Resumption of the Challenge

Don't you just hate blogs which start and then disappear! Sorry for not keeping up with this, but I have an excuse and I think you will forgive me if you knew what it was.

Last week, I mostly cycled. I think I did 100 miles approximately. I also ran 20k on the treadmill and did three sessions in the gym. 

On Friday and Saturday, I took a complete rest and, sadly for me, ate like a horse after a session on the Moroccan Black. 

 I probably set myself back six weeks. This challenge is one of the toughest things I have ever done. You cannot get off the scales for a second. It's iron discipline. I am consoling myself with the knowledge that I nearly smoked after seven years on Friday (but didn't) and I managed to stay out of the pub after Friday - three double brandies and five pints of cider. 

Last week, up till Thursday, I have never been so busy. I was in constant motion, always cycling, unable to sit down. I even enjoyed the weight session on the Thursday. That, for me, is a breakthrough - I detest weight training. But after the weekend, you may as well forget it in terms of forward progress. 

I shall extend the deadline until October 1st. 

Sunday 10th August 2014

Ran 12.5 miles, half of it, down the trail, in pouring rain, the tail end of Hurricane Bertha. I was drenched before I reached the mansion on Westgate. I listened to DSOTM and finally ran up Halam Hill toward the end of the half marathon. I am running distance once per week. My legs were extremely sore after, and I had forgotten to lube, so certain bits were pretty chafed!

Monday 11th August 2014

Gym session. Mostly unable to move my legs.

Tuesday 12th August 2014

Another gym session. 

Wednesday 13th August

7.5 k on x-trainer and treadmill watching Jeremy Kyle. Legs were okay - slightly worried about my knee. Out the rest of the day so that will be it.

Glorious Goodwood Week - Retrofitted

I've been busy all week. Each year, I take a week off to watch Glorious Goodwood and this year proved no exception. I have kept up the challenge, but didn't have time to record it. Here's the retro.

Every time I mention the words weights session, please picture a man yawning in abject boredom.

Day Fifty One: Tuesday 29th July

AM: Weights session. 

PM: Cycled to Newark and back (18.5 miles) (Racecourse route)

Day Fifty Two: Wednesday 30th July

AM: Treadmill and X Trainer. 1 hour. 800 calories expended. Interval training.

PM: Cycled to Newark and back (16miles) (As above)

Day Fifty Three: Thursday 31st July

AM: Farnsfield run along nature trail. Plus the run to and from the trail - approximately 12 miles. Two hours.

Day Fifty Four: Friday 1st August

AM: Rest and recovery day

Day Fifty Five: Saturday 2nd August

AM: 8k X-Trainer and Treadmill

PM: Cycle to Newark and back. The return journey was one of the best cycle rides I have ever had. Perfect conditions for it too. Absolutely flew, even on my trundler. If I had a decent bike, it would have been something special.

Day Fifty Six: Sunday 3rd August

AM: Six Hills run. Approximately four and half miles from Southwell to Thurgarton. Then back again. I may run up to Brackenhurst the back way - or I may not. I used to cane this run back in early 2012 - lets hope I get the same vibe today.

(Did it. Tough old run. Now time for another cycle to Newark.)

PM: In the end, I cycled to Bilsthorpe and back down the Trail. 15 mile round trip, followed by half an hour in the sauna.

Day Fifty Seven: Monday 4th August

Decided to cycle to Nottingham and back. I travelled there down through Lowdham and BJ, turning up through Westdale Lane. That was like cycling up the Matterhorn. It took me an hour and forty minutes to get to Sherwood for my meeting, but twenty minutes of that were spent up Westdale - a nightmare.

Cycled back up Mansfield Road, toward Doncaster, down to Oxton and up along the Oxton Road to Southwell. It's approximately thirty four miles in all. Beautiful sunshine.

Friday 25th July Five Weeks To Go...

Day Forty Six: Thursday 24th July (cont)

AM: Weight Training. 

Yay. :-(

I managed thirty minutes before the boredom got to me. Some people love weights. You see them in there, happy as clams. They love it - its almost social for them - but I just can't see it. Next weights? Sunday evening before social sauna.

