A battle of wills

The title of this entry refers to my ridiculous internal dialogue over whether or not to go to the gym this lunchtime. Pathetic Ruth was whining on about having a sore throat and having left her trainers in Al's van and it being Christmas and therefore an exercise-free zone. She came extremely close to winning the argument but luckily Righteous Ruth responded by pointing out that I could just do ten minutes and that would be better than nothing, I could wear my trail shoes and I'd be annoyed afterwards if I skipped a day since I already know I'm not going to have time for another run till Saturday.

Really, I was wishing I'd thought to bring a sweater since the sun was shining on the frosty slopes of Arthur's Seat in a particularly inviting fashion. (Incidentally, both the BBC and the Scotsman websites are confidently telling me that it's foggy in Edinburgh today. Er...nope. Frosty and sunny, actually).

I toyed with the idea of heading out in just my sleeveless running vest before deciding that the loss of digits, and possible whole upper limbs, to frostbite was not a great idea. So the gym it was. In deference to my sore throat and achy head and neck, I split my 3km into three sessions on the treadmill of 1km each, at a slow 9kmph but a 3% incline. In between, I did:

• 1km on the crosstrainer, level 9, keeping above 10kmph.
• 3 x 12 reps chest press at 15kg (fairly easy)
• 2 x 10 reps shoulder press at 15kg (very hard)
• 3 x 12 reps pull down at 27.5kg (easy enough that I should probably go up a notch)
• 3km on the bike, hill setting, level 7, keeping well above 80rpm which took me the best part of 7 minutes

Keeping the feet straight while running seemed a little easier, but that may have been just because I had less time to get bored of concentrating, or because I was going more slowly.

Can't do my thigh-tingling body pump on Friday as I've been roped into the Pensions Team Christmas Quiz. However, a leaflet from my new job (at which I will start at the end of January) promises a discount at the Alloa leisure centre, so I have a new place to check out.

Must do something on Saturday or this will be the first week since starting training I've fallen below three days a week. Mostly quite happy with how I've started though: I've got the habit going. Seeing Graham tonight as the ankle's still crock - fine for running but very painful when doing things that involve pointing my toes. This includes kneeling down, which is how I like to wrap my Christmas presents. Maybe a ligament thing.