June was good. Just not so much the 'athon'.

Well Juneathon was a fail. Started to pick up little niggles and then just decided that as I was going on holiday for the last week and a half, I didn't intend to spend that time forcing myself to exercise when there was baguettes and paté to eat and copious amounts of red wine to drink. Therefore, I didn't manage much but with an 85.98km London to Brighton Cycle, my fastest ever run at Crisis, the offer of a new job and a week and a half camping in France, June was extremely good without the 'athon' part. Some amazing stats and huge numbers this year though so well done to everyone that was involved.

Upon returning from eating a lot of baguettes and paté and drinking copious amounts of red wine, I felt Sunday would be a good idea to get on Yolkey and cycle a stupidly long distance. Actually, I really didn't think this was a good idea but as I had a)already agreed to it and b)knew that if didn't do it, I wouldn't be in a position to complete Dunwich Dynamo in 2 weeks, I didn't have much choice. Therefore myself and eatingtrees completed 147.76km in one gear though the hills of Surrey and West Sussex. I'm not going to lie. I had to dig deep. A lot. I found it tough but to be fair, I'd be a little freaked out if I hadn't. It's a bloody long way for a slightly out of shape father to go on a bike. Just shy of 92 miles!! Now we just have to do it all again in 2 weeks and add another 50km to the distance. Joy. On the plus side, it should have a lot less hills. On the downside, it'll be pitch black, through the middle of the night with no sleep. This was something I wanted to do?!?!?

That's the year completed

Just a run round the block for today's Juneathon and a first little foray into my speed increase theory.

Really happy. I've now found and entered to 2 missing races (Aug and Nov) so that's my minimum one race a month for the year complete. August will be the Arundel Castle 10k (with maybe a little camping thrown in as it's the bank holiday weekend) and thanks to a friend of eatingtrees, November's race will be the Mens Health Survival of the Fittest in London. What have I let myself in for?!?!

November's race actually falls on my first wedding anniversary so I suspect it's going to cost me long term. I suspect a meal out is the very minimum I'll have to pay for asking my wife to stand around Battersea Power Station and watch my get tired, wet and muddy!

Time for a change

I didn't mention it at the time but there was a strange smell on the second half of the BUPA 10k that wasn't all that pleasant. It took a while for the penny to drop that it was actually my t-shirt and after 2 years and numerous races and numerous training runs had come to the end of it's smell free life. Time to go shopping!

I wanted a couple of replacements and found myself heading over to simplysweat.com to check out what they had. Quite a simple and straight forward website meant that I was able to find the mens tops quite quickly and once I'd checked out the size guide and selected the size I was after, I was given a large selection of tops from some very well known brands to choose from.

Prices ranged from the very high (maybe it's just me) to much more in my price range so I found 3 I liked that were at the lower end of the scale, in colours that mean I'll never be missed on the course again and headed to the checkout.

Delivery had 3 options which were standard, express and next day and I have to say, I'm not a fan of paying for standard delivery and generally go elsewhere but I felt £2.99 was a small price to pay for the 3 tops I'd chosen. I could even pay by Paypal which saves the whole card details and address input thing but maybe it was having a bad day as it wouldn't let me use my account. Pah! I ordered Tuesday and delivered on Saturday (just after I got back from a run typically) so not as quick as some sites but if I had been desperate for it, I could have paid more I guess.

Overall, a good site with loads of stock from some good brands at pretty good prices. Give them a go next time you smell a funny smell while running. It may be you.

Juneathon has continued with a little running and a little cycling but nothing interesting has happened so I don't want to bore you all. My stats, as with all the others are on that running free site.

After the fizzle, here comes the pop

Well after Monday's blistering BUPA 10k, I was ill all night and lost pretty much most of the fluid in body. Not the best thing for muscle recovery and diluting the lactic acid in my legs. Tuesday, I couldn't physically move. Wednesday was only slightly better so day 1 of Juneathon was a mighty 1.43 mile bike ride around the block to check the creaking in my cranks. I'm pretty sure that if I was at school, the report card would have said 'can do better'.

This morning I did. At 5:30am, I headed out on the route that WAS Juneathon 2010. Last year, out of the 22 days I ran, 19 days were run on this route and the majority of those at 5:30am. The fastest I had ever run this route was 25:02 and I remember it being tough. Today, with VERY heavy legs and a head that only a 5:20am alarm can bring, I headed off again. The legs hurt but it didn't feel too tough so I fail to understand how I smashed my best time again. 24:36!!

