End of week report
Where the hell has this week gone? Since last Friday I have barely been to the gym. I planned so much more and feel that I have let it all slip a little bit.
No matter I will make amends.
Anyway. Monday Wednesday and Thursday have been rest days.
Tuesday was really good though and I felt really positive about the whole gym thing again after fitness Stu revised my plan. I have a direction again.
An interesting side note for anyone also heading down a similar fitness regime is that by week 5 the results are starting to show. New muscle and definition is starting to appear.
Friday, 31 October 2008
Nothing to say
I had absolutely nothing to talk about yesterday, and today I have nothing to talk about either. I haven’t been to the gym since Tuesday and have achieved nothing of note as far as preparing for the DW.
I saw Nigel on Tuesday (he was working) and he showed me a rota that had him working AFDs every single day. So I opted to have two days of rest to recuperate from the exertions of the new plan. Only Nigel then managed to get himself an evening off last night and he texted me to say that he would meet me in the gym. It was too late, my kit was at home and I had other plans. Ah well.
So anyway, I am going tonight (and I think Nigel can make it too) and I think I might also go on Saturday. Sunday might see something a bit different but I need to go away and work it out. More details to follow.
I saw Nigel on Tuesday (he was working) and he showed me a rota that had him working AFDs every single day. So I opted to have two days of rest to recuperate from the exertions of the new plan. Only Nigel then managed to get himself an evening off last night and he texted me to say that he would meet me in the gym. It was too late, my kit was at home and I had other plans. Ah well.
So anyway, I am going tonight (and I think Nigel can make it too) and I think I might also go on Saturday. Sunday might see something a bit different but I need to go away and work it out. More details to follow.
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
The New Plan
In the gym yesterday to see fitness Stu who revised my regime to suit my duff shoulder. Now that I have a direction again (rather than just ambling in and randomly selecting a machine), I am feeling really positive.
A lot of the exercises are obviously focused away from my shoulder muscles, and the legs are now bearing the brunt of the workout.
The leg press that we have been doing since day one has now had the reps upped to 25 and I now am doing 3 sets.
But there are two new leg exercises added to the list. The leg extension. Where I hook my legs under a bar and lift it upward which works muscles across the tops of my thighs. 25 reps in 3 sets for that one. And the leg curl. Where I put my leg on top of the bar and push it down which works the muscles on the back of my thighs. 25 reps in 3 sets.
Fitness Stu is brilliant though and found a few exercises that still work my arms and chest but keep my shoulders immobile.
I am now doing two different types of seated arm curls with the free weights. One where I keep my elbow on my thigh and curl upwards. It is a really archetypical bodybuilder exercise and I can imagine growling at my bulging bicep as I haul massive weights up… Only I am using 5kg weights. And the other is the standard curl upwards with a twist of the wrist as I get about halfway up. 2 sets of 15 reps for each.
I also have a triceps push down exercise on the cable machine. My elbows are locked solid to the side of my body and I pull down on a bar which via cable and pulleys lift up a weight. 2 sets of 15 reps on about 5 -6 kgs.
Fitness Stu then wanted me to really work on the cardio work. So onto the treadmill I went. I have been doing the fat burn setting because I thought that would be the hardest but I was wrong. Apparently it’s all about elevating the heart rate for certain periods of time before letting it fall again. The best setting for improving my cardiovascular systems is interval training. No effort followed by lots followed by none followed by lots etc. So onto the treadmill I went and Fitness Stu pushed me up to 7.5mph (allowing me to let it fall to 6.5mph briefly when I was knackered). 20 minutes today but depending on how much time I have I am to do 30 minutes.
It was a bloody good workout and I was really binned by the time I was done, but one thing that became apparent was that on the effort sections where the treadmill inclined my calves were really hurting. Fitness Stu decided to add some calf step up exercises to help build these muscles. Stand on something with my heel hanging over the edge, and push upwards. 2 sets of 15 for each leg. Once I start to find this easy, I am to hold a dumbbell weight to increase the effort.
Cardio work doesn’t stop there either. I am to do 20 – 30 minutes on the cross trainer and after Fitness Stu had finished with me, I ended the session doing just that.
I had sweated buckets (my T-Shirt was wetter than my swimming shorts when I got home) so I showered and hit the sauna for a few minutes to cleanse the pores, still no swimming is allowed though.
In other news, I think this weeks pair of goals are going to die a death. Since declaring last week that I was going to go for a paddle, and go for a run up the Wrekin the coldest of cold snaps has come in replete with snow. The snowmelt has pushed the river level back up to dodgy highs, and the dark and cold is not encouraging me to go for a jog up a hill. Something different may be planned for Sunday but I am going to keep schtum about it until it happens.
