Workout To The Beet

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Did you watch Food Unwrapped last night? The girl with the bad hair (okay, so I’m not going to be offered a part in a Timotei advert any time soon, but I wish she’d sort that bale of hay on top of her head out; it’s worse than that restaurant critic woman on Masterchef’s hair) checked out the benefits of beetroot by checking out the muscles on some rugby types and also by having her stamina checked on a stationary bike – once with having beetroot before and once without. The results showed she had far more energy after having the beetroot and so I put it to my own scientific test this morning by having some beetroot juice (I would have gone for the checking-out- the-muscley-rugby-types method but, alas, we were all out of those and, to be honest, rugby players just don’t do it for me anyway).

No, it's not vodka and cranberry juice.

No, it’s not vodka and cranberry juice.

This juice is made of 2 apples, 1 beetroot, 2 carrots, 3 celery sticks, 1/2 a cucumber and 1″ ginger and it really energised me. It energised me so much I lifted heavier weights while doing body pump this morning, despite me not having done any strength-training for weeks, if not months (if you don’t count the 20 minutes of kettlebells I did the other day).

Beetroot works!

Let’s Talk About Pants, Baby

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This morning, I spent far too long trying to remember if I usually get a wedgie when I’m running or at the gym. Then I thought, ha, yes, I distinctly remember standing on a treadmill hoping no one could see me picking my knickers out of my bum. Whether or not this was a common occurrence, I couldn’t remember but, seeing as I haven’t been banned from the gym because of complaints about constant unwedgieing, I reckoned this probably wasn’t on the list of runner’s ailments such as, say, black toenails or that foot injury no one knows how to pronounce.

Still, there was a reason for my wedgie wondering and that was because I’d been sent a pair of pants known as Edgies.  They work on the premise of ‘Don’t get a wedgie with an Edgie’ (which isn’t actually their slogan but it certainly should be and if it appears on their website, remember where you heard it first and let me know so I can send them an invoice).

Edgie no wedgie pants

Look, Ma – no wedgie!

They work by having silicone banding round the edge of the legs. My first thought was I DON’T WANT TO WEAR RUBBER PANTS. I AM NEITHER A) INCONTINENT; NOR B) A GIMP but once on, you don’t feel them at all. In fact, Edgies are beautifully light and comfy.

You too can have a rubber band in your pants

You too can have a rubber band in your pants

We all know you don’t get clothes that are targeted towards *ahem* sportspeople without the word ‘wicking’ or ‘breathable’ appearing somewhere and the blurb for the Edgies was no different. I’d never thought about breathable pants before and not only because the phrase ‘wicker knickers’ sounds itchy but now I’ve tried these and without wanting to go into too much detail, after my run, I was perfectly fresh and dry ‘down there’ and I want to buy some more as I don’t want to go back to running in cotton knickers now. And yes, I know you’re wondering, and the answer is no, I didn’t get a wedgie. Thank you for asking.

Edgies come in a range of styles, which you can have a look at on their website.

Janathon stats

Pants in the post: 1
Wedgies: 0

Oh yeah, I ran 3.1 miles.

Sgt FitFlo’s Going To Help Me

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Don't be deceived by the lack of mouth. Sgt FitFlo can ROAR.

Don’t be deceived by the lack of mouth. Sgt FitFlo can ROAR.

FitFlo called me a slacker on my blog yesterday. She said – and I quote – ‘Slacker – get out and do some running!’ Well, I never knew she had it in her to be so Sergeant Majorish, so I did what I was told and this morning I went to the gym and along with 20 minutes on the rowing machine and 20 minutes on the cross-trainer, I did 15 minutes on the treadmill, listening to Audiofuel’s Thru The Gears. If you haven’t got Thru The Gears – get it. It’s fabulous and free and has plinky plonky pianos and at the finish it speeds up and WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH – there’s engines and guitars a-blazing – you’re full of adrenaline and you get to the end and think HELL YEAH! and if you weren’t in the gym, you’d be lying back, lighting up a cigarette and/or turning over and going back to sleep.

