BGS Bake Day

I'm proudly wearing a red tshirt covered in crumbs...... it's all in aid of the British Heart Foundation and National Wear Red Day. Yup that's today, it's here at last and I'm chalking it up as a big old success.

I organised a Bake Day (aka frantic 10 minute scrabble for cake) at work. It was only a small affair but I'm rather proud of how it turned out. Alex, Jackie, Sheila and Debbie all baked wonderful cakes so combined with my massive batch of cherry and choc muffins we had enough to feed the BGS rabble.

Everyone gave very generously and together we raised £71 for the British Heart Foundation! Not bad at all, makes all the organising and kitchen caos worth it! I'm going to send a cheque off tonight... after I've been to the gym to work of 6000 kcals!!

A massive thanks to everyone who helped. Visit the British Heart Foundation to see where the money goes and why it is so desperately important we're heart aware!

Bad biscuit day

Today has been exactly what is says on the tin. A bad biscuit day. Actually that's not entirely true, it's been a really bad biscuit and flapjack day. I did the gym, again, yesterday and it's still not getting any easier. Having a minor sulk about it. I know i cant expect results straight away but i want to go climbing mountains and running 10k NOW! I don't want to be fat and unfit anymore, now I've made the decision it's getting tiresome waiting for the results of my labour! Of course eating biscuits is quite the wrong thing to do when having a tantrum about being fat, darn the stupid wiring of my brain! Hopefully the weather will stay reasonably clear this afternoon so i can actually get to the Bowl this week, need to jog off these biscuits and try to reprogramme my brain!

Talking of sugar and sweet things. It's the big awaited BGS BAKE for British Heart Foundation tomorrow so I'm over Mackenzies tonight stealing muffin trays and recipes! Hopefully between me and the other super gals in my dept we'll have baked up enough treats to feed our colleagues and raise a lot of cash for BHF!

Groundhog Day

I'd just got my running shoes laced and was hurrying out of work to get over to the Bowl when i noticed horrid cold freezy white stuff falling from the sky. Bloody bloody bloody bloody snow! Now don't get me wrong i love snow- when it's a weekend and and i can go play and get drunk- not when im wearing shorts and trying to keep my balance! So with another epic weather fail I abandoned the Bowl and headed to the gym instead. Armed with my chum Jane's mp3 i started on the treadmill. Thanks to a great mix of tunes incl Feeder, Foo Fighters and Nirvana i jogged 2 miles. That's the furthest i've managed to go on the treadmill without being so bored i had to fall off!!! RESULT!! Also did 10 minutes on the rower and even did some weights. It's amazing the difference an empty gym and some great tunes can make, I might try going after work more often if it's that productive. I went at lunch today and it just felt like a chore, having to wait for people to get off stuff and not being able to sing out loud makes it really boring. I'm not good with boring, not when it comes to exercise.

So with a gym session on Mon and Tues i was expecting aching muscles and sore limbs today but low and behold todays session has been pain free. I'm not sure if that's because im not working hard enough or because of the new shakes im drinking but im happy with the result! I'm positively busting with enthusiasm for tomorrows 5k jog, which is weird. Very weird. But good i guess!

Snow interupts training

What a bummer. Jog scheduled for weekend had to be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions! Annoyingly though so too did my big house move! Instead of 5k and moving house i ended up putting more time into my alcohol endurance training. Booze is bad, but then again i may have slightly (kidding ones self) balanced this out with a lot(ish) of walking. OK so all be it drunk and in the middle of the night but it all counts if my calf muscles were anything to go by yesterday! I still went to the gym though and lasted a dissapointing 10 minutes before wanting to throw myself out the window through boredom not pain. So it's all about the 5k jog tonight round the Bowl of Hellfire Iceyslush.

Seriously though I must curb it on the alcohol front because i really do want to get fit by spring, i will be able to ascend mountains and jog 10k without an oxygen mask and need for hospitalisation. I will, i will, i will, i will, i will... am i convincing anyone else because it's not working for me! Also pissed off the smoking has crept back up again too, a definate side affect of the increased booze consumption. So that is all the news i have. I've concluded drinking is fun but it must be balanced out with better eating and more fitness. Bring on the 5k waddle tonight.

