Janathon 15 Day 13

Briefly...

I woke up. It was raining. I snoozed.

I got up. It was raining. I fed the cats.

I sat down (for light breakfast). It was raining. I ate.

I waited. It stopped raining. I got changed into running kit.

I went outside and ran 5k easy in 31 mins and I didn't get wet!!!!

I went to work. Late.

But it's ok because I came home from work even later!!

Good night all!!

Janathon 15 Day 12

Very nearly forgot to blog as it was some time ago that I actually did something today other then staring at a spreadsheet!!!

Woke up with a swim in mind but a fear for new year swimmers. After the mayhem in the pool on Saturday afternoon (yes it was the adult only swim session), I feared for a repeat this morning..... The swim Gods however shined their light down on me... Apparently it had been manically busy but when I arrived I arrived in a lull!! Started off with just two (yes 2!!!) in the lane which hit a max of 5... All of which was fine.... Starts getting a bit awkward at 6 people and above that just silly (lack of lame discipline and etiquette) .... So I was very lucky indeed.

My swim set was made up mostly of sets differing in lengths and intensity... Plan was for 2600m and whilst I followed my plan (so I thought) when I got out of the pool and hit stop my watch told me I'd done 2500m.... I somehow managed to miss a small 100m easy set in the middle!!

Anyway... I did my swim, got changed and got a coffee on the way out to slurp on the way to work.... To commence yet another manic week at work... Not that I had much of a non working weekend mind.... But still the light is hopefully at the end of the planning cycle tunnel as the deadlines are now all approaching...fast!!! It's like a train of swimmers all getting to the end of the pool at the same time... ie it could get messy!!!

Janathon Day 12 Summary.... 2.5k swim

Jantastic weekly log: 1 swim of 1 committed... Tick

Janathon 15 Day 11

Just been watching the Packers Game!!! Great game... Well I would say that given the Packers won.... Although to be honest I don't understand why the catch was not a catch... The result could easily have gone the other way.... Still now off to Seattle.... I love Seattle.... So if Green Bay don't win I will be supporting the Sea Hawks in the final.... But I'm hoping to see green and gold at the Super Bowl this year.

anyway.... This post is supposed to be about Janathon really.... Had on my plan a 2.5 hour ride but also needed to do some work and wanted to rest a bit today.... So I opted for a one hour turbo session because (a) it was shorter and involved less phaffing with cold weather kit... And (b) I'm thinking about doing the Tour of Sufferlandria at the end of the month and if I'm to do that then I thought I'd better get an accurate FTP.

So Janathon torture of the day was 1hr turbo, including 20mins super threshold interval.. Bleah!!!

Despite managing to keep to my Janathon commitment (albeit with a couple of days just easy stretch, core or yoga), I do feel right now my tri training is falling short of my planned sessions. I'm trying not to give myself a hard time because I'm working all the hours during the week and partially at the weekend at the moment and will be for another 2 weeks... So I'm trying to not get frustrated and accept it. At least I'm ticking over even if I'm not getting any fitter/faster....

Janathon 15 Day 10

Pretty much a third of the way through... Will I make it I wonder?!

Today started off very slowly... For two, no, three reasons....

Firstly due to high winds forecast all club rides for today were cancelled last night. So with no club ride to hustle out of bed for I saw no reason to hurry

Secondly it has been a very long working week this week and with little time off over the Christmas period as well I decided I could do with extra chill time in bed. Snoozing, coffee and croissant were the order of the morning

Thirdly I may well have had a glass of wine too much last night (I am a light weight) so my head felt wooly!!! Thankful for excuses 1 and 2!!! Ha ha ha

When I finally got my arse in motion I decided rather then turbo today I'd have a run and possibly swim (!!!) day. So around lunch time I headed out into the blustering wind and fortunately avoided any rain. Had a nice little 10k run over the hill (but not quite far away) ... So it was a windy and lumpy 10k. Mostly quiet trails and lanes though and only the odd fallen tree to navigate around. I literally had a lovely time! .... Although my hamstrings won't tell you that as they are now a bit tight and sore!!

