It's hard to think that if I hadn't have had them ciggies last Thursday night, I would be 1 whole calendar month off the ciggies!
Now that one night hasn't bothered me in the way I thought. I thought I would be back on them full time, or would be craving like mad, but like I said in my last blog post, it is the complete opposite. Not one craving, and not even a thought about having a ciggie!
Now the running is still on the back burner. 2 weeks today since my last run, and I'm still suffering with a chesty cough and bunged up nose. 13 years of smoking and I was never this ill! The perks of quitting I guess.
I've also decided that enough is enough on the diet front, and I'll have to be tough on myself. I'm back to nearly 16.5 stone!!! The new year slimming world campaign will start on the 1st January. I WILL be 14 stone by this time next year!
As always, it's been a pleasure. Take care.
Wednesday 7 December 2011
Friday 2 December 2011
Gutted.......
Well last night did NOT go to plan!
It was probably the biggest party ever held in the squadron bar. Everyone was there and the beer was in full flow. So the setting was set, and to be honest with you all I ended up having 3 or 4 ciggies over the course of the night.
Today, not one craving, and not generally bothered, and as my memory slowly reveals the events of last night as if I've been connected to a slow releasing memory drip, the ciggies tasted awful and I can 100% state that I DID NOT enjoy them!
So for now, its a long drip down the imaginary snake, from 25 days to just about 11 hours (started the app from start of work this morning). Hopefully there is a ladder round the corner and I can win this game of snakes and ladders on the way to being smoke free.
So, in summary, a lesson learned. Cigarettes taste awful, and you will regret having one. I actually think I'm glad I had the experience last night, so that I know I don't ever want another one again.
Cheers.
Russ
It was probably the biggest party ever held in the squadron bar. Everyone was there and the beer was in full flow. So the setting was set, and to be honest with you all I ended up having 3 or 4 ciggies over the course of the night.
Today, not one craving, and not generally bothered, and as my memory slowly reveals the events of last night as if I've been connected to a slow releasing memory drip, the ciggies tasted awful and I can 100% state that I DID NOT enjoy them!
So for now, its a long drip down the imaginary snake, from 25 days to just about 11 hours (started the app from start of work this morning). Hopefully there is a ladder round the corner and I can win this game of snakes and ladders on the way to being smoke free.
So, in summary, a lesson learned. Cigarettes taste awful, and you will regret having one. I actually think I'm glad I had the experience last night, so that I know I don't ever want another one again.
Cheers.
Russ
Wednesday 30 November 2011
Day 25 and I'm feeling blue :(
Damn Man Flu!
Haven't been running for a week. My throat batters, my head aches, and to top it off, I have to attend some of the lads' leaving do tomorrow!!!
I'm missing the running, but hopefully I'll be out and about at the weekend and get myself back into it.
Well still no fags, and still no cravings. Tomorrows drinking session will be a challenge, but bring it on I say!
Later Peeps.
Haven't been running for a week. My throat batters, my head aches, and to top it off, I have to attend some of the lads' leaving do tomorrow!!!
I'm missing the running, but hopefully I'll be out and about at the weekend and get myself back into it.
Well still no fags, and still no cravings. Tomorrows drinking session will be a challenge, but bring it on I say!
Later Peeps.
Saturday 26 November 2011
End of Week 3....
So it's the end of week 3, the apparent 'attempt destroyer' and allegedly the hardest week of the campaign. To me it was nothing, I really can't believe how easy it has been on this occasion.
There is a few problems involved. I don't know how long they will last, or how to stop them, but I'm sure I can overcome/get rid of them.
The first one is the taste in my mouth. It is absolutely foul! Comparable to the morning after smoking 20 ciggies on a night out! Now I'm assuming it's coming up from my lungs, I don't know, but it's doing my head in. On the plus side, it's a harsh reminder of what life was like constantly just over 3 weeks ago, and if my mouth always tasted like this, I must have been a horrible person to be around!
The second problem is the diet/weight gain. I think I have figured out the reason, but have yet to find the cure or manage the situation! People say weight gain is a part of the quitting process as it substituting the hand to mouth action by using food. I say that is utter bollocks!
We are all conscious of what we eat in our own way, whether we know it or not. I think until I am not actively thinking of not smoking, the ability to think about what I'm eating is completely on the back burner. Therefore, where will this weight gain end! I went on a 5 week diet not long before my attempt to quit smoking, and lost nearly 21 pounds. In the last 3 weeks, I have gained nearly 14 pounds. As I sit watching the X Factor (again) with my take away pizza, I am slowly working out my plan!!!
