Running shoe issues!

Hey everyone. Hope you're all having a good week! :)

So, on a previous blog post, http://belliebegone.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-right-footwear.html I spoke about getting my feet tested for some new running shoes.

The sales assistant firmly assured me that I needed a insole for my 'overpronating' right foot (I explain what this means in the earlier post so check that out) and said that the Adidas trainers, shown in the picture, would be fine. So I went ahead and purchased.

However after wearing my new trainers and insole only a few times, (yes she recommended that I only wear the insole in my right foot!), I realised that something wasn't quite right. My left foot seemed quite comfortable at first but my right foot, with the insole, started developing a nasty inner arch blister! OUCH.

I persevered with the problem for a little more a week thinking that they might need some bedding in, yet if anything the issue just worsened. I returned to the store to see if they could help and was informed that I was given the wrong information regarding the insole(s). Instead I should have worn both insoles as wearing one can cause inbalance and discomfort! They apologised and told me to wear both insoles. Problem solved?

No. After wearing the trainers with both insoles inserted I began to get the familiar inner arch blisters on BOTH feet. Perhaps stupidly, I then went back to wearing the insole in just my right foot again...afterall, surely it was better to get discomfort in just one foot rather than two?! At this point I was convinced that my issues were created by the insoles.

Wrong again. Strangely, after another 1-2weeks, the inner arch blisters, still appearing on my right foot, started to redevelop on my left foot also. Now I knew that the insoles weren't the cause (as I wasn't wearing one in my left shoe) I began to point the blame at the trainers and returned yet again to the store.

The sales assistant said that the trainers may be too narrow for my feet. As for the insoles, he said that they weren't even designed for overpronation, which is why I was sold them in the first place! They were more just for extra comfort/support...not the information I was given and at £20 not something I would have purchased without good reason.

I think the SA felt sorry for me, after all the wrong information and problems I'd had, and agreed to refund both the trainers and insoles.

In their place, I bought these Asics trainers with a price tag of £70. A little more than I wanted to pay tbh. I opted out of buying anymore insoles...the bad experience put me off them!

Problem solved?...Errrrm...sort of. So I gave my new trainers a little 'bed in' before doing a exercise class in them and all seemed well. In fact, I did a whole weeks worth of classes and all was fine. However, when it came to my weekly gym session and running on the treadmill...I ran into some problems. No pun intended lol!

After around 8 minutes at speed 8.6mph I felt that all too familiar burning sensation in my inner arch. This time it was on my left foot! Almost hobbling to a standstill, I uncovered a nasty red blister and was confined to the exercise bike and other machines that required little trainer movement for the rest of my session!

Unsure that the trainer could be the culprit, yet again, I decided to invest in some good socks, specifically designed for running. At £15 for just two pairs of trainer socks I meant business...and I also purchased some blister plasters.

Applying the plasters and the pricey socks I returned to the treadmill. I lasted just over 10 minutes before the  familiar pain resurfaced. Strangely though, I had been wearing the trainers without any plasters or fancy socks for all my exercise classes, without any discomfort whatsoever...It seemed running was the issue.

Determined not to give up, I went with a suggestion of wearing thicker socks. I applied blister plasters, my expensive trainer socks and then a pair of thicker sports sock. This time I lasted a good 20 minutes at a faster speed, before I felt any discomfort and to be fair I ran as much as I had wanted to on that particular session. Result!

Today I prepared my feet in the same way and managed to last 27 minutes before being defeated by the blisters! I had given myself a target of 30 minutes, but the fact that I seem to be running for longer now, gives me hope. I'm guessing that the trainers will get more comfortable as time goes on and my feet will also grow harder to the running?! Wish me luck! :P

Error, Update and Bank Holiday

Hey everyone.

In my last post I told you all about how I thought the scales I'd been using were wrong...well I was right about that! Indeedy they told you a weight 7lbs lighter than you in fact were!

Presumably the Boots scales that I paid to use were correct with a more realistic reading of 9st 3lbs!...At first I was a little disappointed that I had been thinking I was under 9st but then I realised that it didn't actually matter. I have lost 11lbs whilst doing Weight Watchers and this is an achievement in itself. Proud!