Spent a few hours this afternoon doing some work and decided them to head to the pool for a swim session (missed from Thursday) ..... Oh my the pool was really busy... As busy as it gets with people in the morning sessions... But slightly worse as there were some angry chaps and blissfully ignorant swimmers (ie not paying attention despite the busy pool and not letting people pass at the turns)... The blissfully ignorant seemed to be winding up the angry ones without even knowing.... And then there were the kickers ... In the fast lane.... Now I'm not being funny but that is just completely stupid.... Unless of course you are an Olympic swimmer in which case you could probably out kick all the crawlers in the pool!!! Anyway... To be honest it was pretty chaotic so I did some drills and shorter reps in a quieter lane and only moved to the fast lane when I got into 200m sets. Alas I didn't get to finish what I started as the pool closes at 6:30 on a Saturday... Which isn't too bad... But what with the crowded pool I got something like 2k and 45mins of actual timed activity in my hour long soak!!!

Still... Got home and put on the pie and chips which were scheduled for last nights dinner!! No power cut can keep me from Friday pie for too long!!! 

All in all not a bad day!!! And a double dipping Janathon day!!!

Janathon day 10 summary

Run:     10k. ... In about 62 mins

swim      2k.... In the pool for an hour (about 45mins of swimming and lots of waiting for a gap!!! Ha ha)

Janathon 15 Day 9

Shhhhhhhhh

I'm posting this a day late.

So I will keep it brief and sneak it under the radar.....

Got up. Phaffed a LOT.

Got on my turbo and actually pedalled for 30mins. Nice little TrainerRoad session.

Went to work. Worked late.

Got home to a power cut.

Leading to household disaster of no pie Friday. A calamity.

But it was ok as we had wine. Cheese. Cold cuts.

I wanted the wine after a long week at work. It tasted good... Ummmm 

So that was Friday.

Janathon tick

And as this was a bike session...

Jantastic week 1 = tick 

30mins cycling (turbo)

Janathon Day 8

A micro blog to go with my micro workout.... Work got the better of me today.... Not surprising ... Awoke in time to work out with extra traffic on the road due to bad weather that I wasn't going to fit a 20min run in let alone a 30min turbo.... So I did 15mins of stretching and yoga... Given the yoga contained three press-ups I'm counting that as my micro Janathon entry....

I want to make some more time for me tomorrow my health is better if I'm more active for definite!

Janathon Day 8 15mins core stretch and yoga...

Janathon 15 Day 7

Something strange happened today.... Not the fact that I went swimming... Before work... With the pool strangely empty... No ... I went swimming without my Garmin..... Dun dun dur! This wasn't planned mind. I just. Forgot. It. You can imagine my confusion and decision making of what I should do.... I mean I was already in the changing room and in my costume when I realised... I bravely made the decision I could do it. I could do one session without a watch, no stats, no gadget.. My wrist felt bare ... They say in swimming that it is all about feeling the water.... This was the first time in a long time my left wrist felt the water. Is this what they are talking about??!

Luckily for me my session largely was made up of 25m and 100m reps so these were within the tolerance level of lap counting when I'm swimming!... Phew at least! All in all I think I did around 2550m I was in the pool for an hour anyway.... So not bad for a winter mid week swim.... I just wonder where all the usual people were... It really was strangely quiet....not that I'm complaining! It was great having a swim without the usual turmoil as everyone reaches the end at the same time! 

The best thing about morning swims is getting a costa coffee (albeit from the costa express vending machine) at the end .... Makes the journey in to work in traffic slightly more joyous... Although the joy could also be coming from the fact a swim session has been completed!

As far as Janatastic goes this means I'm 2/3rds through my weekly "target" of one swim, one bike and one run session a week 😄

Oh and I did start my day with 10-15mins of easy yoga and stretching .... Who knew this would help my hamstring tightness out..... Ok you did and I did but actually knowing and doing are very different things ;)

Janathon 15 Day 6

This is going to be more of a micro blog tonight.....

