[BlimeyCharlie] It's time to get serious

[Charlie_Quinn]

How about a "Will lift for superhero shows" meme? 

[Balthazar]

best. idea. ever

[sozzielou]

I like your style! Keep up the good work. All the best for week 4

[Balthazar]

How about a "Will lift for superhero shows" meme? 

 

if you make this shirt, I will buy it

 

 

 

x10

[Charlie_Quinn]

Grrr, I came down with the flu on Sunday. The only movement I've been doing since then is shuffling between my bed and my sofa. Feeling slightly more human today so dragged myself into work, but I don't think I'm going to be able to do any exercise for a few days still. 

 

[Balthazar]

just as you get ahead, life throws you a curve ball, amaright

[Charlie_Quinn]

just as you get ahead, life throws you a curve ball, amaright

 

Yep, life does like to kick you in the gonads just when you start to think you're making progress. On the plus side, I spent 2 days binge watching shows on Netflix, sleeping and online shopping. As the Python's say; always look on the bright side of life.

[Everstorm]

Oh, yuck. Rest up; feel better.

[sozzielou]

Feel better soon Charlie

[Balthazar]

hope you're feeling better

[Charlie_Quinn]

This flu has been kicking my arse for a solid week now. I finally feel able to do stuff after doing practically nothing for a week, so hubby is taking me out for a cheer up meal and then it's back to the gym tomorrow. I've only got a week till my 10k ocr. I'm so not prepared for it.

Sent from my HTC One mini 2 using Tapatalk

[Everstorm]

The same thing happened to me last challenge, but the race went fine. You'll do great!

[Balthazar]

least you had the flu when you did and not race week

[Charlie_Quinn]

The same thing happened to me last challenge, but the race went fine. You'll do great!

 

Thanks for the encouragement. Really need it at the moment. 

 

least you had the flu when you did and not race week

 

Good point. Even though I don't feel ready for it, I think I'd be more pissed if I had to pull out of the race.

 

After a family member made me feel utterly worthless yesterday my mood has spiraled downwards, so it was a real struggle to get out to do anything today. I decided not to go to the gym and went for a run instead. Just a 30 minute out and back but it felt good.

[Charlie_Quinn]

Went to the gym this morning. All the racks were busy so couldn't do squats so did thrusters instead. I like doing those but man, are they exhausting!

 

Feeling more upbeat today. It's amazing how much a small amount of exercise improves your mood. Also had a great conversation with the other half when I got back from the gym.

 

Him: How was your workout?

Me: OK, but I couldn't squat as the racks were busy.

Him: Maybe you should just get a rack here.

Me: Are you serious?

Him: Yeah, why not? The spare room is just full of junk, we should put something of use in there.

 

My outward response to this: Oh, cool

 

My internal response:

 

Ebay, here I come.

[Everstorm]

Yay! I am just waiting until we move again to fill a room/shed/garage with fitness stuffs. So jealous!

[Charlie_Quinn]

After a bit of research, I think I can get myself setup with a decent home gym for around £350. I figure I don't need more than a barbell, squat stands and a bench for now. Not that I can fit much else in the room anyway! I get my yearly bonus at the end of this month so going to treat myself. So excited!

 

First things first, I need to strip everything out the room, re-paint, get the bikes put up on the wall out the way and throw away / sell all the un-used crap. Not so excited about this.

[sozzielou]

How exciting! Keep in mind the cool outcome - really visualise it - and the cleaning / tidying will fly by!

[Charlie_Quinn]

Cleaned up the spare room today. Just got to run all the unwanted stuff to the charity shop and then I can look at painting the room next weekend. 

 

Got my 10k OCR tomorrow. Wish me luck!

[Everstorm]

Good luck! (Not that you need it)

[Charlie_Quinn]

Chiltern Warrior Race Report

 

I got up nice an early this morning despite the clocks going forward here, and felt ready and eager to do the race. The weather on the other hand, was not as upbeat as I was. It was raining quite hard and very high winds. Not the best weather for a 10k obstacle run!

 

The email they sent me said that the run would start in waves at 11:30, so we arrived at the venue around 10:30. But it seems they decided to change their minds about how to start the race. After registering, I saw that some people were setting off already so I walked up to the start line and the guy there said they weren't doing a mass start, you could just go when you were ready. Very weird! I was running on my own so I waited for a large group of girls who arrived just after me to start so I didn't have to head into the woods on my own (I'm prone to getting lost, even with markers!). I did a little warm up of my own, scanned my chip and headed off. 

 

The route was a 5k loop so people doing the 10k would just do 2 loops. We headed into the woods and along the walking paths through the woods, which were very muddy due to the heavy rain. Most of the girls that started with me were slipping all over the place but my Mudclaws lived up to their name and clung to the mud beautifully. And so I ran in the thick mud through the woods, and kept running, and running..... about 2k must have gone past and not a single obstacle. A few hills, more mud, still no obstacles. I must have gone about 3.5k before we reached the first obstacle, a few log hurdles. A few yards later was a cargo net and then some more hurdles. At this point I had kept pace with the group of girls I started with, but as the obstacles started to come they slowed down and I pushed on ahead. A lot of people were complaining that it took such a long time to get to the obstacles and because of the amount of running in heavy mud and the weather, they weren't going to do the full 10k. I must admit, for a brief moment, I thought about just doing the 5k. I pushed that thought to the back of my head, told myself I'm not a quitter and kept going.

 

The last portion of the 5k loop was all obstacles. A water hole (jumped in both feet together and had a good splash around) followed by a steep hill that you needed a rope to climb. Then a muddy trench you had to crawl through, a crawl under net, some hay bales and the last obstacle was a 12 foot up and over ladder. After this, it was time to go round again. And I did so with a spring in my step, I was having so much fun!

 

I finished strong, wasn't too exhausted. I'm pretty sure if it was a 15k, I could have managed another loop. I don't know what my time was yet, but I'm not really bothered. I finished the 10k and that's all I aimed to do. Unfortunately, the pictures my hubby took didn't come out very well so can't post any.

 

All in all, it was a fun race. Much more running and less obstacles than I was hoping for but a good laugh all the same. Probably wouldn't do it again, just because of the small amount of obstacles but for a Tough Mudder warm up, it did the job. I'm feeling very confident that I'm going to smash TM now. Just over a month to go. Bring it on.

[Everstorm]

Sounds like a great race! Even better, knowing how rough you've had it the past few weeks. Congrats!

[sozzielou]

Awesome job, you really managed to put aside any negative thoughts and achieve a really great outcome. You rock!    

[maegs]

It sounds like you had a great race! Awesome job!

[Charlie_Quinn]

Thanks guys! Took a rest day yesterday as my shoulders were feeling a bit achy. Will do some body weight stuff tonight and if the high winds disappear, a run tomorrow. Charlie's got her grove back.

 

 

I've ordered most of the gear for my home gym, picking it all up in the next few days. Part of this long weekend will be spent putting it all together and with any luck I'll have it all ready by the beginning of next week. Excited!

 

My brothers girlfriend - who is part of our Tough Mudder team - did her first OCR this weekend and absolutely loved it! She's now addicted and she's put a team together for One True Grit on 20th September so I'm signed up for that now as well.