You can download it here.

At least FitFlo outing me for being a slacker reminded me of this song, which is one of my all time favourites.

Love it.

 

Making The Most Of What You’ve Got

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Okay, I admit it – I was a *bit* of a slacker yesterday. And to be honest, today wasn’t holding up to be much better at first. I didn’t have the energy to run but I still fancied a walk in some fields – especially as the postman brought me a bright red bodywarmer and I could have looked like a proper countryside person and everything – but the weather was, as I believe the official term is, minging.

But, I couldn’t slack off two days in a row, could I? No. So I peeked into the conservatory where Shaun’s been making new worktops for the kitchen (despite me pleading for shiny black sparkles, he’s making them himself out of wood) to see if there was enough room for me and there was about two foot of spare rug, so I reckoned I could do a bit of a kettlebell workout without too much danger as long as I avoided tripping up on that sticky-out-bit of wood (which I did. Thank you for your concern).

2015-01-03 15.51.35

I used the 10 Minute Solution – Kettlebell Ultimate Fat Burner DVD which – strangely – doesn’t actually contain any kettlebell exercises but dumbbell ones instead. You can use kettlebells for the exercises but I don’t think you’d be very comfy. Still, if you have dumbbells, they’re good workouts.

I did twenty minutes and I promise I’ll do better tomorrow.

2015-01-03 16.13.32

At least I haven’t tried to make out reading a book about sport is actually a sport.

 

I’ve invented a new exercise (again)

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Oh dear. After seeing Rachel’s photos on Facebook of a walk she did in the countryside (I cleverly detected it wasn’t in her home town of Shepherd’s Bush and she admitted it was ‘oop north. Well, Midlands, anyway’), I was inspired to go out for my own walk in the countryside, especially as I only have to cross the road to do this and not travel a hundred miles.

So, what I had planned was this.

The hills are alive with the sounds of a smiley sun face

The hills are alive with the sounds of a smiley sun face

What actually happened though was this.

The hills are alive with the sound of snoring

The hills are alive with the sound of snoring

And when I re-emerged, it was dark and time for dinner and Eastenders and then I went to bed. But then I felt guilty so I invented the Bed Sit Up.

Janathon Day 2 

Walks in the countryside by Rachel: 1
Walks in the countryside by me: 0
Eastenders: 1
Bed sit ups: 2

Janathon Penguin Prance Dressing Gown Dash Video Challenge

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You know I mentioned in the last Janathon newsletter that I was going to set up a Dressing Gown Dash Video Challenge? (If you didn’t receive the newsletter or you’re not taking part in Janathon [eh? why? whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?], you can read it here.) Well, seeing as on the very first ever Janathon my *ahem* effort was to run round the garden in my dressing gown, it seemed appropriate that I kick off Janathon’s 5th birthday in the same way but with slightly more elegance, sophistication and finesse.

So I did it in my penguin onesie.

Here’s the introduction:

And here’s the run.

Now it’s your turn. I want to see videos of you in your onesies/pyjamas/dressing gowns/anything except ‘normal’ running gear running round your garden/park/front room. I’ll post all the videos on here at the end of Janathon and the public can vote for their favourite and I’ll sort out a prize for the winner.

I can’t wait to see your videos!

You Can’t See Tits On The Radio

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Fellow Janathoner, Millie – who blogs at Run For The Quiet – asked me if I wanted to talk about Janathon on her Preston FM radio show. Last year, I managed to weasel out of this by claiming to have a sore throat (actually, I did have a sore throat and was gutted I couldn’t do it), so Deputy Helen stood in for me and you can hear the fine job she did here.

This morning, however, I checked I didn’t have a sore throat by speaking to the cat and all vocal chords seemed intact so I had a shower and mooched about in my dressing gown until I decided that, although no one would know what I was or wasn’t wearing, I wanted to look presentable for my radio interview debut and put some clothes on.

