Janathon Day 25 = Slendertone Day 1.

Plus 1 short sharp bike ride from work, yaaay, the work route again!!

Back on around day 10, I said I couldn't wait to not have to run for a day. I was hoping I would still be fit and to just have a nice fluffy rest day, and also of course for it to be February!

Ah well, musn't dwell on crapness, just got to get on with stuff.

I do have a few things to thank Janathon for, mainly all the nice shiny new chums on Twitter and the realisation that it's not just me that is a massive fan of porridge and jam, woop woop.
One other thing is the shiny new Slendertone System+ Abs belt that I have been sent for nothing!! Freebies are cool! All I have to do is test it on a minimum 28 day trial using a 4 week plan and blog about the results (or lack of). And I shall be including pictures of THE BELLY! This I shall do as of tonight.

Wifey took delivery of the unit this morning, and very kindly plugged it in to charge it up. This is the new unit that uses a rechargable battery unit as opposed to the older style disposable battery and mains powered types. This newer unit also does not require the use of any sort of gels as the pads are covered in a water based non-sticky but very sticky (if you know what I mean) gel. There really is no other way to describe the stuff, and my grasp of English does not allow me come up with the correct word for this goo, though I'm sure there is one.
After reading through the instructions carefully, I pulled out my hair clippers and gave the chesty cakes and tummy area a bit of a trimming. This is in the hope that I would get a better contact, and also to show the results, if there are any, in much better detail. *WARNING* NAKED TUM TUM COMING UP!

Whether trimming the tub will make any difference or not I don't know, but it never hurts to give it a go.

Anyroad, I stuck the pads to the belt in the medium position, there are 3 marks on the belt, small, medium and large, and the 2 smaller oval shaped pads go in these markings, while the larger square pad goes over the big square in the middle of the belt.
After trying the belt on first to make sure I had it in the correct position, I took it off and removed the protective plastic sheets from the "skin" side of the pads. These have to be kept then put back on when you have finished your workout to stop the non sticky sticky goop from drying out.
I then put the belt back round the jelly, hence -

Once I'd got the belt back on, I plugged the program/power unit into the belt, the plug-in unit is tucked away just inside the belt, and switched it on. I went for the intermediate program - the 2nd of the 8 - and turned up the intensity to 40/150. This was comfortable and not to vigorous for my first go. It was 25 minutes of twitchy tummy pleasantness, though tomorrow I think I shall turn the wee fella up to maybe 60 or 70. Afte the 25 mins I got beeped at, and removed the belt, un-plugged the power unit, replaced the pad protectors and put it all away in the tidy little carry bag thingy like a good little boy.

Thanks all for reading, if you're still awake that is.

I shall update again in a weeks time, with more pics, yaaaay.

PPP

My challenge is at an end.

It is official now. I missed a run and a blog, my push for the 405 is kaput.
I shall continue to exercise by other means however, mostly in a pedalled manor, bash out a few extra miles to and from work, providing the weather stays nice of course.
And for those of you who actually read and possibly enjoy this Berksheerian tripe, I shall continue to blog, as I actually enjoy it. Never though I would!

I still have my Slendertone test and review, along with pics of my freshly shawn gut (in the name of science you understand!) to do, as well as my TT. As I seem to be playing quite well at the mo *taps table quick-sharp* I shall start a wee blog about that. Maybe about the training upto and including racing at the Reading Half on March 20th, and the progress I can make at breaking the 10k 45 min barrier, and ultimately the training for (if they do it this year) the Abingdon Marathon in October, or when ever they do it.

I will also keep you up to date on wifey's 10k training for the Oxford Town & Gown as well as any other news I think you might be bothered about.
Thankyou all again, see you at Hyde Park on the 12th.

Stu PPP

Ow step ow step come on Stu ow step ow step, BOLLOX!

Yep, BOLLOX indeed.

I fear my Janathon may actually be over. For once I may have to quit something through injury rather than the usual bout of bone-idleness which usually hits me.

I was determined to hit the 100 mile mark today, even though I had a fair bit of pain in the left ankle. This could have been my undoing, my new found stubborness that is the fame of runners around the world.
I stepped/limped out the door at 1.10 today, after much clearing up of child sick during the night and some of this morning, with a bloodstream full of pain killers and anti-inflams, neither of which actually seemed to make a blind bit of difference, with the aim of doing 9 miles. This would have taken me past the sacred number that is 100. Slight pain and everso slight limpage for the first 3 miles, not to bad this Stu, I thought to myself, could be good. By this point I was coming up to the Ladygrove estate, 3 more miles would take me round Ladygrove and past the Power Station and upto Milton Park. By the 6 mile point my ankle was starting to hurt properly now and the limp was getting more pronounced and heavier. The last 3 miles would take me through Milton Park, around the A34 interchange, up Milton Hill, into Rowstock and back home to the bath.
I did not make it out of Milton Park. A grand distance total of 7.26 miles in just over an hour. I wasn't going for speed, just distance. I ended up calling mummy out to pick me up and give me a lift back home.
It wasn't till I got in the car when I logged the run on my Running Log app that I realised how close I really was to hitting the 100 mile mark. 0.67 miles!!! BASTARDS!!! I could've forced myself to do it, and saved mother the bother of coming out. All I had to do was turn round and run in a straight line that would have taken me back to work where I could have picked my bike up and ridden home. As it is, I MAY have to attempt to run into work tomorrow to fetch my bike, so all hope is not lost, although it may well get left behind at some point.

If this is the end of my Janathon, I want to say a massive thankyou to those of you who have left shiny comments here and encouraged me elsewhere. And also, a serious well done to all those still kicking and typing.
If this is not the end, well, you'll have some more rubbish to read tomorrow then won't you.

Whatever happens, I will be along to the Hyde Park bash in Feb. I hope there is a beer tent!

