Happy Sunday! Done 4.5 miles this morning. Thought I was going to die. Honestly. I really must try and train more during the week. I am the absolute QUEEN of excuses though. Seriously, sometimes I think I should write them all down. I even believe myself.
OK, I'm 'busy'. I have 2 kids, I must be busy. I have a job, even though mostly it consists of 'working from home'. Therefore, every time I swich on the computer, I am WORKING. Even if i am on facebook. Or Ebay. Or just looking at things I can't afford in John Lewis. (Latest thing is a £439 Vitamix Blender. GOT to have one. They make soup and icecream.) Working. That's what I say to the kids if they want to play on Cbeebies or Playhouse Disney. Sorry, mummy's working. Come back later. Actually, I don't think I spend all that much time on the computer (I'm too busy). I mean, it's not like I play games or anything. And if I'm not playing, well, I must be working mustn't I? But the excuse I use for possibly not doing as much housework as I could/should is that I'm too 'busy' (work, kids, ect.). The excuse that I use for not getting as much work done as I should is that I'm too 'busy' (housework, kids etc.) The excuse I use for not getting in as much exercise as I should is that I'm too 'busy' (work, housework, kids bla bla bla, you get the picture) So what am I actually doing?? Think I will start to fill in a timesheet. In my head, it would be
0630 - 0830 Make lunch x 2, breakfast x 3. Glance at coffee made for me by kind husband. Dress children x 2 and self. Put face on self. Wash up breakfast things, shout at children x 2, get on coats x 3 and shoes x 6. Leave house for school.
0830 - 0930 Walk to school, discuss following with other mothers: weather/too many school holidays/other mothers bad hair or clothing choice/not enough school holidays. Walk back from school.
0930 - 1030 Make coffee x 1. Find more food for remaining child. Pick up mess from lounge and re-distribute upstairs. Find upstairs already has enough mess and therefore cannot accommodate extra mess. Find a temporary home for mess I am carrying in order to tidy up mess already upstairs. Decide some of the mess lives downstairs, so return downstairs. See cold coffee and slurp. Take cup in to kitchen and re-boil kettle. Coffees made = 2, coffees drank x 0 Put load 1 of 5 into washing machine. Return upstairs. Pick up some mess and re-distribute. Realise need to switch on printer so can work. Begin tidying room where printer lives. Return downstairs at behest of child needing weewee.
1030 - 1230 Go back to kitchen and re-boil kettle. Wash cup and put coffee and sugar in. Return upstairs but know not what I was originally doing up there. Remember printer and plug in. Realise I need to 'work' so return downstairs and retrieve laptop from under sofa. See crumbs/toys/raisins under sofa and return to kitchen to obtain dustpan & brush. Enter kitchen and see cup. Remembering coffee plans, re-boil kettle. Note to self - clean kitchen floor. Empty washing machine, take washing outside begin search for pegs. Return inside and make drink of juice at behest of small (screaming) child, administer a cuddle and watch Peppa Pig. Return to kitchen, finally poor hot water in to cup. Return to lounge with coffee, see pegs in toy box and return to garden to hang out washing. Begin hanging out washing.
1230 - 1445 Return to kitchen to find more food for yelling child. Wonder what everyone might want for tea. Re-boil kettle. Realise am hungry, eat whatever food child left on plate. Slurp more cold coffee. Return to kitchen to find kettle just boiled, chuck cold coffee down sink and re-fill cup with fresh coffee and sugar. Open fridge to get milk. Foul smell assaults nostrils. Clear out fridge. Re-boil kettle. Look out of window and see basket of half hung washing. Return outside to finish job. See laptop unswitched on. (Off?) Switch on laptop. Find dvd for yelling child. Tidy lounge whilst looking for dvd remote. Hear washing machine beep to signal end of cycle. Spend next 5 mins looking for washing basket. Give up. Carry wet washing to garden in arms. Trip over half full washing basket. Chuck new wet washing on top of old wet washing and begin to hang. Realise time to fetch child #1 from school. Wake up child #2 from slumber and insert in to pushchair. Slurp cold coffee on way out of door. Pour excess down sink. Coffees made x 5 coffees drank = 0.
