Blimey it's all go.

Haven't had time to post this morning am in training all day again like yesterday. Had to prepare a ten minute presentation so not time for anything else pretty much. Did 13.5 miles on the super fast FCR1 this morning though.

Only got half an hour today so no time for gym, still, presentation training done.

Saw an interesting article on the BBC about parking bikes now bikes are becoming more popular. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7534963.stm

One of the reader's comments on it sounds a brilliant idea I can't help thinking:

On a recent trip to Santa Monica, California, I noticed that many of the buses had bike racks on the front that you could strap your bike to. Great idea and encourages cyclists to take their bikes both locally and on long journeys.Paul Betteridge, Poole, Dorset

Wet Wednesday

Disappointed in myself this morning. Was up early doors but chucking it down outside so didn't go out until had to, went on slow but comfy bike for four miles in pouring rain, thing was I reckon I'd have been okay running as it wasn't cold just wet. Did a load of muscle exercises at home so not a dead loss. Am in training til 7pm tonight so not sure how am going to make missed time up. With luck can get into Gym at lunchtime for half an hour. That'll help.

Get in, won Saturday's social golf comp

9:37 pace this morning, not tremendous but my legs are rubbish at the minute. No go in them whatsoever. I stop and get newspapers at about 3.6 mile mark and was seriously considering purchase of chocolate this morning that's how bad it was. Wierd, think running is messing with my head a bit.

You are a winner

Got an email from HowDidIdo.co.uk the golf club's results service which tells me I won the division two section of Saturday's social stableford. There was another player on the same points but I won on countback which is a bit of a surprise as I finished par, double-bogey, bogey, double-bogey from the fifteenth in! There were only about fifteen folks playing in it and only from yellows but at least it's winning for a change.

Not to worry, been chucking it down in night so going for a run rather than out on bike (the FCR1 don't go out in rain!).

Monday bedlam

Bread maker played up - first forgot to put bloomin yeast in last night so got flat bread. So set if off with another load, then the darned thing kept jumping out of gear during the mixing phase so I ended up having to wait while the mix phase completed before I could go out running . Hey ho, such is life, I suppose.

Ran 48 mins for 5 miles, bit slow but at least had a bit of go in the old legs. Bloomin scales are saying 14st 12lbs this morning which is a bit of a nightmare scenario. Some work to put in this week.

Did the mini-circuit again in the gym, added tricep pushdowns and biceps curls to it but notched up the weights and speed on treadmill a little bit again.

Spin in the sun...

Added some pics from bike ride, didn't stop long so not many!


Looking down hill towards Newhaven on the Buxton road.


The only way to stop a Giant FCR1 from floating away is to clamp it to a car...



Looking out over Derbyshire from Buxton Road somewhere near Biggin turn-off.


Looking over Tissington Trail towards Biggin.


The Edge hasn't been working for the past week so the notes below are what I did typed into Excel! Just for the record dontcha know!


Got up 7:00am'ish, was glossing and putting curtain rails and lamp shades and borders and lord knows what until lunchtime then went for a spin on the lovely Giant FCR1, computers says 20.68 miles but the Edge was playing up again so not sure what the mileage was. Plenty of hills and stuff so a good sort of a workout. I got it uploading again as well had to do a hard reset on the Garmin edge which you do by holding mode when powering it up, it then says do you want to delete all your data which is a stupid question, not really was the answer I'd have given it but then I wouldn't be able to upload would I?

Saturday and summer's here, is it time? for more beer

Had a few beers last night, don't feel too bad this morning. Done four miles on slow but comfy bike to fetch papers. Haven't mentioned the breadmaker recently but have been doing a loaf a day pretty much since we've had it and it's great now that I've got the ingredients right. Not really making a mess of the weight loss program as long as I follow the advice of the good book (Food Optimising book I'm talking about) "moderation in everything". A couple of slices a day don't hurt nobody, half a loaf though, that wouldn't be sensible would it?

Golf at lunch time and it's roasting hot already, first time out for the shorts i reckon. Got to find some white socks now - dress code and all that nonsense.

Golfin - played a social comp off yellow tees this afternoon in the boiling sun, it was grand, got 41 stableford points, shot a total of 81 strokes. Which went
1st hole, par 4, took 5 for bogey.
2nd hole, par 5, took 5 for par
3rd hole, par 3, took 5! for double bogey and no points off my handicap of 15
4th hole, par 4, took 4 for par
5th hole, par 4, took 3 for birdie
6th hole, par 3 took 3 for par
7th hole, par 4 took 5 for bogie
8th hole, par 5 took 6 for bogie
9th hole, par 3 took 4 for bogie
10th hole, par 4 took 4 for par
11th hole, par 4, took 4 for par
12th hole, par 4, took 5 for bogies
13th hole, par 4, took 4 for par
14th hole, par 3, took 3 for par
15th hole, par 5, took 5 for par
16th hole, par 3, took 5 for double bogey
17th hole, par 5, took 6 for bogey
18th hole, par 4, took 6 for double bogey.

