Ran outside tonight for what seems like the first time in ages. I waited till 8.30pm before I even left the flat in a vague attempt to avoid the heat. But it was still really hot. Fortunately though, there was a strong wind down on the beach. Normally, I hate running into the wind, but tonight, despite the fact that it slowed me down even further (if that's possible) I was just thankful for the coolness. As soon as I turned and ran back in the other direction it felt horrid again. Hot and sticky. But overall I enjoyed this run. My feet went numb after four miles but I ran through it, and had a final spurt of energy at the end which was weird.
I ran from the flat down to the lagoon as far as Paul McCartney's house, then turned and came all the way back to the West Pier, then back all the way to the lagoon again and back as far as Babylon lounge.
5.3 miles
1 hour 1 minute.
Wednesday night went to gym.
If this was someone else's blog that I happened to stumble upon, I would think after reading it - my god, all that girl does is moan and make excuses all the time. And it's true. But the last couple of weeks do seem to have been quite trying. I really do find it difficult to function in this weather. I know it's not exactly desert-like, but I'm not used to exercising in 90+ degree heat. No matter where I go, I can't seem to escape it. My south-facing flat with its floor-to-ceiling windows is an all day suntrap, and walking through the door at night is like walking into a sauna. Opening the windows and balcony doors makes no difference. I work in a sweltering, stuffy office with no air-conditioning. I make an hour long train journey twice a day with four million other sweaty herberts. And then to top it all off, the gym is like a furnace. The entire air-con system needs replacing. Within ten minutes of working out, I and everyone around me are drenched in sweat and nearly keeling over. It's like being in Singapore or New Orleans.
Then... (there's more) there's the issue of my running trousers. These trousers, which I bought exactly three months ago, from a specialist running shop and which cost £45, have been starting to fall apart these past couple of weeks, and now they have finally had it. On Tuesday, they were shredding at the seams so much, that after I'd finished the 5k, they had irritated me to the point that both my legs were bleeding.
So tonight I had to wear, horror of horrors, shorts to the gym. I only own one pair of shorts and they are actually just a loose t-shirt material sort of pyjama type thing, but I was desperate. It was either that or a full-on thick fleecy pair of tracky bottoms. But could I run in them? Could I fuck. As soon as I upped the speed they started to fall down, plus the previous night's wounds were excrutiatingly sore without the protection of any material. How do short wearers deal with chafing on a regular basis?
We have a new machine in the gym. It is really cool. It's called a
cardio wave or something. Absolute torture, if you do it quite hard. It feels like the action of walking quickly up a really soft sand dune.
20 x mins cross trainer
15 x mins step machine
15 x mins cardio wave
20 x mins power plate
20 x mins weights
47 seconds treadmill
