realbuzz.com Recent Blog Posts

Cycle SE Asia - Overview

editorial@realbuzz.com — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:00:00 GMT

Cycling through SE Asia every bit the adventure I had hoped it would be, despite being unable to cycle through China and into Hong Kong after being refused a visa. The Chinese Government were not best pleased with the widespread Western Anti-Chinese sentiment and subsequently tightened their visa regulations. Despite my very best efforts, letters of support and daily pleadings with the Chinese Officials; I was being told that I did not meet the visa requirements and that they'd never heard of people traveling by bicycle... nonsense of course. Anyways, I decided that Chinese bureaucracy was too formidable a foe to do battle with and to return home to do the "End to End" ride. In those 6 months I cycled the highest point in the Philippine national highway system, witnessed a staged coup-d'etat, battled with barbaric barking beasts, made it to the summit of Mt. Kinabalu (4100m above sea-level) using only manpower, twice biked 100 miles in one day, passed forests teeming with monkeys, was featured in a documentary for the BBC, swam in a natural pool 150ft below the surface, had my bike held to ransom, survived a motorbike crash, was hit by a van, contracted haemorrhaging gastritis that required me to fly from Laos to Thailand for hospital treatment and met an array of wonderful characters. Cycling, in many ways, resembles my life -there are days when the roads are so rocky it takes all my focus just to hold on and then there are days when the roads are so smooth I can easily absorb my surroundings. There are days when I wake up and look at my bike with disdain, and there are days when I wake up brimming with excitement. There are days when there is no traffic and I am at peace, then there are days when traffic zooms past at such a frenetic pace that it distresses me. There are days where every pedal stroke feels laborious and there are days when everything is effortless and I seem to fly. It takes patience, perseverance and sheer grit to get to the top of a steep hill. But then the journey wouldn't be such an adventure, nor would it be very fulfilling if it were all easy, and there is something truly liberating about coasting downhill.

Welome to Wellness

editorial@realbuzz.com — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:28:00 GMT

The main point from this week is that after giving into temptation I joined a gym. It is called The Wellness Club and is based about a 2 minute walk from my office so pretty much ideally situated for me. It's part of this "Wellness system" that provides you with a personal key that you put in each machine that records all the training data for analysis or you can preload plans onto it etc - very fancy! Also as an added bonus they wash my clothes after a workout and return it to my locker within 12 hours - good times! Trained a few times this week, once with the spinning class and two runs on the treadmill at the gym. Despite the nice view from the treadmill over the fjord I still struggle with the monotony of training on a treadmill. However it helps with the mental strength and gives the runs I do out and about that little bit of added excitement! Even in the height of the Norwegian winter I still want to make sure that at least once a week I run outside. However there will be no running for me this weekend as I am off skiing! A group of mates are going up to a cabin in Kvitfjell for the weekend. It was originally built for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994 but now has become a big ski resort of its own. As a virgin to all things skiing it should be an interesting weekend - especially as these bloody Norwegians are born with ski's on! My main goal for the weekend is just to get through it in one piece! Whatever happens though, it should be fun.... x

Thursday

editorial@realbuzz.com — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:50:00 GMT

I have been a very busy bee this week - been swimming, done pilates and even though i felt so tired this evening at the poolside, still went for a run. only a little two mile run, but it felt so much easier than it did on Friday when i did my first run for ages. my legs were weird tonight. the calves started aching 500 or so metres before home and when i stopped, they felt like jelly...maybe i have pushing myself this week with everything as i feel like i have to make sure everything is OK before next week. even done 98% of Christmas shopping...i know everything will be OK, even with me working but i guess that is the mothering gene manifesting itself! now looking forward to two days of rest. tomorrow is my final 'me time' day. kids will be at nursery and out of school club until 6pm. i can do what i want! poke friends on facebook all day if i so wish! happy running!

Dark Evening Run

editorial@realbuzz.com — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:40:00 GMT

It was so much easier when it was light in the evenings and when had the flexibility to work locally and train when I wanted to. My role now means I have the daily early commute in and the commute home again so I have two choices run in the dark in the morning or evening. As I have said before the best lighting we have in the village is a dim light and the worst is complete darkness. The run around the village is fraught with opportunities to fall over and hurt yourself. Tonight's run was a speedy affair. I have not run outside since 9th November which seems like ages ago. I have been having a fat week and have put on a few pounds and last nights watching football in the pub evening did nothing to help my waistline. The run was one my wife does not like me to run as it has a pitch black section that goes along a busy road with no pavement and a country lane that has no lights whatsoever. It is the first mile on the run and I tend to have a big incentive to get it out the way as quick as possible. I had High Vis gear on including leggings, bib and dayglow cap so was as visible as I could be. The firstr two miles was completed in about 18 mins, 3 miles clocked in at 26:49 and the 4.11 completed in a total time of 36:20. I am pleased with this as it is hilly and I could not see much on about 2 miles of it as it was pretty much totally dark. As I have crept up in weight towards 14st again and need to lose 4 pounds I will initiate a full booze, crisps, biscuit and chocolate ban until the mission is completed. With 3 workouts due Fri, Sat and Sunday I should be back into my routine and be able to lose the weight in a week or so (I hope). Need to catch up on Blogs and hope everyone is fit and well. Had my first sponsor for Kilimanjaro trip today - am pleased with this as I find it hard to promote charity stuff - any tips more than welcome. Have a good weekend

My running stats

editorial@realbuzz.com — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:34:54 GMT

Activity Weather 0˚C My verdict Date and time of running: 20 Nov 2008, 18:30 Length in time: 00hr 47mins Length in distance: 6.2 miles Special notes: 10k fartlek treadmill run 47.37 + 10 mins cross trainer . thanks for all the posts hope to reply to all over the weekend .

