy, perfect. I wanted to open up my gait a little for this run to try and get a bit further than the last run so I started, probably, a bit too fast. What with that and the run I did a couple of hours before, my thighs really felt it. Even so, I did the whole run, plus a few minutes more into the cool down and made it to 4.92 km in 40 minutes, which is not bad considering at least 6 minutes of that was walking. I think I'm ready to beat 40.15 minutes for my 5k on Saturday.
A client bought me a box of chocolates today and as I already burned a load of calories I munched my way through 6 of them. Very yum they were too.

Exercise
Station run, Wk9, D2 of the getrunning programme burning 923 calories!!
Breakfast
Porridge (see recipe)
Tea
Lunch
Chicken salad sandwich
Apple
Afternoon
Chocolate
Tea
Pretzels
Dinner
Steak
Asparagus
Apple

Wk9 D3, Another pb on the station run!

17.02 minutes this morning! That's 22 seconds faster than yesterday :-) I know it doesn't sound a lot but it actually is! I put and extra bit of effort into the last few metres. My legs are fine from yesterday's run and I was feeling spritley (ish, for 7.30am) this morning. I like being able to run all the way to the station.

Yesterday I ran behind someone smoking and I got a lung full.


















Now, I did used to smoke, quite heavily at 20 a day too, for about 6 or 7 years, but I gave up some 18 years ago now. Although the last time I actually had a puff of a cigarette was about 4 years ago (and I hated it immediately). I will never, ever smoke again. Getting a lung full almost stopped me in my tracks. There I was running along the beautiful riverside, drawing fresh, clean air, deeply into my lungs, almost feeling the oxygen whizzing around my body to my muscles, feeling elated with endorphines and such like, the sunshine, Lady Ga Ga's "hey hey" in my ears and suddenly, it was like I just breathed in a mass of stinking cotton wool. Of course the feeling dispersed almost immediately. I do understand why people start smoking and I do understand why they continue and, believe me, I know its hard to give up, but if there was somehow a way of getting a smoker to feel what clean, clear, healthy lungs actually feel like in their body, working to their full potential, I am sure many people would give up.

On a less than angelic note, hubby offered to take me to the pub for dinner. As our local is on the river and it was a beautiful evening, who could resist? Although I only had soup, complete a dollop of cream on the top, (I hate it when they do that!) which I promptly removed, I also succumbed to two white wine spritzers. Well, I'm only human! So, that's a fail for the no wine drinking this week, but I wont give up. There's still a few days to go yet!

Exercise
Station run burning 180 calories
Breakfast
2 oatibix with 1%milk
Tea
Lunch
Ryvitas with reduced fat houmous
Apple
Tea
Afternoon
Tea
20g mini pretzels
Dinner
Tomato and basil soup
Bread
2 white wine spritzers

Wk9 D2, Sadly, the first run of the last week

No station run this morning as I had to be at mum in laws for 9am which is 1 1/2 hours away. I was back in the afternoon for the first of my final week of the getrunning programme which is a 30 minute run. I thought about how I will approach this, considering my 40 minute run I did last Saturday. In the end I decided to do it properly by walking the 5 minute walks either end of the run rather than running for 40 minutes again. I will be doing another 5k this Saturday, which will incorporate my final run of the programme, anyway so I wont kill myself just yet. Anyway I completed the run without too much ado. I got further up the towpath than ever before (well, you would expect that anyway wouldn't you?). There are plenty of people fishing by the river bank, watching as I run past, which I find a bit unnerving -I think they are judging my wobbling thighs, bum and tum! I think I preferred it when it wasn't fishing season so I didn't have a towpath side audience!

I measured the distance with runkeeper, as usual, on the walk back and was pleased to see my run covered 4.65 km (2.89 miles). On Thursday for my 2nd run I will try to get a bit further in preparation for Saturday.

Calorie intake was excellent today and no wine!!

Exercise
Wk9 D1 of getrunning
Breakfast
2 oatibix with 1% milk
Tea
Mid morning
Costa skinny cappuccino
Lunch
Ryvitas
Reduced fat houmous
Apple
Tea
Dinner
Cannelloni
Strawberries

Wk 9, D1, It's all about the PB (personal best) from now on.

After Saturdays excitement of running for 40 minutes I decided I must be able to run the whole station run, with or without breakfast. So, I ran it from the front door to the car park in a record breaking time of 17 minutes 24 seconds! It was actually no problem either, so from now on it will be a run, not a walk and a bit of a run. I have decided to get my speed and stamina up to beat my 5k "pb" so far for next Saturday.

