The Shock Absorber Ultimate Gym Bra was discussed by Rachel at fairweatherrunner and I in the pub the other week, as we’d both been asked to review it. ‘How the hell do you put the bloody thing on?’ (an issue Angela at Warriorwomen had also pondered on her blog) was our main topic of conversation.
This is a problem I have with all bras of this construction – the type that aren’t a crop top and have more than one clip to do up. Doing the clips up before putting it on, then pulling it over my head like a crop top, then kind of squidging myself into it is my usual solution to the conundrum. I am aware this is possibly the worst thing you can do to a sports bra.
Still, once you’re firmly ensconced in the bra, you’re going to be staying put. This is a solid, supportive bra and you’ll be comfortable running in it or working out at the gym. There’s even a handy hook on one of the cups to secure your MP3 player headphone cable. It looks good, too, although both I and Rachel thought the size came up slightly small.
The Shock Absorber Ultimate Gym Bra is available at House of Fraser for £35.
I was secretly hoping that no one had exercised and blogged every day and I could keep the running shoes from SportsShoes.com for myself but alas, no, the entries poured in and I had to choose a winner.
And the lucky winner of a pair of running shoes up to the value of £90 is:
Louise Ayling, who blogs at abradypus. Not only did Louise exercise every day, but she ran every day. And not only did she run every day, sometimes she ran more than once a day. And not only did she sometimes run more than once a day, she also racked up 231 miles during January. So, a worthy winner indeed and probably in need of a new pair of shoes. Well done, Louise!
The winner of the Deep Heat competition is:
Angela White, who blogs at Health Transformation. Although this giveaway was also open to slackers who didn’t exercise every day, Angela did exercise and blog every day, so another worthy winner. Well done, Angela!
Both winners were picked at random, using Random.org.
Thanks to everyone who took part in Janathon and I hope you’ll all be signing up to Juneathon!
38-year-old New Zealander Rhys Chong completed an Ironman in 12 hours 55 seconds. Then he wrote a book about it. First Time Ironman is a slim volume; at only 120 pages, you’ll get through it in a couple of hours.
With it being such a short book, it’s neither an in-depth guide to Ironman training (you won’t find any training schedules or meal plans here) nor did I feel like I was with Chong every second throughout his journey to Ironman finisher. Given that his recollection of weeing himself during the bike leg of the race is the most graphic part of the book, it’s probably a good idea that I wasn’t with him at that particular moment.
Chong comes across as committed and focused during his training. Either that or he didn’t want to waste the money he’d spent on his team which comprised a head coach, swim coach, bike mechanic, nutritionist, massage therapist and mental conditioning coach (Chong’s a physiotherapist, so he didn’t need one of those). In case we didn’t guess at that point that this dude has a bit of cash, he tells us he almost bought a bike for £7,000 and spent £1,500 on wheels. His coach talked him out of it; maybe he was worried his bill wouldn’t get paid. Chong also mentions his house has ‘several flights of stairs’ and I’m guessing this isn’t Chong poshing up the fact he lives on the top floor of a council tower block.
At the end of most of the fifteen chapters are three tips. Don’t expect anything mind-blowing or illuminating. The first tip is ‘Make the decision to do an Ironman by paying the money and entering’. Not very deep. And as for, ‘Don’t buy gadgets you don’t need’. Well, where’s the fun in buying gadgets you don’t need, huh?
As mentioned above, Chong comes across as committed and focused but not in a way that’s arrogant or pretentious. What is lacking, however, is any warmth or light-heartedness and the overall tone of the book is rather dull. I haven’t read any other Ironman books, but there’s bound to be better out there. Still, if you want a quick read about one man’s journey to Ironman, then Chong’s your man.
I woke up to scaffolding outside the front of the house and ladders peeking over the roof at the back of the house. This did not please me much so I escaped to the gym. I immediately felt better when, just as I sat down on the rowing machine, the extended version of ‘Uncertain Smile’ by The The came on my iPod (I love love love love love Jools Holland’s plinky plonky piano solo at the end).
(A slightly tenuous link here but, incidentally, did anyone hear the interview with Sinéad O’Connor on 6Music the other day? I’ve obviously never heard her speak before as I had no idea that she sings like an angel, but speaks like a pikey. In case you’re wondering what the tenuous link is, during the interview, they played The The’s ‘Kingdom of Rain’ on which O’Connor sang the female vocals.)
After The The, came Elastica. I was definitely cheering up now and after the rowing machine, I went on the cross-trainer and had planned to do Audiofuel’s ‘Thru the Gears’ on the treadmill after but just as I was getting to the end of my cross-trainer workout, Ghostpoet’s ‘Finished I Ain’t’ came on and dammit, I wanted to hear the end of that song, which left me with a dilemma; do I carry on the cross-trainer for a bit while Ghostpoet finishes his song or go and walk on the treadmill for a bit while he finishes? I chose the latter option and walked for a couple of minutes on the treadmill until ‘Finished I Ain’t’ became the less catchy ‘I’m Finished Now So You Can Get On With Your Thru The Gears Workout’.
Speaking of dilemmas, I received an email the other day offering me a pair of these beauties.
These are Vibram FiveFingers KSOs (KSO stands for Keep Stuff Out – you’ll read why in a minute) and don’t they look fab? My dilemma, however, was that I have a porch full of running shoes, including numerous ‘barefoot’ shoes, most of which remain unworn. So do I greedily grab a pair for myself, knowing they’d probably not get much use, or say ‘thanks but no thanks’? I don’t like to say no to things (except to the text from my friend Tracey the other day when she asked me if I wanted to see England play indoors for free this afternoon. Football? No thanks.) but then I thought to myself, ha! I can earn karma points by saying I didn’t want to take them knowing they’d languish unloved and unused but I’m sure I could find a good home for them by having a giveaway on my blog.
