July 21, 2009 at 4:02 pm · Filed under Software
I took receipt of the latest wii fit incarnation, EA Sports Active, during the last heat wave in June. It was 33′ out and I decided to embark on a 40 minute challenging work out in the front room.
The kids were suitably intrigued by the contents of the box – a rubber strap with DIY handles and a special thigh mounted holster for the nunchuk.
I looked a right bobby dazzler, sweating with the excessive humidity and struggling to pull the strap tight enough around my thigh for it to stay closed.
It amused the children though, Ruby settled back into the settee to witness the spectacle and enjoy her packet of salt and vinegar snackojacks – all 127 calories of them.
I was a bit disappointed by the character choice on the new game. It may have been insulting but I have nonetheless become rather enamoured of my little wii fit avatar – short, fat and challenged in the t-shirt department which is just too short to pull over my bulging umbilicus. The choices are far more limited in EA Sports Active, you are just a delicately modified version of their average joe (or joleen), try as you might, you cannot create a tubby lard arse. Some may consider this a tick in plus box but personally I prefer a bit of a weeble-like character to remind me why I’m running on the spot in the middle of the living room.
Realism is the key to this game. The characters are real and the exercises seem real too. I started having to walk round a 400m track kicking my legs up behind me to kick my buttocks, then followed this with the knee raises. All very proper stuff but BORING! No slalom skiing on this game or balancing on a wobble board to flip the fish into the mouth of a penguin. This of course will be seen as a big plus for many people, proper, serious, sporty folk perhaps.
I moved on to squats and the machine was insistent that I wasn’t trying hard enough. My knee collapses as it approaches 90 degrees and the only way I could get the machine to accept my exercise was to plonk myself onto the sofa, wait 2 seconds, clamber up and repeat.
More running and stretching exercises followed before we seemed to loop around and start again. Doh! Not more track exercises. It kept moaning at me for being too slow in the buttock kicking exercises. I was all hot and bothered and moany, so Ruby who by now had finished the snackojacks, pushed me out of the way and offered to help me burn enough calories for my own pack.
With a seating change, I lounged back and watched the calorie counter tick towards my treat allowance. Ruby was going great guns so I encouraged her to keep going til we’d burnt enough for a packet of Doritos. A perfectly ideal way to lose weight I think.
There are a few other exercises thrown into the box. There’s your standard boxing routine which never fails to get you going and a rather intense speedline skating routine which has you squatting for speed and then leaping over numerous obstacles. I really enjoyed that one and it didn’t half make the thighs burn.
The kids haven’t touched the game since its first outing, it’s not as fun as the wii fit (not that they’ve touched that for months either) but then I don’t think EA Games are really touting this as a game. It’s a personal fitness trainer and if you are serious about committing to a program and don’t mind exercising in front of the telly and the children you probably would see some benefits from taking the 30-day challenge.
Popularity: 7% [?]
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Tags: ea sports active, games, knee, nintendo, review, wii fit
March 30, 2009 at 11:31 pm · Filed under BMF
I have had a long held, yet chronicly resisted urge, to run around a muddy field under the command of some fella wearing army fatigues.
Today I caved in and signed myself up for a trial run of the british Military Fitness experience.
A very weird thing.
It’s like an S&M version of school PE classes but without the pleasure bit.
It started with a dose of ritual humiliation as I was directed towards the beginners bucket of red tabards and told to pick one. Not knowing anything better, I developed my own criteria and selected the first tabard that didn’t have 69 emblazoned across the front. The lucky top was – 48. A nice even, rotund sort of number.
Turned out to be an exceptionally snug little number.
I stood there trying to shield my rather trussed up physique while I watched the others scrabble through the bucket discarding rather more than the 69′er. It didn’t take me too long to realise that the darn things were sized and I’d managed to leverage myself into the smallest one in the pile. Meanwhile the other stick insects were practically drowning in voluminous cotton affairs.
Anyway it was too late to remedy the matter. If I’d tried to peel it off at this early stage my baggy t-shirt would have come with it and quite possibly the whole enell bra contraption. The embarassment would have been too great.
So off I trogged, into the muddy field, to experience, quite possibly, the worst night of my life.