A lot of the exercises are obviously focused away from my shoulder muscles, and the legs are now bearing the brunt of the workout.
The leg press that we have been doing since day one has now had the reps upped to 25 and I now am doing 3 sets.
But there are two new leg exercises added to the list. The leg extension. Where I hook my legs under a bar and lift it upward which works muscles across the tops of my thighs. 25 reps in 3 sets for that one. And the leg curl. Where I put my leg on top of the bar and push it down which works the muscles on the back of my thighs. 25 reps in 3 sets.
Fitness Stu is brilliant though and found a few exercises that still work my arms and chest but keep my shoulders immobile.
I am now doing two different types of seated arm curls with the free weights. One where I keep my elbow on my thigh and curl upwards. It is a really archetypical bodybuilder exercise and I can imagine growling at my bulging bicep as I haul massive weights up… Only I am using 5kg weights. And the other is the standard curl upwards with a twist of the wrist as I get about halfway up. 2 sets of 15 reps for each.
I also have a triceps push down exercise on the cable machine. My elbows are locked solid to the side of my body and I pull down on a bar which via cable and pulleys lift up a weight. 2 sets of 15 reps on about 5 -6 kgs.
Fitness Stu then wanted me to really work on the cardio work. So onto the treadmill I went. I have been doing the fat burn setting because I thought that would be the hardest but I was wrong. Apparently it’s all about elevating the heart rate for certain periods of time before letting it fall again. The best setting for improving my cardiovascular systems is interval training. No effort followed by lots followed by none followed by lots etc. So onto the treadmill I went and Fitness Stu pushed me up to 7.5mph (allowing me to let it fall to 6.5mph briefly when I was knackered). 20 minutes today but depending on how much time I have I am to do 30 minutes.
It was a bloody good workout and I was really binned by the time I was done, but one thing that became apparent was that on the effort sections where the treadmill inclined my calves were really hurting. Fitness Stu decided to add some calf step up exercises to help build these muscles. Stand on something with my heel hanging over the edge, and push upwards. 2 sets of 15 for each leg. Once I start to find this easy, I am to hold a dumbbell weight to increase the effort.
Cardio work doesn’t stop there either. I am to do 20 – 30 minutes on the cross trainer and after Fitness Stu had finished with me, I ended the session doing just that.
I had sweated buckets (my T-Shirt was wetter than my swimming shorts when I got home) so I showered and hit the sauna for a few minutes to cleanse the pores, still no swimming is allowed though.
In other news, I think this weeks pair of goals are going to die a death. Since declaring last week that I was going to go for a paddle, and go for a run up the Wrekin the coldest of cold snaps has come in replete with snow. The snowmelt has pushed the river level back up to dodgy highs, and the dark and cold is not encouraging me to go for a jog up a hill. Something different may be planned for Sunday but I am going to keep schtum about it until it happens.
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Just a thumb?
It has now been 28 days since my first weigh in for the observational science bit, time for another look at where I have got to.
Core muscles are getting pretty solid now and slight definition of a six pack is grinning through the thinning layer of adipose tissue around my midriff.
Pectorals are also more solid but because I am having an upper body workout hiatus I think this might also be because of the reduction in fat tissue.
I have got more aerobic capacity than I did when I started this, being able to run for longer and faster before getting out of breath.
It’s not all good though. The shoulder is buggered. The arm still aches and I think I might be heading back to the doctor for a second opinion next week.
I am getting more ravenous as the weeks go by and after reading around the subject I think it is not only because I am expending more calories when I go to the gym but also because at rest, muscle tissue expend more calories than other tissue types.
At weigh in this morning I am now a whole 5 grams heavier than I was 28 days ago tipping in at 69kgs with a BMI of 22.53
I then wondered how much muscle I have developed since the beginning of this month, and went off and found out the weight of muscle (1.06 g/ml) and also the weight of fat (0.9 g/ml) and deduced that I have developed about 5.8 grams of new muscle. To put it another way, that is a little under two teaspoons by volume, or the size of an average thumb.
That doesn’t seem very much new muscle to me.
Core muscles are getting pretty solid now and slight definition of a six pack is grinning through the thinning layer of adipose tissue around my midriff.
Pectorals are also more solid but because I am having an upper body workout hiatus I think this might also be because of the reduction in fat tissue.
I have got more aerobic capacity than I did when I started this, being able to run for longer and faster before getting out of breath.
It’s not all good though. The shoulder is buggered. The arm still aches and I think I might be heading back to the doctor for a second opinion next week.
I am getting more ravenous as the weeks go by and after reading around the subject I think it is not only because I am expending more calories when I go to the gym but also because at rest, muscle tissue expend more calories than other tissue types.
