Week 6/17

Day 36/119

2014: 
Due to work "issues" I decided to have a couple of drinks last night to try to guarantee a good night's sleep which backfired spectacularly as I lay there wide awake at 4:30 am

Not only was I knackered, I was a bit hung over too

Yes the perfect combination for a 40 minute jog

I still went to the gym and luckily there was a moment that made it all worth while

In fact it even started well as as I was in no immediate pain and as I joined a packed treadmill row the 2 on each side of me left

I must make sure I wear that aftershave again

But that wasn't it - my highlight came in the mirror from my hard working wife on the cross trainer.

Slogging away, the only person on the whole row as a little old man stepped on the machine next to her

She even did the full neck crane to the left to fully show that there were plenty of other machines he could use but he was having none of it

I was practically howling with laughter and was only brought to my senses by a woman in front of me on the stepper who, seeing ME in the mirror, thought I was laughing at her and gave me the "stare"

I didn't even care - totally worth it and added to an almost pain free run, just about my favourite gym visit so far

Start Weight - 84.4 kg
Last week Weight - 81.9 kg
Current Weight - 81.6 kg
Weekly Loss - 0.3 kg (absolutely hopeless)
Overall Loss - 2.8 kg

2011:
It's almost as if I'm programmed to not learn. Another late schoolnight has meant a particularly unpleasant Monday - not that many Mondays are all that welcome. Feeling tired all day, I was pleased to leave work early (no surprise there) to firstly take Eloise home (as she is on crutches) and then to a 40 minute jog at the gym. Again Joss decided to show me up for running the same length of time as me. All through it I wasn't sure which I disliked the most: was it the aching knees, the nagging right leg or just the boredom of running on the spot for 40 minutes. I would run outside but the Saturday runs are pounding the joints so much I think the soft treadmills are the way forward. If I can get a good night's sleep I reckon I can find my enthusiasm again - I haven't checked down the back of the settee yet

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Day 37/119

2014:
It was cross trainer day today and a task that had to be completed after work - never a great idea - any get up and go has already gone

I chose to ignore the perky "hope you enjoy your workout" rubbish and marched to the first cross trainer that was free from neighbours

Tomorrow it's sprint time so again I was a bit unsure how much to push it but decided to try a lot harder than my biking exploits

As it's a non impact exercise I  didn't go through the usual catalogue of pain which left me to people watch for the full 30 minutes

From the rhino in the corner toiling so slowly on the moving stair machine to the 20 something girl in front of me on a treadmill running at a pace that would give Mo Farah a run for his money

A full 30 minutes of pain free exercising over 6km - I wonder if I could convince the organisers that cross training was the way forward

2011:
I had to make up some time in work today so didn't get to the gym until 5:30 ish for a 30 minute cycle. It was worse that I could have imagined - it was FULL of people!!! I'm not used to it and I don't like it!! The scene was like that from an American College film set where everyone goes to their allotted clan - you had all the sporty blokes in one corner, showing where the exercises work by constantly taking their shirts off. In the opposite corner are the you girls who have turned up in full make up without a bead of sweat between them. Then there are the old ladies walking backwards on the treadmills not quite sure what they're doing or how any of this electrickery works. And finally, the grumpy old blokes with ill-fitting gym clothes and a bad attitude to all around them. I found them, slotted in and felt at home......

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Day 38/119

Another 4am rise meant that it was another shattering day

I just couldn't get back to sleep so I pottered around until the gym opened at 6am

It was the first time I'd been there at opening time and it was quite a sight

As I drove into the car park 20 car doors opened simultaneously and in a scene reminiscent of Dawn of the Dead, weary bodies disembarked and shuffled their way to the door.

It was good to know that I wasn't the only one suffering

I'd had the stroke of genius overnight of crashing out of bed and into the chest of drawers so as I started I couldn't quite be sure whether the pains in my knee and hip was from that or just general falling apartedness....

In fact I'd liken my running to a giant game of Jenga where one false move or step could bring everything else crashing around ears

Today was 14, count them, 14 12kmph 400m runs - last week it was 6 - what's that all about?

I had to run / walk next to a really unfit looking guy running faster and longer and let's face it, better than me but just for a change, slow as it was, my run was relatively pain free

Maybe this plan is starting to come together at last - I'll not lie, it's about blood time....

2011:
I've created a new game for the gym - you have heard of blind man's bluff, well this one is called "Brave Man's Bladder". Let me fill you in: Today the schedule had me down to do 14 x 400m sprints - no easy task by any means. Hence you need to make the task more 'interesting' so the preparation comes much earlier in the day. What you do is agree to do some tremendously boring task at work, which has to last the whole afternoon. In order to break the monotony, you take little breaks to the coffee area and fill up on tea and water. You then go to the gym and go onto the treadmill for an exercise that lasts 60 minutes. For the first 10, your calf muscles are screaming and your thighs hurt. The next 10 minutes are much the same but there starts to be a nagging feeling that something isn't going well and that you've forgotten something. At 30 minutes you have a Eurika moment - you haven't had a pre-match wee. Minutes 30-40 go by with much less emphasis on the legs and much more on the bladder. The last 20 minutes you seriously consider whether anyone would notice if you filled up the water bottle as you run but decide the mess you would make probably wouldn't go down well. Finally as the 60 minutes tick over, you leave the treadmill, double your speed to the toilets, leaving towels and bottles behind and leaving onlookers thinking there's been a fire drill. 60 minutes of pain - 10 minutes of bliss aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh

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Day 39/119

2014:
Today was a pilates / 30 minute jog day

The first went poorly as usual whereas the second was so much better than expected

No pains, no aches just a slooooow 30 minute jog without incident

YESSSSS

Probably the first time that it has gone so well and I couldn't be happier about it

If only I was allowed to celebrate with a well deserved drink - still too much weight to lose for that though

2011:
When Kieren was ill yesterday evening, we thought it was a 1 off. Then Joss was ill this morning so it's an epedemic. Full of sympathy and empathy, I have managed to avoid them for most of the evening - I can't let it stop my training, can I? ;-) Today was a 30 minute jog and I'm starting to get concerned about whether I'm developing shin-splints - they really hurt throughout the workout. I did lots of stretching afterwards and soaked for ages in the bath but still don't know if I'll be ready for Saturday's run. It's a rest day tomorrow and they do say time is a great healer - I just wish I had a bit more of it...Still, if it was easy, what would be the point?

