Run-less, Step-less but not inactive weekend

Having done an average of 10,800 steps last week, this week I have only done 8,500, primarily because I did not have the time (too many school-runs) to do any lunch-time runs during the week and this weekend, I didn't do any because I spent most of the weekend sorting the house out - too many rooms are currently more storage rooms than their intended uses.

So whilst I was only clocking up about 6-7k steps a day over the weekend, I have spent very little time in a sedentary fashion.

I have sorted my running clothes out ready for the next run but as I type this, that pile now has a long-haired cat fast asleep on it - at least going to some use today.......

I am aiming for 2-3 mid-week runs for the week ahead, and at least one run next weekend.

Saturday wash-out, Sunday Bluster

As feared, the number of steps done on Saturday was a measly 3k, possibly one of the lowest on record - I had great plans to be actively doing stuff in the house and spent most of it on the PC - the mental fortitude to do something was not there.

Today, whilst I woke up later than planned, I was braved the blustery cold weather and did 4 miles jog, and whilst it couldn't recover the 7k steps deficit from yesterday, I still did 75k steps in one week, an average of 10.7k steps per day.

If you like to make your own soups, I made a cracking soup this weekend and the recipe came from last week's weekly Lidl magazine - also on its website http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/10103.htm - it says it serves two but we got three very generous portions out of it, so more likely to serve four comfortably with some bread.
My only suggestion is if like me you use vegetable stock cubes to make the stock, make half of it as veg stock and the other half as hot water, as the stock cubes could overpower the soup.
I ran it through myfitnesspal and it comes out as about 250 calories per portion.  A bit high in sodium but if you cut back the stock cube as I suggest then that will come down.  It has over half your vitamin C, a fifth of your dietary fibre, and 10% of your protein but thats the goodness of kale for you.

Don't Run Before You Can Walk

Three running sessions done during the working week, two of them were Hill sessions, and on the lap hill of yesterday's second hill session, I felt a slight twinge in the hamstring.  I instantly dropped to a walking pace and jogged back to work.

I suspect doing even one hill session on your first week is not overly sensible, so doing two was pushing it - I think I got away with it but I will know when I aim to run/walk for an hour on Sunday morning.

The aim going forward is to take advantage of any workdays where I am not doing the school run, to get into work like I did on Monday ultra-early, and go for a run around the city.

In terms of my January 10k steps challenge, Thursday I was a couple of hundred steps shy of the target but yesterday I comfortably beat it with 12.2k, so the deficit (caused by the first three days of the month) has reduced from 13.4k to just 2.5k.
With me not planning to run on a Saturday this month, today is the day where the greatest risk of a big daily failure could happen and it might be big enough not be recovered by tomorrow's long run.

One Step At A Time - The Data Geek Strikes Back

	Steps	Av Steps
Month	('000s)	Per Day
Apr-15	326	10.9
May-15	488	15.7
Jun-15	392	13.1
Jul-15	411	13.3
Aug-15	203	6.5
Sep-15	192	6.4
Oct-15	229	7.4
Nov-15	195	6.5
Dec-15	241	7.8
2015	2677	9.7

Above is the number of steps done since the purchase of my Garmin at the end of March 2015 through to the end of 2015 - 2.67million steps and approximately 9,700 steps per day - assuming the same rate for the missing first three months, we could annualise to about 3.55 million steps for 2015.

Not surprisingly, my biggest day by far was the day of the 100k where the first 16 hours (8am to midnight) amounted to 109,000 steps.

You can also blatantly see that since then my physical activity plummeted to basically sedentary levels, and will equally be no surprise that my fitness levels have dropped and my weight has ballooned as a result.

The Big January Goal for me is to achieve 310,000 steps i.e. 10k per day.

I am little on the back-foot because the reboot started on 4th January, so as you will see below numbers for the three days are well below 10k per day.

The shortfall from those days will be recovered bit by bit.

The plan is to then next month roll that target forward but also add some measure of healthy eating for February as well.

                Steps

1st Jan 2016 4297

2nd Jan 2016 8279

3rd Jan 2016 4023

4th Jan 2016 11912

5th Jan 2016 12538

6th Jan 2016 13605

                        54654

A Not The 1st Jan Reboot And Being Classed As One Of Those Short-Lived January Runners

Yesterday on the first working day of the year, I managed to get up at 6am, drive to work, change into my running gear and hit the Norwich streets for a light 20 minute jog around the city - there was also a brisk 10 minute walk before it as my Garmin was taking a while to get a GPS fix.
This was my first run in about a month and to be honest it was good running that early in the morning.

Got back to work and was getting change when the chap next to me in the changing rooms remarked there were more people this morning than usual but it will be back to normal in a few weeks - it was clearly a dig at me but joked back, "by the end of the week more like".
It amused me because he was then talking to his friend about planning to do a long 20 mile cycle into work soon - the temptation to mention I had run 63 miles in one go was ultimately resisted but it does go to show how we can be guilty of judging a book by its cover.

Today, yes two days in a row, I did a lunchtime run as a group of us were planning to do a short hill session but it has been moved to Friday, so in the end it was just me trying to run up Carrow Hill in Norwich, only to be vastly out-paced by a female runner who seem to glide up the hill.
I did achieve two runs up it, then did some light running before tackling the infamous Thorn Lane, a short but steep hill.

December restart

On Tuesday I did my first run in a while, a short two miles, and my thighs have been reminding me since......
Tomorrow, I do another run, so two in one week!

I do not want to wait until January to get running again, and I've figured that running this month will help stem the annual Xmas calorie excess damage.......

It was never my intention to have this big of break and with the abandoning of healthy eating as well, fitness and body-shape wise, I have paid a price that now be looked back as a bit of big blip,

Time to reboot my running

I have made the decision not to run the Norwich Half this Sunday due to a series of chesty colds and bugs over the last four weeks.
To go effectively from almost no running over the last four months to rockin up for a half in less than a week would be irresponsible, however I will re-start my running this Saturday.

I have one of those rare opportunities to attend a parkrun this Saturday, so now I just need to decide which one I want to do - I have done Old Catton once and Gorleston a few times, so I am thinking I will do Mudbarton.......sorry I meant Mulbarton.
I could do Eaton Park but I want to save that one for when I am back in full fitness, and ready to take on a colleague's PB.

I have been using the last week or so, to tackle other areas of my health, namely cutting back on snacking, and trying to get better quality sleep.
I now need to pick up the mental well-being part, and come Saturday onwards, the exercise aspect.

Expect the posting to start ratcheting up from Saturday onwards.