Stats
Original Weight: (Jan 1st) 15st 7lbs / 217lbs / 98.4kg
Weigh-in (Jan 22nd) 15st 1lbs / 211lbs / 95.7kg
Gain/Loss Total: -6lbs / 1.8kgs
Day 24 of 365 – Still Little Progress…!
Another week gone, another week of very little exercise. ‘Why is that,’ You ask. Go on then. Ask. Please?
I’ll tell you why that is!
Stoopid British Weather, that’s why!
I’ve been off of work taking holiday days for the past two weeks and for the past week there’s been A LOT of snow. If I’d’ve been working this week and it’d snowed this much, I’d still have walked to work and/or home from work at least once a day. As it is, when you have time off of work and it starts snowing heavily, you don’t really feel like venturing out for a three mile walk or run!
(Another thing that stops me from going outside in the freezing cold snow is that I own a Playstation3.)
It’s not been a complete washout however, as I finally got around to setting up my turbo trainer in the summerhouse!
Instragrammed the crap out of this pic!
Also, I finally got around to joining the gym (after getting stuck on Assassin’s Creed III)
My induction is on Monday afternoon to test general fitness and to give me a plan to work towards. I wish it were sooner, but tomorrow I’m off to the hospital to be put to sleep so that they can remove a wisdom tooth without me trying to punch then in the eye. (Which wouldn’t be wise at all!)
This means that I’ll be recording my 2nd DNS as have been advised not to do any exercise for three days after my op. Pah!
WHOOOOOOOSH!
Yesterday was my first day back at work, and so I decided to get some miles in and walk down through the ice and snow. I never knew I could walk so fast.
It turns out that instead of walking 3.5 miles to work at a normal walking speed (slightly slower, due to snow and ice) I ended up walking a little over 350 miles in an hour. As you can see, I reached a top speed of 25818 mph. Not bad to say I hadn’t done much exercise lately!
It was a few minutes before I figured out my mistake:
There it is! As I’m sure you can see, instead of walking to work, I accidentally ran to London. Silly me! At least I was there and back in an hour, so wasn’t late for work.
I wasn’t even tired afterwards!
Should I Leave These Stats….
No, obviously not. I mean, it’d help a lot with the 2013 mile target, but it wouldn’t be right. Should I… No. I’ve edited them to reflect the actual distance, and decided to not use Sports Tracker anymore. I’m now using ‘Nexercise’ again, and they even give you little medals for doing exercise on certain days, or certain times.
GU
Does anyone use GU? I’ve been looking into Marathon nutrition and the name GU keeps popping up. On their website they do a sample box of different flavours and products for £20.00 so might give it a GU!
My next 10k is now the Mad Dog 10k in Southport on 10th Feb.
Marc Hemingway 
Your post made me smile.
I like the chocolate mint and peanut butter Gus. Chocolate cherry Clif shots (caffeinated) are my secret weapon for roll out of bed workouts and when I teach my 6 AM cycling class. I need to be at least a little peppy 🙂
6AM cycling class?! Ooooof!
Some of the ladies who come to my class swim beforehand :O
Have they never heard of ‘a lie-in’?
So just took a further look at the yak trax site: they now make a style for running specifically. Holy Heck! Add to cart! They didn’t have these when I got my yak trax!
I’ve used GU and GU chomps. I liked the chocolate flavor best as it tastes just like brownie mix before you bake it. LOL! After having kids and 2 c-sections, my digestive system just isn’t as rock solid as it was. The GU chomps helped with that. I’m going to try the sport beans. The one thing I didn’t like about the chomps is that it takes longer to work than the gel as it takes long for your stomach to break it down.
Race Ready sells long distance running shorts and pants that have pockets around the entire waist. I don’t like the feel of sport belts and I hate carrying my own water in my hands so these shorts have been AWESOME! I don’t know if you can get them in the UK? Here’s the link to the site:
http://www.raceready.com/
If you do try GU or any other energy gel for that matter, just to forewarn you, ONLY drink water while consuming GU. GU is absorbed by water in the intestines NOT in the stomach. So if you drink a sports drink with GU, the GU will NOT be absorbed and instead just go straight through you resulting in MAJOR diarrhea!
When I was pregnant, I used GU no problem and also carried raisins with me as a snack during one of my half marathons. They helped. My BFF can’t use GU or peanut butter, she uses the sport beans and swears by them and uses them with gummy bears. She runs an average of 1 marathon a month.