In general it was some of the best golf I've played mixed up with some of the worst. Made a couple of bad decisions took too much club on 14th and 16th for example and sort of lost it on the last three holes, don;t know if that was tiredness? Hit some massive drives, some great irons and a few really good putts, in fact a lot of really good putts, got the line wrong a few times but hit the putts on that line. Enjoyed it. Like playing in Spain it was this afternoon.

New legs please.

Half pound weight gain -
Very acceptable to put just a half pound on given alcohol intake last weekend. Weight currently stands at 14st 10lbs which is about the same as it was at Margaret's last August so not end of the world! Going to cut back a little bit on the beer this weekend. Have been at gym every day this week which is something I've never done before so am pleased with meself on that, did the circuit thing again notching up everything a little bit, think I've got the leg press thing a bit light but will get that right in time. Wouldn't be out of the question to have put on half a pound of muscle in that week as well - I might ask Kelly for another body composition test to see if there's been a change.

Jeez, just nothing in my legs at the minute, 49 and a half minutes to do five miles, there were snails over taking me this morning. Don't know what's up with them, am not going to blame it on the new trainers although they do feel different it must be said, my ankles and calves don't want to play ball at all.

Got on the scales and theres about three pounds worth of damage done as well - so I know how many beers I can get away with in a week and the answer is about six! which is good really, three on a Friday, three on a Saturday will be okay.

Weigh-in later, will see whether the weight will go by then!! Doubt it greatly but will see!

everything running late today. Didn't get up til 5:38, didn't get the bike on road til gone 6am, only got 12.12miles done at an average of 15mph in 48 minutes. The Edge played up, the software that downloads the stats out of the edge says it can't get activities. We had a server problem at work meant I didn't get down to gym until late. Blimey o'riley it feels like swimming against the tide at the minute!

In the gym have been doing the Super Circuit Challenge at beginner level (otherwise I'd be stuck down there for hours!!)- it involves:
5 mins on bike
5 mins on rower (1200m)
5 mins on tread mill
2 x 10 ab curls
2 x 10 leg presses (killing my thighs after two days of it)
2 x 10 vertical bench presses
I've added bicep curls, tricep pushdowns, some pressups and side turn thingies (from Wii Fit mullarkey) to make it a bit longer but that fits my lunch break pretty well.

Wednesday, everything ticking over sort of.

Went running with the new shoes. Did a steadyish five miles in 46 and a half mins. BMI slightly down on the WiiFit again last night 26 point something which is still overweight according to it's BMI is everything mindset but am comfortably a 34" waist which to me is what sort of counts. Damn near finished Lucy's bedroom, two more walls and a bit of gloss and then carpets, curtains, new light fitting, replace light switch and it's all done!! Should be finished by August...

Wii Fit Age 33!!!

Did half an hour on Wii Fit again tomorrow got my Wii Fit age down to 33. Did 12 pretty nippy miles on the FCR1 this morning - am giving my legs a bit of a rest every other day I've decided. Might gym again at lunchtime like I done yesterday concentrating on upper body and general fitness still.

Sunny Monday - Start all over again

I reverted to type at the weekend and turned into a beer monster. Didn't do much exercise, watched a fair bit of golf, drank a lot of beer. Stupidy, stupidy, stupid.

So am starting all over again from this morning. Ran five miles with a difference. Didn't take the edge to time me so I ran in a more relaxed state, I reckon the time would have been 46/47 minutes but it didn't matter so much this morning it was getting my head back in the right place and I'm happy with things again.

Point of no return

Funny old day. Pretty much finished off wallpapering Lucy's room this morning.

Hurried to golf and played sort of okay. Finished five shots above my handicap but it was blowing a gale and I dropped five shots finishing with a nine on the fifth hole so it's not too bad in many ways. I was at the point of ripping my score-card up there and then on the fifth, but didn't and I went par, par, par for the next three holes - funny old game, ended up with seven pars a good number of bogeys, doubles and that one quintuplet bogey (not sure if that's correct terminology for being five over on one hole).

