Posts Tagged ‘weights’
July 11, 2010
While I hadn’t been running for very long (2 and a half years up until I stopped in October) it was something I loved more than any other hobby or sport I’ve picked up and, as any runner knows, it becomes a bit of an addiction. Running did great things for me, not just better fitness levels but it got me enthusiastic about keeping fit and staying healthy, it helped me with my asthma, gave me time to myself, time to think, and was a constant in my life during university, moving house, being unemployed and everything else I’ve been up to.
I don’t think I realised how much I depended on it until I stopped. Frustration and excess energy to start with (as anyone that’s ever had a running injury knows), then anger and more frustration because running used to be the best way to deal with frustration. That vague hope and longing every time I drove past a runner in the street, and reading on other blogs how far people have come in the amount of time I’ve not been running and wondering how far I could manage should I make a miraculous recovery tomorrow.
The running world was an island and I was drifting out to sea. My first thought on a nice evening was still “good time for a run” but I’d lost the urge to lace up my trainers and go.
Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Discussion, Progress | Tagged EIA, training, basketball, resistance, weights, archery, marathon, weight, gym | 2 Comments »
November 9, 2009
Absoloutely tragic week as far as running goes. I’ve started looking at the pay-as-you-go council run gyms in the area in an attempt to get some treadmill time.
Monday: Too cold to run today so I did a mini weights session at home in the evening.
Thursday: Finally got an hour of basketball in at the leisure centre as per last Friday’s post.
Friday: Spent 3 and a half hours at archery – though the first half an hour was setting up and the next 2 hours was spent coaching.
Saturday: Shot another Portsmouth at archery in the morning and actually managed to beat last week’s score, giving me a new PB of 562.
Sunday: Had our game against Bury Bombers. Lost 17-71, which was quite a defeat but never mind. I only played one quarter and only scored once, but still enjoyed it.
Total Run: 0km
Well that was short. Hopefully I’ll have something a tad more interesting to post next Monday :-)
Posted in Progress | Tagged archery, basketball, EIA, resistance, training, weights | 3 Comments »
September 7, 2009
Tuesday: I’d been planning to run all day and it just wasn’t happening. By 5.30pm the facts that I had a race in 5 days and that I hadn’t run the day before could no longer be ignored and I set out for a short run, concentrating on maintaining some sort of decent pace. I ran 4.3km in 25:06 (a 5:50/km pace).
Wednesday: Rain for most of the day put me off running. I know I should have gone out anyway with this race coming up, but chickened out. In the evening I did alternating 5 x 10 hammer curls, shoulder presses and bent over rows, then alternating 5 x 15 bicep curls and 5 x 10 shoulder presses with Ally’s 5kg dumbbells.
Thursday: I knew I needed to do a longer run before the weekend so went out for something I hoped would be close to 10k (yeah, I was too lazy to check the distance on the map first). As it turned out it was 9.85km but it took me 1:03:00 to finish it.
Friday: Decided to run to Wall – a run I’d only done once before – for a bit of change of scenery. And a change I certainly got :-) Far too much roadkill for my liking, freshly manured farmland (not really the smell you need when running), a few close encounters with speeding cars and an overly enthusiastic passenger in a car passing me. All good fun, and it kept me entertained as I was trying to keep to my 6 minute/km splits. In the end I managed it – 11.5km in 1:09:07 – and was very happy. This was the first run since my knee injury that I’ve felt went particularly well. Definitely the boost I needed for Sunday.
Sunday: The Lichfield 10k today. Well organised and good fun. Managed to finish in 59:26 despite the walls that someone left on the course the hills. Race report on Wednesday. I had about 90 minutes at home in which to shower, change, eat and get my stuff for basketball. We then spent a good 2 and a half hours there, as Ally and I stuck around to shoot and play a little one on one.
Total Run: 35.65km
Not much time to bask in post-race satisfaction as we have the Great Capital Run on Sunday. I need to do a quick recalculation of pace for this one, so I’ll be doing some intervals either on the streets or on the track.
Posted in Progress | Tagged basketball, great capital run, injury, intervals, lichfield 10k, race, track, training, weights | 2 Comments »
August 31, 2009
Sorry for the late post today. I just got back from a weekend camping and food and shower came higher on the list of priorities than the blog :-)
Monday: I had booked in for a spinning class at the gym, but arrived just as it started (a combination of Ally’s rather dodgy “it only takes 20 minutes to get there” and being stuck behind some very slow drivers) so went into the main gym instead. Did a 10 minute warm up on the bike and then alternating sets of two-handed tricep extensions with a 6kg dumbell and some tricep dips off the bench.
