The biggest fashion crime

After my shockingly negative post yesterday (sorry people, I really do appreciate you reading my blog) I woke up this morning feeling even ropier. I am ill and I am not happy. This wasn’t what I had planned for Janathon day 25. For those of you that read my tweets, you may know that I am one of those people that are forever hot. Not hot as in irresistible but hot as in when I sit in a car, the window next to me often steams up. Attractive!

Today I have not stopped shivering despite having a temperature. I am aching, I feel nauseous, my head hurts and my skin even hurts. A hot bath later and I’m still not warm so I am now committing the ultimate fashion crime. I am sporting a rather attractive all in one adult baby-gro. I like to put pictures up on my blog but I most definitely will not be subjecting you to this monstrosity. Possibly one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen.

Thank you so much for all of the lovely comments on yesterday’s post. The messages of support really mean a lot.  I had decided that I would hit the bath and then head straight to bed tonight. Whilst shivering away in the bathtub Miss Stubborn just wouldn’t go away. My boyfriend is at the boxercise class that I should have been going to and I am jealous.  I cannot stand the thought that all of my hard work is going to go down the drain after 24 days of exercise (well, I am actually on day 26). There is no way I could handle a run tonight. The stubborn annoying tickly cough has developed into a painful, more hoarse little creature and I just feel exhausted. However, while Jon was swinging his right hook, I couldn’t resist attempting just a couple of my core-strength rug exercises.

5 x 20 second planks, 50 x sit-ups, 50 x press-ups and a selection of the Nike special drills later and I am finally hot. I can really notice that I am far weaker than normal and I haven’t pushed myself but I think this little bit of rug action means that I am still in Janathon and Miss Stubborn wins the day. I’m not setting the leader board alight but I am trying my best. Night all!

The day Janathon nearly broke me

That day was today. Time flew by at work and before I knew it the end of the day was here, well after a lot of coughing and spluttering from me. Nothing serious, just one of those pathetic dry coughs that won’t shut up. A glass of water usually does the trick but this annoying little thing was persistent and wouldn’t be calmed by water. In fact the H2O just aggravated it which meant I drunk hardly anything today.

 I headed on to the sweaty tube followed by a sweaty bus ride which I ended up standing on for over an hour due to a ridiculous traffic jam. I felt faint and a little bit nauseous (the lack of water probably didn’t help) and a 5k run was definitely not appealing. I even put out a question on Twitter to my fellow Team Bangs girls asking what I should do. The best advice was to listen to my body and take a rest. But, did I heck!  I wasn’t letting Janathon get the better of me on day 24. So even after a cheeky rest on the sofa, I got my kit on and off I went. Miss Stubborn at her absolute best.

I can honestly say that tonight’s 5k run was officially the worst run ever! The whole thing felt impossibly hard and I was hurting more than I’ve ever hurt before. My calves were so tight; they felt like they were being twisted in a vice. In fact, I was on the verge of tears most of the way round. Partly because my legs were hurting so much and probably more so that I was panicking I’ve overdone it. I’ve harped on about it enough. It’s the biggest mistake that beginner runners make and a beginner runner is what I am. I did a lot of running at the weekend and maybe Janathon is starting to take its toll. The fact that I was probably fairly dehydrated definitely would not have helped either.

I have a boxing class scheduled for tomorrow night but I am not going to let my stubbornness get the better of me. If I am really not feeling good I am going to head to the pool to do some lengths followed by a chill out in the sauna instead. Janathon was intended to help motivate my training and it has definitely done that. There are far more experienced and talented Janathoners out there than I am ever going to be and my ultimate aim is to complete the Paris Half Marathon, not to destroy myself. I am going to remember this in the remaining week of Janathon. I will power on through but with caution.

Today I went running and I saw...

9 bridges, 37 dogs, Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, Syon House, Deer, more deer, lots of rowers, too many runners to count, a giant cow and some kind of Santa School day trip out. You guessed it, today was the day of the mighty long run. Today was a good day for me but it left me with rather sore limbs and tootsies. I was adamant that I was going to run further than I did last week which was 7.5 miles. I set myself a target of 9.5 miles but I kept it between me and mapmyrun.com, just in case I wasn’t quite ready yet for the beastly distance planned.