As to the running, I think my legs have finally gotten over the aches and pains from Wednesday's 10k X-Country run, so it's back to the pavements tomorrow for a 6 mile LSR, although I'll probably stop outside my house and record 5.81 miles.
Until tomorrow.
Ciao!
There is a few problems involved. I don't know how long they will last, or how to stop them, but I'm sure I can overcome/get rid of them.
The first one is the taste in my mouth. It is absolutely foul! Comparable to the morning after smoking 20 ciggies on a night out! Now I'm assuming it's coming up from my lungs, I don't know, but it's doing my head in. On the plus side, it's a harsh reminder of what life was like constantly just over 3 weeks ago, and if my mouth always tasted like this, I must have been a horrible person to be around!
The second problem is the diet/weight gain. I think I have figured out the reason, but have yet to find the cure or manage the situation! People say weight gain is a part of the quitting process as it substituting the hand to mouth action by using food. I say that is utter bollocks!
We are all conscious of what we eat in our own way, whether we know it or not. I think until I am not actively thinking of not smoking, the ability to think about what I'm eating is completely on the back burner. Therefore, where will this weight gain end! I went on a 5 week diet not long before my attempt to quit smoking, and lost nearly 21 pounds. In the last 3 weeks, I have gained nearly 14 pounds. As I sit watching the X Factor (again) with my take away pizza, I am slowly working out my plan!!!
As to the running, I think my legs have finally gotten over the aches and pains from Wednesday's 10k X-Country run, so it's back to the pavements tomorrow for a 6 mile LSR, although I'll probably stop outside my house and record 5.81 miles.
Until tomorrow.
Ciao!
Friday 25 November 2011
My First Race and The Lincolnshire Mountains!
Morning campers!
It's been a while since I last posted on here, not because I haven't wanted to, but I've been so busy at work I actually forgot about my blog. But hey ho, I'm here!
It's now day 19 or something like that of my quest to stop smoking, and I'm still going strong. It has got to the point where smoking isn't even an after thought. I just hope it stays this easy!
I had my first cross country race on Wednesday of this week. It was part of the Lincolnshire Services XC League series, and the race was a 10k off road course in Grantham.
It was a brilliant day for running. Not too hot, not too cold, and hardly any wind. It had rained a little over the last few days, but not enough to worry me.
The race started off with an air horn, and every man and his dog sped off leaving me at the tail end. Not to worry, I wasn't there to win!
The first 11 minutes went really well; Averaging a pace around 08:00 to 08:15, fast for me, but felt really good for some reason. The start of the 12 minute was the beginning of hell, and a swift reminder of why cross country is so much more difficult than road running!
As I turned a corner I was faced with a mountain! Now I may be exaggerating on this bit, but this 'mountain' was huge! It took me two minutes to get up it, with a relatively short distance climb of 100 ft! I managed to get to the top without stopping, passing a few people on the way, but my pace was suffering.
As I got to the ridge on the top of the 'mountain', I was faced with a fast downhill section. As about 90 odd people had gone before me, this was a nightmare. A rocky, muddy, and slippery trail with normal running shoes was not ideal! But alas, I got to the bottom unscathed and continued to run.
It now all started to go wrong. After the downhill section, there was a flat section of about 100 - 200 yards, followed by a 90 degree turn through a turnstile. What I saw after this was horrific! Now I mentioned the 'moutain' early on in the report, but I can tell you now, what I was faced with made that mountain look like a mole hill! This hill was muddy, twice as long as the previous uphill section and involved an increase in height of approximately 200 ft! I tried; I really did, but I wasn't getting up it without walking. My pace slowed to 18 minute miles as I struggled to even walk up the hill.
My pace suffered for a while after this with a bit of stop starting as I tried to get feeling in my legs. By this point, I was quite far back in the field, but like I said before, I was never going to even attempt to win the race, for me the taking part and the experience was enough for my Wednesday afternoon!
2.75 miles into the race, I finally got feeling back into my legs and felt good again, but knowing I still had about 3.4/3.5 miles to go, I held back on the speed, and just aimed to complete the race.
The rest of the course was relatively flat, with a few ups and downs, but nothing like the first 2.5 miles! I maintained a pace of approximately 09:45 minute miles, and managed to push a bit towards the end and actually overtake someone!
I came 106th in the men's race, out of 108, but I was happy. I had done my first 10k cross country race (6.14 miles according to my garmin) in bang on 60 minutes! The crazy thing about it was the friendliness and encouragement towards the end of the race, from all those that had already finished. It was strangely surreal!
Anyways here the data:
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/29533177
Distance - 6.14 Miles
Time - 01:00:00
Mile 1 - 08:00
Mile 2 - 09:32
Mile 3 - 12:23
Mile 4 - 09:45
Mile 5 - 09:50
Mile 6 - 09:21
Last Little Bit - 01:16
Overall a great day. I'm happy with the time, and I have a gut feeling, on a dry road course, I could smash my target of 55 minutes for a 10k!