Tuesday: Finally made it to a spinning class and promptly lost half my body weight in sweat, as per last Wednesday’s post.
Thursday: Went to another spinning class. We had a different instructor this time and she did things very differently – concentrating on keeping the resistance high and going slower. I didn’t enjoy this way quite as much but it was still a good workout. I took the CX and measured my heart rate. If you can’t quite see the picture, I started off (after the warm up) at about 100bpm, got it over 160bpm about 13 minutes in and peak at 178bpm a couple of times.
HR for Spinning on Thursday 27th
After the class finished I did 3 sets of 10 two-handed tricep extensions (8kg), bicep curls (8kg), and tricep dips off the bench.
Friday: I was planning to run in the afternoon, but spent most of it putting it off. A few quick downpours and ominous clouds didn’t help matters. In the end I bullied myself into going out and managed a rather nice 7.5k in 46:42. I tried to keep the pace up in preparation for the 10k next week.
Sunday: Ally and I went camping on Saturday so today’s run was along the Thames to Hampton Court Palace. It was a 10k out-and-back which took and embarrassing 1:12:26 – which I can only attribute to a bad night’s sleep (or lack thereof) and having not eaten anything before I set off.
I started on the left hand side, went to Hampton Court on the right (north of the river) and then back again.
Total Run: 17.5km
Outdoor thermometer stuck to the window
My latest investment into running gear is a thermometer. This might seem a little odd, but one of the biggest factors influencing my asthma is the temperature. I’ve been trying to work out the lowest temperature I can train at but don’t have an actual figure. This way I can find out the cut-off point for running outside and allow me to work at lowering that ever so slightly. It was only cheap so I’m not sure how accurate it is yet, and I’m not sure how long it’ll last – but hopefully it’ll still help.
Less than a week until the Lichfield 10k. I think any hopes of a decent time are off so I’ll just go along and enjoy it. I’ll still do a few longer runs during the week to try and get my stamina back up to something decent.
Posted in Progress | Tagged EIA, garmin, gym, lichfield 10k, spinning, training, weights | Leave a Comment »
August 24, 2009
Last week was all about getting my fitness levels back up to scratch without overdoing the running and risking hurting my knee again.
Monday: Went to Ally‘s gym with him and signed up for a 2 week membership. Stuck around for a bit and did a short workout – 20 mins on the bike at around 80% max HR, 10 mins on the treadmill (just over a mile) to test my knee, and then a very brief stint in the freeweight section.
Tuesday: Back to the gym, just for cardio this time. I did an hour on the bike at 70% max HR and 3k on the treadmill at 6 min/km pace. Feeling the effects of too long doing nothing. Felt great when I was done though!
Wednesday: Third day at the gym. I ran a 33 minute 5k (6 minutes on, 1 minute off), stretched, did a couple of the resistance machines then onto the bike, where I did 30 minutes at 65% max HR and then 10 minutes at around 82% max.
Thursday: In my attempt to get the most out of my 2 week gym membership I decided to try out the pool. It’s quite small, especially as aqua class was on but there were only a few swimmers so plenty of room. Not knowing how long the pool was I kept going til I ran out of time (Ally was in the gym upstairs). I found out later that the pool was 20m long so had covered 1km.
Saturday: Had intended to go to archery today but a bad night’s sleep and a niggling shoulder problem persuaded me to stay at home. In the end I decided that a run might make me feel better so I headed out with the intention of doing a bit further than Wednesday’s 5k, but not by much. In the end I did a 6.5k route in 43:28. I really opened up my stride in the last 400m, pushing around 14-15kmph and it felt really good. Starting to feel more confident about the race.
Sunday: Basketball today. Not quite as good as last week, I couldn’t quite seem to get the picks, but a good time nonetheless. Annoying blister on my thumb from the push rim :-(
Total Run: 16.2km
As you can see, I tend to do my HR zone training on the bike in the gym rather than running…purely so I can concentrate on running instead of looking at my watch. Throughout the week I’ve done a bit more research on heart rate zones and talked to Ally about it. At some point I plan to go back to the track and try to work out my max HR more accurately.
