Why I should run to work

It's only 40 miles from home to work and yesterday I had lots of time to work out how long that would take me to run because a lorry blew over on the Forth Road Bridge at 6am, shutting both northbound lanes. I discovered this as soon as I put on the radio at 7.10am as setting off for work, which made the daily 'Kincardine versus FRB' decision easy. The roads were spookily quiet until just past junction 4 of the M9 - yes, the one junction where I could have come off and gone a different way. Then: gridlock.

Junction 4 of the M9 to Kincardine Bridge is not very far. To give you a flavour, I timed it on the way home and it took eight minutes. Yesterday morning it took me ...

THREE AND A HALF HOURS

I got in at 11.30: four hours 20 mins after setting off. I was unhappy and my left foot was sore from constant clutch action (though to be fair there was also extended periods of sitting in neutral). Apparently the lorry driver was unhurt, so he must have stayed well away from the M9 where several thousand drivers would happily have rectified that fact.

At least I was kept entertained by the variety of weather on offer: from sleet, to snow, to gales, to sunshine, to rain. Even the presenters on the local radio station were being apologetic about both the traffic news and the weather news. At one point, the newsreader added 'And that's the worst weather forcast I've ever read: sorry.'

So anyway, I could have walked that section, let alone run it, more quickly.

Went to the Alloa gym after work to relieve frustration and give the traffic time to disappate. Tried the ladies' gym for the first time. It has slightly newer machines but fewer of them and no water dispenser - surely that is a health and safety issue? Incidently, the hairdrier in the changing room is also crap. It is about as effective as asking someone to breath gently on your wet hair from a distance of three miles. I now dry my hair by getting in the car and turning the heating on.

Did 6 mins on the step machine as the only cross trainer was busy, doing 8 floors per minute I think. Then 15 minutes on the treadmill at 10.4kmph (found one treadmill set to kms, though it was ancient and I kept worrying it was going to conk out on me and it wouldn't show the time and the distance simultaneously). Then three full and one half Yassos. Still hate them. They're not getting any easier. Or rather, the first one is very slightly easier but I still want to die from the beginning of the second one.

Finished with some random weights, but they didn't have half the ones I wanted and the settings are all different from the Edinburgh ones. Did 12 x 3 pull down at level 6, which I think is 30 kg. Then some free weights and the pec machine. Think I'll be back in the mixed gym next time, less fragrant though it may be.

Was supposed to go tonight for a hill session but came home to move some stuff to Al's instead. Al was due to get the ferry at 5pm yesterday and was about ready to set off on the possibly five hour trip to Rosyth (usually 30 mins over the FRB) when the ferry was cancelled due to high winds. So he got up with me this morning and I've just heard he's arrived safely in France via the chunnel.

Just took some vitamin C and echinacea as I have yet another sore throat starting. I'll go to Meadowbank tomorrow, or do a couple of loops of Queen's Drive if it's not snowing. At least I'm not dropping the speed sessions, which is what I did last year - because I hate them they were always the first to go! Need to do a longer run Sunday too.

Forgot to say I weighed myself again last week - down two pounds so back to 9 stone, which is my usual sort of weight. Jeans fitting better again. Thanks to a regime of gym sessions and eating half my meals in my car. Perhaps I should write a book called 'The All-Car Diet' and make millions.

Evil Yassos

Cold a bit better after being pampered by Al (he ordered a takeaway and fed me NightNurse). Lunchtime gym today:

• 1 km cross trainer level 11, staying above 10 kmph
• 3 km treadmill, 2% incline (I'm going to stop saying this: just assume all my treadmill work is at 2% unless I say otherwise), 10.1 kmph
• 200m walking, 800m at 12.8 kmph x 2
• 12 x 3 reps at 32.5 kg pull down
• 12 x 3 reps at 15 kg shoulder press
• 10 mins bike, hill setting, level 11, staying above 80 rpm (hard at the end)

The chest press was busy the whole time, but I was pleased with the rest. So proud of myself for the last half Yasso, which was a bastard. I loathe speedwork and all its kind. Only remembering an interview with Denise Lewis in which she described getting through the 800m to win Olympic gold on sheer force of will after an injury kept me going. Quite looking forward to tomorrow's hill work in comparison.