At weigh in this morning I am now a whole 5 grams heavier than I was 28 days ago tipping in at 69kgs with a BMI of 22.53
I then wondered how much muscle I have developed since the beginning of this month, and went off and found out the weight of muscle (1.06 g/ml) and also the weight of fat (0.9 g/ml) and deduced that I have developed about 5.8 grams of new muscle. To put it another way, that is a little under two teaspoons by volume, or the size of an average thumb.
That doesn’t seem very much new muscle to me.
Monday, 27 October 2008
How fast?
It’s been a few days since I last posted and I have a Friday and Sunday to report in.
Friday saw another lone session in the gym. Plug in the iPod and away I went. My calves were aching a little bit form the 40 minutes on the cross trainer from Thursday but I was determined to keep the work rate up. I programmed in 20 minutes at level 8 on the cross trainer and set off.
There is something I have noticed that I have hesitated to tell on this blog until now, is the curious connection between the cross trainer and flatulence. I can only assume that it’s the rotational motion of my legs, or maybe the slight twist I get as I use my arms, works the excess gasses through my system. Whatever it is, after about 5 minutes into the session I am pretty much a fart machine. I am slightly embarrassed to have shared that but this is a blog where I tell it like it is.
After 20 minutes of parping away, I set about the plank and the back exercises. I am really starting to feel my core muscles become a solid mass, and when I settle into the plank position I don’t start to tremble with muscle fatigue for a good 30 seconds or so. When we first started this the shakes took hold almost instantly.
After that I went for a bit of a run. 6.4 miles an hour (a really comfortable pace I can maintain easily) for 20 minutes. After that I was done and headed home.
Saturday saw a day of rest and I felt pretty good.
Sunday though my calves had finally realised that they had been worked hard and decided to show their displeasure by refusing to work at all. It is possible to walk without engaging your calf muscles however it is a silly walk where your bum sticks out and your arms swing around as you try to shuffle along.
I had to get better though as I was off to the gym in the afternoon on a rare occasion where Nigel was free so I engaged the magical powers of Deep Heat again. This time it worked and the lower legs began to work again. Another observation while I was ministering the miracle muscle cure, was some light bruising to my ankles. It doesn’t hurt and is only mild discolouration but I think shows the impact levels that are inflicted while running.
I was going to take it easy so I stuck 20 minutes on the cross trainer while I watched the last 20 minutes of the Liverpool Chelsea football match. The TV’s are directly in front of the cross trainers so it was ideal. I set the resistance level to 6. There were a few minutes left in the game after my stint finished so I tried the cross trainer in reverse. It works a completely different set of muscles going backwards and was surprisingly tough.
After that I completed the plank and back exercises with no issues. As Nigel still has a full routine to work through and I can’t do many of the machines due to my injured arm I headed off to the running machine again. My plan was to have a leisurely walk to warm down. Only trouble is I got bored with walking as it is dull. There was no one else in the gym bar Nigel so I thought I would experiment.
How fast can I run? I was going to be sensible this time and sneak the speed up incrementally.
7mph. No problem, a fast jog.
9mph. this was a fast run for me but I could hold it.
10mph and I was reaching my upper limits here.
11mph. In my head a red warning light went on, claxons started to go off and someone shouted “she canne take no more cap'n”.
12 mph I was at near full tilt sprinting now with the treadmill sounding like a washing machine on full spin.
I knew I could go faster and thoughts of the Great North winning speed of 13mph for an hour made me reach out and try to push the go-faster button…
When humans run they swing their arms and these act like pendulums which help maintain balance. Stopping one of these pendulums from swinging to try and push the go-faster button made me lose my balance.
I never did reach 13mph. I think it is possible, in fact, if I stretch my stride length I fancy I can go a good deal faster I just need someone to push the buttons for me while I can get on with the job of running.
You might be disappointed to learn that as I lost my balance I didn’t stumble over my own feet, crash down face first onto the high speed treadmill which instantly propelled me backwards into the wall at 12 miles an hour, and instead I pressed the stop button which brought the whole device to a nice controlled halt.
Friday saw another lone session in the gym. Plug in the iPod and away I went. My calves were aching a little bit form the 40 minutes on the cross trainer from Thursday but I was determined to keep the work rate up. I programmed in 20 minutes at level 8 on the cross trainer and set off.
There is something I have noticed that I have hesitated to tell on this blog until now, is the curious connection between the cross trainer and flatulence. I can only assume that it’s the rotational motion of my legs, or maybe the slight twist I get as I use my arms, works the excess gasses through my system. Whatever it is, after about 5 minutes into the session I am pretty much a fart machine. I am slightly embarrassed to have shared that but this is a blog where I tell it like it is.
After 20 minutes of parping away, I set about the plank and the back exercises. I am really starting to feel my core muscles become a solid mass, and when I settle into the plank position I don’t start to tremble with muscle fatigue for a good 30 seconds or so. When we first started this the shakes took hold almost instantly.