Snow Day

This was the view from my window as i got up to leave the office yesterday night. This would've been a much welcomed sight if i hadn't been on my way to the Bowl to do a 5k.

I know from experience that running in rain round the Bowl is beyond miserable let alone sleet and snow so I decided against it. But instead of buggering off home and snatching a biscuit from the tin before i left i got my gear together and headed to the gym. As usual it was a total waste of time because there's a big red button which says STOP on the treadmill. I'm a sucker for doing what I'm told.

The final result was 10 minutes on the rower and 1.5 miles on the treadmill. Rubbish but better than nothing?

Race For Life: T-13

So it's less than a fortnight till Team Run Fat Girl Run will be limbering up and taking their place at the start of the Race For Life. Granted we wont be first out the blocks when the whistle goes but we've all got our own goals for how we'd like to complete the race. I have my own challenge, set down by Nick who knows my stubbon and competitive side only too well. If i do it in under 34:01 minutes (his time doing 5k/3.1miles with injury) then he'll give me a considerable donation. Now this seemed ridiculous at first thought because last year we did it in over AN HOUR! So i'd need to cut that in half to be able to stick two fingers up at Nick. So i was thinking, can i do it? Will the smug satisfaction of getting under that time push me round the course; will the blood, sweat, tears and lung collapse be worth that...... bloody darn right it will! So that's the target, i'll fight hard for that time. If i dont do it fair enough, it's a pretty high bar for me to reach but i'll give it a bloody good go, all in the name of raising more money for charity (and in no way just to stick two fingers up at Nick.... you reckon?)

For the last few weeks i've been down the gym quite regular. Dont misconstrew this as enthusiasm or dedicated training... its been purely to balance out the fact i've been eating like a horse and smoking like a trooper. OK so i've resembled a lame asthmatic donkey whos left her artillary and marbles back at base. But i have been jogging a mile a time and doing it in a smudge under 10 minutes. It hurts but it's possible now without too much loss of vision and coughing up blood. So if i can keep this pace up for 3 miles i might just make it under 34:01 minutes. So THE Plan has been revised and crammed into 2 weeks of panic training. 1 mile in 10 minutes is achievable. This weeks phase will be to jog 2 miles in 20 minutes and then final weeks phase will be 3 miles in 30 minutes.

Hang on. Reality check! This reminds me of something.. oh yes.. this reminds me of THE Plan i had when i signed up for the race, the first time and the second time. I had a plan to increase my fitness slowly over the year so it wasnt such a panic in the first few weeks before race day. Which, I believe, is exactly where i find myself now and i suddenly feel a little reflective...

Oh how we had such enthusiasm, we were driven, we were determined..... ''we'll do the race again but this time we'll write a blog, have a plan, stick to it, i know we said that last year but this time it'll work, come rain or shine we'll train hard, we'll get fit, we'll do it proper, we wont leave it all till the last fortnight...''

So when im sat there after the race next Sunday, with my heart hammering through my chest, sweat pouring down my back, lungs bleeding trying to smoke a fag and choke down a greasy burger with my final breaths...... PLEASE stop me. Stop me, Stop me, Stop me. And i dont mean the burger or the fag but from repeating all this again! The Plan didnt work, it failed, again. Im not race fit, im terribly unprepared, and im actually going to attampt 5k in 30 minutes! Im a Fat Girl in a two week training panic! AGAIN! So remind me after the race it's just adrenaline making me feel good, explain to me this is a near death experience and my body is in shock, it is not feeling good it is in shock, it doesnt want to do it again and it will hate you for it. Dont let me sing the praises of The Plan and suggest all this again in 2010. DO NOT LET ME SAY THIRD TIME LUCKY! And never never let me talk to Nick again!

