Lisa - Fat Girl Fit

Brighton half marathon

Sorry but I couldn’t resist the title of this post – but who am I kidding? A half marathon for me?! No way jose! I was in Brighton to support my husband who was taking part in the Brighton half marathon with my cousins other half, Lee, though after the runners set off Tracy and I did run along the sea front and I would be completely lying if I said I wasn’t tempted whilst in my running gear to take a picture at the 13 mile mark ha ha

They completed in 2 hours and 7 minutes and I am hugely jealous of the very large pink medal they received (which coincidentally may go missing from my husbands medal pile at some point – just saying).

The furthest I have run is slightly more than 10k and I am still waiting for that moment that runners tell me you fall in love with running. I am slowly coming to the conclusion they are liars. Saturday night sitting in a pub in Brighton the four of us worked out that I had run more than both my husband and Lee and yet I would have been the last one of us to sign up for a half marathon – its a daunting distance! I saw a video of one of the female elite runners at the Austin marathon who was so exhausted after hitting ‘the wall’ that she crawled to the finish – that would be me. I am proud to say that my husband and Lee finished strong and my cousin Tracy and I were surprised at how smiley they both were – good for them (said through jealous gritted teeth at making a half marathon look relatively easy)!

It amazes me looking at them that they had run over 13 miles by this point – two miles into my run along the sea front with my cousin I had to nip to the loo – I swear I have the bladder of a 90 year old!

Another thing that made me smile yesterday was seeing a post my mum shared on facebook. She is my biggest fan of this blog (even if she is biased) and I can definitely see where I get my humour from!

And so finally on to weigh-in day today – I lost 1.5lbs so the plaque has been changed and is the highest number I have had so far, 36lbs.

36lbs it turns out is the equivalent of a mid-size microwave! That’s slightly embarrassing! The chart below is actually quite hilarious!

So I am home alone, still dressed in my pyjamas, totally doing a little victory dance. Although I worked out I have another 35lbs to go until I will be at my ideal weight, and when I reach my target I will have lost the equivalent of an Irish setter dog. That is pretty daunting but I am halfway there and completely taken with gin now rather than the higher calorie wine so its a win win.

Category: Cycling, Fitness

My cycle club Romford CC

In February last year I was getting ready for my first cycling event – a 25 mile bike ride for Sport Relief. It was a good route though a few hills and I was fairly certain I would die on a couple and also that my vagina had fallen out at some point!

My husband was part of a cycling club, Romford CC, and I completed the ride with some of the members of the club.

I was hooked. I am sure when I started telling people they would smile and nod whilst probably thinking really? You? She who bakes cakes and sits on her fat ass watching Eastenders? Good luck with that! That was what I was thinking anyway.

My husband is heavily involved in the club and so I know most of the members. They are lovely, a couple are borderline mental and if you forget a name call them Steve – there are many Steve’s in the club!

I have had so much help from so many of them and am so grateful. I started cycling at a cycle centre near us, Redbridge Cycle Centre, which is a track purely for bikes with no cars so a good start for a newbie. I would regularly meet one of the ladies in the club and a now friend of mine, Lisa, and she is the singer of the club – she would always get there before me and would cycle with her phone playing music and I would generally hear her coming before I saw her wailing to Prodigy’s Smack My Bitch Up! On our first ride together she had to point out that my cycle helmet was on back to front – smooth move by me – someone put a cork on my fork please!

I would never have been able to complete the Prudential Ride 100 last year without their help and I love celebrating with them all (and lots of wine) in the park after the event. My husband signed me up for this without telling me (the b*stard) and I completed this in 5 hours 21 minutes with his help and that of his other love, best mate and club member, Timmy. It is one thing having your husband stay with you on a ride but another when someone else sacrifices their ride to help you which is lovely and also can make you feel bad. I said a few times Tim should go off as he is a much better cyclist and I felt I was holding him back but he wouldn’t have it and told me not to be silly although he then said but can you f*cking hurry up?! Thanks Tim!

Romford CC was originally founded in 2012, by some friends in Cycle Surgery Romford, wanting to take the store’s social ride to a club level. After inviting customers to join them, one of the riders went about and decided it would be a great idea to officially create a cycling club, this was the start for Romford CC.

We are a great social bunch of people with varied riding abilities and have a very encouraging approach and view.

