I’m going to be sore tomorrow…

Fabulous evening of circuits at jubilee sports centre then at the track with Southampton Tri Club 

7x400m about 29mins 🤗

Plus smashed out over 15,000 steps.

Is OF&H back on track???

First tentative steps - back on it?

Well…

I went out today after work 3.3km, 34mins of run/walking

I wasn't going to but decided I just needed to take those first few steps. Also I'm at the track with Tri club tomorrow so wanted to see just how unfit I am. 

OMG so so sooooo unfit!!

But I feel as if I've taken those first few steps of getting back on it.

Swimming at least 1-2 times a week

Been out cycling two Sundays running

And now, finally, after 5 weeks I've been for a run 🎉

Let's see how quickly I can lose 10kgs xx

 

One sprained ankle to now 17/10/21

Boo

Found my old moon boot when i got home 16/8 so i could at least walk / cycle...

Can still swim

Had a lovely weekend in Stroud

Could party at Southampton Pride 28/8 as not racing 29/8 - STC club champs - helped with the BBQ instead (also out of the moon boot as Connor concerned about my knee when cycling as ankle immobilised)

Could ring my cowbell non stop from 9-12pm Sunday 5/9 at the Southampton 10k/half/marathon

Marshalled the 2nd LRR magic mile

Mexican street food and drinks at Overdraft pub for Muts bday

Loved Jake and Leanne's wedding 11/9

Sea swim Hengistbury Head

Start of NFL

Marshalling / helping Ashtead 10k

Busy start of term at work

Got sick - maybe some dodgy pesto

Getting into the habit of Jubilee swim after work Friday evenings 

9/10 LRR Billy Bash - 2 hours of non stop dancing plus tri club swimming and physio - I CAN RUN AGAIN

12/10 2.5km 23minutes - wahoooooooooo

Tickerly throat/cold so taking everything gently

Swim 15/10

Tri club swim / shopping 16/10 but quite tired

and now its 17/10/21

I didn't do the GSR

I can run again although as not 100% only run once since being given the green light from Rares

Watching NFL

Thinking i need to stop eating sugar. 

Checking the diary - what have i been up to?

20/7 Ran the LRR magic mile in 10.19

21/7 Cycled to Fleming park for the 1st RR10 7.5km 57:51

23/7 The most painful sports massage ever

24-25/7 Playing in London (tri club swim, run 6.85km 50:35)

27/7 Game of squash

28/7 Tri club swim

29/7 Naomi House running event in Winchester with Ally

Weekend in York for Cousin Ruth's 50th

2/8 Meal with tri buddies Suzanne, Jenny & Sue

3/8 Squash

4/8 Tri club swim

6/8 Summer swim girls meal out for Lindsay's engagement

7/8 Tri club swim

8/8 walking in Gosport

9/8 Swim at Ellinghan

10/8 Squash

11/8 Run and tri club swim

12-16/8 IOW

ANKLE

Siiiiigh

The holiday on the IOW was going so well...

BBq, Sandown beach, walking, Fighting Cocks meal, run Saturday morning 5k 40mins

And then the walk to the beach in sandles

Fell off a tuft of grass

ANKLE TURNED

No more running / events till the middle of October.

Gutted

Put on 5kg

Much much later....

The swashbuckler is a distant memory!

I totally smashed it - well the swim, cycle and one lap of the run

Was the hotest day of the year - decided no need to practically kill myslef in the blazing sun - so did one lap of the run, felt epic, got my medal then had lunch with Suznne and the girls.

Such an amazing day!!

Here's my report for Southampton Tri Club :

Written on Monday 19th Juy 2021

Well I loved The Swashbuckler yesterday

Such a joy to go to bed by 9:30pm on a Saturday night while setting the alarm for 3:10am - although it’s been so long since my last stupid o’clock start time for an event, there was a small part of me that was secretly loving it xx

I’d also forgotten just how much stuff you have to pack / prepare / think about. I’m seeing mates in London next weekend otherwise I’d def be signing up for the transition skills session

Really enjoyed the swim although I am thinking that after 7 years my ‘new to me’ wetsuit may be on its last season - can one just use a puncture repair kit on a hole? It needs to get me round Ellingham at the end of August for the club champs.

The bike ride was fab, although wow, so much traffic on the 2nd lap - in fact the traffic was backed up to Ashurst so hoorah for local knowledge and the new bike path through to Lyndhurst and my mate H waiting at the bus stop to cheer me on. And was it just me or were there loads more animals out and about enjoying the New Forest yesterday?