1445 - 1645 Walk to school. Retrieve child #1. Attempt to walk back from school whilst child #1 picks up sticks/balls/feathers/unidentifiable articles from pavement and uses them as weapons agains child #2. Return from school, find food for ravenous children x 2. Re-boil kettle. 3 minutes on phone to Mr Lawson to field enquiries as to what is on the menu for tea. B***s. Pick up mess made by children x 2. Ransack cupboards in order to find food for hardworking husband that doesn't end in 'on toast'. Take random objects cleared off lounge floor upstairs only to re-discover unholy mess. Panic. Gather up another load of washing from floor and take downstairs. Load #3 enters machine. Remember half put out 2 loads of washing in garden. Not cluttering house so can be put on hold. Go to put away computer and realise have not actually done any work. Or drank coffee. Return to kitchen to put on kettle. Realise have not cleaned kitchen floor or washed up child related eating paraphernalia. Quickly wash up and wipe floor with baby wipe (recycled in order to reduce carbon footprint created by too much unnecessary kettle boiling - had been previously utilised to wipe away evidence of pre-meal chocolate consumption by children x 2). Have to be out at work in one hour and have done no preparation. Re-boil kettle, make coffee, put computer on lap. Just about enough time to have a quick drink and do my meeting preparation. Coffees made x 6 coffees drank = 1. Hurrah, am going to sit down and have a drink for the first time today!
1645 Mr Lawson returns from work to find 1 x tracksuited bottom adhered to sofa, coffee in hand, computer on lap with barely a trace of this mornings makeup lingering on face. Suddenly flashing before my eyes are: 1 x basket of wet washing in garden. 100 x crumbs/toys/raisins very visible under sofa, gathered around slippered feet. 0 x smell of delicious, homebaked food eminating from kitchen. 1 x gargantuan mess upstairs. 2 x children asking for food as though they had never been fed.
Mr Lawson thinks my time sheet would read 0830 - 1645 Watch Jeremy Kyle. Drink coffee, eat biscuits. Watch Neighbours & Home and Away. Drink coffee, eat biscuits. Watch Corrie & Enders off Sky+. Drink coffee and have some more biscuits. Put on computer and have a coffee, go on Facebook and pretend to be working when he comes home.
Ha, if only. When does he think I would get the time to make all that mess?!
Oh the joys!
Have a lovely week LLA. (Lazy Lard Arse)
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Music to My Ears. And Feet.
Ooh, been 2 weeks again. I am going to blame all these holidays. Will get the Royal Wedding bit over first, didn't she look gorgeous? William also of course but I am a bit more partial to Harry myself, although he did look like he had been rumaging around in a (rather posh) dressing up box. Last word on the subject has to go to Pippa Middleton, I heard her bum now has it's own Facebook page. Quite right too!
Went camping over the Easter weekend (wasn't the weather glorious??!) and had a lovely time. I debated long and hard with myself as to whether I should take my running gear (I say long and hard, I mean 5 minutes). Decision was made by the look on Mr Lawson's face when he got in from work on the Friday and saw all the bags I had packed. He did the typical man face when confronted with a woman's packing. The ensuing conversation was conducted without words. The man face said 'Do we really need to take all this crap?' I arranged my features to reply: 'You don't like it? Do it yourself then.' Apparently the message was received and understood, as he then started Man's Job #1 of loading the car. When I realised that there really was not any room left in the Focus, I thought better of trying to sneak in an extra bag.
Now, I said the weather was glorious. To a point, it was. As in, it's April, it's Easter Weekend, we are in North Norfolk. Therefore it should have been cold and rainy. It wasn't, it was pleasantly warm and nicely sunny, so in typical Brit fashion, we donned our shorts and flip flops and took to the beach. At 8.45 in the morning! Kids had a lovely time chucking pebbles in to the sea while I regarded those out running along the seafront with envy. Had I actually taken my trainers, chances are it would have been guilt instead, but I was happy to kid myslef that I would have churned out several miles with lungs full of sea air. I have promised myself that on my next camping trip, I will definitely take my gear. Next camping trip is looking likely to be the Isle of Wight Festival.
6 weeks ago, the prospect of my planning to get up early at a music festival and go for a run would have been, at best, unrealistic. At worst it would be laughable. After Mr Lawson's recent illness though, it may now be a distinct possibility. We have all but given up alcohol for 8 weeks (doctors orders). 5 weeks in and I am really starting to feel that it wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't have a drink again! Waking up with a clear head on a Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning (yes really) has been something of a revelation. I would imagine too that by the time mid June swings round training will have become a bit more intense and I won't be wanting to go 4 days without a run. Hmm. We will see. Will probably start first blog after festival with the words 'Did I go for a run? Did I heck.'
