Week 8 - Spin from hell

Tuesday, 21 February

I did my strength and conditioning workout straight after work tonight.  I needed to release some stress from a very important meeting I had with clients today which I had been very nervous about.

Wednesday, 22 February

I haven't been to spin for ages and when I was at the gym yesterday I decided to book myself on tonight's session so I couldn't talk myself out of it.  I asked Kath if she wanted to join me too as she hasn't been since breaking her leg a couple of months back and, according to Dave, the altitude chamber is really good for healing broken bones.  Kath said yes and also booked her son, Aidan, on too for his first ever altitude spin session.  As I've mentioned previously, all the bikes are configured differently and some are much harder than others.  I went into the chamber and headed for the back corner but then saw that was number 1 bike, which I know to be really hard so I went for the one in front of it instead.  Unfortunately for me, that one was even harder!  In fact, it was the hardest bike I have ever used!!!  The gears go from 1 to 24 and are controlled by a lever which just moves up and down.  Usually as soon as you start moving the lever up, the number of the gear goes up, but on this bike, I had moved the lever half way and it was still showing as being in gear 1, even though the pedals had gone much harder.  You'd think that with a harder bike you get a better workout but I don't think so.  Because the pedals were that hard to press in an easy gear, I found that I couldn't spin as fast as I normally do and therefore didn't get out of breath as much.  It was more of a strength workout than a cardio workout.  Even in gear 2 it was really hard whereas on a normal bike I'd be spinning in at least gear 8. According to my Fitbit, I burned around 420 calories in the hour so it would be interesting to see whether I burn more on an easier bike.

Total distance - 20km


Friday, 23 February 

I had the day off work today as I'm off to Wakefield this afternoon for the Scott Sorry Benefit Gig (more on that later).

I went to the gym first thing for my last strength and conditioning session of this programme.  All change next week so I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store.

I had a really good session this morning and worked really hard.  I braved deadlifting again, after my knee incident the other week, but I reduced the weight a little just to be sure.  All was fine though so hopefully it was just a moment of poor form last time.

I have today discovered that watching live rock music is an absolutely fabulous workout - more so than spinning!  According to my Fitbit, in the 36 minutes of moshing to Massive Wagons, I burned 269 calories.  That's an average of around 7.5 calories per minute.  On Wednesday's spin class I apparently burned 6.8 calories per minute.

Who needs a gym?


Sunday, 25 February

My plans changed this morning, meaning I was able to get out for my first and only run of the week.  I must admit, getting out the door was the hardest part of it.  I just didn't feel at all motivated, even though the weather looked lovely outside.

After giving myself a good talking to, I got out the door and headed up to George's Lane.  I'm not going to lie, it was hard work.  My legs were willing but my breathing was weak.  I felt so energyless and ended up walking a bit through Wilderswood, something I haven't had to do for a long while.

After a short breather on George's Lane, I then headed up to the water tanks, turning right when I got to them and along to the mast road.  I crossed over the mast road and through the kissing gate into Smithills Estate but then instead of going straight on as I had planned, I took the path to my right (which to begin with runs parallel with the mast road).  I haven't been along this path for years, ever since I went along it with Ruby and it was full of cows so I had to turn round and head back.  No cows today though, and no Ruby, so I really enjoyed running along it.  It's usually boggy but today everything was rock solid as it was all frozen.  There's a little wooden bridge before leaving the field but it was white with ice so I decided to jump the stream instead which was definitely the better option.

I don't know the name of any of the tracks round here, if they even have names, but I basically came out of the kissing gate and turned left where the path is all churned up as it goes into the quarry.

When I got to the path junction, I turned right coming out on the bend of Matchmoor Lane, where I immediately turned left alongside the 'haunted house'.  I followed this path through to the farm then turned left, heading back towards the mast road, via the steps over the stream.

Once at the mast road, I crossed over and headed up Two Lads from the back way.  After admiring the view on this beautiful day, I ran down towards Pike Cottage.  The terrain was so ankle breaking this morning, it was rock hard.

After arriving at Pike Cottage I ran home via my favourite field.  Annoyingly, I paused at the top of the field to check my distance on my watch and I say annoyingly because I then ran down it so quick that I'm pretty sure I could have beaten my own Strava course record.  Ah well, maybe next time.

