I attended Body Attack tonight. It's a high energy aerobics class with weights.
The high energy aerobics part of it was fine, i.e. not too embarrassing. Holding 2 kg in each hand whilst also performing high energy aerobics was simply too demanding for my brain and my movements degenerated to such an extent that I found myself actually standing still. It was like my muscles chose to have a sit down protest. Even the instructor couldn't really work out what was going wrong, so suggested that I don't use the weights until after a couple of sessions.
Unusually, the abundance of lycra didn't distract me from the task in hand, as I redirected my entire bloodflow system to my brain in an attempt to keep up with the rest of the class.
I shall return next week, when hopefully I will retain some muscle memory from tonight's efforts.
Current weight is 13 stones 2 pounds (184 pounds / 83.5 kg).
Monday 24 November 2008
Wednesday 19 November 2008
Gamekeeping
This has nothing to do with the delicious pheasant that was Sunday's dinner.
Did you know that your thumb ligaments make a loud cracking noise as they break? I can confirm that this noise was that sound.
The doctor tells me that the directional weakness and pain exhibited by my thumb is a clear indication of ligament damage and that it will take a considerable time to heal. Google informs me that the somewhat amusing colloquial name for this ailment is Gamekeeper's thumb.
I have another 5 or so months to invent a better way to remove my wetsuit; one that doesn't utilize the thumb.
On a brighter note, I have actually identified a benefit of last weekend's outrageous carb outburst. As soon as I reduce my carb intake, the podgy feeling in my belly disappears and my internals feel like they are back to normal. I wonder how long it will take to forget / ignore that important rediscovery.
Current weight is 13 stones 4 pounds (186 pounds / 84.4 kg).
Did you know that your thumb ligaments make a loud cracking noise as they break? I can confirm that this noise was that sound.
The doctor tells me that the directional weakness and pain exhibited by my thumb is a clear indication of ligament damage and that it will take a considerable time to heal. Google informs me that the somewhat amusing colloquial name for this ailment is Gamekeeper's thumb.
I have another 5 or so months to invent a better way to remove my wetsuit; one that doesn't utilize the thumb.
On a brighter note, I have actually identified a benefit of last weekend's outrageous carb outburst. As soon as I reduce my carb intake, the podgy feeling in my belly disappears and my internals feel like they are back to normal. I wonder how long it will take to forget / ignore that important rediscovery.
Current weight is 13 stones 4 pounds (186 pounds / 84.4 kg).
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Half Marathon insanity
A friend came to visit on Friday night, which of course was call for celebration; alcohol related celebration. She remained and we ate especially spicy chicken wings with The Editor and his wife on Saturday evening, with further mild alcoholic celebration.
There's no way to say if it affected my performance, but I certainly wasn't aware of any negative side effects. Unlike The Editor, who it turns out, is Chicken Intolerant. It caused a record number of sit down visits to the bathroom on race day. And that's on top of the stand up problems currently being exhibited. The Half Marathon proved to be much like running the gauntlet for him, passing Sunday morning gardeners watering their plants and washing their cars. Notable mention should also be made that a large section of the idyllic route through the trees meandered beside the briskly flowing river and gentle waterfalls. I don't know how he held it in.
As it turns out, his bowel AND mental states were stronger than mine, winning both the race and holding his sanity for the duration. I on the other hand developed a form of mental tourettes after 6 miles, presumably due to a lack of blood to the brain. I found myself chastising anyone blocking out the beautiful sound of nature via the medium of iPod. And also talking aloud some thoughts that should really have not been overheard by other competitors around me. You need some form of motivation and entertainment to complete this distance, however. Perhaps an iPod might actually cure me in that respect.
Enjoying my house guest's company for another evening, we heartily celebrated the completion of Sunday's event with a dinner of Pheasant and chips. That was after the pub lunch and mid afternoon celebratory Pringles and Empire biscuits. The plan for a lovely healthy dinner was completely overshadowed by my vampiric desire for carb replenishment. When I finally ended the consumption for the day I even had to pull out the hoover to tidy the aftermath, such is the crumbly nature of processed carbs. Well, that and a drunken attempt to better the current world record for cracker eating. Again.
36 hours later, the tender ache of exerted gluts and quads lingers on. It'll be another 36 hours before the weekend's other excess disappear too.
On a more informative note, the finish line was crossed in 1 hour and 44 minutes. A comfortable pace was maintained throughout, showing considerable scope for improving that time. Interestingly, if the previous 10k event's speedy pace was directly extrapolated, the finish would have been just over 1 hour and 39 minutes, which does not account for the inevitible fatigue. So this result was very satisfactory indeed.
