Week 36 - last week of 2011

Well, first of all I hope you all had a Happy Christmas or are at least enjoying the Holidays should this time of year have any relevance to you. Second, I did the parkrun on Christmas day and got another pb!!! 35 minutes 25 seconds! It was a real struggle for the first 2 kilometres (I set off too fast), then once I had settled into my stride it got a bit easier but was still a struggle as my mind wasn't into it. I guess some days are just like that. There were loads of santa's and various costumed runners, including 2 little girls dressed as presents! It was very festive and actually a great way to start Christmas day. I opened up my stride for the last 1/2 km so I think that's where I knocked off 12 seconds from last weeks run.

I ran week 3 day 2 of the Bridge to 10k  programme yesterday with hubby. That was a real struggle too, but I did finish it all. My runkeeper gave up on me (again) after the 1st km so I turned it off and hubby used his Garmin instead. Both times recently that runkeeper hasn't worked properly is after I have turned my phone off then on again. It clearly upset the whole app so I won't do that again.

I won't even begin to tell you about my diet this week. I haven't been careful at all. This behaviour will definitley continue through to New Years Day as there are still plenty of chocolates, mince pies and wine in the house. Because of this I won't officially weigh in until January 6th so I have a week to sort it out (or not)

Week 33 - 1st day of Bridge to 10k

I started my bridge to 10k programme today which I programmed into my Runkeeper app.  I thought as I can run 30 minutes no problem I will ditch the couch 2 5k programme now and push myself a little further. The run consisted of 4 x 10 minute runs with 1 minute walk between. I thought it would be easy but I ran each run faster than if I was doing 40 minutes all together so the 1 minute recovery walk was not enough. I struggled for the final 10 minutes but I did complete it with a fair walk back home at the end too. I also did the station run this morning so all in all a very good calorie burning day.

Monday
Exercise  = 919 calories over 7.33 miles/11.79km
Food = 1565 calories
Breakfast
Fruit n fibre cereal
Tea
Lunch
Chicken soup
Ryvita
Banana
Tea
Afternoon
biscuits
Tea
Dinner
Soup
Ryvitas

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

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

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 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, 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

Wk6, D7, I can now run for 25 minutes!

I woke up a lot during the night feeling bloated and a tad uncomfortable. I had my 25 minute run on getrunning to do today and I wanted to do it this morning before the day got too warm. I know I needed to have some water and some porridge for energy but I was still full from last night. I had the porridge anyway just in case I collapsed from the lack of energy or something, I mean,

I've never run for 25 minutes in. my. life! 

so had no idea what sort of effect it would have on my body. Hubby came with me. I find it's good to have someone there, particularly him, because although he can go much farther and faster than me he just plods along beside me not pushing me to go faster or anything like that. Its good to keep the pace with someone. I also take his phone with me too to track with Runkeeper. Unfortunately my, very old fashioned, iPhone 3s does not multi task the apps and my upgrade isn't due till December!

So anyway I started out with the 5 minute warm up walk then started on the run, my right knee immediately buckled for the first two steps. I thought, "uh oh I might not be able to do this", but on the 3rd step it sorted itself out, thankfully it was fine from then on. When the lady voice told me I was 1/2 way I did think at that point "blimey this is going to be hard" because I was starting to feel a bit acidic or almost a bit sick in my stomach just below my ribs. The tow path was busy this morning with other runners and cyclists and I didn't want to be seen throwing up in the bushes! I brushed the thought aside and concentrated on my music. Then I had run for 15 minutes. Yay! Then I had the last 5 minutes, My legs were OK, the sick feeling had subsided my breathing was good but getting really heavy, then I had 60 seconds to go, I picked up my pace a bit and DID IT!!!!!!!!!!

It was hard, but I felt really really great!!And it rained from the minute I got home for the rest of the day. Next week is 3 x 25 minute runs and I don't have a worry about that at all. I know by the 3rd run I will be eager to do more.  

