Well, tonight, I came home from work to find that @TheWelshWookie had my dinner waiting for me. 😀 He had made a fabulous turkey curry. Deee-lish!
But it meant that I was too full to do and looking for any excuse to get out of doing my strength training as planned. So, instead I went for a lovely walk in the sunshine. It was too gorgeous a night to waste indoors doing strength training anyway 😉
We live about 14 miles away from the nearest ‘normal’ gym, which is located in Lochgilphead. That means that any strength training I do is at home, using bits and pieces of light equipment I’ve picked up over time: dumbbells, resistance bands, swiss ball, mat, etc. I mostly do NTC training, so that’s about all of the equipment I need. But in Tarbert, we are very lucky; we have a secret weapon: an Outdoor Gym!
I took some pictures of it this evening, to let you see it:
There’s even a table tennis table, and some basketball hoops:
There are picnic tables located nearby, and a glorious view of the harbour:
When I arrived home, I thought I’d better begin to pack for the Color Run UK in London this weekend. I’m deciding what to take with me…
And right now, I’m brushing my wig, trying to make it look presentable! 😮
Today’s Life Lesson: Don’t wear brand new sandals to work before breaking them in first. Ouch!
What surprises does your home village/town/city have?
I did: 1 mile warm up jog; followed by 7x 30 second sprints/30 second recovery walk. I then walked/jogged home, but I’m not too sure how far that was!Â
Time: 28:56
Trainers: Lunar Racers
Weather: bright and very sunshiny! Again! Woop Woop!
Best running track of the day: Matinee, Franz Ferdinand. I love this. It reminds me of a former boss I had 🙂
I’d had a meeting in Helensburgh today, so I’d spent about 4 hours cooped up in the car, driving, so it felt great to stretch my legs tonight. I knew it would be hot, after last night, but I think I was better prepared for it tonight! I think it was around the 25 degree mark again. Hot (for here!)
I fancied a change of scenery, so instead of running along the village harbour I headed out to the West Loch, and ran down to that harbour instead.
It made a lovely change, but is quite a short run, on its own. The first mile is downhill, then it flattens out a bit to the harbour itself, and the final mile home is back uphill, which was tough, but what I needed! I felt great, hence the *squee* in the title, even though I was icky and sticky with suncream….again! 😮
I also took a pic of this old sign, which I thought was quite quaint:
Today’s life lesson: carry your camera, or have your iPhone to hand when you’re driving, ready to pull in and take a snap. I saw the paddle steamer The Waverley today, but didn’t get a pic of it 😦
OK- so it was very hot, at about 25 degrees, and very humid which is not something I Â need to deal with every day! So, my run was very slllloooooow and pretty short as a result. But I did it!
It actually felt great, to get out and stretch my legs, since I hadn’t run since Friday. Except for the sticky suncream. Yuk. Factor 1,000,000 30 since I burn as soon as the sun appears, even if I’m only out for, maybe, 30 seconds 😉
Today’s stats:
Run: 3.5 mile recovery jog
Time: 35:37 slow and steady
Trainers: Free Run +3
Weather: bright and very sunshiny!
Best running track of the day: Hey Boy, Hey Girl, Chemical Brothers:
As it was a short run, I decided to wear my free run +3s. I only wear these for really short runs, as I much prefer my lunars for longer runs.
Here are my fabby coloured free runs:
And here’s a wee pic of my Nike trainers:
As you can see, I quite like a wee splash of colour! I do like to keep my trainers in rotation, to extend their wear and to make sure they’re in decent condition next time I run in them.
Tonight @thewelshwookie and I are toasting Andy Murray’s success having cracked open this beauty:
Today’s life lesson: whenever you take a day off, your workload is always waiting for you, including a couple of surprise challenges! For me today, that’s gone for both work and running!
Which suncream do you use when you run on sunny days?
