Tag: Juneathon 2015

Juneathon Day 27 – Warning: Contains A Bit Of Swearing

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This is what I posted on the Juneathon Facebook Page this morning:

Juneathon Facebook page screenshot

The clean version

When I said ‘scuppered’, what I really meant (and what David was referring to) was this:

Facebook status update screenshot

The slightly more Tourettes version

 

Yes, parkrun fucking well fucked up my fucking challenge that I’d been fucking looking forward to for fucking weeks.

*Non-sweary bit*

In case you don’t know what my challenge was, I’d challenged myself to run my local parkrun at 9am, then get to the gym in time to do a spin class at 10am. Although there are only two miles between the park and gym, given how slow I am at a) running; and b) cycling, an hour – although not impossible – would be cutting it fine but, as long as the parkrun started on time, my challenge would be completed successfully and I could spend the rest of Saturday walking around saying things like, ‘yay, go me and my successfully completed challenges’.

*End of non-sweary bit*

But, did it start on time? OF COURSE IT FUCKING DIDN’T. I got to the park with plenty of time to spare but the introductory talk thing didn’t start until 9:05 and instead of just getting on with it and starting the run, the bloke started doing the crappy clapping everyone thing and so I thought fuck it, this is going to go on for at least another five minutes, I’m going to the gym, as I don’t want to miss spin and so I fucked off from the stupid fucking parkrun and went to the gym and went on the rowing machine and treadmill instead before going to spin.

Stupid fucking parkrun fucking up my fucking challenge.

Bah.

Stats

Running: 0 miles because stupid fucking parkrun
Challenges completed successfully: 0 because stupid fucking parkrun
Cycling: 4 pointless miles because stupid fucking parkrun
Rowing machine: 15 minutes because stupid fucking parkrun
Treadmill: 15 minutes because stupid fucking parkrun
Spin: 45 minutes. Yay for spin

Juneathon Day 25 – SKINS Running Tights Review

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As I said earlier this week, I’d planned to do this Saturday’s scheduled 7 miles today because I’d decided at the beginning of Juneathon to do a parkrun/spin challenge this Saturday instead of sticking diligently to my marathon training schedule.

I woke up feeling rested, the sun was shining, my new pink running shoes were waiting for me and I also had the added motivation of a pair of SKINS A400 ¾ running tights that had been sent to me to try out.

I’m sure you’ve all heard of SKINS but, in case you haven’t, SKINS make compression clothing using something called Dynamic Gradient Compression which apparently means you can workout for longer and have less muscle pain the next day. This works by controlling the pressure over the ITB and TFL muscle groups and I’m not going to pretend I know about this kind of thing (as far as I’m concerned, TFL stands for Transport for London), so if you want to read about the science behind SKINS, you can fill your boots with all the techy stuff here.

Upon opening the packaging – a fancy box inside a cardboard sleeve, which undoubtedly ups the price of these running tights, which aren’t cheap at £90 – the first thing I noticed about the SKINS were that they were tiny. Like teeny-tiny. Like teeny-weeny-teeny-tiny. Like DO I LOOK LIKE I’M THE SIZE OF CHERYL COLE tiny.

Skins A400 women's running tights

You can’t tell from the photo just how tiny they are; I should have put my cat next to them for scale.

What intrigued me more than the Cheryl Cole-esque size was a label which said it mustn’t be removed. I have absolutely no idea why this label shouldn’t be removed. Any ideas?

Skins label

Why???????

I liked the smooth, shiny material but I had a bit of trouble pulling the tights up so the waistband wasn’t hugging my hips, but after my run, I read on the website that the ‘lower rise sits comfortably on hips’, which isn’t great for those of us with a bit of a belly. I prefer a higher waist on my running tights, otherwise I find they keep slipping down.

SKINS A400 women's running tights

So, now I was dressed in my new fancy running tights, it was time for my run.

SKINS A400 women's running tights

It didn’t start well. I spent the first mile tugging at one of my bra straps that had decided to be uncomfortable (I think it was irritating my sunburnt shoulder) and the SKINS running tights were the most uncomfortable things I had ever worn; they were too tight on my legs, the waistband kept slipping down and the bands at the bottom of the legs were threatening to cut the circulation off from my calves.

After the first mile though, my clothing stopped annoying me. My bra strap stopped irritating my sunburn and the SKINS got comfier. A lot comfier. Maybe they need breaking in or something but after a while they stopped being the most uncomfortable thing I’d ever worn and even the waistband stopped slipping down and decided to stay in place, and a waistband that doesn’t keep slipping down is really all I want from a pair of running tights.

