_riotgrrrl_

Auto pause saves a bit of battery. I use it because I'm paranoid about my phone dying. Even when in the company of experienced hikers.... Don't do it to yourself! My 20 litre Berghaus was mislabelled as 'for women' on Amazon. And at the time of buying I didn't really know what that meant and I didn't fill it adequately enough/walk long enough to notice it was a poor fit. The shoulders don't tighten up enough, the flimsy hip strap fits round my waist, and instead of sitting high on my sternum, the chest strap crushes the boobs at the loosest setting - rendering it useless. I've been complaining about it for years, but OH's only just believed me... In other news I woke up with a headache and a fever. Just guzzled down some paracetamol and fresh lemon and ginger tea in the hope it'll make some difference. That being said, I'll abandon any attempt to try and catch up with fitness this week.

All very true. Thank you. It's midnight and I just got off the train and back into my bed! I've got a couple of jobs for the rest of the week so I had to come back early. Dosed up on Buscopan and Ibuprofen. Hope it shifts the cramps... Also wanted to say that today I woke up after that huge walk feeling relatively normal for once, so I think it's safe to conclude that taking regular breaks without the backpack, actively relaxing my shoulders and not digging into the trekking poles too much made the difference. Shall be looking into getting a backpack that's more female friendly and that isn't working against me as soon as I can. Seeing as today was a half day, we did a sneaky 5.5km hike on a couple of smaller fells, then said bye to the lambs and had a quick snuggle with the OH before he drove me to the train station. Starfishing for both of us tonight!

To clarify for @ladymorella and @jonfirestar - the auto pause function kicks in when you stop walking, but I think it takes a while to unpause, seeing as it's telling me I was only moving for 1 hour 35 mins of the 7 hours... 4 easy but long scrambles - the vertical movement of that may have confused it too. At least it can draw me a route afterwards!

The lads could've shaved a couple of hours off, had it not been for me!

Thank you, and yes I am. Got ill on the second night of vacation. On the third now, and all sorted with the veritable medicine cabinet I brought with me (we're in the middle of nowhere). I'm feeling much better now! Ben Swolo Yes. Very. Even without the stomach bug, I woke up after Monday's walk (as I do after any big walk) feeling like I'd been hit by a monster truck while on my way home from losing a cage fight. Internet says it's my rucksack, and the straps and length of the bag certainly aren't sympathetic to female anatomy. I've even got a burn where the bag has rubbed against my lower back - short shorts and t-shirt not offering the same amount of protection as winter gear. It's just some clothes, lunch and about 2 litres of water. I don't know why it's killing my shoulders and back so much. Today I made sure to take lots of breaks to stretch, so I guess we'll see if that's made any difference to DOMs. Green Milk Is Good For You Staying off the protein shake, as it's too heavy to have just before dinner. Tonight it was fish and chips with a rather delightful chablis, followed by a homemade rhubarb crumble. I'm leaving them tomorrow, so it was a kind of send-off. I'm full to the gills and they had twice as much as me, and they're currently beached on armchairs as I type this. I hope it's not too rich for me.... Grey Jedi Fitness 7 hour hike today, three hills, highest was 2,630 ft, with a total of 2,800 ft of ascent. It's the most I've ever done in terms of time, effort and ascent. The lads were very kind and slowed down so I wasn't left behind / lost. Map My Hike (with autopause activated) gave me an estimated calorie burn of ~700 calories, which seems more apt than Monday's 2,400 calories...

I agree. And the body gets even more energy efficient as you get fitter/gain more muscle mass. The OH got some proper pictures on his fancy camera yesterday. I'll post when I get them, as mine look like they were taken by a potato. I felt my glutes when going uphill yesterday, and I"m really feeling them this morning! I had a mystery upset stomach and fever last night, so I'm leaving the lads to their seven-hour expedition and having a solo woodland stroll today. Thankfully they didn't have any dodgy stomach symptoms and I didn't poison the food or anything... I'm also happy that I packed loperamide - so I'm no longer suffering - just a little dehydrated. OH was an angel and helped get me back to sleep when I woke up sweating in the middle of the night, demanding to know why all the heaters were on... They weren't. He let me sleep on him, his much cooler body temperature bringing mine down. I suspect the heavy protein shake, followed by a massive dinner, threw things off. I am a delicate flower

