Tag: treadmill

Catching up with 5×50

Catching up with 5×50

by TartanJogger ♥ 2 Comments

Betcha didn’t expect to hear from me tonight? 😉

Just a quick post to say that, already, we’re on day 31 of the 5×50 challenge. Oooft, that’s come in quickly!

While I’ve been getting in my average of 5k or 30 minutes each day (I know because my Up band told me so), I hadn’t been logging it. My bad.

Tonight, I ran 2 miles then walked another 2 miles- go me! Not outside, but on the ‘mill. Watching Suits. I then logged my 5×50 and was surprised how the kilometres add up quickly:  Not too shabby! I’ve also got my training schedule tightened a little, after working out the basics of it last night. 

All in all, it’s been a productive Tuesday 😀 
  

News Round Up

News Round Up

by TartanJogger ♥ 12 Comments

Hello! How has your week been?

I have a couple of wee bits of news to share with you tonight:

Fever Struck

Have you been affected by the condition ‘world cup fever’? Be careful – it can be serious! 😉

So, tonight we see the kick off of the world cup. As an auntie to seven nephews, I think that football is going to be an important topic of conversation over the next few weeks! To keep us interested, we’ve had a family sweepstake, and my teams are France and Japan! @TheWelshWookie has Germany and Equador. Tonight’s game sees my dad and my brother Joe going head to head.

756-fifa-world-cup-2014-group-stages-draw

Mo Runs

In other news, Mo Farah has announced that he will be running the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Hurrah! I’m really looking forward to seeing him run the 10,000m.

Expansion

In my post last week, I’d mentioned that we’d gone to Campbeltown on an errand. We had something to collect. Do you want to know what it is?

It’s………….

20140612-184447-67487638.jpg 20140612-184446-67486246.jpg

Yip; an exercise bike! So, our home gym is now complete. We have the bike to complement the rowing machine, the treadmill, the free weights, resistance bands, etc. Now that I’ve started my marathon training, I think I have to take my cross training a bit more seriously, and not count a walk to the cafe as cross training! 😉

Yesterday, I did 18K on the bike. My legs were burning, using long neglected muscles, but I feel fine today, fortunately. DOMS might kick in tomorrow, though! My little toe is still pretty sore from the blister and bruising from Sunday, so I’m going to give it a couple more days and give it a test on Saturday’s long run.

So, who’s your pick for the World Cup?

 

 

The Best Gifts Come in Threes!

The Best Gifts Come in Threes!

by TartanJogger ♥ 21 Comments

Hello everyone, how has your Tuesday been?

If you’ve read my posts over the past few weeks, you’ll have seen that I’ve been a very lucky blogger indeed.

First, in the first instalment of the great playlist swap, I told you how Girl Runs Wild had sent me a wonderful gift box packed with some post run goodies.

Next, I was totally surprised to receive some amazing chocolate from Kyla (who can now be found at earlybirdfitness.com).

Yup, I’ve been spoiled.

Well, the best things come in threes. And that’s also true about gifts! Yesterday, I received a parcel from Amazon. Now, as someone who shops on Amazon A LOT, I was racking my brains, trying to figure out what I had ordered. So, I opened the package to find a lovely, scented candle!

My friend, Margaret, had sent me a wonderful ‘tranquillity’ candle, which is gorgeous: it’s scented with  lavender, ylang ylang and orange. It smells great!

20140325-184845.jpg

So, I was able to relax after my run, with the gorgeous candle, and the latest copy of Women’s Running magazine.

I’m one very lucky girl! I’ve been so touched by kindness recently.

Have you been counting your blessings? And gifts? 😉

 

Tag Teaming the ‘Mill

Tag Teaming the ‘Mill

by TartanJogger ♥ 23 Comments

This morning, @TheWelshWookie and I planned a 9 mile route. So, we had a breakfast smoothie, and got changed to head out for a run. Then, I made the mistake of looking out of the window, and seeing the icy, driving rain outside.

Ooops.

So, I made an alternative suggestion: why not check our running ‘outfits’ for Madrid by running our nine miler on the treadmill?

That’s what we did!

treadmill

As I mentioned yesterday, @TheWookie has had a dodgy knee, so rather than running nine miles straight, we tag-teamed it by running three miles and swapping over. I’m pleased to say that the running gear performed well, as did @TheWookie’s knee 🙂 We were also able to watch a couple of films as we ran, so we’ve now caught up with the excellent American Hustle and  the not-quite-so-good The Delivery Man. It certainly passed the time!

The plan for this evening is to chill out with a glass of vino and The Voice. What are your plans?

Back Indoors

Back Indoors

by TartanJogger ♥ 16 Comments

Well, my outdoor running lasted from Saturday until Monday.

The weather has driven me back inside, and onto the dreadmill!

It’s not the driving rain that’s the problem, really. It’s the really high winds that have cancelled ferry sailings across the West coast. There was a time today when I could barely walk upright!

And so, after the elation of running in the fresh air, and at a decent pace, I was back to grinding out a slow run tonight. But I got it done, and feel smug better for it now.

I’m taking a rest day tomorrow, so hopefully I can get back outside on Thursday 🙂

20140225-195658.jpgHave you managed to get outdoors today? Have you run?

Thursday’s Training Update

Thursday’s Training Update

by TartanJogger ♥ 25 Comments

Hi everyone! It’s the weekend for me, as I’m off Friday and Monday, soooo it’s vino night tonight!

d5babd185670699f7839ca455c9f489f

I thought I’d give you an update on my Hal Higdon half marathon training. The main headline is: it’s going great!

