Race report: XNRG Druids Challenge (84 miles in 3 days) - Day 3

Day 3 - the day my Fenix 3 lied about it's battery charge level :(

So my watch was on charge over-night and reported 100% when I put it on, but when I pressed "go" it suddenly had only 50% charge.  Hey ho.

Anyway.  Breakfast was arse - with the porridge being burnt to the pan it was cold cereal or nothing and I didn't feel like nothing so I had 3x Weetabix with a banana chopped up and lots of milk and a couple of mugs of tea.  So far from my usual food and I've not had banana since Cat Faux gave me half of hers before I did a couple of London Triathlon relays in 2013 (which was again the first banana I'd had in over a year).

Anyway...

Day three and the diesel engine was starting to wind up.  I ran more of this day than the first day.  I felt better, more able to run and the running felt better on this day.

To be fair, the elevation profile was gentler on this day, but *oh boy* was there a sting near the end in a downhill on tarmac which resulted in me being in tears and I heard folks behind me shouting obscenities due to the pain in their quads.  Harsh work so close to the finish and it really shows you where you've not taken care of your legs on the earlier downhills.

At the end, I was glad for it to be over.  The chap I came across in the last few miles was right about where the finish was and it was further away and more up a hill than I was happy about while we were talking.

I feel like I earned this medal and the long-sleeved top we were given at the end.  I didn't have the greatest physical performance compared with what I think I'm capable, but mentally I did a great job of getting over having a pretty terrible first day and various setbacks around availability of food I prefer to eat for breakfast and evening meals as well as pretty evil blistering on my little toe.  I was grateful for Tina the foot-care specialist and the job she did in holding that toe together enough to get me through days 2 and 3.

Ultra, to me, is about problem solving and overcoming adversity.  If it were easy, I would be less interested in doing it.  Though I do think it's easier than straight-up road marathons in many ways, it's only because I'm in a place where I want to compete at road marathons, but I'm still mainly completing ultras (which are also mainly off-road) as it's so variable and new and I've not done the same one more than once (yet).  And I think it's something I can sustainably do for many more years to come.

Race report: XNRG Druids Challenge (84 miles in 3 days) - Day 2

Day 2 - the day of Weather

Having spent 15 minutes in a cold shower, picking the mud off my legs at the end of day 1, followed by not the kind of dinner I was looking for and a fairly mentally difficult day, I'm not entirely sure how I ended up carrying on on day 2.  It got a bit worse before I started too...

I prefer to avoid large amounts of carbohydrates in my diet.  This means my breakfasts (when I have them) are usually based on eggs, avocado and cheese in some form.  Breakfast on day two was a choice of; boxed cereals, croissants, pains au chocolat, bananas, orange juice, and porridge.  So, porridge it was.  I'd normally start a run without breakfast if it starts in the morning and then eat when I'm done - this is what I did most days on my Thames Path trip last year, where I was averaging 31 miles a day and it works well for me.  However, on this day I really felt like having some breakfast, so I listened to that and had a pretty big portion of porridge.

Having felt quite demoralised on day 1, I knew that day 2 was going to be tougher physically despite being shorter.  Muscles would be feeling pretty used & abused from a pretty long run the day before, including having enjoyed some downhills a bit too much and challenged my quads somewhat.

So it did take a little while to get going and it was already raining by that point - the forecast was for rain until around 1pm and 20mph average winds.  And by golly the weather delivered.  I'd been warned it'd be quite exposed out on the ridge on this day and adding the extra miserable weather forecast, I decided to keep a long-sleeved top in my pack as well as my waterproof/windproof jacket.

Having been shivering with the cold before the start on day 1, a good few checkpoints yesterday and again today were asking me if I was cold when I would show up in just a skort & t-shirt and motor on through.  I only really got cold after the last checkpoint on this day, despite the torrential rain that fell from pretty much the start of the day until midday.  There were 20mph (average) head winds that swirled & gusted and didn't die down at any point during the day.  The rain stopped at midday, which was really nice.  But then it started up again about 45 mins later, getting harder and sharper and evolving into hail with the wind turning from a head wind to a side wind.  The rain > hail was so sharp it was hard to keep my eyes open.

You can see here from the look on Tim's face that it was pretty painful! 

Terrain-wise; there was a fabulous section through the woods, skipping over hidden logs and tree roots under the pretty Autumn leaves on the ground.  But as a counter point, there was more wet, slippery chalk to skate over too.  Much less of that than on day one, so much less crossness resulted. 