Most often, like 98% of the time I sleep fully and peacefully and feel refreshed in the morning... Not last night... I woke up at 2am with my head full of work (unusual as I'm usually v good at parking it) ... And despite trying to think calming "ommmmmmm" thoughts of floating down a river to a peaceful forest I tossed and turned until gone 4am.... When I finally decided to get up and write everything work related going around my head on to some paper!!! The hunter cat heard me get up and snuck into the bedroom to placate me with some face pawing and uber purring on my return.... So peaceful was the purring that I duly fell asleep around 4:30 and despite waking before 6 I somehow nodded off again ignoring my fake sunrise and then work again at 7:20.... Yes basically what I'm saying is I had a restless night! ..... Clearly getting my excuses in on the blog post today eh... The eventual late wake up meant I'd missed my swim opportunity but wanting to do something I turned to some yoga! So got up and basically stretched myself out some  ... It is important in times of work stress to look after yourself and make sure you give yourself something in the day... So this was my gift to me.

I had hoped to do turbo session when I got home but it was late the time I did so ate instead, watched an hour of crap to whilst working and then have taken myself to bed.... I'm knackered!

Summary Janathon day 6: 20-25 mins of yoga and stretching

Janathon Day 5 - Back to work

Back to work day for the masses who had lots of time off over the Christmas period.... I was grateful for a partial break for the bank holidays but I've been working mostly the last two weeks and the biggest difference today was the amount of noise in the office.... Which was quite disturbing after the last couple of weeks quietness!!

But I digress ... This is supposed to be about Janathon and now given Jantastic has started about that too.... My Jantastic pledge is to complete one swim, one bike and one run session I week... This should be easy enough no matter how stressful gets over the coming two weeks... 

Today I woke earlyish; no rats and no mice presents from the felines... Joy! Having had a light breakfast I jogged out into the raising sun for a short 20 mins ...actually managed 3.2k which means my easy pace appears to be getting slightly faster... Depending on what you are used to.... If I could get my easy back towards a 6 min per km time that would be great not there yet but it could yet happen!!

I planned on doing a short yoga or stretch session this afternoon but given how late I got home that went out of the window and became chill time... Although I find yoga chilling the sofa sucked me in and I couldn't then escape. I read an interesting tweet this morning about how long people are seated in a day... Something like 15 hours.. Gosh! I did think about timing it just to see where I ended up then realised it would be simpler to work out how many minutes I wasn't sitting then to add up all my seating sessions... So figured out : I got up around 0630 and bed by 2200.... Of the day I ran for 20, fed the cats and did chores this morning, let's call that 20mins... Walked to the post office at lunch time... 30mins including standing and queuing.... 10mins to and fro from the car and say 10 mins of other stuff... So of the 15.5 hours out of bed today I reckon I've been active for 1.5 hours.... Good grief... So that is 14 hours sat on my arse... On the sofa, in the car and largely at my desk.... Holly crap! It is no wonder my hip flexors are tight and my hamstrings sore!!! 

I now want a standing desk .... 😀😱

And I should have done my yoga....

Summary Jantastic day 1 and Janathon day 5: 20mins of jogging and a huge amount of time sitting on much arse!!

Janathon 15 Day 4

Yep.... Still going... 27 more days to go.... That sounds a lot... So I will just be pleased I made it to day 4 for now!!!

Given a wimped out of my club ride yesterday due to a better weather forecast today I was pleased to see no rain this morning.... Freezing fog as predicted but no rain ☺️... All apps predicted the fog would lift about 10 and so it did... So whilst the temperature didn't get above 1 degree I did go out.... Not at all speedy but I pretty much blame that of the temperature... Whilst my core was pretty much ok, my lower back must have had less layers then anywhere else... I wore some bib winter tights which were excellent but I guess my coat raised up a bit so just less layers... Happy with my 2hrs 20 mins... Had difficulty getting my leg over my bike when I got home such were the fixed state of my legs.... Brrrr... And I have to say thanks to the driving community... Most drivers were brilliant, were patient and gave a lot of room overtaking which I was grateful for given the conditions.... 

Having got home and warmed up it was the day to take down the Christmas tree and chop it up into green sacks so it can be picked up tomorrow... I am going to count that as a little Janathon activity too 😉

Summary then for Day 4

Ride: 2hrs 20mins 58k including frozen bum

Tree demolition: 30mins including blowing up hedge trimmer, sawing of trunk and stuffing it all into bags

Oh yes... And he had ANOTHER cat present this morning... Thankfully smaller as it was very much alive so I duly caught it and returned it to the forest!