PM: Spinning. 17 girls and me. I managed to keep up for 45 minutes - a punishing, whole body, super stamina session. Followed it up with thirty minutes in the sauna. Terrific feeling afterwards...

Here's another run out for the sauna sketch, from underrated, where-are-they-now sketch show comedians Hale and Pace. 

Love it...

Day Forty Seven: Friday 25th

AM: X-Trainer/Treadmill. Approximately 1000 calories expended. Great sprint finish and an easy 26 minute 5k. Not fast, I know, but faster than I am used to.

Day Forty Eight: Saturday 26th
Day Forty Nine: Sunday 27th

Rest days. I did manage the sauna last night, but I was so hungover following the Halifax day out that I was incapable of moving for most of the day. So that's a rare two rest days.

Day Fifty: Monday 28th

I celebrated the half century with a seven miler, down past the racecourse, round Rolleston, down the banks of the Trent and up past Fiskerton station into Southwell. A warm day and I did it in good time, possibly the fastest run I have achieved? I don't know - it felt good. My head and stomach are still ropey.

The Challenge Continues - Saturday 20th July

Day Forty One: Saturday 20th July

PM: 7.5 k X-Trainer/Run. Exhausted and in pain. Also lacking any motivation, so I listened to my body and finished. About 500 calories expended.

Tiggy Wiggy destroyed a decent Newbury Super Sprint field and put herself in line for the Nunthorpe

Day Forty Two: Sunday 21st July

PM: Left my legs alone and in the evening, gave myself a full upper body workout, something I really enjoyed. 

Lots of core work. Very few people in the gym and I took full advantage. Then saw the gang in the sauna and boiled myself like a lobster for an hour. Enjoyed this much more than yesterday and felt great after.

Day Forty Three: Monday 21st July

PM: A much much better session in the cardio room, with a 10k blast culminating in a HR of 166 and a 16kmh sprint for two mins, the fastest I have run over that time. The sauna is never as much fun after a run as it is after weights. Feel back in the groove. 

The weather was like something out of a Hemingway novel; humid, hot and capable of creating an all over body sheen, a car wash beneath your shirt. I was on BB business today and I was compelled to wear my summer suit for the first time in a year and a half. 

Here's me commemorating the last day of FOPP on Queen Street. Luckily it is moving, rather than closing. Love FOPP

Day Forty Four: Tuesday 22nd July

Afternoon: A brilliant cycle along the Trail to Bilsthorpe. It's around 15 miles there and back and on the way there, I took my time, enjoying the sights and sounds of an English Summer day. And it was hot too - humid and very, very sunny. I saw the above slogan painted on a disused railway bridge about a mile from Bilsthorpe. On the way back, I hit my stride and took me half the time. I can't explain why that happened - but there were moments of speedy joy which I am aching to repeat next week.

Evening: An hour on the weights. Really struggled. I find weight training boring and always have done. Running is all about motion and momentum, the quest for rhythm, the search for that perfect moment where you lose yourself absolutely inside your own thoughts and your body floats along. Cycling too, but not so much. 

Weight training just doesn't do it for me and each session is a chore, a payment, a cost. 

It doesn't help that I cannot do anything interesting, like shoulder press, because of my long term neck muscle problem. Nor can I carry out the old posing standby, the bicep curl, because of weakness around my elbows. Boo to weight training...too much like hard work.

Day Forty Five: Wednesday 23rd July

AM: A run to Farnsfield and back along the trail. Approximately 11 miles, perfectly flat. I also ran half a mile there (though not back). Hot day - perhaps too hot for running (drank two pints of water before I left).

So eleven and a half miles without stopping for the first time since November 2012. And this morning (Thursday), I don't feel too bad. I wonder whether I can try Bilsthorpe and back next week in prep for the Nottingham run? That would be a flat 15 miles...

Day Forty Six: Thursday 24th July

AM: Weight Training. 

Yay. :-(

June 20th. Birthday Half Marathon - and a bit.

Day Twenty Two : Friday 20th June 2014

Three days before my 50th birthday. 




If you don't know what I am doing to celebrate the occasion, well, here's the scoop.

At 10.30am on Monday 23rd June, I plan to run from Southwell, where I live, to Nottingham, where I was born and where I used to live. 