Posted in Progress | Tagged gym, lichfield 10k, resistance, swimming, training, weights | Leave a Comment »
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.
Posted in Progress | Tagged 100 push ups, basketball, training, weights | Leave a Comment »
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.
: 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.
Posted in Progress | Tagged 100 push ups, great capital run, injury, lichfield 10k, sutton park, training, weights | 1 Comment »
July 24, 2009
A little while ago I came across this blog post, which was actually inspired by this one, and was about what your day would be like if you were independently wealthy and had no job. Obviously, the two people who wrote those posts were runners and so a large percentage of their day was taken up with running.
When I run I tend not to think of anything in particular, I just let my mind wander, but the other day I started to think – what would my day be like if I was wealthy enough not to need a job and had no desire to start one? I suppose it would be pretty similar to my day right now! Though the added security of having a bank account without a minus sign in front of the numbers would mean that I wouldn’t spend my afternoons job hunting and I could afford to join a gym, go to a pool/have a pool built in my luxury house etc.
The posts I mentioned above start their days early – one with a run at sunrise and one with a run before. While I love the idea of getting up before everyone else to get a run in before the morning rush hour, I couldn’t really do it living here. If it’s anything less than about 11 degrees (that’s about 52 in Fahreneit) then my asthma will stop me from running and, living in England, there’s a good chance that it’s going to be less than 11 degrees for at least 3 quarters of the year at sunrise. Therefore, in order for me to fully embrace the hypothetical question of what my day would be like as an independently wealthy runner then we first have to assume that I’ve taken my wealth and moved somewhere warmer (you can tell that I have a lot of time to think on runs can’t you?).
O I would get up early, have breakfast and do normal morning stuff like read the news and my e-mails.
O Go for a run once it was light but before it was busy. Morning sessions would be the hard work, so intervals, fartleks, tempo and long runs.
O Back home for a Shake, stretch and shower.
O Catch up on social networking sites and other blogs. Read, tidy, do anything that needed doing.
O Lunch. Something small coz I like to snack in the afternoon.
O Afternoons would have to be varied depending on what I felt like at the time. I’d like to say I could get some cross training in, such as some resistance work or swimming, but at my current fitness level that would have to replace one of my late afternoon runs instead. So afternoons would be spent learning new things, taking a class or picking up a new hobby. There’s a lot out there that I would like to do – learn the piano, ride a horse, do a photography class etc.
O Late afternoon run. This would be the easy run, doing whatever distance I felt like. This could be moved to after dinner if I didn’t have evening plans. Could also be replaced with swimming, cycling, weights, archery or basketball…or maybe something more adventurous – like days out rock climbing or surfing.
O Dinner. Either prepared by me during the afternoon or my nutritionist/chef :-)
O Evening at home, or out with Ally.
O Early night (and some good quality sleep!)
In depth? Yes. Too much information? Probably. Good fun? Definitely. Think about it and then either comment or repost on your own blog, I’d be interested to read it.
Posted in Discussion | Tagged archery, basketball, cycling, swimming, training, weights | 4 Comments »
June 29, 2009
Monday: My legs were still complaining at the fact I made them run a fast (for me) 10k the day before and so I decided to give them a break and go to the gym for some resistance work instead. Did a little under an hour of upper body stuff.
Tuesday: Hot and muggy today so I ran a 10k at my own pace…which is somewhere between a run and a jog (a rog?) but I still found it difficult. I’m not sure if it’s the number of longer runs I’m doing lately, or maybe the heat but it was a real struggle. Time was 64’53″.
Thursday: Went to the track at Wyndley Leisure Centre for an interval session. Scroll down or click here to read about it. Ran a total of 8.8km.
Friday: Didn’t feel like running today so I dusted off the FitDeck, shuffled and picked 5. I did the intermediate level for all 5, doing a set of 10 sit ups on the incline bench after each card.
My 5 for today. Apologies for the low light.
Saturday: Archery in the morning so I didn’t get out for a run until mid afternoon. Decided to just do the quickest 10k I could manage, banging out a 5’30″, 5’33″ and 5’22″ straight off. I found this speed was really testing my asthma and had to slow it down for the next km, picking it back up for the 5th and 6th kms, and then slowing down for the 7th. I really thought I could get home in 58 minutes but it turned out I was just 14 seconds too slow :-) Good run though, it really let me know just how quick I can go without my asthma kicking in and 58’14″ is a good time to work on.