Anyway, on to training. In order to whip myself in to some kind of reasonable shape, I have been using a training plan from a website called Take To The Streets. You give it a bit of info and tell it the date and distance of your event and it will devise a training plan. Most of the plans are for about 12 weeks. First off, it is very surprising how much progress you can make in that short space of time. At present I am following a plan which will get me to 10k fitness by end of June. When that is completed, I will go from 10k to half marathon in good time before 9.10.11 arrives. The site kindly send you an email the night before your training day telling you what you should be doing the next day, so Tuesday night you might receive an email telling you that your training plan for Weds 4 May is a 20 minute steady run. It really is a godsend for a complete amateur such as myself. There is so much conflicting advice to be found - especially on t'internet so just to have a focus is great. And at this level, it is fairly easy to fit it in as runs are still around 15 - 20 mins so I can fit them in nice and early before the rugrats are even up, let alone demanding breakfast! That said, I tend to completely ignore what it tells me to do on a Sunday and go for a longer run of around 45 mins.
I run on my own. I do this for 2 reasons. #1 - I like it. #2 - I can't find anyone else bonkers enough to get up at stupid o'clock on a Sunday morning.
I am not entirely sure that, even if I could find a buddy, that I would want to run with anyone else anyway. Even more crucial piece of kit than my trainers and running bra is my nokia 'comes with music' phone. I have a really random selection of tunes on my running playlist. I started it off with some up-beat ditties that I thought had a decent beat to run to. Over the few months I have been doing this, it has evolved in to something completely different. It is hard to put in to words how absolutely crucial it is for me to have some good music to accompany me. Music has the power to either put a spring in your step or lead in your soles. Quite literally. The right song at the right time can give me wings. I have artists on my running playlist that I wouldn't consider listening to in my every day life - Taio Cruz, Beyonce, Tinie Tempah (Pass Out - GENIUS!), David Guetta and my current favorite - 'C'mon' by Tiesto vs Diplo featuring Busta Rhymes. Honest, it's brilliant!
I do like to 'mix it up' a bit though. I downloaded a 'Running Trax' album (do we still call then albums or am I sounding like somebody's mum? I did say 'downloaded' though, so that must count for something? incidentally, I was out for a walk yesterday and saw an ACTUAL RECORD on the floor. A 7". For some reason I didn't look to see what it was, might have to go back later.) Anyway, after a couple of runs I soon developed what I call a 'Ministry' headache. A bit like an icecream headache but bought on by too much dance music.
Now my playlist is a marvellous melting pot of different genres (I hate that word but it fits). It is particularly uplifting when you are starting to flag and you get the first few bars of a classic. It's all well and good having current music to listen to but it's great to have tunes that you don't hear every day. Not much puts a smile on my face like hearing 'Waterfall' or 'Love Spreads' by The Stone Roses, 'Won't Get Fooled Again' by The Who or (and this one's a real blast from my past) 'Its Yer Money I'm After Baby' by The Wunder Stuff. It can turn your run around from being hard flippin work in to an absolute pleasure. You can't have just anything though, it really needs to fit in with my footfall. But I don't think I will ever be one of those super-organised folk that has their play list in the right order for various different parts of their run. I am a shuffler. I like surprises!
Happy yet another Bank Holiday, JLxx
Went camping over the Easter weekend (wasn't the weather glorious??!) and had a lovely time. I debated long and hard with myself as to whether I should take my running gear (I say long and hard, I mean 5 minutes). Decision was made by the look on Mr Lawson's face when he got in from work on the Friday and saw all the bags I had packed. He did the typical man face when confronted with a woman's packing. The ensuing conversation was conducted without words. The man face said 'Do we really need to take all this crap?' I arranged my features to reply: 'You don't like it? Do it yourself then.' Apparently the message was received and understood, as he then started Man's Job #1 of loading the car. When I realised that there really was not any room left in the Focus, I thought better of trying to sneak in an extra bag.