I was worried about the cutoffs as I’ve never gone under 8 hours in a middle distance race. But I bloody smashed them! 46mins for the swim, 3:45 for the bike - that meant I had over THREE HOURS for the run!!! I was so excited!!! I was finally going to go under 8 hours!!! I slapped on suncream, grabbed my water bum bag, had a quick pee and excitedly left T2 whooping and cheering. Quick chat to more mates and off I went.

Gang I felt amazing. Game on. Loads of time, my water bum bag was full of snacks and the water was still semi frozen. A def Titanic moment - I was literally feeling ‘On Top Of The World!’

Yeah…

No.

Needless to say if the weather had been less ‘hottest day of the year’ I’d of def been able to smash 8 hours.

Instead I decided one lap was plenty, so called it a day after 6 hours and 17mins of racing. I’d had such a brilliant time, absolutely no need to ruin it by doing the second lap and ending up grinding to a hot tired melted messy stop all dehydrated and miserable and in pain

So hoorah for stopping

I had a blast - and OMG - loved seeing so many club mates racing, marshalling, officiating, organising.

Our club really is brilliant

#BestFunEver

Night before the Swashbuckler

Alarm set for 03:10 so of course I can't get to sleep at 21:35 😂

Been a good week…

Swam with Tri club last Saturday 

Saw Phil in Ashtead Sunday

Started new job Monday and swam

Gym and STC FB Q&A Tuesday

Gym and Tri club swimming Wednesday

STC TT Thursday - cycled out, TT 37.16

Swam Friday

Cleaned bike and registered today

In the water 06:05 tomorrow morning.

Chasing the cuts offs

Be fun to see how I do

It's going to be super hot so will see how I do with the run if make the bike cutoff 

Not as nervous as with the Lakesman, probably because I've got options to do Aquabike if want to

 

Penultimate week before the Swashbuckler

And I'm writing this on my penultimate day at Sport and Wellbeing!!

4 years to the month I've been with S&W and tomorrow is my last day. Bonkers!

What a great week…

Hurtbox / stationary bike discord on Monday

Physio Johnny discharged me on Tuesday 

Swam 1.9k with Tri club on Wednesday in approx 49.10mins

Ran 4x800m with 3min rest at the track on Thursday 

5.02.73

4.55.85

4.50.59

4.43.56

#GettingReadyForTheSwashbuckletr 💪

4.5km of swimming and an accidental 10k

What a weekend!!

SunDowner swim - challenging events at Eliingham. Team of 3, 5 hours and a 1.2km loop then from 9pm a 750m loop.

My swim felt brilliant

Strong, fast, good technique. Plus had a bonus warm up at the Quays with Tri club in the morning

Then today - set my phone for 3mins run / 30secs walk x20. Realised I was close to doing a 10k so did an extra bit of running and wahoooo 10k run done 💪

Am shattered 

Meeting the girls 6:30pm for drinks

I may need to have a little snooze before hand

Am feeling pretty positive about the swim part of the Swashbuckler now xx

Stationary bike - RUN - swim 🎉 plus NCUATS

Today was a good day

Chatted to Sue via discord while on the stationary bike

And then, for the first time in about 6 weeks I went for a run!!!

Nothing spectacular 

4K, 35mins - run/walking but I was running and it felt great. 

No pain, felt strong. 

So happy. 

Just got to find another 17kms by the 18/7 for the half marathon after the 1.9k swim and 90k cycle at the Swashbuckler.

I'm feeling okay about it TBH

I should be bricking it 5.5 weeks out from a half bloody IM but I don't think it's actually sunk in yet 😂😂😂😂

Met Katherine for tea then off to the Quays for STC swim session :

1700m approx 44mins

I've rejoined as a swim member - need the coaching. My swimming has stagnated. It's all technique and I'm a totally useless coach!!

So that's me at the moment.

Feeling strong.

But also very much aware of how crap I am around chocolate so I've decide to do NCUATS

No Chocolate Until After The Swashbuckler 

Ooh and I've got a new job starting 12/7/21 - I'm over the road with the student support centre full time 💪

I’m becoming a gym bunnie

I'm loving the gym

Can do all of my physio exercises in the 45mins we have at the moment at JSC or Mayflower Gym. Other days I do some weights, incline walking on the treadmill, some stretches. Manage to easily fill the session 💪

It’s official - I love walking

What started as a way to keep moving as knee bit sore from my REDJanuary has turned into a huge love for walking!!!

I am now A Walker 🤗

WEDMarch - how was it?

A very good question...