Janathon 15 Day 3

On the agenda for today was a club ride with the intention of getting in a good 2.5 hours.... Then I looked at the weather and decided I didn't want to get that wet (I now risk riding in freezing temperature tomorrow.. Hummm)... So planned on a 40min jog instead

But first things first... I decided as it was my first proper day off this week that I would run the risk of Reading town centre ... Gulp... I've not been in to Reading shopping on a Saturday morning for probably a decade or more (I mean why would you!!! All those crowds and hassle)... Anyway my phone had begun to get clunky and showing signs of being near the end of its life so I basically went and did a smash and grab at the O2 shop and got myself a shiny new HTC One M8.... Very shiny... And very red... Nice.... I also whizzed into Oxfam to get a family calendar for the kitchen.... Job done I scuppered before the crowds got overwhelming and the car park fee too much! 

Despite my new shiny toy when I got home I confess to doing some phaffing with it before venturing out into the mizzle for what ended up being quite a nice (wet) outing.... 41mins for 6.4km... Hamstrings are definitely feeling a little tight but then I've just realised this is my 3rd day in a row of running (unheard of) and 4th run this week (also unheard of)... I should stretch more (and run less)!!!

On the agenda for tomorrow thus is a bike ride and the task of doing something with the Christmas tree.... The decorations are down ... So now we just have to cut into small enough pieces to fit in the garden waste bags.... That could take a while.... 

Oh yes and how I can I forget... We started the day with a first.... The cat brought in a present of fresh rat... Yes rat! At least it was dead in the living room.... Eugh.... Now he gets mice fairly often but never before a rat.... We leave near a forest and it's been quite wet so I guess inevitable that he would find and kill one one day...... Still... Utterly gross and as I say I'm just glad it was already dead as I certainly wouldn't have tried to catch it by the tail and return to the forest as I do for live mice!!!

Janathon 15 Day 2

After I posted yesterday I took a quick look of at my blog..... And to show what an accidental creature of habit I am I actually did almost an identical workout yesterday to January 1st 2014!! Weirdly coincidental!

Anyway, it's nearly the end of the day.... I can tell this because the old cat has just sneeked up onto the bed as is now purring in my ear in such a mesmerising way it makes you want to sleep.... So before I nod off I'd better blog my day.....

Woke early about 5:45 and pondered my day... Some key work activity and some key workouts... Given I ended up doing quite a bit of work yesterday I granted myself a late start so headed to the pool for an arm spinning "ladder down" set which consisted of easy 600, 500, 400 etc etc with some sprints in between each 6*25 after the 600, 5*25 after the 500 etc etc... To cut a long story short I managed it all with warm up and cool down 3.3km... Longest swim in a while and certainly the longest this year ;)

Having done that for myself first thing I quickly got into the work groove and had a very productive day. Breaking for a short walk around the woods for lunch before getting the rest of my "to do" list done.

So much in the groove was I that I called it a day at 6 and capped a fine day off with a 31min run and 5k .... To hence come home and cook pie and chips for dinner!!! Yum!!

Tomorrow's plan at the moment consists of a club bike ride.... But having seen the weather forecast I may postpone that until Sunday and run tomorrow instead!

Well, day 2 down and I seriously think I may be peeking too soon!!!

Janathon 15 Day1

Well I did it.... Did something I mean.... My training plan was urging me to do a 40min run.... My mind was not... So I took to the great outdoors with my better half for a gentle 20min run around the woods behind our house. Was muddy and done at a sedate enough pace to have a nice natter the whole way around. It is good to be outdoors!!

2.75km muddy run done in around 21mins ... Jolly nice

Not quite done when we got in we cracked open the skimble app on the phone and did a work out called "Holiday Huddle" ... A circuit based workout with things like lateral squats, high 5 planks and sit ups.... All was fine until I had to do straight leg lifts ... Clearly I have hamstring issues at the moment as I could hardly straighten my legs... In fact I don't think they did... Seemed a long 15mins but I count that as a solid workout!!!!

And that's it for Day 1 of Janathon.... I hope I last a few days more!!!

In the meantime wishing you and yours a very happy new year and all the best for 2015