Posts

Posted Jan 3, 2019

A lunchtime run was my poison of choice today. Working in Rickmansworth which is blessed with a splendid aquadrome and canal, this seemed like the ideal option. I couldn't decide on a route so basically "winged it", just setting off to see where I ended up. It was cold but pretty, and my eventual route took me down the canal and across hills. I went about 5.3 miles in the end, and had a very pleasant time.

Posted Jan 2, 2019

I was back at work today, but the kids were still on their last stand before school. So an early run seemed like the thing! Today was a slightly hillier version of yesterday's run, about 2.3 miles with a small hill. Again, it was lovely to be out in the countryside, and I found my work day went better as a result.

Posted Jan 1, 2019

I wasn't sure whether I was going to be back here this year, but looks like I am! The last couple of months have been pretty active as I was training for a 10 mile run on Sunday. That went well-ish, and now I'm keen to keep up the momentum. I was going to go the Facebook post route, but these days I'm actually a bit anti-FB so felt going old-skool wasn't such a daft idea...

Posted Jun 30, 2018

Am I talking about Juneathon or my training this morning? Both, it turns out! But before I go into that, first here's a quick overview.

Posted Jun 30, 2018

Commuting takes up such a lot of time! Going in today was brilliant: a five minute head-start got us there a good 25 minutes earlier than normal. Coming back, though, was disastrous: a few accidents on the M4 meant massive detours and an overall time of not far short of two hours. So again, at least 2.5 hours spend driving. Yuk!

Posted Jun 29, 2018

Clinging in there for the last few days. There was too much going on with commute and family to manage much: all I can claim is to have managed about 7,000 steps and an emergency 35 press-ups to get me through. Hopefully Friday will be better!

Posted Jun 27, 2018

Much like yesterday, however a combination of luck and setting off 10 minutes earlier made the commute a bit shorter. Today I've only spent about 2.5 hours driving rather than 3.5 yesterday.

Posted Jun 27, 2018

Nasty commute to Theale, day's work, nasty commute back. Then an hour of yoga - an excellent antidote to vehicular stress! This is roughly how my days are going to look until the end of next week. I'm lucky to not have a bad commute normally, so this is a useful reminder to me of how generally lucky I am!

Posted Jun 25, 2018

Driving is something I've done a lot of today. My son started two weeks of work experience today, based in Theale. Guess who has to get him there and back from Amersham? That's right. Then, while he was there, I was working in Bracknell. Add in some awful M4 traffic and you get the idea. I'm thinking perhaps 3.5 hours?

Posted Jun 24, 2018

Training this evening was rather knocked out by finally getting round to booking our summer holidays. I'm now feeling a great deal poorer than I was earlier, but rather less anxious on the subject!

Posted Jun 23, 2018

We made a pilgrimage up to see my parents-in-law today, who live fairly near Cambridge. Knowing there would be scant chance for a decent Juneathon performance while I was up there, I went for an early stint to get it out the way. First off came a 45-minute weights session. Short and sharp was how I was thinking: squats (maxing at 5 sets of 77.5Kg x 5), overhead press (ending with 5 sets of 40Kg x 5) and deadlift (67.5Kg x 6). I haven't been doing deadlifts for a while so I'm breaking myself back in gently. The finisher was 3 sets of chin-ups, to try to develop the back muscles from yesterday's swim.

Posted Jun 22, 2018

Today has been splendid. I've walked a fair old way (just over 14,000 steps right now), partly because I managed to work somewhere a decent walking distance from home, and had a quick lunch outing. Heading down, the sun was out, the sky was blue with just a spotting of clouds, and it looked extremely reminiscent of the old Windows 95 home screen!

Posted Jun 22, 2018

Who knew it was the solstice today? Not me! However, I did manage to get to a yoga class - my third this week, for the win! It was a touch cooler than it has been earlier in the week, making it rather more pleasant. I can definitely feel my body getting more flexible as I keep on doing it. It's only been in the last few weeks that I've been able to consistently get my fingers to touch behind my back on both sides, with one arm going up my back and the other with a high elbow coming down from above. Actually shutting up my inner voice for an hour is the best bit, though.

Posted Jun 20, 2018

I was out all day in work meetings. That's not especially conducive to training, it turns out. However, when I got home Ellie suggested a run, and who am I to disagree! So out we headed, this time for a route of about 2.2 miles, at an average 9:45/mile pace. Very hot it was, but good!