Having stopped to fill water bottles at all of the checkpoints on day 1, and take a snack or two at the later ones I reduced it to only filling water bottles on this day and a couple of bites of Marmite sandwich at the final checkpoint.  And I ended up drinking too much water.  I stopped for a wee 6 times!  Part of that was down to being wet to the skin all day and chilling my mid-section as a result, but I definitely felt water-logged as my hands swelled quite spectacularly, having been fine the day before, and I was feeling a bit queasy by the end of the run.

By the end of being soaked to the skin, chilled by the fierce winds and pummelled by sharp hail, I was so happy to see tea & coffee coming out of one of the vans at the finish line.  There was a short wait while one of the shuttle buses came to take a batch of us to the leisure centre for the evening.

Where, by the time I got there, there was no water.  Not even just no hot water in the showers, but no water at all and the pipes drained down pretty quickly with all that loo-flushing and hand-washing going on.  No fun at all.  So, I ended up using my damp sports bra to scrape the mud off my legs before putting on clean trousers for the evening.  The meal was much better though - a lovely fresh salad, sausages and pasta for those who like that.

Another trip to the Tina the foot-care lady was needed as the tape that was on my little toe since the previous evening had partly come off, bunched up and taken a lot more of the skin from my toe off with it.  This time it needed a bit more attention; dressing for the night to keep the iodine doing its job and then it'd get some hospital-grade burn dressing in the morning to protect it during tomorrow's run.

Race report: XNRG Druids Challenge (84 miles in 3 days) - Day 1

The Druid Challenge is a 3 day stage race (on foot).  84 miles from Ivinghoe Beacon to Swindon along the Ridgeway National Trail.  It's run by XNRG who organise quite a few multi-day ultras through the year; ensuring they're at least 26.2 miles on any given day with individual day entry so each day counts as a single marathon for those aiming to enter the 100 Marathon Club.

I decided I "needed" to enter a real multi-stage race, having had a go at a self-supported 6 day run along the length of the Thames Path last October.  I really enjoyed that and it would be a nice easing back into the land of ultra marathons with a 3 day stage race of less average distance per day than I covered on my Thames Path run.

The week before the race, I had mostly pretty awful runs and wasn't really feeling it, so I decided to stay in a hotel near the start so I could have more sleep rather than taking the train up to Tring on the morning of the race.  I stayed at Pendley Manor (which is over-priced and shit, by the way) and got a cab to the station where there were shuttle buses to the farm where registration was happening.

Day 1 - the day my engine & legs didn't want to play.

Day 1 is the longest day and the latest start time of the 3 days.  I'm guessing that the 10am start time for those who would be walking is to allow for folks to get a train to Tring from a reasonable distance away, get registered and sorted out and up to the start, rather than being forced to stay overnight nearby.  But at almost 30 miles, starting at 10am if you're walking, or 11am if you're an average runner means you're definitely finishing in the dark and it's pitch black on the trail at this time of year at that time of day.

Anyhoo, I got the shuttle bus to the farm having met a lovely lady called Viv who had recently covered the Camino di Santiago, and registered in a grain shed.  A couple of cups of tea later and some chatting with a couple of Spanish hikers who were looking forward to their first official ultra race (which they were entirely likely to be covering with quite some efficiency as seasoned hikers), and it was time to head up to the start.

We were briefed on safety and the race philosophy - it's a challenge, fun/enjoyable, and be safe - and then walked up Ivinghoe beacon to the start in quite a chilly wind and up a very slippery chalk path which we were going to turn around and run back down again along the start of the Ridgeway path.

Neil, the race director started us off with a countdown from 5 to 1 and off we went.  And immediately my legs pretty much said simply "piss off".  And my breathing was laboured right from the off, despite not that much speed being involved.

The profile of the route today looked like it was one of the tougher ones as well as being a bit long, so that made me feel even worse, mentally, given the state of my legs and engine.  It felt like I was pushing way too hard, or wasn't warmed up, but the pace was pretty sedate.  It took around 25 miles to warm up in the end and I only felt reasonable with 4 and a bit miles to go on the final stretch.  There was a lot of sliding sideways on slippery mud on this day, and I wasn't the only one who was pretty frustrated by that and a bit cross on a good few occasions.