Current weight is 13 stones 4 pounds (186 pounds / 84.4 kg).
There's no way to say if it affected my performance, but I certainly wasn't aware of any negative side effects. Unlike The Editor, who it turns out, is Chicken Intolerant. It caused a record number of sit down visits to the bathroom on race day. And that's on top of the stand up problems currently being exhibited. The Half Marathon proved to be much like running the gauntlet for him, passing Sunday morning gardeners watering their plants and washing their cars. Notable mention should also be made that a large section of the idyllic route through the trees meandered beside the briskly flowing river and gentle waterfalls. I don't know how he held it in.
As it turns out, his bowel AND mental states were stronger than mine, winning both the race and holding his sanity for the duration. I on the other hand developed a form of mental tourettes after 6 miles, presumably due to a lack of blood to the brain. I found myself chastising anyone blocking out the beautiful sound of nature via the medium of iPod. And also talking aloud some thoughts that should really have not been overheard by other competitors around me. You need some form of motivation and entertainment to complete this distance, however. Perhaps an iPod might actually cure me in that respect.
Enjoying my house guest's company for another evening, we heartily celebrated the completion of Sunday's event with a dinner of Pheasant and chips. That was after the pub lunch and mid afternoon celebratory Pringles and Empire biscuits. The plan for a lovely healthy dinner was completely overshadowed by my vampiric desire for carb replenishment. When I finally ended the consumption for the day I even had to pull out the hoover to tidy the aftermath, such is the crumbly nature of processed carbs. Well, that and a drunken attempt to better the current world record for cracker eating. Again.
36 hours later, the tender ache of exerted gluts and quads lingers on. It'll be another 36 hours before the weekend's other excess disappear too.
On a more informative note, the finish line was crossed in 1 hour and 44 minutes. A comfortable pace was maintained throughout, showing considerable scope for improving that time. Interestingly, if the previous 10k event's speedy pace was directly extrapolated, the finish would have been just over 1 hour and 39 minutes, which does not account for the inevitible fatigue. So this result was very satisfactory indeed.
Current weight is 13 stones 4 pounds (186 pounds / 84.4 kg).
Tuesday 11 November 2008
Klingon veins
Vanity got the better of me tonight.
Bouyed by the surprisingly good result after stepping on the scales and the fact that the gym was populated entirely by attractive women, I went for the big red weights on the bench press, instead of the normal black iron weights. I'm still unclear as to why the male phyche encourages this type of behaviour, knowing full well that any subsequent act is more likely to backfire than actually impress anybody. The generally expected outcome was acheived; absolutely no notice was taken by anyone in the vicinity, excepting the positive encouragement from my PT stalwart.
But it was pointed out to me that the increased effort level had an unexpected side effect of greatly enlarging a pulsating vein in my forehead. To see this in action proved very difficult, since it disappears as quickly as it appears. I attempted a couple of quick runs to the mirror, without success. In the end, I found a contorted position during the "one armed row" exercise that allowed me to view the anomoly directly in the mirror.
If Michael Dorn ever gets tired of playing Worf in Star Trek, I have an exciting addition that I can list on my CV.
Current weight is 13 stones 2 pounds (184 pounds / 83.5 kg).
Bouyed by the surprisingly good result after stepping on the scales and the fact that the gym was populated entirely by attractive women, I went for the big red weights on the bench press, instead of the normal black iron weights. I'm still unclear as to why the male phyche encourages this type of behaviour, knowing full well that any subsequent act is more likely to backfire than actually impress anybody. The generally expected outcome was acheived; absolutely no notice was taken by anyone in the vicinity, excepting the positive encouragement from my PT stalwart.
But it was pointed out to me that the increased effort level had an unexpected side effect of greatly enlarging a pulsating vein in my forehead. To see this in action proved very difficult, since it disappears as quickly as it appears. I attempted a couple of quick runs to the mirror, without success. In the end, I found a contorted position during the "one armed row" exercise that allowed me to view the anomoly directly in the mirror.
If Michael Dorn ever gets tired of playing Worf in Star Trek, I have an exciting addition that I can list on my CV.
Current weight is 13 stones 2 pounds (184 pounds / 83.5 kg).
Monday 10 November 2008
Heel, toe
4 hours and 10 minutes it took The Editor and I to tag team the 41.6 km to our good friend's house for an indulgent dinner of wine, steak, chicken wings and excessive (and nearly continual) carbohydrate replenishment.