Posted Jun 19, 2018

Not quite what I expected, this one. I had been thinking a run would be a good thing to get me going after staying up a bit late helping one of the kids with some homework. However, my work threw that slightly, and so it was that at the end of the work day nothing much had happened. So I headed down to our little room at the end of the garden and did some weights. Just the basics - bench press (peaking at 52.5Kg), tricep dips with the TRX, bicep curls (about 18Kg?) and (first time for ages) a Romanian deadlift (hitting 62.5Kg). Oh, and 75 kettlebell swings (20Kg).

Posted Jun 18, 2018

I'm noticing a pattern emerging. Ellie is keen to up her running levels, and likes a little 2-mile-ish loop we've got going down in the Old Town. So, if she's up for a run, that's been proving a pretty solid Juneathon entry. Did the trick today, that's for sure.

Posted Jun 17, 2018

When I was younger I really liked The Cure, and seeing the excellent album "Seventeen Seconds" mentioned cheered me up. Keep an eye out for the odd song reference...

Posted Jun 16, 2018

Well, the exercise bit went alright, which is something. A quick weights session in the morning, ran down to the Old Town for some coffee and then took our 10yo out for a little bike ride. Nothing earth-shattering, but just about hit the spot. The picture is of the weights breakdown.

Posted Jun 15, 2018

So yesterday I had to resort to token press-ups, while today I manage two separate runs! I wasn't sure how the day was going to pan out, and so grabbed the opportunity to head out for a quick run in the morning. It was quite hilly in the end, going for a circuit including Amersham on the Hill and Old Amersham, coming back up the footpath towards Hervines Park. Then, later on, Ellie was also up for a run in the evening so we managed to fit in another 1.7 miles or so round the Old Town. That's a total of 4.3 miles: result!

Posted Jun 15, 2018

Thursdays can be tricky! My day was knocked out by a work trip into London (at the Hurlingham Club no less, don't you know!), and then the evening was swamped by brownie trips and then orchestra. After at least two "minimalist" nights of sleep, I just needed to get to bed! And so it was that I cracked out my token 25 press-ups. Friday will be better, I promise!

Posted Jun 13, 2018

I don't remember quite how the idea of a morning run came up, but I'm glad it did. After the kids were on their way to school, Ellie and I headed out for a quick run outing in the Old Town. It was pretty warm, and the second half was distinctly faster than the first; Ellie turned round to head back shortly before we reached the point I was aiming at, so I thought I'd just do the extra bit and then catch her up. Turns out that's easier said than done! So my first mile was at 9:34 pace, and the second was 7:35 (with a last 0.1 at 7:19). Hot work!

Posted Jun 12, 2018

I'd been hoping to do a bit more, but unfortunately work had other ideas. So my day 12 featured an hour of yoga, an early start and a late night.Boo!

Posted Jun 12, 2018

Quite often on Mondays, my friend Holger and I do some weights. Today we did train, but mixed things up a bit for a change. We started off with some interval training, doing kettlebell swings (28kg ... ouch) and slamballs (10kg) - 1 minute on each, 15 seconds break, alternating so we each did 4 of both exercises. The slamball was rather fun, so after some other intervals we tried playing "slamball catch", this time with a 5kg ball. It was surprisingly cardio, and especially as we got further apart I wasn't sure whether it was harder to throw or catch...

Posted Jun 10, 2018

We were invited to a rather splendid barbecue today. I ate more than was probably good for me, and it was all delicious. The hosts and guests were all good company too, making it a very enjoyable day overall.

Posted Jun 9, 2018

Last night it was pointed out by my kids that our wifi had gone wonky. Obviously this is a catastrophe, and so it was that I ended up dealing with family IT support woes until about 1:30AM trying to make it work. I then resumed it this morning (after an early start / Tesco visit), and went straight on to have a pretty busy day including buying a suit for my 16yo. (Having a school prom coming up after GCSEs turns out to be quite a motivator.)

Posted Jun 8, 2018

Posted Jun 7, 2018

Thursdays are always busy - I play the flute, and orchestra rehearsals are on Thursday evenings. Our youngest also has Brownies, and Ellie is teaching yoga. That's enough to keep anyone busy. It's also been extra-full-on due to having to try to sort out some woes with the PPLPRS organisation (but that's another story).

Posted Jun 7, 2018

Posted Jun 6, 2018

... again, yoga. It's been one of those days which has only really included preparation, work and home. This evening, thankfully, I was booked on to another yoga class with Ellie. Another hour of yoga ensued, which I enjoyed greatly. It's been pretty strong this week, with quite a few balances and so on. Fun!

Posted Jun 5, 2018

What with it being dry and everything, a bit of a walk around Rickmansworth seemed just the ticket for this lunchtime. So out I headed, for a brisk circuit touching the river and town. A great way to clear my head of work! Adding in the walk to and from work, I'm standing at about 12,000 steps right now.