Total distance - 5.5 miles 

Stats:

Week’s total running distance:                            5.5 miles 

Week’s total walking distance:                           0 (save for daily standard Ruby walks)

Week’s total cycling  distance:                           20km (spin bike)

Week’s total swimming distance:                       0

Total number of S&C sessions:                          2

Week 7 - Poorly Ruby

Tuesday, 13 February

On Tuesday this week I went straight to the gym from work. I haven't been since last Friday when I hurt my knee and I was a bit worried about hurting it again but I bought some knee supports which seem to work pretty well as I didn't get any pain at all despite doing some deep squatting.

I also tried out the new Fitbit Charge which Duncan had won at work and it recorded an average heart rate of 118bpm for the hour long session.

When I got home after the gym, the kitchen floor was full of chunder. Poor Ruby had been sick everywhere. It wasn't just in the kitchen, it was in the hall and landing and in one of the spare bedrooms that she'd managed to get into. She isn't often sick and if she does ever throw up it's just once and then she's fine afterwards but she just kept throwing up this evening. She also didn't come to greet me at the door and just lay in her basket feeling sorry for herself.

After Duncan arrived home we decided to keep check on her and see whether she got any better but she just chundered again and then she started to pant a lot so we decided to take her to the out of hours vets over in Swinton. The vet there was lovely and he thinks that she may have pancreatitiis.


He gave her an injection of painkillers and anti sickness drugs and gave us some other drugs to give her and then told us that we need to feed her on boiled chicken and courgette for a couple of days and look after her. When we got her home and put her down on the kitchen floor, her legs seem to buckle under her. I was a bit worried about this but Duncan said 'don't worry, she's just smacked off her tits' so we just took her to bed and let her sleep it off. Hopefully she will get better soon. Fingers crossed for Ruby.

Thursday, 15 February

I stayed at home with Ruby all day yesterday and she seemed to feel better as the day went on.  No sick at all and I managed to get her eating.  She was still out of sorts but that was to be expected when she had thrown up so much the day before.



However, this morning, she had been sick again and continued to be sick.  I therefore stayed off work again and booked her into our own vets.



I took her in and they wanted to keep her in to monitor her and take blood samples so I had to take her over to their Westhoughton branch, where they kept her on a drip all day to rehydrate her.

As I sat in my office room, working from home, I kept looking down into her basket expecting her to be there.  It felt like part of me was missing.



The one silver lining is that I got to go for a decent run, which I haven't done in a good while.  Only a short one though as I was pushed for time.



I ran up the 'rocky road behind the school' up onto George's Lane then along to the ex dog kennels and, for the first time in ages, ran down through my favourite field. 



I was wearing my new Saucony Koa ST fell shoes and I have mixed views on them.  On soft ground, like my favourite field, they were great and the grip made me feel confident, however, on the harder ground I felt a bit like I was running on bricks.  I don't know whether a change of insole would help or whether they'll just soften up a bit after use but, at £105 I hope they start to feel a bit better. 



Later on, I picked Ruby back up and they still didn't know what was wrong with her, despite blood tests and x-rays and a whopping great big bill.  They just said to try to get her to drink and keep hydrated and bring her back in the morning.  She was sporting a very pretty yellow bandage with pictures of chicken on it!

Total distance - 3 miles


Saturday, 17 February

I had another day of staying at home looking after Ruby yesterday.  She seemed much better in the morning however still wasn't eating anything. 

I took her back to the vets at 9am and they took off her lovely chicken bandage and checked her over again.  They were pleased with her progress and gave me some medication and food to give her and sent us on our way. 

As the day went on she got better and better and I managed to gradually get her to start eating. 


This morning, she seemed back to her normal self.  Still only eating small amounts but was much more waggy tailed than she had been over the last few days.


I went to the UTUP this morning, something I haven't done for a very long time, and met up with EtU there. 


We firstly ran up to the Pike via the race route and then down the steps side and along the lane to the stile over to Noon Hill.  We climbed Noon Hill then went back down onto the lane, running along to the bridge to start our climb up Winter Hill Scar.  As we started ascending, we bumped into EYJ coming the other way.  After a brief chat, EYJ decided to go back up with us rather than continuing on down so we had a good natter as I haven't seen EYJ for absolutely ages.  It was lovely to have a catch up. 


Once at the top we went to the trig point and then ran down the mast road, towards Two Lads.  Before the turn off to Two Lads, EYJ said he was leaving and carried on down the mast road, however when we got up to the cairn, there he was again.  He said he'd had a change of mind but this time he really was leaving so he ran down back in the direction of the mast road and EtU and I ran down to Pike Cottage. 


From there, we had a second run up the Pike.  We were also going to have a second run up Noon Hill but got a bit strapped for time so decided to call it a day and ran back down to the cars. 