My sofa was far more appealing than the long run today and I was really nervous but I decided I would just take it slow. Having my i-phone and taking snaps on my long run last Sunday was a great distraction so I decided to do the same today. Running can be boring so I set myself up a little game to count how many bridges I would run under and how many dogs I would pass. Stupid I know but it gave me something to focus on. It became a little like the memory game ‘I went to the supermarket and I bought …’

My route today took me along the Thames towpath all the way from Barnes Bridge up to Petersham and I passed a total of 8 bridges. I snapped all of them except Barnes at the start as you’ve had the pleasure of this already on a previous post. I passed Chiswick Bridge, A train bridge in Kew followed by Kew Bridge, the Bridge at Richmond Lock, a train bridge at Twickenham plus Twickenham Bridge, a mini bridge over the stream into Old Deer Park and finally Richmond Bridge. For any Bridge enthusiasts out there please find my snaps below. The route really is beautiful but it was a bit of a miserable day so the pictures don't really do it justice. If you're not into running it is also a great walking route, especially in summer.

 I saw a total of 37 dogs. There was no way I could capture them all but here are a few that whizzed past me on the towpath.  Sorry about the blurriness. It’s not easy taking pictures while running.

According to the run I mapped this morning, I was meant to leave the towpath at Richmond, head through the town centre, along the Upper Richmond Road and back towards Barnes. I was really enjoying the run though and didn’t want to run along the main road breathing in car fumes. When running, my sense of smell becomes super sensitive and I figured car fumes were not going to enhance my running pleasure.    So I carried on along the towpath towards Petersham, along the Petersham Road, past the gate I should have exited last week to avoid the fight with the mud pie and then  up the steep hill to Richmond gate. I admit I did take a little walk break halfway up the hill. Everything was hurting and running up just wasn’t an option. I am conscious that I want to train as hard as I can but without pushing too early so that I end up sustaining an injury.

If you do the Tamsin Trail, exit here unlike me.

 I headed through the gate and into the tranquil world of Richmond Park. No sooner had I entered, I was rewarded with a view of some bambi-esque deer chilling out in the ferns. So much more to appreciate in here, I knew the detour was the right move. The only down side was the sharp whipping wind in the open space. Ouch! I just ignored it and kept my arms and legs moving. I was in the zone. Although I had adapted my route I knew I had run pretty far and the endorphins were taking effect. I was buzzing!

I came across a giant cow but he was too far away to get a good picture on my phone, several more herds of deer then something that can only be described as a mirage. I am not joking and I am so glad my phone battery held out for me to take a snap just so that you can see that it’s not me going mad. Trekking across the grass was a group of people dressed top to toe in Santa outfits beards and all. They were heading towards the deer. Was it some kind of specialist Santa training school? I don’t know what it was but it made me chuckle and kept me pushing through. Take a look yourself.

The phone died shortly after so I kept my feet pounding all the way to Roehampton Gate with no micro photo breaks, down Priory Lane, past the Lawn Tennis Association, then past the Priory (Yes the celeb rehab place). I kept on, turned on to the Upper Richmond Road, left past Barnes Station and then the short journey all the way home. Phew! I wasn’t quite sure how far I had gone as I had adapted my route. A quick shower and clothing change before heading for lunch with a friend, accessorizing with a massive proud grin. When I got home Jon mapped my route for me and I couldn’t quite believe it. I had managed a total of 10.6 miles which is 17k.  I am pretty damn pleased with that!

This is today's route

Double whammy avec a Janathon grovel

Ok, so firstly I apologise for the lack of post action yesterday but forgive me as this is a double today. This doesn’t mean that I totally failed on the Janathon front, just that my Virgin connection was having a little trouble and I had no time to sort it out.  I made a little pact to myself on 1^st January that Janathon exercise can only be counted as exercise if I change into my workout clothes to commence. So even if I trotted 5k to the shops and back and didn’t break a sweat, this wouldn’t count on my logging and blogging.

I had a day off work yesterday but I had to get up early to finish something I didn’t get time to finish on Thursday. This meant I had a rubbish night’s sleep and woke on the hour every hour in a panic that I was going to sleep in. I got it done and then headed to get my hair done. Natalie Elias at the TIGI academy is officially amazing and made me the happiest girl yesterday so thank you chica. Getting your hair done is the best feeling. Fact!  Roots banished and blunt fringe back = a good day. 