The rest of the day was good with food. Even at my friends house for coffee in the morning I turned down the chocolate biscuits in favour of a weight watchers carrot cake slice, and turned down the option of a second one! I also didn't have a drop of wine in the evening either. So the week is going well so far :-)

Exercise
Station run, burned 188 calories
Breakfast
Oatibix and 1% milk
Tea
Morning
Tea
WW carrot cake slice
Lunch
WW crustless quiche
Apple
Dinner
Ryvitas
1/2 fat cheese
Tea

Wk 8 Results and Reflection

Well now, when I first started this beginners running programme 8 weeks ago I never, ever would have thought I would run in an organised 5k, run ALL the way round AND complete it without stopping BEFORE the programme even finished! I still have a week to go!! My plan all along was to finish the programme, continue building up my distances and times through July and then hit my first ever 5k goal on the 6th August - the day before my birthday. Now I will have to think of my next goal for that date. No.... it wont be a 10k, I'm not crazy.....It will be to get my time down but I need to do a few more before I know what would be a good challenge for me without putting me off the whole thing.

So, weight wise this week is another loss of .........drum roll please............

2.4lbs!!!!!!

my biggest weight loss in a week so far (oh, apart from week 3)! It's definitely because of the exercise not the eating. I went over my calorie allowance everyday last week, mostly through glasses of wine! So my challenge for this week is for the entire week to be alcohol free and we will see how much weight I lose for next Monday. 

Oh and by the way, I am 1/3 of the way through my weight loss goal :-)))

Wk8, D6 I just ran my first, ever, 5k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I first heard of parkrun  a couple of years ago through a friend who regularly runs, but at the time I wasn't interested. I rediscovered it again a few months back when I started this running thing while I was looking for 5ks to do locally to me. I took a mental note of it at the time. Then, when another blogger, runningsam, (thanks Sam :-)) and runner on the getrunning programme did the park run 5k I thought to look at it again and registered, for free, both myself and my husband.
This morning hubby wanted to go to the park and maybe do the run. My plan was to do my run in another part of the park. Somehow, it didn't work out like that. Once I saw there were children, people with dogs and prams being pushed I thought it looked more inviting, less scary. So I decided to do my 28 minute run as part of the 5k and see how I get on, highly expecting to walk half of it. The run started, so on went the runkeeper to track my pace and calories burned and on went the getrunning week 8 run 3. Well, as I started my 5 minute warm up walk, I quickly found myself almost alone in the park with just a few stragglers with push chairs and indignant children at the back while the main body of people disappeared into the distance. I felt a surge of panic that by the time I finish they would have all packed up and gone home for lunch! So about 30 seconds later I started to run.
I ran and ran and ran, a bit like Forrest Gump, well, only a bit. I overtook children, I overtook a lady not more than 15 years older than me, she overtook me and I over took her again, kids with dads overtook me and I overtook them. I kept my steady pace all the way through. I ran 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 28 minutes "should now be stopping and stretching ready for the next run" (getrunning commentary) but I still had further to go. The end was in sight, my legs where good, my breathing was fine, people where clapping me, hubby let out a loud "hey" as he looked up and saw me running to the finish line.

 I only bloomin' well ran the whole 5k in 40.15 minutes!!!!!!!!!!

Zippidy do dahh. My first ever 5k! And I haven't even finished the get running programme yet! I have a week to go. The last run being next Saturday and as we are free in the morning we are going to do it again! Hubby did his in 23 minutes and wants to improve his time, so him wanting to do it will keep me going too. I will get my time down too.  I meant to get a photo of me finishing but I was so excited to still be alive I forgot! I still cant believe lazy, chubby, wine swilling, old me is an actual runner!!!!!

Exercise

5k run = burning 445 calories

Breakfast

Porridge

Water

Lunch 

Tomato soup

Bread roll

Banana

Tea

Afternoon

Strawberries 

Handful almonds

Tea

Dinner
Chicken salad
Wine

Wk 8, D5, Rainbows!

Blogger makes it very difficult to put the pictures where you want them! Anyway after I posted my blog yesterday a rainbow came out in the evening so I wanted to show you what was my back garden. Pretty isn't it? A lovely end to a very dismal wet, soggy, June day. You can just make out in a couple of the pictures there are two rainbows. Hubby says they are always two but I have only ever seen this twice. I'm having a geeky moment so have found out some more info. apparently it is normal! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow. We do need to learn how to get the best out of our camera in situations like this though!

can you see two rainbows?