We ran and ran and then dropped to our knees to attempt 80 odd press ups and burpees before running again and whining. It was horrendous and I felt sick but had to run more because the guy in the combats was a rotten mean man. Well, he probably wasn’t really rotten and mean but I did feel very sick and I am still not entirely sure whether I liked it or not. But it was an exceptionally tough work out and the other folk were jolly friendly and I seem to have signed on the dotted line and committed myself to unlimited monthly classes……
More military anxiety to follow then.
Popularity: 39% [?]
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Tags: BMF, British Military Fitness, knee
June 1, 2008 at 12:05 am · Filed under 100 mile Challenge, Running, Salomon Challenge
I completed the Hammersmith and City line today.
I had initially planned to run it as a single long run but in the end I took 3 attempts at it. I’m trying to take it gently with my back but today it was seizing up every time I stopped to take a photo and then I couldn’t get going again, as a result todays run bore a strong resemblance to walking in many parts.
Still, I did have to stop and take those photos, it’s not often that you get to look up a lady’s skirt without getting on your hands and knees.
This mid section of the H&C line was a visual treat. It started with the fantastic St Pancras building which is an absolute beauty from the outside and has now been renovated internally.
I can’t walk past the station without nipping in and gazing up in wonder at the roof and the clock. Strangely enough I manged to resist the longest Champagne bar in the world, I probably wasn’t dressed quite right anyhow.
Immediately after leaving the station and while the garmin is still attempting a lock on, I stumble into the grounds of the British Library and get acquainted with Newton.
I bet he’s got a bad back.
There are loads of interesting buildings to see on the Euston/Marylebone Rd so long as your vision is intact. All this running along busy highways is chucking all sorts of grit and general atmospheric pollutants into my eyes and I can feel my corneas abrading as I move.
This building is the St Marylebone Grammar School or Philological school, set up in 1792 to support families suffering under unexpected misfortune. Directly opposite this is the Samaritan Free hospital for women and children, where “Admission free, without letter of recomendation, poverty and sickness the only passport”.
It wasn’t all that long ago that life was tough.
Heading left, away from the grotty dual carriageway, I veered towards Paddington station. Here’s another area of fabulous architecture but shamefully it is one that has worked hard to develop a shabby overcoat. St Mary’s Hospital must have been imposing in its day and you can look up to the second floor window and imagine Alexander Fleming poring over his agar plates of penicillin.
From Paddington onwards, the interest in the route declined for me. The stations were such a flippin faff to get to. Royal Oak for example, is almost an extension to the platform at Paddington, I’ve often wondered what it’s point was but when you try to get to it by road you have to wiggle in and out of streets for about 2k. Ridiculous. Royal Oak to Westbourne Park is even worse and really, why would you want to bother. Get the tube that’s my advice.
Ladbroke Grove is the home of the Portobello Road market so there was a bit of colour here, but I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to hire a nice red Ferrari.
Salomon XT Wings Challenge
Today:
10 Tube Stations
10.84 km
Sports Tracker map with photos
Cumulative:
38 Tube Stations
36.56 km
See the combined progress map here.
Warriorwoman vs Jogblog 100m Challenge Combo
23.9 miles total
Popularity: 20% [?]
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Tags: Garmin, Hammersmith and City Line, knee, London Underground, Salomon Challenge, tube
May 20, 2008 at 11:32 am · Filed under Running
You may have noticed that I have not been running an awful lot of late. You may also have noticed that this downturn in activity has been matched by an awful lot of moaning of the “my back hurts, my leg hurts” variety.
I feel somewhat vindicated as, after a spate of trips to see the quack, I discovered last week that I have some fairly unpleasant goings on in my spine.
I have somehow managed to acquire a completely unpronounceable disorder called spondylolisthesis (spon-dee-low-lis-thee-sis) which involves one vertebrae slipping forward on another, see photo of lumbar region. So far mine has only slipped 2 mm which is still sufficient to create enough pain to impair everyday activities but in serious cases the vertebrae can slip off completely so I shouldn’t complain. Of course I spent the last week practically immobile, worrying that my spine would spontaneously concertina and I would find my waist somewhere near my ankles.
