Author: jogblog

Trees, fields, life’s serene

5 comments

Hal said I had to do three miles today but I couldn’t decide whether to do three miles through the fields or on the road so I decided the only plan of action for someone as indecisive as me was to do both.

I changed all the songs on my iPod and told myself that I wouldn’t keep stopping to skip songs (the only bad thing about my new Shuffle is that it’s touch screen and goes to sleep, so if I want to skip a song, I have to unclip it from my waistband and wake it up then tap it a few times to fast forward, unlike my old Shuffle that I could skip forward without looking at it) no matter what song came on (obviously I have impeccable taste in tuneage and therefore my iPod is full of quality tracks but some songs aren’t very easy to run to) and the first song I chose to come on was Watching Birds by Stornoway and as that finished another song came on which was a bit too folky for my liking and I wanted to skip it but remembered my rule but after a while I couldn’t resist at least looking to see who it was by and so I stopped to look and it was also by Stornoway (which just goes to show that you shouldn’t buy (or illegally download) an album on the strength of a single) but I didn’t skip it and carried on going then another song came on which I thought was also Stornoway and I thought surely my no skipping rule doesn’t count if the same band comes on three times in a row? and so I stopped and I went to skip it but it’s wasn’t Stornoway, it was Pernice Brothers and I haven’t a clue who they are or how they ended up on my iPod but because it wasn’t Stornoway I left it on and then what I thought was Jesus and Mary Chain came on but then I realised it was Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and I never realised before how similar they are and then I got to the end of the fields and I decided to run up the hill to the woody bit and I thought to myself if I run up the hill without stopping I would give myself an imaginary medal when I got to the top and I ran up the hill and my lungs felt like they were bursting but I made it to the top and to prove I earned my imaginary medal here’s an image of the elevation

elevation_190511

and then I saw that someone had cut into the field what looked like The Running Bug logo and I must be being stalked by The Running Bug as I got a kohlrabi in my vegetable box a couple of weeks ago that was the dead spit of the logo

kohlrabi2

runningbug

and then I went through the woody bit and the sun was streaming through the trees and there were birds and squirrels and I wondered if I was going to turn into a black beardy man and a bluebird would land on my shoulder

but I resisted breaking into song and belting out Zip a dee doo dah and I got to the end of the woody bit and I ran down the hill to the road and then The Veronicas came on my iPod but I only like one of their songs (see above re don’t buy an album on the strength of a single) and I didn’t really want them whinging in my ears for the next three minutes but I stuck to my rule and I had to endure such inane couplets as

I don’t know where I parked my car
I don’t know who my friends are

and

I put my faith in you
What a stupid thing to do

and I wondered why people don’t write meaningful lyrics anymore, such as

Thunderbolts and lightning
Very very frightening

Me

and then I was heading back towards the house and I could see the houses in the distance and I wondered if I should go over the specified three miles and I thought yes, I will, as I am hardcore but as soon as I looked at my Garmin and it said I’d done three miles, my legs went heavy and slowed down and so I stopped my Garmin but then I felt like such a slacker as it was probably less than a quarter of a mile until I got back and so I switched my Garmin on again and I got home and there was an email offering me a media place for the Royal Parks Half Marathon. WHOOP WHOOP.

Stats
Distance: 3.21 miles
Time: 37:27
Pace: 11:40 m/m
Calories: 337
No skipping through tracks rules: 1
Bands on iPod never heard of: 1
Hills: 1
Imaginary medals: 1
Zip a dee doo dahs: 1
Meaningful lyrics: 0
Places in Royal Parks Half: 1
Whoop whoops: 1
Music
Stornoway
BRMC
Veronicas
Pernice Brothers

New shoes, and they’re pink, too

4 comments

My current running shoes – a pair of Brooks and a pair of Asics – have been giving me a blister for a while now and although they haven’t done a huge amount of mileage, they have been through a lot of mud and water and I decided that was the reason they’ve been hurting me and so I decided I needed new shoes.