Now, I said the weather was glorious. To a point, it was. As in, it's April, it's Easter Weekend, we are in North Norfolk. Therefore it should have been cold and rainy. It wasn't, it was pleasantly warm and nicely sunny, so in typical Brit fashion, we donned our shorts and flip flops and took to the beach. At 8.45 in the morning! Kids had a lovely time chucking pebbles in to the sea while I regarded those out running along the seafront with envy. Had I actually taken my trainers, chances are it would have been guilt instead, but I was happy to kid myslef that I would have churned out several miles with lungs full of sea air. I have promised myself that on my next camping trip, I will definitely take my gear. Next camping trip is looking likely to be the Isle of Wight Festival.
6 weeks ago, the prospect of my planning to get up early at a music festival and go for a run would have been, at best, unrealistic. At worst it would be laughable. After Mr Lawson's recent illness though, it may now be a distinct possibility. We have all but given up alcohol for 8 weeks (doctors orders). 5 weeks in and I am really starting to feel that it wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't have a drink again! Waking up with a clear head on a Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning (yes really) has been something of a revelation. I would imagine too that by the time mid June swings round training will have become a bit more intense and I won't be wanting to go 4 days without a run. Hmm. We will see. Will probably start first blog after festival with the words 'Did I go for a run? Did I heck.'
Anyway, on to training. In order to whip myself in to some kind of reasonable shape, I have been using a training plan from a website called Take To The Streets. You give it a bit of info and tell it the date and distance of your event and it will devise a training plan. Most of the plans are for about 12 weeks. First off, it is very surprising how much progress you can make in that short space of time. At present I am following a plan which will get me to 10k fitness by end of June. When that is completed, I will go from 10k to half marathon in good time before 9.10.11 arrives. The site kindly send you an email the night before your training day telling you what you should be doing the next day, so Tuesday night you might receive an email telling you that your training plan for Weds 4 May is a 20 minute steady run. It really is a godsend for a complete amateur such as myself. There is so much conflicting advice to be found - especially on t'internet so just to have a focus is great. And at this level, it is fairly easy to fit it in as runs are still around 15 - 20 mins so I can fit them in nice and early before the rugrats are even up, let alone demanding breakfast! That said, I tend to completely ignore what it tells me to do on a Sunday and go for a longer run of around 45 mins.
I run on my own. I do this for 2 reasons. #1 - I like it. #2 - I can't find anyone else bonkers enough to get up at stupid o'clock on a Sunday morning.
I am not entirely sure that, even if I could find a buddy, that I would want to run with anyone else anyway. Even more crucial piece of kit than my trainers and running bra is my nokia 'comes with music' phone. I have a really random selection of tunes on my running playlist. I started it off with some up-beat ditties that I thought had a decent beat to run to. Over the few months I have been doing this, it has evolved in to something completely different. It is hard to put in to words how absolutely crucial it is for me to have some good music to accompany me. Music has the power to either put a spring in your step or lead in your soles. Quite literally. The right song at the right time can give me wings. I have artists on my running playlist that I wouldn't consider listening to in my every day life - Taio Cruz, Beyonce, Tinie Tempah (Pass Out - GENIUS!), David Guetta and my current favorite - 'C'mon' by Tiesto vs Diplo featuring Busta Rhymes. Honest, it's brilliant!
I do like to 'mix it up' a bit though. I downloaded a 'Running Trax' album (do we still call then albums or am I sounding like somebody's mum? I did say 'downloaded' though, so that must count for something? incidentally, I was out for a walk yesterday and saw an ACTUAL RECORD on the floor. A 7". For some reason I didn't look to see what it was, might have to go back later.) Anyway, after a couple of runs I soon developed what I call a 'Ministry' headache. A bit like an icecream headache but bought on by too much dance music.
Now my playlist is a marvellous melting pot of different genres (I hate that word but it fits). It is particularly uplifting when you are starting to flag and you get the first few bars of a classic. It's all well and good having current music to listen to but it's great to have tunes that you don't hear every day. Not much puts a smile on my face like hearing 'Waterfall' or 'Love Spreads' by The Stone Roses, 'Won't Get Fooled Again' by The Who or (and this one's a real blast from my past) 'Its Yer Money I'm After Baby' by The Wunder Stuff. It can turn your run around from being hard flippin work in to an absolute pleasure. You can't have just anything though, it really needs to fit in with my footfall. But I don't think I will ever be one of those super-organised folk that has their play list in the right order for various different parts of their run. I am a shuffler. I like surprises!
Happy yet another Bank Holiday, JLxx
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