It was great catching up with EtU as, other than brief encounters out and about, it's been a long while since we had a good old natter.


Total distance - 8.3 miles


Once back at the car I was wondering whether or not I had enough time or energy to get my strength and conditioning session in as I hadn't managed to get there yesterday but the gym closes at 1pm on a Saturday and isn't open on a Sunday.  It was 11.45 so I decided I'd have enough time, even if I had to shorten the session a little so I drove over, arriving just before 12. 


I managed to get a decent session in, although missed out the deadlifting as I was a little wary after hurting my knee last week and seeing as I was already tired from having run further than I have run in a long time. 


Stats:


Week's total running distance:        11.3 miles (wow, double figures!)
Week's total walking distance:        0 (save for standard Ruby walks - although not many of those this week)
Week's total cycling distance:         0
Week's total swimming distance:    0
Total number of S&C sessions:      2

Week 6 - Gym Bunny / Anglezarke Amble

After not getting any strength and conditioning sessions in for the past two weeks I was determined to get there at least three times this week to make up for it. 

Monday, 5 February

I finished work an hour early today so that I could go straight to the gym and still be home at around the same time as I would normally, so as not to leave Ruby on her own for too long.  I thought that I’d be useless given my two weeks off, but I was feeling surprisingly strong.  I upped the weight on the sled pull by 10kgs and still felt I could do more.  Unfortunately, the 20m track in the gym where I do my tyre flip sprints was being used by somebody else so I was very limited on space and didn’t really have much distance to get a decent sprint in.  

When I go to the gym, or do other exercise, I always feel really invigorated afterwards and I spent my drive home thinking about stopping off and going for a run, however I had to get back to Ruby so as soon as I walked through the front door, I got her on her running harness and just had a jog round the block with her. 

Distance – 1.3 miles

Wednesday, 7 February

I was working from home today so went to the gym first thing, arriving at just after 7am. 

IT WAS FREEZING!!!!

There is no heating in the gym and the thermometer was reading -3 degrees!  I did my entire workout whilst still wearing gloves and a beanie hat.  I only took my hoody off after 45 minutes but still had a long sleeved top and a t-shirt on.  It makes you work harder when it’s so cold though because I spent my rest periods between sets running up and down the track, although that’s probably not what is defined by the term rest period.

This evening I went for a walk up to Two Lads with Ruby.  We went up along the edge of Wilderswood onto George’s Lane then walked along to the kennels and up from there.  There was a thin layer of snow on the ground but it wasn’t slippery.  We came back down the water tanks side and went through the middle of Wilderswood to get home.

Distance – 3 miles

Friday, 9 February

Back to the gym again straight from work today, really pleased with myself for managing to get here three times this week without talking myself out of it.  I again worked through my lunch and finished an hour early so that I could get back to Ruby in good time, it’s a good job I have an understanding boss who lets me work flexible hours to get my training in.  I’m really lucky in that respect. 

The session didn’t go as well as hoped though.  On my third of four sets of deadlifting, I got a sharp pain in my left knee.  I don’t know what I did wrong but it was really sore.  I decided not to carry on with the deadlifts and instead move on to the sled pull but as soon as I started to pull it, which involves a slight bend in the knees, the sharp pain was there again.  I’m hopeful it’s nothing serious and just a twinge but, as I’m booked to do the Anglezarke Amble tomorrow, I decided to take it easy and move on to some arm and abs work instead.  The arms bit was fine but when I tried to do plate abs that also hurt my knee.  I did a few crunches (even though I know they’re not great for the back) and called it a day.  Driving home hurt my knee too though whenever I pressed the clutch pedal. 

Do you think if I gave up exercise and just lazed around on the couch every day I’d still get injured?

Saturday, 10 February – Anglezarke Amble

This is my third time doing the Anglezarke Amble (missed it last year due to a holiday), but my first walking it.  Due to a number of errands I had to run today,  I decided to just do the 16 mile Amble route, which I’ve never done before. 

It turned out that I didn't even manage the short route though, pulling out 1.5 miles in when I reached the Pike.

As mentioned yesterday, I hurt my knee at the gym.  Last night I iced it and kept it elevated.  It felt fine walking, just had the odd twinge going up stairs.  I decided to start the Amble today anyway and see how I got on.

