Work pressures!

Last night was another gym night. I felt pretty tired when I got there (wednesday was a busy day for me and I think I was still feeling the after effects) and started slowly with 5 minutes on the rowing machine. I then tried the running machine and quickly knew that another 4 miles was going to be out of the question, I was struggling almost from the start and had a slight stitch which was unusual. I managed to run 2.27 miles in 23 minutes, followed by 2 miles on the exercise bike. I really need to start picking things up a bit as I`ve become so bloody lazy.
Work this week has been entertaining to say the least with two of my work colleagues getting a bit hot under the collar with customers. The guy I was working with on tuesday decided to pick up an iron bar to attack a punter, fortunately I was able to hold him back. When you see people losing it like this it makes me realise hwe ridiculous we look when we lose our temper.

distance - 2.27miles
time - 23. 06 minutes
bike - 2 miles

No posts means no runs!

Well last week I managed to run just a single mile, what a poor effort. This week started with a 2.5 mile run yesterday which is a bit better. I`ve noticed that my lack of physical activity always seems to coincide with my lack of blogging, hence my post this morning. My goal is to run 10 miles this week or somewhere close to that. I`m going to the gym on thursday and hope to run a mile or so tonight aswell.

New pb`s!

Friday night at the gym was a huge success for me. I ran both further and longer than ever before, four miles in exactly 40 minutes with a 1.0 incline. I started off with a plan to run 5k(3.1 miles) but when I got to 3 miles I still felt pretty good and ended up squeezing 4 miles(6.4k) out of myself, my friend jumped on a running machine near to me when I had been running for 2o minutes and that helped to keep me going. I`m starting to get used to running on treadmills though the constant looking straight ahead for fear of flying off can be a bit tedious, luckily there was a very attractive girl on a bike who I see in the mirror in front me. I really need to start bringing my ipod along with me to make it a little bit more interesting. The advantages of the treadmill is that you can precisely control and measure the pace and distance at which you are running and that there are no pedestrians taking the p*** out of you.

Distance 4miles(6.4k)
Time 40 minutes 0 secs
times I fell off 0
Attractive girls on bikes 1
Songs listened to on my ipod 0

Plodding along!

I`m back at the gym on the treadmill tonight and I`ve got a plan. I tried to pick up my pace the other night and it was total disaster so I`m going to try and run about 3 miles at about 5.5 miles per hour which I know is dead slow but who cares. My first run on a treadmill resulted in me running 2.75 miles in 30.56 minutes so I want to either run further or longer tonight. My legs feel a lot better than they did last week after all that walking to work because of the snow, so there should be no excuses tonight. I now realise that I`m never going to be a particularly fast runner, just a plodder really. But I want to plod a little bit further than I have been lately.

No more excuses!

Its been a long time since my last post, I`ve become a reader of blogs rather than a blogger. The snow has call cleared up now so theres no more excuses. I did do a more 2 mile run on sunday night and it was much tougher than I hoped it would be. I also went to the gym on monday night with my friend and could only manage a mile on the treadmill, pathetic! To be fair I did spend a bit of time on the exercise bike and the rower too. I do need to be a bit more organised though because I`m struggling to find time to fit my runs in. The last 2 weeks haven`t been very produtive at all and it feels as if I`m going backwards which is a worry.

Heavy snow thwarts runs!

Well it wasn`t a particularly productive week as far as my running goes because I only managed a pathetic 6 miles. This was partly down to the fact that I was fairly busy towards the end of the week which included a fairly heavy drinking session on wednesday after a work meeting at Earls Court. I managed a mile and a half on thursday night and even that was a real struggle.
This week one of our customers reached a real milestone - Reg was 100 years old, this was a milestone for me too because I`ve never met anybody aged 100 before.
I managed to run a mile last night which included quite a steep hill, Ive not done any hill running before but I felt fairly comfortable so I will start to incorporate a few more hills into my training in the future.
I don`t think I`ll be doing any running this week though because of the heavy snow which has been falling in the south east of England in the last few days. I wasn`t able to shift my car today so had to walk about two and a half miles to work at grove park. I`ll be doing the same thing tomorrow and I am hoping to get there without being snowballed.