Shaun also wanted to get new shoes and so, when I said that Sweatshop in Maidstone was open until 8pm, we went there yesterday evening when he got back from work.

We stood around looking gormless for a while until a young pretty girl came over and asked if we needed help and so I said I’d like some new shoes please and I told her about my Brooks and my Asics (I was wearing the Brooks as they were slightly cleaner than my Asics) and said I didn’t really want Brooks again as I only got them because the shop didn’t have any Asics and she said she’d get me some Asics to try on.

Shaun said he fancied a change from Asics and so she said she’d bring him some Nikes and she came back with a box of Asics for me and I opened the box, hoping they weren’t blue as I don’t like blue and, hooray, they were a nice pinky-purpley-cerise colour

asics_cumulus_12

and Shaun opened his box and took out THE MOST DISGUSTING SHOES IN THE WORLD EVER

nike

(they don’t look too bad in the photo but believe me, these were the ugliest shoes I’ve ever seen) and I start to laugh and feel smug as I have pretty shoes that, as well as being pretty, are as comfy as fuck, and Shaun asks the girl if she has any nicer looking shoes and she says she’ll get some Adidas for him to try but he tries the Nikes on anyway and the girl gets him to run on the treadmill and says he has a beautiful gait… but… but I can’t remember what the but was for and she said a load of other technical stuff which I’m sure Shaun will blog about and then I got on the treadmill and she said that I run with a nice neutral gait but that I have big hips and… and I can’t remember what the and was for but she said I should practice walking straight and I’m wondering if I should punch her for saying I’m wonky with a big bum but I decide not to punch her in case I get thrown out of the shop and I don’t want to get thrown out as I want to buy the nice comfy pretty Asics and then Shaun tries on the Adidas and gets on the treadmill again and he decides to buy the Adidas and while I’m waiting for him a load of people turn up for the running club they have there and on the board it says that Monday nights are for run/walk beginners but the people who have turned up don’t look like noobs as they’re all wearing proper technical vests and short shorts and proper shoes and noobs wear cotton t-shirts and tracksuits and shoes that cost £10 from the cheapy shoe shop and wear two bras at once instead of a proper sports bra, don’t they, or is that just me?

Anyway, after we’ve both finished on the treadmill and getting lots of good advice from the sales assistant, we go to pay for our new shoes and she says mine are £60, which is less than I’ve ever paid for proper running shoes. Bargain.

And so I took them out for a three mile run this morning and they were bouncy and cushiony and comfy and didn’t give me a blister. Hurrah.

Stats
Distance: 3 miles
Time: 35:21
Pace: 11:47
Calories: 315
Pairs of nice new pinky-purpley-cerise Asics: 1
Ugly pairs of Nike shoes that stayed in the shop: 1
Sales assistants telling me I’m wonky and have a big bum: 1
Noobs at the running club: 0
Blisters: 0

The Grim Greensand Beast

6 comments

Because I’m off to London tonight to meet my friends with the impeccable taste in music (i.e. the Cardiacs chatlist people), I decided to save my energy and not do Grim: Beast in the East with Shaun, Grant and Tom, but to do my own cross-country 10k here instead, taking in some of the Greensand Way.

Although Shaun kept waking me up while he was getting ready to go by coming back upstairs to inform me that a) the cat had done a poo; b) it was really smelly; c) it was also quite runny; and d) he’d covered it over with litter (you will note he hadn’t cleaned it up. When it comes to litter-tray incidents, that’s when the cat becomes *my* cat), then back upstairs again to tell me that a) he hadn’t gone yet; and b) he’d made me a cup of tea, I had a decent night’s sleep and got up reasonably early and I’d said to Shaun that I would set off for my run at 10:30, the same time Grim started but that meant I had two hours to wait and so I decided that because they’d probably finish about an hour before me, that I should get a headstart anyway and so at 9am, I decided I’d get changed and head off for my run.

