The weekend ends here

A rather mixed weekend of good exercising and poor dieting.

Friday set the tone.

At the gym for 6.30am and 50 minutes on the cross trainer. A good start. Then off down to Warwick for a meeting stopping for an eclectic breakfast of gingerbread latte and snack sushi en route. On the way back I stopped to eat the super Wholefoods salad I'd bought earlier but could only manage half (I just didn't feel hungry) but then on getting home I realised how hungry I'd become and ate for England. I wasn't helped by the festive feelings of a) the start of the weekend, b) getting back after a long, slow, drive and c) putting up the tree and decorations. No trips to buy sweets on the way back or once home so that at least was good...but I did eat several small slices of stollen!

Saturday followed suit. Out by 8.30am for 6 miles from home, as well as the hopping drill I hadn't been able to do earlier in the week).

Strangely the snow had just vanished. When I'd left the day before there was still thick compacted snow and slush but by the time I'd got back everything was gone. That left Saturday's route wet, occasionally muddy but generally ice free.

A very nice salad at a new deli at dinner time messed up the calorie counting for the day and and I grazed through the evening. Hoping this was off set by the run and the afternoon trip to the gym for 20 minutes on the x-trainer, core stability exercises and a couple of upper body weights exercises (that pleasingly didn't leave me with doms as they had the week before).

Up with the lark again yesterday and headed off to the canal, complete with head torch, at 7am. It had turned frosty again and that helped contribute to the redundancy of the torch. I'd never used it before but a clear sky, milky white thickly frozen canal and heavily frosted fields meant I could see OK without. Using it for a couple of miles was good practice though - I know its secure, comfortable and works.

Did 12 miles yesterday at a steadily increasing pace:

8.40
8.35
8.39
8.38
8.29
8.20
8.18
8.14
8.10
7.51
7.58
7.48

The jump to 7.51 was when a 'hare' came out of a side path ahead of me. I saw a figure ahead and within a second had assessed him (ectomorph, good cadence, light stride, looks experienced but also looks to be in his 50s) and without any conscious decision began to give chase - like a dog off the lead who spies a cat.

After a quick shower I took Beth Christmas shopping then when we got home had a contrived lunch. Later on I fell asleep on the settee and woke to the smell of freshly baked mince pies. Two of those were soon followed by ham hock with lentils and roasted vegetables, and then plum crumble and 3 helpings of custard...

Today is a rest day and the week a recovery week. The final week of the 'base' phase of training. More on that later this week as I have work to do and am out the next 4 days (Nottingham, Middlewich, West Bromwich and Mansfield) before working from home Friday.

Hope everyone has had a good weekend!