They are sponsored by Cycle Surgery in Romford and Yellow Jersey Cycles in Billericay.

If you are interested in cycling, want to join a club or would like to come on a ride take a look at the website: http://www.romfordcyclingclub.co.uk/ you can get in touch by clicking on Contact Us, at the top of the page or drop an email to info@romfordcc.co.uk

Who wouldn’t want to be part of this club and get to wear the dashing pink and yellow kit? On a ride once with another friend and club member Sophie, we pulled out of a pub rest stop and someone commented that they were not entirely sure if our kit was hideous or genius – it gets us noticed though and I personally love a bit of anything pink! And let’s face it no one looks good in Lycra so it’s nice to be part of a club and you can all look like sausages and condoms together!

Category: Cycling

Flowers for valentines? Nah! Pink bike? Erm ok then!

Whilst everyone received flowers and chocolates at the weekend for Valentines I got a new shiny bike! When I say shiny its not actually shiny as it is matt black but you get the picture. The best part? It has pink on it and I do love me some pinkness in any way shape or form.

The cycle club I am part of, Romford CC, are lucky to have one of their sponsors be Yellow Jersey Cycles in Billericay and the gentlemen in there were kind enough to get me the new Trek Silque SL 2015. It is my very first carbon bike and I am expecting it to double my speed and event times – is that not how it works?

Four of the ladies in the cycle club managed to secure places through the ballot for the Prudential Ride London event in August and this year it is all about the ladies!

So here she is my new little pink beauty:

The friendly bear in the background is Nate – much thanks to him and Dan at the shop for sorting my new bike for me!

I best get out pedalling then!

Category: Fitness

This Girl Can

I am so excited I have to share that I am now an official partner with the campaign This Girl Can.

This Girl Can is here to inspire women to wiggle, jiggle, move and prove that judgement is a barrier that can be overcome.

I personally didn’t want to go outside in public and do any form of exercise as I thought everyone would be looking at me and laughing. Gyms scared me – they are full of slim fit people who do not turn into a sweaty tomato like me. In the end I thought just do it and so I did and so can you.

If this girl can then you all can!

Category: Cycling, Fitness

I’m in!

One of my early posts spoke about how my dear husband had entered me into a 100 mile bike event last year without telling me and I got in. Well this year I put in for myself and in the post yesterday was my confirmation that I am in!

This is for the Prudential Ride London event which is a 100 mile bike ride from London to Surrey and back. It is on closed roads and finishes on the Mall – the weather last year was the tail end of a hurricane and yet I still thoroughly enjoyed it – my longest bike ride to date.

However, because of the bad weather they reduced the route to 86 miles and cut out two of the three biggest ascents; Box Hill and Leith Hill. So I have my medal from last year and quite frankly given the weather and the fact that I had only started cycling (February of last year was my first 25 mile event) I am proud of myself for that but it would be nice to have the medal for the whole thing so I am even more pleased I got in from the ballot!

There are quite a few of the lovely people from the cycle club, Romford CC, that I belong to who also got in and hopefully those that didn’t will either get a team place or a charity place as the atmosphere is amazing and we all celebrate in the park afterwards then smile for days after!

I also got my numbers for a 10k Race for Life event and the London to Southend 52 mile bike ride so its all go! With many more events to sign up for too!

Good luck and congratulations to everyone who got in to the Ride London event too – Enjoy!

Now it is time to train!

Category: Fitness

Him

Him is my husband. So I thought I would write a post about him as it is pretty much him that got me here today.

A few years back he ended up in hospital with a very bad leg. When I say very bad I mean very very bad. It was bright red, boiling hot, extremely painful and they didn’t know what had caused it or why. It was similar to one of those doner chunks of meat you see rotating on a spit in a kebab shop – I would try and lighten the mood by asking him if he wanted chilli sauce and salad with that? It was also similar to the leg of a lady in a town near us who hands out lucky heather – we avoid eye contact with her and the leg I am referring to has elephantiasis – again I would joke and ask lucky heather?

Anyway my point is whilst they did not know what was wrong they said that exercise would help to regulate the blood flow – I won’t go into details but basically the blood was going down to the foot (or hoof) and not back up again – hence the kebab leg or lucky heather leg jokes. So he started to exercise. And pretty much became addicted – my husband without being able to train is one moody little madam!

