Malta was great - it was lovely to see TheO's parents again. It was relaxing, a real break, a chance to get a little bit of sunshine and ultimately fab to be home again - the best sort of holiday. TheO has, as usual, outdone herself with a series (6 or 7) posts about our trip to Malta. If you want to have a look just go to her blog and you'll be able to check out the many sights of cultural interest we managed to pack into our trip.
I am just going to concentrate on the important stuff - the exercise. Jeez - my levels of sadness appear to be unbounded at present. But - onwards to the stats:
12th October - due to the fantastic pool TheO's parents have my first bit of exercise was a swim. It's an unheated outdoor pool of 11m in length (yes, I did measure it to find out). So I hopped in (finding it a pleasant but cool temperature as there had been just enough sun to heat it up) and did 100 lengths. Due to the pool being so short I tried really hard not to push off when in the deep end so I actually swam the distance rather than just glided every length. :) Kept up a good pace and felt delightfully wobbly when I got out.
13th October - this I had been dreading. A run. In the heat. My lovely friends were exceptionally nice to me and wandered round a garden/park for about 40min whilst I attempted a run. It was great to be somewhere safe with decent-ish paths - but it was still quite rough trails. That, combined with the heat, and the huge hill I insisted on tackling made for a really, really, hard run. I had to keep telling myself that even if no-one could see me - I would know if I had walked! So I did two loops which involved a big uphill and then a gentle decent loop and a simple flat section. These were a mile each and were completed in 12.20 and 11.40 respectively. (I think this shows the heat/hill affect.) The for the last 1.1mile I just pootled round the park finding flat-ish bits until I had plodded out the distance. 11.20 + 1.30. A total time of 36.50 was damn slow but I was just delighted to have done it.
15th October - Took my courage and decided on another swim - on a day with no sun -it was arse achingly freezing. Did 92 lengths (1012m) and called it a day. Not bad when moving but any slight stop was almost too cold to bear. Am obviously crazy.
17th October - Was beginning to despair. Malta - especially if you are out in the country - is not a good place to run. There are precious few pavements, poor street-lighting, and crazy driving. Road running would be suicidal on all but a few new roads. In towns you might be able to do some good runs round the outer sections - but you'd have to know your routes well. It was a busy last day with lots of footie watching planned (an England match on the tv; then Malta v. Moldova in the national stadium). Luckily for me we were heading into Paceville (Pa-che-ville) to watch the England boys get gubbed. TheO's Ma suggested I call the Hilton and ask about their gym. I was suspicious as I've tried this at home and no-where lets you use their gym without either a membership or an induction (how many inductions before I'm inducted to death!). Luckily Malta has different standards - bless! For the vast cost (let's not even talk about it) I could buy a day pass and just turn up and use their gym and pool. At least they give you a free locker and towels. :) So I went in and planted myself on the running machine to churn out a mind-numbing 5 miles. The machine was in K and a bit crap so I managed only to get it to do auto-start then alter the gradient to 1% and get the speed to 10kph - 5 miles/8K in 10min/miles was done - two quick stops with me randomly hitting buttons to get it started again - in about 53min. Apart from watching Sky news and the match I had an incredible view out to sea of the huge stormy swell battering the coast - it was stunning.
BACK in the U ... K
19th October - After a blissful sleep in my own bed - more like passing out having been up for 21hours straight the day before - we decided it would be a good idea to go to the gym. TheO went to play squash and I toddled into my local. Managed 5k in 27min was absolutely delighted - only 8 seconds off my fastest ever 5K - really feel like I'm coming back to form (even though I'm carrying far too many excess pounds). Then did all the weights except the tummy machine.
Hoping to have some quality weeks at home. Get loads of work done. Eat a healthy diet, get a few more pounds off before Christmas, up the exercise and appreciate all the things I love about home. Sounds slightly too good to be true.
I am just going to concentrate on the important stuff - the exercise. Jeez - my levels of sadness appear to be unbounded at present. But - onwards to the stats:
12th October - due to the fantastic pool TheO's parents have my first bit of exercise was a swim. It's an unheated outdoor pool of 11m in length (yes, I did measure it to find out). So I hopped in (finding it a pleasant but cool temperature as there had been just enough sun to heat it up) and did 100 lengths. Due to the pool being so short I tried really hard not to push off when in the deep end so I actually swam the distance rather than just glided every length. :) Kept up a good pace and felt delightfully wobbly when I got out.
13th October - this I had been dreading. A run. In the heat. My lovely friends were exceptionally nice to me and wandered round a garden/park for about 40min whilst I attempted a run. It was great to be somewhere safe with decent-ish paths - but it was still quite rough trails. That, combined with the heat, and the huge hill I insisted on tackling made for a really, really, hard run. I had to keep telling myself that even if no-one could see me - I would know if I had walked! So I did two loops which involved a big uphill and then a gentle decent loop and a simple flat section. These were a mile each and were completed in 12.20 and 11.40 respectively. (I think this shows the heat/hill affect.) The for the last 1.1mile I just pootled round the park finding flat-ish bits until I had plodded out the distance. 11.20 + 1.30. A total time of 36.50 was damn slow but I was just delighted to have done it.
15th October - Took my courage and decided on another swim - on a day with no sun -it was arse achingly freezing. Did 92 lengths (1012m) and called it a day. Not bad when moving but any slight stop was almost too cold to bear. Am obviously crazy.
17th October - Was beginning to despair. Malta - especially if you are out in the country - is not a good place to run. There are precious few pavements, poor street-lighting, and crazy driving. Road running would be suicidal on all but a few new roads. In towns you might be able to do some good runs round the outer sections - but you'd have to know your routes well. It was a busy last day with lots of footie watching planned (an England match on the tv; then Malta v. Moldova in the national stadium). Luckily for me we were heading into Paceville (Pa-che-ville) to watch the England boys get gubbed. TheO's Ma suggested I call the Hilton and ask about their gym. I was suspicious as I've tried this at home and no-where lets you use their gym without either a membership or an induction (how many inductions before I'm inducted to death!). Luckily Malta has different standards - bless! For the vast cost (let's not even talk about it) I could buy a day pass and just turn up and use their gym and pool. At least they give you a free locker and towels. :) So I went in and planted myself on the running machine to churn out a mind-numbing 5 miles. The machine was in K and a bit crap so I managed only to get it to do auto-start then alter the gradient to 1% and get the speed to 10kph - 5 miles/8K in 10min/miles was done - two quick stops with me randomly hitting buttons to get it started again - in about 53min. Apart from watching Sky news and the match I had an incredible view out to sea of the huge stormy swell battering the coast - it was stunning.
BACK in the U ... K
19th October - After a blissful sleep in my own bed - more like passing out having been up for 21hours straight the day before - we decided it would be a good idea to go to the gym. TheO went to play squash and I toddled into my local. Managed 5k in 27min was absolutely delighted - only 8 seconds off my fastest ever 5K - really feel like I'm coming back to form (even though I'm carrying far too many excess pounds). Then did all the weights except the tummy machine.
Hoping to have some quality weeks at home. Get loads of work done. Eat a healthy diet, get a few more pounds off before Christmas, up the exercise and appreciate all the things I love about home. Sounds slightly too good to be true.
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