Exercise
Wk6 day 3 getrunning, walk back tracked by runkeeper burning 618 Calories
Breakfast
Porridge
Tea
Lunch
Salad and fruit salad
Dinner
Baked beans on toast
nectarine

W6, D5, Friday

I use Runkeeper to track my station walks and have always had it on silent, so this morning, to give me a bit of a challenge, I decided to set it to tell me when each 5 minutes had past. I walked the 1st 5 minutes, jogged the 2nd, walked the 3rd, jogged the rest. I know I have run further than this so it shouldn't be too bad, but this is not only 15 minutes after I have woken up but also uphill. My tow path runs are flatter, usually when I am wide awake and after something to eat. So, the first run was quite tiring, probably because I started out fast, but I had to stop at 4 minutes because of crossing the road. I walked for the next 5 then hit traffic lights and another road so ran the best part of the next 5. The timing didn't work out exactly but it gave me something to go on and made me push just a little more than I normally do. It was the second fastest pace I have done on that route so far. The fastest was back at the beginning of April when I had just started so I think I will try to better that next week. Other than that I vaccumed the house from top to bottom, so that probably burned a few calories too, especially as it was very hot weather as well :-)

Food during the day was good I didn't get to eat lunch until about 4pm because of work. Then a friend was staying the night and we went out for an Indian. Hubby ordered poppadums (disaster), then decided he was going to have a starter - well, I had to have one too otherwise I would have sat there eating all the poppadums! I had some sort of marinated fish thing, at least it was small and not greasy and for main I had Tandoori Chicken and boiled rice. I know its not very exciting but the trouble with Indian food is the majority of sauces are highly calorific. Calorie wise, going out to eat can be a minefield. But I do like it!

Exercise

station walk/jog burning 174 calories

Breakfast

Porridge - 40g oats, 200ml 1% milk, 10g Linwoods seeds

Tea

Lunch

Cheese sandwich

Peach

Tea

Late afternoon

33g almonds

Dinner

Poppadums

Some sort of white fish thing

Tandoori chicken

Boiled rice

Salad

Wine (of course!)

Wk6 D4, Evening run

I ate too much food yesterday. I went over by 285 calories. Basically one glass of wine in the evening or perhaps the two tortilla wraps I munched through while searching for something to eat for lunch! I didn't have much in the house so I guess I was picking a lot rather than eating an actual meal. The calories really creep up on you that way. Anyway I went shopping, bought loads of fruit and veg and found Weight Watchers crustless quiches which are yum for lunch. So now I have a fridge full of salad and a bowl full of fruit.

I had a busy day today so had to delay my week 6 day 2 run until later. It was very hot today as well, it got up to 24 degrees, well, that's very hot for the UK anyway! Hubby came home a bit early so I got him to come with me again. We went out about 6:30pm. I wanted to avoid the midges which ALWAYS end up in my eyes, up my nose, in my mouth and stuck to the sweat on my face. Last time we went out a bit later when the midges where in full cloud mode I spent most of my run flapping my arms about, swearing and weaving up and down the tow path like a mad woman! Think of Tom Hanks being chased by bees in The Money Pit and you get the idea! (tried to find the clip for you but couldn't, sorry).

So today I had 2 lots of 10 minutes to do but found the 1st 10 minutes really hard. I think it was because of the time of day and what I had or hadn't eaten before hand. I find it's better for me to go out in the morning or midday after a good breakfast. The 2nd 10 minutes was much better though and we stopped for a drink in the pub by the river on the way back just as the sun was getting low so it was very pretty.

I didn't actually take this pic I found it here.
After my discrepancy with the calories yesterday I went under today by 184 today and also used up loads with my run :-)

Exercise
Wk6 Day 2 of Getrunning, return walk and station walk = 650 calories
Breakfast
Banana sandwich (no butter) with 2 slices granary from a small loaf
Tea no sugar 1% milk
Lunch
Tea
Crustless Mediterranean veg quiche
Apple
Afternnoon
Banana
Tortilla wrap
Tea
Dinner
Tuna salad
Tortilla wrap
Glass white wine

Wk6 D3, New activity?

Today was not a run day on getrunning so I just did my station walk, which, actually, was a station run this morning. This was surprising at the time because when my alarm went off at 7.10am I really, really did not want to get out of bed. I slept so well last night I wanted to stay in bed for at least another 2 hours!

But I had to get the car and I had a client at 9.30 so I dragged my self out of bed. My walk started off a bit slow, what with my clicky knee and stiff hips, but after a few minutes it all loosened up and so I started to jog up the road. I pretty much jogged the whole 1.34 miles! OK so there was a bit of walking but I did it faster than I have done in quite a few weeks! I got back and into the shower feeling very pleased with myself.

