Going Great

So far this year and with the demise of the snow and ice my training has picked up. I’m slightly behind where I should be but not by much. I’m running into work and back regularly and using my new bicycle on running rest days as cross training. On Friday I thought I might have a change of scenery and took myself off to The Long Mynd in Shropshire. I parked in the National Trust car park part way up the hill. From here it’s a steep climb to the top. For half of the climb I had to walk, either because the rock wet path was too dangerous to run on but mainly because it was bloody hard work! At the top was still a fair bit of snow on the path and road. In fact the road was closed due to the snow and ice. This is where I found that the battery was flat in my camera – or so I thought. I didn’t find out until I got home that I had put the battery in the wrong way around. I had my phone with me though so I took a couple of photographs and some video footage. On the subject of phones. I found a really good, free application for GPS phones. Endomondo is a sports tracker. You choose the sport and press start. It simply records your speed, mileage and time. You can also be tracked from a remote computer so people can see where you are along your route. When you’ve finished, press stop and it will update the information to the Endomondo web site where you can access the data it stored and see the route you took as a road map or aerial view. I’m still trialling it but it does seem to be a great little app and another gadget for us gizmo freaks.

This morning I ran to work. I had two cans of soup in my back pack and as a last thought I put a large Gala apple too. When I got to work and opened my pack I realised I had found a new way to make apple sauce. Got any cinnamon anyone?

10 In 10 In 10 Challenge

Here we go. The Christmas season is over and all we have left to show are a few pounds short in the bank extra pounds around the waist. I have definitely put some timber on over the festive period even though I’ve not overindulged too much this year. I was working a 2pm ‘till 10pm shift and on-call Christmas Day then 10am ‘till 6pm on Boxing Day so I didn’t have the traditional Christmas meal and left-overs as I normally would. My running has taken a nose dive for the most of December with colds a sore throat and I’m now just getting over a hacking cough.

On the plus side. I received my voucher from the Cycle To Work scheme last week and ordered my new bike. I chose a hybrid bike which will enable me to use it on cycle trails and the tow-paths of the canals as well as on the six mile journey to work. My plan is to use the car as little as possible. I will have to drive in now and again when I’m on call but I should be able to run and cycle most working days. Between illness’s I did manage to cycle to work and go for a run on the same day which is an aim. I’ll be doing that a lot more often this new year.

To help me improve my running speed and distance, I’ve decided to shed a few pounds. I joined Nigel Runners 10 In 10 In 10 Challenge. This is a challenge to lose 10lbs in 10 weeks in 2010. I could do with losing a little more than 10lbs though. I’m 203lbs at the moment which at six foot puts me around 10lb over my ideal weight. I would like to get down to 13 stone (182lbs)(82.5Kilos) but that ain’t gonna happen – soon anyway! So I set my goal to something a little more realistic. I will aim to get rid of the 10lbs within the ten weeks then concentrate on losing what I can by the end of May. This is when I need to be my lightest. I have at least two races before the end of March. A 10K and the Stafford Half Marathon. I should have lost most if not all of the 10lbs. In May though, I have the Matlock Swift Half and one week later I have my 50 at 50 run. I would like to be the lightest I’ve been since I was in my thirties. Somewhere between 185lbs and 190lbs. This will be difficult even with the large amount of miles I’ll be running and cycling when training. Losing it though will make things a great deal easier for the fifty mile trek. I won’t need to worry about speed or hill training for this run though. It’s purely an endurance thing. It will take as long as it takes. It’s also a celebration of running and of being on the planet for the past fifty years.

Meanwhile. I’ve found the bugger that keeps eating my fish. So, while I’m training, while I’m running, cycling and working to scrape a living. I’m having to keep an eye out on the garden for this cheeky git!