If I was a horse they'd shoot me

editorial@realbuzz.com — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:30:00 GMT

I think runners with an injury must be the most boring people to be around - I am obssessed! I wish I wasn't obssessed but I can't stop thinking about my recent injury and freaking out at how it is going to right itself. All because of that Fartlek session two and a half weeks ago - how I regret launching into that with an overdose of enthusiasm. Note to self: increase intensity of workouts GRADUALLLY. Injury woes continue! After a good physio session late last week I was feeling much better and headed out for a run on Tuesday. Had done a good 9 miler on Saturday but sore the next day so eased off for the day and just a gentle 50 min run on Tuesday. Weds morning, woke up SORE and heel was sore all day - definitely a new development to be sore all day Went shopping for the day in Bath with my husband and every step was killing me. Pleaded a convincing case to 'rest up and seek medicinal prescription of wine"- a lightly chilled sauvingnon blanc thought to do the trick. Enjoyed an hour of denial in the pub. Husband and I agreed that 'Christmas shopping' was really a smokescreen for heading to Bath to grab some time together and head to pub....Stood up to go and - ouch ouch ouch. Came home in a grump, fretting about when this damn thing was ever going to get better. Went out for dinner with some of the mums from school. Nice enough evening but I just had this underlying "grrh" thing going on because of my heel - amazing how an injury seems to affect your mental state so much. Anyway - urgent call to my physio friend today. Went to see her and in between having a good yak and some treatment, was in there for a good hour and a half! With my too tight calf muscles, my weak ankle the fartlek injury, it has all affected the plantar fascia with the problem being sourced to the big toe (used for lift off in sprinting) and the calf muscle that passes around and under the heel through to the big toe. Kind of fascinating learning all about it. She did some major manual manipulation to break down the scar tissue that had built up in last couple of weeks (I would put that up there just below child birth on the pain scale when she first started - dulling down to a pain level like stubbing your toe by the time she had broken most of the scar tissue down. Then she hooked me up to some fancy version of an ultrasound with some other function I can't remember the name of and got to enjoy the bizzare sensation of my big toe flexing around of its own accord while she worked on the heel area. Glad I know her as I felt like a muppet. So - I am now terrified to try running again as I know from experience how hard it is to get on top of injuries and how tempting it is to get out there again but with five long months still to go I can't bear the thought of stuffing it up and not being able to do the event if I ignore my body. Been suggested that I cut training back by 50% just for the moment to see how I go. Off to Bristol for meeting tomorrow so will skip another day and give it a bash on Saturday me thinks. Was planning to do a long run but guess I need to give that a miss. Anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this sort of injury from their experience?? Well, I feel better now that I have purged my injury anxieties on to my blog. If you have read this far - well done for perservering on the dullest topic possible (now there's a challenge to see if I can top that :-)

Not good

editorial@realbuzz.com — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:29:00 GMT

Sorry for two posts in one day but I had a realy Crap run tonight I got about 1/4 mile in and my calfs cramped up and my legs felt like I had two anchors hanging off them, I continued to push hoping It will sort itself out but got to a mile in and felt like stopping because I realy wasnt happy or enjoying it. 1.5 miles in and my sciatica started playing up so started limping from the right hip which threw my gait out and my right knee then played up!!!! I reached the 2 mile mark and thought "I will do this I am not giving up, I cant I have done 6 miles before why am I strugling with 3" I even had a very very brief second of "why am I doing this" but that didnt last Long, probably because my mind went back to the pain from my sciatica. 3 miles "YES" I have never been more glad than I was to be able to stop at this point, I also decided I will not be doing any strength training, if my body did not enjoy the run then I should not put it through more than I needed to. I hobbled off home, strapped my knees with ice packs, got some food inside me and relaxed. I realy can understand why people give up, I realy couldnt believe after reaching 6 miles the other night that I went backwards with my training, just hoping this is a glitch. Sorry for wining, hope every one elses runs were good

My running stats

editorial@realbuzz.com — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:16:56 GMT

Activity Weather 0˚C My verdict Date and time of running: 20 Nov 2008, 20:16 Length in time: 00hr 55mins Length in distance: 5 miles Special notes: Exactly as planned

My gym workout stats

editorial@realbuzz.com — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:13:58 GMT

Activity My verdict Date and time of gym workout: 20 Nov 2008, 20:09 Length in time: 00hr 00mins My weight: 180lbs Special notes: 60 sit ups 60 side ups 60 stand up sides

My gym workout stats

editorial@realbuzz.com — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:13:58 GMT

Activity My verdict Date and time of gym workout: 20 Nov 2008, 20:09 Length in time: 00hr 00mins My weight: 180lbs Special notes: 60 sit ups 60 side ups 60 stand up sides