Last night I cooked myself a simple meal of potatoes, broccoli, spinach and steamed trout. Doesn't that sound healthy? Although I did then add a generous dollop of creme fraiche. (Low fat creme fraiche). It was delicious - I don't often do 'meat and veg' type meals, tending more towards the 'all in one pot' approach, but this has inspired me to do more. Although it did generate rather a lot of washing up. Ooh, I made more mince pies too. And ate them warm with brandy butter while watching Top Gear - bliss.

Running with a cold

So boring having a cold, but at least I managed to stave it off over the festive season and as I'm not doing much but finishing up at work this week a cold is not much of a drawback now.

We all wussed out of aquafit yesterday due to various ailments, so I went to the gym instead:

• 1 km on the cross trainer, level 11, staying above 10 kmph (except for one moment where I slowed to 9.8 because I was picking a bit of white fluff off my boob, but I'm not counting that as it was only for a second and I'm well above 10.5 most of the time.)
• 6 km on the treadmill, incline 2%, 10.1 kmph (with brief pause at 5.15 km for a drink)
• 3 x 12 reps shoulder press at 15kg
• 3 x 12 reps chest press at 15kg (not too bad - should probably go up next time)
• 3 x 12 reps pull down at 32.5kg

Used my cold as an excuse to skip the bike, although I may now start having to choose between the bike and weights anyway if I don't want my work out to go on all day. Next time: more Yassos. Yuck.

Weighed myself yesterday morning. I am 9 stone 2 pounds, or about 58 kg. That's about 2 pounds over where I like to be, as the tightness of my jeans was indicating. Not a surprise after Christmas: I expect it'll come off when the exercise kicks in.

Last session of the year

To the gym at lunchtime again. Really glad I made myself go as I had a good session and felt most virtuous afterwards. Did:

• 1km on the cross trainer, level 10, staying above 10kmph
• 3 km on the treadmill, 10kmph, 2% incline
• 12 x 3 reps pull down at 30kg
• 12 x 3 reps chest press at 15kg
• 10 x 3 reps shoulder press at 15kg (it's official: the shoulder press is my nemesis. Ironic, considering that I am a broad-shouldered babe with a propensity when in a halter neck dress to look like an Olympic swimmer. A male Olympic swimmer)
• 15 mins on the bike, level 10, hill setting, staying above 80rpm

A delicious flapjack, courtesy of Colin who came round with Helen on Boxing Day, was my mid-morning snack and proved much more effective than last week's crisps. Pleased with the run. Shoulder press - well, I had to leave it till the last of my weights as someone else was on it, which probably didn't help. Bike: a higher setting than usual meant I really felt it in my legs. I like the hill setting which gradually increases the incline but gives you short breaks at a lower incline every few minutes to recover. Why, I wonder, does running make me sweaty and short of breath but not particularly make my legs hurt (except in the avoidance of penguin syndrome) while cycling makes my legs hurt without making me out of breath? Ah well. It must all be good for me somehow.

Forgot to report back on my ankle earlier: Graham pronounced it basically ok but with limited movement because...well, I think he mentioned the word 'capscule' a lot, or something like it. I got the impression it had stiffened up when sore and now had lost it's former range of movement. He bounced up and down on it while pressing it into the treatment room bed for a while (ow), after which it was much more manoeuvrable. So I have exercises to do to stretch it out, and at least I know that if it does hurt it's not doing any harm.

Now, I was browsing Runners World the other day and came across the concept of Yasso 800s. A bloke called Yasso (great name) came up with the idea that if you wanted to run a marathon in x hours and y minutes then you should train by running 800m reps at x minutes and y seconds. In my case, 3 minutes and 45 seconds. You start with a couple of reps and build up to 10. I'm thinking of trying it and would appreciate any tips. Also, I have worked out that this means I need to run the 800s at 12.85 kmph, but as my maths is dodgy, please tell me if I'm wrong.