At 10am, I’m still sitting in front of my computer and hadn’t even changed into my running gear and so I decided I might as well head off the same time as Grim and so I got changed and went downstairs and put on my clown shoes and went outside and waited for it to be 10:30. (Why is it when you’re sitting in front of your computer dicking around on Facebook and Twitter, time whizzes past, but when you’re looking at your watch (or in my case the clock on my ipod), waiting for three minutes to go by, it seems like it takes for ever?)

The clock eventually ticked over to 10:30 and I set off on my cross-country 10k. All was well until I got to about the fifth field and at the end of the field were some horses and I didn’t want to run towards the horses in case they got scared and gallopped towards me and trampled me to death and I was scared enough being in a field with the horses in the first place as I used to think horses were friendly until someone on Twitter said her son’s girlfriend got attacked by one and had to go to hospital and so I walked slowly past the horses with what I hoped was my I’m-friendly-and-while-I-don’t-have-any-sugar-lumps-for-you-I-mean-you-no-harm face and the horses stared at me but didn’t look particularly interested in attacking me and then I got to the next field and at the end of the field was a toilet with a wooden seat and a basin and I wondered who dumped their bathroom in this field and then I wondered if I was near the gypsies house and then I was on the road and further along there was indeed the gypsies house with their lovely classy stone lions and stuff and all their gates were open and I was scared of their dog coming out and barking at me and chasing me down the road like it did to Shaun but no dog came out and a bit further up are some woods and I got to the woods and I went round the woods which didn’t take very long and then I had to decide which way to go as I’d only done about 2.75 miles and going back the way I had came wouldn’t have got me up to 6.2 miles but I decided to go back the way I had come and try and loop some more miles in and so I went back through the bathroom field but instead of walking past the horses again I went through a different field and up through another foresty bit and then I got to the road and I wondered if going on the road when I was supposed to be doing cross-country was cheating and I decided it was and so I turned right and went over what must have been the twentieth stile so far today and back through the fields I first went through and then I went down the cycle path as, even though it’s not really cross-country, it does feel like you’re in the countryside if you look to the fields to the right and not at the housing estate on the left and then I was back on the road and I decided to go through the park to finish up as there’s water there and Grim involves water and so although I wasn’t going to jump in it, I could at least incorporate some water in my run and so I went through the park and past the pond and I got out of the park and I did 6.2 miles in a very slow time but in my defence there were about sixty stiles to go over and a field of horses to walk through.

Stats
Distance: 6.2 miles
Time: a long time
Pace: slow
Calories: 531
Grims wimped out of: 1
Cats doing smelly, runny poos: 1
Boyfriends cleaning out litter trays: 0
Hours wasted until leaving the house: 2
Stiles climbed over: about sixty
Fields of horses walked through: 1
Fields with bathrooms in: 1
Forests: 2
Ponds: 1
Music
Toyah

Three becomes six (point 3)

One comment

I don’t usually lack energy. I’m not one of these people who go round clutching cans of Red Bull (the smell… bleurgh… god knows what it tastes like… bleurgh, I would imagine) so when I got sent some energy shots that said they would give me energy for five hours, I thought, well, I don’t really need any energy but as I was going for a run this morning, I thought I might as well give it a go.

voltz_energy_shotVoltz Energy Shots come in a 60ml bottle, that don’t look dissimilar to a big bottle of amyl nitrate (or poppers or whatever name you’re more familiar with [not that I know about these things, obviously]) but instead of shoving it up your nose and taking a big sniff, you drink it.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t like to drink anything that contains calories unless it also contains alcohol, but these shots only contain 3 calories, so I’m not going to worry about that too much. If you’re wondering where the energy comes from if it only contains 3 calories, it comes from caffeine: it has about the amount of caffeine you’d find in a cup of coffee.