Drop Dead Legs

Ran(?) sort of again this morning. Dead legs again, no go whatsoever, am pleased I did the five miles but 50 minutes! Jeez, Louise that v. poor. Felt like my left calf was going to explode at times so was an achievement of sorts!


Running record for the week - 10 slow miles and there's forty odd miles of cycling somewhere too.

Only weighed-in at group today, didn't hang about, managed to maintain which was more than acceptable. Weight with me clunky shoes on was 14st 9lbs which is okay. Would like to lose a couple more pounds but that's okay. Will do graph on Monday.

Did another forty minute session in the gym at lunchtime, same routine - 4000m in a smidge under 18 minutes on the rower, 3 x 10 reps of vertical bench press, 3 x 10 reps of seated mid-ro, 3 x 10 reps of triceps pushdown and 3 x 10 reps of biceps curl. Did 10/11 on the vbp and smr machines and did 8/9 on biceps/triceps machine. Okay.

Keep on runnin'

Been on Wii Fit again tonight for half an hour. Am getting into it now, Wii Fit age is now 36 and that would mean that my body is still(!) in relatively good condition. Damned by faint praise again! I think that my Wii fit age is down a bit because it's reading my weight a bit lower than before by about half a pound.

On Wednesday I attended an all staff meeting at which Slimming World's Mr & Mrs 2008 competition winners Andy and Michele Smith spoke. The couple have a combined loss of over 13 stone. They've got a similar story to myself in some ways – lost a good amount of weight and then really got back into sport and exercise.

The big difference is that Andy has suffered the loss of a limb in a motorcycle accident, even after that and a time of turmoil and despair he got it together and is now a part of the national Paralympics sailing team. Michele is training to run a marathon. Awesome. Inspirational and it puts my whinging into perspective.

Some of the things they said rang true , Michele said something along the lines of having a time when she expected to wake up and find out she'd put all the weight back on again. I'm still half expecting that – I wonder when true faith begins?


Slimming World's Mr & Mrs 2008 Winners - Andy and Michele Smith.

Andy and Michele Smith - before joining Slimming World.

First thing
Five miles run in 47:30 slowly, slowly catchee monkey... But it's running again and it was too wet to take the FCR1 out.

27 mins on wii fit last night too. It's good but is making me abs hurt!!

Wii Fitness of a 38 year old!!

Evening update:
Did another lunchtime gym session: 14st 9lbs on gym scales with me trainers on.
4000 meters on rower at setting for 17mins 30.5secs
3 x 10reps @ level 10 on vertical bench press
3 x 10reps @ level 10 on seated mid row
4 x 10 reps @ level 8 on triceps push down
4 x 10 reps @ level 8 on biceps curl.

All went well, am thinking about upping to level 9 on triceps/biceps machine, deffo for triceps. Think this combined with me new 20 minutes a day on the WiiFit should work up into some good upper body strengthening.

Went at pretty nippy pace on the FCR1 this morning, just under 13 miles at an average of 15.1mph, fairly flat though so perhaps ought to have done better. Did two laps through Okeover Park, through tiny village of Mappleton, then up that killer hill past the cycle hire place then down through Ashbourne - you can see on the Motionbased chart the two spikes that are that hill.


Had a go on the Wii Fit that I got for the kids (really?) for first time last night. Only did twenty minutes on it but I was kind of impressed in that it raised a sweat from me and some of the exercises showed a real lack of fitness / balance which was interesting. Any way based on how well you do it gives you a Wii Fitness age and mine is ... wait for it... 38 I was expecting something better really but not the end of the world. It says I'm overweight with a BMI of 26 point something or other which I knew but not bothered about that as I'm always going to struggle to get a healthy BMI as I like to think I'm very big in the chest area. Anyway waist is still 34" and that's important to me.

The good thing that came out of the Wii Fit is that my weight without big clunky shoes and work clothes is 14st 7lbs which is my unofficial target weight!! So not all bad.

Final note - making good progress on the decorating front, chipping away every night after work uptil Lucy's bedtime, will be ready for painting come the weekend I'm planning.

Tuesdays, pah, bad traffic day more like...

Got stuck behind a combine harvester first, then a tractor at Hulland, then a bloomin tree surgeon towing a digger just before Belper what's going on?

Did a good fourteen miles plus this morning, the Garmin Edge kept tripping out for some reason so it's not all recorded but it was a darned good hill climbing sort of a route so it got the ticker going good and proper. Went up Belper Road to almost Hulland Ward, then down to Carsington, over the hills on the Wirksworth Road, down through Kniveton then down Windmill Lane, onto Buxton Hill, picked up newspapers, back home for about 7:00, about an hour and ten minutes all told.