Thanks for reading my long winded race report and my latest blog update. I have the day off today! No work and no running! So, I'm off to relax for the day!
Have a good weekend!
It's been a while since I last posted on here, not because I haven't wanted to, but I've been so busy at work I actually forgot about my blog. But hey ho, I'm here!
It's now day 19 or something like that of my quest to stop smoking, and I'm still going strong. It has got to the point where smoking isn't even an after thought. I just hope it stays this easy!
I had my first cross country race on Wednesday of this week. It was part of the Lincolnshire Services XC League series, and the race was a 10k off road course in Grantham.
It was a brilliant day for running. Not too hot, not too cold, and hardly any wind. It had rained a little over the last few days, but not enough to worry me.
The race started off with an air horn, and every man and his dog sped off leaving me at the tail end. Not to worry, I wasn't there to win!
The first 11 minutes went really well; Averaging a pace around 08:00 to 08:15, fast for me, but felt really good for some reason. The start of the 12 minute was the beginning of hell, and a swift reminder of why cross country is so much more difficult than road running!
As I turned a corner I was faced with a mountain! Now I may be exaggerating on this bit, but this 'mountain' was huge! It took me two minutes to get up it, with a relatively short distance climb of 100 ft! I managed to get to the top without stopping, passing a few people on the way, but my pace was suffering.
As I got to the ridge on the top of the 'mountain', I was faced with a fast downhill section. As about 90 odd people had gone before me, this was a nightmare. A rocky, muddy, and slippery trail with normal running shoes was not ideal! But alas, I got to the bottom unscathed and continued to run.
It now all started to go wrong. After the downhill section, there was a flat section of about 100 - 200 yards, followed by a 90 degree turn through a turnstile. What I saw after this was horrific! Now I mentioned the 'moutain' early on in the report, but I can tell you now, what I was faced with made that mountain look like a mole hill! This hill was muddy, twice as long as the previous uphill section and involved an increase in height of approximately 200 ft! I tried; I really did, but I wasn't getting up it without walking. My pace slowed to 18 minute miles as I struggled to even walk up the hill.
My pace suffered for a while after this with a bit of stop starting as I tried to get feeling in my legs. By this point, I was quite far back in the field, but like I said before, I was never going to even attempt to win the race, for me the taking part and the experience was enough for my Wednesday afternoon!
2.75 miles into the race, I finally got feeling back into my legs and felt good again, but knowing I still had about 3.4/3.5 miles to go, I held back on the speed, and just aimed to complete the race.
The rest of the course was relatively flat, with a few ups and downs, but nothing like the first 2.5 miles! I maintained a pace of approximately 09:45 minute miles, and managed to push a bit towards the end and actually overtake someone!
I came 106th in the men's race, out of 108, but I was happy. I had done my first 10k cross country race (6.14 miles according to my garmin) in bang on 60 minutes! The crazy thing about it was the friendliness and encouragement towards the end of the race, from all those that had already finished. It was strangely surreal!
Anyways here the data:
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/29533177
Distance - 6.14 Miles
Time - 01:00:00
Mile 1 - 08:00
Mile 2 - 09:32
Mile 3 - 12:23
Mile 4 - 09:45
Mile 5 - 09:50
Mile 6 - 09:21
Last Little Bit - 01:16
Overall a great day. I'm happy with the time, and I have a gut feeling, on a dry road course, I could smash my target of 55 minutes for a 10k!
Thanks for reading my long winded race report and my latest blog update. I have the day off today! No work and no running! So, I'm off to relax for the day!
Have a good weekend!
Sunday 20 November 2011
Toast Sandwiches?!?!?!?!
14 Days, 336 Hours, 20160 Seconds, or 5.0400000000000005e+26 Helium Half-Lives. However its written down, I have done it!
Smoke free for 2 weeks, and it's fair to say the cravings have faded to the point I don't even notice them at the moment. So forget the celebrations and all that soppy crud, I'm gonna focus today's blog entry on the running and the diet (or lack of)!
Got up today, and thought 'sod it', if I don't go now, it will end up like yesterday, and I won't bother. So I donned my shoes, put on my watch, had a quick stretch, and headed out for a 6 mile LSR. Was aiming for 10 minute miles, but ended up with approximately a 09:54 average, a little faster than planned.
New shoes are feeling good, no rubbing and no aches, so that problem seems to have been solved by two £20 notes in Sports Direct.
