Gym doing good!

Getting more used to just going to the gym now and pretty sure I am managing to maintain fitness and am certainly gaining muscle with all the weight training. Doubly happy as with lots of exercise and very strict intake of food I have been losing weight and am back to the same weight I was at the beginning of last summer, which was a good weight for me for running! Another 6 pounds and I will be back to the same as I was when we got married 5 1/2 yrs ago. And I fit all my clothes again!

Monday 14th December

1 hr cardio – mostly cross trainer/stepper – 650 calories
Whole body weight training

Tuesday 15th december

2 hours cardio – 2 x spin class and 30mins cross trainer
Whole body weight training

Wednesday 16th December

1 hour cardio – 15 mins rower and 45 mins cross trainer/stepper – 650 calories

Thursday 17th December

1hr cardio inlcuding 20 mins running on the treadmill which felt okay

whole body weight training

Friday 18th December

1 hr cardio

Caley Challenge

That’s me, with 5 others, all paid up to do the Caley Challenge in June. I was keen to do this as practice for possibly doing the full whw race at some point just in terms of keeping going through the night and tiredness. Now I am even more glad that I have signed up since I am not running again yet and not sure what plans to make for 2010 even though have a place for London and the Devils and wanted to do the Cateran Trail. I am making no commitments until I know my foot is better.

Sunday 6th December

9.5miles walk – windmill farm, Eaglesham (miles and miles of path, great for walking, cycling and running although only really windmills to look at!)

2 1/2 hours, ave pace 15.55m/m, 785 calories burnt

Tuesday 8th Dec

45 min spin
15 min cycling
Upper and lower body weights

Wed 9th Dec

30 mins cycling
Upper and lower body weight training

Sat 12th dec

1 hr cardio
Upper and lower body weights
I hr walk beach

I tried to run on Friday to see how my foot is and it will be a while before I bother trying again. I thought it was okay at first but it soon became clear it’s not and I mostly felt it around my ankle and inside of my foot but not really underneath it.

Cross training

Still no running but am on a mission to maintain some fitness, get trimmer and increase muscle.  Lost 3 pounds this week so a good start!

I have barely been able to make it to Body Pump classes because of work so I got a new programme done for weight training in the gym and am finding it quite helpful. I just hate being there at busy times and trying to get on machines though!

I am really struggling to get goals for the cardio though and that is something I really miss about the running, having something to aim for and work towards. This week I tried to do it by counting calories and burn as many as I could but I think I will try to keep above a certain heart rate next week. Any suggestions welcome!

Sunday

Body Pump express

45 mins cardio – 30 cross trainer/stepper and 15 bike – 520 calories

Lower body weight training programme

Monday

60 mins cardio – 50 mins cross trainer and 10 bike – 635 calories

Upper body weight training programme

core work

Tuesday

60 mins cardio – 40 mins bike and 20 mins cross trainer – 540 calories

Lower and upper body weight training

core work

Wednesday

45 mins cardio – 30 mins cross trainer, 15 mins bike
450 calories

Thursday

1 hour cardio – 15 mins rowing, 15 mins stepper, 15 mins cross trainer, 15 mins bike
600 calories
Whole body weight training and core work.

Friday

40 mins spinfit class
20 mins cross trainer

Saturday

30 mins cross trainer

whole body weight training and core work

For foot’s sake!

2 weeks on and a total of 2 miles running.  Went to the physio at Hampden and I have Plantar Fasciitis (don’t think I have ever seen two i’s together before!).  So no St Ettienne to Lyon race for me although hopefully I will be running again by then if I work hard at getting rid of this.

It was acute onset (less common) brought on by that run on Rannoch Moor possibly in shoes that did not support my arches enough although I had worn them a few times for quite a while before that but not terrain quite like that.  She said acute onset means it should be quicker to heal but I was tears while she worked on my foot and I have to try and do that to myself with a golf ball as much as possible and get some massage if possible.

She said it was probably lurking before that and that my anke and joints in my foot were really stiff and immobile as well as my calves being tight which is the same problem I was having before the Fling.  I may have to be facing facts that even 3/4 times a week in high heels is no good.  It’s really hard being short and generally having suits that all need high heels.  I don’t think I can really pull of suits with flat shoes!  Plus when not in heels for work I was wearing little pumps which I have now been informed are just as bad as they give my arches no support either!

So it’s trainers and suits at least while driving and in the office – what a fashion statement!  And cross training only as well!

Sunday 18th

cycling

Monday 19th

cycling

biceps, triceps, shoulders, stomach weights

Tuesday 20th

Body Pump

Thursday 21st

cycling

biceps, triceps, shoulders, stomach weights

Friday 22nd

2 mile run

Tuesday 27th

cycling

Wednesday 28th

5km row – 28.34 mins

biceps, triceps, shoulders, stomach, chest weights

 

Another post with no running!