Feb step total = 625,100 which equals an average of 22,325 steps a day that month

March step total = 727,467 which equals an average of 23,467 steps a day

yes, there's still a few hours left of March but i'm not going to nip out for an hours walk so i doubt the average will go up that much between now and bedtime.

I'm utterly in love with walking now

I also need to start figuring out my Swashbuckler training plan (18/7/21 - half IM distance) plus the Hampshire Hilly Hundred bike ride 9/5/21 - 67miles. 

Very excited for my 2021 season xx

WEDMarch kinda going okay...

Well...

Week one was awesome

Week two not so great but smashed out 65,000 steps at the weekend in a desperate can I possibly do 80,000 steps in 2 days?? 😂😂😂😂

I can't.

But had a fabulous time trying 🎉

Walk Saturday morning

Walk with Shaz

Xobie overnight

Walk to A's

42k bike ride with Jenny 2:20

6k run with Mrs MackCooombe 48mins

WEDMarch may be a struggle to get to 25k steps a day and/or 175k steps a week.

1st-7th March - totally smashed out 25,000 steps everyday although Saturday only did 18k so did about 35k on Sunday - job done - at least 175,000 steps that week.

Today - 1st day back on campus (Uni of Southampton)

it's just gone 8pm and i'm at 12, 209 steps for today. 

i'll walk up and down the flat a bit so i can continue to listen to my awesome audio book - Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo but i doubt it'll be 23k odd steps!

I may have to rethink WEDMarch. 

Still WED but may need to adjust the amount of steps. Will see how this week goes...

WEDFeb - DONE

And just like that - WEDFeb is over.

20,000 fitbit steps every day (except 1st Feb when i hit snooze instead of jumping out of bed to walk before starting work)

Also remember with the fitbit - you sneeze and get 10 steps, wave and get a few more, cycle and get some more but it's all relative to me so i'm more than happy to say i've done 20,000 steps 27 days on the trot.

Am i lighter? maybe a couple of kilos

Am i fitter? i think i am... did not parkrun yesterday - 5k in 33.50 which i'm delighted with - also as i was chatting the whole way round with A i probably could have gone a bit quicker.

Plus been cycling a couple of time with Jenny and i'm feeling okay with my current bike fitness - not race fit but def feel as if i'm in a good place for when i start upping my training ready for the Swashbuckler middle distance race 18th July.

So i've decided to continue into March - so #WEDMarch but will up my step count to 25,000 

eeeeeeeeeeep.

Let's see how it goes. 

If i'm short one day i'm happy to do extra on another day, as long as each week i've done 175,000 steps.

WEDFeb#2 - smashed it!!!

Wow

20,000 steps a day? 

Smashed it today 💪

No snooze - 23mins walk before breakfast

20mins walk after lunch

100min walk after work

Will walk longer I think tomorrow morning

More 'walking rests' during work - back is so much better since walking during the work day

Will try a be out a little bit longer after lunch

Think 90mins is a good amount for after work. 

The key is to just keep doing it all month and then see how I feel.

WED Feb day 1

Well... not quite 20,000 steps but certainly a lot more than I have been doing so I think a positive start to my WED Feb.

A key strategy will be a walk before work to ensure I've got 4-5,000 steps in the bank right at the start of each day

Fingers crossed I manage that tomorrow!

52 and nearly RED this month 💪

And just like that I'm 52

In fact nearly 52 and one week!

This is how I spent my 52nd bday weekend...

Saturday - Reading, drinking tea, run.  Then birthday tea (including birthday cake) with the Hodgson's followed by Zoom Murder Mystery with The Coven

Sunday - 90min Virtual Hurtbox cycling session,  IV landline phone call with my young person. Run. Family Zoom quiz. NFC championship game -Packers lost 🙁

Monday - actual birthday. Hurtbox session, opened cards/pressies. Zoom lunch with Suzanne, Jenny and Sue. Cycled to Katherine's for kerbside tea and cake. Met Jenny on the common for an hours walk. Cycled over to Bitterne Park for kerbside catch up with Caroline and Charlotte. Annabel brought sausage casserole over for tea. Left 8:30ish. Now chilling for the rest of the evening listening to music via YouTube. 

Fabulous

Then back to work and had a lovely week

Gutted about the Packers

But queasy Thursday

Then another long weekend. 

So managed to RED every day except the25/1, 28/1 - bit queasy, 29/1 - walked and cycled a lot, 30/1 - not much but cycled to A's for tea. However ran today 5k 37mins with Charlotte. 

