Category: Juneathon

Juneathon Day 19 – Slacking and Skull Disco Balls

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Running Free Online calendar showing the Juneathon activity so far

Running Free Online calendar showing the Juneathon activity so far

Last time I posted, I said I was off to London the next day and my activity would probably be a bar press up. Although I did visit a few bars – my favourite being the one with the skull disco ball, safari wallpaper and cocktails in teacups – I forgot to do a bar press up.

Skull disco ball in Simmons Bar, King's Cross

Skull disco ball pleases my inner goth

I did, however, walk the two miles to the station in the morning instead of getting a lift. That definitely counts.

On Sunday I did fuck all except walk to Tesco to buy wine. I’m not sure that counts.

On Monday I didn’t even walk to Tesco. That doesn’t count no matter how many ways I try to change ‘didn’t even walk to Tesco’ into something more strenuous.

Tuesday should have been the start of my marathon training but after three hours of trying unsuccessfully to tell myself to get out the door and go for a run, I decided I’d rather get dressed instead. I’m not sure ‘getting dressed’ counts.

Wednesday I cycled seven miles and walked seven miles. That even more definitely counts than ‘walked two miles to the station’.

Thursday was another ‘can’t be fucking arsed’ day, although I did go to the designer outlet and look at Asics running shoes, so maybe that counts?

Today – Friday – my marathon training schedule said I had to run three miles and I decided I would really hate myself if I slacked off another marathon training run, especially in the very first week, so I forced myself out the door and although I mostly walked the three miles, at least I did it.

Tomorrow, my marathon training schedule says I have to run six miles, so I’m hoping the motivation fairies visit me in the night.

Stats

Running: 3 miles (most of it walking)
Juneathons completed: some of them

Juneathon Day 12 – Cycled To The Station And Back

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bike

My bike having a bit of a lie down after I’d left it outside the station for four days

I’m more of a morning exerciser than an afternoon or evening one but this morning I had a meeting in Maidstone so when I got back, I posted on the Juneathon Facebook Page that I’d cycled to the station and back and asked if that counted or if I had to do more. No one accused me of slacking so it looks like my Juneathon is done for the day.

Yay.

I’m out in London all day tomorrow so it’s likely tomorrow’s activity will be a bar press up. It counts. If you don’t believe me, refer to point no. 3 in my 5 Ways To Make The Most Of Juneathon post from the other day.

Stats

Cycling: 4.8 miles
Juneathon’s completed: 10/30

 

Juneathon Day 11 – Further Up The Greensand Way

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Something I could have mentioned in yesterday’s 5 Ways To Make The Most Of Juneathon post, that fits nicely in point no. 5, is Juneathon is a good excuse to go exploring and check out new areas.

Which is what I did today.

The Greensand Way is a 108 mile path, stretching from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent (four miles down the road from here). Because it passes the house, I’ve walked up the nearest bit that heads towards Surrey (if I go towards Hamstreet it involves going through a farm and I’m too shy to walk through someone’s farm; I feel like I’m trespassing) but haven’t got any further than about two and a half miles before turning round and walking back again. Today though, I cycled up to the Environment Centre and joined the Greensand Way there and walked as far as Hothfield. I would have gone further had I not taken a wrong turning somewhere and ended up going round in a circle. Duh.

Still, I saw part of the Greensand Way I hadn’t seen before so it’s all good. Next time I’ll take an Ordnance Survey map with me although I can barely read a London A-Z, let alone a map that seems to consist solely of lines and squiggles, so I’m not sure it’ll stop me getting lost.

I’ll post the photos of my walk tomorrow but in the meantime, here’s a photo of some calves I saw.

Calves on the Greensand Way

Stats

Cycling: 3.57 miles
Walking: 6.11 miles
Juneathons completed: 9/30

5 Ways To Make The Most Of Juneathon

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Juneathon

Juneathon: A yearly festival of activity and excuses

We’re a third of the way through Juneathon and I hope you’re all enjoying it so far but I thought I’d write a quick list of a few ways to help you make the most of the month.

1. Interact with others
On Twitter

What makes Juneathon so amazing is the community spirit. We’re all here for each other to support, encourage and to gently (or not so gently) nag when motivation is lagging. Make sure you’re following the #juneathon hashtag (and using it yourself when you Tweet your activities) on Twitter and follow other participants – it’s a great way to gain new followers and make new friends. If you’re tweeting that you can’t be arsed to exercise that day, tag me (@juneathon); I’ll RT it and it won’t be long until someone comes along to ‘encourage’ you.

On Facebook

Same goes for Facebook. Join the Juneathon Facebook Group, share your links and ‘like’ others’ posts.