Also for winter running: have you checked out yak traxs? You put them over your running shoes to help you run in snow and ice. Here’s a link:
https://www.yaktrax.com/
If you get them, I’d suggest the yak trax pro as they have a strap that velcros over the top of your shoe. If you wear a wider running shoe like New Balance (has a wider than normal toe box), then get a size up in the yak trax.
People also have been known to take an old pair of running shoes and put screws in the soles for traction in the ice and snow.
Happy Running!
You are so impressive & an inspiration.
Thank you!
The biggest thing with running in the snow is really your footing; temperature can be dealt with via appropriate clothing (though don’t overdress), but an unexpected patch of ice can really ruin your day. Especially in the UK where snow is a relatively rarer phenomenon, do watch out extra-carefully for drivers as well. Even here in Canada where drivers should know what they’re doing, it can get a little ridiculous.
Not a fan of the GU-type gels, myself – too much to choke down at once but too difficult to carry once they’re opened. I prefer the sport candy type things, such as Shot Bloks or Sport Beans.
I had some Sports Beans when we did a half marathon in Sept, they seemed to work OK.
Gu Roctane! All the benefits of Gu and they don’t taste like crap! Woohoo! I highly recommend the one’s with caffeine.
I’ll have a look, cheers!
Although I’m not a runner, and have unfortunately been off virtually all exercise for the last few weeks per doctor’s orders, I really enjoy reading your posts! They always make me smile and make me even more anxious for the doctors to “release me” so that I can start again. I’m even thinking about walking a 5K — have to start slowly, you understand. I doubt that I’ll ever take up running, but I really enjoy reading about your journey!
Thanks very much! Good luck with your walking. 🙂
I’m a Gu user. It’s alright. I have started to like a product called second surge better, but to be honest, I do not think any of them taste that great. I like some of the Gu Chomps better, but the Gu is a staple. If you are training for a specific marathon, I suggest you see what they will offer on the course and train with whatever it is they will be offerring. Either that or plan to carry all your Gu’s…Oh man, now something for me to think on.
Ah, good advice! Hadn’t even thought about having to carry them! I’ll have to get a Batman style utility belt I think. (Always wanted an excuse to buy one!)
GU tastes vile. I wouldn’t bother with them if you’re running <1 hour anyway … you really don't need those 20g of carbs. I only use them when running more than 20k or on the mountains and even then sparingly.
I find mint choc and vanilla the two easiest to choke down. Banana strawberry is pretty nasty. Mandarin orange (w/caffeine) is gross. Espresso is the worst.
A lot of GU gels have caffeine which I can’t tolerate so the flavour I use is Lemon Sublime. The gel is thick – you almost have to chew it before swallowing and the flavour is very sweet but once you’ve swallowed them they do work.
I have tried GU and get along fine with it. I also use fruit snacks that are really for kids but they work the same way in a pinch.
I use GU! I love tri-berry, it is definitely sweet. I have to drink water with it but that is just because of the consistency. I also like vanilla. I am a regular chocolate lover but dislike chocolate in GU form. I think the mix pack sounds good because it gives you lots of different favors to try. Good luck on the next 10K
I’m doing a 10k on Feb 10th too! Good luck!
All the cool kids do a 10k on that day! Which one are you doing?
Can you explain how you got to London so fast. It’s be great if you can as it’ll save me a fortune in rail fair!
I wasn’t really looking where I was going. I’ll take note next time it happens
Hahahaha! I love this 🙂 super fast walking 🙂
In a straight line too!
That’s quite a walk you went on!
So it seems! 🙂
I use gu. I like the peanutbutter the most. Chocolate is good too. I stay away from the fruit flavors. I think they are too sweet
Do they taste like they’re supposed to?
I use peanut butter too, and it really does taste like peanut butter, and has about teh same consistency, although a little bit grainier. I also like the Orange Mandarin, which is more gel-like. And in a long run I find it really does make a big difference to use it about every 45-60 minutes. I also take it right before the start.
Isn’t it hard to eat then, if it’s the same consistency as peanut butter?
No, not at all. Because it’s grainier you can sort of chew it or suck on it and swallow it. It doesn’t stick to the roof of your mouth, if that’s what you mean. And you should follow all Gu with water anyway.
I use gu. Peanutbutter is my favorite flavor. The chocolate is good too. I find the fruit flavors too sweet when I’m running.