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!

Good Times Bad Times

[For the purpose of the following statement i need you to assume that training now consists of whiskey monopoly, Wii fit games a la whiskey, takeaways post whiskey and sleep deprivation]

It's been an awesome weekend of training!

Hmmm so maybe the training has taken a bit of a back seat to fun this weekend but I'm back on track now. In Fridays post i said I'd go to the bowl again that night but work scuppered my good intentions and i stayed at my desk till gone 6:30pm. I had been to the gym at lunch and done a bit of rowing and walking but found it surprisingly frustrating that i couldn't go jogging. Being a Fat Girl it's obvious these periods of enthusiasm don't come often and I'm only too aware if i let it slide it'll be harder to get off my fat arse the next day. Then came the weekend of anti-training and plans of a Sunday jog fell to the wayside. However i think if giggles and guffaws count then I'm ready for a marathon!

Monday was a total exercise fail as didn't get to gym and traffic stopped me getting to Sarah's in time for a jog. I did however have a good session of bopping and clapping at a really really great HotChip gig in Notts.

So with a steely determination to get this fat arse moving I went to the gym at lunch on Tuesday. Only to suffer another fail as it was closed! So Jane and I went for a brisk walk into the village instead, not much of a workout but better than vegging at my desk. I followed this with a 5k jolly round the Bowl later that night! I'm really getting into sunset jogging, it's really beautiful and if i didn't have to focus all my attention on keeping my legs working I'd take my camera along and show you. The skies were an amazing display of burnt amber and crimson, it would've taken my breath away if i had any left. The setting sun also helps keep me going because i don't want to be caught out in the dark half way round a big hole of water, that would be bad times!

So my 5k time on Tuesday wasn't anything special, but i did find it easier going than last week which must prove the faffing about in the gym is doing something. That or being sleep deprived and trying to hold a convo with your mum whilst jogging is the way forward. So even though my speed leaves something to be desired I'm pleased I'm getting out there and staying motivated. I just need to keep it up and hopefully I'll start feeling the benefits soon. That and some of my winter blubber should start shedding in time for a lean mean bikini summer!

P.S Tuesdays walk/jog was brought to you by the music from Maximo Park and the company via mobile of Mrs Mack and Mum!

Todays exercise was brought to you by the emotion GUILT

I was planning to start my training campaign next week when I could say I was 100% recovered from the cold/cough/snot bug I've had. But today I have eaten a whole victoria sponge (which follows an evening of ultimate choc brownies and blueberry muffins). This may well have been in the name of charity but I am still fleeing work in a cloud of woe and self hatred to join my fellow team mates for a spot of afternoon jogging. Hopefully this early start to the training regime will boost my confidence and start me on the straight and narrow. I need to find a path paved in willpower and sucess rather than jam and cream. Darn that cakey goodness.

Race for Life Reflection

So the race is over for another year.

We did it!

Im so proud of all the girls for overcoming everything thrown at them in the weeks preceeding the race and for making it another proud year for the team! We all did it, we ALL did it, we RULE! Im so proud of Team Run Fat Girl Run!

It was ideal weather for the race this year, Hellfire was replaced with overcast, cool, damp conditions. There was a good turn out and it all got a little emotional again, it really hits home at these events just how many people are touched by Cancer and how important the race is. Spurred on by this, Vena and advice from the running bible I got my jog on and both Vena and I made it round in 27 minutes. Im so chuffed with this, i never thought i'd really do it in under 34minutes. And im pleased to say Nick is staying true to his word and coughing up the sponsorship he bet me!

A MASSIVE thanks to everyone who supported us by coming on the day and by sponsoring a Fat Girl. It meant so much to us and Cancer Research UK. We're proud to have done our bit in the fight to beat cancer, so thankyou on behalf of all the Fat Girls, we did it together xx

So anyways, i know i said before i'd never do it again, im too fat and certainly too unfit to undertake such a challenge. But you know what i cant wait for next year. It's true that i got the usual 'i can conquer the world' rush after finishing the 5k, but it's been a week since we did it now and i still want to do it all over again! I suprised myself and maybe if i did have a plan and stuck to it then i could be fit enough to beat 27 minutes?.... have i heard that before?