On blogs

Browse the Juneathon participants page on the website and pick a few new blogs each day to visit and comment on – most of the time, they’ll return the favour and you’ll get more visitors to your blog.

2. Don’t get despondent

Far too many times I’ve seen participants get demotivated and give up because they missed a day. DON’T GIVE UP. It’s not possible to fail Juneathon. See the next point.

3. Be creative 

The day’s activity doesn’t have to involve running a marathon or going on a 100 mile bike ride. If you’re too busy/can’t be bothered/in the pub then be creative. Chris at What I Meant To Say pulled a masterstroke in creativity the other day when he used the walkway at Madrid airport the wrong way as a treadmill.

*Slightly* less genius and more in the way of ‘I am a slacker but here is my activity for the day and I’m counting it so there’, was David Lewis who, last year, counted ‘pushed a trolley round Tesco’ as his exercise. If you really are spending more time in the pub than the gym, there’s always the good old ‘bar press-up’ to fall back on.

Juneathon bar press up

A bar press up is a perfectly valid Juneathon activity

And of course, not forgetting the classic ‘Dressing Gown Dash’.

Juneathon Dressing Gown Dash

Travelling Hopefully (accompanied by me) shows how to do a Dressing Gown Dash

4. Set a goal

A challenge within a challenge, if you like. You might want to challenge yourself to run every day (Andrew Fletcher challenged himself to do this in Juneathon 2011 and has run every day since), or you might be new to running and your challenge could be to run a mile without stopping by the end of the month. It’s *your* Juneathon and therefore *your* personal goals. And please don’t be put off by nutters like Kevin Foreman who ran 455 miles during Janathon 2012 or Stephen Cooper who cycled 650 miles in Juneathon 2013; it doesn’t matter whether you run 1 mile or 100, it’s all good – Juneathon is for the ultra-hardcore and us mere mortals. And the mere mortals way outnumber the nutters anyway, so there.

5. Mix it up

Bored with your exercise routine? Try something different. Go on a walk with a local group (try looking on Meetup for your local one), do a fitness DVD (or if you haven’t got any fitness DVDs, have a look at www.fitnessblender.com – there are dozens of free, full-length workouts on there), or try a new gym class (you won’t ever catch me trying Zumba though. Dancing? In public? Sober? Ha ha ha ha ha. No.)

6. Enjoy it! 

I know I said there were 5 points – this one’s a bonus. Juneathon is supposed to be enjoyable. If you’re not enjoying it, you’re doing it wrong.

Let me know if you’re doing anything different this Juneathon or if you’ve got anything to add to the above.

Stats for Day 10 

Rowing machine: 20 minutes
Treadmill: 20 minutes
Cross-trainer: 20 minutes

 

Juneathon Day 9 – A Magic Bracelet (and you could have one too)

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A few months ago, I sensed Cassie needed some motivation to get back into running, so I made her a bracelet.

Running braceletAnd as Helen had a couple of marathons coming up, I made her a bracelet too.

Running jewellery

Then I realised that I needed some motivation as well, so I made myself a bracelet. My one embraced my inner goth.

Skull bracelet

It also matches my Fitbit (sorry for fuzzy photo – trying to take a photo one-handed with your non-dominant hand isn’t easy).

Run bracelet

And, I’ll tell you what – this bracelet is made of magic because I wore it for the first time today as I was going for a run and I ran 5 miles without stopping, WAHOO. I even did sub-12 m/m which, yes, is horrifically slow, but I don’t care. I DID 5 MILES WITHOUT STOPPING AND IT’S ALL THANKS TO MY MAGIC BRACELET.

run-skull-bracelet

Giveaway – Win A Magic Bracelet! 

As I came back from my run endorphined-up on a runner’s high, I’ve decided to share the magic and give away two bracelets (purely because I have two ‘run’ beads left). You have the choice of a skull one like mine (although I haven’t got many pink or purple ones left but I have green, red, blue and yellow skull beads so you can choose a combination of those), or you can have a black and red one like the one at the beginning of this post (or you can have black and pink, or pink and red, as I have pink beads). Or you can have a pot-luck one and leave me to decide what to make from my collection of beads.

Just leave a comment below telling me what magic power you would like to have and I’ll pick two at random after the closing date of Tuesday 30 June 2015.

UK entries only, sorry (unless you want to pay the postage).

Stats

Running:
Distance: 5.1 muthafucking miles, baby
Time: 1:01:28
Pace: 11:57 m/m

 

Juneathon Day 8 – A New Week In Which To Redeem Myself

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Sennheiser Thru the Gears

The first week of Juneathon is over and now begins a whole new fresh week – a week in which I can hopefully redeem myself after the slackathon that began the first week.