After that I went for a bit of a run. 6.4 miles an hour (a really comfortable pace I can maintain easily) for 20 minutes. After that I was done and headed home.
Saturday saw a day of rest and I felt pretty good.
Sunday though my calves had finally realised that they had been worked hard and decided to show their displeasure by refusing to work at all. It is possible to walk without engaging your calf muscles however it is a silly walk where your bum sticks out and your arms swing around as you try to shuffle along.
I had to get better though as I was off to the gym in the afternoon on a rare occasion where Nigel was free so I engaged the magical powers of Deep Heat again. This time it worked and the lower legs began to work again. Another observation while I was ministering the miracle muscle cure, was some light bruising to my ankles. It doesn’t hurt and is only mild discolouration but I think shows the impact levels that are inflicted while running.
I was going to take it easy so I stuck 20 minutes on the cross trainer while I watched the last 20 minutes of the Liverpool Chelsea football match. The TV’s are directly in front of the cross trainers so it was ideal. I set the resistance level to 6. There were a few minutes left in the game after my stint finished so I tried the cross trainer in reverse. It works a completely different set of muscles going backwards and was surprisingly tough.
After that I completed the plank and back exercises with no issues. As Nigel still has a full routine to work through and I can’t do many of the machines due to my injured arm I headed off to the running machine again. My plan was to have a leisurely walk to warm down. Only trouble is I got bored with walking as it is dull. There was no one else in the gym bar Nigel so I thought I would experiment.
How fast can I run? I was going to be sensible this time and sneak the speed up incrementally.
7mph. No problem, a fast jog.
9mph. this was a fast run for me but I could hold it.
10mph and I was reaching my upper limits here.
11mph. In my head a red warning light went on, claxons started to go off and someone shouted “she canne take no more cap'n”.
12 mph I was at near full tilt sprinting now with the treadmill sounding like a washing machine on full spin.
I knew I could go faster and thoughts of the Great North winning speed of 13mph for an hour made me reach out and try to push the go-faster button…
When humans run they swing their arms and these act like pendulums which help maintain balance. Stopping one of these pendulums from swinging to try and push the go-faster button made me lose my balance.
I never did reach 13mph. I think it is possible, in fact, if I stretch my stride length I fancy I can go a good deal faster I just need someone to push the buttons for me while I can get on with the job of running.
You might be disappointed to learn that as I lost my balance I didn’t stumble over my own feet, crash down face first onto the high speed treadmill which instantly propelled me backwards into the wall at 12 miles an hour, and instead I pressed the stop button which brought the whole device to a nice controlled halt.
Friday, 24 October 2008
Week 4
End of week report. Week 4.
Wow. Four weeks, who’d have thought we would keep this going? One month in I am starting to feel trimmer and every muscle is getting pretty solid. I am eternally hungry, I guess it is because I am burning through more calories than before, the ache after exercise doesn’t last as long as it did, and I am feeling really positive.
Despite suffering a setback with a minor injury which has forced me to adjust my training plan I am feeling pretty good about things and actually think that I am headed in a better direction now that I am working on the cardiovascular based exercises instead of the strength training. The power will come from time in the kayak.
Monday I was at the doctors, and Tuesday I had other plans so no progress was made as far as training.
Wednesday saw me put in a good solid workout pounding the treadmill, but the most impressive thing about Wednesday is that Nigel proved his dedication by joining me in the gym half way through a split shift.
Thursday saw a solo effort in the gym where I pushed myself really hard on the cross trainer, I can feel the burn in my legs even now
Friday night is going to be a gym night too. More of the same for me I think, a good long run on the cross trainer and maybe a bit more treadmill.
Someone has suggested that I start putting down the goals I want to achieve on a week to week basis, and I think that isn’t a bad idea.
I have been thinking how daft this is that we are preparing for a kayak race, and we aren’t spending any time on the water. So, one goal for next week is to get the boat out onto the water. At least once.
And I intend to run the Wrekin again at some point midweek, see if I can crack the 30 minutes target I set myself a whole month ago. The clocks go forward this weekend which will mean it will be dark when I finish work from now on. That isn’t an issue though as half of the DW race is going to be at night, I’ll just need to sort out some batteries for my head torch.
Wow. Four weeks, who’d have thought we would keep this going? One month in I am starting to feel trimmer and every muscle is getting pretty solid. I am eternally hungry, I guess it is because I am burning through more calories than before, the ache after exercise doesn’t last as long as it did, and I am feeling really positive.
Despite suffering a setback with a minor injury which has forced me to adjust my training plan I am feeling pretty good about things and actually think that I am headed in a better direction now that I am working on the cardiovascular based exercises instead of the strength training. The power will come from time in the kayak.
