Easy like Sunday morning ride – I wish!

With 3 weeks left before the event, we thought we’d better venture out and do a longer cycle ride out. With hills. According to the training plan we should be doing our longest rides this and next weekend. The weather forecast was not good in the afternoon (torrential rain), so alarms were set for 8 a.m. on a Sunday (unheard of!) and for once I did not press snooze, snooze, snooze.

We were out by around 9 a.m. for our longest, hardest ride for 11 months. A circuit of 31 miles including some unwelcoming hills. According to my Strava cycling app last time out we did the same route it took just about 3 hours. I also remember feeling pretty terrible and whinged and moaned the whole way round. And ached like mad afterwards. So was definitely hoping to have improvement in time and fitness this time around.

The hills were still pretty horrible, but I whinged less and pedalled more this time. We managed to do the circuit in 2 hours 35 mins. Yay! Once home, I have to admit to feeling a touch jaded and fell asleep on the sofa for most of the F1 from Spa on the TV. Ah well, it was Sunday after all.

The weather forecast this week is still terrible so will try to get some more miles in somehow, plus have another long ride next weekend. Of course all this cycling is not just for fun 🙂  it’s about raising funds for The Prince’s Trust. Since 1976, they have helped over 80,000 young people realise their dream of working for themselves through their Enterprise programme – helping to start all sorts of businesses from beauticians to barbers and digital agencies to dog grooming.

If you’d like to support the cause, you can do so here.  Until next time!

Snake’s alive – there’s a snake in the grass!

No one mentioned snakes when out cycling! There we were cycling in the beautiful Buckinghamshire countryside and I spotted a coiled up snake at the side of the road as we rode past. I thought it was dead. I have never seen a live, wild snake in the UK before, so it was a bit of a surprise!

We turned our bikes around and approached it cautiously, caused a mini traffic jam in the road (it was a narrow lane) and then the snake moved. It had decided to make a run (slither) for it. Up its little head popped and it started to make its way across the rood – cars or no cars. We were looking for a stick to help it on its way and stop the snake from becoming roadkill!

At this point a man stopped his car complete with gun dog in the back of his car (a beautiful looking German Short-haired Pointer, I think) and asked what was up. So we showed him. He said “no point in killing something you are not going to eat” and promptly found a blanket from his car, calmly picked up said snake with the blanket, took it to the other side of the road into the grass.

The snake played dead. After a couple of minutes it started to move and headed away from the road and into the fields beyond. You can’t say this cycling training business is boring!

You can just see its head on the left

You can just see its head on the left

Off to safety!

Off to safety!

We managed 23 miles with hills that day and the pace was okay considering I wasn’t feeling 100% – sore throat and cold. And we’d like to have done some more but after all we had the Monza F1 GP to watch and I had plans later on with my Mummy.

Surely saving a snake is worth a little donation to the wonderful Prince’s Trust who do amazing things to inspire young people? 🙂

Please donate here if you can: bitly.com/1qK2Bg6

Training ride to the most south-westerly in Europe

I managed only one gentle cycle ride out this past week on holiday in Portugal. The hotel rented out mountain bikes – they were okay but the hotel staff seemed seemed surprised when I asked about a borrowing a helmet. I guess I have become used to wearing one now, from hating them just a few weeks ago. I rode out before breakfast while everyone else had a lie-in (even though 2 other lazy monkeys had their cycling gear with them!).

The journey was good – lovely and quiet – too early for the tourists – just the locals – and me! There were little markers on the way with messages such as “so far, so good” – right by the road so you would only see them if you were on a bike or on foot.

It was a beautiful sunny morning at the hotel, but in under 5 miles the Cape (St Vincent) was misty and cold. You couldn’t see the lighthouse, just hear the foghorn! No wonder they need the lighthouse there!

Under 10 miles in total but at least I did something! If you spare a little to help The Prince’s Trust.. you’ll be contributing to helping 50,000+ young people this year. Thank you!

http://www.justgiving.com/andrealouisedavis

Mist at Cape St Vincent near very big cliff drops!

Mist at Cape St Vincent near very big cliff drops!

Foggy, misty morning but you can just see the lighthouse on the left!

Foggy, misty morning but you can just see the lighthouse on the left!

Me at Cape St Vincent in the mist!

Me at Cape St Vincent in the mist!

Lighthouse the day before

Lighthouse the day before


I’m cycling 45(!) miles to raise money for the Prince’s Trust

In just 6 ½ weeks on Sunday October 5th, I’ll be attempting to cycle 45(!) miles (74 km) for the Prince’s Trust – riding from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle.

My relationship with exercise has varied over the years – I dabble in and out of it – and usually it means floating in a swimming pool or laying down on a yoga mat, so cycling training is coming as a bit of a shock (and so are the padded cycling shorts!). The average participant takes between 4 and 5 hours to finish the ride, so safe to say it is going to hurt – even with the padded shorts!

Together with a group of Xerox friends, families and loved ones, I’m hoping to raise a decent amount of cash for the Prince’s Trust. They do some pretty amazing things to support people from ages 13 to 30 who are unemployed or struggling at school and at risk of exclusion. They give practical and financial support to stabilise their lives – developing key skills, confidence and motivation, enabling young people to move into work, education or training.

