big jim

Wasn’t going out on the bike today but I needed to retrieve my car from the station so I went on the bike and left that there to get home tomorrow morning, bit longer and slower than usual as I saw a work colleague walking in the park and paced alongside him for a bit Broke the 100 mile mark too, not bad for 14 days of ownership

Cant get rid of it on the mobile version either even if you ‘save and close’

Did the next day of couch to 5k today so the rest days sync up with the Chris evans book so I’m not running every day! for some reason the apple app didn’t record my location again but it dot my heart rate etc it’s a bit misleading as it also records the short walk to and from the house to the park whereas the 5k runner app just records the workout itself at the park hence the different times compared to below those are my last 3 16 min running/walking workouts all covering just over 2 mile each, tonight’s was 0.06 of a mile shorter which works out at 90m however the exercise time has reduced by 2 minutes again so tonight’s workout covered near as dammit the same distance as the first one but taking 4 minutes less time so despite the distance not going up I’m getting quicker (I think going by my logic, anyone confirm?) EDIT: looking at a pace calculator it’s gone up from 3.6 mph to 3.96mph, not much but at least it’s something however to go 5k in 35 mins ive got to get to 5.33 mph! im having an exercise rest day tomorrow from running and commuting in on the bike as I need to take my car in to the station (I may do a couple of laps of the park in the evening to break the 100 mile mark on the bike though!) and I don’t want to overdo it

no no no no no!!

Had a night time commute today, got a really bright headlight for the bike, better than the mini almost! and back this morning another 5 mile plus, 3 more miles and I’ll age done 100 miles since I got the bike 12 days ago

Just a few from today, crewe to didcot crewe didcot paddington, special livery IEP rhen it was over to euston and home

Weigh in day. Did it this evening after today’s 13 mile bike rides and day 5 of couch to 5k I am now 19.7 Stone so a loss of 3.1 Stone since Feb, 5lb this week, after my blow out food wise Sunday I really knuckled down and kept within my points and got lots of exercise in to make up for it and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it too couch to 5k, below is the apple health data but the app data shows 2.15 miles of which 16 mins was running, that’s exactly the same running time and distance as the previous day however the total time taken is 2 minutes shorter so my pace there is improving im working early hours of the morning so am still going to ride to work, I think it will be getting light when I set off anyway but got my mega bright headlight and tail lights on the bike all charged up and ready to roll

Just a couple from today, cement crewe to landor st and back at crewe, 3 DRS 37s heading off to gresty bridge change of job tonight, nuneaton to didcot, getting on at crewe though

Just rode home on what I thought was going to be the shortest route but it’s been the longest so far! juat realised that looking at the 3 commute times for the 3 different routes they are 12:31, 12:33 and again 12:33 but the latest trip is 1/4 longer so I’ve obviously improved my pace on the bike too! having a rest for a few hours, plenty of water then back round the park later for day 5 of couch to 5k

It’s weigh in day today, fully expecting not to lose anything as I’ve had a lax week, if I can maintain my weight then great! not going to weigh myself until later as I’ve still got a few more miles to cycle and day 5 of couch to 5K to do as well this morning I dropped my lad off at work then rode from there to crewe station, a good workout that was, a bit more up and down than round the park

Bit quieter today apart from a signal failure at chelford so sat in a Pendolino home for an hour! walking down to basford hall My train and the clithero cement Oxford road and into trafford park and run round short one tomorrow, crewe to landor st with the cement

I’m hoping the same! Had an egg butty and a small scoop of chips today for dinner so I’m hoping the 5+ miles on the bike will help lose a few of the calories I added! also got a mile in walking from the station to basford hall it the recording stopped 1/2 way through

You’ll have to change your user name to “dave not so big low-fat cheeseplant”

I put 10 on just to be safe! Wouldn't need that many normally in a terminal while being loaded etc but Didn't don’t know how long I was going to be

Day 4 of couch to 5k today, improving with every run I hope! No bike tonight as I don’t want to overdo it and I’m using it to get to the station and back tomorrow morning

A bit of unexpected exercise earlier, if you have seen my other thread you will see I had to brake test a train after removing the loco to assist another, got me another mile in (on ballast!) I hope people don’t mind me sharing these little snippets of exercise but I think it goes to show how much ‘unannounced exercise’ can be got in just the course of my work!

Some from today, bescot to east mids gateway and back to crewe had a few hours at east mids so went for a walk up the man made hill alongside the site while I was there 2 euro fighter typhoons took off from the airport, never seen one in flight before but what a noise, they also took off and did a vertical climb which was amazing, so quick I couldn’t get a pic! Ready to leave and then it got interesting, got to Lichfield high level and got a call asking me to assist a failed train as I wa s the closest loco to it, agreed and once confirmed got down and uncoupled, handbrakes on and pulled the loco forward to Lichfield chord, changed ends and headed back to alrewas, back out into the main tamworth to burton line to await instructions to head ‘bang road’ to the failed train I then got a call to say the fitter had managed to get the train fixed and it was on the move so I wasn’t required! changed ends again and dropped into cerntal rivers reception line where I changed ends again to prepare to head wrong line back past alrewas to Lichfield to my train, I then thought about the logistics of it ans the fact the line back has manned crossings but also a half barrier crossing which didn’t have wrong direction controls so it would need a crossing attendant to lower the barriers, as it happened there wasn’t one available so that stuffed that idea up! so onto plan B, and this is why I like to maintain my route card, from central rivers I went tamworth- water orton- Birmingham new street (changed ends) New St- Aston - Sutton Coldfield- Lichfield high level and back onto my train from that direction! of course I then had to couple up, handbrakes off, then walk to the back of the train to do a brake test, set my fitness watch app going and I covered just over a mile in doing so, finally got away from lichfield some 3 hours late as I’m so late I can’t catch the start of my job tomorrow so someone else is bringing it to crewe for me and all I’m doing is crewe to trafford park, a nice short day to make up for today’s mess!

As I say I’ll be surprised if I lose weight this week but but got a couple of days until weigh in and I’ve worked out I can cycle to and from the station most days this week so that will help just Been sat in east mids gateway waiting for the train to be loaded so I went for a walk along the bridle way that runs along the perimeter of the site, quite a sharp climb at the start and a couple of sets of steps up and down the embankment either side too Nice view from the top

It’s a gem apparently, an old boy used it to go ellesmere to Oswestry a couple of times a week max and it was garaged when not in use, had it serviced regularly by the same garage even had the tyres replaced with OEM Michelin’s when it needed it, my dad is getting the belts changed though incase they are brittle

And back to it today, pieces the train together back on site and worked it back to bescot And into bescot i was then supposed to go to shrewsbury to get on the cement train to hereford but as I was early back to bescot I had enough time to drive to shotton and meet it there 150 unit when I go to Wrexham the signaller couldn’t pull off his section Signal so I had to go ‘at caution’ to the next signal, that next signal being Gobowen’ home signal some 13 miles away! That made me the best part of an hour late into shrewsbury where I waited for a Cardiff service to go in front of me along the marches lots of different signal types! and into hereford and off to a hotel for the night, bescot to east mids gateway then back to crewe tomorrow

meals: i tend to have a greggs egg bap for breakfast as its a low point meal and filling, dinner ill have a chicken wrap or something similar, same for tea or a gooked chicken meal of some sort (i dont do salads either), you can still have the likes of mcdonalds or kfc if you want to have a treat but i have a hamburger and small fries instead of a 1/4lb, large fries and 6 nuggets on the side! bike: thats new last week, so glad i got one, certainly compliments the diet by getting my heart pumping and the calories burned drinks: i can have coke zero, pepsi max etc on weight watchers and as a diabetic but switched to sugar free flavoured water but ive slowly started drifting back towards it, i need to stop as despite it being ’safe’ it makes me feel bloated now! app: weight watchers app for points measuring, strava to log exercise and workouts on the iphone to record heart rate and exercise, 5k runner for couch to 5k biggest thing is cutting back on bread, its carb filled so no good for diabetes but also something else that made me bloated, again ive slowly been drifting back onto it but only having a couple of slices of wholemeal a day as opposed to 3/4 of a large warburtons toastie a day but again something i need to keep a close eye on so i suddenly dont end up earing 1/2 loaf of it a day i certainly feel better for it, sleeping better, breathing better, metter mindset too, in a way i kind of wish i didnt know id got below the safe diabetic threshold as its made me a bit lax in watching my points this week and ive had a bit of a blowout foodwise in the hotel, i dont think ill lose anything this week despite all the exercise ive done, tomorrow is day 1 of the chris evans run a marathon book which ties in nicely with the couch to 5k app so hopefully looking at and doing those and some serious biking before wednesday might see me maintain my current weight but i suspect it may go up by a Lb or two as i feel really bloated this weekend

Spoke to my dad earlier who had got a ‘new’ car I’ve not seen any pics yet but he’s got an R reg Peugeot 306, 1 owner, with 7000 miles on the clock! looking forward to seeing it

you can enter the values yourself if you know the nutritional values off the packaging, I’ve found generally most points are pretty close or if something isn’t on there and I don’t know the values then I pick something comparable and use that instead

Thought it had gone quiet! anyway today I got a couple of miles in on a worksite, I was doing a roll by and brake test on a 1000ft long ballast train at Wolverhampton so walked it a few times checking brakes and wheels etc then sent it to the work site and followed it down on foot, another 3 or so miles doing that, and on ballast

That’s the other reason I’m thinking about coming back on the train Did the plans to build a new path from the bridge to the harbour ever come to anything?