C25K Day Three

C25K Day Three has been completed. My phone is getting on a bit, though, and the app was misbehaving all the way round; crashing, freezing, starting again, skipping to different days. I'm not entirely certain how much I did but it felt about right.

I was going to go for another run today but I've had rather an unfortunate allergic reaction to an insect bite. I'm not sure how it happened, I was wearing jeans and boots all day on Saturday, but some nasty bugger still managed to get in there and bite me about 10 times. Since then, it's got redder, more swollen, tight, hot, painful skin and now I have blisters! It's so painful, it hurts whenever I tense up my shin, so that includes walking and, of course, running. Have a beautiful photo. The white and shiny bits is cream that I've put on it to try and calm down the anger.



The photo doesn't do it justice, it's a lot worse than it looks :o( I went to the pharmacy to ask for some advice and the lady took one look at it and instructed me to go to the doctor! If it's still the same, or worse, tomorrow, then I will do. I've been taking anti-histamines and ibuprofen and slathering it in antiseptic cream, but all to no avail.

In splits news, du-du-duuuu, I'm over an inch closer to the floor already, on both sides! I've only been doing it for about a month so I'm really pleased with the progress there :o)

Vaccinated

This morning I had my vaccinations against hepatitis A, diptheria, typhoid, tetanus and polio in the form of three injections. I was also expecting rabies but I'm not sure why I didn't get that; I couldn't ask at the time either as I forgot which other one I was expecting. I also have to go back and have tick-borne encephalitis which is going to cost me £40! Thankfully all the ones I had this morning I got for free. Go go gadget NHS!

All day my arms have felt like they're made of lead. You know when you've been sleeping on your arm and it feels all heavy and floppy and dead? Yeah, that, but with a whole lot more aching with it. I also had a bit of a do in the supermarket where I suddenly felt nauseous, hot and dizzy. I thought I was going to faint or throw up or both. Thanksfully I did neither but it wasn't very pleasant. But anyway, my vaccinations are another item of preparation to tick off my list!

I was supposed to go for a run today but I decided it probably wasn't the best idea so I'll go tomorrow instead. Tonight I'll still do my stretches for the splits, and will do so every night.

I also had a delivery (well, four deliveries) of more stuff for my kit; water purification tablets, rehydration sachets, a water bladder thing and diarrhoea tablets. After I'd ordered them, Amazon asked me if I would like to share the fact that I'd just bought diarrhoea tablets with my Facebook friends. Oh yes please, I'm sure they'd love to know that!

C25K Day 2

Today I completed day 2 of C25K. I'm still on the alternating stage of 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of walking for half an hour, so it's still fairly easy. Not much to report there I'm afraid. Although I have noticed that I really need a sports bra; I'm spending most of my time running with my arms clamped to my chest to stop the, er, bouncing.

As part of my warming up, I'm using stretches to train myself to do the splits. Most people have one leg which is more stretchy than the other, for some reason. At the moment, when I have my left leg in front, I'm currently around 10" from the ground. With my right leg forward, I'm currently around 7" off the ground. I've been stretching every day for three days now, so we'll see how quickly it takes me to get down to the ground.

In trek news, today my walking socks arrived in the post! Exciting news, I know. It said on the website that they're for sizes 6-11. I'm a size 7 so I thought they'd fit me, but the heel is partway up the back of my heel. I hope this won't cause a problem :-/ I've added them to my ever growing pile of new kit; boots, gaitors, liquid handwash, water purification tablets, power adapter, zip-off trousers etc etc.

Not the most exciting of entries, but I want to update every time I do another day of C25K to keep me motivated.

Six week countdown

So I'm taking part in a sponsored trek to raise money for WSPA and their work with rescuing brown bears. The trek is in Romania between 9th-15th September. So far I've been fundraising since October last year (I don't know why I didn't start my blog back then, but hey-ho!). So far I've raised £1,772 in sponsorship and made up the other £800 myself.

I've also booked a hotel at Heathrow for the night before the flight; we have to be at the terminal at 5:20am!

Today I went to the outdoors shop to buy the kit I need including walking boots, socks, first aid kit, zip-off trousers etc. I spent £100!

On Wednesday I'm having my injections; I need to have tetanus, rabies, hepatitis A and typhoid.

Today I started my training. I probably should have started sooner, I know that now. I didn't realise how much time was sneaking up on me!

So I'm also using this blog to track my training progress and weight loss. I'm using the C25K to increase my fitness. I've never been a runner. In fact, I've hardly ever done any exercise. Lots of people have done C25K and have reported excellent things about it; other people like me who've never done any exercise have been able to complete a 5km run within 8 weeks and I hope I can do the same. I know I'm going on the trek in 6 weeks, but I can always carry on when I get back. Today I completed the first day. It's alternating between 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of walking. I found it quite easy, which I was pleased about. Two more days of this and then it upgrades to 90 seconds of running and two minutes of walking.

Onto the weight loss. I've always been lucky with my weight, always been able to eat what I want and never put on an ounce. Things have changed. I think it's a combination of hitting 30, moving in with Jay (my boyfriend) who cooks bigger portions than I used to cook for myself and also changing my commuting habits. I used to live about a mile away from work so I would walk there and back; walking 2 miles a day was enough to keep my weight down. Now I've moved house and moved jobs I live 15 miles away from work so I have to drive. These three things have meant that I've put on over half a ston (7 pounds) in the last few months and my waist is now around 30" whereas it's always been around 27" previously. My BMI is currently around 29, which I am aware is in the 'healthy' zone, but it's not far away from 'overweight'. I've never been overweight before and I don't want to be. My belly is sticking out and it's an alien concept to me.

So, as well as writing about my trek progress, my C25K progress, I'm also going to be writing about my weight loss. I want to lose around 7-8 pounds and take at least 3" off my waist.

Oh and I want to do be able to do the splits too! Generally, I guess this is going to be my health blog.

Welcome and thanks for reading!