EmotionalCynic

Gin Sweating & Hill Runs

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, hungover BMF time once more!

Yesterday I awoke to another gloriously sunny day in the UK. It was post-Eurovision and I didn’t actually feel too bad, despite the 5k(ish) threshold I did the day before and (more importantly) despite the gin-fuelled night out the evening before. So, off I popped to BMF. It went a little something like this…

Warm Up: skipping, running up hills. side-stepping and a small amount of lunges, sit-ups and press ups

**waterbreak 1**

Main Session: Lots of lunge walking, 50m shuttle runs, mini-circuits with sprints inbetween a mix of press-ups, squats, v-sits and squat thrusts. Next, we went to the Hell Hill and did calf raises followed by hill sprints (x3, with one of the hill sprints being backwards up the hill), then flat sprints, interspersed with either lunges or squats (both jumping and held)

**waterbreak 2**

Main Session (continued): Abs work and hamstring killers (front tilts whole your ankles are held by a partner - ouchie!), fence press-ups, normal press-ups, sprints. Close arm press-ups, wide arm press-ups, sprints. Shoulder raises. More abs work.

Cool Down: Jogging & stretches

It was a fantastic, boiling hot session (thank goodness for the double waterbreaks we got!)  in which I was both sweating gin, somewhat hyperactive and full of energy, despite the late night and the running the day before. I learned afterwards that the hyperactivity was due to the fact that the moment I stopped I crashed. Hard. But I did allow myself some chocolate milk for a recovery drink (sports science studies show it’s one of the best, kids!) and it was yum yum yum.

Today my legs are aching and feeling heavy. I am also feeling that kind of tired that you only get when you’ve been working hard. A rest day for me today, one that is much deserved.

I’ll be very interested to see how Weigh Day Wednesday goes this week - I have done 2 runs and 2 BMF sessions so far, and will have shucked another BMF in by then, but I did go a little over calories on Saturday night and also yesterday evening, when Poolboy and myself decided to get a DVD out and grab some snacks to have while watching it. Not a huge amount over, mind you, but some. I’m cool whatever in all honesty - the weekend was so great it would be worth a plateau - but it would be nice to register some more loss if possible, and the exercise could/should have helped. We shall see, watch this space!

The Running Diaries: Part 40

…or, this run was sponsored by the film Little Shop of Horrors

Poolboy and I awoke at 6.30 this morning. On a Saturday. Crazy. The UK is in the middle of a mini-summer right now and as such it’s hot into the evening and as soon as the sun rises. It’s lovely, but sleep is hard when it’s so warm…

So, we decided to make the most of it and go for a run before it got too sweaty this morning. Yes, you read that right - Poolboy was coming for a run too. He’s decided that it would be good for him to drop a bit of weight, so a 5k once a week alongside his BMF/football/rugby/walking to work should help with that nicely.

The West Pier - a Brighton & Hove landmark that I passed on my run this morning

That said, it wasn’t a joint run as when we got to the seafront promenade he ran off one way and I the other. After almost 8 years together, and several joint runs under our belt years ago, we know that we run better alone than together. If we’re paired together in BMF it’s cool, and we can work in teams or even pairs there no problems, but when it comes to just running we’re better off doing our own things and then meeting up at the end for a high-five and a stretch. This is mostly down to the fact that he is faster than I am but also because on my solo runs I like to blast out my music and take in my surroundings. Plus, I had planned to do some threshold running this morning and that’s not really something you can do with someone else.

come at me bro runface

All my running gear is black, so I borrowed one of Poolboy’s basketball tops to run in, as you can see above. Green! Love it so much. It’s pretty massive on me though, but good for running in the sun…

So, stopclock in hand (Poolboy had the running watch as he wanted to time himself) off I went towards Brighton Pier. I was running into the wind, which was fine as it helped keep me cool and meant that I would be running the return leg with the wind behind me. My threshold training went a little like this:

8mins warm up slow, 5 mins fast pace, 5 mins slow pace, 5 mins fast pace, 7 mins cool down slow, 2 min sprint to finish.

It was a solid training run in the sunshine and there were a lot of other runners out there - getting their runs in before it got too hot I imagine…

As the title of my blog suggests, the last song I sprinted to was a song from the film Little Shop of Horrors (Skid Row - a song I find incredibly motivational for some reason. Add Musicals Geek to list of my weird geeknesses), and at my finish point I met Poolboy, who had managed his 5k in a cool 26 mins (utter jealous face from me - he hadn’t run the distance in years and still manages a faster time than my PB. Damn him!) - we high-fived and stretched and he moaned a little about how achy he was as the sun baked down on us. It was fun. A good start to the weekend! We’re off to a big gay Eurovision Song Contest party tonight, dressed as Turkish pirates, and I can’t wait. A bit of beach sunbathing beforehand and maybe a nap too. Lovely. Happy weekend!

The Running Diaries: Part 39

… or, hot hot heat

After a sweltering BMF session last night I woke up wondering whether I really needed to go for a run before work today. I’d had a good week weight-loss wise, done the Heroes Run on Sunday and killed it at BMF yesterday. So, no, I didn’t need to run.

But I wanted to. I love that my mindset is such that now I want to go running, just for the sake of it. So, in the warm sunshine of today off I went - a run for me. Not for times, not for a distance, not to threshold - just a run out and back as far as I felt. Wonderful.

the view on part of my running route this morning

It was a hot one this morning, even though it was just after 8am. I ran towards Brighton and then turned back around into the wind, which felt good on my sun-burnished skin. Thank goodness for waterproof SPF15 moisturiser and suntan lotion! I’d be sun burned by now if it wasn’t for them!

screen grab from a local news website - hot hot hot!

It was a lovely run, one that I really enjoyed, even though it wasn’t all that far (2.5miles) or all that quick (23mins). It’s nice to be able to run and just enjoy the run for what it is. It’s also quite fun to end a run to the strains of Guns’n’Roses ultimate tune Pretty Tied Up blasting into your ears, but that is - no doubt - a strangely personal preference…

happy sunny post-run GPOY

After the run I came home, drank a lot of water, had a shower and then a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs on toast. Then off to work. A great start to Wednesday!

winning breakfast!

Weigh Day Wednesday - Week 16

Two pounds down this week. Pretty happy about this. Scratch that, really happy about this! I had a good week food wise and even had a drinks night with some nibbles on Friday and a big hunk of shortbread after the Heroes Run on Sunday and yet still managed a good loss.

Feeling happy and good right now. A good frame of mind to be in!

22lbs lost so far.