Murray beaten!

I ran 3.5 miles yesterday in two parts. Firstly in my break I did a 2.5 mile run which I still find tough, but hopefully these will start to get easier in time. Then after work at about 10-30 I did another mile run fairly slowly. I`ve got quite a busy week ahead of me this week but I would somehow like to run a total of ten miles this week, this would maintain my desired schedule of increasing by 10 per cent each week. Ive got a pool match tonight but it would be good if I could get another run in after, lets see how I feel.
Unfortunately Andy Murray was beaten in the Australian Open tennis yesterday, he was beaten in five sets by fernando Verdasco. My bet in the womens singles Dinara Safina is still going, she is playing Jelena Dokic as I write this.

Friday takes it`s toll!

Friday has really took its toll on me, I intended to do a decent run tonight but only managed a pretty quick mile. When I say quick it was probably around the 10 minute mark but that`s pretty fast for me. I read in a magazine yesterday about a guy in his fifties who ran a sub four hour marathon with only 3 months training which is staggering. He said that it wasn`t long before he was running 7 minute miles fairly comfortably. I`m 37 feel fairly fit but find a 10 minute mile fairly tough so I really need to work harder and get more out of myself. I ran nine miles last week which I am very pleased with but would like to run ten miles this week. The forums and blogs about running suggest that you shouldn`t increase your running by more than ten per cent per so 10 miles is the maximum which I should run this. At the moment ten miles is looking pretty unlikely.

Aching legs and lager shandy!

I`m very happy with myself tonight though I have to admit that my legs ache a bit. I went to a gym with a good friend of mine near Brands Hatch. The gym was fantastic and there was also the added bonuses of a swimming pool, jacuzzi and sauna. Firstly I did 2000 metres on an exercise bike and followed this with 2.75 miles (30mins56seconds) on a running machine, I wanted to run 3 miles but it was getting tough near the end so I will try again next week. I didn`t run particularly fast but I`m not sure if I`ve ever ran continuously for half an hour before so I suppose that`s something to be proud of. A nice dip in the swimming pool followed by ten minutes in the sauna was exactly what the doctor ordered. We then caught the end of the Nottingham Forest - Derby match in the bar after, my two pints of lager shandy have never tasted so good.

Gym tonight!

I did another run on wednesday night, I only done a mile but it was a very fast mile. I`ve read on other sites and blogs that you should try to run a bit faster on the second half of your run but usually I`ve got nothing left. I`m going to a gym tonight with a friend and the plan is to do 5k on a running machine, I don`t know if I`ll be able to but every now and again you just have to raise the bar.
I went dancing last night and had a very good night, I probably had about fifteen dances and there were some nice girls there aswell.
I`ve had a couple of bets on the Australian open tennis, Ive backed Andy Murray and Dinara Safina to win their respective singles titles. Ive also backed them in a double and fortunately they both won their matches comfortably yesterday.

Late night run!

I had a good night last night, our pool team had a match at Croydon which we drew 5-5 and I won both my frames. It was a nice, friendly atmosphere with a real high standard in the second half of the match.
When I got home (at about 11-30) I quickly got changed and did another two and a half miles. This comprised of a 1.5 mile run before a half mile walk and a half mile run to finish off. I intended to run 2.5 miles straight through but I just wasn`t able to. I`m going to try to do another mile tonight.

Bad, real bad!

I played pool last night, it was the last 16 of the singles to be precise. I lost 4-2, I was bad, really bad. In fact I didn`t realise how badly I could be on a pool table, my opponent wasn`t that good either to be honest just better than me. I still sort of enjoyed it in a sadistic kind of way, I `ve always ejoyed competing although it`s never nice to lose.
I felt a bit tired yesterday so I didn`t do a run, I `m planning to do one tonight and abouit 11-30ish after a pool match in Croydon. I really want to do at least 2 more 2mile+ runs before the end of the week.

Road rage!