Apparently the cause is often related to a small fracture in the vertebra (pars fracture) and I had to undergo further imaging to check whether this was the case. The problem is quite common in athletes but not heavily associated with running in particular, here’s an interesting article if you suffer from low back pain.
The results came back yesterday and it seems that all is well, my back had been fractured but has now healed. Which seems to suggest that my spine should be fairly stable and that I ought to be able to continue without risk of coming face to face with my kneecaps.
Therefore running is back on, exams finish tomorrow so I will be back on the streets this weekend taking part in a month long challenge within a challenge. I will post further details of this in a non-sickness and injury related post.
Still wonder how you manage to break you back without even realising it?
Popularity: 17% [?]
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Tags: back, injury, knee, spine, spondylolisthesis
December 1, 2007 at 11:50 pm · Filed under Event, Running
Forgive me bloggers for I have sinned. It has been three weeks since I last got off my fat arse and moved faster than a shuffle. I was suffering from infectious slobitis and generalised exam anxiety, but that is over now and today I paid a big price for my excessive slothfulness. Sitting here shattered and barely able to string a coherent sentence together, I would say that penance has definitely been paid.
Three of us (OGB, Tanya and myself) found ourselves huddled round a pint of beer last night, escaping from the torrential rain and trying to determine whose crazy idea it was to enter an 8 mile mudfest in December.
We weren’t a great deal wiser this morning as we brushed sleep from our eyes and tried to follow the signs to a place called Grim.
We were damn lucky with the weather but by heck it was freezing. We all lined up at the portaloos and sat in adjacent cabins just to keep warm before the race – I’ve got over my earlier toilet phobia.
As Tanya was a complete race virgin we decided to run this event as a team, attempting to stick together through thick and thin.
This proved to be a bit of life-saver for me but was probably jolly tiresome for the other two. Poor ole OGB had to resort to a peculiar bouncing action with occasional stints of running on the spot so he could slow himself down to my pace.
At “The Ravine”, the competitors were forced into single file to enter the first area of flowing water and I was grateful for the 10 minute hold up so I could get a breather and try and stick with the clan for a bit longer when we set off again. Unfortunately I took a stumble at the bottom and ended up in freezing water up to my waist – wet pants kinda slow me down.
The next obstacle was a scramble net leading directly into a gloopy expanse of potters clay. I seemed to take the gloopiest route and immediately fell to my knees as the clay grabbed me by the legs and refused to relinquish its grip as the rest of me attempted to move forwards. I dislodged one leg and slung it to the right where I felt I’d reach firmer ground. I ended up stuck again but this time in a semi-splits stance which proved rather uncomfortable and almost impossible to escape from. Thankfully Tanya and OGB were within yelling distance and they came back to assist. Tanya scrabbled around digging the clay from around my foot and OGB just yanked wildly. I managed to lever myself up by applying pressure to his shoulder. Just sufficient pressure to force him upto his knees in the same trap and yet still ensure my escape. I stormed off, trying to get another headstart while they strained to free each other.
I got my cummupence pretty quickly as a root shot out from nowhere and threw me into a commando roll. I landed on my feet eventually but they had already regained the lead.
The whole 8 miles was a relentless cycling of cold ponds, cold swamps and cold clay traps. Freezing, one could even say horrendous and yet it was all strangely invigorating. Who hasn’t wanted to don wellies and jump slap bang in the middle of the biggest puddle recently?
I did have rotten stomach cramps today though and I’m not sure that cold water immersion will ever take over the more usual hot water bottle and chocolate remedy.
We were still smiling at the end, chuffed to bits with our t-shirts and already planning our next mudfest – Hellrunner anybody?
Here’s the crazy route if you can make head or tail of it. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, I just felt like we’d been put in washing machine and spun around:
Grim 8 at EveryTrail
Map created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks
My time was 2:09, the other two came in a little before me as I released them for the last mile. Excellent first race Tanya, you’ll have a whopping pb here next year!
Popularity: 26% [?]
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Tags: everytrail, GPS, knee, OGB, t-shirt
September 18, 2007 at 10:30 am · Filed under Equipment, Gadgets, Running, Shoes
I feel like a true Amazonian warrior while standing in these kangoo jump boots, I must be towering way above 6ft. Shame I feel like a knock kneed bambi when I’m running in them.