There were some pretty cool sections, running downhill through leaves in the woods, skipping past folks who were a lot more tentative over that terrain.  It felt amazing.  At one point in the woods, I was almost by myself but a blonde lady was just in sight ahead of me.  She was going to take a straight on into a farm, where I though there was a gap in a fence where the trail went, so I called to her that the route went through the fence (which it actually did).  I recognised her voice straight away as the melodious tones of Niandi Carmont (ultra runner and podcast guest/partner of Ian Corless on the Talk Ultra podcast).  She was so encouraging and supportive throughout the 3 days of the race, and we had a good few chats in the evenings.  It was great to meet so many lovely people over the days (and some familiar faces too), but it felt like we got on really well and it's a shame I'm not likely to see Niandi again (mainly because I'm rubbish at that sort of thing).

By the time I got to the final check-point I thought I might just make it to the finish before sunset, but in the end I was about half an hour short of that and ended up using my amazing head torch (which was a Christmas present a couple of years ago).  The final stretch was a good few miles along a dark trail and then along a couple of roads.  My legs and body had decided to behave themselves by then and I felt a lot better, like I was really motoring (which I wasn't, but at least it felt like I was) into the finish line.  Day 1's running over with I went into a very dark place and wasn't sure that come the morning I'd start the next day with the other runners.

A hot shower and a nice dinner might have made me feel better at this point, but the showers in the school we were staying in were cold, and dinner was pretty uninspiring dry chicken breast in a runny sauce with some boiled veg.  OK, my dietary preferences aren't exactly mainstream, but still...

HOWEVER, the race organisation was good! The checkpoints are well-stocked and I did have 1/4 of a Marmite sandwich and a few mini-cubes of Rocky Road during the day which was what I wanted at the time (especially the Marmite sandwiches :o) ).  The medical care, especially the lady who took care of everyone's feet who had any problems at all, was fantastic.  I had ignored a bunched-up sock on my little toe all day and created a spectacular blister that she drained & taped up for me so it was protected the next day.

29ish miles done... time for sleep and see what the next day brings.

Thames Path: Day 4 - Streatley to Cookham

This was the day of Serious Wind.

Starting from the pub in Moulsford, I'd run today's route as far as Reading with Louise and then as far as just past Remenham as a recce trip but ended up having to short cut onto the A4155 to Marlow to get picked up - a good 5 miles running down a national speed limit road with no pavements.  That was quite a learning experience that day.  Anyway, it meant that I hadn't actually run the section from Remenham to Marlow before and having recced then from Eton Dorney onwards, there was a good chunk of today's route I'd not seen before.

I'd decided I was going to break up the longer days into two sections.  This is a holiday, you see, and not some sort of enforced torture-march, so I'm supposed to be enjoying myself.  Today's planned stop was at the cafe at Sonning lock.

This was not only the windy day, but also the hilly section.  For a path that follows the river, there's a reasonably hilly bit up through Goring and Streatley which interfered a little with the continuing run: walk strategy of 8 mins:2 mins.  I've trained for flat, so the slightest incline is really hard right now.

That may not look steep, but see how high I got quite quickly...

Another pretty, tree-lined section again today, and despite the wind there was a good bit of sunshine too, to lift the spirits.

More hills.

Mmmfuzzy (sweaty lens again)

And then a long, long, long private road section that leads into Whitchurch.

See the leaves being blown right off the trees in the winds.

Some lovely flat meadows again on the approach into Reading, but they belie some quite uneven ground underneath the grass.  It *looks* soft and flat, but it's pretty hard on the ankles and feet.

Yay. Mapledurham lock has a really useless distance sign on it.  Where does "London" start exactly? Is it to the edge, the middle, the City...?

A more useful sign seen a few times through this area was the leftovers again from the Centurion Winter 100 race.  One of these gave me a great heads-up on a sharpish left to cross railway tracks at Tilehurst, thanks guys!

This bit of the path has a quite long section through a housing estate.  It's steepish in places and you feel like a right idiot hiking through a housing estate in full long-distance running kit with running vest/pack loaded up and soft water bottles flopping around like cow udders on your shoulders.  Well, I did anyway.  And this was the second time of doing it, having run through here weeks earlier with Louise.  I was very glad of that recce run, otherwise I think I might have been quite disappointed by this section.

Popping out of the other side of Tilehurst/Purley-on-Thames, brings you into the Caversham-ish area and some really pretty bits of path again.  This section is concreted and that makes for a nicely dry run even if it has been raining quite heavily.

