Sunday 30th August 2009

Thought I'd try using some aerobic bands Cathy gave me to try stretching ... owwwww ! I think I need put on a rack and stretched out *properly* - and that's starting with the little skinny yellow band ! To be fair, I think my legs are somewhere between the yellow (light) band and the purple (medium) band - the purple one actually made my hamstrings work a bit - but no way am I anywhere near using the grey (heavy) band !! Might do a run around the loch later, and see how I do in "real world" mode rather than at the gym...

(later...)

16:38 - 17:09 - 3 laps of Lanark Loch (1.1 miles/1.77 km each = 3.3 miles/5.31 km)

Bah !

For all the "run 1.69km in 10 minutes on a treadmill", I'm still stuck with doing 300 run + 300 walk in the "real world" !! I suspect this is down to three things

- in the "real world", I don't take long enough to warm up

- in the "real world", I don't pace myself as well

- the "real world" is not flat, flat as it might look !

The second point is backed up by the fact that around the loch I'm doing 3 laps of 1.77 km in 31 minutes at 300 walk + 300 run - that means (to me anyway) that those 300 running paces are being done too quickly, so I'll have to find some way of pacing myself to the 8.5km/9.0km per hour that I can do on the treadmill and see how long I can keep going...

Friday 28th August 2009

Marriott Gym at lunchtime - 1.69km of running wrapped up in a total of about 2km including warm up and cool down. Ran for almost 10 minutes solid, including a spell at 9km/h, which given where I started from a few weeks ago is reasonably good progress I think ? Also did 4.72k on the cycling machine in a 10 minute session, although I had to go a bit longer, slower, because when I started slowing down at first I slowed down too quickly and started to get cramp in my lower legs - not fun - so I kept going just to gently ease off to a stop.

Must have a shot at the rowing machines some time - looks like fun ;)

PS. Had a shot at the scales, and I reckon it balanced out at 101.1 kg, with my running shoes on. That would be 15st 12.9lb - bad, but at least down from the 16st 7lb the doctor weighed me at last November, and I've only really been making any sort of effort for the last 4 weeks or so, and even then not *much* of an effort...

Thursday 27th August 2009

1 hours worth of 5 a sides at lunchtime - stayed out of goal for the majority of the game, and scored a goal in a drawn game. Felt ok and managed to keep going for most of the hour. Unfortunately didn't swap my running shoes for football boots in my bag, so had to play in running shoes - which meant that any decent firm kicks of the ball were pretty darned sore !

Tuesday 25th August 2009

Been backsliding a bit over the last few days, with one thing and another - so today, rather than a run, I went to the Marriott gym in Glasgow (have a 5 day free trial pass to try it out) - so, used a treadmill and a stepping machine for the first time. In both cases, went a bit slower (at least to start with) than normal, and actually managed to run for longer in a continuous session than I can normally manage on my runs around the loch - rather odd. Also had a go on a cycling machine for a while too - I reckon between the four sessions on the three machines I probably did about 5km today, one way or another (less impressive than it sounds, as I managed to cover a fair bit of that on the cycling machine which was rather less effort !) The treadmill will take a bit of getting used to, as I had some severe jelly legs after getting off (why has the floor stopped moving !!) but as an alternative when it's too dark (and wet, and cold !) for night time running, it might be a good alternative (if expensive) ... and they do after work adult swimming lessons too ...

Thursday 20th August 2009

20:52 - 21:23 - 3 laps of Lanark Loch (1.1 miles/ km each = 3.3 miles/5.31 km)

Yes, I'm claiming the new mileage ! Must get a pedometer or something to check that out for sure...

Anyway, I was a backslider - should have been out on Wednesday, but I was tired post-U2 and the weather was foul, so I gave it a miss - shocking ! Went out tonight and made up for it...

Lap 1 - 250 run/200 walk

Lap 2 - 250 run/250 walk

Lap 3 - 250 run/250 walk

There were a few variations in there - there was a 300 run phase, and a 300 walk phase, but mostly I tried to stick to "run as many paces as you walk" as a rule. It was pretty hard work though, as I really didn't quite feel up for it tonight - was feeling pretty tired half way through the first lap, but just made myself keep going. Made it round, and in 31 minutes too..!

Monday 17th August 2009

20:45 - 21:18 - 3 laps of Lanark Loch (3 x 0.96 miles/1.55 km = 2.88 miles/4.65 km)

Went for it this evening, as it was starting to get a bit dark as I got to the loch, so wasn't sure if I'd get three laps in or not. So ...

Lap 1 : 250 run/200 walk

Lap 2 : 250 run/250 walk

Lap 3 : 200 run/300 walk

I seem to have found a variety of ways to do three laps of the loch in 33 minutes !!

Also, according to two young women who were out jogging, they reckon it's actually 1.1 miles around the loch on the path - I've only sketched it out roughly on goodrunguide.co.uk/RoutePlanner.asp, so they might be right - which would put a slightly different spin on things (i.e. doing 3.3 miles/5.31 km each time rather than 2.88 miles/4.65 km) !

Saturday 15th August 2009

20:32 - 21:05 - three laps of Lanark Loch (3 x 0.96 miles/1.55 km = 2.88 miles/4.65 km)

So, did the first lap and most of second lap as 250 run/300 walk, but gradually went back to 200 run/300 walk. Last bit of running started off as full stride fast running, but going into a pretty strong headwind put an end to that quite quickly ! Doesn't feel so bad on the legs, and recovery time seems reasonable - but still don't feel able to keep the run going much further than 250 paces - legs just get really heavy and want to stop at that point, although after the 300 walk paces I can get going again reasonably easily.

Oh yes, and skipped last night, as I felt up for handling any two of cold, rain & strong winds - but all three at once didn't seem like a good idea - so tonight, just had to put up with strong winds !