By popular demand, I dragged myself out of my sick bed to provide laughing fodder for the masses:
They are quite good fun actually, they don’t compress anywhere near as much as I expected but they are noticeably bouncier than a pair of shoddy knees. On todays little jaunt I felt that most of my energy went in to up and down movement and it felt as though I was jogging on the spot, a slight alteration in stance led me to move forward with a bit more efficiency.
When I’m feeling a bit better I’ll do some proper tests with them. I want to see if my pace alters over a given distance and how my heart rate responds. It felt pretty hard work today but then that is to be expected, dragging myself out of bed was tough today.
Popularity: 28% [?]
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Tags: knee
September 17, 2007 at 1:55 pm · Filed under Equipment, Gadgets, Running, Shoes
I’ve been a bit quiet over the last few weeks but fear not, I have kept up with the running. A lot of visitors have passed through the WW household recently, which tends to make training a chore but visitor no 1, Rach, always offers to be my fitness instructor for the duration of her stay. She shouted me around a full circuit of Richmond Park before her shouts turned into whines of “are we nearly there yet?” She also offered to join me for a night time assault of the park on her next visit, carrying the lights and assorted clobber on her bike. Looking forward to frightnight already.
I finally made my way to the top of an allotment waiting list so now my time will be split between running and digging.
After having spent 2 days trying to make an impact on the overgrown plot and suffering the inevitable gardeners aches and pains as a consequence I’m going to have to be careful to ease those muscles into to peak running fitness for d-day (13 days away now).
All allotment related trivia will be restricted to the new Earthwoman blog.
Third bit of news is running related, in a novelty gadget kind of way. A new purchase arrived today – a pair of Kangoo Jumps! These are running shoes with a difference.
They are built like a pair of ski boots but they have a rather strange spring like contraption on the sole which enables you to bound or bounce down the street kangaroo fashion. They look incredibly fun but on a practical front they also claim to reduce the joint impact of running by 80%. Given the state of my knee, anything that reduces impact is worth some consideration.
Unfortunately, along with all the excitement I seem to have developed a rotten cold so won’t be able to try them out straight away. Hopefully with two weeks to go til GNR I should have enough time to recover but it is going to play havoc with my training. I’d taken this week off to squeeze in a few long runs (and tackle the allotment/and play with my new boots) but now I may have to take it easy and dose up on vitamin C. Charity running carries a heck of a lot of pressure along with it, I’ll have to run regardless and 13 miles with a snotty nose will not be pleasant.
Popularity: 25% [?]
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Tags: allotment, GNR, knee
August 12, 2007 at 5:55 pm · Filed under Running
Here’s a quick update on the GNR training status. Quite a low mileage week but at least the runs were taken at race pace. Race reports to follow.
A scary article in Running Fitness suggests I should be up to 45 miles per week in my build up to a half – holy moley! I’ve no intention of racking up those miles too quickly though, I’ve been plagued with assorted right leg ITB niggles and right knee pain since I started and lately right ankle dodginess and if I’m going to get carried away with my hypochondria there’s a slight DVT type pain in my right calf! Need to keep these in check so I don’t have to bail before the big day.
Mon: nowt
Tue: 42 km bike
Wed: 8 km run
Thur: 42 km bike
Fri: 42 km bike
Sat: 27 km bike & 5 km race (BPTT)
Sun: 10 km race (SheRunsHeRuns)
Popularity: 15% [?]
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Tags: BPTT, GNR, knee
May 27, 2007 at 4:49 pm · Filed under Apparel, Equipment
Yesterdays ride was only supposed to be stage 1 of the workout, my intention was to get home, bundle the bike in the shed and get the running shoes on for a brick session. The idea is that if you regularly run directly after a long ride you get used to the peculiar feeling of running on rubber legs.
Unfortunately I couldn’t be bothered for anything that sounded as painful as a brick, I wanted a warm bath. Good news, is that despite a 24 hr transition my legs still feel like jelly and I reckon I could get exactly the same benefit by going out for a run now. It’ll also make me feel better about going to the pub this evening.
