Gym Sunday 26th october

Sundays there's an hour when kids can go in to the gym so the three of us went in. Luckily Katie and Dan were fairly sensible so I was able to do pretty much the whole CV programme, plus a couple of weight machines!

Treadmill - 10 mins at 5.5km/hr, gradient 5
I concentrated more on my breathing today and was able to keep my heart rate below 161 so no nasty warning lights, and I actually felt a lot more comfortable doing this than i did two days ago! I think I'll go for 12 mins next time. Amazing how much easier it feels already.

Cycling - 7 mins, programme 6, effort 3/4
Felt much easier than on Friday - in fact, I actually increased the effort level from 3 to 4 for the last few minutes. I'm meant to keep to about 60 rpm but find a speed of 70ish more comfortable - but for the last minute I really went for it (in a bid to beat Dan distance-wise!) and touched 100rpm! Next time I'll go for the full 10 mins on level 3.

Rowing - 1000m
The kids and I "raced" the 1000m and all finished about even - they had a faster stroke rate but I covered more distance per stroke. As with the other exercises, this also felt a bit easier and I didn't really start struggling till the last couple of hundred metres. Next time I think I'll try and go for two lots of 750m.

Lat pull down
3 lots of 12 reps with 15kg

Leg ??? (have to check the name of this one)
because of the problems with my right knee I do each leg separately on this one and managed the 3 sets of 12 with 5 kg on the right and 15 kg on the left. Scary how clicky my right knee is though.

Wave - 1.5 mins
Pathetic!! I find this machine difficult anyway and was pretty knackered by now. I think I need to do this one much earlier on in the routine in future.

First proper workout Fri 24th October

My first "proper" go in the gym, squeezed in while Dan was at footie training.

I did the cardiovascular programme and it went like this:

Treadmill - 10 mins at 5.5km/hr, gradient 5
I was keeping an eye on my heart rate, trying to keep it below 160bpm but towards the end it was getting really high, 164+ and I got a warning "HIGH HEART RATE" flash up!!! Scary ..... I think I need to keep an eye o this and concentrate on breaqthing properly to keep it lower.

Cycling - 7 mins, programme 1, effort 3
This felt alright though I was pretty tired by the end.

Rowing - 1000m
Exhausting - I was fine up to about 600m but then really struggled to do the last 400. No way I could have done another 1000m afterwards!

Wave - 3 mins
I conked out on this one and only managed 3 mins! Shocking. I found it really difficult though.

Came out feeling good though - tired but good.

Gym progress - start at the beginning

I've recently won three months gym membership and as this is my best opportunity ever of losing weight and getting fit, I'm going to do the best I can! Thought I'd plot my progress here.

So, I'll post each trip in a separate entry, starting with this one - my fitness and goal setting session on Mon 20th October.

Hmm, very unfit. I did a test on the treadmill which monitored how much of my full heart capacity I use doing exercise and on a scale of 1 (almost dead) to 12 (super fit) I'm a level 3. Definitely room for improvement! I was also weighed - 96 kg (15 stone 1lb) - and my blood pressure was very slightly higher than it should be.

I returned on Thurs 23rd and Dave, my trainer, gave me my personalised programme, aimed at weight loss and general fitness. Two days of cardiovascular exercise and one day of toning on the weight machines. We went through every exercise and he noted down all the adjustments I'd need to make to seats, weights and effort levels. he's given me goals but I need to work up to them rather than feel disappointed if I don't reach them instantly. I have a review booked in 4 weeks time - so let's see what I can do between now and then!

So - the programme I'm aiming for is:
CV days -
Treadmill - 15 mins walking at 5.5km/hr on a gradient of 5
Cycling - 10 mins on programme 1 or 6, effort level 3/4
Rowing - 2 x 1000m, resistance 5
Wave - 10 mins, level 3

Toning days:
10 different machines (I think) to give full workout. 3 sets of 12 reps on each. Weights range from 5kg to 20kg depending on machine

Paddington gets second helping of Marmite in new TV ad | Media | guardian.co.uk

Paddington and Marmite ... it's just wrong.