Woo hoo! It’s Friday! And I’ve kicked off Seafood Festival weekend with an early long run I say early because I had to do two things:
Run before work (I usually run in the evening) so I was up early, and knackered raring to go;
Do my long run a day early. I usually try to get my long run in on a Saturday, but I don’t want to disappear and leave my visitors for over two hours tomorrow! Not very hostess-with-the-mostess!
Today’s stats:
Run: 11 mile long run
Time: 1:55:34 slow and steady
Trainers: Lunarglide+5
Weather: cloudy, with a little spot of rain during the last two miles
First running track of the day:
As I said, my run was early in the morning, which was a bit of a shock to my legs! For the third time, I donned my new, bright pink, compression socks, to give them another try. The jury is still out as to whether I think they are helping- I think they are, but I’m not entirely sure! Do you want to see how fetching they are?
Lovely, huh? Nobody tells you that it takes about 10 minutes to get them on! Or maybe that’s just my chubby legs 😉Â
It was lovely and cool outside, and the rain had stopped awhile, leaving a bit of humidity in the air (no laughing- we do occasionally get a touch of humidity on the West coast of Scotland!). It was surprisingly lovely to run when the village was still quiet and peaceful.
Here’s a pic I took with the Cafebarge just peeping into the foreground:
And here’s another from the harbour:
Can you see the boat to the left of the picture, with the yellow trim? That’s Singing Sands. She used to be parked along the side of Garvel Road, out of the water. She marked the first mile of my run, most days, and was always a welcome site. Now, I have to rely on Nike+ for my mile marker, but it’s lovely to see her in the water.
Today’s life lesson: it’s always a good idea to make sure your Nike Sportswatch is charged before a long run: had to use my iPhone instead!
We have the Seafood Festival this weekend: what do you have planned?
Happy Independence Day to all in the US! I hope you’re having a lovely day, and getting the miles in?
For me, the closest I got to any celebrations was stocking up for this weekend’s Seafood Festival. We’re having a house full of guests, and looking forward to it! If you want to know more about the Seafood Festival, have a look here:Â http://www.facebook.com/TarbertSeafoodFestival1?fref=ts
So, my shopping basket was a tale of two halves. One half good kid stuff:
Yum!
And one half naughty kid stuff the really good stuff!. Ahem:
Which half do you prefer?
Today’s Stats:
Run: no: today was a strength day for me
Exercise: 30 minutes NTC Get Strong, Full Action. Man, burpees to shoulder presses are killers! I followed that up with an hour of housework including brushing and mopping the kitchen floor- the worst job!
Today’s surprise strength training track:
Today’s Life Lesson: Don’t add bleach to water, dip your hands in it, then wipe your wet hands on your trousers. Big mistake.Â
Today, I met the DreamTeam for a spot of lunch, where we promised that we would not talk about work for a whole hour. We didn’t even last five minutes! Anyway, we had a lovely lunch at The George Hotel in Inveraray. It was busy, and as ever, the food was great. We all had dessert, as their selection is fantastic. Knowing that I would be heading out for a run after work, I still decided to have a Hazelnut Pavlova served with blackberry & cream ice cream. It was amazing! Want to see?
I knew that I’d need to head out for my hill run this evening, but being absolutely stuffed a little full after lunch, I was able to have a quick flick through my BodyFit magazine, which arrived in the post today:
When I felt that I couldn’t put it off any longer I could actually begin to run, I headed out for a hill session. Now, this is something I’ve been putting off for quite some time! I’m the first to admit that I like to run on the flat, and any incline is difficult for me. Anyway, having signed up for the TT10K in August, I thought I’d better try out a couple of the hills that I know are en-route.