The route takes me past Lowdham, Burton Joyce, through Netherfield and down the Colwick Loop road, past the racecourse and greyhound stadium, and of course, the cathedral - Meadow Lane Stadium.

The route is approximately 15 miles, which is two more than I have ever done, and seven miles more than I have recently achieved. 

The logistics are in place (change of clothes with my dad, who is meeting me on Trent Bridge) and all that remains is that I eat tons of pasta and blueberries over the weekend (and no kebab).

It's a tough ask. 
Not the run, but missing my Saturday night treat kebab.

Yesterday, with the football, I was naughty. My friend Clive and I watched Uruguay vs England (like everyone else here) and I had five pints of cider plus two custom made burgers (which were delicious). 

What do you do in social situations? Be one of those over committed bores who decline everything offered? That's just not me.

No. I'll drop 1000 calories later this morning and hope for the best.

AM: Expended 1000 calories on x-trainer and stepping machine while watching a programme showcasing dashing insurance company detectives and, on ITV, the next TV along, Eamonn Holmes interrogating a woman who eats coal 
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Day Twenty Three : Saturday 21st June 2014

AM: Light session on weights. Am resting for Monday. Considered a run in the afternoon, but decided against it. A good trainer never leaves his horse's race behind on the home gallops.

I cooked, however.

They tell you to stock up on carbs, so that's what I am doing, with a small dish of peanuts for protein. The calories won't matter for this weekend, as I will probably burn around 2-3000 on Monday's run. Going to also lie down on the sofa after some tweeting to fully extend the leg muscles.
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Day Twenty Four : Sunday 22nd June 2014

A rest day. However, I disappeared to the gym to some light weights while my floor was drying after a good mop. And in the evening, I went to the sauna for an hour. A large Notts County supporting lady joined us halfway through the session. The Newark lads were in Mablethorpe, so it was very peaceful in there. 

My fiftieth birthday tomorrow. I have taken drink this evening.

This is the Bramley Apple pub in Southwell. I sat at the table closest to the door on the right as you exit. I enjoyed two pints of cider and a Jura malt - to toast the Gods of the Decades. 

Eighteen minutes to go. I will be running in the morning...
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Day Twenty Five : Monday 23rd June 2014

For one reason or another, I didn't do the run to Nottingham. I did, however, run the Extended Fiskerton, which I shall Googlemap for you when I have more time. It is between 7 and 8 miles and in the heat, it was a tough old run. I completed it though and then got on with my birthday.
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Day Twenty Six : Tuesday 24th June 2014

AM: 700 calories expended on the X-Trainer in the morning (one hour).

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Day Twenty Seven : Wednesday 25th June 2014

AM: A light session in the gym in the morning - the usual programme. Watched almost all The Jeremy Kyle Show, which made me feel a little bit guilty. 

PM: Spinning with Mo. A solid session undertaken at the last minute. 50 minutes and was wringing like a dish rag at the end. She has the reputation of being the best spinner in the leisure centre and I can see why. A really good workout. 

I strongly recommend spinning. Its exhausting and tough, but it works your heart and lungs a treat and the last time I looked well/lost weight, in spring of 2012, I was doing a hell of a lot of spinning. The problem is, spinning is a booked class and in the modern world, that can be inconvenient. It is worth it, though. I have a twinge on my right knee and this might prevent me going tomorrow, but I doubt it.

June 13th - Black Friday Weigh-in

Day Fifteen : Friday 13th June 2014

In medieval times, they stayed indoors on Friday 13th and they didn't come out until the sun rose on the following Saturday.  

I couldn't afford to do this as I was booked for a weigh in at the leisure centre, two weeks after my first attempt. 

For those of you bumping into this blog, my intention is to lose weight. Why? After packing in smoking in 2007, I ballooned like a Zeppelin and put on around four stone (56lb). By September 1st, I intend to be twelve and a half stone and this (temporary) blog charts that progress. 

Today was my first weigh-in.

On Friday 28th May, I was 14st 12lb (and a bit).
Today, I was 14st 10lb.

I have run, x-trained, lifted weights like a beast for two weeks and I lost 2lbs. To be honest, I feel deflated at that result. 

Yet, I knew it was going to be tough. I have a slow metabolism, difficulty in digesting food, and a history of severe stomach illness that nearly led to my death in 2008. 