Busy busy busy ...

First thing: cycled 13 miles on FCR1, steady average of 14mph which sounds rubbish but there was loads of uphill, also worth notinhg I'm now much slower and more careful coming down hills and it's always a bit slow going through Ashbourne, especially when there's a Peak Waste Recycling Truck blocking the road at the back of the Green Man. So that's leg exercise done, might be running again tomorrow.

Did gym at lunchtime;
4000m on concept 2 rower at level 10 took 18min 20secs
3 x 10 at level 10 on vertical bench press.
3 x10 at level 10 on seated mid-row
3 x 10 at level 8 biceps curl
3 x 10 at level 8 triceps push downs

Didn't do anything else, just rower for general fitness and machines for upper body muscle toning sort of stuff. If it's good enough for Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood to muscle up a bit it's good enough for me!

A late interview then back home for more decorating then a feast for tea: bacon / morrisons low fat sausage in my own wholemeal/white bread followed by strawberries in strawberry mullerlite for dessert. Grand

Just time for a journal update then off to bed ....

Decorating, decorating, decorating, decorating....

Guess what I been doing all this long hot lovely sunny day??? Bloomin decorating. Lulus birthday so not non-stop but not far off. This time next week it'll be all done which will do me. Had too much Stella again last night, will be interesting to see what effect will be come Friday.

Naff all exercise for second Sunday running. Did about five miles on the FCR1 over to a friend's who I do some work for his Website. He sells classic English shotguns and his website is at: www.henmoreguns.fsnet.co.uk

Wahey Saturday, simply STELLAr

Four miles on bike this morning, a bit of decorating, some abysmal golf and a few delightful Stellas, how good are Saturdays??!!

Golf was funny, hit some of my biggest drives ever on 10th and 15th but couldn't score at all, hit a few shanks, hit a couple of really stunning three woods and one or two good putts but generally was bloomin rubbish. Hey ho.

Funny sort of a day already... Pound off...

Lunchtime Update
Went to group, weigh 14st 9lbs, a pound off so am moderately happy with that. Haven't done enough exercise this week by a long chalk. Only 20 miles run and the tired legs thing hacked me off a bit so am resting em a bit. Done less than 20 miles on bikes I think too although I've decided to ramp up cycling mileage a bit so I don't wear my legs out!


I got my plan at work sorted out too and installed the software upgrade as so the advanced planning was useful in a way as having done it once on test server meant I was able to replicate it on the live server - it was all in place well before 9am so all's well that ends well.

First Thing

Had a day where best made plans go awry. Wierd. I'd planned to do a system upgrade on one of our legacy systems this morning and meticulously planned it, did some steps of it yesterday so I was ahead of the game, came to doing the actual nitty gritty at 5:30 this morning and problems from the off. 6am I emailed folks saying I'd aborted the upgrade and went out on the bike (Giant FCR1), I did about 9 miles in just under 40 minutes which was slow but I kept hitting red lights in Ashbourne. Good thing is that at least my legs aren't aching this morning.

Weigh-in at 12:30 confidence is not overly high but won't have put much on. Am hoping to have a few tasty Stellas tonight although I did Liz one of my farmhouse loaf jobbos yesterday and she's brought me some Italian lager this morning so it might be them instead!!!

These legs have had it...

Yikes, 48 minutes this morning, 48 minutes!! Good thing was (yes there is one) that I did the five miles when me legs were saying "no way, man" . Kept smiling through and ran a slow 5 miles. Time don't matter when you've non-cooperative legs, it's distance what counts in small amounts.

Tired legs, diminishing returns and all that...

Had a hideously slow 46 minute five miler this morning. Legs really aching at the moment and was difficult to push em through it today but the nice thing about where I am today is that less than five miles isn’t acceptable to me anymore, certainly not in a morning so made meself do five miles and not a penny less...


Interesting article in papers today and it's exactly what Slimming World recommends in the first few weeks of a weight loss campaign.:

‘Keeping a food diary ‘will help you slim’
Keeping a food diary is a powerful tool in helping dieters lose weight, scientists said yesterday.
Those who compiled a detailed account of what they ate and drank and the calories it contained lost about twice as much weight as those who did not, they found. The six-month study involved 1,685 middle-aged men and women from four U.S. cities – Portland, Oregon; Baltimore, Maryland; Durham, North Carolina and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/diets/article-1033493/Behave-like-Bridget-Jones-food-diary-want-slim.html

The difference with a Slimming World food diary is that it focuses you on aiming for free foods and healthy options rather than calorie counting. Interestingly (sort of), I started blogging for another aspect of why Slimming World works – the weekly weighin – I publish mine and I reckon if I didn’t I’d take my eye off the ball and start gaining big-style. A few weeks ago when I was having a moan about not losing weight and Margaret said “Don’t let it slip” - not many words but enough of a message to make me stop moaning and get going again!