But first things first we have a whole year of other charity events to try! So what's our next game plan..... watch this space!!!! Or send suggestions to our Facebook group!

Lauren xx

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!

Fat Girl goes public!

Just thought i should update the Fat Girl blog with some exciting news. I awoke on Saturday morning with a bad case of dieters guilt brought on by late night munchies of the flapjack/supping vino variety! Thinking something must be done to quell the guilt and reduce the monsterous effects of a whole night of binge eating, i adorned my leggings, popped on the mp3, laced up my trainers, waved good bye to a open mouthed dad and started my morning jog! Yes that is right TRFGR followers, i took my jogging public! Granted it was 8am on a saturday and Folkestone is quite sleepy at this time but there were people in cars who passed me and im proud to say i wasn't spectacle enough to cause any traffic accidents. And in a town recently famous for earthquakes i didnt even make the local news with a tremor!!

I do have to admit that I purposefully didnt check the time when i left, i decided the sweat produced was a greater measure of the activity than the time it took. And sweat i certainly did, it was a struggle the entire way! To start my leggings disagreed with their position and fought to be in the more favourable location near my ankles. I took a break from cursing my leg wear to complain loudly (in a language constructed from painful wheezing) about the stupid stupid nature of hills. I strongly dislike the UP part of any hill. Unfortunatly i started half way up a hill and in my enthusiasm to tackle the jog i'd confidently started the jog heading UP. This proved unwise as half way round the block i realised i'd be finishing the gruelling jog in the same stupid stupid direction. I greatly enjoyed the DOWN part of the jog, wind in my hair, air forced into my collapsed lungs, what could be better. Then with heavy legs and a drastic change in pace i hit the UP section again, but dispite my complaining and cursing i did it all again.

So i went round the block twice! In my defence it is a big block and the UP is significantly UP. I finished it still jogging and as im measuring its success in sweat and not time i can report that i did very very well! So yey for this Fat Girl who took her jogging public and lived to tell the tale. So far i haven't seen any clips of it on YouTube so mission successful. But don't think for one minute this means im going to start jogging on the streets of Derby! Oh no! I have to actually live in Derby, so now it's back to the air conditioned gym for a nice secluded jog :)

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!!!!

Here we go again

Another yomp round the Bowl of Hellfire - which is totally failing to live up to its name. The weather was horrid. Blustery rain coming straight at us no matter which way we were facing. Not decided whether I prefer being sweaty and damp or just sweaty like in the hot hot heat of race day.
The same rowing people were there being shouted at by sporty types on the bank. The geese were there, inhibiting us slightly by being all over the path and hissing as we tried to pass. The bloke who rows up and down in a canoe in Hawaii 5-0 position (down on one knee) was there as well...it's all becoming very familiar. So to spice it up we went round in the anti-race direction.
I made a bit of a stab at jogging again. At one point both Lauren and I completed a 500m stretch at a reasonable jog. However, it made no odds and final time was 47 minutes, so slower than two weeks ago. Or maybe about the same. Still, for me, could do better.
Factual reporting over I feel entitled to let out a bit of a whinge...my right leg REALLY hurts. I have various pains all down it and after first mentioning it somewhere around the halfway mark formed a hypothesis that it could be down to an injury I sustained to my kneecap some 12 years ago. I think it is making me run gammy and therefore my right leg is now all out of whack. I don't really know what to do about that...
It's not gonna stop me running that's for sure. Just under three months to go and have a clear 15-20 minutes to knock off my time in order to come close to achieving my goal time on the day.
For now though - totally physically tired out. S C-P x