I was also a bit relieved as I knew in myself that I must have been heavier...I was reaching my goal weight and still not feeling like I assumed I would!

Anyway, so today of course is a Bank Holiday Monday in England which means a nice day off for a lot of workers out there :) Sadly, for me it just means that my exercise classes are cancelled and my local gym is closed. Charming.

Today is also my 'weigh-in' day as it were but both the 'wrong' scales and some other scales, that I've now determined are correct, are located in the closed gym...So I'm going to try the ones at a gym further afield!

I'm guessing I've lost 1-2lbs this week as a quick check on Friday said 9st 1lb whilst Saturday read 9st 2lbs...so, we'll see!

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Now, as some of you may have seen on YouTube in my recent haul video...I purchased a treadmill. I wrote a post a while back on whether it would be a wise decision to buy one, with the intention of taking it to my uni house with me. Well...it wasn't a good idea. In fact it was rather stupid of me!

When ordering the machine I checked the length, width, depth, all seemed fine. But, I missed out one crucial piece of information...the WEIGHT!

Needless to say it was HUGE! Why did I never expect a folding treadmill to be so big and heavy?! One review on the machine, from a lady, spoke about how it was easy to fold away and move. I'm thinking she must have looked like this is...

...because there was no chance I could move the machine on my own. In fact I couldn't even lift half of it up and the two huge delivery guys struggled!

So...back it went! I had to wait two weeks for a collection slot...but finally I saw the back of it! Good job because I was fed up of tripping over it to get around my bed haha!

I learnt a lesson there- Always check the KG info and generally just don't order big machines! OOPS :)

Hope you're all having a productive week!...Keep motivated and continue to think about how far you've come, NOT how far you have left to go!

Minor Set Back & Update

Hey. Hope you are all doing well?!

So, tonight I found out that the scales I've been using to weigh myself on are possibly 7lbs light and so if true I'll actually weight 7lbs more! Not ideal! However, the only good thing is that I've been using the same scales from the start so regardless of them being correct I have still lost the weight I had thought I had.

But now I don't know what to think. The gym I go to have said that the upstairs scales are correct but I don't really trust those either. It's quite frustrating to think you're 3lbs off goal weight then discover you probably aren't! I suppose at least I've definitely lost 11lbs since joining Weight Watchers...regardless of my start weight I'm definitely much happier now :)

As for tracking my weight and the app and what not....I think I'm going to have to go to weigh myself at the doctors or something to ensure I get a correct reading and then adjust my start weight accordingly? Or maybe just alter my goal weight to lower than it actually is?! Arrrrghhh.

What a pain in the ... ;)

Anyway, as for an Update  ...it was a STS (stay the same) for me this week but I actually wasn't disappointed for once. I was surprised to have lost 2lbs the week before...so it all balances out, kind of.

I guess this is where going to meetings is a better choice as you get a correct weigh ins! Nevermind, I'll sort it out somehow. Very proud to have dropped a dress size and even two dress sizes in terms of dresses!...Just shows what a bit of hard work and motivation can achieve =)

So keep with it everyone!...YOU CAN DO IT!

Insomnia & Update

Hello everyone.

It seems that slowly but surely my sleeping arrangements have altered and I've become an insomniac! At first I noticed that I wasn't sleeping until around 2am...but being a bit of a night owl anyway I wasn't that worried. BUT THEN the constant waking through the night started up. On average around 2-3 times during the night my eyes pop open and I feel weirdly awake. However despite this disturbed sleep I have been generally waking up feeling fresh and rested...

Well, not this morning. Last night was a BAD night for me. Strangely Monday night I went to bed at the reasonable hour of 11.50pm and slept right through waking up at 9.30am! So I thought I'd perhaps put the insomniac tendencies behind me?!...NOPE. So, last night I ended up getting into bed at around 2am and although I only woke up once at around 5am, when I awoke at 9.30am I felt absolutely dreadful and drifted back off to sleep. 9.50, 10.20, and finally 11.30 were the times I stirred and looked at the clock. Hmmm not exactly restful. Unusually I feel really tired and fuzzy today...not a great start to the day!