It has a pleasant berry taste and I wait for a big caffeine hit to, um, hit me, but it doesn’t. Never mind, undeterred, I head off for a three mile run.

After two miles I’m feeling energetic, whereas usually, I’d be wanting to give up by now and go home and so instead of turning off down the track and running the last mile back, I go up the side of the little park instead and up to the trail behind the houses, then up to the housing estate and then for a change I decide to go over the bridge and through the half-built housing estate and past the new shop and I get through the half-built housing estate and turn off where I think leads me to the traffic lights and the bridge and a builder man stops to let me go past his truck thing and I’m running up the road and I can’t see the oast houses and I wonder if I’m going the right way and I think I should be able to see them by now shouldn’t I? but there’s no sign of them and no sign of the traffic lights and I think oooooooooooooooooops, I’ve taken the wrong turning and added about three miles on to my run, as I don’t want to turn round and go back the way I came because a) I hate turning back; and b) I’ll have to go past the builder man again and he’ll wonder why I’ve turned back and maybe he’ll think it’s because I fancy him and then maybe he’ll offer me a bacon roll and then I’ll have to say I’m vegetarian and then he’ll think I’m weird and it will just get far too complicated and so I carry on and two miles later I get to the traffic lights I should have been at in the first place and I go over the bridge and down the road, then onto the trail and The The comes on my iPod and Matt Johnson is singing ‘pensioners get raped’ and I remember when I was a teenager I thought he was singing ‘pensioners are apes’ and I must have led a sheltered life and then I finally get home and I’ve done 6.3 miles in a not exactly fast but not exactly too shabby time considering it’s the furthest I’ve gone for a long time and maybe it was the Voltz Energy Shot or maybe it was the Trion:Z bracelet which I am now addicted to wearing or maybe it’s just because I am  hardcore.

Stats
Distance: 6.33 miles
Time: 1:19:40
Pace: 12:35m/m
Calories: 607
Energy shots looking like amyl nitrate bottles: 1
Builders who might offer me a bacon roll: 1
Pensioners who are apes: 0
Miles gone out of my way: 2
Mes being hardcore: 1
Music
The The
Hole
Toyah
Audiofuel
The Killers
The Smiths

Teacher’s pet

5 comments

As I’d run yesterday, I had a look to see what gym classes were being held today and I saw that not only was there a spin class, it was also with my favourite instructor. The only downside was that it was at 12:15 and I prefer to do classes in the morning, but I thought I’d get on with my ECA (End of Course Assignment) in the morning and then head off to the gym.

Of course, what really happened is that I spent all morning catching up on my emails (nothing exciting there), asking Facebook if I should run or bike to the gym (one for bike, one for run, one for running pushing my bike and one for, um, going to the pub; thanks Scott…) and Twitter which mostly involved welcoming back Travelling Hopefully from New York and quizzing her as to whether she ran round Central Park (yes) and did she wear her new gorgeous and perfect-for-NYC dress (no).

I packed up my running commute rucksack with all the stuff I usually take to the gym, i.e. face wipes, gym towel, toiletry bag, phone, wallet, keys, gym card, gym key, bottle full of water, then remembered I was running there, not cycling and so took out the face wipes, toiletry bag, wallet and poured the water down the sink.

Now the weight of my rucksack was light enough for this lightweight, I set off for the gym.

As I went through the industrial estate, I saw a Winnie the Pooh on the ground (I’m assuming it was ‘a’ Winnie the Pooh and not the real one)

winnie

and so I picked him up (Winnie is a boy Pooh, isn’t he?) and put him in my bag and carried on my way but then I thought oh no, what if whoever dropped him comes back to look for him and I’ve taken him away for ever and then they’re really really sad: as sad as my friends’ daughter was when she lost Mr Bear (although Mr Bear wasn’t lost for ever as Ben went out the next morning and found him happily sitting on someone’s wall) but then I think oh well, they can go to McDonald’s and get another one, can’t they?