New Hair

Then I headed off to the Park Plaza, Victoria to meet my friend for a bit of Spa action and a much needed massage. I naturally took my costume and planned to do a few lengths in the pool to clock up the day's Janathon exercise.  Plan scuppered when I discovered a lack of pool and even more annoyingly there was a gym yet I had no gym kit.I didn't think it was entirely appropriate to prance around in my functional yet very unattractive swimsuit. I ended up doing a few core-strength exercises in a sauna the size of my wardrobe. So after a fairly short time I gave up and opted for some chilled out book reading instead until my appointment time. My massage was amazing though and I will do a separate post on this tomorrow.

I had to head straight home after the massage to get scrubbed up for my brother’s engagement party so no time for exercise. I indulged in several alcoholic beverages last night for the first time this year but I had a great time. However, I had agreed to meet @gemmakgraham at Parkrun this morning. Hmmm!

When I got home last night I was adamant that I wasn’t crashing out of Janathon in this way, especially after somebody in real life telling me I was her inspiration.( Hello Amy. Sweet dreams if you’re about to head to bed!) Ok, she was joking but it highlighted that people are actually reading my posts and following what I am doing. The pressure is most definitely on.

While Jon prepared a random feast of food I resorted to some rug action exercise in my PJ’s. Don’t be fooled that because I wasn’t in my gym kit I wasn’t going to put any effort in. Wrong! I beasted myself repeating some of the drills that we did at the Nike class and it hurt. The plan was to do a very quick log and an even quicker blog. Virgin had other ideas, hence no post. A rubbish excuse on a pretty poor effort day in comparison to most of the others I have blogged about I know.

This morning I was tired, miserable and my body was hurting. I was planning to meet Gemma (a fellow Team Bangs girly) at the start of the run. Part of me really did want to go to see if I could knock off 2 minutes as I pledged a couple of weeks ago but the bigger portion of me wanted to stay in bed. I even texted Gemma in a cowardly attempt to cop out and said I was happy to go running later if she wasn’t up for running around a hilly, muddy park in the freezing cold. Before she had a chance to reply  I had a word with myself and did a big loud shouty growl and decided I was going to do this and do it properly. I pulled on my gear and as I ventured out into the cold Gemma replied to say she was on her way. Let’s do this Team Bangs!

It really hurt today. My shins and calf hurt and my body ached but I was determined to improve my time. I picked out a runner and I stuck with her the whole way. Halfway round I started to doubt myself. My legs were heavy and my breathing was awful! I was dehydrated (yes, bad alcohol!) and the constant water sipping wasn’t helping me to set a steady pace with my breathing.

Particular low points of the run were being caned by a 10 year old whippersnapper and an old man that was bandaged up like a mummy. High points were that I managed to stick with my chosen target. Another massive high point when I was struggling fiercely was Gemma’s smiley face and encouraging little wave.  As we neared the end of the run I was determined I wanted to overtake my nominated target. Let me just get this straight. Parkrun is a friendly social run and isn’t competitive but it always helps me to set mini targets and unbeknown to this lady she wasn mine today. I pushed myself and managed to just pull past her with about 100 uphill metres to go but could I keep up the lead? It’s a bit rubbish to make the effort to overtake somebody for all of 2 seconds to then be letf for dust at the finish.

She came back behind me and despite my loud garage track banging in my ears, I could hear her breathing heavily very close behind me. She was fighting back! It seemed I was now her target.  I pushed hard with everything that I had to the point that I thought there was a serious vomit risk. All of the speedy runners that had finished were having smug chats at the finish line but there were lots on the line supporting us through to the bitter end.   Being handed that position token is the best feeling. Actually, I correct that. Even better, is getting your email with your time. Here is my email following today’s run.

I was thrilled with this! Despite it being more than a 1 minute improvement on my personal best       (which I achieved last summer), I managed to cut over 4 minutes off my New Year’s Day parkrun time. Consider the 2 minute improvement smashed and Janathon day 22 well and truly done. I have to say, it was a good day all round for Team Bangs as Gem also got a PB. See, we really are working hard. Surely two PB’s is worth some sponsorship. Look at our proud sweaty faces. How could you not donate? www.justgiving.com/teambangsontherun

Short and sweet

I am so tired and I really need my bed so tonight I am going to keep this short. I just wanted to check in to say that today was Janathon day 20 and I still haven’t cracked. Wahoo! Tonight I thought I was going to have a little schmooze with some of the Team Bangs girls. We did get to schmooze a little but that was after a beastly  mother of a work out. I dashed in tottering in my heels and dress from work with my running gear in my bag. Everybody else was already there so I got changed in supemarman style speed, had a little play with the app and then straight on to a class Nike style.