Sunday: Scribs missed his weekly one mile run last week (to his benefit he did text to ask me first) so to make up for it he had to run 2 miles this week, plus a penalty mile. I decided to join him and we went with the goal of finishing in 30 minutes. What I obviously didn’t take into consideration when pace setting was the ‘little sit-down’ Scribs had to have as his body innevitably ran out of calories and his stomach tried to eat itself. Still, we made it back in 31’38″, which is decent enough. Unfortunately, Charlie had a ‘moment’ and decided to spend most of the first km thinking we were going twice as fast as we were, throwing off the first km marker and generally screwing with my stats. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.
Total Run: 33.8km
I got my race number through the post on Monday (1492) along with a race number for my kit bag (so it doesn’t feel left out), 3 safety pins (for 2 numbers?), a letter saying “I’ve enclosed 6 safety pins” (someone can’t count) and an official event programme (mostly adverts) for the asics British 10k. Only 13 days to go!
Wednesday I signed up for the Bupa Great Capital Run, a 5k through Regents Park. I suggested it to Matt last time I saw him and so he has signed up as well. Assuming that they let him in, Ally also has a place. It’s a staggered start so I’ve put my estimated time as the 25-28 minute band. Should be a fun day!
And lastly, I know I haven’t said anything about my weight since I posted about it on 11th May. At the time I was 154lbs and wanted to lose between 5 and 10lbs before the 10k. I’m now manintaining 150lbs so I haven’t lost as much as I would have liked but I think that’s a good start.
Posted in Progress | Tagged EIA, garmin, great capital run, race, resistance, track, training, weight, weights | 2 Comments »
June 15, 2009
Monday: I had decided that one week of being ill was enough and I was going to go do something. I went to the gym with Claire as I was still a bit unsteady (strange vertigo dizziness all week) and thought it safer than trying a run. I did 6km (28 minutes) on the exercise bike to start with and then 2km of easy intervals on the treadmill. Probably shouldn’t have done the running at the end but it felt good to get the blood going!
Wednesday: I wanted to try another run, though after the rather wobbly 2k on Monday I was under strict orders from Coach Ally to use the treadmill instead of going outside. Probably just as well. I had intended to do 7k but in the end left it at 5 (30’30″).
Thursday: I had already said that I would go back to the gym with Claire, and I was still unsure as to how far I could run, so it seemed the sensible option. As it happened, both treadmills were taken when we got there so I entertained myself on the ergo and the exercise bike until one was free. I did my first km at tempo pace but got horrible stabbing pains in my abdomen, much like I did a few months ago, and so had to stop at 1.3k. Defeated, I did another km on the bike and then a pretty massive weights session. I was still tiring quicker so I might not have been completely over this illness. Well done to Baines though, who is now up to 3-1 intervals on the treadmill (3 mins running to 1 min walking).
Friday: Had arranged to do a 10k in Sutton Park with Ally and stayed over at his on the Thursday night to get to the park at a reasonable hour the next morning. It was a great day for it, nice and sunny but not too hot. I actually managed the distance, which was good, in 67 minutes. I used the Garmin so I know it’s pretty accurate. It’s not quite as quick as I would have liked but it felt good so I’m happy with it.
Saturday: Decided I needed a day off from running. Went to archery in the morning (as well as Friday evening) and got back into the swing of things. Competition on Sunday morning so I needed the practice!
Sunday: Didn’t get back from the archery competition until 3pm, but decided to join Scribs on his ‘challenge’ mile. As it happens we did a 5k in 32’45″. Scribs’ ridiculous pace kept me from falling back into my 10k pace (thanks Scribs), though we had a few walking breaks as he isn’t used to exercise the distance.
Total Run: 23.3km
This week I signed up for a place in the 2010 Bupa London 10,000, which takes place on 31st May. I’ve put my estimated time as 55 minutes, so I have nearly a year to get it down to that! I’ve also signed up for a smaller event – the Lichfield 10k – on 6th September this year. I put my estimated time as 1 hour, and I know there’s a good hill in it, but it looks like it could be fun.
Posted in Progress | Tagged bupa 10.000, garmin, lichfield 10k, resistance, running safety, sutton park, training, weights | Leave a Comment »
