I actually giggled

Yesterday, when I was doing my clean and press at the new weight of 20kg... after the first set, I sat on the step and looked at my heart rate monitor to see a heart rate of 186.  I actually giggled! :o)  It dropped to 141 in my 60s rest, which was nice, but still... 186 from pushing iron!  No wonder I have DOMS today.

This morning, the pizza weight from Tuesday had gone bye-bye so I'm "only" a kg up on last Friday now; I expect a bit more of that will be gone by tomorrow morning too.  Back on track for target weight next week again so all is well there and given the ferocity of my current weights routine, I'm reckoning fat % should be dropping too :o)

I was going to have a rest day today, but I had one on Tuesday, which I wouldn't normally do, so I figure some cardio today might be fun a good idea. A little playing in the Wave machine, which I've not done in a while, and some intervals maybe on the cross-trainer with a little faffery on the static bikes (which killed my thighs so I only did 5 minutes of that!).

Another of my comfort dinners this evening; beef chilli with baked beans mixed in.  I just love it!

[photo to follow - oops, Mr TOTKat had borrowed my camera for the day, so no photo!]

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, Yeo Valley fruit compote and Grape Nuts
S - Dorset Cereals bar; berries and cherries
L - salad; lettuce, cherry tomatoes, celery, sweet peppers, spinach falafel
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
S - carrot and Waitrose houmous
S -  MP beef jerky
D - beef chilli with baked beans

Exercise - 45 minutes cardio

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1659 2179]
Protein (g)	145.8 (36.0%)
Carbohydrate (g)	162.5 (37.7%)
Fat (g)	47.3 (26.3%)
Fibre (g)	34.5
Fruit & Veg	13.8

Endurance just ain't there

4 weeks to that there first triathlon and I've done bugger all running and cycling.   So, it's time to fit in some running to my week.  The easiest way to do it is to get off the tube a few stops early on the way home and run the rest of the way.  So I did.  I picked a stop 5km from the house and ran.  And ohboy was it horrible.  About 2km in and I was knackered, it was so hard to keep going, but right now I don't have the option of not building up endurance, so I pushed through it and got all the way home, with 3 stops for traffic lights, in 29 minutes.  Slooooow.  10.4km/h is not a good speed for me for 5km, but not to be totally unexpected after pretty much no running over the last 3-4 months.  I guess a pretty hard gym session on the legs earlier in the day (I've upped the walking lunges with 16kg kettlebell up to 20x30) didn't help either...

Monday:-
Exercise - 55 minutes gymmage, 29 minutes running

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1910 2545]
Protein (g)	146.0 (31%)
Carbohydrate (g)	183.6 (36.5%)
Fat (g)	68.0 (32.5%)
Fruit & Veg	11.1

Achey legs and bum, so yeah it's a great idea to go to the gym for a cardio session on the cross-trainer, Wave machine and bike this afternoon :oD

Today:-
Exercise - 55 minutes cardio gym

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1562 2227]
Protein (g)	141.2 (36.7%)
Carbohydrate (g)	151.0 (36.8%)
Fat (g)	45.2 (26.5%)
Fruit &Veg	9.9

Virgin Active anyone...?

Anyone else seen the 10 minute challenge at the Virgin Active gyms this week?

I noticed it while I was doing intervals on the cross-trainer (having done 10 minutes on the wave machine - oh my god that hurts my thighs!) and cut them short to have a look. And I'm -so- glad I did!

Choose 2 out of 4 fitness challenges; bike, row, run and cross-train (different intensities and distances for each, e.g. 1.5km scramble on the bike or 100m climb on the cross-trainer); and either an easy (takes 15% off your total time if you get it right) or hard (takes 30% off your total time if you get it right) mental challenge. A trainer sets up the machine and times you, you answer the mental challenge whilst slogging away. Total time minus any bonus from the mental challenge enters you into a competition for Amazon vouchers and a bicycle.

So I did it. And picked bike, cross-trainer and hard mental challenge. In 05:05! And I got the mental challenge wrong (oh the shame of it!); it was weird, my brain just refused to work while my body was being punished so hard. No idea if that was a good time or not until the trainer looked up "the next fastest woman"! (who did it in 07:25 so I was over the moon!) Plenty of week left for someone to beat me, but still WOOOOOO! It was FUN! (and I had to slow right down at the end of the cross-trainer challenge 'cause I was going so hard I was about to barf!)

So, if you're a Virgin Active member, check out your local gym to see if they're doing the challenge and HAVE A GO! Its brilliant! (and you get a free t-shirt for having a go anyway)