So, eventually, I’ve got round to telling you about the competition. Well, you already know what the prize is, so here’s the official blurb:
Over the last few years the Vibram FiveFingers KSO model has become the most popular style due to its unbeatable comfort and versatility. The KSO features a thin, abrasion-resistant stretch polyamide and breathable upper that wraps your entire fore foot to ‘Keep Stuff Out’. A single hook and loop closure helps secure the fit while the non- marking 3.5mm Vibram TC1 performance rubber ensure excellent grip, whatever your activity.
The Vibram FiveFingers KSO is the perfect choice of footwear for an all-round active healthy lifestyle whether you love climbing, trekking, running, canyoneering, yoga, kayaking, canoeing or surfing, or all of the above for men and women alike.
For your chance to win, just email me (with ‘VFF Comp’ as the subject) at cathy@jog-blog.co.uk with the answer to the question below, your shoe size and address, and a winner will be drawn at random after the closing date:
What does KSO stand for?
A. Kippers Smell Off B. Keep Stuff Out C. Kites Surf Overhead
Terms:
Competition closes midnight Saturday 2 March 2013.
Although Highway Kind coined the phrase ‘An annual festival of activity and excuses’, it wasn’t meant to be taken quite as literally as I seemed to have done this year. It wasn’t a totally terrible effort but I have made a lot of apologies for my slacking. BUT, in my defence, I do have a great excuse for my slackness over the last few days – a tree tried to kill me.
This evil bastard tree fell on top of the house on Wednesday night while I was reading in bed (The Safety of Objects by AM Homes, in case you’re interested. Buy it, it’s brilliant, just don’t read it near any trees).
(My head was a few inches behind the top left window. The one the tree is on.)
At first I thought it was the mice or squirrels or whatever it was that’s been living in the roof. Then I thought, they’re a bit nosier than usual. Then I thought, are there dogs in the roof? Then there was a loud crash and I thought, fuck, something’s coming through the ceiling, I’d better get out of here and on getting to the landing, Shaun came out of the bathroom and went to investigate the source of the sound then came back in and told me there was a tree on top of the house. Oh. Deciding that the bedroom might not be the safest place to sleep, we decamped to the conservatory where I spent a sleepless night listening to the rain and the wind and wondering if the trees in the garden were close enough to kill me if they fell over.
No more trees tried to kill me but the next evening all I wanted to do was sit on the sofa and drink wine and watch old episodes of Waterloo Road. Yes, this is how I celebrated still being alive. Party on.
Anyway, well done everyone who didn’t slack as much as I did.
p.s. We got our revenge on the tree by getting two men with chainsaws round to chop it up into many pieces. Ha.
You may have noticed there’s a Monday-the-twenty-eighth-day-of-Janathon shaped gap in my blog. I tried and tried to think of something I did yesterday that was even slightly energetic, but all I could come up with is peeling a satsuma and I’m not sure if that will count?
Today isn’t over yet but I’m still feeling as energetic as a dead slug and so I’m not holding up much hope for any Janathon-based activities unless reading John Betjeman in preparation for tomorrow’s seminar counts. Trouble is, I haven’t been able to stay awake while reading since Friday, and even I wouldn’t be cheeky enough to count sleeping as exercise, although there must be some calories burnt by snoring? (Not that I snore, of course, what with me being so ladylike and that.)
Update – bonus limerick!
I felt slightly bad for having slacked yesterday (there is still half of today left so I’m not going to feel bad about today yet), so here’s a bonus limerick (please don’t show it to my poetry tutor, she’ll think there’s been a terrible mistake and take back the 1st she gave me last year).
There once was a runner in Kent Whose Januarys were mostly spent Dreaming up ways To blag through the days Only leaving the rules slightly bent
Update
I planked for 30 seconds. I planked while counting to 30, anyway. I count quickly…
I wasn’t going to do anything as I’ve had strange mystery illness for two days but I mistakenly told twitter I wasn’t going to do anything but then running goth, travelling hopefully and fair weather runner (sorry for the lack of links but I’m writing this on my phone) all ganged up on me like the witches of fucking eastwick and said I had to do something so I did a plank.
I’d planned to do a trail run of about two miles but when I got to the sheep field, they were all sitting down and I didn’t want to disturb them as they looked comfy, so I turned around and went back and so I only did about a mile.
Stats Distance: about a mile Sheep sitting down looking comfy: a whole field of them
I said to Shaun that I was going to walk up the stairs for Janathon but he said that didn’t count as it had to be something I don’t usually do so I said I’d run upstairs and I’d even not hold onto the handrail and so that’s what I did.
Well, at least I didn’t try and wriggle out of Janathon by using the cute factor, a la Ms Fortnight Flo, who thought she could get out of exercising by getting her cat to write her a sick note. Okay, I admit it, I’m just jealous I didn’t think of it first, dammit!
Today I thought I’d have a change and do some core exercises from the PC Fitness DVD. I was a bit scared at first as I thought it might involve balancing, which I’m not very good at.
I needn’t have been scared though, no balancing was required and even I can’t fall over when I’m lying on the floor doing crunches.
I’m going out tonight and therefore may need a sick note for tomorrow. Hmm… where’s my cat? looey…?