All the way up to the Pike I was having an internal battle about carrying on because whenever I got to a steep part or a step, there was a bit of pain.  The thing is, it wasn't a lot of pain, more of a dull ache, meaning it wasn't an easy decision to make.  The steps up to the Pike were pretty slippery with a very fine layer of ice on them.  When I got to the top, I knew it was decision time.  Speaking to other walkers, they all had conflicting opinions, some saying 'you've done the worst bit now so just carry on' and others saying 'it's not worth it, it's really slippery underfoot so you'll only end up jarring it and making it worse'. 

I knew that to pull out would upset me but I decided it was the right thing to do.  I still don't think it is a serious injury and will probably wear off after a day or so but is it worth carrying on for a walk that a) I've done before a few times, b) I could do at any time because it's on my doorstep c) there were absolutely zero views because of thick fog d) the weather was rubbish (although I like being out in the rain so that's no reason) and e) was really slippery underfoot so ran the risk of making a minor injury into a major injury resulting in yet more time off running/walking.

Decision made, I headed back down the same way as I had come up.

As I got past the barn and started heading down to the road, the runners started coming towards me, as they set off an hour later than the walkers.  There were many familiar faces there which made my walk of shame even worse.

After a natter with EtU about buffs and underpants (?!), I carried on back to base where I found that I wasn't even the first drop out... I was the third!

I hung around for a while chatting to the good folk from the West Lancs LDWA until Duncan came to pick me up and drive me home for a warming brew and a cuddle with Ruby.

Still hopeful that the knee thing is nothing bad but I've put myself a couple of supports to wear next time I'm deadlifting.

Distance - a pathetic 3 miles

Lazy pyjama day on Sunday.

Stats:

Week’s total running distance:                            1.3 miles 

Week’s total walking distance:                           6 (plus daily standard Ruby walks)

Week’s total cycling  distance:                           0

Week’s total swimming distance:                       0

Total number of S&C sessions:                          3


Not a productive week distance-wise.  Must try harder! 

Week 5 - VERY Lazy Week

I barely did any exercise this week, save for walking Ruby and walking home from the train station.  Without having my van (which is still having its gearbox sorted) I couldn’t get to the gym.  That’s no excuse for not running though.  I don’t have an excuse for that.

Friday, 2 February

I managed to get out for a short run with Ruby today as I was climbing the walls without doing any exercise.  We only ran out towards Rivington Barn though but as I had forgotten a torch and it was getting dark, I had to cut the run short and head through the Pinetum and back home.

Distance – 2.5 miles

Sunday, 4 February

Duncan, Ruby and I stayed at the Langdale NT campsite last night in the van as Duncan was meeting some friends today in Torver for an MTB ride.  As we’re not Camping and Caravanning Club members, we were turned away from the campsite at the Church House Inn in Torver.  I didn’t mind as the campsite at Langdale is much more scenic anyway and we had some good grub in the Old Dungeon Ghyll last night. 

Whilst Duncan went riding, I hitched Ruby up to her harness and waist lead, got out my OS map and headed up Walna Scar.  I’ve never been up that way before it and was a lovely walk, especially higher up where there was quite a lot of snow underfoot.  When we got to the path junction, I decided against turning right to go up Brown Pike as Ruby seemed to be struggling a little, possibly due to the fact that she hadn’t eaten since Friday night.  She doesn’t like to eat whilst camping, possibly because she’s out of her routine.  I had some food in my pocket for her though and kept feeding her bits of this throughout the walk but she still didn’t have much of it.  Instead, we turned left and walked up to a summit called White Maiden.  After enjoying the view, we headed back down again but returned to Torver via a different route.  When walking downhill through a farm field, I slipped in some mud and ended up on my backside, jarring my left wrist slightly.  At first, I thought I’d broken it but the numbness soon wore off and it felt OK, if a little stiff. 

I arrived back at the van before Duncan so I put Ruby’s little jacket on as by now she was feeling the cold and made myself a cup of tea.  I sat reading my book until a van pulled up at the side of me and a couple got out with mountain bikes, one of which had a wicker basket attached to the front.  I thought the basket seemed a bit odd on a mountain bike but I then  saw that the reason for this is that there was a little puppy nestled in it!  Obviously I had to get out of the van to go and make a fuss of said puppy which it turned out was a baby Patterdale Terrier.  As my own Patterdale Terrier is a complete and utter menace, I left her in the van because her dislike of other dogs isn’t discriminatory and she would still go for a puppy.

Distance – 7 miles

Stats:

Week’s total running distance:               2.5 miles

Week’s total walking distance:               7 (plus daily standard Ruby walks)

Week’s total cycling  distance:               0

Week’s total swimming distance:           0

Total number of S&C sessions:              0