Confession of a Fat Girl

I meant to go out jogging ...... i had a whole evening set aside for Fat Girl training, i was going to the Bowl of Hellfire!! I had a bagged packed up with jogging clobber, a fully charged MP3 and TWO bottles of water! Sounds good so far doesn't it? Well, dont get too excited. I'm not sure if you remember what the weather was like on monday but it was blazingly hot..... BLAZINGLY HOT! And with memories of the skin blisters i got after burning at RFL2008 i hung my head in disappointment and wimped out of the run. In my defense i didnt have sun cream and what with Katie's Midnight Walk II only a few weeks away i thought it foolish to risk it.

The guilt at maybe using malignant melanoma as an excuse to avoid going jogging has led me to hit the gym three times this week already. OK so i'm not exactly doing much whilst i'm there but it all counts. I've even developed the confidence to really jog on the treadmill.... even when other people are present! I know!!! Progress or what!

So i've jogged about 1 mile in 10 minutes each day as well as using the bikes and rowing machine to combat those calories (kitkat craving is back, bad times). I really need to increase my time and pace on the treadmill but it's so hard, my stamina is poor and my knees burn almost as much as my dirty smokers lungs!

What's a Fat Girl to do?? Perhaps organise another training session...?? Well low and behold it's only my ruddy birthday soon and i think it only right to celebrate it in true TRFGR style....... DANCING! So grab your gladrags Fat Girls and our beautiful supporters, it's your duty to come train with me....... :D

Oh and there's a theme, and it's electric blue. Be it a bangle, belt or bow i want you all wearing it and being Eclectic in Electric!!!!

...2.....

....1 ..
is the time it took me in seconds before i was sweating and wishing i had kept up a more regular gym routine! Darn it that hurt and i was only walking at 4mph, seriously lame and my lungs HURT! Right that's it smoking is officially bad, because it wasn't official before but now i say it is! Bad bad bad and smelly and dirty. So i'll just pop out for one more and then that's it. I quit!! Until someone cuts me up on the commute home and then maybe just one more, then i quit!

Regardless of my weakness for nicotine i am certain that i need more practice and im going to bully my mum into coming walking with me round the cliffs when im at home by the sea this weekend. She'll love it and i certainly need it!

So a wheezy goodbye from me and i hope your training is going better than mine this month!! If anyone fancies a trip to the Bowl of Hellfire during the week let me know, nights are longer and it's only a stones throw from work... why have i never thought to go there before?? Ah yes... the clue is in the name

Gym... in 5... 4.... 3....

... 2 hours. Very nervous about this visit to the gym. I've slipped back into dirty chain smoker habits and my lungs are really feeling the abuse over the weekend. That combined with minimal gym attendance and SC-P's sterling efforts have got me a little paniced about race in July. I may have lost 10lbs but im no more fit than i was a month ago. I plan to blog after im back from the gym... if you hear nothing expect the worst!!

From this point, forward I go

Fresh from my first training session I now know from where I start and what I have to improve upon for race day.
Last year we walked the 5k at a decent pace considering the heat (and the hangovers) and completed in 65 mins. We thought we'd done alright considering none of us had trained, we ran out of water and at least one team member lacked proper trainers.
I've just done 2.5k in 26 minutes so using the power of maths (a mysterious force over which I have no grasp) I can extrapolate this time / effort and hypothesise I could currently do 5k in 52 minutes. Which is clearly 14 minutes faster than last year.
Not so impressive when I count in factors such as it being much cooler in the controlled gym environment, me being 21lbs lighter and the lack of hangover. In my head I did think I could easily run the whole 5k in 30 minutes by now.
But, alas, that was fanciful thought. I now aim to spend the next five months getting my time down and my run / walk ratio up so that I can get nearer my goal time.

Other things I found out during the course of my training session:

• Las Ketchup is quite a good BPM for my current jog-ability
• Completing 5k in a pack is much more fun than going lone ranger
• I need a new sports brassiere as my bosom is clearly where some of the weight has dropped from.

Anyway, will try and get some cardio training in tomorrow with a one mile swim (which I know I can do in 30 minutes) and then on with the dedicated run training in the week.
If any Fat Girls want to keep me company I am making use of a little known establishment - the Virgin Active. I am sure Mr Richard Branson (proprietor) will find his fledgling business flurishes now he has the endoresment of Team RFGR.

S-ChampPersp x