Wow!  London just got 20 miles closer in less than 5 miles of running; magic!  And soon, Sonning Lock hove into view.  It was shortly before 11am and the cafe opened in 10 minutes, so I sheltered in their lovely little riverside garden until the lady opened the cafe and apologised for lack of hot food.

No mind; there was shelter, tea, cake and power for my devices.  Perfect.  Two mugs of tea, half an hour of device charging and a slab of Victoria sponge later and it was time to get back out and brave the gales some more.



Heading out into the pretty fierce wind again, part two of day four took me out towards another new section and one with some of the route away from the river.  Stopping always runs the risk of it being hard to get going again, though the day I ran 34 miles with a break in the middle for lunch, I really didn't have any problems with that at all.  Today, it was definitely harder.  With 3.5 days of running already in my legs, my hamstrings were creaky and my feet really very sore and achey.  It takes a while for things to warm back up again and the pain of my feet to get backgrounded by my brain.

I love these little alleyways, especially when it's windy!  Though this little bit really feels like you're going through someone's back garden...

Again with the long private road through Lower Shiplake and onwards towards Henley.

Some of the bridges and weirs are utterly spectacular.  This one outside Henley has to be my favourite.  It goes on forever!  And last time I ran over it, I came across a little spaniel about 1/4 the way to the end, lying on it's belly with all four legs outstretched and trembling.  The poor little fella was terrified of the big gaps between the planks and had given up in a shivering heap, so I called his owners to come and give him a lift to the end of the bridge.

The river was very high through Henley and the wind still pretty fierce, mostly a head wind which was starting to get really boring.

Henley - a section I'd not done before

A long concreted section gave way to another field *yawn*.  Pretty though as the sun had broken out for a few hours and despite the wind, the weather was making things look all picturesque.

There are stretches of the Thames both yesterday and today that have some utterly enormous river-fronted houses.  Lord alone knows how much they cost or, indeed, how anyone actually gets to work from them to anywhere sensible.

Another awesome-looking mansion

After a while it gets a bit grating, seeing enormous mansion after immense manse, especially when you're a good 30 miles into a 35 and a bit mile day.  I was starting to get a bit weary by now and wondering how far away Marlow was, as that would mark the final couple of miles to Cookham and the end of the day's running.

Thankfully, around yet another of the bends in the river, Marlow's distinctive skyline came into view.

HELLO MARLOW!

I was pretty confident in the day's mileage, so I knew it was only a couple more miles from Marlow to get to where I was staying that night, just off the river in Cookham.  And as I ran into Marlow, the heavens opened for the day's predicted rain, and for the first time I actually put on my fabulous Salomon rain jacket, put the hood up and trotted through town for as long as the rain lasted.  A whole 5 minutes!   Rain had been promised for the entire day's run and I was pretty pleased that it only came pretty much right at the end and very briefly.  The jacket performed beautifully and I was dry as a bone on the inside; smugness ensued despite the tiredness and wishing for Cookham to come.

And come it did.  A trek through yet another riverside meadow, almost to the marina in Cookham, before hitting stop on the TomTom for the day and cutting across a field to The Crown for the night.  35.2 miles done and wondering, yet again, how I was going to manage the next day of 35ish miles again.

What was really good about getting started this morning was that it was getting easier to crank up the legs in the morning.  Day one had been rubbish, which was "hilarious" at the time seeing as it was only day one.  Day two was not too bad but hamstrings were quite tight and took over an hour to warm up.  Day three was about the same as day two, but this morning it took almost no time at all and that was pretty heartening.

Race Report - Virgin Active London Triathlon 2013, Sunday (Olympic distance)

Having had a bit of fun on Saturday and a lovely meal with team and some of our sponsors in the evening, the alarm went off at 04:30 on Sunday morning.  I wasn't due to race until 12:25, but Mr TOTKat was off at 06:30 for the Olympic Plus (1.5km swim, 80km bike, 10km run) so we had to be up, breakfasted and in the Excel centre at 05:30 to rack up and get him ready.

For the second time in 9 months I had porridge for breakfast, with a healthy handful of California Raisins (oh how I have missed raisins!) and some actual sugar in it.  I figured that as I'd taken a good chunk out of my carb stores on Saturday by having a bit of a burn above the threshold where I start to burn carbs at an appreciable rate, I wanted to make sure I'd topped them back up again before my midday effort.

