Fireworks at Kenilworth Castle

As I left the house at stupid-o'clock last week, I made the random decision to tweet my whole day. This is what it's like to work on a firework show - oh, the glamour!

6am Up and out of the house wearing thermals + carrying many layers of clothing. It's going to be a cold, wet day. #fireworks #dayinthelife

7am Meet at the yard, load personal kit onto vans, say hi to firers heading out on different shows #fireworks #dayinthelife

#photo I forgot to include in the last tweet #fireworks #dayinthelife

8am Pause at services for breakfast. Weather starting to turn... #fireworks #dayinthelife

9am 20 mins from site and the heavens have opened. It's going to be a cold, wet rig #fireworks #dayinthelife

10am Unload pyro. 56 boxes! #fireworks #dayinthelife

11:30am Rigging the 5" and 6" shells #fireworks #dayinthelife

1:30pm Wind 1, Gazebo 0 :( #fireworks #dayinthelife

2:30pm Wired in most of the fireworks. Rain seems to have paused #fireworks #dayinthelife

3pm #fireworks #dayinthelife current clothing: full set of thermals, jeans, wproof troos, 2 pairs skiing socks, fleece, hoodie,...

...body warmer, wproof coat, buff, hat, gloves, snow boots. #fireworks #dayinthelife

4:30pm Safety briefing and a million yellow tabards #fireworks #dayinthelife

5:45pm We have pushed three vans back along the muddy track. Now time to suit up (PPE) and wait... #fireworks #dayinthelife

7pm Usher people out of the fall out zone and prepare for fiting. Sustem armed. Crowd count down... #fireworks #dayinthelife

7:15pm Someone (not me) pressed go and the show fired. 7:45pm wait for 15mins cool down and safety check #fireworks #dayinthelife

8:50pm van stuck in mud - 12 crew pushing! #fireworks #dayinthelife

10pm A long derig, including a defender row for one of the vans and lots of pushing. Finally leaving site #fireworks #dayinthelife

10:10pm Spoke too soon. Last van stuck. More pushing and towing required. #boggyfield #fireworks #dayinthelife

10:30 The lovely people @KRTFireworks treat us to pizza and a drink #fireworks #dayinthelife

11:15pm On the road. Just need to drive the van back to the yard, then pick up the car and drive home! #fireworks #dayinthelife

Midnight Very brief stop in motorway services to switch driver (we are a bit tired!) 12:30 Back at yard #fireworks #dayinthelife

1:40am Home at last. Unpack car and stumble bed-wards, via a quick cup of tea. Going to ache tomorrow! #fireworks #dayinthelife

Last tweet before I finally succumb to sleep. @FitbitUK + #fantasticfireworks (@KRTFireworks) = a LOT of exercise...

And to round the post off, here's a great photo of the show taken by Alan Ranger:

How to stay healthy... ?

Generally I think of myself as pretty healthy; I eat quite a few vegetables (and some fruit), I exercise (usually at least twice a week), and I just about get enough sleep. Ok, so I have lazy days, I snack a bit and don't turn down pudding when eating out. But that doesn't sound too terrible, does it?!

What I'm discovering is that I don't think I'm as healthy as I think I am. As well as my hibernation issues last week, I'm now struggling with a touch of flu and feeling pretty rough. These things leave me wondering: Is my immune system low? Am I missing some important vitamins and minerals? How can I introduce more exercise into my routine?

So, changes to make:

1. Multivitamins - I'm a bit lazy about taking multivits, but I think for the next few weeks I need to make this a priority.
2. Fresh fruit every day - I tend to eat tinned, cooked or dried fruit, but not much fresh fruit. Time for a change!
3. Fresh air every day - this sounds stupidly simple, but at the moment I don't spend much time outside. During the week, I barely get out at all (unless you count walking from my home to my car and from my car to work, which I don't think counts). Today I walked to the post box. It only took about ten minutes but it felt good. I need to be doing this every day!
4. Drink more water - feeling under the weather has reminded me to stay hydrated.

What is your top tip to feeling healthier?

Hibernation

I think I'm in full blown hibernation mode! I don't know if my body is complaining about all the firework-y busy-ness of last week, but I am sleepy!

This week I have slept 9-10 hours every night, eaten like a horse and still been yawning and tired. My brain has also fallen asleep and it is taking a lot of effort to organise myself each day. I didn't even go to either of my ballet lessons this week :(

I'm desperately hoping that it's just a reaction to the hard physical work and long hours I did. The other options are that I'm coming down with something or that I'm now hibernating for the winter. If that's the case then I guess I'll see you all again in April!

Sleepy firework girl

I am shattered.

First, there was two days of working in the yard. This mostly consisted of lifting and lugging to prepare all of the vans for the busy weekend.

Then, I ended up unexpectedly working the firework show at Gunwharf Quay, Portsmouth. The fireworks were rigged on a pontoon and two barges which were towed into the middle of the harbour by tug boats...

Apologies for a rubbish photo - I only had my phone with me. Trust me - it was fabulous!

And yesterday was a pretty big show at Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire. It was a pretty intense rig (and we hadn't had much rest time after the previous show), but we got everything done and it was a pretty cool display.

Huge crowd and lots of great fireworks infront of the castle :)

At some point, when I've had more sleep, have washed the black powder and mud out of my clothes and let my tired muscles recover, I'll write a bit more and share some better pictures.