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Nothing's wrong - I'm still very much on the wagon - but I've just been super busy what with arranging this last-second trip out to the Lake District. On Friday I realised I wasn't going to be able to do my benchmark run (warm up, run as hard as you can for three minutes) until after I got back, and the app doesn't allow you to reschedule workouts outside of the week you're currently in, so I did it immediately after my last lifting session. I hope I didn't lose my gainz... Was all warm and fired up from 10kg kettlebells. The only 8kg was being used, and the extra weight made all the difference when it came to moving from stance to stance with precision. We are on a sheep farm. In lambing season. And it's hot. I've been stomping about in a t-shirt and short shorts all day. This has never happened in this region before. To me. Ben Swolo Every time I move, millions of muscles suddenly cry out in terror. Green Milk Is Good For You Remembered to have a protein shake and creatine today. Had it a bit close to dinner, which filled me right up. Had a TON of fish in my Spanish Fish Stew tonight, so no danger of me not getting my macros, even if I have NO idea of my calorie intake. Grey Jedi Fitness Said to my friend "I don't think I burned 2400 calories on that walk", unfortunately he replied, "no, that sound's about right", and then we had the most polite, English argument in the world about how estimated calorie burn for cardio exercise is famously greatly exaggerated by various fitness trackers. Not that famously - he clearly wanted sources, and then tried to work out how much he'd burned, factoring in his backpack. Didn't like the fact that historically I've always gained weight on these walking holidays, due to the additional desserts and alcohol I mistakenly thought I'd 'earned'. Told me he easily burns 400 calories per hour in his local park. Even though he's been stuck at the same weight (and unhappily so) the whole time I've known him. I left it there. No point arguing when someone's that convinced... In much happier news, not only was I able to keep up with a pair of fit-ish middle-aged men (I know, I know), we were also walking side by side! Wasn't expecting this at all, and if it continues I'll have to update my Woot Room entry. Not feeling any more out of breath than they are, the hypoglycemic lows are absent, and the purple Merrell boots have given me hooves instead of feet (no more stumbling with inflexible boots). Lifting - and an aesthetic lifting programme at that - has done so much for me. Till next time!

Ben Swolo This, from Symmetric Strength. Bear in mind that I'm doing an aesthetics programme, not a strength programme. I could squat and deadlift a lot more when I was on Strong Lifts about 2 years ago. Fluctuated 1/2kg upwards on the scale - either that or the slight overeating is taking it's toll. Either way, it's all for a good cause, i.e. my ass. Grey Jedi Fitness Realised why I get so pooped after Wednesday lifting sessions - I really go hard at it. FINALLY did 3 x 20 (each side) of single leg bodyweight glute bridges!!! That and the heavy cable pull-throughs are going to hurt tomorrow. Finding weighted high step ups to be ridiculously taxing too. Military barbell press with same weight as last time, felt just as difficult as last time, but I'll be brave next week and increase the weight slightly. Used the crunch machine (traditional situps are making me nauseous), which worked for me at 18kg. Saw a lad dressed in an ice-hockey shirt (there's an ice rink next door, so maybe from there) doing Jefferson deadlifts. People actually do this, go look it up. Should be called The Nutcracker.

*blushes*

Ben Swolo So tired. hot and swole I almost didn't do today's HIIT workout.... which turn out not to be a HIIT workout at all... Green Milk Is Good For You Tried to make up for yesterday's macro fail with a beefburger for lunch, and then leftover veggie curry from the other night. Ate an indecent amount of bhajis and popadoms so probably macro-failed AND exceeded calories again. Oh well, not the end of the world. Grey Jedi Fitness Yeah, so today the Nike Running app redirected me to the Nike Training app for mobility workout 'Floor to Core'. Some sneaky pushups and planks among the leg balances and hip twists, so I got a bit of a sweat on. No need for yoga today. I think I would've preferred something more yogic though - I find breathing into mobility and stretches much more beneficial than performing regimented movements for time... I keep doing barbell glute bridges as hip thrusts and having to switch them round at the end of the week. Infuriating! As much as today was a little meh, I did write a code of conduct and also did some reading research for that acting job, so overall it was pretty productive, even if food was screwy.

