Spinning has been all the exercise I've been doing of late. For about the last 3 months actually. I go with my friend Elaine who has been motivator-in-chief over that last wee while and long-term confidante extraordinaire (along with Linda!). Before Christmas we stepped it up to 2 classes a week. For me there are 5 stages of spin. 1) the dread an hour before you go. 2) the excitement of getting there. 3) the high of starting off on the warm up and getting going. 4) the absolute horror halfway through when it gets tougher and tougher you're dripping with sweat and you're quads are burning! 5) the final 10 minutes when the instructor announces "only 2 more hard-working tracks left team" and then the exhiliration when you finish. You just feel great, you're face is bright red, but you feel great and that's the reason I go back. But it's time to get serious again because you never know what come up in the future!...
Spin classes take place at The Peak which is a new fitness and sports centre that opened in Stirling in April / May 2009. It's a good place and I really like the atmosphere when you go in. There's an ice rink, swimming pool, gym, fitness studios, sports hall and a couple of 12m climbing walls.
In all honesty I haven't been to the gym at work since about October 2009, instead preferring to go to spin and yoga classes. It's a pity too because It's quite a good gym but tended to get busy when I went straight after work. Then I just sort of got fed up with it. I mean I couldn't run and felt like I was just going and plodding away with not much happening. Now I'm swithering about whether or not to join The Peak gym. Currently I'm spending about £36 per month for spin bike classes and for an extra £3 (£39 per month) I could become a member and use all the facilities and go to any of the numerous classes they run. But... I still pay my membership for the work gym at £13 per month which is a great price. The only drawback here is the classes are limited in variety, there is no spin. Hhmmm I shall have to think this one over for a bit before I commit one way or the other.
I've decided to try running again too. I haven't tried this for about 5 months really. I've stopped getting physio as the last one (NHS guy) told me after 4 appointments that I didn't need it any longer and my legs / knees would be ok (probably cos I hadn't been up a hill or ran to test them). So after my expedition up Dumyat on 1st January 2010 I can confirm that the knee pain is still well and truly there. It was a real downer as soon as I started to feel it coming back on. But on the positive side, the next morning the pain had all but vanished. So I decided I wasn't going back to a doctor/physio or any other thing like that. It seems there's problems that even they cannot fix. I will instead be trying to build strength into my muscles and will actually get my arse into gear and start using my TP Therapy roller kit properly too. Oops. Since I got the TP Therapy hip and lower back kit back in September it has kinda just lay there with the occassional use (sorry Kristian!!). But no more. It will be getting used as well as my big foam roller. The thing is it's sore to begin with but once you've done it a few days you get used to it and you can feel where the pain (tight muscles) need loosened. No pain no gain as they say. For that is what the pain is afterall - tight muscles. Calves, Hamstrings, Quads and IT bands - although technically the IT band is a tendon and not a muscle. Trust me. I have researched this until my brain bleeds. Now the only question about running is whether or not to put the ortho insoles back into my gutties? I'm thinking not. Everything I've read seems to indicate that you should but then there's a few (including my last physio) who say NO! And I would like a complete dork if I took my trainers off and ran bare foot! The Nike uniformed brigade would turn and look with disgust because they've been programmed into thinking that £100 trainers ARE worth it. I know they would, I used to be one of them. But having tried different trainers I can testify that it doesn't really make one bit of difference to me. I'd probably be just as good running in my Converse plimsoles. Ach the dilemmas...
My shopping ban is going well. Except I seem to still be spending money on food! I mean I need to eat but it's the extras I pick up when I'm in the supermarket that needs to stop. I've only bought three tops since my self imposed ban. Two of those were in an online sale at £5 each and one is a new top for spin class/gym so it's useful and much-needed. White is the new black for the gym I feel. Other than that not much money is being spent at all - yay! Which leads nicely into this...
BIKE NEWS: There is no news!! I'm really getting fed up now but an update from the bike shop indicates that Cube are being very slow. As soon as it's delivered I will get an update on here going.
My book of 2010 is taking shape nicely.
It is a lime green Moleskine soft backed notebook and is dedicated to 2010. It is a list of to-do's. It is a log of inspirational quotes. It may even hold a few little short stories! New to-do's are being added as and when they spring into my head. Each one having a different colour. There will also be a section when each to-do has been completed. Hopefully it will be a reminder to actually do things during this year as with each new year we all usually say I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that but how much of these to-do's do we actually complete during the year? Probably less than half. Some of the to-do's are grand ideas indeed and others are just normal things we might take for granted. Examples are: a trip to a beach on Skye and a visit to the cinema at least once a month.
I feel we are all friends here now so lets share... What are some of your to-do's for this year?