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Day 40/119

2014:
So, I've made it a third of the way

I know I have been exercising well but it still seems like so much to achieve in a short space of time, and there are still so many opportunities for me to muck this up

Work decided to add to the "challenge" today by calling me at 3:50 am and lasting until 6 it meant there was no time to sleep before trudging to the gym

Today it was "do something other than running" day and with the start I'd had today it was always going to be cycling

I struggled through the whole 30 minutes although I wasn't in pain, just exhausted

Dispensing with the usual sit-up regime and went straight to what I like to call snetching - part stretching, mostly snoozing

An early night for me tonight - tomorrow is going to be a killer

2011:
Today was different from previous Friday's in that I could choose between 30 minutes x-Training or rest. I could say that as the car was in for an MOT I decided that I didn't have time to train - but that would be me in a great big lie. I had the time , just not the inclination. Legs are still aching and with the big run of the week coming tomorrow, I decided discretion was the better part of valour

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Day 41/119

2014:

As I slept through all of the thunderstorms and there were no pager calls in the night I woke up at 5am feeling as good as I was going to feel

Today's 15 miles was going to be achieved by running my normal circuit twice so I'd primed mum to hang 2 bottles of water on her back fence (at 3 and 10.5 miles respectively) and with another water bottle left on my doorstep and my "special" water waistcoat I figured hydration wasn't going to be a problem

I needn't have worried, though, as it absolutely poured down for the first half mile and stayed cloudy for the rest of the run so conditions couldn't have been any better

In fact, the first 7.5 miles was easily the most comfortable run I've had so far so I started to think that this training was paying dividends

I even had time to laugh at the hoards of shoppers streaming into the Next sale that started at 5am as I ran past

I mean, what kind of idiot gets up that time of day to go shopping - thought the guy that got up at the same time to run 15 miles to end up where he'd started

Good point, well made

It wasn't until the 2nd circuit that the hips and right thigh started to protest but even then nowhere near what has happened in the past

I was though, starting to suffer a bit running down the beautiful Holes Bay at 12 miles but my music selection stepped up to the plate by moving to Aloe Blacc's "I'm the man"

Now I'd be the first to admit that clearly I'm not "the man" but just for those 4 minutes, as I ran alone I felt that for that brief moment in time, maybe in fact I was :-)

Delusional or not, it really perked me up and I was able to stride "fairly" comfortably to the finish line

I still don't know where I'm going to find the extra distance and speed for a 4 hour marathon though so I can only assume the remaining weeks requires a trip to Hogwarts because witchcraft is clearly needed

After stretching and another breathless cold bath I felt ok although it was short-lived as a short shopping expedition clearly showed that some WD40 is required for most of my lower joints

What's wrong with sitting anyway - a good sit is severely underrated I reckon.....

2011:
It's arrived, the big run of the week, 15 miles!! I've spent no time researching alternative routes so I'm going with the usual route, twice. That's Creekmoor, past Upton House, down Blandford Road through Hamworthy, over the bridge, past Asda, along Holes bay, past McDonalds (smells so nice...), past the water works (smells not so nice...) past Cabot lane, up to Beechbank Road and back to Creekmoor - twice. Neither Joss nor I were looking forward to it and Joss had been ill in the week so was more wary than usual. I think it's important to try things in these training runs to see if they will help in the real thing, so I decided that as well as carrying water at my hip, I would carry an extra bottle of water in my hand, to get used to the weight. I now have a right forearm that Popeye would be proud of and a shoulder so sore that I can't reach up to scratch my ear. A limited success I think it's fair to say, but proved that I could do it. It was a hard, hard slog in the cold and the rain, boosted momentarily by Neil beeping loudly on his horn as he drove past. Luckily the windows were up so I couldn't hear him laughing - I was especially grateful because at that point I still had 8 miles to go - I'm just glad he didn't see me at the end. There was still time for some hilarity at the end as Joss and I attempted to 'stretch out' our aching limbs - we looked like badly made robots trying to gracefully get to the floor but without any moveable joints, so in fact we just tumbled like felled trees and lay there for 10 minutes or so justifying who was in more pain Kieren then came into the room with a look that said 'so this is the healthy option?'- you just had to laugh!!

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Day 42/119

2014:
Blessed rest days

I did go for a very slow walk this afternoon which gave my legs the opportunity to "discuss" with me their displeasure at recent activities but I found that if I slowed down even more it did seem to help

With all this slow running and walking I do feel like I've aged 10 years in the last 6 weeks and let's face it - considering my starting point that's not something I can afford ,,,

2013:
Today was a rest day and we had booked a family badminton session up at the gym. I'm not saying that I am overly competitive (ahem!) but I now have a sore back and am taking anti-inflammatories to get me back on track for tomorrow's 40 minute jog. I feel frustrated - but I've only got myself to blame.....

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