Historically, I struggle to lose weight. It happens. Everyone is different. I happen to be one of those people who watch an advert for Dairy Milk and put on 2lb. It happens.

Those people who lose a stone in a fortnight, as if by magic? It's not going to be me, unfortunately, so, on reflection, I have to be pleased with a 2lb loss.

What I am not pleased with is that I have lost muscle, not fat. 

My trainer, Lee, tells me I have been overdoing the cardio exercise and, as he suspected, the regime is eating into the body's muscle. 

I have no idea how this happens. I asked him what I needed to be doing, and he said carry on your usual stuff for another month and we will see.

Lose the weight and - like the Six Million Dollar Man - we shall rebuild you: We have the technology, he might have said.

There are other results, which sweeten the slightly underwhelming facts on the print out in front of me.

I feel much better than I did a month ago. I feel positively coked up compared to how I felt a month ago. 

Simple reason: I don't feel good after completing a book, I never have done, and tend to go into a low like a Pacific trench afterwards. 

Again, it happens.

IMO, if you suffer from D - to whatever degree, forget Prozac, (which disconnects the emotions to a dangerous extent, in my experience, to the point where very strange things happen), and go to the gym, or go running. 

The endorphin release, the sense of achievement, the shower wiping out the hot sweat of your own exertions - you can't buy the feeling, which is why more and more doctors are prescribing discounted gym memberships ("the GP Referral Scheme"), in cases of patient's suffering D.

So, enough preaching: I have another weigh-in Mid-July. I need to get to something like 14st in that time (that would be losing 10lb in a month), in order to maintain the schedule.

I'll keep you posted.

Today is a rest day. I had a terrible nights sleep last night after that horrific vegetable medley I prepared, which was just vile. Truly disgusting. I cannot cook at all. Gosh, I hate vegetables. 

No bread, chips or chocolate...*sigh*

I'm tired and as Lee said, a rest day is sometimes as good as a two hour session.
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Day Sixteen : Saturday 14th June 2014

Slept poorly again and suffered with my stomach, as I often do in the mornings.

AM: Mixed weight and cardio session. Approximately an hour and at least 5/600 calories expended. Felt terrific afterward. The rest day yesterday worked wonders. I was genuinely tired after five out of six days of double shifts.

Good performance from England, but once again, the Italians know how to play us and they hold the warning sign over the three lions - that's five in a row.

Mood Rating: 8/10  Keyword: Fun.
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Day Seventeen : Sunday 15th June 2014

AM: Treated myself last night and woke up this morning with a bloated stomach that felt like it was carrying a two lb bag of sugar - the bag of sugar I was supposed to have lost last week! (Ngaire/Georgia :-).  

An ex-wife and I spent almost every weekend piling into
the pizza and kebab - but each mouthful had devastating
consequences the next day

If you do fancy a takeaway, always think about the morning after - it's worse than a hangover. 

Bloat, distension,reflux, acid fragmentation, mild nausea, listlessness and vertigo are just some of the symptoms a trayful of sublime badness can inflict upon you.



So, I hung around a bit, tweeted, listened to music (Submarine, the Dark Urban Country band I used to manage back in the nineties) and waited for my stomach to settle.

AM: When it didn't settle at all, I went running anyway.

The highly dangerous Oxton Run. Dangerous because, at any time, on the first segment, you can be mowed down by vintage sports cars, high performance Italian passion wagons, 4 x 4 Chelsea tractors and passing turbo charged combine harvesters on the way in and out of the richest town in the East Midlands. Also, the first three miles are uphill and there is a half mile hill (I call "Pork Chop Hill" after a film I saw when I was a kid and it is just as difficult to climb), at the beginning of the third segment. Map thanks to Googlemaps Satellite.

The trip is only 6.5 miles, but the first three miles are uphill and its a much more arduous run than the one I usually do across the nature trail, which is flat. As I type, my legs are sore. 

I intervalled the last mile - sprinting/jogging/sprinting.

No gym tonight - spectacularly tired...
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Day Eighteen : Monday 16th June 2014

AM: 1 hour cardio x-trainer session. 500 calories. Steps 100 calories. Approximately 9km travelled.