That's 4.47 KM pace (or a frankly ridiculous for me, 7:43 m/mile). This is someone who struggled to creep under the 9 minute mile barrier 3 years ago.

And yet more news, for the first time in at least 6 years and probably more, my weight has dipped (just) below 13 stone! I've been 13 stone something and once or twice hit 14 for so long, I was resigned to being that weight forever. Now, my weight starts with a 12 and I'm a happy boy. This combined with the last year running in the Surrey Hills and the numerous miles on the bike are obviously paying off with my times.

Continued hiatus brings out Yolkey

As I'm currently on a bit of a hiatus from running due to the continued pain in my left knee, it was wonderful to get out on Yolkey on Saturday morning with fellow London 2 Brighton rider, my Mum who was down visiting The Boy, and complete 37.3km.

I say it was wonderful to complete it because after not having one ever before, I got my second puncture in 2 rides! I didn't believe slim filled inner tubes would give me any benefits. I am now looking on the internet for some slime filled inner tubes as I'm sure they would have stopped the second if not the first. ARGHH!!!!

Something I did buy myself this weekend were some cycling shoes though. Mountain bike ones obviously so I can actually walk in them but cycling shoes none the less. See I've had a pair of clipless pedals sitting in the shed for a year or 2 now so finally decided to bite the bullet and get some shoes to use with them. Haven't tried them but I'm going to fit the pedals tonight and then in the next day or two, take it for a little test ride.

BUPA 10k next Monday and then follows Juneathon. Not sure how well I'll do with the knee and will probably have to be more cycling based rather than running based but with Crisis coming up too plus a camping holiday in France, things are looking like fun!

Juneathon or not Juneathon. That is the question

I can't decide about this whole Juneathon thing. I mean it's a brilliant thing to do and anyone who completes it in my eyes deserves a world of respect but being one of the people who dropped out last year, I can testify about just how tough it is. Doing some form of exercise every. single. day. and blogging about it every. single. day. takes a hell of a lot of motivation for anyone who's not training for some insane kind of triathlon event.

To be honest, after my failure to run in the last 40 odd days and the increased size of what I'm calling my 'sympathy belly', I really should be taking part, winning and halving my excess weight but I'm not sure I can commit. Mind you, if I don't even try, I've got no hope so hope so decision made, count me in and I'll try my best.

By then, I'll be living 15 miles away from work so there goes the 'easy cycle day' and as eatingtrees mentions, the last week is going to absolutely kill after competing in London2Brighton on the bike on the 20th! I think I may have to get the press ups and sit ups involved to help me through my lazy days.

Join us for Juneathon. If you don't have a blog, you have no excuse either! Just put all your daily updates the soon-to-be Juneathon 2010 Facebook page which I'll add a link too as soon as it's live. Come on, join the pain. I mean fun. Join the fun.

Popping pills, cracking backs and a sore arse!

Hello there. Long time no blog. Well a week anyway and I apologise for it. To be honest, the injury got the better of me and started to get disillusioned with the whole exercise thing. An update for you anyway.

On the injury front, it still hurts but I went to the doctor on Friday night and he did the now pretty standard thing of covering most bases. It could be the hip and it could also be the lower back. That wasn't really news to me as I told him when I walked in that it could be the hip of the back but never mind. He's given me a leaflet on back stretches, plus a 2 week prescription of anti-inflammatories for the hip joint. I have to take them 3 times a day, only with food or they will do some weird stuff to my insides and absolutely no alcohol. Huh!! No fair! I've just taken my first one and no change yet. How long to you reckon it takes??? Anyway along with the pills I reckon I'm going to pay a visit to my osteopath this week. £40 to get beaten and man handled all in the name of reducing pain. Let me have my wine back and I'll kill the pain myself but I'm hoping that
'The hip pain's connected to the hamstring pain
The hamstring pain's connected to the knee pain
The knee pain's connected to the foot pain
And if all of the above doesn't work I'm screwed!'

So onto more pleasant things. Well it was to start with anyway. I went to visit eatingtrees yesterday to do a planned joint Juneathon but was obviously unable to take part in any running. Therefore we were left with 2 choices. Sit and smoke shisha and talk about exercise or get on the bikes and go for a little ride. We chose the wrong option and got on the bikes. Something to note at this point, I haven't been on a bike for somewhere between 4-5 years. It was a wobbly start but I was still alive and eatingtrees sensibly kept me away from any main roads for any length of time. He did however put me near a river which could have proved equally as disastrous. We cycled just over 8 miles, found a pub (for lunch and OJ and lemonade) and then cycled back. Not too bad. I felt I'd got away without any major problems then. HELL NO I DIDN'T!!!!!! I can hardly sit down, LG is having fun laughing at my expense and I have no idea how I'm gong to spend all day sitting at a desk tomorrow. Cyclists. Strange a sadistic people I'm sure of it!!

