Saturday 26 July 2008

More Food ..

Yesterday and today have been so lovely. Ceegar and Meeper came up to see us - and cook for us! Meeper did a fantastic job of a greek inspired salad and crunchy bread, then an incredible long slow cook lamb stew, then Eton mess. 3 delightful courses with Pimms to start, some yummy Chablis, and lots of chat and chilling. Quite, quite delightful.
After a simple start to the day we headed to The Fish Restaurant for lunch. It was quite as good as it always is and crab, then turbot, and a mini pear tart put me in good spirits for shopping. And I managed not to buy anything! (This was a real success for me.) There were incredible green shoes which were so perfect and comfy - but not necessary - so were left. And the Monsoon sale was not raided, despite trying on about 50 items. Meeper found a fantastic dress reduced from £70 to £15! So she was suitably happy. We just had a great potter around and took the dogs for a good beach walk.
Stopping in to see Rockgod and The Professor for a restorative cup of tea (and to pick up a Cath Kidson bag) gave us a good opportunity to see their new place. (Farmer'sWife's old place) They've made it their own and it was great to see Prof covered in soil - a state that makes her knackered but happy - as she worked to tame the garden into some state of usefulness and prettiness.

Getting back to matters of exercise (as I threatened I would) I managed to go to the gym yesterday:
10k in 56.48
All at 6.5 mph or higher and consistent at 1% gradient
6.7 mph for all the 0.2 bits (ie from 1mile to 1.2miles, from 2miles to 2.2 miles etc)

Hands off the machine for every x.2 - x.5 so 1.5m in total hands free. This was incredibly hard and a real challenge for me - but doing it in small segments really seemed to help. It's weird that regardless of speed I can't keep my arms off the bar for too long. It obviously doesn't bother me when running outside. A puzzle.

It wasn't the fastest 10K ever but it was close and it was one of those runs that leaves you feeling like a goddess. It happens to me rarely but occasionally the endorphins go crazy and I feel invincible. It's quite odd but definitely a feeling to savour. I also had all the residual Nedding happiness rushing around my bloodstream and the exercise high on top of a good level of happiness just left me bouncing off the walls.
There are times it is so good to get back to running. There's the Coll Half to run in about 4 weeks so I've got to get back up to scratch. I seem to be a little faster than I was - now I just need to up the distance again. Mmmm miles.
Oh and a new sports bra arrived, and some tennis shoes. Let me make it clear: I bought the tennis shoes not because I am a gadget/stuff freak, but becuase I care so much for my running shoes I don't want to knacker them with unnecessary lateral movement etc. But hell, pretty new sports gear always makes me happy.

1 comment:

Sandi said...

Hi,

I'm working with Takkle.com, a social networking site for sports. Members can post photos, videos, share stats and schedules, and a whole lot more with others throughout the community. Takkle is a place where students, athletes, coaches, and fans can share their passion for sports.

I feel that your site is very useful. I would love to know if you could link to our social networking resource.

Thanks,
Sandi