Posts Tagged ‘100 push ups’

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Last Week: w/c 23rd November

November 30, 2009

Tuesday: Made it back to the gym. I had managed to put it off for a week but I decided it was about time to kick myself into gear. I was hesitant because of the pain in my feet but also because the last 2 runs had been harder than normal. I put it down to having not run for a few weeks (my asthma deteriorates much quicker than my fitness) but was determined to run at least 6k. I actually only managed 5km on the treadmill, but then did 5km on the bike and then another 2k on the treadmill. Not a great result but hopefully I’ll be able to pick back up soon.

Wednesday: Pilates class in the morning as mentioned in Wednesday’s blog post. Basketball in the evening was pretty good, we played a 2 on 2 for most of the session.

Friday: I told myself I was going to go to the gym in the morning and then never got round to it (though I did manage my end-of-week-5 100 push ups exhaustion test). I then spent the rest of the afternoon feeling terribly guilty about it and resolved to try harder next week.

Archery in the evening. The heating has broken though so it was pretty cold, and that had a significant detrimental effect on my shot. Stayed for a couple of hours and then decided to call it a night.

Saturday: Went to archery armed with my Helly Hensen base layer and plenty of change for cups of tea. It was so cold that people started to leave early, reducing the amount of body heat (the only thing warming the place up) and making everyone else colder :-) A few of us shot a Worcester round today instead of a Portsmouth (I scored a 270 – not too bad) and then I stuck around for the last day of the beginner’s course. The kid I was teaching did really well and hopefully he’ll decide to stay in the club.

Sunday: SCA played Leicester Crobas 2 today in our last game of the year. I played half the game, in alternating quarters, but didn’t score this time. We won 36-32, which was pretty good, so congrats to the guys.

Total Run: 7km

Congrats must go to Rachael, otherwise known as Marathon Mummy, who’s really making progress with her training for the VLM next year. Head over there and show some support!

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Last Week: w/c 10th August

August 17, 2009

I went back home to visit my parents for a few days this week and so didn’t have a whole lot of time to cross train even if I wanted to (except for my press ups, obviously!). While my knee is feeling a lot better, it’s still not completely healed and I’m wary of starting to run too soon (again).

Sunday: Archery in the morning. I attempted to shoot 70m outdoors but the wind was so bad I was lucky to hit the target. Moved inside for the last half an hour just to hit some golds! Basketball in the afternoon was a really good session. We did layups, picks, some shooting practice and then a game. I got some good shooting tips from Luke, and the game was much faster than usual because of Luke and Jamie played and none of the kids were there.

Total Run: 0km

17 days of no running now, and less than 3 weeks until the Lichfield 10k. I’ve had my number through the post and the page of information for runners. I’d heard the hills were hard but there was a chart of elevation for the course, which freaked me out slightly. I’ll be going to Ally‘s gym for the next 10 days to try and get my fitness level back up so I’m at least half way prepared for the run.

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Last Week: w/c 3rd August

August 10, 2009

Sorry for the lack of post on Friday, but I didn’t really have a whole lot to say. As I mentioned in my post after the asics 10k, I might occassionally miss a day.

Wednesday: Not really worthy of a paragraph if itself but I haven’t done any exercise so far this week except for my press ups so I thought it deserved a mention. Wednesday evening I did 10 sets of 20 two-handed tricep extensions with a 5kg dumbbell whilst watching TV.

Thursday: Ally and I went to the outdoor court that I mentioned last week and played an hour of basketball. All good fun but it started raining just as we arrived and by the end we were both having problems pushing properly in the wet. The court isn’t bad though, even if it is a bit sloped, it was better than nothing!

Sunday: Basketball training today. Layups, suicides, picking and a game. Seems to be going well, and we still have 5 weeks before our first game of the season. I’m discovering more and more than I don’t know all the rules so I asked to go through them at some point. Hopefully that’ll help!

Total Run: 0km :-(

Just thought I’d mention that RoadID are bringing out a new wristband – the Wrist ID Elite – which is made from a rubbery material with a stainless steel clasp, instead of fabric and velcro. I think the idea is that you can leave it on and not look daft when you’re doing something other than sports. It makes sense as I’ve seen people use the original RoadID solely as a customised accessory, one with a slogan and one with a motivational message on it, which I imagine they wear all the time. Anyway, just thought you might want to know. Click on the image and 10% goes to charity.