PS - I managed to pack everything I needed for a whole week away, including various different activities! I don't think I've ever before been able to say that I have packed everything I needed :)

A trundle around the Olympics

It's sad that the world is such a scary place nowadays; I remember visiting the Barcelona Olympic stadium when they were still building it and being allowed inside. However, in London in 2012 you can barely get near any of the Olympic venues due to the worry of terrorist attacks.

We showed a couple of youngsters around London to see some of the Olympic "bits", starting with a trip down to Thames to see the Olympic Rings on Tower Bridge.

The picture doesn't do them justice - it's actually a rather impressive statement!

From one extreme to the other

I don't do those "weekly exercise round-ups". That's mostly because, compared to most of the blogs that I read, I'm actually pretty inactive most of the time - maybe two proper workouts in the average week? Not enough to blog about.

This week, however, I finally had a bit more time on my hands. So what did I do?! Overdo it :) Doh

Sun: swim 40 lengths (1km)
Mon: run 1.5 miles, walk 3.5 miles
Tue: full on ballet class
Tue night: tweet about how tired I am and how my ballet wasn't up to scratch because of my tiredness
Wed: no planned workout but end up having to carry things up and down the stairs at work a lot
Wed evening: a bath and an early night!

I was so determined not to do any proper exercise today that I even donned inappropriate-for-running-on footwear:

Barely jogging

I went out for a run this evening. I managed a mile or so without too many problems, but then I got really tired. My running stamina has gone right out of the window and I really need to sort it out.

Somehow, I'm going to have to up my running to at least twice a week. On the bright side, my workload should be lightening up over the next few weeks so I might have the time to do it!

I need to get back to a place where I am comfortably (and regularly) running 3-4 miles. If I dip any lower than this then it causes issues and takes a whole load of effort to get myself back up to this basic level. So, starting this week, I will definitely get two runs a week in.

In other news, after scouring the internet for summer ballet classes to no avail, twitter has yet again become my saviour. More specifically, @becca_tweet has suggested a couple that look like they might work for me. And I might get to meet her too!

And after a disappointingly picture-free blog post, here's my new favourite summer dinner:

Slightly obsessed with ballet videos

Gosh, my poor little blog looks a bit ignored at the moment. I've been away with work and haven't had a chance to do anything interesting or to post about it! I've just about managed to keep up with my #smallpleasure tweets in my one-person campaign to appreciate life a bit more, but that's been it.

Having arrived home on Friday, I've mostly slept and tried to catch up on washing (what a glamourous life I lead!). However, between catching up on life I stumbled upon this video of a complete morning ballet class at the Royal Ballet Company. It's amazing - go see for yourself!

And then I found some more great videos:

A more positive run

There were a few things that made yesterday's run much better than my recent attempts:

Running during the day (and with sunshine) was really nice.

Not doing it after a whole day at work (which is often exhausting in itself).

Brilliant advice from A. He told me to that I could run the whole 8 miles and that I just needed to believe in myself and keep going.

Taking it slow and steady (more advice from A).

All things considered, the biggest difference was my mentality in approaching the run. And I almost enjoyed it; I'm definitely proud that I did it - 8 miles under the belt is a better position to be in, preparing for my upcoming event. (I daren't use the word "race" as I will be in no way racing!)

Am going to let my legs recover a bit (especially my left knee, which seems to be rebelling slightly) and then maybe go for a stamina-building but non-impact swim...

the depressing truth

I'm entered for a half-marathon which happens in a few weeks time.

I entered last year but didn't run due to a multitude of health and stress issues.

This year I am not dropping out.

Training started back in October with 2 and 3 mile runs and built-up to 6 miles in December.

Then I started getting knee pains and dropped back to 3-4 miles whilst using other exercises to strengthen my thigh muscles and supporting my knee better.

I also started swimming more regularly.

Then, in the cold of January, I started wheezing and ended up at the doctor's to get an inhaler for my (very mild) asthma.

By February I was ready to put in more time, aiming for 3 runs a week. I got flu - I didn't run a step for two weeks and it probably took 3-4 weeks to clear my system completely.

So here I am, less than a month away and totally demoralised. My longest run was 6 miles long and two months ago. I know I am fitter than I was, but I also know that I am not ready. I can't face pulling out this time - I really need to do this. It may end up being a run/walk. It will definitely take me longer than I was hoping for. But somehow (possibly crawling) I'll get to the finish line.

Right now, it's taking all my willpower to get out the door. Yesterday's run was pretty disasterous as I even let myself take two walk breaks.

Please don't tell me I haven't done enough training; I know that only too well. But please do share any suggestions of the best things to do over the next few weeks to make sure I'm in the best possible position...

Survived!

full week at work last week - firework show Saturday - firework show Sunday - start a new full week at work

Taken sometime on Sunday. I was wearing about 8 layers of clothing at this point and the new toolbox was doing stirling work.

Damp feet and ice cream (otherwise known as "sailing and sore muscles")

Another weekend, another road trip. This time to Chichester (South coast), to a newly refurbished ship at CYE. We arrived at night, so it was a bit of a surprise in the morning to find out it was green!

Our sailing group (known affectionately as Pteraductyls) meets twice a year for a weekend of sailing, relaxing and catching up. Most of the people I have known for more than ten years, so it's a bit like meeting up with family.

So, mostly, we sailed. Please excuse the quality of the pics as I was taking them whilst sailing! And I got the camera wet during a slightly accidental capsize...

Dealing with tiredness

Without really thinking about it, in the last two weeks I've really upped the amount of sport I do - restarting running and "long-distance" skating, as well as my regular karate lessons. And with a more-than-full-time job, it's really hit me.