Despite a bit of an awkward start when the line was crackly and I couldn’t hear what Millie was saying, the interview went well. I managed not to swear (I almost said ‘arsed’, as in: ‘if you can’t be arsed to blog’) or take the piss out of anyone and I also squeezed in a reference to bar push-ups and dressing gown dashes.

Anyway, you can hear the interview in all my dulcet-Essex-toned glory below.

Millie spoke to Cathy about Janathon by Geek On Radio on Mixcloud

Thanks Millie, for inviting me onto your show.

If you haven’t signed up for Janathon yet, sign up now at www.janathon.com and if you need more reasons to sign up, we’re offering prizes from New Balance, Helly Hansen, Audiofuel and more and if you need further persuasion, read Deputy Helen’s post about how Janathoners have more fun.

The JogBlog Guide To Healthy Habits

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Krakau, Gefängnis Montelupich, Klosterschwester

The best way to get into the habit of doing something is to do it regularly. Okay, so obviously a habit isn’t something you do once, but how do you make something into a habit? Here are three of my tips to doing something more than once.

  1. Get a training schedule: I’ve got a couple of half-marathons coming up at the beginning of 2015 and I know if I don’t get a schedule and just leave my training to the ‘do a run when I feel like it and hope my mileage magically increases without trying too hard’ method, then it’ll get to January and I’ll think, ‘Oh shit, I’m doing a half-marathon in a couple of weeks and I haven’t done more than a couple of parkruns since August. Oops’ and then I’ll end up limping round the half in 3 hours and pretending my leg fell off or something.My favourite schedules are the ones by Hal Higdon. I especially like these because they’re in miles and not all that fancy 8 x 400m easy x I-haven’t-a-clue-what-you’re-talking-about stuff and I also especially like these because you can generate them into iCal files to import into Google Calendar, Outlook, iCal, etc.schedule
    Want to know just how successful getting a schedule is? Well, it’s Wednesday today and usually, I’d spend a Wednesday evening drinking wine while watching Waterloo Road and The Apprentice (DON’T JUDGE ME) but, because my schedule says I’ve got to do 7 miles tomorrow (actually, I should be doing the 7 miles on Saturday but I won’t be able to but schedules can be rescheduled), the wine will be absent. See, schedules are healthy habit inducing!

  2. Get a training buddy: In general, I don’t like running with other people on a social basis as I’d rather zone out and listen to my music but a really good way to make sure you get out the door is to arrange to meet someone; whether that’s by publicly stating on your running group leader’s Facebook page that you’ll be coming to the Tuesday night speed session (yes, I did that and to make sure I definitely didn’t weasel out of it, she came and picked me up and gave me a lift there) or to arrange to see a friend at parkrun. You’re not going to stand your friends up, are you? Nope. Well, not unless you’re a bit of a twat, anyway.

  3. Get signed up to Janathon: Okay, I’m biased because I’m the Queen of ‘Athons (curtseying in my presence is optional) and the more people who sign up, the better I look but Janathon is a fantastic way to get into the habit of exercising. Not only will you feel fitter by the end of the month but you’ll have so much energy you won’t want to stop and you’ll be begging me for a Februthon.

So, there’s the JogBlog Guide To Healthy Habits, and here are some tips from simplyhealth – what are yours?

Janathon 2015 – Entries Are Open For Janathon’s 5th Birthday!

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Janathon 2015

Yeah, Janathon is 5 – where did that time go? As it’s the fifth birthday, it’d be great if as many of you as possible would sign up and make it the best one yet. Remember, you don’t have to blog every day – microblogging is fine, so if you’re feeling a bit typed out, just tweet (#janathon) or post on the Janathon Facebook page what you’ve been up to exercise-wise (you can post what else you’ve been up to, too, if you like, we’re all friends here).