I headed out along the harbour as usual, and along to Garvel road end, which is the start of the TT10K. I ran along Garvel Road, and turned onto the main road to face the first, and the smallest, of the hills I was tackling today:
Doesn’t look to bad, eh? It was actually ok, I wasn’t heaving and gulping in air when I got to the top. Immediately after this one, though, I crossed the road, and turned the corner onto the high road, to face the second hill. Don’t be deceived by the next picture- this is only the start of it, and the rest of the hill is over the brow of the one in the picture below:
Yeah, right, I hear you say. It can’t be that high? Well, just to show you how high it is, I took a pic of the harbour where I started, from the viewpoint at the top of the hill:
Pretty high, right? And gorgeous, of course. So lucky to live here.
Anyway, I managed the second hill OK too. I continued my jog back down the high road, and back along the front of the harbour, making my way to the hill that would take me up to Tarbert Castle and the Castle loop, which is a trail part of the run. This is the monster biggest of the three hills, and it snakes and winds its way up to the Castle. Here’s the first part:
Well, by this point, my large lunch was beginning to take its toll and my legs were a bit heavy, so I lumbered powered up as best as I could. I admit that I had to stop and walk for about a minute, then I continued to run to the top of the road and onto the trail.
I had planned to finish here, but as I am totally crazy it was such a lovely evening, I thought I’d just take on the Castle Loop too.  😮
This was tough going- much more hilly to run than I remembered from walking it in the past, but I’m glad I stumbled, walked and jogged my way around it. I stopped at a bench because I was knackered to take a picture, but it doesn’t really show much, I’m afraid, though it is really pretty:
I then headed home, to watch Andy Murray win! Woo Hoo!
Today’s stats:
Run: 3.5 mile hill run
Time: 40:25 (lots of walking!)
Trainers: Lunarfly GTX
Weather: sunny- yay!
Fave running track of the day: Gotta Get Thru This, Daniel Bedingfield. This track came on as soon as I reached the hill up to the castle!
Today’s life lesson: Don’t expect to have lunch with work folks, and avoid talking about work.
Also, don’t have a big dessert and expect to run as if you haven’t!
Have you ever regretted doing anything before going for a run?
Well, now that the schools are on holiday here, the weather is typical: wet, windy and cold. Brrrr!
In a bid to encourage the sunshine, I started today with my usual, summer time breakfast, which I love:
It’s Total greek yoghurt, topped with local strawberries and some blueberries, with a sprinkling of flax. Mmmm-mmm. Delish. I’ll add some chia seeds tomorrow, I think.
Well, my desperate  attempt at willing the sun to visit didn’t work.
Here’s the wet vista from my office window today:
See?
Today’s Stats:
Run: no, today was a lazy day  rest day for me
Exercise: 15 minute NTC Shawn Johnson’s Stretch Guide, followed by 30 minutes of yoga.Â
Today’s surprise yoga track:
I wore my super, duper long sleeved top from the MOK run for doing my yoga in, do you want to see it? You’ll have to excuse my slightly blurred pic, I’m afraid:
Not bad, eh?
Today’s Life Lesson: Don’t wear a T-shirt to the office on a day that’s more like winter. You’ll regret it.
What have you worn to work and instantly regretted?
Well, we’ve arrived at the 6-month mark in 2013 already: wow! Happy Canada Day!
Today’s stats:
Run: 10k training run
Time: 1:00:11
Trainers: Lunarglide+5
Weather: cloudy, but bright
Fave running track of the day:
Well, I headed out tonight, thinking that the heavens might open, but fortunately, that didn’t happen. I ran two slow miles, along Tarbert harbour, and out to Garvel road end. While heading out along Pier Road to the concrete, my legs took over, and I was running quicker, which was good: felt OK tonight! A little boost of disco always helps, right?
Glad I got the 10K in, as I was tempted to chuck it after two miles. Go me!
Then, I came home to have a wee dip in the hot tub to find it had switched itself off, and was cold. Bummer. Oh, well, something to look forward to tomorrow night!
A taste + rate / debate of gluten free dining in Glasgow Scotland. By newlyweds team The Murphy’s. Want the latest on her fashion updates too ? Join writer/ blogger @cityslickerinthestix.com
TartanJogger 