Not sure what weight's going to be this week. Not really trying hard enough and the re-acquaintance with Stella is sure to have a negative effect. Will see what happens Friday, only had three and half pints Saturday, not touched a drop since how much damage can there be???

Filling a hole

Did five mile run, really slow this morning, only scraped in just under 9 minute miles, very tired legs, don't know why. Whizzed to Paper shop on slow but comfy bike, 3.5 miles in no time at all (i.e. can't remember what actual time was).

7am was putting more filler into various holes that have become apparent in Lucy's bedroom after removing the wall paper over the last couple of days. It's going to be a gradual job building it up. Am hoping to get backing paper on and the room painted by the weekend as it's Lucy's birthday on Sunday. Can't beat a good deadline can you!

Back in the groove

Ran a pretty quick five miles this morning which was good as I didn't get up until five to six! Bloody alarm clocks, swines the lot of em.

Didn't get a big run done at the weekend as was stripping the wallpaper off Lucy's bedroom and anyway the weather was attrocius.

Show me the way to go home, 104 days, now start again

Broke my fast on alcohol yesterday. 104 days had lasted so an achievement of sorts. Had three and half pints of delicious Stella Artois and ended up asleep on the living room floor! Have I also mentioned that Wednesday was anniversary of stopping smoking? I think I miss the weed more than the alcohol if I'm honest. Anyway am thinking about starting a fast again but in a small way. Not thought it through yet, update to follow.

Golf yesterday was extremely average but as I'm not playing as much as I used to this is probably to be expected. As it was, I parred 2nd,5th,6th,8th and 9th on the front and 10th,12th,14th,16th on the back nine so it was sort of every other hole I was playing badly or every other hole I was playing well depending on whether you see your glass as being half full or half empty! A few positives to take away from it - was absoloutely nailing the driver, got a Tsylor Made R7 425cc beauty off Ebay for under £50 a few months back and it's simply the best driver I've ever had. I hit some good irons too, one or too good putts as well but a lot of rubbish putts along the way cost me. All good stuff really.

Raining? - must be the weekend then

Bloomin typical, lovely day when stuck at work, what's it doing Saturday morning - persisting it down that's what, by the bucketful.

Haven't updated the chart but I'd put 2.5lbs on yesterday at group yesterday. Slightly disappointed but I don't feel like I did anything greatly wrong last week so am expecting a big loss next week.

Torn on the fourth of July...

Running record for week
8:32 minute miles this morning. 35 miles overall since Sunday



Whaddya do?
Disaster this morning I thought last night when was loading up the Breadmaker that the pan was losing a bit of water. This morning my suspicions are confirmed as from pics below you can see what bread with nowt (except water) taken out looks like and below that what a breadmaker with an oil leak looks like.

Am torn between trying to get a new pan for it and getting a big kick-ass Panasonic Breadmaker? We'll see, off for run now. Expecting a gain this week, not done much wrong but that's the way it goes. Am on the beer as well tonight probably.

V tired legs

Did the five mile crawl in 45 minutes almost bang on this morning. 9 minute miles feel really slow but not as bad as how tired my legs feel. Kept on not drinking now on day 101 but am intending going to pub on Friday night for a couple.

100 days alcohol ware, ceasefire a prospect??

Ran on tired legs again but still sub 9 minute miles which I'm happy with, sort of.


Today is a year since I stopped smoking and 100 days since I stopped drinking. May have a beer tonight, might not, will see.

Breadfan

Woohoo, a beauty!

Recipe :
280ml water
420g strong white flour
80g wholemeal flour
1½ tbsp milk powder
1½ tsp salt
1½ tsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp yeast

Put them into machine in that order and make sure yeast is last and dry especially if you're running it on a delayed start.

Made the bread on setting two (1.5lb white) on Morphy Richards 48220 bread maker. Was so impressed that I did the recipe a second time and got the same results a second time, that's a first! Well pleased.

The basic recipe comes from a pdf I found on the next title Crabble Corn Mill so will try and find some details out on my source at some time. The key difference in results is that this recipe has far less water than the ones in the Morphy Richards book, near as damnit 20% less water in fact to the same amount of flour. I might modify the recipes in the book a wee bit and see if that's the governing factor.

Daily run
Ran this morning's five miles in a smidge under 42mins. Not bad at all.