 So, anyway, our car basically died last night so hubby had to get a cab this morning which meant no station walk for me today. When I tried the car at around 10am however, it mysteriously worked!?! I booked it in for a check over and service and low and behold we needed a new battery. There was no run planned for today either so, as the car was unavailable all day, the housework got done.

Two rainbows in this one

Exercise
None (housework)
Breakfast
Porridge (see recipe)
Tea
Lunch
Weight Watchers crustless quiche
Raspberries, strawberries and natural fat free yoghurt
Tea
Afternoon
20g mini pretzels
Tea
Dinner
Carrots
Cottage cheese
Mini magnum
Wine

Wk 8, D4, Splashing through puddles

The alarm woke me from a dream I was having where I was frantically running a cafe. All the waitresses where in a stress leaving tables dirty, not dealing with customers, not taking orders. The place was a mess. I went outside to check on the customers there and behind the door sat two of my sisters having a coffee. One asked how it was going then the alarm went off. I have it on crickets chirruping or whatever it is they do.Well, I've no idea what happens in the end now.
I was so asleep I wondered how bad it would be to just leave the car there, just this once, and risk getting a ticket. After lying there for about 5 minutes I got up and sat on the side of the bed....was that rain I could hear? I peeked through the curtains and there it was. A wet, dark, cold, miserable June morning. Now, don't get me wrong, not all British Summers are wet and cold. In fact the last 2 or 3 Junes' where stunningly hot. Not this one though, no, this one is definitely a mixture of chilly rain and warmish sunshine, in spurts which is good for the garden and not much else.

The finish line each morning.

I plodded up the road with an umbrella. It took me 23 minutes - 5 minutes longer than my fastest "sunshiney" run. I wasn't in the mood. I even took pictures on my phone to show you what it was like. Car parks aren't all that to look at at the best of times. Anyway, I got home and went back to bed for an hour. The phone woke me just after 9am. It was still bucketing down so I had breakfast and waited, and waited, and waited for the rain to stop. Eventually at midday the sky grew brighter and the rain stopped. Yes! I could go out and do my 2nd 28 minute run of the week.

The run was good. I took it slowly so I could go the distance. There were loads of puddles to skirt round and jump over. After a while I ran through a couple of them, but my foot got wet so I decided it was better not to.

There were also a lot of people fishing by the river bank today. I haven't seen that in the last 8 weeks. I wonder if fishing season has just started?

 I finished my run at 2.66 miles stretched and did a brisk walk back home. The sun actually came out on my way back. It was to be the only dry part of the day in the end. I think the person who is in charge of the weather, knew I needed to run today and do it before 3pm, so they got it sorted, so, thanks :-)

Exercise
station walk, Wk 8 Day 2 of getrunning, return walk = 869 calories - would have been more if I wasn't such a 'mare this morning!
Breakfast
Porridge (see recipe)
Tea
Lunch
Ryvitas with cottage cheese
Apple
tea
Afternoon
Tea
Handful of prunes
Dinner
Grilled turkey breast
Salad
Glass of wine

Wk 8, D 3, Cholesterol test at the supermarket! Whatever next.....

I didn't do the station run this morning as I had an early client. I also didn't have a run to do today either so no exercise as such today.

Whilst in Sainsbury's, I heard over the tannoy that the pharmacy was offering free cholesterol testing, so I went over there and made an appointment. The last cholesterol test I had done was probably about 5 or 6 years ago and back then it was 3 point something. Hubby's chol is 5.7 and he's worried about his so we are on Benecol and Flora proactive. With my cholesterol test they also did my resting heart rate, blood pressure and glucose. I was very pleased about this as my Grandmother had diabetes and I do get shaky if I haven't eaten for about 4 hours. But it was all good. I was particularly pleased about my heart rate which has definitely dropped since I have taken up regular exercise.

Cholesterol = 4.43 - should be below 5
Glucose (non fasting) = 4.6 - should be below 8 after a meal
Blood pressure = 117/82  - this is within the healthy range
Heart rate = 68 bpm - this is considered healthy

They usually charge £8 for the service but were doing a Flora proactive promotion, I had no idea I could even get it done there! For just £8 I will definitely make it a 6 monthly or yearly test.

Some useful websites
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/
http://www.bpassoc.org.uk


Exercise
None
Breakfast
Bran flakes
Milk
Banana
Tea
Lunch
Ham salad roll
Apple
Tea
Afternoon
Almonds
Prunes
Biscuits
Tea
Dinner
Beef stir fry
Yoghurt and berries
Wine

Wk8 D2, My first ever 28 minute run! Done!