Paddington gets second helping of Marmite in new TV ad | Media | guardian.co.uk

Clegg's conference speech

BBC NEWS | Politics | LIVE - Clegg's conference speech

I rather enjoyed Nick Clegg's speech, but wish he'd gone further on taxes. His comment on reducing the tax burden for 9 out of 10 families implies that there'll be tax cuts for all but the highest earners - which, don't get me wrong, is a good thing - but why not go further? I've long been of the opinion that a 50% tax rate for all those earning over, say, £250,000 would put enough money into the system to help the poor, schools, hospitals etc. whilst not affecting the rich too much.

Maybe that's a very simplistic view, I don't know .... I guess I just get angry that some Premier League footballer earning £50K a week is paying the same percentage of tax as a fairly average earner working hard for £35,000 a year. Seems very unfair and I'm sure a higher rate tax bracket would help.

Ding dong ...

As of yesterday, I have another string to my bow - I am an Avon lady!!

I do like Avon products, especially the moisturisers, and though there is apparently someone working my road, I've never received a book - so I've signed up to work with Avon myself and will be distributing my first set of brochures later today.

In My Head It Works

Went to a fab gig in Camden last night - one of my favourite bands The Race were playing, and they did loads of stuff from their forthcoming album, plus old favourite Comfort, Comfort. All sounding very very good, polished despite this being almost/possibly the first public airing of the new tracks. If you're free next week and fancy seeing them live they're at a mini festival in Reading - I shall be at Truck so will miss it but will definitely catch them again soon. In the meantime, there are some tracks, a blog and more goodies at their new website: In My Head It Works

Get Paid To Search!

If you're like me you'll probably do lots of internet searches every day .... and here's a chance to earn a few pennies for them! Sign up here and you'll be able to add a search box and earn for each search - and what's more, for every friend you refer you'll also earn for every search they do!

Sounds like a no-brainer? It is ... only problem is that they have recently switched from Google to Yahoo for the searches, but so long as you can cope with that it's definitely worth a go!

Goodbye Ben

BBC NEWS | England | Oxfordshire | British boy killed skiing in US

Ben Trichler was at Uffington School, the one my son goes to, till the summer, and then moved on to King Alfred's in Wantage (I think), in the same year as my step-daughter. His mum is also the teaching assistant in Dan's class. Ben was very bright, clever, very sporty - a striking-looking boy who everyone knew.

This is really sad. I don't know him or his mum more than being at Dan's school but feel so upset now. 11 years old ... what a bloody waste :(

Goodbye Ben - we'll never forget you.

NYE vandals strike close to home

I drove through our local town, Wantage, at about teatime on New Year's Eve, and later Ulen asked me I whether I'd noticed if the statue of King Alfred had been boarded up - apparently in previous years it's been a target for drunken vandals and was normally boarded up, but it ended up more dangerous as the idiots just threw bits of broken noarding all over the square so for the last few years there had been police keeping watch instead.

Presumably it wasn't boarded again this year, otherwise this wouldn't have happened: BBC NEWS | England | Oxfordshire | King Alfred's arm left in pieces.

Disgraceful, and very sad to read. Yet strangely, I was in Wantage this morning and didn't notice the damage. I guess when you see something every day you don't really take it in.

Happy New Year ..... let's hope it gets better than this.

Books I read in 2007

I set myself a challenge at the beginning of 2007 to read a book a week ... didn't manage to do it but I got to 45, which isn't bad considering I've spent a big chunk of this year setting up my own business and dealing with Dan's increasingly difficult behaviour. maybe I'll manage it this year - though I think the challenge for this year is a book by an author for every letter of the alphabet, not necessarily in order ... just to get me reading a wide variety.

Anyway, here's my top ten books that I read in 2007 (in no particular order):

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak
The Crimson Petal and the White - Michael Faber
Daniel Isn't Talking - Marti Leimbach
Emotional Geology - Linda Gillard
George and Sam - Charlotte Moore
The Boy in Striped Pajamas - John Boyne
A Lifetime Burning - Linda Gillard
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling