I finished off with a proper 52 minute session – warm up – five sprints – jog – warm down and stretch, and can’t believe I actually managed 4 or 5 full 52 minutes for this slightly extended week.

Time to have a look at the whole experience and decide whether I achieved what I wanted….

1) Did I set up a regular exercise habit? God, I hope so. You would think that a year of exercising nearly every single day would convince your body that this is the way to go in the future – but I suspect it is not my body, but my mind which needs most of the convincing. And that is going to mean being constantly on guard against major slippage. If  I find myself missing several days in a row, I hope the ‘just one minute’ philosophy will get me back on track.

2) Did I lose weight? No. I am exactly the same weight as when I started. BUT I have got a lot more muscle, so the experts assure me that means I would have lost some body fat. In fact, just this last week I have FELT that there has been a slight change in my body shape. I am hoping this is something to do with the sprinting I have added to my runs (which I intend to continue) rather than the fact I have been doing 52 minutes (which I do NOT intend to continue). Another factor to consider in all this, is that I suspect my alcohol consumption has increased quite a lot over the last year (I cannot be sure that relates to doing more exercise!) so if my weight has stayed the same, then the exercise must surely have been doing some good.

3) Do I feel healthier? Well – I never really felt unhealthy, but I certainly think there is some benefit to just having that blood run around your body a few times a week and I certainly like the feeling of having some muscles in my arms and legs.

4) Can I fit into my skinny jeans? No. I tried them this morning even though I was pretty sure I wouldn’t make it. I can actually do them up, but they are not at all comfortable – and I can’t quite fathom how they ever were. But to be fair, I did buy them at a time of great angst in my life and was probably unnaturally slender as a result.

SO WHAT NOW???

Well, I AM going to give myself a few guilt free days off as a small reward. But come Monday I aim to settle in to a routine of two runs and two strength and stretching days a week, and then some kind of physical activity (bike ride, hula hooping etc) on the weekends. I will be cutting down the time to around 30-45 minutes, but I will now start trying to increase the intensity – some faster running, and some ankle weights etc.  I am also planning on going back to doing some dance classes, but at the moment my work hours conflict with class times, so it is going to have to wait for some expected changes to my shifts in a few months time.

I will no longer be blogging daily – I think that both you AND I have probably had enough of that – but will post each weekend with a quick run down of what I did manage to do for the week. I have no doubt that it is your accountability which kept me going during the past year and a bit, and I am hugely grateful for knowing that you are out there keeping an eye on me. I can only hope you stick around for a bit to keep me on the straight and narrow.

So while I am much relieved to have come to the end of this experiment, I highly recommend it for anyone who really can’t get into the habit of exercise. If I made it – then believe me you can. The trick is not to be too hard on yourself if you don’t do your full minutes – that is not the aim of the game. All you are trying to do really is regularly get out there and do something. I am now heading to the next stage – and if that is successful, then perhaps I can move on to the ultimate physical challenge…..

….pole dancing!

Thanks to you all,

Suzi

And so – tomorrow is my last day. I am just hoping it is not pouring with rain, which is quite likely given the unpredictable weather at the moment.

I really and truly cannot believe it has been a whole year + all the extra add on days since I started this. But I am actually looking forward to getting to that final day…

Suzi

But there you go, miss them I did. So I have added them on to the end. Perhaps I am just so devastated at the idea of ending this experiment, that I am dragging it out as long as possible!

So today – I went for a run, tried to do my one minute sprints at the beginning and only managed four of them before I couldn’t do anymore, went back to my usual jogging routine, but after about  half an hour, decided I just couldn’t do any more running and walked the rest of it….was feeling very listless. Perhaps this is what happens when the weather finally warms up.

Anyway – I officially have two days to go – let’s see if I can just get on and do the damn thing…

Suzi

But, despite my desire for a perfect record this week – something is better than nothing.

Suzi

So I thought I’d give it a go.

I decided to start off my session with a 60 second sprint followed by however long it took to get my heart rate down to a reasonable level again. And see how many times I could do it.

Well I managed it five times – running as hard as I could for 60 seconds and then recovering, which usually took just over a minute. I tell you it was knackering. I thought I’d be able to do that indefinitely, but after five times my legs had pretty much turned to jelly. The whole thing took about 15 minutes, so then I had to just carry on with my usual jog for three minutes, walk for one. By the end of it all – I definitely felt I had done a thorough workout.

But I think I’ll stick with the short burst routines each time – apparently it is doing me the world of good.

Suzi

52 minutes of stretching and strengthening, stretching and strengthening, stretching and strengthening, stretching and strengthening, stretching and strengthening, stretching and strengthening….

You do a lot of stretching and strengthening in 52 minutes.

Suzi

Actually, I think it was a good thing it WAS a holiday, because if it had been a normal working day, I think I could probably have talked myself out of continuing my run around the park about half way through, on the basis that I didn’t have time.

The trouble is – I just get BORED running around like that for so long, even with something interesting to listen to. But – it is done – one day done, six to go.

As you have no doubt guessed – the chances of me keeping this up beyond a week are pretty minimal.

Suzi

Anyway – I have actually done a reasonable amount of exercise since you last heard from me, but not all of it will be recorded here, as I want to make this all nice and pretty, so that we have a full seven days left  for the final week starting on a Monday (tomorrow).

So, to summarise what I’ve been up to since you last heard from me – there’s been a couple of jogging sessions and at least one strength and stretching day all averaging out at about 35 mins each. But today – well, today was a bit special.

My fella and I set off to do the London Elephant Safari….

http://www.elephantparadelondon.org

The idea is that you go out and photograph as many of the 258 individually designed elephants that have been placed around the city as you can for the next month. Well – we managed about 50, and believe you me, that involved a lot of walking! It might have been pretty slow and leisurely, but walk we did! From Trafalgar Square to the Natural History Museum, with a fair bit of backtracking along the way…

So next week is the final week – and I am really going to make a go of doing 52 minutes each day (and try to find a few elephants). It’s going to kill me, because as you well know, I haven’t done much of a job of increasing by a minute a week for about the last two months so I will be pushing myself. But it would be nice to be able to say I have done it.

So – wish me luck!

Suzi

Given I was there before they opened the gates – that was pretty early! Surely no-one else is as keen as me to get their run out of the way as soon as is humanly possible!

Suzi

If it was up to me I think I’d have a trampoline myself – it’s much more fun than running around the park. But am afraid – with a London garden the size of a matchbox, a trampoline is not really the most practical of purchases. Might just have to stick with a skipping rope…

Suzi