PM: Mixed weights programme interspersed with cardio. 45 minutes. 250 calories expended plus whatever I lost through the rapid fire weights. Good session. 

One hour in the sauna.

Not eaten much at all today. Some weightwatchers snacks. Lots of water. Bowl of tomato soup.

Mood Rating: 8/10  Keyword: Calm and contented
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Day Nineteen : Tuesday 17th June 2014

Royal Ascot ate into my exercise time (and will continue to do so this week) so this is brief. I couldn't get down to the gym in the daytime so when I returned home, without sitting down for a cup of tea, I went straight out again.

AM: Cardio session. 1 hour. x-trainer and stepper. At least 600 calories expended. It would have been more had I not suffered an upset stomach half way through the stepper exercise.

Watched Brazil vs Mexico (yawn) and "Endeavour". Can anyone tell me who did it?
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Day Twenty : Wednesday 18th June 2014

The anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.

AM: Weight and cardio programme. Expended around 500 calories. Dreadful session that left me a bit flat. I was unable to recover momentum in the evening as I was co-teaching.

Backed Field of Dream at 28/1...the second time I have found the winner of the Royal Hunt Cup in two years #busstories. 

Mood Rating: 6/10  Keyword: Neither here nor there
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Day Twenty One: Thursday 19th June 2014

Day off. Football. You all know the score. Here's a brighter memory...#suarezvsengland

The Eve of Derby Day - June 7th 2014 - Week 2

Day Eight: Friday 6th June (Oaks Day)

Yesterday, I was tired out. Listless and emotional. Food withdrawal was likely to have some impact and I had bad news all the way through.

Today was tough too - not least because I experienced an IBS attack at 3.16am which kept me awake till six. I never quite shifted it and, at midday, felt compelled to take Co-codamol for the first time in months. 

A pack of Weightwatcher's Fromage Frais, was probably the trigger, but with something like this, you can blame what you like - you will never truly know.

I read about Ricky Gervais, who has a similar build to me, and his trials and tribulations during a similar fitness routine. 

ricky-gervais-tells-jon-stewart-why-hed-rather-die-drinking-beer-and-eating-pizza-in-a-bucket/


PM: 1) New weights programme. 
       2) 40 minutes X-trainer
       3)  15 minutes Interval training
       4)  Sauna

750 calories expended.

TV: Multiple Soap.  Hagiography of someone called Tina on ITV. Pretty. Killed, apparently. Is Hilda still on Corro? 

Food: Vegetable medley. Jacket potatoes. Oaty biscuits. 3 litres of water. (Sigh - this really is the worst part of the regime. I can see what Gervais is saying. Just writing down the last two sentences is depressing).     

      Mood Rating: 5/10  Keyword: Irritated

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Day Nine: Saturday 7th June (Derby Day)

It's Treat Night tonight.

I thought about what was written last night and realised that after three weeks of doing this (two weeks before I started recording), I have not eaten anything nice at all. 

Nice for me is a takeaway. 

Nothing home cooked, which is almost universally boring. Nothing like seven pints of cider in the Dog and Duck topped off with a visit to Mustapha's.

Feel like a pizza from Pizza Hut, full of MSG and Added Sugar.

I can't eat pizza because the cheese acts like a constrictor around my innards, sadly. (Once ate three large.)

Mmmm. What else?

Curry used to be a cheap and cheerful meal, but it's now become a set-piece dinner only affordable on birthdays. 

Fish (and chips) is unethical because of those giant nets used to catch cod, combined with unsustainable fishing quotas. Anyway, I don't like eating fish - especially those with eyes still intact. (I quite liked tinned salmon - which is a bit like meat, isn't it).

KFC, my absolute favourite, doesn't do my any good (see Pizza) and McDonalds is so un-treat like..more like a staple...

...so that leaves a KEBAB based treat

...that was one from two years ago...:D

How do I justify this?

If I knock off 750 calories this morning in the gym, and stick to fruit in the interim, I might be able to get a plain kebab and chips tonight and what steps I lose toward the goal, I gain in mood health (which is a big dodgy at the moment).