I'm keeping up the station run-instead of walk- habit and was just 3 seconds longer than yesterday due to the traffic lights being on red when I got there.

I got back home, stretched, had my porridge, then an hour later went out for my first 28 minute run. After a couple of weeks of cold and rain the summer appears to have returned, for the moment anyway. I got very hot and sweaty on my run but I liked that, it made me feel like I was doing something (as if running for 2 or so miles wasn't enough). I took it slowly because I didn't want to burn out towards the end and I made it to the finish with only a slight twinge in my right foot and at the end gasping for water. Note to self, take water with you when its warm outside. The river, at this point, looked very inviting. However I made a discovery by Sunbury Lock. There is a public drinking water tap! I never noticed it before. I think it's for the boats but it was a very welcome discovery!

The 28 minute run itself was not bad. After all, it's only 3 minutes longer than the runs I was doing last week. As I said I took it slowly so it was one notch on from my briskest walk. When I had run for 20 minutes though, I was concerned that I had another 8 minutes to go and was running out of energy. So I checked my foot twinge - gone, legs -they were fine, not hurting or uncomfortable, breathing - OK, posture - I straightened up a bit which helps, I do slouch, then I concentrated on my music and finally I had run for 28 minutes!! I stretched, wiped a lot of sweat from my face (I might need a sweat band too), then briskly walked the 2.7 miles back home. I was very pleased when I got back to work out I had burned approximately 905 calories! A good mornings work!!















Exercise
Station run, Wk8, D1 of getrunning, walk back =905 calories burned
Breakfast
Porridge (see recipe)
Tea
Lunch
Melon
Banana
Almonds
tea
Afternoon
Ryvita and 1/2 fat cheese
Apple
Dinner
Burger and chips (a proper one, from the pub)
Wine

Wk8 D1, Personal Best Station Run

My station run this morning was the fastest so far! After 5 minutes brisk walking I decided to go into a slowish jog to see how far I could get. It's a slight incline, it starts about 10 minutes after I get out of bed and I go sans breakfast or even a cup of tea! Energy levels at 7.30am are quite low to say the least! Anyway, apart from all that, I ran quite a lot of the way and did it in 18 minutes and 6 seconds which is a good 30 seconds faster than my best time and I wasn't feeling too death like when I got to the car! I drove home very pleased with myself.

I "accidentally" had a lemon and poppy seed muffin in Costa Coffee this afternoon with a small skinny cappuccino and it came to 572 calories!!! But the muffin was totally delicious! Before you go to Costa, if you are watching the calories, you had better look at their nutritional info here .
It's surprising that a coffee and a cake can come to as many calories as a whole dinner and also worrying that many of us treat it as a snack or forget we even ate it at all. Imagine having an extra 600 calories every day on top of 3 meals and sitting at a computer day in day out. Little wonder there is an obesity problem.  When I go running further distances more often, only then, could I justify having one of those muffins again.

Exercise
Station run burning 173 calories
Breakfast
Porridge (see recipes)
Tea
Lunch
Fish pie (see recipes)
Mini magnum (oops!)
Afternoon
Cappuccino
Lemon and poppy seed muffin
Dinner
Chicken curry (see recipes)
Rice
Wine

Wk 7, Results and reflection

Well, so this is a surprise.

I lost 2lbs this week! 

I am very pleased indeed. I didn't think I would get this result at all. I missed out on 3 station runs and overdid the calories by 100's on Saturday. I suppose the station walks were balanced out by the three 25 minute runs I did. The overindulgence on Saturday though.
Having said that, I have been told that if you have a "free" day once a week, where you forget the calories, your metabolism apparently gets a "boost". I think this idea is from the scientific fact that if you drastically reduce your calorie intake your metabolism slows right down to preserve your fat stores so, if you then eat normally again this kicks your metabolism back up again. I haven't drastically cut my calorie intake - I'm too greedy for that sort of behaviour, although I suppose I have drastically increased the rate at which I use up my energy with my running. Furthermore, as I am building muscle, (which I so am in my legs, I love it!) more energy is used up by them too. That's another scientific fact. While I am sitting here writing this blog my muscles are burning away at my fat stores to simply exist whereas my fat stores are just sitting there- being fat.

Well I got rid of 2lbs of it this week. Next week my runs go up to 28 minutes. We have a weekend at home, just the two of us so no entertaining to be done. I think this might be the first in 7 weeks of a week where I am in total control!

