Swimming in the Fast Lane and George Foreman came to tea

So I stopped off at the gym on the way home from work yesterday evening and did an hour's swim to make up for my missed running in the morning (not the same but better than nothing). I used my Polar 7F underwater for the 2nd time and it was great. I had set my HR for 70%-80% and managed to stay within it burning 50% fat which is great for swimming.

The latest thing I am pondering is does everyone feel under as much pressure as I do when choosing a lane to swim in. Am I really fast or just medium? On Sunday when I went to a grotty public pool I joined the fast lane as I assessed the speed of the other two and they were relatively slow. In the end I had to ask a gentleman to move out of the fast lane as he was doing no more than floating whilst wiggling his legs and he was a bit of a liability. I felt a bit embarrassed but when I'd done it someone else thanked me so that made me feel better.

Any hoo, at my gym I couldn't decide as on the whole people seem to be taking their swimming more seriously as a form of exercise. There were only 2 lanes open - fast and medium and in the medium were several ladies desperately trying to keep their hair out of the water so I thought I'd join the fast lane again. Initially I was alone but as others arrived I started to feel intimidated about not being fast enough and pausing for too long after each 2 lengths - honestly I'm far to obssessive about things. I even follow people who are doing breast stroke to see their stroke underwater hoping to improve mine - I think I may be weird :-)

George Foreman

When I got home my George Foreman grill had been delivered. Hurray! I'm looking forward to grilling all my lean proteins on it - also secretly hoping the kids (sorry, young adults) will be encouraged to use it and cook for themselves occassionally! I live in hope.

Weight Regime

If you look at yesterday's post, I have updated it to add links to mini clips of the weights I am due to start today - more to help me visualise what I have to do as Saturday now seems so far away and all trainer Terry's tips are fading in my mind - I'm going to study these before I go to the gym to ensure I get my form correct.

I did it, I did it, I did it.

Well I haven't been this proud of myself in so long. Today I ran for 40 minutes, non stop and covered a distance of 3.79m which is 6.1k. My first running goal was 5k and so I have well and truly gone through that barrier. It was a beautiful morning out there at 5.15am and I just felt elated when I got home. I can't tell you how chuffed I am - believe me, the achievements I make it running far outway any figures on the scales. My next goal, of course, is 10K.

To add to the excitement I also took my Polar 7F Heart Rate Monitor out for a trial. It worked really well except that I was running in over 90% zone most of the time, which I shouldn't have been (and didn't feel like I was). When I go to the gym tonight I will ensure I keep in the 70% to 80% zone. I ready all about heart rate zones on a new website I found called 'Brian Mac Sports Coach' - see my list on the left. It was very imformative and having read it through a couple of times I understand it and can now put this information to use in my gym programme.

Did I mention I was excited today :-)