I got to the gym and there was about 45 minutes until the class started (I underestimated just how long it would take me to run 2.5 miles; I thought there’d be a lot – if not most – of walking involved) and so I went on the rowing machine for 20 minutes, then went across to the spin bikes and did 15 minutes warm up.

I decided today that I would put more effort in, as my effort at spin isn’t hugely different to my effort at cycling on the road; the main difference being that when the spin instructor says we’re going up a hill, I don’t get off and walk. So, I went very fast on the fast bits and had my resistance high on the climbing bits and the best bit was when the instructor played this:

and spinning to that was absolutely fantastic and so much fun, but then ‘She Bangs’ by Remy Martin or whatever his name is came on, but despite that it was the best spin class ever ever ever and after the class had finished and I was in the changing room getting my bag, the instructor came in and I was a girly swot and said I really enjoyed that class, it was great and she said aah, thanks, you’re really improving; I’ve really noticed a difference and I think yay for me and then I said now I’m going to run home and she said I went for an hour and a quarter run this morning then cycled here and so I think ok, you win and then I ran home and I decided to run down the dual-carriageway which was a good choice as there were cows

cows-004

and a baby cow

calf

Yay.

Stats
Run: 5 miles
Rowing machine: 20 minutes
Spin: 45 minutes

Return of the slacker

6 comments

I didn’t do any exercise last week. Obviously, I have excuses.

Monday, I was too tired after going out on Sunday night to see a Sex Pistols cover band; an evening that can only be described – owing to the venue and the audience (who looked like they’d escaped from the set of Shameless) – as a really bad, cheap wedding reception.

Tuesday, I wanted to spend finishing a website I’d been working on, as I was to be out all day Wednesday.

Wednesday, I was out all day. Up at a bright and early 6am, I had to be in Folkestone at 9am for an  interview at Canterbury Christ Church University where I am hoping to study Creative and Professional Writing (I got a conditional offer; conditional on the successful completion of my current course), then I hopped on the hi-speed to London to meet up with my long-lost relatives (they weren’t actually lost; I knew where they were), i.e. my eldest brother who I hadn’t seen in twelve years, my sister-in-law that I hadn’t seen in 25 years and my nephews (who are about 20 years old) that I hadn’t met ever (and now that I have, I have realised that nephews are the best thing ever and if you haven’t got any, then I suggest you go and get some).

Thursday, I was tired after a long, but brilliant, day on Wednesday, and Friday… um, I can’t remember but I think I just decided to have a lazy day.

The weekend? Although Saturday used to be my never-miss-a-long-run day at home, here I just haven’t got into it. Something that will need to be remedied if I’m going to do the Folkestone Half in September. Or the Ashford 5k series. Or the Staplehurst 10k.

Sunday, we did go for a 7 mile round bike ride to buy some eggs, so a bit of exercise there.

Today, Monday, I wasn’t going to go for a run but then a novel about running came through the door that I’d been sent to review and I thought I can’t keep reviewing stuff, people will get fed up of all the product placement and will stop reading my blog and I must do some more running and then I remembered my new More Mile running socks (NOT freebies, keep reading) that I bought from eBay

more_mile_socks

and so I thought ooh, I can wear my new socks if I go for a run and I put on my world record breaking shoes although recently my ankles have been aching and also my knee has been hurting and Shaun wondered if it was the shoes as they’re flat, but my Brooks and Asics have been hurting my feet and my Adidas Adizero are sooooooooooo comfy, so I put those on and I did a slow 1.5 miles but I reckoned it was better than nothing.

