Maintenance Weeks Twenty-three, four and five

Well.  In spite of actively trying to eat all my daily, weekly and activity points it seemed like the trend of the weight dropping off me was unstoppable - I weighed in at 8st 8lbs on the 11th and the 18th July (body fat percentages 24.4 (excellent) and 28.5 (not so excellent) respectively.  However, after a splendid bit of post-race carb (and fat, and sugar, and alcohol)-loading (where's the fun in doing it beforehand?!) I weighed in at 8st 13lbs on Wednesday.  I wonder why...

Was it worth every bite?  Hell yes!

Women's Running Nottingham 10k

I did the Women's Running Nottingham 10k last Saturday, and it was brilliant!  I really enjoyed it.  Mum and Dad very kindly offered bed, breakfast and some rather splendid evening meals to me and Jules and we made a weekend of it.  I was really nervous for two days beforehand - I had butterflies in my stomach all Friday! - and I vowed never to run a race when I'd not comfortably run the distance in training.  It would have been unbearable if I hadn't known I could run 10k without any problems.  I was nervous about the ankle I'd sprained a couple of weeks ago wasn't going to hold up, and also that it was going to be blazing hot, but I think I was most nervous about the dreaded *bathroom issues* (which I drove everyone mad by mentioning every few minutes).  At my request Mum served a light - but lovely- meal on Friday night with fruit for pudding (no cream for me!).

Fortunately the morning of the race dawned relatively cool and overcast, and after a light breakfast of a sprinkling of muesli, banana and a slice of toast (in spite of Dad's urgings to have more, as "you can't run 10k on that!) we headed to Nottingham.  It was a lot less busy than I thought it would be, and we parked straight away in a huge grassy car park.  There might not have been many cars, but there were a good number of people and a good atmosphere.  After the obligatory queue for the Portaloos I put my race number on and posed for a nervous photo.

Then it was on with the (very exciting!) chip and the warm-up.  The ankle was a bit sore, but I could put my full weight on it, and I reckoned I'd be able to run the whole 10k.

After a bit of a motivational cheer and a very short wait we were off!

My race strategy (which sounds very grand!) was very simple: start slow, start slow, start slow.  I decided to run the first 5k at a very leisurely pace and then speed it up if my ankle was holding up.  So I ignored everyone sprinting off at great speed (including the 60 minute pacer, to my alarm) and trotted along at my own pace, being overtaken by pretty much everyone.  Having done the starting too fast thing in races before (in my 5k days) I knew that a lot of the people overtaking me wouldn't be able to keep that pace up (and would be suffering greatly later). 

At the 5k mark my ankle was holding up nicely and I was ready to push it a bit.

I overtook people steadily for the next 5k and crossed the finish line with a chip time of 1:00:53.

The only thing I didn't do was keep a close enough ear on RunKeeper (which, thanks to the fact I'd had it on pause at the start was saying wierd stuff to me like "you have been running for 49 minutes, 1 second...") during the last few kilometers, otherwise I would have realised how close I was to my target of sub-60 and pushed it a bit harder (although I was mindful of the fact that I didn't want to cross the finish line and throw up...never a good thing!).  Lesson learned for the next race. 

As it was, though, I was thrilled to bits with the race I ran.

The time for the first mile includes a couple of minutes on pause at the start - I didn't start that slowly!  I didn't quite manage negative splits either, but I think that will come with practice.  The most important thing is that I had an absolutely fantastic time.

Thank you to Mum, Dad and Jules, the best support team ever!  Half-marathon next, folks...!

Garden Update II

The garden is growing faster than I can blog about it.  On the 30th June the 'tates looked like this:

At the weekend they looked like this!

On the 30th June, the strawberries looked like this:

Now they are absolutely magnificent.

They produced one of these yesterday, one the day before, and one the day before that!

The peas have flowered, and have got (black!) pods on them.

The courgettes are bravely making up for lost time.

The first apple ever has appeared in the front garden!

The old favourites are back in the flower border, along with the new colour-magic geraniums, which have flowered their little hearts out this year.

And, although I don't have any photos, we now have a second raised bed in the back garden!  There was a sunset at the end of a hard day's work in the garden....

Maintenance Weeks Twenty-one and Twenty-two

I have just realised that in four weeks' time I will have been at (technically under) my goal weight for six months!  I may make myself a cake (insert winking smiley here...).  Not much to report...I am currently sporting a sprained ankle which is stopping me from doing any exercise, and which means I'n blogging from a cafe in Sedburgh while Alastair does a walk.  It's not badly sprained fortunately, and I think if I'm sensible now it should be recovered in time for my race in two weeks' time.  It had better be! 

Weight-wise, I got back up to 8st 10lbs last week, B.M.I. was 21.1 and body fat % was about 28.  In spite of eating pretty much the same this week I dropped back down to 8st 9lbs, B.M.I. 20 and body fat % about 26%.  I think, I can't find where I put the print-out with all the stats on it.  I'm very conscious of the fact that I really don't want to lose any more weight, and could do with actually putting some muscle on.  So I'm working hard to eat all my daily, weekly and activity points and to eat as healthily as possible (which includes home-made cakes of course...I am delighted to report to anyone who might be concerned I'm not eating enough that I ate cake at least four times last week.  And a scone with jam and cream.

Which brings me to exercise news...I ran 7 miles on Tuesday (in the rain.  I'm hardcore).  I could not be more chuffed. 

Garden Update I

I haven't blogged about my garden much this year, largely because I haven't done much in the garden this year. This has been partly because it's been Winter for ever, and I've got a kind of seasonal jet-lag (until the recent hot weather I was convinced it was early May at the very latest), and partly because this has been happening!