The help he is giving me he also had when he began from one of his best friends Darren who really helped him getting started with the running! This shows them at a couple of events and you can see his progress made and he is still going strong.

His passion is cycling but it has developed into duathlons and triathlons and he has lost over a whopping four stone! His start weight was 17 stone 4 pounds and he is now at 13 stone. I will share his before and after picture – it is like that episode of Friends where “someone ate Monica”! I have never met someone with his will power it makes me sick!

He has inspired me to get into it with the running and cycling! He started out just like me – overweight and not that good at any of it and with hard work has completely changed and taken to it! I’m so proud of him (and not one bit jealous – ok maybe a little bit)! He is training to be a cycle coach and I know he will be great at it!

He is the one when I say I feel like everyone is looking at me that says so what, let that spur you on and prove them wrong! When we first ran together I wouldn’t run past a pub we pass on our park loop as I felt like everyone was probably laughing at me and he would, very poetically, say f*ck them you are doing more than they are! This was totally me and now I run past that pub (I still avoid eye contact – I am not quite there yet)!

I am always at the finish line for his events and he mine and it makes a huge difference having the support! We’ve done quite a few events together now as well! Between us we have quite a medal collection. Anyone that knows him knows he loves a medal! They are hanging on our dining room chairs and every time his get knocked they make a noise and he says what’s that noise? One day I will wrap them in bubble wrap, cut the medals off or just hide them maybe! He’s never vain when it comes to the medals though – always subtle ha ha!

Don’t get me wrong he was never a cheap date and it is now more expensive as it is twice the cost for kit, equipment and event fees – I have everything pink and don’t need all the best stuff and he is a pampered princess and a spoiled brat – he will happily admit it too!

I don’t want to go on too much about him as he will get a huge head and I won’t hear the bloody end of it!

I will say though that a lot of people say it is not the best idea to train with your partner but I haven’t found that – he has helped me hugely though he does push me and I swear a lot at him. But during cycle events I have never once visioned wrapping my bike around his head as he pushes me to go faster or tackle a horrible hill – no never once! Nor have I ever wanted to trip him up and run away during a running event when he tells me to keep going and that I am doing great when I feel like I might puke – nope not at all!

Category: Events, Running

Winter Run 10k

Friday and Saturday I had rest days – and amazing they were too! Nice dinner with the hubby Saturday night – healthy choice of salmon whilst I dribbled slightly at the burger that was served to the table across the room. Then I sulked as there were no “good” choices on the dessert menu but I quickly recovered after we stopped for frozen yoghurt – yum!

So yesterday my husband and I got up early (should be against the law on a Sunday but I am getting used to it being the norm) and headed up to Embankment for the Winter Run 10k. It was freezing – even once we got on the train and we just kept smiling at each other when I think we were both thinking its not too late to go home in the warm!

According to the website there were going to be 1,600 people set off in every 8 minute wave – we were expecting a bit of a nightmare if I am honest. Bag drop was fine – in and out really quickly and then we started queuing, after a quick photo with a polar bear of course!

It was a slow start as you had to queue and then they set off some then wait for the next wave and so on. It was also really emotional! Really, really, emotional! The whole event was for Cancer Research and they were asking people to put their hands up if they knew anyone who had been affected by cancer and as you can guess most people put their hands up. Then they asked if anyone had personally been affected by cancer and there were a lot of hands. Lastly they asked if there was anyone there who was still battling cancer and there were quite a few hands go in the air. You would have to have a swinging brick where your heart should be not to be amazed at the strength of these people – complete admiration for them! And there was me nervous about finishing and being overtaken – shame on me all I had to do was drag my fat ass round 10k!

So our wave finally started moving – it took a long time and I needed the loo again! I was determined not to go off too quickly but there was no fear of that as the first 5 minutes at least were at walking pace because of the large group of people. Then we started to spread and could go at our own pace. There was a lot of dodging people as these events cater for people of all abilities so it is a mixed crowd, which is nice as a lot of the running events I have done I always feel like the slowest person there and like I don’t quite fit in. There was so much support on the route as well – loads of people who had come out to cheer you on and little kids holding out their hands for hi fives! There were fake snow machines and teams of motivators along the way cheering encouragement.