Stats
Distance: 1.55 miles
Time: 17:27
Pace: 11:16m/m
Calories: 162
Sex Pistols cover bands: 1
Websites finished: 1
University interviews had: 1
University places offered: 1
Long lost relatives seen: 4
Best nephews in the world ever: 2
Free novels: 1
Unfree socks: 6
Music
Hole
Nirvana
Them Crooked Vultures
Rolling Stones

Review: Polaroid Air Sunglasses

Leave a comment

polaroid

I had tried these Polaroid Polarized Sunglasses out a while back on a rare sunny day but didn’t get round to blogging about it. Then when we had that gorgeous weather a couple of weeks back, I wore them in the garden while I was reading and they were great and really cut down the glare and stopped me squinting. I suppose that’s what sunglasses are supposed to do though, aren’t they? I don’t have much experience of these things, being in the ‘I don’t wear sunglasses as I look like a twat in them’ camp.

I would have thought though, apart from stopping you squinting in the sun when you’re out cycling or running, what you want from a pair of sunglasses is ones that don’t slide around your face all the time. Well, these ones certainly don’t. They’re very close fitting without being too close or tight and they don’t move at all, unlike my normal glasses that slid down my nose so often, I had to buy some little plastic arm things that slide on to secure them behind your ears (which work really well by the way).

These are a bit larger in the frame than I’d like as I’m not really in the chavvy-oversized-Deidre-Barlow-frame brigade but they’re not quite that bad.

I put them on in the house and everything went black. Obviously though, unless you’re a complete poser or have just had a cataract operation, sunglasses are meant for outside. So outside I went.

Outside everything went bright again and I could see clearly through them and, on looking up directly at the sun (yes, I know you’re not supposed to do that but I wanted to test them thoroughly), there was no glare.

As comfortable as they were, I didn’t exactly forget they were there as I was aware of the shiny metallic blue frame and the black plastic bridge. That could be because I need to get used to them but I think I’d probably have noticed them less if they were black, not blue.

Overall though, if you like a larger frame and are a fan of metallic blue, these are a really good pair of sports sunglasses.

iPhone App: Runners’ Injuries

Leave a comment

runners_injuriesThis app has a load of high-definition videos featuring two of Washington, D.C.’s top physical therapists showing how to prevent and treat common runners’ injuries.

The videos are broken down into categories of:

Getting Started
Ankle Sprains
Achilles Tendonitis
Iliotibial Band Syndrome
Low Back Pain
Runner’s Knee
Plantar Fasciitis
Shin Splints

Within these categories are videos showing stretching and strengthening exercises and includes separate tabs for cause, prevention and treatment, making navigation quick and convenient.

Designed for the iPhone and the iPad, this app is available from the iTunes Store for $4.99.

Everstride: High performance skin care for athletes

Leave a comment

everstrideEverstride’s Pro Therapy Foot Treatment is a high performance conditioning foot cream for men and women.

It:

helps prevent blisters and chafing

helps restore dry, cracked, chafed skin

helps reduce calluses and callus build-up; and

has a non greasy formula

It’s in a nice big tube but what I like best about it is that it states on the back that EverstrideTM is against animal testing.

Yay.

Unfortunately, it’s not yet available in the UK, but their US website is currently offering free delivery for a limited time.

What is available in the UK, however, is their chafing stick which will will help guard against chafing of feet, chest, inner thighs and other areas. I haven’t tried this, as I gave it to Helen (who I’m sure will blog about it when she tries it), but you can buy it from Carter and Bond.

Review: PediRoller

2 comments

pedirollerThe PediRoller from Carnation Footcare is a ridged rubber cylinder which, according to the blurb, ‘can help keep your feet healthy and toned and reduce the pain associated with heel and arch problems such as plantar fasciitis’.

It comes with a leaflet showing some foot exercises and also a Fizzy Feet tablet that you dissolve in water to soothe your tootsies.  

I haven’t tried the Fizzy Feet tablet but I did try out the roller on my foot arch that’s been niggling me for what seems like forever and it felt great. In fact, I’m using it now while writing this post.

Recommended, and only £4.99 from Boots.

Bargain.

1 … 48 49 50 51 52 … 119