I had planned to run today but when I got up, my legs were still aching from last week’s run (although I don’t think they can still be aching from last week’s run; it must be from something else. What that something else is though, I haven’t a clue. Maybe lack of crisps or something.) so I decided to go to the gym and go on the rowing machine which usually sorts any DOMS out.

But because I had planned to run though, and because I am supposed to be marathon training training – especially as marathon training singular starts next week, eek – I thought I’d do some intervals on the treadmill when I got to the gym. Intervals are an integral part of training, after all.

So, I did 30 minutes on the rowing machine, then as I was scrolling through my Audiofuel playlist looking for the Pyramid Max 180 interval session, I saw the Sennheiser Thru The Gears track which is my absolute favourite Audiofuel track as it gives you such a fantastic workout on the treadmill, so I gave that a blast, then I went on the cross-trainer for 20 minutes.

Not a bad workout for a Monday, eh?

Well done everyone on your efforts throughout the first week of Juneathon – I hope you’re all enjoying yourselves. Personally, it’s given me the boost I needed to motivate me to get back into exercising as I’ve been a bit slack over the last few weeks. Hopefully it’ll give me a good base for the beginning of my marathon training too.

Oh, and I promise to run tomorrow. Punky promise. (That’s pinky promise as autocorrected by my phone.)

Stats

Rowing machine: 30 minutes
Treadmill: 15 minutes
Cross-trainer: 20 minutes
Juneathon’s completed: 6/30

Juneathon Day 7 – Conningbrook Lakes Country Park

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When I first heard a couple of years ago that a new country park was to be built a few miles away, I thought WAHOO because I thought it might be like my beloved Walthamstow/Hackney/Tottenham Marshes and there’d be miles and miles and miles of trails for me to run around, so when I heard a week or so ago that the Conningbrook Lakes Country Park had opened, when I woke up this morning and pondered today’s Juneathon activity and remembered the country park, there was nothing else for me to do but to go exploring.

I cycled the scenic, traffic-free route up to the Julie Rose Stadium and hoped there would be a sign to tell me where the park was, and there was indeed a sign that even I couldn’t miss.

Conningbrook Lakes Country ParkOnce inside the gate, however, there were no more signs to tell me where the park was and I didn’t think the entrance to the park would be inside the stadium, so I locked my bike up and went exploring in the opposite direction and found a bit that didn’t look very park-like.

Conningbrook Lakes Country Park

Undeterred, I headed towards a gate that someone had rebelliously left open.

Conningbrook Lakes Country Park

As someone had rebelliously left the gate open, despite a sign clearly asking for the gate to be kept shut, I decided to also rebel and ignore the sign that clearly said no pedestrians.

At the end of the path was a car in front of a gate and I thought PLEASE DON’T BE DOGGING and I tried really hard not to look in the car and went up to the gate but the gate was locked and a voice from the car said ‘It’s got a combination lock on it, it’s for members only’ and I turned round and in the car was a young lad eating an apple and wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses and he said but you can climb over the gate though.

I said I was looking for the country park, the new one, and he said yes this is it and I said I didn’t know where the entrance was and he said it’s at the stadium, did you come through the quarry? and I said yes and hoped he didn’t know that I didn’t actually have a clue what a quarry was and he said that’s the wrong way but it doesn’t matter. I said if I go over the gate and just keep walking and follow the lakes round, will I get back to the stadium? and he said yes, so I said cool, thank you, and then I climbed over the gate and found the lake and swans and stuff and you can look at the pretty pictures below.

path boat conningbrook-lake swans-on-lake

swanconningbrook-lake-bridge conningbrook-lakes bridge swans Conningbrook Lakes Country Park

 

 

After I’d walked round the lakes, the trail led out through the running track and stadium, and right outside the exit was my bike and I might or might not have felt a bit foolish that the entrance had been about two feet away from where I locked my bike.

Stats

Cycling: about 10 miles
Walking: 1.3 miles
Juneathon’s completed: 5/30

Juneathon Day 6 – An Ultra-Parkrun And A Sunny Spin Class

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Sunshine

Helen left a comment on yesterday’s post suggesting we go to our respective parkruns and give each other a virtual high-five. We did this a while back as we’d both been slacking in our running (she probably had a good excuse like just having had a baby or something and I probably had a slightly less good excuse like just having been to the pub or something) but Helen is now running regularly and recently ran London Marathon, whereas I have done fuck all by way of running for weeks and so I’d only be high-fiving myself which, let’s face it, would look a bit weird.

And, anyway, I’d booked to go to spin and although on a good day, I could get back in time from parkrun for the class, I didn’t think today would be one of those good days so I said I’d do 5k on the treadmill at 9am instead.

