Posts

Posted Jun 4, 2018

I felt pretty good after yesterday's triathlon, all things considered. However, I realised my legs are still sore, so thought I'd better give them a break! The obvious answer: some upper body weights.

Posted Jun 3, 2018

My friend Sarah and I did a sprint triathlon at Blenheim today, with some family and friends there to support us. Sitting here now in the cool writing this post, the main word in my mind is "hot". It was absolutely scorching!

Posted Jun 3, 2018

Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Sunday is my triathlon at Blenheim, and I thought it would be daft to try to do too much. So instead I've been rushing around getting ready, managing about 10K steps. I did, however, have a quick outing on the bike: my 10yo was DESPERATE to have a ride, and it would have been churlish to have let her down! So that's about 3 miles on the bike too.

Posted Jun 1, 2018

Gosh, is it June already? Wow, in that case - let's DO THIS!

Posted Dec 5, 2017

Not my usual subject on this blog, but I'm just SO EXCITED! For the last year or more I've been relying on a nasty hack to make SQL Developer bearable on a linux HiDPI display. With a few simple updates, I can now get something genuinely usable!!

Posted Mar 23, 2017

In my capacity as part-time CIO of the HSL (Hodson Support Line), I occasionally involve myself in the running of websites around the family. One such website is that of Mrs H previously aka Yoga By Ellie, now known as Ellie Denman Yoga! We've bought her a new domain name (https://elliedenman.yoga), and have moved the site over. The content is much the same, talking about her yoga classes in Amersham, for adults and teenagers. Another perk of my position is of course that I get to go to a couple of classes a week, which I have to say I absolutely love - hence this shameless plug!

Posted Jan 11, 2017

My plans to do some weights failed due to lack of time. However an hour of yoga went down very well: back bends. Oh yeah. 

Posted Jan 10, 2017

Busy day, short post. Ok, no weights or anything, but I did at least manage to get over 11,000 steps in through the day. I have higher hopes for tomorrow...

Posted Jan 9, 2017

Back in Amersham after a weekend away, time was limited. So I went for the classic choice: about an hour of lifting heavy bits of metal. We're talking squats, bench presses and bent-over rows - I'm roughly following the so-called StrongLifts 5x5, mainly as I've had decent success with it in the past.

Posted Jan 7, 2017

Family commitments have rather taken their toll on today. I've spent more than 3 hours driving, and eaten quite a lot of cake and lasagne, if that counts. In Janathon terms, all I can really claim is just over 9,000 steps plus a token 25 press-ups. That's consistently something, right?

Posted Jan 7, 2017

Time being at a premium, day 6 was sneakily squeezed in around other activities. The three main features were:

Posted Jan 6, 2017

With a busy work day on the cards and an outing in the evening (a very enjoyable birthday gathering, but I digress), I knew that there wouldn't be much specific exercise going on. Therefore I had to depend on fitting in some general activity between other things, namely walking and running. The main run was a quick sprint to the station to get a train home - as they say, necessity is the mother of invention... So the day's total was just the right side of 11,000 steps at the final count. That'll have to do; they don't call it a festival of activity and excuses for nothing!

Posted Jan 4, 2017

Most days, just the walks between home, station and office mean that I can manage 10,000 steps per day without especially trying. Today, though: no. Due to a child-related incident (of the kind where, unlike their older siblings, you take them to school and notice a distinct absence of other children), I found myself working at home. I didn't actually leave our plot of land until about 5pm and even now haven't even hit 6,000 steps. So, productive for work but not very active.

Posted Jan 4, 2017

To complement the previous day's weights, day 3 featured an hour of yoga with Mrs H - a definite perk of being married to a yoga teacher! It was a fairly strong, mixed class, introducing some new back bends I haven't tried before. It certainly felt good being back on the mat: as it turns out, yoga is one of the few things that can turn off the constant chatter going on in my head. I'd recommend it as much for the mental benefits as the physical, but do also note with interest that I've never before been able to properly touch my toes...

Posted Jan 2, 2017

The title refers to today's two main activities. In the morning, Mrs H suggested we try out the Bodycoach Facebook Live HIIT session. 20 minutes, hard work! Recommended, we'll be doing it again in 2 days...