Monday I was at the doctors, and Tuesday I had other plans so no progress was made as far as training.
Wednesday saw me put in a good solid workout pounding the treadmill, but the most impressive thing about Wednesday is that Nigel proved his dedication by joining me in the gym half way through a split shift.
Thursday saw a solo effort in the gym where I pushed myself really hard on the cross trainer, I can feel the burn in my legs even now
Friday night is going to be a gym night too. More of the same for me I think, a good long run on the cross trainer and maybe a bit more treadmill.
Someone has suggested that I start putting down the goals I want to achieve on a week to week basis, and I think that isn’t a bad idea.
I have been thinking how daft this is that we are preparing for a kayak race, and we aren’t spending any time on the water. So, one goal for next week is to get the boat out onto the water. At least once.
And I intend to run the Wrekin again at some point midweek, see if I can crack the 30 minutes target I set myself a whole month ago. The clocks go forward this weekend which will mean it will be dark when I finish work from now on. That isn’t an issue though as half of the DW race is going to be at night, I’ll just need to sort out some batteries for my head torch.
Competition
I’m a competitive person, I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing though. You see last night, I was a bit tired, I’d had another grim day at work. The nights are drawing in now and I quite fancied being at home chilling out with a bottle of wine in front of a roaring log fire. But instead I dragged myself back to the gym for another session of sweat and pain because I saw this as a chance to gain some ground on Nigel in the fitness stakes. On the other side of the coin though, I am pushing myself really hard to keep up with / overtake Nigel, and this is almost certainly how I did my injury in the first place.
Anyway, I saw Fitness Stu last night and told him about my injury and how I am not to work my shoulder. He said no problem, so next Tuesday night we are going to create a new, shoulder friendly plan.
In the meantime I just did some cardio work on the cross trainer. Cranked it up to level 10 (I still don’t know what this is worth) and set the time to 40 minutes on the “Fat Burn” setting. The fat burn setting increases the resistance every minute or so, before dropping the difficulty back down towards the end.
10 minutes on the cross trainer and I was generating a sweat. 20 minutes in and I was starting to wonder why I had set it to 40 minutes. 30 minutes in and I actually got pins and needles in my feet and was perspiring so much there was a possibility I might drown standing up. 35 minutes in I must have passed out a little bit because I remember the last five minutes as a blissful walk in the park.
Have you ever spent time on a boat at sea, and then got onto dry land and found that you walk a bit weird as the ground seems to still move. Well I sort of had this when I stepped off the cross trainer, combined with the fact that my feet had gone to sleep and I was half blinded by my sweat dripping into my eyes, I did a kind of Thunderbirds walk across the gym.
I had sweated so much that my clothes were saturated and I think a haze of steam was rising from my body, I opted to not use the other machines and saved myself the embarrassment of having to mop up bum sweat from the seats. I did the Plank and hand to knee core exercises and then called it a day.
I am going again tonight and this time I will save the fat burning cross trainer until I have worked the other machines.
Anyway, I saw Fitness Stu last night and told him about my injury and how I am not to work my shoulder. He said no problem, so next Tuesday night we are going to create a new, shoulder friendly plan.
In the meantime I just did some cardio work on the cross trainer. Cranked it up to level 10 (I still don’t know what this is worth) and set the time to 40 minutes on the “Fat Burn” setting. The fat burn setting increases the resistance every minute or so, before dropping the difficulty back down towards the end.
10 minutes on the cross trainer and I was generating a sweat. 20 minutes in and I was starting to wonder why I had set it to 40 minutes. 30 minutes in and I actually got pins and needles in my feet and was perspiring so much there was a possibility I might drown standing up. 35 minutes in I must have passed out a little bit because I remember the last five minutes as a blissful walk in the park.
Have you ever spent time on a boat at sea, and then got onto dry land and found that you walk a bit weird as the ground seems to still move. Well I sort of had this when I stepped off the cross trainer, combined with the fact that my feet had gone to sleep and I was half blinded by my sweat dripping into my eyes, I did a kind of Thunderbirds walk across the gym.
I had sweated so much that my clothes were saturated and I think a haze of steam was rising from my body, I opted to not use the other machines and saved myself the embarrassment of having to mop up bum sweat from the seats. I did the Plank and hand to knee core exercises and then called it a day.
I am going again tonight and this time I will save the fat burning cross trainer until I have worked the other machines.
Thursday, 23 October 2008
The Photo.
I think it only fair to warn you that I have posted a photo of my injury at the foot of this page. If you get a bit squeamish at the thought of seeing my naked collar bone, look away now..
