Yesterday was a bit more of a stomp as we walked with someone far fitter than Archie and I so we became the ones basically playing catch up the whole time! Mind you, it was worth it because we got to stop for Tea and Cake or Flapjack in my case….

So as ever, Archie and I headed off in the car to park up and head out on our walk. It was a walk that we had done parts of from time to time but never one we have featured fully on here so I thought that I should address that fact! We met our friend at the start an after exchanging the requisite amount of courtesies to each other, we hit the trail.

And had soon built up a good stretch behind us

Before you know who needed a sit down

But we carried on past the Point To Point gallops

And up the second hill. A hill which to look at in the picture appears to be very gentle but I promise, after walking up it I was left feeling like I needed medical attention and the friend I was walking with hadn’t even broken a sweat…!

But again it was worth it when we get to look at views like these:

But enough of that, this is what we really walked all the way up to the Ridgeway for:

Because through that archway lay the stuff of dreams:

Cake! And Flapjack which although was very nice, I do feel I should show you a picture of the size of piece I left:

And after a nice rest where I paused my walking apps and heart rate monitors we were suitably refreshed with a pot of strong tea before heading back out on the road again (literally, as it is the road you need to follow down from the Ridgeway and back to civilisation)

But it wasn’t long before we found an opening into a field and were able to be “off road” again; and if the grass was a little tall for Archie:

At least he didn’t try his luck in the Wheat Corn field as I would never have found him if he had, because it went as far as the eye could see:

And that was pretty much the end of the walk as far as the pictures were concerned because we were soon onto a walk that I have covered on here before in my first ever Sunday Stroll. Mind you, at least that stroll didn’t leave Archie the dog this tired…:

And that was a few minutes after we got back into the car!. The walk ended up taking us 14.1 Km’s so about 8.7 miles in old money. The most amazing thing is the Polar HR monitor which links to the phone said I burnt off a nearly 1000 calories on the walk along let alone the extras I spent in the Gym!

I now sit at home, writing this blog post not only for my readers to follow my progress but it is also for my own history and my own amusement (even though it was only a few hours ago, it is nice to look at the pictures and think what was happening when I took them) This was also one of the most enjoyable walks I have accomplished in a long time. Yes it was hard but the company made it effortless and fun and it was great to see Archie walking a decent distance without having to stop. Yet another good thing is that I now know I am not even at 35% of the fitness I hope to achieve by next years Charity Walk so being able to cover the 8 or so miles I did manage (my daily rate is expected to be 16 miles per day) gives me confidence that the incredible goal I have set myself next year is an achievable one.

Here’s hoping that things keep on improving the way they have been…

FOOD DIARY: Saturday 20th June 2015

	Qty	Measure	Food	Calories (gr)	Protein (gr)	Carbs (gr)	Fat (gr)
Breakfast	1	70gms	Slice Six Seeded Brown Batch Loaf	137	8	20	6
	2	Large Eggs	Scrambled	164	15.6	0	11.4
	1	50gms	Smoked Salmon Fillet	118	13	4.1	5.7
Lunch	4	Mini Muffins	Egg, Cottage Cheese and Ham Mini Muffins	260	36	8	8
Dinner	1	150gms	Steak	280	44.7	0	9.9
	4	Medium	King Prawns	22	5	0	0
	1/2	Small Portion Fries	80gms Fries With Meal	262	3.6	32	12.8
Snacks	1/2	Slice	Waitrose Flapjack	221	3	27.6	10.5
	1	500mls	Tea	26	0	6	0
	1	175	Phd Diet Whey	91	17	2.75	1.4
	1	330mls	Limonata	139	0	34.7	0
Totals				1720	145.9	135.15	65.7
Water	2	500mls	Mineral Water	0	0	0	0

And so onto the food diary….. Now as you can see the food diary was blown out of the window by virtue of the fact I not only ate out but I had Surf and Turf with a portion of chips. Now as it was I had NOWHERE near a complete meal, eating only a very small amount of a large portion that I reckon would have taken my 564 calories easily way over the 1200 mark for that one meal. I honestly had no idea there was as many calories as there are in Steak so as I always say, a lesson learned….

The gym went well yesterday which was unusual as I had decided to go early (for me at a weekend) at about 8.30 when I find I am not usually at my peak movement ability until later in the morning/lunchtime. I raced through my cardio sets on the bike, the stepper and the cross trainer and was quickly hitting the weights. In this particular session I changed the routine round a little allowing each muscle set to rest by moving exercises around. At the end of the session, I did the Bicep curls and two Russian twists in quick succession (each set being one set of each exercise) and this soon got my heart pumping for sure whilst the muscles were aching by the end of it all…

1. 3 x 30 Reps 25kg Abductor machine
2. 3 x 30 Reps 25kg Adductor machine
3. 3 x 30 Reps 25kg Abdominal Crunch machine
4. 3 x 30 Reps 25kg Lower Back machine
5. 3 x 25 Reps 25kg Cable Row
6. 3 x 30 Reps 20kg Chest Press
7. 3 x 30 Reps 20kg Pec Deck
8. 2 x 25 Reps 20kg Tricep Pull Down
9. 1 x 30 Reps 20kg Tricep Pull Down
10. 2 x 25 Reps 6kg (each arm) Bicep Dumbell Curl
11. 1 x 30 Reps 6kg (each arm) Bicep Dumbell Curl
12. 2 x 20 Standing Oblique 20kg Barbell Twists (10 each side)
13. 1 x 30 Standing Oblique 20kg Barbell Twists (15 each side)
14. 2 x 20 Standing Russian Oblique Weighted Bar Twists (10 each side)
15. 1 x 30 Standing Russian Oblique Weighted Bar Twists (15 each side)

I am enjoying this new workout and the schedule appears to be working for me also, so I hope that the one day rest proves to be enough helping me get back into shape quicker than before.

The walk as you can see from the description above was a bit of a mammoth task for both Archie and I but it has helped the Calorie burn and steps counter no end.

The Map My Walk app followed the walk as this:

And the Polar H7 monitor and app showed my calorie consumption to be a massive 2177 for the days exercise:

This gave me a total Jawbone reading of a completely mental sounding 23,127 steps taken. Quite an achievement I am sure you will agree.

Today will be a gym rest day although I shall take the little dog out on a gentle walk just to relax after the busy day yesterday, that’s if I can stir him to move at all…. 🙂

‘Till tomorrow,

Stay out of the fridge.