Somewhere around 160BPM there's a knee point in my ratio of fat:carb burned

I cheered off Mr TOTKat and the rest of the Freespeeds who were doing the Olympic Plus and went to get a coffee in the 20 mins I then had before they'd start to come in off the swim.

After cheering them all back in from the swim; Dion, Matt, Hobbo, Cat, Ali, Dec and Mr TOTKat I then needed to go and find some food to bridge the gap I was going to have between a 5am breakfast and finishing my race some time around 3pm.  Food scored, I headed out onto the bike course to wave at the guys with Jenny, Mette, Richard and the twins.  Then a quick look at a bit of the run course to take photos and it was time to get myself into a wetsuit and head for the swim assembly point.

Having put in a 15 minute easyish, fully-drafted 750m in the sprint on Saturday, I wasn't sure how the swim would go.  But I tell you what, I did the one thing I really wanted to do in every race for the last 10 or so and I started out really hard.  I led the whole wave for the first 200m!  Then faded a bit and fell into a rhythm, sadly in clear water with no toes to draft off.  I dug in and just decided to try to stay as on-course as possible and make sure I got some water into my wetsuit at the top just before the end so it would slip off easily given I struggled a bit on Saturday with my shoulders (they're big shoulders and they didn't get all that wet, so that does make it difficult.)

Best Olympic distance swim ever!  PBd by 21s and without putting a huge amount of effort in; 9th in age group too.  Quite pleased with that.  The run up to transition was a long one, thankfully it was compulsory to take off wetsuits before running up the stairs to transition.  My choice of racking point, although easy to find, meant that I had a long ol' run to get to my bike, but a shorter run on cleats from there to the bike exit.

Helmet on, followed by race number belt, bike shoes and sunglasses.  Bike unracked and then a trot off to the mount line.  A two lap route, with some roundabouts, undulation and the Limehouse Link.  Fun!

Garmin had a little trouble in the Limehouse Link tunnel, as you can see from the plot straight-lining below on the map...

And I was *shifting* on that course.  Yes, it was a bit windy and I got a good few hard gusts that pushed me across the road a couple of times.  But I had some fun and I got up the confidence to let go through the Limehouse Link and let the speed really pick up - the shame is that Garmin loses coverage through there so doesn't show the speeds I managed through the tunnel - reckon I probably gained an extra 15kph on top of the speed I was doing entering the tunnel (you can see the blue line on the graph stops each time I go through the tunnel - 6 times in all).

I got back to transition to find my bit of the racking void of other bikes, the odd one hanging but really only the odd one.  I felt great - in an "on the edge" kind of way at times due to the windy gusts and the speed through the tunnel down on the aero-bars and with no way to get to the brakes in an emergency - but I did ease off a little at times, so I know I could have gone harder.  I did remember to get into a low gear before that nasty little trick hill up into transition at the end of the bike, but slipped gears quite a bit and worried myself that I might fall over like a couple of ladies did in front of me on Saturday.  1 hour and 8 minutes, only a minute quicker than 2011 where I had had no idea about anything, had done the odd bit of cycling and was on a road bike.  That said, it was quite a bit windier this year and I did come in 4th in my age group this time.  I'll take that.

Check that lean :oD

The run was a 3 lap course this year, only 3 times up the slope into transition, but a lot wigglier, and hot and windy too.  I felt horrible throughout the run, but while I was doing it I completely forgot that if I feel terrible, it means I'm not slacking on effort too much.  So despite failing to be able to get my heart rate to go over 170bpm (proper effort running at that distance puts me 180bpm+), I managed to PB the run by a couple of minutes over my all time Olympic and several over last time on a course & conditions that have been recognised as a bit tougher than 2011.

Over the line in 8th place in my age group, up from 32nd in 2011.  I think I'm happy with that, given I've not been training for this distance specifically, but for 70.3 really.  It's a shame I have no finish line photo, but I do like this one from the run course.

All in all, it was a great weekend and I really really enjoyed it.  Above and beyond my own racing and having fun with the team around the expo etc., Mr TOTKat got out and raced for the first time since IM Wales last year (knee injury for months since a half marathon in October); he had a great race, hit his goals and I'm really happy for him too!

04:50 shouldn't exist

...but it did this morning.  I woke up 10 minutes before the radio came on and that was it.  Up, breakfast, pack the car and out.