I am beginning to feel like I want to do something extra on the rest days from the getrunning programme. I know I do a 1.3 mile walk each morning but it's become so routine it doesn't feel like an effort anymore. I do have a number of fitness DVD's gathering dust, I also have a Wii but these things require me to start rearranging the furniture. There is a municiple sports centre up the road but I'm not keen on gyms, especially when the weather is lovely, like it is in the UK at the moment and swimming wrecks my hair! I can't join any teams or groups because my work and social life don't allow for that kind of routine or commitment, so I am going to have to give it some thought....maybe I will change my station walk route and that will satisfy. I'll try that tomorrow.

Exercise
Station walk/run burning 165 calories
Breakfast
Porridge - 40g of Oats, 200ml 1% fat milk and 10g Linwoods seeds
Tea
Lunch
Weight Watcher crustless cheese and onion quiche (very nice)
Peach
Tea
Afternoon
Apple
2x tortilla wraps (don't ask, just peckish I guess!)
Tea
Dinner
Home made Chicken stew
Slice Bread
Glass of white Wine

Wk5 D6, One of my proudest moments

I DID IT!

I actually ran for 20 minutes without stopping this morning! I kept a slow but steady pace, kept my breathing steady too, listened to Black eyed peas and a bit of Euphoria and it got me through 20 whole minutes of running. Hubby came with me (in case I fell in the river). When I got to the last minute I picked my pace up a bit and it felt brilliant! I have never ever in my life ran that far. I am sooo pleased I found the Get Running app. By then end of next week I will do a run for 25 minutes and at the moment I feel like, "yeah OK that'll be fine".
 I have had proud moments in my life like when I passed my driving test (5th time), when I got two books published (hairdressing text books), when I got married, when I got a 1st class honours degree and now this! My first 20 minute run. I can now call myself a runner! So lets

BRING ON THE WEEKEND!

Excerise

wk5 D3 of get running plus the walk back tracked with runkeeper burning 525 calories!

Breakfast

Porridge made with 40goats, 200ml 1% milk and 10g Linwoods seeds

Tea

Lunch 

Broccoli Quiche

Salad

Cappuccino

Afternoon

Tea x 2

Handful of mini pretzels

Dinner

Home made Weight Watchers recipe Chicken Curry

White rice

Plum tart

1/2  fat Creme Fraiche

Rose wine

Wk5 D4, I can run for 8 minutes! TWICE!

Today was dark and gloomy with thick, dark, grey clouds covering the sky. The weather man on the radio was telling me of "patchy rain, at times heavy and possibly thunderstorms later". Great, hmmph, Just my luck! I have two 8 minute runs to do today with the getrunning programme and I'm going to get soaked, frozen and possibly hit by a bolt of lightening! I think part of the reason for my utter dismay at the weather today was because we have had fantastic summery weather since the middle of March - quite unusual for the south East of England. And part, because I am dreading the 20 minute run due on Saturday.

I did my usual station walk this morning and decided to run part of it. My right knee hurt half way. I sat at the computer too much yesterday and when I sit for long periods I need to "click" my knees otherwise they ache. I don't know if that's age, standing most of my adult life, lack of exercise, sitting a lot in the last few years (I was at University for three years) or what, but it is a pain and I hope I am not aggravating it by running. Anyway, after my porridge I decided it's now or never, the sky looked a bit brighter, white, rather than dark grey but still no blue. I  took myself off down to the river. Today's run was for 8 minutes, then walk for 5, then run for 8 again. The first 8 minutes flew by, so much so that when the lady voice said "you have 10 seconds left" I felt I could have gone further. After the 5 minute walk the second 8 minutes was a bit harder but I still made it without too much concern. So, now I can officially run for 8 minutes straight! Pat on the back for me!!

I met my friends for lunch today and we went to a Morrocan cafe. I had the most delicious lunch of a chicken Bastilla and salad. The chicken Bastilla is a kind of chicken pie in filo pastry - very nice but impossible to guess the calories. I googled it, but every site offering the calories where different, in some cases by over 100 calories! I picked the middle one of about 250 cals as it wasn't huge or greasy. I cant wait until restaurants in the UK have calories on their menus. I hope they all do soon.