Hm, have also just worked out that I need to run 8.5 minute miles the whole way to make my goal time. Seems...fast.

Regular readers (of which there are about two) may remember I listed a series of races that I wanted to take part in. The first couple are out the window due to the new job and my need to find somewhere to live near the new job. But I intend to sign up for all three half marathons next week. Call it a new year's resolution (even though I don't really believe in new resolutions: I think if you want to do something that badly you should just do it and not wait until new year. But it happens to be new year anyway, so there you go). And I've got the duathlon and hopefully at least one of the later 10ks as well. Starting to look forward to it!

Team Aqua rule the roost

Gym before aquafit last night. In fact, a two mile walk to the gym before the gym as well.

Did:

• 10 mins on the cross trainer, (6 mins level 9 with 2 mins level 8 either side), keeping above 10kmph.
• 3km on the treadmill, 2% incline in 18 mins 26 seconds. Still finding it hard to avoid penguin syndrome.
• 3 x 12 reps pull down at 27.5 kg.
• 3 x 12 reps shoulder press at 15 kg.

Then a regular aquafit workout. As it was the last class till the new year, we decided to forgo the usual routine of one of us cooking and went to our local, Utopia, instead. With extreme excitement/competitiveness we discovered their pub quiz, previously cancelled, was back on! It was a pretty good quiz and we got better as it went along, picking up a bag of Malteasers for winning one round and surprising ourselves with our unexpected knowledge of the 1960s. To cut a long story short, we expected to come second and win a bottle of wine but either Hilary or the quizmaster added the scores up wrong (let's face it: the quizmaster is the more likely culprit) and Team Aqua won. We got £25 off our meal! Apparently some regular teams were disgruntled. But that is their fault for not knowing more about the 1960s.

More exercise!

Ooh yes, getting back into the swing of it now. No pun intended.

Went to the gym at work before swing dance yesterday. Did:

• 3 x 10 reps 17.5kg on the chest machine (this is the one which I forgot the name of last time)


• 2 x 10 reps 15kg shoulder press (very hard)


• 3 x 12 reps 25kg pull down (easy - must go up next time)


• 10 mins cross trainer level 6 to warm up


• 3 km on the treadmill, incline 2%, in 20 minutes (annoyingly hard considering this used to be a doddle)


• 15 mins upright bike, hill setting, level 7

Whilst running, I tried very hard to think about how I was putting my feet down, concentrating on rolling from the heel to the toe and keeping my toes pointing out. Or rather, it feels like I'm keeping them pointing out, like a duck, but actually that's just making them straight because I usually run with them pointing in, like a pigeon. Quite hard to see them in the mirror because the front of the treadmill was in the way, but I think I did ok. Certainly felt like I was using my lower leg muscles in a way they weren't used to. Hopefully I can keep this up enough to avoid injury this year.

Then went to swing dance where we practised our Christmas show routine without mirrors or instructors to follow! This went surprisingly well, and I actually felt like I was dancing instead of following a series if steps.

There's a body pump class at the gym at work on a Friday lunchtime. No time today but I might go next week: I never do any exercise on a Friday usually so it would be a bonus session. And I know I say this every year but I do want to improve my overall fitness, not just running. I say that and then when it gets to the stage that I have to run an hour each session I give up on everything else. Need more hours in the day.

Going back a bit to Al's duathlon at the weekend, he went with his friend Matt. Al's signed up for the whole series of three, but Matt was only signed up to the first one. He wasn't sure about doing the others but I there's a team option so I said I'd do the running if he did the cycling. It's on 27 January and is about 5km of hilly trail running, so that gives me something to aim for. Matt cycles faster than Al so I will have to make sure I don't let him down in the running stakes.

In other Exciting News, my new surf board has arrived! Oh, it's so beautiful, just how I imagined. So beautiful that I have learned how to upload images directly into a blog just to show you. Should be small waves, light winds tomorrow so I will get to try it out!