Week 2 of couch to 5k is a killer

I could barely lift my arms to drink from my water bottle after the last run and the fact that I then had a hill to climb to get back to my house (and bed) was a kick in the teeth.

Still it wasn't as hard as I thought it might be and again much easier than when I've attempted it in the past and had to stop after the second run, so knackered I might be but knackered for a reason.  Even the fittest people are knackered after pushing themselves aren't they?

The best thing was I realised as I was half way round that I was really looking forward to the day when I can just run the entire route without the walking bits to break up the running.  I'm still a couple of months off this - IF I stick to the plan - but I actually feel positive that I will get there.

I've just got to hope now that we don't get any snow between now and christmas or that Santa brings me an early present of a treadmill :)

For anyone interested, this is the running plan I am now following (again but properly this time round)
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/couch-to-5k-plan.aspx

Happy Halloween

Not only have I not been running today, I've also spent the day creating lots of calorific food with my children in our own version of GBBO -

"The Heaton Halloween Bake Off" 

We did this at Easter and it was great fun, apart from the fact that I didn't win that time (yes my memory is long and it istill hurts)

Here's my entry this time.  I'm hoping the little ghosts with their chocolate, popping candy truffle middle will appeal to the judge - aka my husband - who I know has a sweet tooth.

Unfortunately, he also happens to be a daddy and the other entrants are our children so I tend to think I won't win again.  No doubt it will be the child who remembered to put a layer of jaffa cake in the middle of his buns, even if he did then just cover them in slime with no artistic consideration at all!

Ah well, the judge will just be tricked not treated tonight!

Autumn is definitely here

Not just because it's cold and Autumnwatch started on BBC last night :) - it's the amount of leaves on the ground as I run now, it's like a soggy gold carpet!

I'm now worried I'll slip and make a fool of myself. Maybe I've got my priorities wrong though as I'm sure most people would be worried about falling and actually hurting themselves, not how they look to anyone who happens to see them fall!

I have beaten one bit of self consciousness this week though, I used to stop running if there was someone in front of me too nervous to pass them but instead now I feel the teensiest bit smug when I overtake them :)

Nice milestone on my runtastic app today, I've covered 50 miles since I started out last month. Nearly 17hours racked up and 6,900 calories burnt off.  It might not seem much but I'm stunned that I'm still getting up and going out nearly every day.  I think I mentioned that I'm back doing the NHS couch to 5k plan and I'm finding it so much easier than I ever did before so while I'm never going to be a marathon runner, I am definitely getting fitter which is the only aim I have :)

Let half term commence

I haven't been looking forward to Half Term and I usually do, I love having my kids at home full time  (at least at the start, there might be occasions  towards the end of the school holidays when I wonder what on earth I was thinking!!)

This time I was wondering how I'd be able to keep up my usual lunchtime run while looking after two tweens!

Would they come with me?   Would I be able to leave them on their own?  Should I take a week off?

Well the answer to the first question was No they wouldn't and the looks they gave me made it very clear I was lucky they'd even got dressed this morning!

And I didn't want to take a week off, especially after getting such a buzz after my Friday run last week.

So could I leave them on their own? To put it in to context they are 10 and 12 and the 12 year old has been staying home alone for a good few months now and so far he hasn't burnt down the house or injured himself.  But leaving them alone together is a different ball game.  They love each other very much and the majority of the time they do get on brilliantly but when they do fall out, they FALL OUT - it's not pretty and it can get violent, and that's with parental supervision.

Still it would only be for half an hour, I only run 2 miles in a circuit so if anything did go wrong I could get back to them very quickly.  Decision made - but it still wasn't easy to walk out of the door.

They were fine.  In fact when I got back they couldn't believe I'd even been gone a full half an hour.
They hadn't killed each other, they hadn't broken anything, the cats were still asleep on the sofa - SUCCESS - minecraft is just as good a babysitter as CBeebies used to be when they were tiny :)

They've now been fed to keep the happy mood going and are upstairs playing happily with their Lego. Totally unaware that they've done something momentous today, being left alone is a big step but it seems like it's only a big step for mum!

Good session today

Feel really pleased with myself :)

2 miles (well maybe 6 steps less!) in 33 minutes - 1st mile done in 15.18min and 2nd in 18:46min
I worked out a new route that takes me mostly downhill or flat on the running bits, so the only uphill parts are my warm up and cool down walk.

And you can see from my map opposite I didn't have any really slow bits in between my running bits either.

NEXT STEPS!

I've not been actually losing any weight while I've been doing all this extra exercise but I haven't changed my eating habits at all.  I'm still eating too much bread and cheese and having my malteasers at weekends.   I'm not worried about that as I needed to get my head right for this exercising thing and not set myself too many challenges at the start and fail too quickly.

I think I've proved to myself now that I am going to keep the exercising going - I've not missed may days since I started and when I have it's been for a genuine reason such as being too busy with work stuff.  I even found myself bored one evening this week and thinking I could go out for a run (it was dark, rainy and my husband told me not to be silly and I didn't argue) but you see my point.

So next steps is to change my eating habits too.  I'm not going to diet diet, I don't want to start some ridiculous plan (not at this stage anyway, if I can't lose weight just being sensible then I might change my mind) but for now I'm going to use My Fitness Pal to count my calories and keep under 1,200 a day.

So have set myself a challenge - with the support of a friend - and we're going to aim to lose half a stone between now and 29th November.  We've got half term next week and it's always harder to plan work / exercise / healthy eating when the kids are off school so we'll start iproperly the week after.

To be honest I'll be happy if I just lose 1lb a week between now and Christmas, I just want to know I can do it if I try, I don't want it to be hard.  But then I can really buckle down in the New Year!

The best thing about jogging...

is that moment when you get home and can take your sports bra off!

1.5miles today in 25minutes, not great but after sitting in my home office freezing, it was a surprise to open my front door and get blasted with sunshine.  There were even two young men walking up the street with their tops off (note how that wasn't the best thing about jogging, they really shouldn't have done it)

So yes I am contrary - I complain that I can't run when it's raining but I use the sunshine as an excuse for not running well too.

And now I'm worried that tomorrow will be dry but not sunny which should be by default perfect conditions and I'll be expected to get my best time ever!! Don't worry, I'll find another excuse by then :)

Yesterday must have been a fluke

As I was back to my usual 16minute mile today.  I did do ten minutes of medicine ball exercises first though so maybe that had an impact or maybe I just had the rush on Monday because I was due to pick the little one up from school :)

Anyway, the whys aren't important.  I still went out and came back redfaced so still a plus and I'll still go out tomorrow (weather permitting).

Off to make a cake for my Nan's birthday tomorrow now which will undo all my calorie loss for the week in one lovely slice !