Up at 6am, still dark ....:O)...10K run straight north along the coast towards South Shields.Felt great and what a way to wake up. Just me and the seagulls. Even more impressive as I had 4 or 5 pints of Guinness last night at the dog racing in Sunderland This was the approx route http://www.runningmap.com/?id=318486

Sunderland Seaside....

Ran 2 x 10K runs along the coast the last couple of days, up at 6am this morning and it was still dark, managed to take in the whole sunrise in a 45 minute run. I need to get a photo of it tomorrow, absolutely amazing. This photo was taken later in the morning on the first day. I'll try to get a real orange sunrise tomorrow.

http://www.runningmap.com/?id=317775

12K a wandering

Just took a wandering route round Lasne, looking for hills subconciously as my legs were done in by the time I was finished.....

Quick Bike ride

Legs sore and pretty hungry all day. Did 30 minutes on the bike at a high setting so like climbing a never ending hill.....15k and done.

Pre Dinner 10K

Out for dinner on Friday night, been craving a steak since last weekend's one.So i needed to pay the piper before the dinner. 10K started and I was very stiff and sore, pain in right knee and I felt like I ws running like C3PO or Peter Crouch on a robot dance. Eventually settled down after 4K. Up the hill and while tired I still made it in a good pace having got to the bottom in 22 mins. Wind in my face the whole way home and the track was flooded and muddy. I got home in a tired and muddy 54:53 which is about 30 seconds quicker than my last 10K. Hard work indeed for what is in reality a short distance.....

18 carat...Kilometres

Took a differnt route that I'd spotted when we were out looking at potential new houses the other night. It's a road I've cycled before on my mountain bike and its hilly at the start for first 4K then flat for 7K then down againt for 4K then flat home. I thought it looked good for a long running session.

Very cool here today with a cold westerly wind so long sleeve shirt and training top underneath. Saw quite a few people out running.

Finished in 1:52:12 and although I was very tired in the legs and shoulders I could have ran on and certainly no issues with respiration. Quite pleased that after only 2 weeks of training I've clocked off an 18K run.

New saddle same sore a$%£

Put the saddle from my road bike onto the trainer along with my time trial bars. The original saddle that came with the trainer was a bit too wide and padded. This causes too much pressure across too much area.....

Did 31K in 60 minutes on the indoor bike, legs and lungs great and although I was pretty hot at the end due to it being indoors the only real problem was the pain in backside.....Last time i think it took me about 250K to get myself sorted downstairs. Only 180K to go then.

I could've been a contender

So...as I've just been reminded, its been a whole year since my last posting.....

Its been a pretty lazy year for me and I've ballooned up to an epic 81kg(178.5 pounds or 12.75 stone for the non metric). A multi year high on the weight front for me and 10KG more than my previous low in 2009. My highest weight in memory is 85KG when i was in Germany on the Becks Gold diet Therefore out of neccessity in the last 2 weeks I've been back on the fitness regime.

I've bought a new spinning bike for indoor bike training and am thinking about getting serious about the training again. I've been pretty good the last 2 weeks and have cut out alcohol and rubbish foods. This has left we craving sweets and I've felt hungry for most of the two weeks. I've dropped about 1.5KG.

Exercise wise I've done 6x10K's in 10 days and 2x40 minute 20K sessions on the bike. Times for the 10K's show my real lack of fitness.




1. 10K 1:04, walked for about 500M
2. 10K 1:14, blew up on Hedgehog hill and walked a long way.
3. 10K 1:04 got round but tired.
4. 10k 0:59 OK and ran the whole way.
5: 10K 0:59 OK and ran the whole way but it was v.warm at 27C.
6. 10K 0:55 OK and felt fine the whole route and legs were fine for the first time.

I do remember being frustrated when I was much fitter at the slow rate of improvement and wishing I was unfit again so I could make big improvements in my times....well this is now reality. I'm unfit and I realise that its still hard work putting in the sessions.

No races or long term goals set, just see if I can keep it up for a while as Ive had so many false starts in the last year. Just getting my feet hardened up again....

I do have photo's saved of the size of my gut , I'll do a before and after once I've got a couple of hundred K under my belt and done my first 50K on the bike....

Well done to Chico and Stuart on claiming another Glasgow half marathon medal and tee shirt at the weekend.