We got to the pool early so there was no registration queue, but it was -cold-.  6°C and a biting wind.  Shivering and prepared we waited to start, I was race number 50; nice and low and as it turned out exactly in the right place for my swim time.  I overtook the swimmer in front and that was it for the swim.  My transition time was, however, shockingly bad.  I glanced at my watch and it said 00:08:4x so I thought I was doing OK, but apparently there was some kind of time warp and by the time I hit the bike start timer I was at 00:12:17 (how!?)   And then there was the cycle.  I got overtaken.  A lot.  By much MUCH nicer bikes than mine.  And then there was the headwind.  Urgh!  But still, headwind on the way out on the bike stage meant tailwind on the way back.  Right?  Hah.  No.  The headwind on the way back was -worse-!  And the ruts and potholes!  I won't be able to sit -or- walk tomorrow!  Still, I actually overtook someone (#28 on a rubbish bike pretty much like mine :o)).  The last few km of the ride and the clouds decided to open and re-wet all of us who'd almost dried out by now.

Back in from the bike stage (passing poor Mr TOTKat who hadn't even started his swim yet, being in the "second fast wave", who cheered me on and yelled encouragement xxx) and I looked at my watch again; 01:11:xx  Argh!  NO -way- was I going to hit 01:45:xx at this rate (or so I thought).  I was a bit wobbly and weak such that I had real trouble lifting my bike back onto the rack.  Bleh!  Anyway!  Off out for the run and I felt like the whole front my my body was rigid; every single muscle tense and I couldn't un-tense them.  And my legs weren't mine and I couldn't really feel my muscles like I normally can.  My stride was phenomenally short and I was pretty sure I was staring a 40 minute 5km run in the face at that point.  The good point was that my feet felt suddenly a lot warmer and the sun had peeped out from behind the clouds.  And then I saw #53, who I'd overtaken and been overtaken by a few times on the ride... and that was it; I wanted to catch her.

Thankfully, with the run being flat, being a bit knackered already from swimming and cycling was less of a problem than it could have been (all of my runs near home usually have a hill or two in them so a flat run is pure luxury).  2km into the run and I saw #28 ahead of me!  How?  Eh, quite clearly her bike to run transition was -much- faster than mine.  Still, she looked catchable and by 3km I had passed her.  Yay!  4km passed and the final bends ahead and I wasn't feeling -too- awful.  A wave and a "nice shades!" from a tiny marshall was all I needed to throw myself across the line, stop my watch timer and inwardly be very very pleased for a moment that it said 01:41:17 -including- the (up to) 7 minutes "free" transition from bike to run.

Thereafter it was a cold trot back to transition to grab the tea flask and some clothes and then wait for Mr. TOTKat to finish.  Every single person who came over the line as I was waiting commented on the wind during the ride.  "That wind!"  "How could it be a headwind in both directions?"  "Very very sapping!"  Cuddles, quick chat with a Thames Turbo friend and then back home for tea and bacon sarnies.

And the provisional results are up (thanks to Mr Thames Turbo for pointing it out and well done on a super speedy PB!) and my official finish was in 01:35:02.  Which is incredible, given my huge lack of training; 1 bike ride in the last 12 months, 4 runs since January 1st, 6 swims (including Swimathon); and my heavy, cheap bike.  I am, despite appearance, quite pleased.  Carb loading worked well, there was no "bonk" and I felt, more or less, fine all the way 'round.

Boring numbers

Nothing to see here today, just some totals and stuff. We did go for a run on Sunday though, 10.3km in heavy rain (not a problem, I like running in the rain) but it was also very windy in places and that made it quite tough going. An hour and a minute running time with a couple of road-crossing stops, averaging out at 10.1kph including the stops. Not bad overall.

Low exercise count for the week last week, but then it was birthday zone, so. This week will be limited as well due to working from home on a day I'd usually do weights and the gym still being too far from the office to be comfortable going for cardio work on the alternate days. Bit of a bugger when I see my trainer on Monday for a measure and new routine. I really wish HR would get the info from the closer gym about corporate discounts, but the gym are insisting that she goes for a visist and to be honest she's too busy for that so it's stalemate at the moment by the looks of it.

Last week:-
Exercise count: 3
Exercise time: 02:30
Exercise kcals: 1,550

Since 15th June 2009:-
Exercise count: 130
Exercise time: 70:33
Exercise kcals: 38,878