We finished it – and I got a pb for my 5k (31 minutes 44 seconds) and a pb for my 10k (1 hour 4 minutes and 37 seconds) and we got a really pretty medal too! Massive thanks of course to my husband who ran with me for the whole thing – even if he wouldn’t let me stop to walk and I nearly wet myself!

I did have a nosey at the other times people finished it in and was surprised as I always assume I am one of the slowest:

However, I found there were a lot of people finishing around the same time so I think maybe I will stop beating myself up quite so much! Instead I shall run by this logic ha ha:

Yesterday was made even better as I saw a friend from school and she had read my blog, another friend put on facebook about their new favourite thing being frozen grapes, which they had got from my blog and the cycling club I am part of retweeted one of my posts with the hashtag thisgirlcan (love it) so I am chuffed people are actually reading my ramblings!

Last but not least of course it is Monday (meh) and so that is also weigh-in day for me too – and a good one as I lost another 3 pounds! You can’t see but I am grinning!

So I shall be keeping all of this up and later today will go for another run!

Category: Events, Running

Victoria Park 10k

Happy Monday all! Yes I know what Mondays are ever happy?! None if like me you also use Monday as your weigh-in day. So last week I was so good and lost nothing and had a tantrum similar to that of a three year old who wants chocolate – and I also wanted chocolate! But this morning was ok as I lost 3 pounds so can finally change my weight loss plaque and am back in the 30’s – a total of 32lbs lost so far!!

So I intend to carry on this way!

Yesterday I ran the Victoria Park 10k – finished in 1 hour 5 minutes 22 seconds – got a pb for my 5k and 10k – again only by 20 seconds or so but I will have that! I still find it hard, breathe like darth vader as I go, bitch and moan, but I know I can complete it. It is also nice to know that I am not the only person who doesn’t find it easy – a friend of mine did the run and when she finished she said to me “this is what a heart attack feels like right?!”. You can see from the photos at the finish I am a sweaty red mess, clothes disheveled and pretty much ready to crumble. I am obviously the one on the right – my friend Helen (the slim one on the left) ran with me the whole way bless her! I do crack a smile when exercising – once I cross the finish line!

So this was not made better by the fact that they ran out of medals and goody bags – if I am going to get up early on a Sunday in the cold and run I at least want a medal and some free sh*t – thats the deal! But another run under my belt, medal will be posted and feeling ok today. Here are our before and after shots – we all actually look better in the after shot once we have woken up!

I must admit I did have a bit of a wobble when I saw what I looked like in the running pics but then a friend pointed out I wouldn’t have believed it a year ago if someone said I would be doing this, which is true. So I say:

Category: Fitness, Running

My furry running partner

Tonight I swam – headed to the gym after work to get it done (before I changed my mind). Did my usual of getting changed, scoping out how many people are in the pool and getting in with as few people as possible seeing me in my costume! Do you remember as a kid ever running to get into bed as quick as you can before the monster underneath the bed gets you? That’s a similar scenario to me getting into the swimming pool.

I swam 1km in my gym pool, which is 40 lengths. I must admit I spent most of the time thinking about getting home to eat dinner!

Probably a good thing I didn’t run tonight as my furry running partner wasn’t up to much – this was her for most of the evening:

I’m sure if I got her lead out she would go crazy as she usually does. She’s a funny little thing our April pup – with many strange ways! Spins around a few times before she goes on the wooden floor which I think in her world is clearly made of molten lava.

I do love taking her with me on a run and it kills two birds with one stone – she gets her exercise at the same time as me.

However, running with a dog does have its draw backs:

I almost fall over because of the dog on pretty much every run
she once got scared by a bird and ran in front of me so suddenly I ended up in a heap on the floor
she runs by the side of me mostly but if she needs to stop she generally does so right in front of me mid run – she’s kind like that
she has to run around every lamp post, which is helpful
she has to jump into every puddle, run through every patch of mud and on our park route will always run ahead at the lake and jump in as I catch up – the swans are not keen on her and I know she’s in the water as i get nearer and hear the hissing
I spend most of the run watching her every time she stops – pee or poo? Of course I pick up after her (sorry for the subject of poo but it’s a thing that happens as a dog owner) but she always manages to do it no where near a bin! So I am the crazy fat girl, bright red face, puffing and panting and running with a bag of dog poo until I get to the next bin!

Good job she’s cute!