Final note, with the Thame 10k only 2 weeks away and me thinking I'll be OK for it (fingers crossed), LG went out this morning on her first training run for a while. 3.42 miles (5.51km) which is over half the distance which is bloody good going so well done to her. I can hear her talking at me at the moment though and I have a feeling she wants to do some Bikram yoga or something. I better listen now before I end up agreeing to something like I did yesterday with the bikes and end up in even more pain.

LOST: Ability to move without causing pain in left hand side of my body

If found, Please return to:

Hauling My Carcass
South West London
Near the River
UK

Today was a lazy day to continue my lazy week. Myself and LG did have to go up to the storage place and get a few boxes though so I decided to run there and meet LG, load the car up and then run back. It was very short and not so sweet. Everything has started to ache and I'm at a bit of a loss at what to do now. Resting for a couple of weeks didn't seem to help and I can usually run between 4 and 6 miles without too much of an issue but after that and the next day, walking is more difficult than it should be for a 29 year old. Maybe it's time for a trip to the doctors.

Stats for day 7 of Juneathon:
Out: 1.04 miles at 7:40 (7:22 pace)
Back: 0.67 miles at 5:12 (7.45 pace)

Juneathon. FAILURE

Yep, I have failed. Yesterday I just ran out of time to do anything. I honestly had nothing between getting up at 6.55am and going to bed at 11.15pm. Between travelling, working, cooking, meeting friends I haven't seen for ages and getting ready for a trip to the cricket today, I just ran out of time. No real excuse except poor planning I guess. I'm a bit pissed off.

I'm not going to stop though, I will continue and just have to accept y shortcomings.

I've just got back from a day at the cricket and it was great fun watching the Aussies get stuffed. However, before I went this morning, I did the following:

Sit Ups (crunches):
Set 1: 24
Set 2: 30
Set 3: 23
Set 4: 23
Set 5: 30

Press Ups:
Set 1: 10
Set 2: 12
Set 3: 8
Set 4: 8
Set 5: 15

Shoddy HMC... Shoddy

Day 4. Running at an angle

WTF is wrong with the left hand side of my body!!! Hip was giving me jip a couple of weeks ago and still aches. Left knee started hurting a few weeks ago when I started compensating for the hip. Yesterday (after day 2's great run) the outer part of the front of my left foot started hurting and then I got back from a run today to find a blister on my (yep you guessed it) left foot. On the bottom of the ball part. Now I'm not stupid (not intelligent either but that really is beside the point) but I reckon all these things have to be connected in some way! It really won't be long until my running route consists of me running in tiny circles outside my front door as my left leg just gets dragged behind while the right one does all the work.

Anyway, day 4 running stats are:
Distance: 4 Miles (6.43k)
Time: 32:38
Pace: 8:07 p/m (5:02 p/k)

Not bad for another morning workout due to some leaving drinks this evening. Quickly realising I do my best work in the evenings and not at stupid o'clock in the morning. Either way, I really don't know how much I can push this hip at the mo with an HM coming at the end of July so just going to continue to keep the mileage down and see how it goes. Happy with the time again though.

Oh and my new toy's arrived and no it's not a Garmin. After the car purchase and the hideous amounts of camping gear I've bought recently, I really don't have money to spend on a Garmin. Mind you, this one appears to do everything I need except the GPS and to be honest, at the moment, I like my old fashioned pace bands. I will invest one day but not while I'm running in tiny circles!

Morning Exercise. Day 3

Pah. It's rubbish. Why would I actually get out of bed earlier than normal in order to put myself through some physical pain! WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THAT!?!?! Oh yes, because I agreed to abide by the rules on Juneathon and I was planning on going for a drink tonight and therefore wouldn't be in any a state to do any form of exercise later.

So it was my first proper day of 100 sit-up/200 press-up challenge and this was my task:

Press Ups (rest of 60 seconds between each set)
Set 1: 10
Set 2: 12
Set 3: 7
Set 4: 7
Set 5: 9

My shoulders not only ached but i very nearly smacked my nose on the floor. Plus my shoulders crack very loudly while doing them at that time in the morning. It was not a pretty sight!