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Bench Time

August 5, 2009

As I’m sure you picked up from Monday’s post, my knee is still dictating my exercise, and at the moment it has me sitting on the bench. I seem to be doing a lot of non-running at the moment, with my injury-enforced rest for the past couple of weeks and the time off I took when I was ill at the start of June.

I’m still planning on doing 2 weeks at Ally‘s gym, but I’m going home for a few days next week so won’t join until I get back so I can make the most of it. In the mean time, I’m doing my press ups 3 times a week and playing basketball on Sundays. Yesterday, Ally and I found an outdoor court attached to a community centre so hopefully we’ll be able to play basketball outside of the weekly training sessions.

Other than that, I don’t have a whole lot to tell you. Not running is pretty frustrating (especially when I see runners go past the window) but even though my knee is starting to feel better I know I have a while before I can get back out on it. In the mean time I’ll be entertaining myself by reading the latest Runners World and looking forward to a swim at the gym in a few weeks.

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Last Week: w/c 27th July

August 3, 2009

I’ve discovered that cross training when you have no money and no bike is harder than it seems. Now that I’m no longer near the university gym I can’t do a pay-as-you-go gym session, my bike is 200 miles away in my parent’s garage, and I didn’t do any body weight exercises at home for the first half of the week because between my 100 press up challenge and last Sunday’s basketball training, my upper body is still sore. This means that, yet again, the first few days were a complete write off, though I finally decided it was time for a run on…

Thursday: No pain in my knee since Tuesday so I decided today was a good day to test it out. Unfortunately, it started to pour as soon as I stepped outside so I got a tad wet, but never mind. My asthma was playing up slightly, but I put it down to the drop in temperature due to the rain. A few twinges in my knee at 3.5k so I decided to make it a short run and headed home. 4.6km in 28:11.

Ally disaproved of my plan to climb in the boot of the car and have a nap.

Ally disaproved of my plan to climb in the boot of the car and have a nap.


Friday: Went to Sutton Park today and I was looking forward to a nice long run. My knee didn’t agree. I set off OK but it started to hurt less than a km from the car. If I had been smart I would have turned around and gone back, but I wasn’t, so I carried on. I knew I wasn’t going to get as far as I wanted so I did a little off-road exploring in the woods to keep me entertained. Turned out to be muddier than I thought, which slowed me right down. Asthma kicked in big time just before the 4th km, to the point where I actually had to stop. Got back to the car, did an extra km and then called it a day. 7km in 47:45. Looks like I’m back to square one on the knee injury front though.

Saturday: Archery this morning, and I was doing a lot better than last week. Bow shoulder was a bit sore, but I think that was from the press ups I did yesterday – I took regular breaks anyway, I really don’t need another injury. In the evening I did 9 sets of 30 bicep curls (15 each arm) with a 5k dumbell whilst watching TV.

Sunday: Basketball today – we did some layups, dribbling and picking drills followed by a game of 3 on 4. Hard work, and my arms are feeling it, but really good fun. Did my press ups exhaustion test when I got home. Only managed 21 so I’m going to repeat the last 2 weeks, but on the middle collumn instead of the easiest one. How’s everyone else getting on with the challenge?

Total Run: 11.6km

Only 34 days until the Lichfield 10k. According to Geraldine at Lichfield Health and Fitness Club ‘the hill’ that I’ve heard about is a real killer so I might have to find it and attempt it before the day, though the way this knee is at the moment I think any training will be good! I’m still trying to rope people into doing the Great Capital Run the week after the Lich 10k. If you fancy a 5k in London then sign up and let me know so we can meet up!

If you haven’t seen it already then check out the ‘Gear’ page in the menu on the right. It’s still a work in progress but should give you an idea of what I have…and no, that wasn’t an invitation to rob me next time I’m out running.

I’ve also added post rating, so you can now give each post stars out of 5. Just open up the post by either clicking on the post title or view the comments and the stars will be at the bottom. Thanks.

