Been a Long Time

First off - an apology for it being such a long time but I hate to say it but other than taking the dog for walks I haven't actually done any proper exercise! On the plus side I have now moved into my new house, and have a new job starting a week Monday!

Any today after deciding we have had enough of sorting the house out - we went to the local gym to sort out our memberships and tours etc. Once this was sorted we both knew straight away that we were going to the gym - we've really not had an excuse to go out running or me to go out on the bike but I shall use the excuse we were sorting the house out!

New gym but virtually the same equipment except the CV and the Weights are othersides of the sports hall - and theres a spin bike with a virtual trainer on it. I've never been spinning but heard a lot about it so thought I would give it a go because at the moment I can't get into a routine because as of Thursday I will be back in the old house sorting it out (however that does mean I should get a lot of outside running done with nothing in the house to entertain me bar cleaning!)

Did a warm up on the recumbant bike then went to the spin bike - took a while to sort it out but eventially I did - origionally was going to do it as part of my 10 minute challenge but then realised the only programes we're 30mins - not a problem I thought. Got to 10mins and was sweating so much and dying that I stuck to my origional 10 minutes. When I got off I wasn't able to walk in a straight line!! Think I over estimated myself and need to readjust next time - at least I now have a target of completing the 30mins on it.

As you can probably tell I was dying! Also probably hasn't helped not doing exercise in almost a month ..... whoops. So onto the treadmill which has an up to date computer (very fancy) and thought I would try something less demanding and not over estimate my fitness again. I choose the kilimonjaro Task - basically you choose from 10 levels, and up to 6.5 kmph and then depending on your level and your speed it chooses a time you will need. The reason its kilimonjaro is because you go up the incline and then back down it - with an image of kilimonjaro behind on the screen showing your progress (2000ft).

I chose level 5 with it being the middle, and speed 6kmph because thats a fast walking speed for me. It took 45mins and I climbed 266 feet - and was actually harder than I thought - not on breathing but your muscles etc. and at the end when the incline was decreasing I found it hard not to speed up - but I'm glad I didn't. In the last 10minutes alex jumped onto the treadmill next to me, joined me at 6kmph so we could work on my pace because although we are the same height - I take 3/4 steps to his one - which is a lot of wasted effort on my part. It was a brilliant exercise and really stretched my legs.

Also I have now re-done my spreadsheets here is what I have done so far from setting off into the world of exercise. I have noticed I used to put walks on there - which I refuse to do now because it isn't real exercise!

Hard Cycle

The sun was shining and I had done the kitchen so thought I would take the bike out for the first time in my gear and go for slightly longer than I did last time. I had a really good run although made the mistake of not sticking to my planned route and went down a road that look like amazing fun. Which it was and I loved it and made me think whats taken me so long to get a bike. But then I had to come up bradnam hill and for those of you who don't know bradnam hill I'l just say that the car struggles to get up it sometimes. So I will admit I walked up the steepest part and died walking up it! I am pleased to say I did get back on my bike at the top of the steepest bit to finish off the hill and cycle home.

So I will say I am really pleased with my cycle today and I realise I have a lot of work to do since I did 7.75km in 37.53 - however I did also climb 109m (in one go) and I know the triathlon route is regarded as flat. So here is a chart of my workout:
Along the bottom is distance, left side is speed, right side is elevation.

Problems I need to sort out are:
- Water bottel - whether I get a holder or take a bag I don't care but I was sooo thirsty today
- Move the seat forward a bit - I did try and fail and I should of perserved it was uncomfortable
- Learn to use gears effeciantly because I'm wasting so much effort getting them wrong
-avoid pot holes - they hurt.

Overall a positive session but I am worried about getting down to 20km in 40 minutes which is my plan for the triathlon - and that will be after the swim and the run still to go, arrghh!!

Double Work Out

What a lovely day it was today - so I finished half an hour early from work to go on a run. So we decided to do the same as my first one - down to the village hall - walk around the field and run back again - see if we could beat our time.

We ran 1.73km with no stopping - so I'm really pleased with myself, well no I lie - we had a very quick stop to tie my shoelace up and at that point we decided we would go a different route. We got to 2km then did 1.5km cross country. I will show you the chart of the very steep hill we ran up - and yes I said ran - to the top of the steepest bit, walked the field (I died on the run up the hill but I did run up the hill yay) and then ran in the woods.

The light pink behind is the elevation, the black line is my speed and it's done on distance.

So I did a really hard run (for me) where I really struggled after running the hill, got home had an apple and then went out for a swim. Trialing a new app that is basically a counter that my husband clicks on every lap. Now the only error in this is when I had a slow lap and the phone went onto screen saver and also he couldn't see one end of the pool. So although not 100% accurate a lot more accurate than I did about 13 laps in 15mins. So here are my lap times:

Lap 1 0:43.4
Lap 2 0:45.7
Lap 3 1:6.4
Lap 4 0:55.7
Lap 5 0:50.6
Lap 6 1:4.
Lap 7 0:58.2
Lap 8 1:1.3
Lap 9 0:57.2
Lap 10 1:0.7
Lap 11 1:24.7
Lap 12 0:56.9
Lap 13 0:55.4
Lap 14 0:55.1
Lap 15 1:8.5
Lap 16 0:53.8

The longer ones are where I've had a rest but Alex can't see me. I am very pleased especially since this is the first time I've done two sporting activities so close together. My plan was to do 20 minutes of swimming however I learnt the art of eating - or I have now. Before going running at 1650 I had lunch at 1230 and a packet of raisins at 1600, then after the run I had an apple and then when swimming I had zero energy when I finished lap 16 (didn't know it was lap 16 at the time) said to myself I'l do 4 more went to go and felt really ill.

Once I got out of the pool I had to have some energy so ate a chocolate bar before going back home for tea. This shows me the importance of making sure I eat right before doing a lot of exercise - especially important for the triathlon as I will be doing the different sports in a row.

All in all a brilliant day and I can't wait to get out running again :D