Sits Ups (rest of 60 seconds between each set)
Set 1: 21
Set 2: 27
Set 3: 21
Set 4: 21
Set 5: 30

Ouuuuuch! FFS. I appear to have no stomach muscles at all. This really hurt! A lot!! I can't wait until tomorrow morning, I can go for a run instead and not have to do any of this crappy core strength stuff.

Also, an annoying point, my running watch appears to have died. Maybe it couldn't cope with yesterday's amazing (ahhem) speed but as of this morning, it's dead. Actually, weirdly the light's still on but there's no display. Take it to the menders or buy a new watch? Decisions, decisions!

Have a good day 3 everybody!

Juneathon. And there's the bang I wanted

There's the bang I wanted. Let me explain.

I was planning on running home from work today on a little 3 mile route but due to a change of plan, I wasn't at work a the end of the day and I must say, I was effing delighted. It was ridiculously hot out there!! So instead, I made some pasta for lunch tomorrow and then at 8.15, I put on my trainers and headed out.

Pretty quickly for me I may add. I didn't know my mile markers but it felt quick so I just carried on. It bloody hurt though!

Anyway, I'm back with the following....

Time: 36:05
Distance: 4.57 miles (7.35km)
Pace: 7:54 p/m (4:54 p/k)

Hold Up!!! Does that say 7:54 p/m pace. That is the fastest timed run I've ever done and the first time EVER below 8 minute pace. Now that's a better Juneathon day!

Juneathon. Off with a fizzle!

It's Day 1 in the HMC Juneathon house and as I work for a living, dealt with a Tesco delivery when I got home, designed a badge for my Ma's study week and am not currently sitting on my arse on a Greek island, I've only just got round to doing the whole exercise thing.

Apparently, I'm not very fit, toned or very strong and this has just been proven in big letters with my attempt at sit ups and press ups to start my 20o and 100 consecutive challenge.

Today was the 'initial test' to see how god damn awful I was going to be. Answer: I'm average. I've never felt so happy at being average... ever... It's a good starting point. If I actually keep this up, I may get rid of this beautiful beer belly that has been bought and paid for since I was 18 (ish).

Anyway. Test results:
Press Ups: 17 consecutive. Before the mocking starts, you try lifting 14 stone.
Sit Ups: 47 consecutive. My belly went inwards on one of them I'm sure!!

I will continue with these on Wed but luckily, I'm just going to do it the easy way tomorrow and run home from work which is a nice 3 miles. Sounds like a good opportunity for some speed work.

Well done to everyone who's made a start today. Good on you!

The looniness of Juneathon plus a question

Well it's only 3 days to go until June and that can only mean one thing. JUNEATHON IS HERE!!!! I'm a Juneathon Virgin but I'm led to believe it has been wonderfully chiefed by JoggerBlogger for the last couple of years and I'm looking forward to taking part. The extremely complicated and strict rules are here. In a nutshell though, exercise everyday, blog about it, read other's blogs regarding it.

Now with a slightly ropey hip, I think running everyday is out of the question for me. However, after taking a few ideas from other blogs around (namely eatingtrees and The Red Bucket) I have decided what my Juneathon will entail.

Running:
3 times a week should be good with a few hills thrown in too.
100 Push Up Challenge:
Do 100 consecutive pushups in 6 weeks. I think my current record is about 7. That maybe over exaggerating as well
200 Sit Up Challenge:
You won't be surprised but this is the same concept as above. However, I don't think my stomach rolls inwards so this is going to be a tough one (lovely image for you all). I will do the Push Up and Sit Up Challenges on the same day I reckon which will be 3 sessions a week.
Touch Rugby:
Once a week, it's 30/40 mins of sprinting around a field chasing a person with a ball. The attempted catching and throwing of said ball are also included. Note the word 'attempted'.

It has become clear to me while writing this blog that I'm not quite an elite athlete. Or just an athlete for that matter. Even just an ath is pushing it to be honest therefore exercising every single day is not going to be easy for me.

My question though. I want to jump out of a plane on the 21st June. Nothing to do with Low Cost Airlines cutting their costs, more that I bought LG a jump for her birthday and I'll be doing it too. So, does this count as exercise or do I still need to do something else on this day. I reckon Iliketocount may well be the best person to advise me here!?

As a side note (which appear to be turning into a more regular thing), I think I've persuaded LG to do Juneathon too albeit a slightly less energetic one so her updates will more than likely appear alongside my usual blathering babble.

So have a good weekend. I'm off to go and sleep in a tent on the outskirts of Cambridge tonight... And to think eatingtrees thinks he has it good by being on a beautiful and sunny Greek Island. He doesn't know what luxury is!