So far training has involved getting multiple bruises and scrapes, getting caught in the hailstones and making friends with the whole of my local Halfords!

If you would like to support this cause, any donation would be welcomed! You can donate online here: https://www.justgiving.com/AndreaLouiseDavis/

Thanks for reading anyway – and wish me luck with the training!

Today I confessed my weight to …

… an old friend.  One that I hadn’t contacted in a while. The old friend has been with me since the start of my journey 2 years ago. The friend is myfitnesspal.com!

I told my old friend my new weight goal, my current weight and how much weight I’d like to lose per week. I was rewarded with a calorie goal per day and an updated weight graph.

My goal is stated – written down – always an important thing for me and I have a date (and a reward) in mind. I will track my food and activity. Day 1 is complete. I am focused. It was good to make friends with my old pal again.

Wishing you a wonderful day!

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Just say no to the unnecessary chocolates!

Back on track … nearly!

I am in the pre-contemplation phase.

It’s 13 weeks to a beach holiday so plenty of time to get back on track. Have had a bit of a splurge recently with food and drink.  Have kept off half the weight for a year. So I guess my current weight is my new “maximum, I have to stop now, weight”. Time to stop messing around and get back on it.

Went for a cycle ride at the weekend (then rewarded myself with a bottle of wine). Oops.

Today I am back… let the 13 week mission begin.

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Dinner was lovely, but now it’s time to rein in the treats.

Happy Birthday to me (!) … the 4-week/9-day push ends well!

I didn’t quite make my original 4-week goal, but I got so close! I did drop a little weight overnight so I can happily report that I am the lightest I have been for 20 years! And I did make it into a dress that was too small for me 4 weeks ago… and even my Mum commented that my legs looked slim!

Here we are out for a very lovely lunch today!

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I loved lunch! It was delicious and very special! I couldn’t manage all of my dessert, though (poor attempt!) but it definitely didn’t stop my enjoyment of the whole day

I’ll be taking a diet break for a few days, and I expect to increase a little weight over the coming days, but I am not going totally wild! I am planning to be back at the same weight in one week’s time, all being well.

New goals need to be set when I’m back. I’ll think about what I want to achieve in the next few weeks. That will take us to the middle of June and one whole year since I started this healthy mission. One year! I can’t believe it’s been such a long time, it has flown!

Thanks for sharing my journey with me… I wish you a wonderful day, evening or morning… wherever you are!

12 hours to go but the temptation to ditch the diet is almost unbearable!

All good tonight with 12 hours to go…

I’ve been exactly the same weight to the half pound for 3 days. I’ve given myself the goal for tomorrow morning as it’s my birthday … then am off out for lunch and doing lots of lovely other things this next week. So I’ll be having a diet holiday for a few days.

With only 12 hours to go, the urge to start the diet holiday is almost unbearable! Especially with a giant white chocolate Toblerone in the house! But resist, I will!
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Until tomorrow! Resist, resist!

36 hours to go in the 4-week focus…

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36 hours to go in the 4-week/9-day push. In the last 36 hours, I achieved the 9-day target and my gym goals 🙂  The problem with achieving your goals is that you then need to set some new ones! So, new gym goals have now been revised and the programme revised with some even more evil-sounding exercises … including way too many squats for my liking!

It didn’t dawn on me until I was driving home that in my new programme, my repetitions have increased by 50 percent! Wah! Okay, okay … that’s the 6-week goal. But still … wah!

Breaking things down into smaller goals works really well for me – into manageable chunks that don’t seem too overwhelming – both in terms of time and difficulty. It’s amazing what can be achieved when fully focused on a short-term goal. It seems silly to even say it, but the short-term goal thing is so obvious, yet so effective.

4-week focus … time is nearly up. From a weight-loss perspective, I may  be a pound or two adrift from the four-week goal, but you never know what might happen in 36 hours!

In any case, I’ll be able to enjoy my birthday in the knowledge that it’s all in the right direction. One step at a time.

Good luck with your own goals, whatever they may be!

It’s the weekend and (eek!) treats are in the house…

5 days done, 4 to go on the 9-day push … and things are on track … but …

There’s a whole load of temptation in the house, though, as Wayne went food shopping and bought treats as his (17 and 15-year-old) daughters are staying for the weekend. So it’s a danger zone for me… the lure of crisps, chocolate (mmmm… maltesers!) or whatever might prove too much for me.

Normally I’d let myself have a little treat to avoid feeling deprived – but am very focused on this last push, so I am trying to avoid calorie-dense, nutritionally-low value foods – to make every calorie count! It’s amazing how much you can eat of ‘real’ food in comparison to, say, even 4 squares of chocolate. So I’ve put those ‘treats’ out of sight, so I am not so tempted. I think I’ll be okay, but I generallly find healthy eating more difficult at the weekends. If I stray, I’ll compensate by being more active –  walking or going to the gym. I have a gym review booked in tomorrow afternoon anyway – having body fat percentage measured (eek!) so I hope it is down a little and to have met my other 4-week gym goals.

Am now very close to my 9-day goal, I might even be able to beat it … and possibly hit the original 4-week diet goal. We’ll see! I’ll be happy with hitting the 9-day goal, the 4-week goal or anything in between!

Whatever you are doing this weekend, have a happy one, y’all!