With the help of Deputy Helen, we’re hoping to get some fabulous prizes lined up to give away in a draw open to all participants. So far we’ve got fitness writer Julia Buckley’s bestselling book The Fat Burn Revolution  to give away and I’m going to be adding prizes to the website as they’re confirmed, so keep checking to see what’s up for grabs.

Not one to get my priorities muddled, I’ve set the date for the post-Janathon meet up. As in previous years, it’ll be held in the Holborn branch of Strada. More information on the Janathon website – I hope you can make it.

So, have you signed up yet? Remember, slacking is not an option. Enter Janathon 2015 here.

Folkestone Santa Fun Run 2014 Report

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Saturdays, for me, are traditionally long run days, even if my long runs do seem long ago in the past. However, Fridays are still usually alcohol-free days but not last Friday, oh no. A friend had organised a local pub crawl and seeing as a local pub crawl was my idea in the first place, I sort of had to go, didn’t I? Although the crawl only crawled through two pubs and I swear I only had a few pints of lager, I had no idea how or when I got home and didn’t get up until 4:30pm the next day. This meant my Saturday night involved nothing more exciting than sitting at home on my own with my cat, drinking hot chocolate, like the old spinster of the parish, despite living directly across the road from a pub. On the upside though, this also meant that while I was not in the pub ruining any chances of seeing Sunday morning but sitting at home browsing Facebook instead, I saw a friend mention a Santa Fun Run taking place the next day.  It was only a few miles away (countryside miles, that is. In the countryside, if something is 15 miles away, you can be there in 20 minutes. In London, if something is 15 miles away, it’s a day trip with possibly an overnight stay). Bonus. It also didn’t start until the civilised time of 11.30. Even bigger bonus. So I decided if I was up in time, then I’d go along. And up in time I was and Shaun agreed to drive me to Folkestone to take part with all the other people who had been sitting at home with their cats the night before and therefore weren’t too hungover for a little jog by the seaside.

Folkestone Santa Fun Run 2014

Ho ho ho

Unlike last time I did a Santa run, Shaun decided not to join in because ‘I’m not doing any races this year’ (despite me pointing out that a bunch of people running around in Santa suits could hardly be described as a race). But, just like last time I did a Santa run, when we left the house, it was minus-something Celsius but I remembered the Santa suits were warm and the hat keeps your ears cosy, which is just as well as, although one of the incidental benefits of earphones – aside from their more obvious main purpose – are that they keep the wind out of your ears, they don’t exactly keep your ears warm when it’s minus-something Celsius outside.

We got to Folkestone in plenty of time to spend some time drinking hot chocolate in Costa Coffee and using their toilets to change into my Santa suit (sorry to anyone who was waiting outside, bursting for a wee) and off I went to the start line.

Running in a Santa suit surrounded by others in Santa suits is fun, as anyone who’s done it can tell you. It’s only fun for about three minutes though and then it’s too hot and uncomfortable. Although I didn’t have the beard on my face but hung around my neck, that got thrown in the first bin I saw and the sleeves soon got rolled up. Then rolled back down when I walked up the never-ending hill. Had I known, however, that not long after the never-ending hill would be the end, I might have made more of an effort and not walked so much. But because the website said the route would be approximately 5km and the entry form said approximately 6km, I was expecting the run to be roughly somewhere in between – say, 5.5km exactly – when I got to the end at just 2.85 miles (which even with my shoddy maths skillz is obviously quite short of 5km), I was slightly perturbed. Although not as perturbed as the man Shaun told me should have won but didn’t because someone took a short cut and crossed the line before the man who should have won. But it’s a charity fun run and not to be taken too seriously and I did get some bling at the end and I only run for bling, after all.

Folkestone Santa Fun Run 2014 Medal

Will run for bling

Well, bling and beer and burgers.

Googies burger and chips

Will run for burgers

(Okay, it’s wine but I was going with the alliteration thing.)

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