Ben Swolo Another hot day with butt DOMs spent appreciating the aircon in the gym. A bit gutted to say that my supervillain peer Bane was nowhere to be seen, because I cosplayed as hard as legally able in high waisted black leggings and black Adidas bra top. The latter is padded, and with a plunging cleavage and I'm already a 32DD, so I noticed people were avoiding eye contact today - either they didn't want to look or they didn't want to get caught looking... Good thing I always pack a towel because I was leaving sweat angels everywhere. What with the cosplay and crushing all my lifts today, I've definitely reached peak Swolo. Should've put on a cowl or something. Green Chocolate Milk Is Good For You Just for @jonfirestar here's a chocolate protein shake recipe I'm happy with. I realised the cocoa powder only dissolves (melts?) in hot liquid, so I made a paste with cocoa powder and water, and microwaved it before putting into the shake. 200ml almond milk 1 medium banana 15ml maple syrup 5ml liquid cocoa 1 scoop unflavoured protein powder Tasted gooooood. And nothing like chocolate-flavoured, sweetner-packed shakes. This was dinner. It was around 500 calories without the bread roll or dressing. But it's all about the dressing - and this Pizza Express one has olive oil, and not bloody sunflower like most of the cheap ones do. Everything else is Aldi's finest: smoked mackerel, potatoes, mixed leaf salad, walnuts, celery, beetroot and cucumber. Very easy to put together, relatively cheap, extremely tasty, and perfect for the weather. I see my barbell pad and a resistance band made it into shot. Living the life! /s Me and OH had a rare late afternoon sunbathe in our local park - far enough from the main road to not notice the pollution. Fucked today's calories by having a can of Red Stripe, but if I can't have a Red Stripe in my bikini on probably one of a handful of sunny days in the UK, then when can I? Woo. Grey Jedi Fitness Surprisingly busy in the gym on a hot Bank Holiday Monday, but maybe we all had the same idea (i.e. midday aircon). ZERO fuckery to report, unless you count me trolling with the bewbs. Went up in all my major lifts with no failures. Booty burning again. Managed to learn my post-workout yoga sequence, which makes doing all that a lot quicker than watching a video. OH decided to get us and our friend a last minute discounted holiday in the Lakes this weekend. I've got to be back earlier than him for work the week after, and I was umming and ahing about going in the first place, but it's lambing season, so done and done. I'll be back Wednesday night to do some late night lifting, but it shouldn't be too disruptive to the schedule overall. Will be interesting to see how all this has affected my endurance muscles further, if at all. For those of you unfamiliar with past challenges, I got a nice surprise a couple of months ago when I found I was able to keep up with my OH on hillwalking missions in the area we're now returning to. I've only been able to do this since starting Strong Curves. HIIT tomorrow!!!

Ben Swolo Woke up feeling like I'd come last in an arse kicking contest, cos dat swole booty was sore. Was going to begin new running programme on Tuesday, but started it today because it was a recovery run, and my arse could do with getting some blood and oxygen to it. Certainly eased the DOMs a bit. Started taking creatine again, as I figured that by the time I've built up enough in my system, I'll need it. Green Pink Milk Is Good For You Made a really nice strawberry milkshake with the unflavoured protein powder! It's not perfect yet, so I'll post the recipe once I've nailed it. I've found it's really easy to over mix the protein powder, so I'll shake it into the other ingredients at the end, instead of putting it in the blender. Leftover lamb shish for lunch. Unsure as to tonight's calories, but I had just over 1000 to play with. It was a veggie Indian feast from a new restaurant. Tarka dal, chana masala and the best saag paneer I've ever had (it was sweet and had coconut). Distinct lack of oil, lovely naan bread, huge portions.... AND I kind of invented a cocktail - spiced rum in apple and mango juice, with lots of mint. Went down very nicely with OH. Grey Jedi Fitness 29℃ / 84℉ next to one of the most polluted roads in London today, so I was very grateful for an air-conditioned gym to run in. The OH said "it's only 1km - the gym's probably that far!", but the heat would've made it unbearable. Plus, the walk to the gym and back made a great warm up / cool down. Was expecting it to be empty, but was pretty busy for a Sunday - perhaps we all had the same idea... Average page on this recovery run was 7' 01" per/km which was great, as it was around my old 'fast pace' and I therefore wasn't plodding. I hate plodding. The programme is called Get More Fit on the Nike Run Plus app, and it's 8 weeks long. There's some HIIT workouts in place of some of the runs, so I'm interested to see how they fit in. The 8.5km run at the end of the 8 weeks terrifies me! Didn't do any yoga as it was such a short run and I needed to binge watch something before it expired on BBC iPlayer. Did find a decent calf massage vid, which certainly loosened them up. OH's goat-like legs are very tender so he's up for it, but I need to remember to be gentle...

Not yet. Already getting funny looks for doing hip thrusts with a resistance band round my thighs... I await new scandal with trepidation!

Yup. And that's just half of them. There are just as many past those two stairmills!