I'm really starting to get into the running now, but since I started 3 or 4 weeks ago, I have gained over half a stone! I don't know if this is me substituting the ciggies for snacks, or just the general idea of, 'I'll eat what I want, cos I'm training'. For example, I saw an article in the news about the cheapest lunch idea. It was a toast sandwich, literally what the title suggests, 2 slices of buttered bread with a slice of dry toast in between. Now I thought it sounded a bit weird, and probably not to my liking, however, I was in the kitchen preparing some mince for a lasagne, when I decided to try it, and I'll be having it more often!
It was amazing! How I had never thought about it before I don't know and the possibilities are endless! I may even push the boundaries and add cheese to the mix tomorrow!
Well, best go and finish cooking this lasagne, oh and did I mention its been over 2 weeks since my last ciggy!!!!!
Laters.
Smoke free for 2 weeks, and it's fair to say the cravings have faded to the point I don't even notice them at the moment. So forget the celebrations and all that soppy crud, I'm gonna focus today's blog entry on the running and the diet (or lack of)!
Got up today, and thought 'sod it', if I don't go now, it will end up like yesterday, and I won't bother. So I donned my shoes, put on my watch, had a quick stretch, and headed out for a 6 mile LSR. Was aiming for 10 minute miles, but ended up with approximately a 09:54 average, a little faster than planned.
New shoes are feeling good, no rubbing and no aches, so that problem seems to have been solved by two £20 notes in Sports Direct.
I'm really starting to get into the running now, but since I started 3 or 4 weeks ago, I have gained over half a stone! I don't know if this is me substituting the ciggies for snacks, or just the general idea of, 'I'll eat what I want, cos I'm training'. For example, I saw an article in the news about the cheapest lunch idea. It was a toast sandwich, literally what the title suggests, 2 slices of buttered bread with a slice of dry toast in between. Now I thought it sounded a bit weird, and probably not to my liking, however, I was in the kitchen preparing some mince for a lasagne, when I decided to try it, and I'll be having it more often!
It was amazing! How I had never thought about it before I don't know and the possibilities are endless! I may even push the boundaries and add cheese to the mix tomorrow!
Well, best go and finish cooking this lasagne, oh and did I mention its been over 2 weeks since my last ciggy!!!!!
Laters.
Saturday 19 November 2011
A Moment of Sheer Laziness....
Evening campers!
I was supposed to have gone for a run today. My training schedule says I was supposed to of done a 6 mile LSR today, but that never happened. My body didn't feel up to going today. I could come up with a mixture of excuses - poor hydration, bad diet yesterday, lack of sleep, football on television; but I'll be completely honest with you all: I just couldn't be arsed!
The smoking thing is still under control. No ciggies in 13 and a half days! When I get up tomorrow its 2 weeks, but I'll save the celebration for another blog entry!
The last 2 days have been a breeze. I've been far too busy at work to even acknowledge that a craving is happening, that considering going for smoke hasn't happened. I'm getting too good for this! <¬¬ (Famous last words!).
I suppose the hardest thing about this non smoking lark is getting used to not using my hands. During periods of work its easy. As an aircraft electrical technician my hands are always doing fiddly tasks, so when I'm not actively working, it is difficult to not physically use my hands. Maybe that's why I smoked all the time, or maybe I just liked the feeling, either way it is still the hardest thing to get used to, but I'm getting there all the while.
I've just had to endure the X-Factor again. Apparently there is only a few weeks left so my Saturdays will be back to normal in no time!
So from me its good night to you all, and good bye to week 2 of non smoking!
I was supposed to have gone for a run today. My training schedule says I was supposed to of done a 6 mile LSR today, but that never happened. My body didn't feel up to going today. I could come up with a mixture of excuses - poor hydration, bad diet yesterday, lack of sleep, football on television; but I'll be completely honest with you all: I just couldn't be arsed!
The smoking thing is still under control. No ciggies in 13 and a half days! When I get up tomorrow its 2 weeks, but I'll save the celebration for another blog entry!
The last 2 days have been a breeze. I've been far too busy at work to even acknowledge that a craving is happening, that considering going for smoke hasn't happened. I'm getting too good for this! <¬¬ (Famous last words!).
I suppose the hardest thing about this non smoking lark is getting used to not using my hands. During periods of work its easy. As an aircraft electrical technician my hands are always doing fiddly tasks, so when I'm not actively working, it is difficult to not physically use my hands. Maybe that's why I smoked all the time, or maybe I just liked the feeling, either way it is still the hardest thing to get used to, but I'm getting there all the while.
I've just had to endure the X-Factor again. Apparently there is only a few weeks left so my Saturdays will be back to normal in no time!
So from me its good night to you all, and good bye to week 2 of non smoking!
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