Exercise
Week 5 day 2 get running
Station walk/run at  175 cals

Breakfast
Porridge made with 40g oats, 200ml 1% milk and 10g linwoods seeds
Tea x2
Lunch
Chicken Bastilla and salad
Tea
Afternoon
49g bar of dairy milk
Tea
Dinner (not a good one as I worked until 8.45pm - too late to start cooking!)
2 x slices of bread
2 x Glass of wine

Wk5 D3, Yummy things to eat

Well today was a rest day from Get running. I still did the station walk this morning which is just part of my daily routine now. I had no clients today so cleaned the house from top to bottom. I can now walk round to my side of the bed without navigating my way through "stuff" that seems to accumulate there -shoes, clothes, washing basket, cushions, pillows, cats etc.The rest of the house is clean and tidy too, ready for our visitors at the weekend. So, I guess I have nothing much else to say about my fitness today

My diet however took a slight turn today. My sister recommended me some Linwoods ground seeds to add to my oats in the morning. Mynetdiary tells me each day I don't have enough fibre for breakfast so I thought I would give it a go. She used to live in Australia and apparently this stuff is all the rage over there. Anyway, I got some from the health food shop yesterday and added it to my oats this morning. It gave it a nutty flavour which was nice but I need to use more of it still to get my fibre up. Trouble is it's a bit high in calories too.Now, because I was cleaning and tidying today I discovered a crumpled wrapper on my food shelves and was about to bin it when I looked inside and there were two fantastic smelling, gleaming, chocolatey squares of dark chocolate. Suddenly they were in my mouth! Delicious, but I am glad they are gone. I wont be buying any chocolate for a while. Hubby is also pleased because he is partial too but is worried about his cholesterol.

Then, this afternoon, I found a Soreen Banana loaf in the bread bin that I bought for hubby when he was in recovery mode. We both forgot it was there. I was feeling quite peckish and decided to have a "little" bit. Oh, it's the most delicious thing and I normally hate banana flavoured things but this has actual banana in it so it's not chemical/plastic tasting. Unfortunately, I had 90g of it which really isn't much with a cup of tea but it came to 279 calories! I wish I worked that out before I ate it! Never mind. I'll run it off tomorrow.

Exercise
Station walk with runkeeper at 147 cals

Food
Breakfast
Porridge - made with 40g oats, 200g milk 1% fat and 10g Linwoods milled flaxseed, pumpkin seed and sunflower seed
Banana
Tea
Lunch
Sandwich made with 2 slices small wholemeal bread, reduced fat houmous and grated carrot
2 squares dark chocolate
Nectarine
Tea
Afternoon
Tea
Banana loaf
Dinner
Tuna salad & small baked potato

Wk5 D2, Bouncy feet

I had the shock of my life today. I was looking at another get running runners blog - who is on the same week as me -  to find that week 5 of the programme is quite different from any other week up to now. Weeks 1-4 repeat the run/walk times three times a week whereas in week 5 day1 is 3 lots of 5 minute runs - no problem, then day 2 is  2 x 5 minutes and 2 x 8 minutes which may be a bit hard but on day 3 I have to do a
FULL 20 MINUTE RUN WITHOUT STOPPING!!!!!! 

Now, I am aware this may sound no problem to some of you and I may be being a little dramatic, but I must remind you that 4 weeks ago I was clutching my chest, tomato faced, wheezing back to my house after a few 1 minute runs. The thought of running (ahem, slow jogging, ahem) solidly for 20 minutes actually fills me with horror. Luckily, it's due on Saturday when hubby can come out with me as I am in danger of giving up if I go on my own.

Anyway back to today's run. It was good, I ran the other way down the tow path today, the sun was shining, it was warm and no-one else was about. My first run started along with Lady Ga Ga 's eh eh at full blast through my headphones. I felt such a rush of energy I wanted to dance! I didn't though, not on the tow path, even if no-one was watching. I ran with bouncy feet and I LOVED it! In fact the whole 3 runs where good. It took me 2 3/4 miles along the river and at the end I turned round and quick march walked back with a little sprint for the last 5 minutes. I don't know where the energy came from but I sure as hell hope it returns on Saturday morning!

My river run taken on the iPhone. It looks a bit dark but I assure you it was a very bright day!