Wk7 D6 &7, The weekend

I did my 3rd and final 25 minute run for week 7 on Saturday morning and it felt good. I started probably a bit too fast but felt I could have pushed myself to do another few minutes at the end. Hubby came with me so it was good to keep pace. Considering the rain we have had recently the tow path wasn't too bad for puddles but this run did involve quite a bit of weaving in and out of puddle areas or simply hopping over them. As usual I ran the whole 25 minutes one way and then set my runkeeper to track a brisk walk back home again. This run took me the furthest distance so far at 2.75 miles - that does include the 2 x 5 minute walks also.

We went to my Sisters for the night on Saturday and had delicious food, good wine (plenty of it) and great company. We danced in the kitchen till late. The next day we took two of my nieces out for lunch. It was a great weekend but I definitely consumed far more calories than necessary on Saturday. (I just remembered the slice of walnut and ginger cake I had in the afternoon and forgot to add it in my net dairy!)

Saturday
Exercise
wk7 run3 + walk back tracked with runkeeper burning 655 calories
Breakfast
porridge (see recipe)
Tea
Lunch
Houmous
Oatcakes
apple
Tea
Afternoon
Tea
Walnut and ginger cake (yum)
Dinner
Few pringles
Antipasti bits
Bread
Lamb tagine, veg tagine, couscous, broccoli
Fruit salad, 1/2 fat crème fraiche
Champagne
Rose wine
Sunday
Exercise
none
Breakfast
1 slice wholemeal toast with flora
Tea
Lunch
Chicken salad
Bread
Lemonade
cappuccino
Afternoon
Tea
Ryvita
1/2 fat cheese
2 small biscuits
Dinner
Home-made fish pie (see recipe)
Glass of rose wine

Wk7 D5, The station run is just not happening this week...

I left the headlights on the car all night so the battery was flat this morning. Hubby had to run all the way to the station in his suit with a backpack full of papers and his laptop. Ooops! He was in a state when he go to the station, sweating....not a good start to the day. Of course this meant that for the 3rd day in a row I didn't do the station run. I would have gone out today but needed to get the car sorted, get the shopping, do the washing and it rained pretty much most of the day. I have run 3 of week 7 to do with getrunning programme tomorrow so will try to make up for it when I do that.

I weighed my self this morning as I am still thinking about changing my weigh-in day to Fridays. It's still going in the right direction but will keep the result for my Results and Reflection pages posted on Mondays.

I've been looking around to find the perfect 5k run for me to do in early August. My local park does a timed run every Saturday with parkrun so I think I will do that. That way there is no pressure to go too fast and I can do it the day before I turn 43. I have registered with them so I can do it any time I like but I'm not quite ready yet.

Exercise
none - again!
Breakfast
Porridge (see recipes)
Tea
Lunch
Ham salad roll
Apple
Mini magnum (yum)
Afternoon
Tea
Biscuits
Strawberries
Handful of mini pretzels
Dinner
Baked potato with half fat creme fraiche
Salad
Wine

Wk7 D4, Hastings and my next run

I didn't do the station run again today. Instead, I was up at 6.30am to drive hubby to Hastings which is about 76 miles away. He had to be in Court for 9.30am (N.B. he's not a criminal, he's a Lawyer). I have been to Hastings many times before as a child. I grew up in a town called Royal Tunbridge Wells which is about 30 minutes from there and we often went by train or car on a sunny day. Of course all I remember is the beach, fish and chips, ice cream and getting sunburnt. So it was of interest to me to go with him. I don't think I will bother again. The town is unremarkable to say the least. However, a small oasis is to be found in the old town where there is a little street of cafes and boutiques, then further along the beach front, if you can ignore the unsightly blot of the "funfair", you come to the fishing community where there are loads of fishing boats and net houses standing tall and proud. I also took a picture of a quaint English cottage just to remind me it wasn't all bad.


So we got home at just after 3pm. The sun was out and it was time for my next 25 minute run. Last time the first 10 minutes of the run were tough, this time it was only the first 5 minutes. My whole body felt tired but I think that was getting up early and driving for hours which did me in a bit. After 5 minutes my energy levels seemed to right themselves, my breathing deepened and my legs kept moving.10 minutes past, 15 minutes past, 20 minutes, then I picked up my speed by striding out a bit more but keeping my pace as it was. At 25 minutes I had run a bit further than last time so I was elated. Once the initial 5 minutes was over the rest felt really good. The run part, 25 minutes not including the two 5 minutes either end, covered 2 miles, 2miles!! Imagine that. Little old me running for 2 miles! I loved it. I put on Runkeeper and almost danced my way back home but not before stopping to take another picture of the Thames.

