Juneathon Day 19 – Slacking and Skull Disco Balls

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 11 – Further Up The Greensand Way

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

Juneathon Day 7 – Conningbrook Lakes Country Park

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 4 – Lots of photos

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

Review: KS Active+ Bluetooth Remote

KS Active+ Bluetooth Remote

If I’d owned my iPhone when I first started running, I wouldn’t have run without it. Like most phones these days, it can play music, run GPS fitness apps, has maps in case I get lost and a camera for any cow-based photographic emergencies. However, I didn’t have my iPhone when I started running so I used to take out with me my massive Garmin 301 (I think it was a 301 – the one that took up half your arm), a massive video iPod (which promptly broke as I don’t think it liked being run with) which took up half my other arm, a little camera tucked into my back pocket and a printed paper map if I was trying out new routes. I can’t remember what phone I owned at the time but I didn’t take that out running with me as it was a weird phone that could only be used for making phone calls *shudder* and sending text messages.

I still don’t usually run with my iPhone because a) I don’t use any running apps; b) I’m happy with my iPod Shuffle for music; and c) they’re impossible to use through those armbands no matter how much the blurb for them says you can, so if, for example, an unwanted U2 album that was FORCED on to your iPhone against your will comes on, I’d have to stop and take the phone out of the armband to stop Bono from squawking down my ear.

But then Three Mobile sent me the KS Active+ Bluetooth Remote to try.

As you’ve probably guessed, the KS Active+ Bluetooth Remote is, um, a Bluetooth remote. It’s compatible with all stereo Bluetooth devices though, not just iPhones, despite me banging on about my iPhone in the previous 250 words.

KS Active+ Bluetooth Remote

In the box you’ll get the KS Active+ Bluetooth Remote, earphones, 3 sets of earbuds (although mine only came with one), USB charge cable and a user manual.

Setting it up is easy – the remote and my iPhone paired quckly, then all I had to do was plug the earphones into the remote, clip the remote onto my waistband and shove my phone into my Roosport Fitness Pouch (these pouches are great – so much better than an armband for carrying your phone), then I was ready for my run. Well, I would have been if the earphones had a better sound quality but I’m afraid to say I hadn’t even made it as far as the front door before turning back and swapping them for my usual Sennheisers.

KS Active+ Bluetooth Remote

Once you are out on your run and you’ve got used to knowing where the buttons on the remote are, play/pause/fast forward/rewind/volume control are all within easy reach without you stopping what you’re doing. You can also take phone calls with it but no one ever rings me so I didn’t get to test that bit.

I’m not sure it’ll take over from my iPod completely but if I did want to take my phone out running or walking with me to use music or apps or just so I’ve got my phone with me in case of emergency, I’d be happy to use the KS Active+ Bluetooth Remote. Just not with their pretty yellow but pretty rubbish earphones.

The KS Active+ Bluetooth Remote is available in black, pink or blue at various prices from Amazon.

Entries are open for Juneathon 2015!

Juneathon

Juneathon: A yearly festival of activity and excuses

I know it doesn’t seem long since Janathon but, yep, it’s that time of year when I pester you to sign up for Juneathon.

In case you don’t know what a Juneathon is, it’s a month of daily exercise – running, cycling, gymming, swimming, extreme sunbathing, whatever and after you’ve done your exercise, you blog about it or if you can’t be arsed to write a whole blog post, you can just tweet your efforts (using the #juneathon hashtag) or post about it on the Juneathon Facebook Page.

New for 2015! Because Louise said on Facebook she wasn’t Juneathoning this year because a) it’s hard; and b) it’s not on Strava and if it’s not on Strava it doesn’t count, I created a Juneathon Strava Club. You can join the Strava Juneathon Club here but it only appears to count running, not cycling or anything else, so if anyone knows how I can change that, please let me know (and not just because I don’t want to be bottom of the Strava leaderboard. Okay, it’s because I don’t want to be bottom of the Strava leaderboard).

Juneathon is fun and it’s free and it’s a great way to make new friends/followers and we even meet up in real life after it’s all over and done with to stuff our faces then go to the pub to drink like the finely tuned athletes we’re not.

Sign up now at the Juneathon website and, remember, slacking is not an option.

There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing (or whatever the saying is)

‘Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you’, sang Crowded House. This isn’t a sentiment I entirely agree with as, although, yes, it would be nice to bring back a bit of sun from your summer holiday, all those English people lazing about by the pool in Barbados in December won’t be best pleased if you rock up after your long haul flight from the UK with a bit of British cold wet winter weather, will they?