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Last Week: w/c 13th July

July 20, 2009

Monday and Tuesday were supposedly days off after Sunday’s 10k in London but I was moving house, and if climbing the stairs a few hundred times isn’t a workout then I don’t know what is! Unfortunately, basketball was cancelled on Wednesday so I didn’t get a workout until…

Thursday: Time to get back out there so I decided a nice easy run would be best. I didn’t really know where I was going so played it safe and stuck close to home. Managed 6.75k in a liesurely 44’12″, which included a bit of a challenging hill. I’m quite happy with the run, even if it wasn’t very quick. I remember last year I felt a bit weird after the race had been and gone, so the quicker I get back into a routine the better.

Sunday: I’d been wanting to run to the next village but have been struggling with not sleeping and it’s fun consequences. Today I decided that I might as well just go and it might make me feel a bit better. I did a small loop first, just skimming the edge of the city centre, then ventured out and up the hill from Thursday. Having already checked the route on Google maps I had a vague idea of where I was going, just not how far it was and had a few moments where I thought I had taken a wrong turn because I didn’t realise just how long some of the roads were. However I made it to the village in one piece, and then home down a main road (with an exceptionally narrow pavement). 11.2km in 71’24″.

Total Run: 17.95km

Week 2 of the 100 push ups is done. I’ve managed to complete it so far, and even got 19 on the exhaustion test yesterday (compared to the 9 I managed 2 weeks ago). It’s progress, though I thought I could do more. I’m blaming it on the sleep deprivation. How’s everyone else doing?

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Last Week: w/c 6th July

July 13, 2009

Monday and Tuesday were graduation and packing respectively. I was still pretty busy during the rest of the week so runs were quite short, not helped by a few less-than-restful nights (my bed was taken away on the Tuesday to be stored at my parent’s house while I’m living with Ally).

Running route for 8th July

Running route for 8th July


Wednesday: Managed to get a run in between shopping and going to Ally’s for basketball. Didn’t feel like doing anything major so I headed down to the canal path and turned right (like I did last week) but instead of carrying on to the end of the route (which is about 2.7km) I decided to go for a bit of adventure and took a trail I saw leading off from the path. While not strictly a trail, it was still fun. It was a mud path, overgrown with weeds and nettles, in between a row of trees that was maybe 4 deep – giving the illusion of being in the woods. It lasted about half a klick before bringing me out in an industrial estate by the main road. I ran north-east back towards the cemetery, cutting through a park (where I passed a woman waiting for a bus with the most comical puzzled expression on her face – she was either trying to work out the slogan on my t-shirt or was genuinely confused that I was running) and then home, covering 3.6km in 20’51″. Wednesday evening I was back at basketball. There were only 6 of us there but it was a really good practice.

Thursday: Got up and went for a run first thing, doing the route I mentioned last Wednesday. It’s actually 3.6km and took me 21’39″ as I’m pretty sure I was still asleep for the first km :-)

Friday: Pre-event anxieties that I hadn’t trained enough this week told me that I needed more than just a 3k to tide me over, so I headed out for a slightly longer run, which turned out to be 6.25km. I ran at a pace that I’d like to keep up on Sunday, which averaged out at 5’53″/km (or 9’28″/mile).

The three runs this week were all done without the iPod, in the hope that I might be somewhat used to the sound of my own laboured breathing by Sunday. By Friday I didn’t miss the music as much, but the sound of my wheezing as I attempted the hill by the cemetary is enough to put anyone off!

Sunday: asics British 10k London Run – to give it it’s full name. I went, I queued, I ran, I queued some more. Race report on Wednesday. I’m debating what to put as my total run figure for this week because my Garmin reckons I ran 10.3km in this 10k race. I’m going to assume that’s what I did and I gained 300m by trying to get round people.

Total Run: 23.75km

100 Push Ups Challenge is going…er, well it’s going :-) I seem to have got through the initial DOMS and am managing the workouts, just. I’m pretty sure I’ll have to repeat one of the upcoming weeks. How’s everyone else getting along? Comment people!

As for my weight, I got down to under 147lbs last week but was back to my steady 148lbs for the 10k on Sunday.

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Last Week: w/c 29th June

July 6, 2009

Heatwave for all of last week…which I’m sure anyone in the UK had noticed.

Monday: Didn’t feel as humid today so I decided on a 12k ‘rog’, averaging 6’18″ on the way out but getting a horrible stitch on the way back, bringing my total time down to 81’42″ – over 3 minutes slower than my last 12k. I think next time I go that far I’m going to need to take water!