On the other hand, I might not. This may all be the vivid fantasy of the marooned surrounded by coconuts and lemon grass...off to the gym...
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Day Ten: Sunday 8th June. California Chrome Blues

The Derby was a muted affair, dominated as it was by Aiden O Brien, who seems to be the only trainer in the world who actually wants to win the old race. However California Chrome's defeat in New York has left me feeling down. 

What a brave animal - tried all the way to the line over a distance too far and was beaten by fresher, locally trained horses, whose names we shall all forget in three months; animals which didn't contest Churchill and Pimlico. It's not hard to see why Coburn was furious afterwards.

We'll never forget you, brave California.

As I have aged, I realise my relationship with football has become jaded, inspiring shoulder-shrugs more than anything else, but horse racing still has the capacity to jolt my tired heart: Last night in New York brought the emotion into clear focus.

To the point. There was so much racing going on yesterday, I didn't do any exercise, which I feel guilty about. Sorry, gang.

I still had my treat too - something I needed to do as I could feel my mood flattening by the day last week. People talk about sugar rushes and carbo crashes - I think I needed one. 

The other night, I ate mediterranean vegetables with crispbread. Anyone who knows me will attest I am not a mediterranean vegetables with crispbread type of person and it was beginning to get to me. I needed to eat something bad. 

So I had a kebab with onion bhajis and rice from the Vegas kebab house in Carlton - possibly the finest kebab on planet earth. I didn't drink alcohol, which was something.

No matter. I am up for the challenge again today and I am about to go on a long run in the sunshine.  If I can make eight miles, I shall be buzzing.

Thank you, everyone, for reading (and commenting on) the temporary blog. It inspires me and - selfishly - because you read, I won't stop running.

Update: 8 mile run (Nature trail). Flat. About an hour and ten minutes. No breaks. No twinges. Gym tonight at 7.

PM: 40 minutes weights. Quick burst on the X-Trainer (200 calories burned). Sauna for an hour - and a hot one too, with one of the gang restless and ADHD about the water bucket.

Food: Nothing until 11am. Low calorie Crackers. 3 litres of water. Some Go Ahead apple slices.  A plate of beans with pitta bread after training. Bed early.
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Day Eleven: June 9th 2014

Torrential rain outside my window. The sound of the rain is special, especially when there are no cars on the road outside. Thunderclaps shake the walls of my flat. Delighted to be indoors.

AM: A poor nights sleep punctuated with vivid dreams of several people I would rather forget. This left me tired, so I did 45 minutes at 115 constant Heart Rate on the X-Trainer for 500 calories and then came home to satsumas and pitta bread.

Will do more later.

PM: New programme of weights mixed with the spin bike and X-Trainer for an hour. Low weight, high reps - double sets. One hour.

Sauna for 15 minutes but two numpties came and bored me to tears by not talking, so I left, came home, ate tea. Beef cubes, carrots and parsnips. A touch of horseradish sauce and a litre of low calorie squash. Satsumas and red grapes for pudding.

Mood Rating: 8/10  Keyword: Enthused
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Day Twelve: June 10th 2014

An accidentally blank day...

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Day Thirteen: June 11th 2014

AM: 8 mile run down the nature trail. 


Tough start, despite the glorious summer morning. Legs felt like they were inlaid with metal cables. Could barely walk in the opening metres and it took until the very bottom of the trail, near the entrance to the Racecourse, before my legs loosened up. 

At one point, I was travelling so slowly, I felt I was rupturing the inverse space time continuum, but I made it back home without stopping, which is something.

Teaching creative writing tonight so no more exercise for me today.

For those of you who aren't on FB with me, on my birthday, the 23rd June, a day where I leave my forties behind, I plan to run the 14.1/15 miles from my house to Nottingham.

And more to the point, it's weigh-in time on Friday.... *gulp*
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Day Fourteen: June 12th 2014

AM: Spinning class with Lee - few people at the session. The trainer is big on stamina and sprinting and I love it (I was exhausted with fifteen minutes to go), but others prefer the Monday night sessions that involve lots of jumping about. He appeared worried, which is a pity as he is a top lad. He did have 15 there the other week, so I think it may be a volatile time slot. 

I also did 30 minutes of my cardio weight programme beforehand.

Food?

Porridge, satsumas, grapes, Yoghurt slices and pitta bread for breakfast and lunch.

This for tea, after an hour's X-Training in thirty minutes...