This is why I don't swim very often!

Good Evening Blofolers,
That’s my new word for Blog Followers, its pronounced Blof-o-lers you like?

So Blofolers, what have you been up to today? Exercising, or working, or researching, or maybe all three like me :o)

This morning I chose to go for that swim, I got to the pool about 6:50 and started my lengths, initially as it seemed fairly busy I jumped into the “Intermediate” lane, it was empty so I wasn’t bothered, I am also a reasonably quick swimmer but I am never sure if I am quite up to the standard of these lanes so I usually stay away, however today one was free and that was a green light seeing as there were people walking up and down the other bit slowly chatting about what they had for dinner the night before.

I made a good start, and managed to keep the lane to myself for the first 15 minutes or so, but then was joined by a “serious” swimmer, you could tell by the speedo type trunks he was sporting, but I still held my own for a while seeing as I was only doing breast stroke he was only catching me up every 6 lengths or so, and there was plenty of room for us to pass, then we were joined by a third and I started to feel that unless I picked up the pace I was going to get in their way, and I didn’t want to swim like a mad fool this morning, so I waited for a lull in the traffic and swam under the lanes to the chat lounge, Oh sorry I mean open pool section.

10 minutes or so were spent here, swimming up and down, dodging people who seem to be oblivious, struggling to get past when they swim left to right at the same time as making slow progress down the pool, I know everyone has their limits, god only knows there are people better than me, but I like to think that when I am swimming for instance (as I was this morning) I make the effort to stay out of the way of those better than me, so they can get their best use of time out of their training, but some of these people in particular, would swim straight for you, when you had nowhere to go, people would even get in the pool and swim in your line where you were already and expect you to move… I got bored of this and left before my mile was complete… This is why I don’t swim very often, but I was reminded of my old mantra, Anything is better than nothing, and let’s face it I swam ¾ of a mile that’s more than most people today!!

While I was at the gym, I picked up a leaflet from the Sweatshop in the foyer about a running club, they are offering this free of charge every week (starting yesterday) to go off and do a 5K run, having had a little chat with them today it seems they have a front runner, someone at the middle and someone at the back, the back runner will be doing 5 minutes running, 5 minutes walking, and the front runner will be constantly running at a steady pace to make the 5K in about 35 minutes (Basically a little slower than my current pace) so I am thinking for the fun of running with others I might give it a go :) Anybody else who fancies it… it’s totally free and starts at David Lloyds Sweatshop (Ipswich I am mumbling about here by the way, and NO you don’t have to be a member) it’s 6:30 on a Tuesday evening… Just bring you, trainers, oh and some shorts I guess, don’t want anyone getting arrested! If you like it and you stick around you can earn free stuff :) HOW GOOD IS THAT!! To find out a little more pop along to http://www.sweatshoprunningcommunity.co.uk hope to see ya there!

Now a good friend of mine today reminded me that I need to start charting my food intake here again, this not only stops me from eating rubbish as I am not going to want to type things like “Today I had 12 iced donuts with hundreds and thousands, several packs of digestives, a MuckDonalds, and a Chicken Biryani“ for all of the world to see, not only that but when I have a good few days I can look back over it and see what I was eating and thus begin to build a picture of the foods that my body requires to sustain the exercise that I am doing.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The mentioning the name of MuckDonalds was in no way referring to that food chain of a similar name, but a fictional restaurant created by myself to emphasise the poor quality of foods available, however MacDonalds is still shit and does make me feel ill when I eat there, im not kidding it’s true I have some odd allergic reaction to their food, but they do provide free newspapers… although that statement made this whole disclaimer pointless.. hmmm.

So anyway back to the point, before I go into what I have and haven’t been eating I think it’s important to point out that I am NOT following a diet, there are no foods that I can’t eat, I am just being sensible… As Davey Wavey talks about in one of his posts http://www.daveywaveyfitness.com/nutrition/how-to-eat-french-fries-and-stay-fit-sorta/ I try to follow the 80/20 rule, that being I eat healthy 80% of the time, allowing the odd treat 20% of the time, fundamentally it’s just like my Dad used to say, everything in moderation!

So… Yesterday I had two crumpets for breakfast, followed by a morning snack of protein shake (to follow the training) and a small box-o-dried fruit and nuts, lunch was a portion of my home made scrummy Cottage Pie, and dinner was a not so healthy portion of chips… Oops!!

Today so far I have had crumpets before the gym, a protein shake post gym with Babybel, then I had a Ham a Coleslaw sandwich and another Babybel, as for this evening I am not so sure yet, but I think it’s likely to be Brussels Sprout and Caramelised Onion Soup… it is lovely although may not sound it. But today I have had bucket loads of coffee, this is not great and I need to cut this down and up my water intake again.

Tomorrow I am hoping to get to the gym for some resistance training, I figure a careful session paying attention to my back should be good, and if I have to stop I have to stop… Anything is better than nothing!

Don’t forget Blofolers that were here for a very important reason, I am working hard to train myself up to run the London Marathon in aid of Asthma UK, Did you know that on average there are two children with asthma in EVERY classroom in the UK? Asthma is a debilitating medical condition that can strip a child of a normal childhood, help asthma UK to research and develop treatments and therapy to make these children’s lives better, and who knows maybe one day to even find a cure?! To find out more visit them at http://www.asthma.oug.uk then pop along to my Virgin Money Giving page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JohnClitherow and sponsor me anything you can, perhaps £1 a mile, or even just 50p… every little penny really does help… AND don’t forget to gift aid :)

I’m doing my bit to help people with asthma, Are YOU??

Live Strong, Run Long!
Jay (Red John).