There were no shortage of sore joints and muscle pains to examine and compare during the post dinner analysis. Early signs of competitiveness entering even this area of discussion were swiftly nipped in the bud!
Knee pain, muscle pain and foot pain were common between us, with some uniquely aching Achilles tendons on my part. But nothing too severe, and nothing unexpected. I firmly believed that I would arise the next morning, eat (another) bowl of carbs and be ready for the day ahead.
But I didn't take into account that my bladder would be unable to store the processed volume of liquid consumed the night before until a sensible time of the morning. Instead I awoke before sunrise to relieve a pressing engagement. On the return, bleary eyed journey to my nest, I prematurely thought I had reached the bottom step of the staircase and stepped out into space.
Unfortunately, space is a non supporting structure that soon gives way to usually hard objects. I thumped to the ground, landing heel first on the very edge of the unexpected next step. Only due to prior parachute training was I able to limit further injury by rolling forward and delicately bringing my body to rest at the doorway. Well, that's what I thought was happening in my mind; in reality I slowly untangled my crumpled mass and hopped back to bed, wishing this to have been part of an unpleasant dream.
But my foot is still sore. Will my fitness aid a swift recovery? Next weekend's half marathon is likely to introduce pain into the various mix of endurance tests.
No weight recorded until the after effects of the carbohydrate replenishment have passed.
There were no shortage of sore joints and muscle pains to examine and compare during the post dinner analysis. Early signs of competitiveness entering even this area of discussion were swiftly nipped in the bud!
Knee pain, muscle pain and foot pain were common between us, with some uniquely aching Achilles tendons on my part. But nothing too severe, and nothing unexpected. I firmly believed that I would arise the next morning, eat (another) bowl of carbs and be ready for the day ahead.
But I didn't take into account that my bladder would be unable to store the processed volume of liquid consumed the night before until a sensible time of the morning. Instead I awoke before sunrise to relieve a pressing engagement. On the return, bleary eyed journey to my nest, I prematurely thought I had reached the bottom step of the staircase and stepped out into space.
Unfortunately, space is a non supporting structure that soon gives way to usually hard objects. I thumped to the ground, landing heel first on the very edge of the unexpected next step. Only due to prior parachute training was I able to limit further injury by rolling forward and delicately bringing my body to rest at the doorway. Well, that's what I thought was happening in my mind; in reality I slowly untangled my crumpled mass and hopped back to bed, wishing this to have been part of an unpleasant dream.
But my foot is still sore. Will my fitness aid a swift recovery? Next weekend's half marathon is likely to introduce pain into the various mix of endurance tests.
No weight recorded until the after effects of the carbohydrate replenishment have passed.
Thursday 6 November 2008
Morals and willpower
The Editor and I were discussing his theory of Natural Weakness earlier tonight.
It turns out that there are other "Weakness" theories that explain various rampant behaviours throughout society. The main culprit being "Moral Weakness".
I prefer to avoid all of that, focusing on my own insular weakness, which I have this week identified as "Carb Weakness". But is this defined as the effect resulting from a lack of carbs, or rather a penchant for carbs?
Which raises the similarly dichotomous question of which side of the coin lies "Moral Weakness"? Does it depend on the way you toss it?
Happily, there is no doubt about this weekend's activities. There will be at least a 40km human powered expedition; the only question surrounds which type of rubber will be used (bicycle tyre or shoe tread).
Current weight is 13 stones 2 pounds (184 pounds / 83.5 kg).
It turns out that there are other "Weakness" theories that explain various rampant behaviours throughout society. The main culprit being "Moral Weakness".
I prefer to avoid all of that, focusing on my own insular weakness, which I have this week identified as "Carb Weakness". But is this defined as the effect resulting from a lack of carbs, or rather a penchant for carbs?
Which raises the similarly dichotomous question of which side of the coin lies "Moral Weakness"? Does it depend on the way you toss it?
Happily, there is no doubt about this weekend's activities. There will be at least a 40km human powered expedition; the only question surrounds which type of rubber will be used (bicycle tyre or shoe tread).
Current weight is 13 stones 2 pounds (184 pounds / 83.5 kg).
Wednesday 5 November 2008
Vibration on high
I attempted some core strengthening on the gym's new Power Plate machine tonight. I had previously been demonstrated some stretching techniques, which proved interesting, novel and effective, so I was keen to attempt some heavily targeted (and turbo charged) muscle training.