With my foot still being sore I decided on no running during the week so that hopefully I would be okay for Sat’s run with the glee club.

Tues 13th Oct

30 mins cycling

Body Pump

Wed 14th Oct

Ben Lomond

Thurs 15th Oct

40 mins climbing wall

Sat 17th Oct

I mile run, I mile walk

Now I know that Lomond and the climbing wall were not exactly letting my foot rest properly but I had my two best boys staying those days and we have been promising them for months that we would take them up Ben Lomond as their first munro so I did not want to back down.  And we were not exactly slow going up, or down!  They put me to shame with their running to the summit!

In hindsight I should have done a very small run on Friday to see how my foot was and not wasted all that time, effort and petrol driving to Tyndrum, especially when I did not even see anyone but hindsight is a wonderful thing!  Anyway now I am really annoyed about my foot. Hoping to catch up with a long run next weekend (Drymen to Balmaha by road, then Rowardennand and back to Balmaha and back to Drymen via the WHW if anyone is interested) but if my foot is not better and I can’t do it then I think France may be out.  I can’t go on not enough training when I have to finish the 42 miles in under 9 1/2 hrs (I think).  So I was rather grumpy yesterday!

From Potential to Success – Dr Frank Dick

Dr Frank Dick gave the closing keynote speech at the Scottish Learning Festival last month and related the above title to our new Scottish curriculum – A Curriculum for Excellence.  There were  a lot of sporting analogies as well though with plenty of video clips to watch and relate coaching in sport to teaching in education.  It was certainly the most entertaining and interesting keynote/seminar I felt I went to over the 2 days.

It has taken me so long to get round to writing about it that I am not sure it will make much sense but I will give it a go (and leave out the education bits mostly).

• He started off by saying that people are valley or mountain people and it is mountain people who have the winning difference. 
• 3 R’s of coaching: 

1. You have responsibility for your own performance and should be the best you can be
2. You have responsibility for your own development and you should accept/seek coaching
3. You have responsibility for coaching other players/coaches

Not sure if I have that quite right but I can see exactly how it fits for teachers and in that sense I am not always very good at accepting/seeking coaching!

• Coaches should have double vision; focus on the dreams of today and the milestones of the future.
• Plan backwards; for example for London 2012 they will be thinking now what they want their athletes to look like 6 weeks before, 6 months before, 1 year before etc.

Winning is being better today than you

were yesterday, every day!

The above quote will be up in my classroom when I go back to having a class; for both me and the pupils!  The analogy he used was of coaching a kid who started off by coming last in 100m races and gradually got better by focusing on beating her own times, not thinking about beating other people.

He talked at this point about the reason to seek out competition is to make yourself better and that was about needing other people racing beside you to push yourself on (if I remember rightly).

You have to know what winning is to you!

At this point he showed a clip of Ussain Bolt winning the 200m in Beijing (he was there!) and pointed out he had easily won the race coming out of the bend and who was he racing against by then – well it was himself to get the new world record.

The clip I have put on has Steve Cram commentating and you can just imagine him jumping out of his seat with excitement; I watched another one with an American commentator and he could not have been any more unimpressed – there was complete silence in the last 100m!

• Coaching Process:

Be the light  (direct)

Fuel the light (coach)

Reflect the light (support)

Stand out of the light  (counsel)

The first two above were about giving pupils/athletes the roots to grow and the next two about giving them the wings to fly!

• Own – take personal ownership of every opportunity to make the winning difference
• Decide – take considered risks and decisions making and judgement calls to be the winning difference
• Do – just do it!  Act effectively and excellently

He also talked about not giving up until the end – I would love to show the kids in Malawi the clip below as each time I have been out and have done a sports day they have given up running in their race as soon as they see someone winning.

Cathy Freeman was also mentioned and I cannot remember the details of why but it was to do with the hype and controversy of the 400m final in Sydney and how she had to deal with that and run her own race.  I could not find the exact same clip which was of her being interviewed about how difficult it was at the same time as showing the race.

The goal of intellectual life is to enable the next generation to learn from what you have learned from and act on it!

You are there to make it possible for other people to succeed!

The teacher/leader is conductor of their own orchestra!

The three quotes above I will have on the staffroom wall if I ever become a headteacher!

He then showed a clip from the film Pay it Forward, which I saw years ago and sobbed my way through and finished off the address with:

If not you, who?

If not now, when?

Think of an idea to change our world and put it into action!

Perils of running over Rannoch moor – twice!