My day hasn`t gone too well so far. It started well because I got up early and was on the road by 7-30 but this is where all my problems started. It was raining which usually slows the traffic up a little but this was more than just a little, I then heard on the radio that a lorry had overturned in blackwall tunnel which was causing chaos in the surrounding areas. So after plenty of mild roadrage ( this normally means swearing drivers who are queue jumping) I got to work at 8-50, even later than on friday. Even our best laid plans sometimes go wrong through no fault of our own.
On a more brighter note, I did a two and a half mile run yesterday and really pleased with myself, the last mile was really tough but I was determined not to stop. I think I now need to enter myself into some sort of race (maybe a 10k) to keep my motivation up, I would really like to be running 3 miles and beyond comfortably before too long.

Last night my friend came around (a fellow blogger) and fixed my wireless broadband which hadn`t been working too well. We went to Patrick`s bar in Beckenham for a few drinks and too watch the final of the masters snooker which was won by Ronnie O`Sullivan.

An Irish family recently moved in nextdoor to me and they wanted to knock 2 rooms into 1, they now have the highest ceiling in Bromley!

More dedication and commitment!

Well I`m ashamed to say that I didn`t do my run after work on wednesday night, I felt tired and hungry and I was going out in an hour blah, blah, blah.....
I did though manage to complete my during my lunchbreak yesterday. I ran a mile, walked for a quarter of a mile and then ran a mile back, to top that off I ran another mile at about 10 o`clock last night. So in fact I ran a 5k yesterday though it was in 3 parts. I really need to push on further, I want to run a 5k comfortably and then push on towards running a 10k, I know that this requires a bit more dedication and commitment on my part. Having said all of that I do feel pretty good this morning and not as tired as thought that I would be, so the next planned run will be on sunday night at about 6-30ish.
I went to the driving range on wednesday night and I`ve lost any direction which I may have had, I need to watch my instruction dvd again and get some new ideas.
After the golfing nightmare I played some snooker with a friend of mine, the table which we played on was extremely tight (tighter even than pro tables) but I played quite well. I totally reduced the amount of side that I used because I had to be so accurate and it seemed to work. I wish that I had done this more often when i was playing seriously.
I`m going to ceroc tonight at Orpington, I hope it goes better then it did last week when tragically a man there had a heart attck and died.
One of my goals for next week is to start going to bed a bit earlier, preferably by 11 and definately before 12. I`ve been struggling to get up this week and didn`t arrive at work until 8-25 this morning (the poor old cleaner had been waiting outside for me since 8 o`clock).

Back on track!

I need to get back on track, I`ve been doing pretty well with my running lately ( well up until last thursday anyway!) but sometimes life just gets in the way. My kids stayed over friday and most of saturday and I went ceroc on saturday night at Orpington. I worked sunday daytime and met up with some work colleagues to watch the BDO world darts final in the evening. On monday I went to the masters snooker at wembley arena with a friend of mine and had a really good time and after spending some tim with my boys on tuesday I played pool for my pool team( we won 7-3 by the way). If I was nitpicking I could say that I could have got up early on any of these days and done my run then but getting up early isn`t too thrilling for me. But after work today I`m going to repeat leg 1 of week 6 of the `c25k`, so wish me luck.

Another struggle!

Well I did leg 1 of week 6 of the 'c25k' yesterday. I felt fairly comfortable with the first half but not so with the second half, again it was a real struggle at the end. But I suppose this is why we train, it isn`t mean`t to be easy. It will be sunday before I do my next run, the plan is it do it before work but as yet none of my early morning runs have come to fruition. I`m looking forward to the day when I can run 2-3 miles fairly comfortably.
My friend came round last night and we watched the quarter finals of the BDO world darts championships, both matches were close, exciting games. Tony O`Shea beat Gary Anderson 5-3 and Daryl Fitton beat Scott Waites 5-4.

Week 5 complete!