However, when I woke up, my legs, shoulders and arms were aching. Plus, it was after 9am when I got to the gym and I didn’t think I’d have time to do 5k on the treadmill before spin so I decided to do 5k on the rowing machine instead. This plan was scuppered (don’t you just love the word ‘scuppered’?) when my heels kept slipping out of my trainers. This has never happened before so maybe along with my recent weight-loss my feet have also shrunk. Still, after pulling my trainers back up for the third time in five minutes, I unsurprisingly lost my patience and abandoned the rowing machine and decided to do 5k on the cross-trainer instead. This took about 20 minutes and I still had time left before my spin class, so I did another mile and decided that meant I’d done an ultra-parkrun. Get me and my highfalutin ultrarunner ways.

After my ultra, I ambled over to the room in which the spin class is taken and found an empty room. ALL THE SPIN BIKES HAD BEEN STOLEN BY FAT THIEVES WHO WANTED TO GET THEIR BEACH BODIES READY FOR SUMMER.

Gits.

Except they hadn’t been stolen – by fat thieves who wanted to get their beach bodies ready for summer or otherwise – the instructor had moved them all outside so we could have a sunny spin class. Yay.

I have decided though that a parkrun/get-back-in-time-for-spin challenge would be a good Juneathon thing and, unless I get a better offer for the morning of Saturday 27 June, this will be happening then.

Stats

Rowing machine: about 5 minutes
Cross-trainer: about 26 minutes / 4.2 miles
Spin class: a sunny 45 minutes
Juneathon’s completed: 4/30

 

 

Juneathon Day 5: A Run! Yes, I Said A Run!

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You know I said yesterday I might do a run today but don’t hold your breath? Well, after posting the link to yesterday’s walk on the Juneathon Facebook Page, fellow Juneathoner David Lewis berated me and said this was called JogBlog, not WalkTalk, and so I said okay, I’ll do a run tomorrow and so, DAMMIT, that meant I had to run today.

So, yeah, I ran. And not only did I run but, because I had a whole three or four hours of uninterrupted sleep at some point after 1am, my brain or body or whatever part of me is responsible for this type of thing, decided that 5am was a perfectly reasonable time for me to be wide awake, so I got up about 5:30am, left the house at 6:30am-ish and went for a run.

Anita Extreme Control Sports Bra

As I pondered what to wear, I remembered I had a new Anita Extreme Control Sports Bra to try out. This bra is great and I’m not sure what I like best about it – the way it does up easily like a normal bra (i.e. none of that twenty-three clips and straps and hooks malarky), the comfort and support, or that it comes in Black Grape colour, which isn’t to be confused with the indie dance rockers of the same name. Which is just as well, as I really don’t want Shaun Ryder anywhere near my tits.

As soon as I stepped outside the house and before I’d even taken my hand off the door handle, someone was pouring water on my head and I thought WHO THE FUCK IS POURING WATER ON MY HEAD? Then I realised it was probably raining and not someone pouring water on my head and I looked around and saw that, yes, indeed, it was raining all over the local neighbourhood and not just on my head.

Being a sane and rational person, I turned to go back inside but, although I still had my hand on the door handle, the door had shut and so I thought I’d be hard and go for a run anyway. Plus, although I’m no Michael Fish, I reckoned it was only going to be a shower anyway. But it turned out I am Michael Fish after all because it was only a shower. Get me and my weather forecasting skillz.

I was doing really well, running (I use the term loosely) without stopping to walk until I got to about 1.85 miles and thought I’d have a bit of a rest. But then I remembered I was marathon training training and a marathon is longer than 1.85 miles (my maths is rubbish and at the time I couldn’t work out just how much longer it is, which is probably just as well), so I carried on shuffling along in my own approximation of running and although before I’d left the house I’d planned to do 3 miles, it only turned out to be 2.6 miles, I’m happy with that. It’s a start, isn’t it?

Stats

Run:

Distance: 2.6 miles
Time: mind your own business (or look on Strava)
Pace: as above
Juneathons completed: 3/30

Juneathon Day 4 – Lots of photos

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Another sleepless night but I told myself I’d go to the gym this morning – after all, it wouldn’t actually kill me, would it? Probably not, but then I looked out the window and there was BRIGHT SUNSHINE, WAHOO, so I thought I’d be better off going outside and getting a heavy dose of vitamin D instead.

I took my usual route up the Greensand Way and although I didn’t take my camera with me, here are some photos I took a few weeks ago. Just imagine them with bluer skies. You might as well also imagine them covered in houses, as that’s what it’ll look like in a few years.

path daisy flowers forest trees field2 field road cat dandelion butterfly sign road2 trees2

I felt energised after my walk in the sun, so hopefully I’ll sleep better tonight and maybe even attempt a run tomorrow. Don’t hold me to that though, eh?

Stats

Walk:
Distance: 4.1 miles
Time: 1:14:57

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