The idea of the Power Plate is that you perform exercises on a vibrating platform to get the muscles working overtime, in such a way that the standard non-vibrational technique never could.
But that's assuming that you program the correct settings.
I felt immediately sick. My uvula launched into a resonance so fearsome that I could virtually taste the blood dripping from it; my ears entered the early stages of tinnitus and the liquid inside my eyeballs began to fizz. Needless to say, I was a little dizzy after the first one legged plank. I was dizzier after the next opposite one legged plank and I was feeling pretty distraught after the subsequent sideways plank.
Thank goodness my trainer pointed out at this stage that the amplitude was set on High instead of Low. What a difference a single press of a button can make.
I am pleased that Mr Obama has taken over the reigns of THAT button from Mr Bush.
Current weight is 13 stones 2 pounds (184 pounds / 83.5 kg).
The idea of the Power Plate is that you perform exercises on a vibrating platform to get the muscles working overtime, in such a way that the standard non-vibrational technique never could.
But that's assuming that you program the correct settings.
I felt immediately sick. My uvula launched into a resonance so fearsome that I could virtually taste the blood dripping from it; my ears entered the early stages of tinnitus and the liquid inside my eyeballs began to fizz. Needless to say, I was a little dizzy after the first one legged plank. I was dizzier after the next opposite one legged plank and I was feeling pretty distraught after the subsequent sideways plank.
Thank goodness my trainer pointed out at this stage that the amplitude was set on High instead of Low. What a difference a single press of a button can make.
I am pleased that Mr Obama has taken over the reigns of THAT button from Mr Bush.
Current weight is 13 stones 2 pounds (184 pounds / 83.5 kg).
Monday 3 November 2008
Footprints in the snow
The weather forecast was spot on last weekend. Glorious sunny weather with lingering snow on high ground. Perfect for some cross country Munro running! So, for once, my plans for this autumnal Sunday came to fruition.
It's hard, exceptionally hard, to describe just how beautiful the panorama was from the top of Carn Gorm. Not a shortbread tin or chocolate box in the land carries an image so pristine and splendid. I doubt if even Monet could truly have done justice to the beauty of Glen Lyon, Loch Tay and Kenmore on this day. Utterly breathtaking. The myriad of deep, autumnal hues, randomly knitted within the areas of resilient Caledonian Pine forests that are themselves patchworked along the heather clad glen, beautifully contrasting below the pristine snow capped hilltops. The sight would have reduced any normal man to tears. But I couldn't hang about long enough - this was a training run!
And no need to worry about dodgy tendons up here; the snow was just deep enough to give impact cushioning, but still stiff enough to allow quick travel across the surface. In fact, this took some getting used to. The last time I waded through snow, my footprints created holes significantly deeper than anyone else. It took a few moments to figure out why today's footprints were shallower than their historical neighbours. Each step I expected to sink in hard, but here I was, bounding along, almost uninhibited by the white terrain. Winter hill running is my new favourite hobby, but one which will be hard to realise again, considering the chances of a repeat of such glorious conditions.
I no longer wish for a warm climate, given this experience, just some deeply treaded shoes.
Current weight is 13 stones (182 pounds / 82.5 kg).
It's hard, exceptionally hard, to describe just how beautiful the panorama was from the top of Carn Gorm. Not a shortbread tin or chocolate box in the land carries an image so pristine and splendid. I doubt if even Monet could truly have done justice to the beauty of Glen Lyon, Loch Tay and Kenmore on this day. Utterly breathtaking. The myriad of deep, autumnal hues, randomly knitted within the areas of resilient Caledonian Pine forests that are themselves patchworked along the heather clad glen, beautifully contrasting below the pristine snow capped hilltops. The sight would have reduced any normal man to tears. But I couldn't hang about long enough - this was a training run!
And no need to worry about dodgy tendons up here; the snow was just deep enough to give impact cushioning, but still stiff enough to allow quick travel across the surface. In fact, this took some getting used to. The last time I waded through snow, my footprints created holes significantly deeper than anyone else. It took a few moments to figure out why today's footprints were shallower than their historical neighbours. Each step I expected to sink in hard, but here I was, bounding along, almost uninhibited by the white terrain. Winter hill running is my new favourite hobby, but one which will be hard to realise again, considering the chances of a repeat of such glorious conditions.
I no longer wish for a warm climate, given this experience, just some deeply treaded shoes.
Current weight is 13 stones (182 pounds / 82.5 kg).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)