Posted Jan 1, 2017

Can't believe it is 2017 already! Wow. And so another year of Janathon. Cool!

Posted Feb 1, 2016

Last day, woo hoo! Janathon has actually been very helpful for me this year. I've really enjoyed following a number of my fellow Janathoners' blogs through the month, and have also done better on the exercise front than I would otherwise have done, of that I'm sure. In addition, though, it has kicked off the thought process of goal-setting, and I realise that this year I want to:

Posted Jan 31, 2016

My Dad has a big birthday around now, so Saturday was a bit of a crazy whistle-stop ride down to near Bath and back in a day for his birthday party. The party itself was at the rather nice venue of Tracy Park, between Bath and Bristol. Loads of family were there - in fact it was actually the first time that our three kids had been together in the same room as their two young cousins!

Posted Jan 29, 2016

What a day. After making it to evening, I just about managed to head out for a wet, windy 1.5 mile run round Amersham. I wasn't feeling great, so for once took the sensible option and headed back early.

Posted Jan 29, 2016

This is going to be quick! After a rather work-heavy day, I rounded things off with our pairs PT session, moved from Friday. As my shoulder has been a bit achy, this one was LEG DAY. Ouch! We mainly did deadlifts, squats and Bulgarian squats. Darrell took some pics which I have included here. Time is short so that's all for now, folks!

Posted Jan 27, 2016

Today started with a pretty strong weights session in my pairs PT that is usually on a Friday. The only problem was that while chest-pressing some 17Kg dumbbells, my left arm/shoulder failed in a way that was a) a bit painful and b) ended up with the weight whacking my hip. Annoying - owwww!

Posted Jan 26, 2016

I've been out with work meetings today, but luckily had a yoga class booked this evening with YogaByEllie. Result: it was delicious, and I'm now feelin' gooooood! My step count is a bit dismal (5-6 thousand ish), but I'm not letting that affect my mood, that's for sure.

Posted Jan 25, 2016

It all hurts rather today! For a start, I bought new shoes over the weekend, and as it turns out they need a bit of wearing in. Worse, though, I'm aching quite a lot from yesterday - the run was quite literally a step too far.

Posted Jan 25, 2016

My cycling club, the ARCC, has outings on Sunday mornings. I don't manage many of them due to family commitments - rides knock out half the day, typically, and that's quite a big "ask" for Mrs H. However I do go out periodically, and with dry weather forecast, this was my day.

Posted Jan 23, 2016

Today has been full-on! Mrs H was out doing circuits this morning, and our oldest was on the footie, and then our littlest had a school cross country event at Hervines Park in Amersham! As it turned out, hers was actually the earliest, so she and I traipsed over to the park ready for some action. It was cold and very muddy, but we were dressed for it so that was fine. We also bumped into some Wild Training folks down there, which was a nice surprise.

Posted Jan 22, 2016

Friday, but not like normal Fridays... I would usually have a "pairs PT" session in the morning, but our trainer was tied up with some kind of franchise meeting so we had to reschedule. Instead, I took my gym stuff into work with fingers crossed.

Posted Jan 22, 2016

A lunch outing saw me slink off again to Bodycoach for a quick Metafit session. It was pretty tough today! Each set was as follows:

Posted Jan 21, 2016

My plans for a lunchtime workout might have failed due to a work deadline, but I still managed my evening yoga session thankfully. It may have been very cold outside, but the yoga was distinctly warming, with some pretty serious squats, planks and balances to challenge my body and distract my mind. Brilliant!

Posted Jan 20, 2016

Annoyingly, I seem to have developed some heel pain on my left foot. I'm not sure if it is just a bruise or something more serious, but it does rather limit my running options. However two of my other regular activities seem unaffected, and I managed both of them today. Yay!

Posted Jan 18, 2016

Sunday was a catastrophic fail. We were out a fair chunk of the day, and I wanted to get an early night to get my mood and eating back on top. So "rest day" it was - but the night certainly wasn't! Our burglar alarm took the opportunity to develop a fault and go off 5 times between 4 and 6 - not quite what I had been hoping for! (Or our neighbours, I'm guessing...)