I haven’t mentioned running (in an active sense) for a while but I have still be getting out there. I’ve dropped the mileage a bit as I have patellar tendonitis and all advice points to rest and inactivity. It actually seems to hurt more at rest than it does when I’m running, (perhaps because I find it hard to dig my thumb under my knee cap and run at the same time) so I’m going to quit the rest. If I stick to flat runs and keep a steady stride, I don’t even notice a problem, admittedly I need a big stick to help me get up the steps to cross to the other side of the Thames but thats just working my upper body strength.
Today will be my first run, sporting the new Cho-Pat knee strap. What a lovely fashion accessory this is, should blend wonderfully with the tan tights I wear for every run.
Now I have it sitting in front of me it looks like a big old con and I can’t understand how I duped myself into it. Still, I suppose I should give it a go. I have to tighten it around my knee, and it will in return provide a bit of tension across my tendon, supposedly protecting it from further damage. Not sure how tight, I’m working backwards from blue toes till I find the optimum effect.
Popularity: 23% [?]
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Tags: knee, thames
May 13, 2007 at 11:49 pm · Filed under Event, Triathlon
Stratford 220 Sprint Triathlon
400 metre Swim – 23 kilometre Cycle – 5 kilometre run
Did I give the impression I was apprehensive about this tri-affa-lon thingy?
‘Twas a piece of cake and an absolute buzz to boot! My legs are killing me but I have had such a great day and I didn’t have to strip off in public once! I’ve been beaming all day.
I really didn’t think I was going to make it. My mum was suggesting I ought to throw a sickie and I was seriously tempted! Then I hired a Streetcar which hadn’t been filled with petrol and found myself coasting down the M40 in dire need of a petrol station – the car literally conked out as I pulled up at the pump. I had a bit of moral support though as Shakti decided to come along with me and that really does make all the difference, along with all the positive messages sent my way via the blogosphere – thanks so much folks!
In the end I arrived safely in Stratford but I was still near shaking with fear as I allowed someone to scrawl some number on assorted parts of my body. I think this number will have to become part of my life now, it is practically tattooed into my flesh! Still, I’m prepared to live with it, I felt such a pro walking out of that hall with my arm suitably tagged.
I didn’t actually get round to drawing up a transition list but I did stay awake til 3.30am “visualising” and the result of this was pure exhaustion when my alarm went off at 5.30 but a hassle free transition – you takes your choices.
I snook off to the start of the swim in my tracky bottoms and t-shirt and it was here that life started getting a bit more comfortable for me. Everyone in the 59 min estimate zone was terrified. There were even tales of people vomiting. Nothing like a bit of terror to make people chatty and nothing like other peoples fear and paralysis to make me feel cool, calm and collected!
The swim went like a dream, never mind 59 mins – when I popped out of the other end my declared time was 7 mins and something. Woohoo! Great start and now on to the bit I was looking forward to.
It was raining, but as an all weather commuter I think this acts in my favour. I’m also a seriously competitive biker! I had a blast but in the end I had a bit of a too and fro with a woman who finally got the better of me. You can’t draft in triathlon so you either have to overtake or drop right back, a shame as I think we were well matched for a bit of mutual support. I finished in just under 50 mins, I think. The approximate times are due to my complete incompetence with todays gadget of choice, the polar RS800SD. I’m hoping that the 220 guys are going to release official times soon so that I can actually see how I did against the pack.
The run was slow and seriously slippy but at least it was flat and so didn’t cause my knee any bother. I found it difficult to get in my stride, my hamstrings were really tense after the bike slog. I’m used to running after riding but maybe the intensity and distance made all the difference, it all felt quite peculiar. There was a great atmosphere on the run, the double loop meant you passed the same people at least twice and there was plenty of positive banter flowing. The marshalls were great too.
My time for the run was around 35 mins so now I just need to find out the overall time to get an idea of how efficient the transitions were.
I finished before the worst of the weather hit but those starting after me had a terrible time of it. Rodeogirl set sail through an absolute torrent that didn’t let up til it was all over. Didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirit though and it made those hot showers at the end so much more delightful.
Just need to book myself into the next one now!
Popularity: 35% [?]
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Tags: commute, knee, polar, RS800SD, t-shirt, Triathlon
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