Well I did my 2 mile run last night and it felt really good, even though the last half a mile felt really tough. It was really cold, literally freezing! and my legs began to ache towards the end. But that is best part of it when your body is finding it tough but you`re still pushing yourself.
I`ve completed week 5 of the 'c25k' plan, though I`ve tweaked it a little doing my runs every other day instead of 3 times a week. I will do this until my body tells me otherwise. So week 6 starts tomorrow and were now up to 2.25 miles and I`m feeling good for this training.
One thing that I do need to do is get back to getting to bed before midnight, I used to go bed about 11 and read a little. I think I`ll try and do my run at about 8 tomorrow morning, that may help. Week 6 of the 'c25k' is as follows -
Week 6
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: - Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) - Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) - Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes) - Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) - Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Rest day.
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: - Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes) - Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) - Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)
Rest day.
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2-1/4 miles (or 23 minutes) with no walking.
Rest day.
Rest day
I also need to tidy up indoors, both upstairs and downstairs.
Last night our team had a pool match which we drew 5-5, the match was played in a good spirit nad was very enjoyable. We led 5-3 but couldn`t close the deal. I lost one of the last 2 games myself(though I did win my other game).

Ive just found this and needed to share it with you all -http://www.krispykremechallenge.com/index.html

Its the krispykremechallenge. Runners have to do a 2 mile run, eat twelve krisrpy kreme donuts and then run 2 miles back, fantastic, I love dounts!

Failure!!

The plan was to get up at 6-30 and do a 2 mile run, I knew late last night that I wasn`t going to make it. So at 7-30 tonight after I have seen my kids I will do my 2 mile run, definately!
I played a pool match last night in the last 16 of the doubles competition, we won 2-0 and it was fairly comfortable. My partner is a very good player which is a bonus, we are in the quarter finals now so the pressure is mounting.
I received a tip to back a darts player called Darryl Gurney in the first roung at odds of around 6/4, he won by 3 sets to 1 and I made a tidy profit.
Ive just been relaxing at work with the music channel on the tv when this Alecia Dixon video came on -http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg8yqQwiCNQ I was in heaven, the girl is seriously beautiful. But then the cleaner came over and wanted a conversation, by the time we`d finished talking the video was we`ll and truly over.
While I`m thinking about it I quite fancy watching this film - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AIzbwV7on6Q Slumdog millionaire is a film about an 18 year old indian guy who wins the Indian version of who wants to be a millionaire and is getting great reviews, all I need is an attractive partner in crime.

Brilliant taylor

I completed leg 2 of the c2sk last night and again I felt fairly comfortable. Hopefully I will complete leg 3 at 6-30 tomorrow morning. I watched the final of darts last night in Balckheath with my some of my workmates and had a pretty goodnight. Phil Taylor was superb in beating Raymond Barneveld by 7 sets to 1.

Leg 2 tonight

I`m going to do leg 2 of week 5 of the c25k tonight. -
(Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)Walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes) ).
I`m hopeful that I should do this fairly comfortably, then Im meeting up with some of my workmates to watch the final of the pdc world darts championship between Phil Taylor and Raymond Barneveld. Taylor is the favourite but I`ve got a sneeky feeling that Barneveld may sneak it.
The boys stayed over last night and we watched 'Back to the future 3' together which they enjoyed. Its gonna be a quiet afternoon with them over my mums today.

Leg 1 completed.

I did my run run last night as I said I would and it felt fairly easy apart from the last half mile. I intend to do leg 2 of week 5 (c25k) on sunday night. I went ceroc last night and it was ok but I feel that Ive done my time dancing wise, I`m not really enjoying it like I used to so it could be time to try something different.

Happy new year.

I went to the ceroc new years eve party on wednesday night and had a really good time. I wasn`t really sure what to expect and even considered not going but luckily there were plenty of people that I knew there. I danced constantly and even ended up doing the conga at the end. One of the barmaids looked like Anastacia(well a little bit anyway) and I have to admit that I quite fancied her, but this time I didn`t do anything about it.

Im going to start the c25k training plan this week, which is designed to get anybody running a 5k within a nine week period. http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml Im fairly fit already so I`m going to enter at week 5 of 9.

5

workout 1
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

workout 2
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
Walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)

Workout 3
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking

The plan is to do workout 1 straight after work tonight. Lets see how it goes -