Feeling very happy with my month

Inside right knee bit sore - maybe over use?

Decided the Feb will be WED walking every day. Will up my Fitbit steps to 20k minimum and see what happens. Will also try daily yoga. 

Will also do some running as it is 23 weeks till the swashbuckler so I do need to start gently upping everything.

Want to go sub 7:30

Want to get to 67kg within the next 5 months if not sooner.

GAME ON!!!!!

RED still going strong / happy for American chums

This had been a good week.

Packers through to the NFC Championship game on Sunday

Yoga Tuesday evening 

President Biden and Vice President Harris sworn in on Wednesday / celebrated Emma's 7th birthday 

Ran with Charlotte Thursday evening - so wonderful to chat / interact with a mate in 3D

And now Friday evening - three days off from WFH

My minimum is 2k a day - approx 15-16mins

Ran 5k yesterday with Charlotte

Ran 4K x2 to K&S's and back after work this evening,  approx 31mins each way

Inside of my right knee is a bit sore - need to do more stretching 

Packers in NFC Championship game 🎉

What a weekend!!

It's just after 8pm Sunday evening - about to watch the Browns at the Chief's 

All is good though as my Packers beat the Rams yesterday. 

Saturday

50mins cycling on discord. 

4.5k 36mins RunChat with Charlotte 

Then Rams at Packers WE WON

And managed till half time with Ravens at Bills (Bills won)

Sunday

Tried. But still managed to hop on the bike 

90mins cycling on discord

3.3k 32mins run to Jenny's 

15min catch up while sitting on her garden wall

3.2k 31mins run home.

Now time for more football 🏈

What a weekend of super wildcard football!

Didn't even bother setting my alarm for the HB endurance session Sunday 10/1/21! Didn't get up till just after 11am.

I then had a three hour or so window to do my RED session before settling down to the build up then final three games of this super wildcard weekend. 

5k run to K&S's 38minutes

40mins chatting on the kerb - so wonderful to actually see friends in real life.

5k run home 41minutes

Huge roast dinner

Then OMG what an evening / night / early morning of football.

Ravens / Titans

Bears / Saints

And then the most bonkers exciting game I've seen for ages...

Browns/ Steelers

Bed just before 5am this morning.

Fabulous fabulous weekend. 

So glad I've subscribed to Sky Sports 🏈 

RED day 9 and super wild card weekend

I should be moving about seeing as I'm now half way through the triple header for first day of the super wild card weekend!

I've subscribed to Sky Sports so I can watch NFL 24/7 until after the Super Bowl 💪

Today has been active.

90mins on the stationary bike chatting to Suzanne and Jenny

Lidl's shop

40mins hard on the stationary bike then 2.6k run 19mins - first brick of 2021

Feeling epic - bike, walk, run then Star Trek Discovery

Great day

Cycled outside!! Up to UoS to grab my new work laptop from bldg37

Home via the common for a 50min walk with Jenny Penney

After work - 2.5k run 18mins then 15mins of stretching.

My RED streak continues

Then watched last Discovery season 3 episode. Yep, top day 👍

RED day 6 & US Capitol stormed

Spent the day sat glued to CNN

2k run then 3k walk after work - approx 46minutes

Then back to CNN in time to watch Trump supporters storm the US Capitol.

Watched in disbelief and horror 

Lovely catch up chat with Sue and Geoff though so... every cloud xx

RED day 5, Lockdown #3 day 1

And we're back in lockdown

Won't be furloughed- reckon I'll be back with the student support hub

40mins on the bike this morning then 16mins 2k run this evening.

Such an odd decade so far...

RED/SED Day4 - walk work run ✅

After yesterday's near miss on RED January - having to nip out at 6pm to run 2k, I had a plan for today.

A brisk walk before work to drop off my saliva test at Mayflower Halls of residence - 38mins

Work.

Certainly did stuff today / achieved,  but still so boring compared to actually being behind reception at the Jubilee Sports Centre.

Then my plan...

I already knew what I was going to do. James Saunders LRR half marathon training plan day 1 - hills. I was going to jog to the Itchen Bridge, run up it (4 lampposts worth) then walk down it 7 maybe 8 times.

Did 7 in the end - or it might have been 8 but don't think it was only 6. Honestly, running up/ walking down a bridge is actually really hard to count!!! Like when swimming and wondering if you've done 8 lengths or 10 lengths 🤔

Then jogged home

5k 46mins

Yep, feeling great 👍 

RED-SED January begins

60mins HB on discord

15mins 2k run around Old Town

10 hours of TV

Day one - check 💪