So, no. Don’t take the weather with you everywhere you go. Instead, dress for the weather you currently have. Take this morning, for example. Although the sky was clear and blue and, from the warmth of my centrally-heated room, the world outside my window could almost have been mistaken for summer, I knew it was going to be cold outside and I’d promised Facebook I’d go for a run (mostly to stop The Running Goth picking on me by calling me a slacker every three minutes) and so I needed to dress appropriately. Hello, thermal top from Blackspade.

Yes, I'm holding my stomach in

Yes, I’m holding my stomach in

This top is lightweight, comfy, warm, has a high neck (if you like that kind of thing – personally, I don’t like things round my neck so I undid the zip a bit) and, as you can see, is quite long and stays in place.

This isn't me, but you probably new that

This isn’t me, but you probably knew that

I also wore it out walking a couple of weeks ago (you can see a pic of the pretty countryside in which I walked here) underneath a body warmer and it kept me warm then, too.

I changed out of my slippers and put walking boots on, honest

I changed out of my slippers and put walking boots on, honest

I’d also wear it out cycling so, all in all, it’s a versatile top. If you would like a top like this, in the absence of anyone bringing back some winter sun to warm you up, the Blackspade Winter Thermal Sports Top is available from Amazon (this link takes you to one which is identical except there’s no zip on the neck).

And remember kids, ignore what Crowded House say and don’t take the weather with you – leave it where it is.

Shamed Into Blogging

The Running Goth has outed me at least three times in different places over the last couple of days for slacking, so before she finds anywhere else to shame me,  here’s an update.

On looking at my Running Free Online calendar, it’s not as bad as I thought. Okay, so the blogging perhaps maybe kind of a little titchy tiny bit slightly got a tad slack but I have sort of done some exercise. Look.

rfo-19Jan I think the 10 minutes last Monday must have been some kettlebells, the 4 miles on Wednesday was, in fact, a 6 mile walk in the countryside (my Garmin doesn’t like pausing too often and when it does it robs me of my mileage. Stupid Garmin). This countryside, to be specific.

countryside

The bike ride on Friday was cycling to the station before I went pizza-making with Helsbels where we put in further Janathon effort by kneading the dough for our pizzas. It counts. Shut up.

waitrose-pizza

The bike ride on Saturday was me cycling home after the pizza-making class, after midnight.

Okay, so I was slack last week – I admit it and I did annoy myself by being so slack but after such a promising start to Janathon where I had an immense amount of energy, that energy just seemed to disappear last week.

I promise to do better this week.

Getting Fit With Best LDN Walks

A little while before Christmas, the Joe Blogs Blogger Network invited me to attend a tech walk in conjunction with Currys and Best LDN Walks. This involved being given a gadget, so obviously I was on that train to London quicker than you can say ‘HS1’.

I met up with Helen, who had also been invited (you can read her post about it here), and we headed over to  Green Park to join the rest of the bloggers who were taking part in the walk that day. On our arrival, we were handed our gadgets – a Jawbone UP for me (they originally gave me a Fitbit but as I already have one I asked if I could have something else and they kindly obliged), a Garmin Vivofit for Helen and various other techy things for the others. The purpose of us being given these was so we could track our steps while we were shopping to see how many calories we’d burned off during our afternoon’s mooching.

Charbonnel et Walker

Where Her Maj buys her chocs

After my initial embarrassment at being paraded like a tourist around the town I’ve called ‘home’ for the past 45 years, I relaxed and enjoyed the walk. Our guide was excellent – friendly, entertaining and informative. She led us through the streets of Mayfair and Piccadilly, visiting the finest independent shops, including Charbonnel et Walker, where the Queen buys her favourite violet cremes; James J Fox, who sold cigars to Winston Churchill; and the charming Berry Brothers and Rudd, the fine wine and spirits merchants who supplied the Titanic (maybe the captain was drunk and that’s why it sunk? If so, they kept that bit of information quiet).

James J Fox

Winston Churchill liked a puff in here

Halfway through our walk, we had a break in a pub for some warming mulled wine and a chance to check our gadgets to see how far we’d walked and I was surprised to see I’d stacked up a couple of thousand already.

Suppliers of alcohol to the Titanic. They overdid it on the ice

Suppliers of alcohol to the Titanic. They overdid it on the ice

For a fun way to burn off some calories and to help reach your daily step target, I’d definitely recommend going on one of the Best LDN Walks. They’re offering some of their walks at a bargain £1 at the moment – including a Haunted Pub Tour, which is definitely up my street.

Thanks to all involved for a great day out.

 

I’ve invented a new exercise (again)

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

1 2