Sun 4th October – Bridge of Orchy – Kingshouses – Bridge of Orchy

24.23 miles, 5.25.30hrs, ave pace 13.26m/m

BO – VB – 2.9 miles, 41mins, 14.08m/m ave pace

VB – K – 9.14 miles, 1.52.34hrs, 12.19m/m ave pace

9.16min break

K – VB – 9.16miles, 1.57.16hrs, 12.48m/m ave pace

VB – BO – 2.89 miles, 45.10mins, 15.37m/m ave pace

We (pacepusher, weirrunner and I) were very glad we waited till Sunday to do this run after Saturday’s weather!  Today was just perfect for running.  I did not feel I had a good day, especially on the way back, just that my legs were heavy and tired and I did not feel like myself but was pleasantly surprised with the ave pace over the moor each way.

I found it really hard on the way back as it was so cobbly and hard on the feet and I have paid for it since.  The inside of my left foot got swollen and sore and it is still not right.

I got changed for the club on Mon and got up there but after running through the car park realised there was no chance of me running.

Wed 7th Oct

10 mins bik

2 miles treadmill

Thought I would try this to see how my foot was and it was okay but not great.

Thurs 8th Oct

Body Pump

Body Attack

And here was my mistake – doing Body Attack as desperate to lose the extra weight.  Now I’m resting it for a bit but pretty annoyed about it!

2x out

26 miles

A bad week for running!

Monday 28th Sept

5.3 miles, 47.26mins, ave pace 8.57m/m

9.20, 9.05, 8.58, 8.52, 8.34, 8.47

This ended up being the best chance of running that I had all week after me not getting into the house till 10pm on Sunday night after the hardmoors.  Spent all of Monday working at home despite the holiday and then Chris picked me up to go to the club – only we missed them all!  So no speed session for me although it looked like only 2 people were out from my group in the end, having spoken to the coaches.

Chris was very good though and took me out which must have been very slow for him!  I enjoyed my run although had a really sore right Achilles heel towards the end.

Tuesday 29th Sept

No run for me today and the incident which hampered my running for the rest of the week.  Schools in-service days have now become our busiest days with us being called in to do training sessions.  The oil light had kept coming on in the car and I put more in it on my way to work and it was making terrible rattling noises.  Went to a morning session in another girls car but then had to go down the M74 in my own in the afternoon to another school myself. 

Well I never made it to the school!  The engine died and I glided onto the hard shoulder somewhere between junction 7 and 8, very grateful that it had not happened on the huge roundabout that is the Raith interchange!  Very grateful as well for AA coverage and sympathetic staff back at the office who phoned the school and explained I would not be coming.  It was still over an hour to wait in the cold for the AA to come though and another 1/2 for him to look at it and sort it out for towing which was not an experience I wish to repeat!

Unfortunately the car is irrepairable (oil had got into the engine and it is dead basically) and I have spent most of the rest of the week travelling by public transport for between 3-4 hours a day to get to and from work.  And that in the middle of 5 inservice/courses to run in the space of 3 days with lots of materials to carry about was not easy or fun!  It did not exactly help me recover from the weekend!

Wednesday 30th September

2.7 miles, stairs session

1.5  mile warm up

1min, 54 secs, 51 secs, 1.04mins, 1.01 mins, 58 secs, 47 secs, 48 secs

Excrutiatingly tired but managed to get out for a bit before going to the MOBO’s.  Too exhausted the rest of the week to do anything!

2 x out

8 miles

Less mileage

Monday 21st Sept

speed session at the club – 6 miles, 58 mins, 9.41m/m ave pace

1.3 mile warm up

10 x 2 mins with 1 min recovery

7.05, 7.18, 7.38, 7.11, 7.03, 7.13, 7.32, 7.04, 7.04, 7.08

1.42 miles cool down – 9.37m/m ave pace

Really enjoyed the session

Wed 23rd Sept

9 miles, 1.35hours, ave pace 10.36

Ran home from the SECC after work (well the Scottish Learning Festival) with everyone thinking I was mad.  This actually helped as it meant there was no way I was going to go back the next day having not finished!  Had a pretty heavy rucksack with me though and did not feel great with my throat thing either but got it done!

Friday 25th Sept

5.42 miles, 1.17 hrs

Part of the hardmoors with John.  Started off fine but once a couple of guys caught up with us I found the pace too fast and had to drop off at the next check point.  Disapointed as I had been planning that into my week and training plan for France but can’t be helped.

Total for week – 20 miles

3 times out

Report to follow on supporting at the Hardmoors.

John’s 110 mile hardmoor race – update

I cannot get into John’s blog – password not working but reception has also been terrible and we have had no phone or internet reception most of the time so far.  I have managed to update twitter from my phone a couple of times but that is all.

At the 55 mile checkpoint he was doing well and was on his 26hr schedule and then at the 67 mile checkpoint he was just a bit behind it as it is very hot down here and he was really starting to feel the effects of that.

We are giving him a boost (hopefully) at a surprise point and have seen him coming along the cliff tops!