Sunday 17 April 2011

Weekly weight loss report - week 15 - Virgin London Marathon inspired blog post

Weight wise I'm still the same weight as I was 3 weeks ago. When I stepped on the scales yesterday (Saturday is my weigh in day) I must admit to being a bit annoyed. With the scales, not myself. Or maybe it's displacement annoyance lol. Anyway, I got over that pretty quickly. I'm still doing all the right things and doing lots of exercise too. And the annoyance quickly disappeared when I tried this dress on and found it to be a perfect fit!


I bought this dress for my trip to NYC last October. It was definitely a tight fit then and I actually never wore it. When I was searching for something to wear today I pulled it out and was so pleased to see how good it looks on me now compared to when I bought it!

Weight loss wise I'm just going to keep on doing what I'm doing. Eating right and exercising.





I'm SO close to my 50lb weight loss goal, it's hard to not get a little impatient I guess, but I know it WILL happen.

These are some weight loss charts from this last month.......


From this year....A few ups and downs!



And from last August when I started trying to lose weight.



I'm getting there!

As if you could miss it, it was the Virgin London Marathon today (What happened to Flora?!). I attempted the London Marathon in 2007, and then never ran another step until this year. Now I have my running groove back!

I love watching the London Marathon on tv, and finally thought it was time to treat myself to some new running shoes.

The shoes I have been using date back to my pre marathon training days - YEARS AGO! Even though I'm pretty sure I haven't done 500 miles in them, they started to feel like they weren't as cushioned as before. Plus due to losing weight, my feet have got narrower! AND my old ones were causing blisters. It was high time I invested in myself and my running with a new pair.

I was going to wait until I had got to my goal of losing 50lbs, but inspired by watching the London marathoners, I decided that today was the day.

It's funny how a company's use of social media can be such an influencer. I found I definitely give more business to company's that are on twitter for example...well, those that are responsive anyway. Not only were Up & Running on twitter, and responsive, but they were giving me some running tips too! So a few tweets with Up & Running and I was set to go!

I spent about an hour, maybe less, in the shop with Dom who went through my gait analysis, and about 6 pairs of running shoes to find the right fit for me. And I've come home with these babies! Asics GT-2160 in Deep Purple.



You can't underestimate the importance of getting the right running shoe! I've made a video of some of the process involved, from using the treadmill and computer to analyise the fit and the gait of my foot, to trying on lots of different pairs and Dom gives some great tips along the way!




If you have been inspired by the London Marathoners today, if you only invest in one running item.....make it your running shoes!

A few new-to-running tips

  • DO get fitted properly in a running shop for your running shoes.

  • DO get some proper running socks.

  • DON'T run in cotton socks.

  • DO start with a walk/run programme.

  • DON'T worry about your time

  • DO carry some ID with you....just in case.

  • DO schedule your runs into your week as you would anything else.

  • DO build up a running base before you start sprinting!

  • DON'T be afraid of hills. Much ;)

  • DON'T put on too many layers

  • DO wear sun screen

  • DO keep hydrated

  • DON'T tell yourself you can't!

I did my second 5 mile run yesterday! I had my friend Ben as my running buddy and we hit Cannon Hill Park. It was a really great run. It was also a little too hot (and I think I'm going to struggle running in the heat), and I did get blisters (in my old trainers) BUT I did feel that if it wasn't for the heat and the blisters, I could have kept going for 6 miles - which is my next goal.

Here's a map of our route.

If you click on the image, you can see all the data in a large picture.

And the GREAT news about this run is I knocked SIX MINUTES off my last 5 mile time!!

I haven't been blogging my weekly runs as I started out doing this year (time!), but I'm still doing it. I've changed things up a little and instead of doing all my runs at the same pace/distance, I've introduced hill reps and intervals. These are shorter periods of activity, but very intense compared to slower steady runs. I'm still hula hooping and I even did some stair climbing last week!

I was curious to put all the running data I have together to see how often I had run in Cannon Hill Park. This is an image of all the times I've run on a certain path in the park - quite a lot!


A brilliant running themed weekend overall! Well done to all the London Marathon runners too. Truly inspiring!

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