Tuesday: I had to stay at home in the morning to wait for a parcel delivery so didn’t get out for a run til late afternoon. It had rained and I foolishly thought it might not be as muggy…yeah, right. Matt had said in an e-mail that running 5k without a walking break must be easy for me, and at the time I didn’t think much of it, but I realised in the first half of my run that I had never actually done it – usually having to stop to find a tissue (asthma snot) by the half way mark. Today I ran 5k in 28’56″ without a walking break, though Charlie glitched again at the start of the run and I ran a little bit further that I should have.

Wednesday: Quite possibly the worst run I’ve ever done. The heat was ridiculous, and if I had any sense I would have gone back inside, and yet… . Charlie glitched on that first km yet again. I’m getting search engine hits for “incorrect pace on garmin 405cx” and now I know why. All my km markers were off and so I was relying on where I remembered them to be, turning round just before the 4km point (even though Charlie said 4.3). By this point I was struggling to breathe properly (asthma and heat wave obviously don’t agree) so I stopped for a rather long walking break and when I started again I got a stitch like I had some time ago in the gym. It was so bad that I couldn’t run more than about 100m and so spent the majority of the 4km route home walking. Brought my time for the 8km to just under an hour and put me in a bit of a pissy mood for the rest of the afternoon. Though today saw the return of wheelchair basketball sessions, so that was a plus. I was a bit rusty but had a good time none the less.

Thursday: Back to the track today. Did 800m as a warm up and then 2.8km of intervals. Stopped to grab some water (we guessed it had reached around 28 degrees at this point so water was definitely needed!) and when I got back running I got the same stitch as the day before. Jogged the 200m, had a break and then jogged the other 200 before giving up. Got very annoyed at my second workout in 2 days to be written off, but I guess that’s just the way things go.

You could try to find out where I live, but I'm moving this week so it won't do you much good :-)

You could try to find out where I live, but I'm moving this week so it won't do you much good :-)


Friday: Busy today and didn’t feel like running in the morning. The past two days runs had put me off slightly and I wasn’t feeling the motivation. In the evening Scribs had a friend round and they (along with the neighbours) were playing rather loud music, so I decided to get some quiet while I could and do a 5k. I left my music at home and decided to go a different route along the canal path, turning right at the canal instead of left. Got home in 28’42″ with no problems from the Garmin. I have discovered that turning it onto training mode a few minutes before I start running will stop it freaking out in the first km :-)

Sunday: Out with Scribs for his weekly run. We had been trying to do a 30 minute 5k for the last 2 weeks and failed at that, so this week I suggested we abandon attempts to do a specific time and just try for 6k. We did pretty well,

Ally and I on Sunday, photo courtesy of Scribs.

Ally and I on Sunday, photo courtesy of Scribs.

though we had to have an elongated walking break at the 5k mark because Scribs looked like he might pass out. Made it home in 39’24″. 90 minutes later Ally and I were in the park playing some basketball. Passed the ball about for a bit then played some one-on-one. I enjoy playing outside much more, not only is the ground harder than a lot of indoor surfaces, but I find being outside is generally more enjoyable for sports. Scribs joined us later on and took this photo.

Total Run: 40km

I came across RunningBetty.com this week via another blog and rather stupidly decided to join the Pushing the Limits Challenge whereby everyone completes the programme on One Hundred PushUps before the 31st July. I only joined on Saturday – when I did the initial test – and so will be starting from next week. I’m attempting to do the thing with boy press ups (proper press ups) so I only managed 9 on my initial test, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to do 100 after 6 weeks let alone the 31st July, but I’m up for a challenge! Feel free to join in with us by signing up here or just doing the 100 push up programme. Scribs, Claire, Stan, Damian and Sarah G have already agreed to join me, and I think Sarah has roped a few others into it. Scribs and I will undoubtedly be blogging about it as we go, but we’re also using the push ups logger to record our progress. You can view my page here and Scribs’ page here. I’ve set mine up to auto-tweet as well (I’m nothing but thorough!) If you’re joining in and I haven’t mentioned you (or even if I have) then comment below!

Thought I’d also mention that I graduate today. I know I haven’t really discussed it on here, because I like to stay on topic, but I found out on the 22nd June that I had passed with a 2:1 honours degree in Forensic Psychology. My parents, my brother and his girlfriend drove up yesterday and I’m about to leave to meet them in Trentham for the ceremony!

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