Exercise
W7 day2 getrunning + return walk burning 601 calories
Breakfast
Banana
2 slices toast
Tea
Lunch
Baked potato
Chilli con carne
Tea
Dinner
Low fat houmous
Carrot
Oatcakes
Glass of wine
Apple

Wk7, D3. Exercise free day!

I had a really busy day with work today 8:30am to 8:30pm. I took hubby to the station due to timing, so no station walk and am leaving my run until tomorrow, so basically no exercise apart from walking with clients from the chair to the basin and back again.
Food intake was ok, apart from I had to buy different biscuits (cookies) for my clients to the normal ones. But I had to taste them, just to check they were ok, which led me to munch on a couple too many of them throughout the day. Not forgetting also, of course, the well deserved glass or two of Rose in the evening!

Exercise
None
Breakfast
Porridge (see recipes)
Tea
Lunch
Weight watchers crustless quiche
Apple
2 mini biscuits
Tea
Dinner
Grilled salmon
Salad
2mini biscuits
2 glasses of Rose wine

Wk7, D2, Teriyaki Chicken Donburi

Well, there's not much to say about today. I walked more slowly to the station this morning because my legs were still a bit tight, even though I stretched them out thoroughly yesterday, and it was a rest day from getrunning. In fact I am going to take 2 rest days because tomorrow I am busy all day with clients until late.


So, no exercise apart from the station walk and my food intake was OK. A bit over in calories because we ate out at wagamama and I had a glass (or 2 ) of wine. I had teriyaki chicken donburi  which I have had before but wagamama don't give calories for it. When googled there are loads of sites giving their calorie count but some are 100's of calories difference. It quite basic, just a chicken breast grilled with teriyaki sauce served with boiled rice, grated carrot and pea shoots, so it shouldn't be too bad. I even took a picture of it!


Exercise
Station walk burning 170 calories
Breakfast
Porridge (see recipes)
Tea
Lunch
2 oatcakes, 1 ryvita
Cheese
raspberries and custard
Tea
Afternoon
Pretzels
Apple
Dinner
teriyaki chicken donburi
2 glasses of wine
2 small biscuits!

Wk7, D1, Rain, Rain go away, come back another lifetime!!!!!!

Well running in the rain is a novelty! This morning was the first time since the beginning of March that it rained during my station walk!!! If I had a choice I wouldn't have done it but I had to, so on went my hat and off I went. I figured if I jogged most of the way I would get there quicker. Anyway needless to say I was soaked by the time I got to the car, not helped by the idiot who drove through a puddle right where I was!
It wasn't quite as bad as the picture but you get the idea!

Later in the day after doing a bit of work the rain stopped and the ground started to dry up. I wanted to start my week 7 of getrunning today even though I am supposed to have two days rest from yesterdays run. But we are away at the weekend and it wouldn't have worked out well (where we are going is too hilly). So, after looking at the sky for a bit I decided to go out and do my next 25 minute run.The first 10 minutes was really hard. My breathing wasn't deep enough and I was thinking how far this 25 minutes will take me and how hard it was going to be. I was literally willing the first 5 minutes to hurry up. After 10 minutes my breathing got better and I evened out my pace a bit. I was enjoying the music; Black Eyed Peas, Lady GaGa and Euphoria, which reminds me, I must get some more tracks on my ipod! My thighs, however began to feel tight and heavy, like lead. I had this once before, weeks ago when I ran late in the afternoon.

The run took me further than I had been before along the river just before the next town. I finished at the end of the tow path as it turns into a car park. You can just see some cars at the end in the photo. The sun popped out to say hello for less than a minute at the end too. I like to think it was bathing me in applause for my efforts!
At the end I felt exhilarated! I managed 25 minutes on my own without hubby to keep pace. It was hard but I am ready to do it again. I think it was tough today because, I ran most of my station walk in the morning, I should have had 2 days rest and I ran in the late afternoon, a long time after my porridge (which I think is the best pre-run food).

Exercise
Day 1, week 7 of getrunning, station walk/run and return walk from the run burning 804 calories!!!
Breakfast
Porridge (see recipes)
Tea
Lunch
Boiled eggs x 2 with salad and ryvita
Nectarine
Tea
Afternoon
Tea
10g mini pretzels
Dinner
Oatcakes, cheese , grapes
2 glasses of wine