Ange x
Music: Dogs Days by Florence and the Machine An old song that's been about for ages but turn it up full blast in the car and it's even more fan-bloody-tastic!!
Christmas. So that was it was it? Gone for another year. Santa's been and gone too and I was right when i predicted he wouldn't bring me any bike stuff. It is a shame as I was looking forward to it. It seems he forgot where HMV in Stirling was too since i never got any DVD's or CD's (a usual guaranteed gift!). What I did get though was a much need new purse (minus a shiny lucky penny though), slippers, a bright new diary with plenty room for my hand-written ramblings, facial and body products and my favourite perfume Eternity. Amongst the gifts from others were jammies (3 pairs!!), more slippers, money and a HMV voucher (yay I can buy some stuff). Oh and I nearly forgot... in place of my much needed bike gear I got a LCD tv. Now this may appear to be a good present but 1) I have a telly, 2) I expressly told 'Santa' that I DID NOT WANT a telly and 3) I am never listened to... I mean, I don't mean to sound ungreatful but the money that was spent on the pretty decent (and probably expensive) LCD tv could have got me a helmet, a lock, a set of lights (maybe) and a rucksack for using on my bike. These are now things that i will have to go and buy - tut!! I have toyed with the idea of returning the tv for a refund and buying the bike gear but then the VAT rises again in a few days time and such items as tv's will probably get hiked up in price by more than the 2.5% that VAT will rise by (heck i've even spotted on a online outdoor gear store that seems to have increased it's prices already!!! crafty sods), but let's face it, was Marks and Spencer the only actual shop that gave us the 2.5% discount on marked prices?? Anyway I've not decided what to do with ths tv yet. It's still in it's box in the spare room out of protest.
All in all during this festive period, I've been doing a lot, no, I mean A LOT of thinking. Thinking about lots of things! I've been thinking that I need to start getting my life in some sort of order. Start planning for my future! whatever that means. Perhaps start saving for a house, but that'll be in vain because let's face it in the current climate and unless I win the lotto I ain't never gonna be able to get a mortgage but what I can do is be ready. Have some savings for a rainy day. I spend too much money on what can only be described as shite. I have a lot of 'stuff' that you accumulate over the years. I'm kinda glad I didn't get a lot for Christmas this year. It would only mean I'd need to clear a space of which there is hardly any and find somewhere to stash this new 'stuff'. So anyway whilst browsing the web at various blogs I came across one by a girl who stopped shopping for a year!! Can you imagine that?! But since I've found her blog I've sorta come around to the idea... slowly. She saved loads at the end of the year. I mean i'm not lacking in clothes, shoes, facial products, I have a box full of make-up, plenty books to keep me going, trainers, cd's, dvd's blah blah blah...
So that's what i'm going to do. Stop shopping for things I don't need. Only buy essentials when other things run out like shampoo or deodorant cos you can never run out of deodorant. I'm going to try it for 3 months in the first instance to see how i get on. Now as you know I have the bike coming soon (hopefully in the next few weeks) so the only things i will buy are stuff for that - helmet, lock, other essentials for it. There will be no clothes shopping for shite, there will be no online browsing at lunchtimes and 'clicking here to buy' another shite thing I don't need, there will be no mid-week trips to Tesco and coming out with a bag full of shite when all I really want is a pack of bread rolls and a bag of salad leaves. It is stopping. Now!! There will be no more trips to the shops at lunchtime and buying shite, shite, shite...
This does not mean I am denying myself anything. I rarely head out to the cinema etc so I am not denying myself these simple pleasures. I really just want to stop buying things. Unnecessary things. Things that just clutter the place. Things to hang in the cupboard only to go out of fashion as I haven't found the occassion to wear such things. As far as kit is concerned - I still have my kit fund going and even managed to resist dipping into it over Christmas so i'm still keeping that going but it will only be for essentials. Things I don't have and not a shiny new thing because the other thing might not be in the right colour.
The reward i hope will be a little nest egg of some sort and also the self satisfaction of slowly decluttering my cupboards and also in turn decluttering my life and making it much more simpler. Does that make sense? I dunno but I'm going to try it. In preparation for this clear out and save-athon I used some Christmas money and bought Foo Fighters greatest hits, Moon DVD, The Hangover DVD and some underwear in the Marks and Spencer sale! That should keep me going for the next few months. I have a supply of deordorant too, ha ha. By the way the rules also state i am allowed to buy things for other people, for example i have a few birthdays and occassions in the next few months so I will be buying cards and presents for that but that's allowed eh?!
Sunday 28th March 2010 will be the end of my 3 month shopping (read: buying shite) ban. I will let you know how I get on and if the experiment worked. If you see me buying something stop me and say "Ange, do you really need that?" Thanks. That is all... for now.
Ange xx