This week we planned a Wednesday night and Thursday night session in the gym but Nigel’s rota changed. He is now working AFD’s pretty much ever day this week. Did that stop him from joining me in the gym at 5pm last night? Nope. Though he was already bushed from the 6am start, he was a bit lack lustre on the rowing machine and after having a half hearted go at most of the weights he called it a day and went for the Jacuzzi. Just for good measure, he had to head back into work to finish at some point in the small hours.
I didn’t see fitness Stu yesterday to create a new, shoulder friendly fitness plan, so I kind of had to make up my own.
Treadmill. 20 minutes at a faster 7.1mph on the “fat burn” setting. The fat burn setting elevates the angle of the treadmill and it is surprising how much more effort it takes to keep the same pace. It saves the highest incline for the last 4 minutes and is a bit of a killer. I did maintain the 7.1mph throughout though there were a few times that I contemplated slowing down. I finished completely done in with shaky legs and I nearly ran myself sick. Not sure if I pushed myself too far.
I then went off and had a chat with Nigel for a bit to get my heart rate down a bit. I did the spine exercises and then headed off to the Cross Trainer. I set it to power level 10 (whatever that is worth) and started on another “Fat Burn”. The cross trainer works the same muscles as the treadmill (and a few more in the arms) but is low impact so I was getting on with that machine really well and got about five minutes into the cycle before Nigel called it a day and headed for the pool.
It was always going to happen. The day I am not allowed to go for a swim, is the day that the pool is empty. I couldn’t help myself, and I had a bit of a swim, nothing excessive. Just a few lengths.
Last night I had an awful nights sleep with this arm, and today my shoulder really does hurt. Is it because I swam? Is it because I used the arms bit of the cross trainer? Is it because I slept badly on it? I have to be honest, I don’t really know but I am getting a bit racked off by this limb at the moment.
So. Do you wanna see the wonky collar bone?
I thought it only fair to annotate the photograph, as it isn't really obvious at first glance that there is anything wrong. If over the course of these last few weeks I had built up an image of the injury for you that was more impressive than that which you see, I apologise but I assure you that it does hurt in a nagging dull ache sort of way.
This week we planned a Wednesday night and Thursday night session in the gym but Nigel’s rota changed. He is now working AFD’s pretty much ever day this week. Did that stop him from joining me in the gym at 5pm last night? Nope. Though he was already bushed from the 6am start, he was a bit lack lustre on the rowing machine and after having a half hearted go at most of the weights he called it a day and went for the Jacuzzi. Just for good measure, he had to head back into work to finish at some point in the small hours.
I didn’t see fitness Stu yesterday to create a new, shoulder friendly fitness plan, so I kind of had to make up my own.
Treadmill. 20 minutes at a faster 7.1mph on the “fat burn” setting. The fat burn setting elevates the angle of the treadmill and it is surprising how much more effort it takes to keep the same pace. It saves the highest incline for the last 4 minutes and is a bit of a killer. I did maintain the 7.1mph throughout though there were a few times that I contemplated slowing down. I finished completely done in with shaky legs and I nearly ran myself sick. Not sure if I pushed myself too far.
I then went off and had a chat with Nigel for a bit to get my heart rate down a bit. I did the spine exercises and then headed off to the Cross Trainer. I set it to power level 10 (whatever that is worth) and started on another “Fat Burn”. The cross trainer works the same muscles as the treadmill (and a few more in the arms) but is low impact so I was getting on with that machine really well and got about five minutes into the cycle before Nigel called it a day and headed for the pool.
It was always going to happen. The day I am not allowed to go for a swim, is the day that the pool is empty. I couldn’t help myself, and I had a bit of a swim, nothing excessive. Just a few lengths.
Last night I had an awful nights sleep with this arm, and today my shoulder really does hurt. Is it because I swam? Is it because I used the arms bit of the cross trainer? Is it because I slept badly on it? I have to be honest, I don’t really know but I am getting a bit racked off by this limb at the moment.
So. Do you wanna see the wonky collar bone?
I thought it only fair to annotate the photograph, as it isn't really obvious at first glance that there is anything wrong. If over the course of these last few weeks I had built up an image of the injury for you that was more impressive than that which you see, I apologise but I assure you that it does hurt in a nagging dull ache sort of way.
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
13mph
I’ve now spent two days away from the gym due to seeing the doctor and going to choose a photo album, and it already feels like I have let this whole thing slip a little bit. So tonight I am going to work quite hard to make amends.
As I can’t work this dodgy shoulder for a couple of months, I will blitz the other machines. My back, core muscles and legs won’t know what hit them. After working my way around the gym I am planning on ending up at the treadmill.
I now have a man in Oz (G’day btw) who has been pointed in the direction of this blog. He made a comment about the secret to marathons is to just put in the km’s.