Stu

How boring am I getting!

21 days down and other bits of me are starting to hurt that weren't hurting before. Please pills, keep me going, and please organisers of the Janathon, no random drug testing please!!! Nowt naughty in the system, just lots of paracetomol and ibuprofen. Seems like they have been very much part of my diet this month!

Same old run home tonight. Was hoping to hit a 10k'er but a combo of hurty bits and late security officers kicked that one up the jacksie so just put the hard house on again and done the usual trek home to a waiting wifey, sweet n sour chicken and bottle of Crabbies ginger beer.
I have promised myself that I will hit the 100 mile mark tomorrow, but to make this I will now have to do a 9 miler. Not sure if my legs will be up to it but I'm going to give it a bash anyway. Supposed to do a 1hr40 long run anyway but I think I shall just keep it to 9 miles.

By the way, for the Hyde park meet in Feb, just so you know who I am, here is a pic of me playing TT. Just the warm up by the way, hence the trousers.

Happy jolly. Oh, and 2/3 done!

Nice run this morning, just the steady plod into work at 6.20. Pretty chilly out, little bit icy, but again, no wind or rain which is the most important bit. The moon looked really magical this morning too. Not sure how many of these mornings are going to be left, but I do enjoy them. Here is the linky to it. I know its exactly the same as a few others but it's there and it's proof.

Another bit of very lovely running related news, wifey has joined the running world - huzzah!
This is a major thing for her. She is making a serious effort to get fit and lose weight. I have known her for over 10 (I think!) years and never once has she expressed an interest in running. She is the first to admit that she is not built for running, at school she was a putter of shots, that is how much of a non-runner she is, aside from that, she has had severe asthma problems from a very early age. The one time she had to run at school was on sports day and was pretty much forced into it. It was the 200 meters and she had to be taken to hospital afterwards! That put her off anything faster than an annoyed stomp for a very long time.
But today, after a couple of weeks of Wii fit+ she went out with George in the buggy and the C210K app on her phone and did the running thing.
Do you know what she said?

"I think I might skip straight to week 2 of this thing on Saturday, I was just getting going and I had to stop running and start walking!"

GO CHELLY.......WOOOOOOOOOO

Maybe she will sign up to try the Juneathon, we'll see.

Oh, and I practically got accused of tea-leafing from the garage earlier! I wanted to buy some ginger beer. Obviously it wasn't until I was on my home again that I thought of what to say. Nevermind, that's the Brits for you!

See y'all tomorrow.

Oh my! I'm soooo glad I ran tonight!

Seriously, I really am.

All day long I felt blah and feh and really couldn't be arsed to do a damn thing. I was the grumpiest grump in the whole of Grumpton. My golly gosh, I'm so happy I started running again last year. I didn't exactly get the runners high, but I did get the shivers down the spine and fuzzy feelings.
It was a beauty of a run, nothing spesh about the route at all, I used to ride it twice a day when I lived with the in-laws for a couple of years, I think it was a combo of a lovely clear sky, no wind at all, hardly any aching (yaaay pills) and some old skool (pre 2000) hard house choonz. Shiny run time.
Possibly the only downer on the run was when I was going through Didcot, past the station, 3 yoofs walking towards me, 1 boy and 2 girls, and I was nice and moved onto the road (on-coming traffic side) so that they didn't have to, nice chappie that I am. The cheeky bastid "boy" decided to take the piss out of me. I'm glad I had the choonz in my ear so I couldn't hear what he said, tosser. I'll push the little shite into the road next time he does it, grrrrr.

On top of this, I won all 3 matches at TT tonight, including beat my nemesis Charlie, who previously beat me in the league and in competition, in 5 games BOOOOOOO!
Unfortunately we only managed a draw, which is not going to help our promotion charge at all.

An almost tip top night. Off for cuddles with wifey woo now.

Nighty night.

Injuries everywhere!

Yes yes yes, I have another one, woohooo!
I think I'm falling to bits, and it's all because I want to stop myself falling to bits when I get older. Hmmm, summit not quite right about this.

As well as having what can only be called friction burns on my back, I shaln't bother with another picture as they actually look pretty crap in a picture, really impressive when I look in a mirror though, I have now also got a gammy big toe, on which I had to perform some minor surgery just a little while ago in the hope that it will get better, it involved popping things with a pin and some squeezing of said things. No further details needed your honour. I was going to take a pic and shove it on here but can't bothered, I figure you've probably had enough of me bleating on about constant injuries so from now on I shall stay schtum about them, unless my leg or some other item falls off because of excessive running.

On with todays run then.

Not very exciting I'm afraid, don't really get to see a great deal at 5.15 in the morning at this time of year apart from blindingly bright headlights. Oh, that reminds me of a little tip that I've found works quite well. If there is an arse driving a car towards you with the lights on full beam, I have found that lowering my head down so as my chin is almost touching my chest and then looking up through my eyebrows seems to block out a lot of glare.
Hey-ho, on we go. Left Harwell at 5.15 on a 50 min easy run and though to just do an "out-and-back" effort this morning, and by gum wasn't it an effort, still stiff and a bit sore from yesterdays epic, (well it was the 2nd longest run I'd ever done!) but very enjoyable run. Got back home at 6.10, got changed, jumped on the bike and piddled off to work.

I'm now in a bit of a quandry as to what to do tomorrow. I really should do some intervals but I'm not sure I'm up to doing the planned 70 min session, and defo not as a before work sesh. On the other hand, I have a TT match tomorrow night over at Upton which is around a 4 or 5 mile trip from work. I could run there, but don't want to destry myself before the match. Hmmmmm, decisions decisions.

Join me again tomorrow night when we'll be discussing how close to going gangrenous my foot really is.

Nighty noo.