Now...why the change in my sleep? Previous to when it started, I always loved my sleep and would often sleep for 9-10 hours perhaps just waking once. I would always enjoy a good lie-in too, sometimes well into dinnertime hours depending on what time I went to bed. OOPS! But now, I struggle to stay asleep.

I did a little bit of research and found there to be different types of insomnia. Transient insomnia lasts for less than a week. Definitely outlived this one! Acute insomnia is the inability to consistently sleep well for a period of less than a month. Hoping mine is this one! Chronic insomnia lasts for longer than a month.

I found that in some cases exercise can be linked to insomnia, whereby some people do not sleep well if they exercise up to 5 hours before bedtime. This could explain my recent sleeping difficulties...? I guess the endorphin's that activity releases can play a part in feeling too energetic for bed? I'm no doctor so don't quote me on this, but it makes sense?

If anyone has more information or has had similar experiences themselves, I'd love to hear from you. It's driving me insane! But I won't be changing my exercise regime...so if it is that then it's something I'm going to have to deal with for a little while until I return to university! 

And now for the UPDATE.

Good results this week...another 2lbs loss. YAY! :) Hope everyone did well!!

Stay motivated guys!

Core Blimey & Update!

Hey everyone. Hope you are all well.

I had quite an eventful weekend...I went out for a meal and a few drinks and it turned into a disaster, being well past drunk! Not good. I also lost my iPhone and shoes!...But it seems I'm a lucky girl and they were returned to me. There are some good samaritans still out there! Could get a nice price for an iPhone 4!

I have a feeling that the fact that I don't regularly drink, combined with fact I've been losing weight meant that my body couldn't handle half as much as I thought. Well, lesson well learnt!

So, not surprisingly I've felt absolutely awful for the last two days. However, determined not to be beaten by my own 'stupid-ness' with drink I went ahead to my booked exercise classes earlier tonight.

This week I again tried out a new class...Core Blimey. Now, if you haven't heard of this one or maybe it's given different titles depending on where its taught? Then, as it hints in its name, its a core workout.

The session only lasted half an hour but I'd say it was quite intense. There definitely wasn't much resting time in between the different workouts! We went straight into working the abs and began on the floor doing a concoction of different crunches and sit-ups. We also held the trusty plank for a minute.

Placing a mat on an exercise step we did some more crunches, before lifting the legs up and down, in a sort of rocking technique...

Basically like in this image but higher up on a step. I believe they're called reverse crunches.

Finally we got into partners. There was an odd number of us and I was the one remaining...so I had to pair up with the instructor! She made the exercise look FAR easier than it was haha. I had to lie on my back whilst she stood just in front of my head. I had to hold on to her ankles whilst pushing my legs up to meet her outstretched hands and back down.

It was like this picture (a vertical crunch) but obviously my hands were above my head, holding her ankles. It truly was difficult to maintain the up and down pattern, but you could tell it was a great exercise to work your core muscles. OUCH!

All in all I thought it was a good quick session that I think I'm going to feel tomorrow. Obviously, me being the exercise junkie that I am, I had to stay for the next class (still the same instructor) and did Body Pump. I did a blog post on this class last week if you wanted to know more about it. Sure is a arm killer! ALSO, I found out what the different coloured weights weighed that I spoke of in that post. Yellow is 1.25kg and green is 2.25kg (If I'm remembering correctly that is!)

I definitely wasn't on TOP form tonight with my hangover still looming but I think I did very well considering! Tomorrow is Spinning and Zumba...no rest for the wicked ey!

THE WEIGH-IN
Quick update for you all. Now last week I was disappointed with staying the same, but the day after I double checked the scales again and I had infact gained 1lb! Even more frustrating. Which meant I was back up to 9st.

Today however was a much better day and I saw a loss of 2lbs! YAY. It was arguably -2.5lbs but I decided to just stick to whole lbs, as I weigh myself rather than go to Weight Watchers' meetings.

Hope you all got the results you were looking for this week! Also if you're on Pinterest I'm Elliee1989 on there. Always posting some fitness inspiration or other ;)

Boy am I going to ache tomorrow!