Well this got me thinking about what I would need to achieve on the treadmill to be in with a chance with the Great North. I can sustain 6.4 mph for 20 minutes with ease. 6.4mph just breaks my gait and 20 minutes is just enough to break a sweat. Well if I was to complete a half marathon I would need to keep that pace up for a little over two hours… That’s doable. Maybe not as of today but a couple of months of progress at this rate (injury in all) and I think I could manage that.
But then I got wondering what it would take to come in with a race winning time. Tsegay Kebede seems to be the man who won the 2008 race managed a time a few seconds longer than 59 minutes. The course is 13.1miles. He sustained a pace of 13mph for an hour!
When I got up to 13mph on the treadmill, I nearly flew off the back because my legs where whirling around faster than I could keep up.
I’ll save the maths for the DW race for another quiet blog day but quickly working them out in my head, the speeds we would need to sustain seem a little more palatable.
As I can’t work this dodgy shoulder for a couple of months, I will blitz the other machines. My back, core muscles and legs won’t know what hit them. After working my way around the gym I am planning on ending up at the treadmill.
I now have a man in Oz (G’day btw) who has been pointed in the direction of this blog. He made a comment about the secret to marathons is to just put in the km’s.
Well this got me thinking about what I would need to achieve on the treadmill to be in with a chance with the Great North. I can sustain 6.4 mph for 20 minutes with ease. 6.4mph just breaks my gait and 20 minutes is just enough to break a sweat. Well if I was to complete a half marathon I would need to keep that pace up for a little over two hours… That’s doable. Maybe not as of today but a couple of months of progress at this rate (injury in all) and I think I could manage that.
But then I got wondering what it would take to come in with a race winning time. Tsegay Kebede seems to be the man who won the 2008 race managed a time a few seconds longer than 59 minutes. The course is 13.1miles. He sustained a pace of 13mph for an hour!
When I got up to 13mph on the treadmill, I nearly flew off the back because my legs where whirling around faster than I could keep up.
I’ll save the maths for the DW race for another quiet blog day but quickly working them out in my head, the speeds we would need to sustain seem a little more palatable.
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Quite a Serious Injury
I went to my GP last night. Told him what I was doing, why I was doing it, and how at some point during doing it, I hurt my arm.
He prodded and twirled and in once instance I’m sure he thumped my left shoulder before telling me to put my shirt back on and take a seat. He then did that sucking air through the teeth thing. Not quite the “That’ll cost you” sort that you get from workmen just after you ask them to quote you. More a short “How do I tell you that you are a very silly boy” sort of air suck.
He then proceeded to tell me about the shoulder joint and how complex and clever it is. He wasn’t really telling me anything I didn’t know about the shoulder joint, I read human biology at Uni, don’t you know. And what I didn’t learn there, I discovered over the last few days while researching my malady on wikipedia. He then also went on to tell me about how the body grows and changes with trauma. Muscles need to tear before they repair bigger and stronger, and bones when subjected to injury can swell and deform.
After the brief and informative biology lesson he told me that I had at some point during the last three weeks at the gym, inflicted quite a serious injury on my arm. His words, I’m not being melodramatic. The damage has caused my collar bone to swell and deform a little bit (which is quite noticeable when you look for it) and that external manifestation of my injury may never wholly go away. It should take about two weeks of rest for the pain to stop (if it doesn’t I am to return to the docs) and then it can take up to three months for it to heal up.
I need to stop agitating the arm, I rightly assumed that the weights were now well and truly off the exercise rota for a while. But the Doctor then crossed off the rowing machine and worst of all, swimming, from my list of activities. Though strangely he didn’t think kayaking was too bad an activity due to the type of movement my arm would go through while paddling.
I was pretty gutted actually. Mentally casting my mind around the gym, I think all I can do is the treadmill, the cross trainer and the bikes. I’ll have to get used to the sauna and Jacuzzi as well.
I think I’m going to have to speak to fitness Stu and get him to completely re-design my fitness plan. I wonder how differing programmes will affect Nigel and my preparedness for the DW.
He prodded and twirled and in once instance I’m sure he thumped my left shoulder before telling me to put my shirt back on and take a seat. He then did that sucking air through the teeth thing. Not quite the “That’ll cost you” sort that you get from workmen just after you ask them to quote you. More a short “How do I tell you that you are a very silly boy” sort of air suck.
He then proceeded to tell me about the shoulder joint and how complex and clever it is. He wasn’t really telling me anything I didn’t know about the shoulder joint, I read human biology at Uni, don’t you know. And what I didn’t learn there, I discovered over the last few days while researching my malady on wikipedia. He then also went on to tell me about how the body grows and changes with trauma. Muscles need to tear before they repair bigger and stronger, and bones when subjected to injury can swell and deform.