I will do a more detailed update when I have a little more time at the weekend but in brief we went along to a Nike training group to celebrate the launch of their new i-phone app. I have to say I was pretty impressed. It was a great workout that you could do at home or in the park with no equipment and even better it is totally free! There were some professional athletes there and they even admitted it was a challenge for them so I don’t feel as guilty that I was a full on sweaty beast.

Even though I’m totally shattered, I really enjoyed the class but Nike I do apologise for the trail of dried mud that I've probably left all over the venue. This was the remains of Sunday’s long run. Oops! Sorry!

It all started with a tweet

This week has been a good week for me. It’s Janathon day 19, the day after boxercise and I am feeling good. I was raring to go tonight and I ran a different route. A change is as good as a rest so they say. Well, rest didn’t come in to it and I ran 6.5k. I was positively glowing when I got home. Well, I was a sweaty mess but I was still smiling.

I have a busy day planned tomorrow and after work I’m getting the chance to meet up with some of my fellow Bangs on the Run team mates in real life, not just in cyberspace. I can’t wait! I love the supportive tweets, blog comments and facebook posts but I’m really looking forward to seeing the girls in person. We can share stories using more than 140 characters, exchange tips, and I will get the chance to meet some of the team that I’m yet to meet. It’s amazing that we have all met through twitter. A year ago I barely tweeted at all and now I have to confess, I’m a little bit of a twitter addict. I’ve even managed to get my boyfriend involved and he loves it too.

I know this sounds like something from a reality TV show and I can’t quite believe I’m even saying it but I really feel like I’m on a journey. Even more excitingly, I’m actually making progress on this journey and it all started with a tweet. I feel more determined to succeed everyday and when I’m sore from exercise I feel satisfied that I’ve worked hard. I keep reading about people losing weight but I don’t seem to have got to that stage just yet despite exercising a lot. However, the tin of Mingles left over from Christmas may have something to do with that.

 I love to receive tweets and comments from people that have been inspired by me (yes, little old me that could barely run for 5 minutes a year ago).  It is such a lovely feeling and makes the sweat and tears worth it. We are training to raise money for Refuge but on top of that it feels like we are making a difference. As well as motivating and inspiring each other it seems we are having the same effect on other people in cyberspace too which is just incredible.

I don’t know about the other girls but I have received quite a few comments from people that have started exercising after reading my tweets and blog posts. Who said that modern technology makes people lazy? The power of twitter is getting people off their bums.  If you’re still on your sofa then go on, give it a go. Get up off your backside, pull on some lycra and do some exercise. It really does make you feel good. If you can’t peel yourself off your sofa then just click on this link www.justgiving.com/teambangsontherun and donate some of your hard earned pennies. It will make you feel good, it will make the Team Bangs Girls smile and train even harder than they are already!

I feel like I am getting somewhere!

I had boxercise tonight and I was feeling sick with nerves beforehand. Last week I was hurting for days.  I had to rush from work to get there and of course the tubes were delayed because I was running late. I ran to my door, stripped my work clothes off and gym clothes on before running out of the door again. I got to the class in the nick time.

This week the class whizzed by and don’t get me wrong, it was tough but I found it a little easier than I did last week meaning I must actually be getting fitter. Hooray! I’m not going to speak too soon though as I will probably be hurting tomorrow and my arms are still shaking right now.

Today is Janathon day 18 and I still haven’t cracked. Another reason for me to smile! I can’t quite believe I am on my 20^th day of exercise. I didn’t honestly think I had it in me.  I had a bit of a grumpy blip yesterday but I feel more determined than ever today. I have a long way to go but I will keep on until I get there. I don’t want to be the slowest chick in Paris and I want to have time to go shopping, drink wine and eat delicious treats from a patisserie. I guess I’d better keep on going. Short post tonight, as I want to catch up with My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.