I think that the plan is really suiting my running style, but it is early days. Last week – week one – was a 3 miler on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, a four mile ‘long’ run on Saturday and cross training on Sunday. This week is similar: a 3 miler on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, a five mile ‘long’ run on Saturday and cross training on Sunday. So far, so good, but it has ten weeks to go.

It feels great at the moment!

0d75ac14201a46d1a15ab21b23d21d08

I did my three miles tonight on the treadmill, in my new trainers. All will be revealed soon, in a later post! 😉

Something I’ve been trying to do is to post my training runs on Instagram, so prepare to be bored, if you follow me there.

I’m struggling to figure out how to fit in my five miler this weekend. You see, I’m off on my Hen Weekend, to Alton Towers, and I can’t wait!

Do you think that walking around the theme park, queueing and screaming while riding roller coasters could count as cross training?

Have a fab weekend, everyone!

Thinking About Training Plans

Thinking About Training Plans

by TartanJogger ♥ 27 Comments

Well, we have made it to Friday. I’ll admit, there were times this week I wasn’t sure whether Friday was creeping closer, or pulling further away!

images

This weekend, I’ll be running and doing some wedding planning. Someone has to!

But I’ll also be reading this:

photo

I have been perusing various training plans, trying to see which one is most likely to suit me for marathon training. Up until now, I have always used Nike training plans. But for the forthcoming RnR Madrid half, I’ve decided to try out Hal Higdon’s training plan. If I’m honest, the iPhone app seems pretty cool, so that persuaded me!

I’m really looking forward to comparing it to the ones I’ve used in the past, to see how it fits my running.

But, the wonderful Full Moon Runner suggested I read Greg McMillan’s book. I downloaded it last night, and got stuck in!

I’m only a few chapters into it, but so far, I’m already thinking differently about how I run, and how I train. I can absolutely understand why you’d personalise a training plan, and I’m excited about that, too! I’m sure that this book will be devoured over the weekend, and I promise to give you all my views on it 😉

Which training plan do you use? Do you develop your own?  Have you read this book yet?

Still Excited

Still Excited

by TartanJogger ♥ 23 Comments

Evening, all! It’s Thursday….. almost the weekend…… where has January gone? It’s flashing past me!

PROTEST-SIGN

That would help!

Any hoo, I’ve been super excited for the past couple of days, since signing up for my first marathon. Thank you, everyone who has commented, encouraged and congratulated me: I hope you stick around over the coming months, I think I’m going to need your support!

It’s great to see that there are quite a few of us first timers working towards the same goal: we can share ups, downs and in-betweens; and we can benefit from the wisdom of all of those who already have a marathon (or a few) in the bag.

2014 is shaping up to be quite a year!

So, I was excited to get some running in tonight. I did a really easy 5K on the treadmill tonight, followed by 15 minutes on the rower. It felt great!

20140116-200417.jpg

Though I’m looking forward to getting outside to run maybe tomorrow, but definitely over the weekend! It’s the first weekend that@TheWelshWookie and I have had at home for months, so we’re looking forward to a run, and a relaxing time.

How’s your week been so far? Any weekend plans? Would you love or hate time travel, and why?

Another New Addition…

Another New Addition…

by TartanJogger ♥ 20 Comments

My fitness suite spare bedroom is coming along nicely. I’ve told you about the ‘mill, which has been kitted out with the TV on the wall, and the surround sound 😛

Well, there’s a new addition:

photo 2 (1)

Yip! We’re now the proud owners of a rowing machine!

@TheWelshWookie and I have been talking recently about doing more cross training: I definitely don’t do enough. We talked about how a rowing machine would be great for me, as my upper body strength is nil not what it should be, and that a rower would be good for combining some leg work with upper body and cardio. And what happened next? You’re right: someone was selling one locally. It almost fell into our laps!

So, @TheWelshWookie and I collected it last night, and tonight I gave it a test run.

So far, so good! 😀

It sits nicely next to the treadmill, yoga mat, swiss ball, free weights and resistance bands.

Has anyone else accidentally ended up with a home fitness suite? 😉

Storage Wars?

Storage Wars?

by TartanJogger ♥ 10 Comments

On Saturday, my running blog friend Bernie from Get Going – Get Running wrote about his pile of running shoes, that his girlfriend is (quite rightly) fed up with. And it got me thinking- this is a problem that most of us runner have.

And I’ll admit that I agree……. with both Bernie and his better half!

Both @TheWelshWookie and I have too many pairs of trainers: old ones, new ones, trail shoes, racing flats, comfies, minimalist. You name it, we’ve got it. As long as they’re Nike Lunars 😉

I really want a pair of these:

Nike-LunarGlide-5-Shield-Womens-Running-Shoe-615980_508_F

Santa, if you’re reading…….. Anyway, I digress.

When @TheWelshWookie and I were completely fed up with tripping over trainers in the kitchen, we visited IKEA.

And we purchased this:

photo 1

Voila! Suddenly, the problem was solved!

I use the little storage shelf for all of the running stuff I use all the time: gloves, waistpack, yurbuds, etc. We have an iPod dock on the top, which I use to charge my iPod or iPhone after my run. It’s perfect!

And all of those pesky trainers are tidied away, out of sight:

photo 2

And I think I need another one already! 😀

Today’s Stats:

Run: 2 easy miles on the treadmill. I’m keeping it easy this week, since I have my 10K MoRun on Saturday.

Time: 23:34

Weather: cold – I had to scrape frost from my car this morning, the first time this autumn!

Trainers: Nike FreeRun +5

pile-on-the-miles-2013-logo_thumb

Pile on the Miles so far: 20K

How do you store your running shoes and peripherals at home? Any tips?