So now I’d started going, I decided my goal for today’s run would be to run under 13 minute miles. I decided this when I kept stopping to walk because I thought it would spur me on to stop walking quite so much and, yay, it worked. Because the Dymchurch Marathon has a cut off of 6 hours, I reckoned if I can average 13 minute miles or under, I should make the cut off time but, according to Running Free Online, if I run the marathon like I ran today, I’m not going to make that cut off time. Dammit. Still, I have months and months to get fitter and faster.

marathon-estimate

Something that did make me smile, however, was the Great Kent Bike Ride pack that was waiting for me when I got back. It contained this year’s t-shirt that I’d ordered and IT’S BRIGHT FUCKING ORANGE.

Great Kent Bike Ride 2015 t-shirt

I love orange. I love orange so much that, many years ago, I thought about joining the Hare Krishnas when I saw them skipping down Oxford Street one day. I’m not sure if they were actually skipping but they looked so happy in their flowing orange robes, banging their tambourines, I wanted to join them and be happy and wear orange and bang tambourines down Oxford Street and stuff. But then I found out they didn’t eat garlic or onions and I thought fuck that.

Tomorrow is a rest day but, obviously, Juneathon doesn’t allow for proper rest days so I’ll go for a walk or something and I’ll also report back on whether the SKINS did their reduce DOMS thing or not. I can tell you this though; as I’m writing this post – 5 hours after returning from my run – my legs feel good. Maybe they do work after all.

Stats

Running: 7 miles
Pairs of posh new running tights: 1
Bright orange t-shirts: 1
Current thoughts of joining the Hare Krishnas: 0

 

 

Juneathon Day 24: Practically A Rest Day And A Question About Nutrition

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My marathon training schedule said, Bike: 30 minutes. It hardly seemed worth getting my bike out of the garage just to go on a 30 minute ride, then I thought but what about people without bikes? Surely most runners aren’t cyclists too? Perhaps it meant 30 minutes on a stationary bike but I didn’t want to go to the gym just to do 30 minutes on a stationary bike (if you want to know my thoughts on stationary bikes, you can read my stationary bike haiku here), so I decided to ponce about the countryside for half an hour on my pretty Lady of the Manor Bike.

Pashley Poppy

My beautiful Lady of the Manor bike

Before I ponced about the countryside (where I saw a crow peck at the remains of a squished pigeon, ick), I’d been to Tesco to buy a Trek Bar for Sunday’s Great Kent Bike Ride; not that a leisurely 30 mile bike ride needs any particular fuelling but because I don’t usually (for ‘usually’, read ‘ever’) have breakfast and so I knew I’d be starving well before lunchtime and, anyway, Trek Bars are yum.

This got me thinking about sports nutrition and supplements in general, especially as I’m *cough* marathon training (this is only the second week, the novelty will soon wear off, I promise) and nutrition will have to play a part in that somewhere.

I took running really seriously when I first started. I read all the books and even before I’d run my first 5k, I’d started looking at gels and protein shakes. I know, I know… stop laughing… I was an enthusiastic beginner, all excited about my new hobby. I’ve still never had a gel, but when I started running home from work, I fuelled up beforehand with a Trek Bar (like I said, any excuse) and then I discovered MaxiNutrition vanilla protein shakes in Holland & Barrett, which tasted like ice cream, so I decided I needed one of those on completion of each running commute.

Because I’ve barely ran over the last few years, I haven’t taken any notice of what I’ve eaten afterwards but, I suppose with my mileage hopefully increasing over the next few weeks, I’m going to have to start thinking about pre-, during- and post-run nutrition. Any tips? What do you eat and drink when you’re marathon training?

Stats

Cycling: 30-ish minutes / 6-ish miles

 

 

 

Juneathon Day 20 – A Run And A Pair Of New Shoes

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DAMMIT, I thought, when I woke up. I’d had a sleepless night and when I woke up I thought I’d slept too late to make it on time to meet up with a group to go on a bike ride to the seaside. So I jumped out of bed to get on Facebook and hoped they’d see my ‘sorry I’m not going to make it on time’ message before they left, then I realised it was Saturday, not Sunday and I didn’t have to be anywhere. Duh.

But, I did have to run 6 miles and so I drank my tea and got into my running gear and attempted to run 6 miles. My ‘attempt’ turned into a bit of a stroll, listening to my music but at least I made it out the door.

When I got home, I decided because I’d ran 6 miles, my running shoes were probably worn out and therefore I needed a new pair. I pondered this out loud on Twitter and Twitter agreed with me:

And so I cycled off to the Designer Outlet and bought myself some pretty pink Asics Cumulus 15.

Asics Cumulus 15

These totally say ‘serious athlete in training’ eh?

I’m not entirely convinced they’re bright enough or pink enough though. What do you think?

Stats

Running: 6 miles
Cycling: 4 miles
Pairs of bright pink running shoes: 1

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 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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