Exercise
Week 5 day 1 run on Get Running programme (poss burning 277 cals but I have a rubbish iphone 3)
Runkeeper tracked 3.75 miles burning 434 cals

Food
Breakfast
Porridge - 40 g 0ats 200ml 1% milk
Tea
Lunch
150g Heinz baked Beans
2 slices toast from small loaf
Apple
Tea
Afternoon
Tea
1 biscuit
Dinner
Pasta
Sausage, onion, basil & tomato soup to make a quick pasta sauce

Wk 5 D1, Monday

This is my rest day from getrunning. I start a new week tomorrow doing 3 lots of 5 minute runs. I'm not too concerned about that because I feel I can do it. I never would have thought I would say that! It's amazing how far I have come with my running and fitness in just a few short weeks. Using the get running app is really working for me because it gets you to take it slowly and pace yourself. When I attempted running with hubby in the years gone by I always ran to far or too fast, or both, until near collapse and that put me off the whole thing for another year! It also helps that I have a tow path to run along. Meaning I don't have to keep stopping at roads and traffic lights etc. I can just get the music on and go.

Anyway, today I did my station walk and then had a busy day with clients so was on my feet for most of the day. I reduced my calorie allowance from 1622 calories a day to 1500. I know its not a lot of difference but when the wine bottle comes out at the weekend it will be! I kept under it today by about 140 cals. I had my breakfast earlier than usual and that got me hungry for lunch and dinner earlier too. I know breakfast is the most important meal and I almost always have it, but sometimes it might be at 10am or even 11am  - mainly because I'm not hungry at 8am. I have observed that when I eat breakfast later I don't eat as much throughout the day. If anyone has any comments about breakfast please post them below :-)

Exercise
station walk burning 144 cals

Food
Breakfast
Porridge 40g oats 200ml 1% milk
Tea
Lunch
Houmous- low fat
Carrot
2 slices bread with flora
Tea
Afternoon
Banana
Tea
Dinner
Salad
Griddled Turkey breast
Couscous

Wk4 D7, Just a quickie

Just a quickie for today. I wanted to pace out a 5k route in my local park today so I could see how far it is. I do everything in miles. British roads are mapped out in miles so I don't really understand why runs are in Kilometres? Anyway so I went out with hubby in tow - someone had to carry the water - and started out on a brisk pace through the park. The sky darkened, the clouds grew heavy and suddenly we were walking into a downpour, a proper soaking downpour with big fat raindrops! Then the wind got up and we were being blustered all over the place. This venture was becoming a bit of a nightmare so we headed back to the car park at 2.45 miles just short of the 5k. I still managed to burn calories doing it, so no harm done.

Exercise
2.45 miles tracked with runkeeper burning 267 calories

Food
Breakfast
Porridge (oatmeal) 40g oats & 200ml milk
2 x Tea
Lunch
Summer rolls chicken and veg at Wagamamas
A few edamame beans
Glass of rose wine
Tea
Apple polenta cake (shared with hubby)
Dinner
Chicken salad
2 x slice bread

Wk4 D6, Today I burned off 708 Calories!!!!!

Station walk this morning    = 150 calories
Get running run wk 4 run3  = 286 calories                       =708 CALORIES !!!!!
Walk back from the run      = 272 calories

708 CALORIES! That's how much I burned today. Well, I know its not an exact science but still, good going eh?  The weather was beautiful today. We took my mum-in-law to the shops at lunchtime, we came home and went out before the midges clouded the river banks.

I had my last run of week 4 on get running to do. The back of my right knee ached a bit when I started out and I thought I should have stretched after the station walk this morning. After a minute or so it eased up. The run was good, hard, but not too much of a problem. I am still finding that my lungs give up before my legs do. I also get to a stage where I don't know whether to swallow or spit my saliva as swallowing interferes with my breathing pattern. Hubby came with me so I did the whole run without turning back for home half way. We stopped at the pub for a spritzer, stretched and did a brisk walk back home. I also remembered to take some photos on the way back to show you my river route and a little bridge I have to run over too. The bridge is little but when you are running up it it seems huge although has got easier over the weeks.

Hmmm, still learning about uploading pics from the iphone to the macbook then emailing them to me on my pc!


Exercise
I think I said enough about that now :-)

Food
Breakfast
Banana
Slice of bread
Lunch
Baked potato
Baked beans
Cappuccino
Tea
Afternoon
Handful of almonds
White wine spritzer
Dinner
Tilapei
Quinoa
Asparagus
Strawberries
prosecco