Stoptober 2012

[marathondan]

Get a room, nerds

I hope you meant "get a life"...?

[Sweder]

No ... a chat room ...

By the way, weighed myself on the new leccie scales this morning.
91.9 kgs. If I accept my start weight 3 weeks ago was 94 kilos (or there abouts) this is most acceptable and encouraging.
I'm also (as part of the programme) measuring certain areas to look at specific fat loss. My hip measurement has reduced, waist is constant, chest reduced, upper thigh increased. This suggests that the increase in running is building leg muscle (there wasn't too much to start with). It's only three weeks, so we'll have to see how that pans out.

All his means using a spreadsheet, which in itself brings me out in a cold sweat. This includes detailed food and workout diaries with daily logs and notes. Thankfully I have a mentor monitoring this (via Dropbox), sending me new workouts and encouragement. It's a free trial (there are 20 of us Guinea Pigs) with a view to publishing the results in a book. We took 'before' photos and are encouraged to look at them when our resolve waivers. Works for me, though gawd help anyone buying that book to see a photo of my belly and moobs. It's x-rated stuff.

[Sweder]

Weighed in again at midday, after a decent cooked breakfast but also after a 6.5 mile run. It was going to be a gentle 3 miler but I got carried away in the watery sunshine. Wonderfully slippery underfoot, the downs offer a real challenge on mornings like this. I looped the Downland Ten field on the way out, still intending to cut across the apron of Wicker Man Hill. As I reached the turn-off I was well into some Talking Heads, so pushed on up the hill to Blackcap.

   
Elevation Map

I should have taken a camera to snap some wonderful animal action along the way. First up were the magpies, always squawking about something in the sheep field. Today two of them were perched on the backs of sheep. The woolly ones seemed oblivious, munching away as their riders scanned the area, masters of all they surveyed. Later we came across a herd of ox-blood cattle. These hulking beasts resembled a gang of doormen resting up after a heavy night, lurking in the long grass, wholly disinterested in our passing.

My calves moaned a bit towards the end, the only sign of this being my fourth hard session in five days. I'm noticing my core kicking in when the going gets tough, a benefit of recent exercise. And the re-weigh? 91.5 kilos, a difference of 0.4 kilos. That's a bag of sugar in old money, quite a difference, even with a man-sized brekkie on board.

Track du jour: Life During Wartime, Talking Heads

[El Gordo]

Yay! Well done on the promising figures and the running, but take my word for it, there is no point in weighing yourself halfway through the day OR after a run OR after breakfast, so even less point in doing all three. Once a day, first thing. That's the nearest you'll get to a level playing field between one day and the next.

Yours

'The weary voice of experience'

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Agreed, there's little point weighing yourself at any other time than first thing in the morning!

[Sweder]

If you look back to the previous post, that's exactly what I did. I was merely pointing out the variation post-run/ breakfast from that earlier reading. Fascinating, Jim.

[Sweder]

Well, I was going to give it a rest today after spending another night in the company of Mr Ritchie. All that Dancing on the Ceiling has left my calves whining like an Aussie cricket captain. And yet ... the hills are bathed in the most delicious golden light. Mist is lifting from the town, rooks caw raucously outside my window and I am working from home today ...

Sod it. As Girlschool, a much more familiar associate, would say, C'mon, Let's Go

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

All that Dancing on the Ceiling has left my calves whining like an Aussie cricket captain.

Oi!

[Antonio247]

Hope you get better from your discomfort in your calves, S.

Congratulations on the weight loss! It is fantastic that a few people in this forum are trying to lose weight at the same time. It can motivate us. Something that works for me is to start the day with a juice or one or two fruits such as an apple or two mandarins. Then, I wait for at least half an hour to have a more complete breakfast such as a herbal tea and a slice of toast with olive oil. If I'm not very hungry at home, I leave breakfast for later, 11 or 11:30 am but I like starting the day with some fruit.

[Sweder]

Thanks Antonio. Having you and EG on the weight loss trail certainly helps.
I weighed myself again this morning - straight out of bed, via the bathroom, even before I brushed my teeth.
91.6 kgs. Hmm. That's 0.3kgs less than same time yesterday. I'm not sure I'm losing weigh that fast, but I will continue with the daily recording and then see what the average is for the week.

I managed to get out in the fabulous sunshine to jog a few miles. Well, 5.9 miles to be exact. I felt pretty tired and a little dumb, having just advised MLCMMan to take it easy and all that. Still, it was good to soak up some sun, and I don't feel too bad now. I may go out again tomorrow. This running malarkey sure is catchy. I took some photos and will post them here in a bit. One thing; I can't do this from my iPad. There's a glitch with the upload software that, even when pictures have unique file names, replaces the previous upoad with the next one (instead of racking them up as it does when this task is performed on a PC or laptop). Frustrating, but now that I'm using Dropbox, not the end of the world. We should think about using Dropbox for swapping audio files, too.

My Snowball Blue USB Mic arrived today. I've sent Dan a test recording to find out how far off I am. Hopefully Plodcasts will follow soon, though the sound of my south-of-the-river monotone droning on for 30 seconds is enough to make me consider doing impressions. I probably won't go for Jimmy Savile though.

[Sweder]

Having been compared to Douglas Bader by our glorious leader last night my pins lived up to their new moniker. The fruits of successive tough efforts colluded with the mother of all headwinds this morning. I'd been planning a short one and that's how it turned out, 3.2 miles of solid effort on tired legs. Nice enough, but no more need be said.

   

The Plodcast is taking real shape. Several contributors have recorded sessions, myself included. Radio Dan has the unenviable task of patching it all together, or in my case giving me steerage tips for my do-overs. It's great fun. Initial concerns re: hearing myself drone on were soon overcome. Do try it if you are a regular contributor. The process also helps with editing written pieces. Several times I tripped over awkward, hurriedly scrawled and convoluted, clunky language - rather like this sentence. I may edit a lot of work in the next few weeks, recording pieces for the RC archive. TOM has got the treatment recently, yet now I plan to go back and record it. I've sharpened the secaturs.