After the brief and informative biology lesson he told me that I had at some point during the last three weeks at the gym, inflicted quite a serious injury on my arm. His words, I’m not being melodramatic. The damage has caused my collar bone to swell and deform a little bit (which is quite noticeable when you look for it) and that external manifestation of my injury may never wholly go away. It should take about two weeks of rest for the pain to stop (if it doesn’t I am to return to the docs) and then it can take up to three months for it to heal up.
I need to stop agitating the arm, I rightly assumed that the weights were now well and truly off the exercise rota for a while. But the Doctor then crossed off the rowing machine and worst of all, swimming, from my list of activities. Though strangely he didn’t think kayaking was too bad an activity due to the type of movement my arm would go through while paddling.
I was pretty gutted actually. Mentally casting my mind around the gym, I think all I can do is the treadmill, the cross trainer and the bikes. I’ll have to get used to the sauna and Jacuzzi as well.
I think I’m going to have to speak to fitness Stu and get him to completely re-design my fitness plan. I wonder how differing programmes will affect Nigel and my preparedness for the DW.
Monday, 20 October 2008
Hard as Nails
A jolly good mate of mine ran the Great North Run a couple of years ago, it's a half marathon held in October, up north. I was watching this years race on the big tellies while I was on the rowing machine and thought that a half marathon in October would be absolutely ideal to get a measure of my metal before the DW race that will be held 6 months later.
I have been emailing him for the last week or so on the hows and the wherefores on entering into marathon running. It isn’t easy and seems that you either get gifted one of the few free places, or run for a charity place, and you have to raise money for the given charity (usually £300 - £800 or so). Now I don’t mind raising money for charity, far from it but I do wonder if my friends, family and colleagues will get a bit charity fatigued with a couple of fundraising efforts so close together.
Anyway, both Nigel and I are pre-registered with the Great North event through this site www.greatrun.org and then when they are allocating places for this race at some point next year, we will get emailed and I’m hoping they will give further instructions from there.
During the course of these emails with my marathon running friend, I said something along the lines of That Great North Jog thing will be a nice little training run for the real endurance stuff next year, or words to that effect. I didn’t mean it to sound as flippant as it may have come across but I received a grim reply warning me not to underestimate the exertion required for a marathon, and that this kayak thing is a mere trifle.
I actually suspect that this probably wasn’t how it was meant to come across, but it doesn’t matter, I got a spluttery and indignant and replied telling him that this race was tougher than the hardest of nails.
And then a bit later in the day I read this article from the Telegraph.
“It is a race so punishing and physically tough that entrants can experience sleep-deprived hallucinations, exhaustion and hypothermia, not to mention the aches, pains, cramps and sores that come from sitting in a confined wet space for more than 24 hours.”
The article was almost enough to make me change my mind about this whole thing… Only almost though. I’m going to link it for future reference when I plan on having a day off from the gym.
I have been emailing him for the last week or so on the hows and the wherefores on entering into marathon running. It isn’t easy and seems that you either get gifted one of the few free places, or run for a charity place, and you have to raise money for the given charity (usually £300 - £800 or so). Now I don’t mind raising money for charity, far from it but I do wonder if my friends, family and colleagues will get a bit charity fatigued with a couple of fundraising efforts so close together.
Anyway, both Nigel and I are pre-registered with the Great North event through this site www.greatrun.org and then when they are allocating places for this race at some point next year, we will get emailed and I’m hoping they will give further instructions from there.
During the course of these emails with my marathon running friend, I said something along the lines of That Great North Jog thing will be a nice little training run for the real endurance stuff next year, or words to that effect. I didn’t mean it to sound as flippant as it may have come across but I received a grim reply warning me not to underestimate the exertion required for a marathon, and that this kayak thing is a mere trifle.
I actually suspect that this probably wasn’t how it was meant to come across, but it doesn’t matter, I got a spluttery and indignant and replied telling him that this race was tougher than the hardest of nails.
And then a bit later in the day I read this article from the Telegraph.
“It is a race so punishing and physically tough that entrants can experience sleep-deprived hallucinations, exhaustion and hypothermia, not to mention the aches, pains, cramps and sores that come from sitting in a confined wet space for more than 24 hours.”
The article was almost enough to make me change my mind about this whole thing… Only almost though. I’m going to link it for future reference when I plan on having a day off from the gym.
Sunday dinner
Nigel and his lovely missus offered to play host on Sunday for me and the wife. “Both of you come to the gym, and then after we’ll cook you a nice roast” was the offer I couldn’t refuse so we both came down for some gym work this week.
While my better half set about the treadmill, Nigel and I hit the rowing machine, we both cranked up the difficulty level to 6. Set the timer for 15 minutes and set off at a fast 34 strokes a minute pace. We kept this up for about 7 or 8 minutes when I started to feel the burn of an exhausted muscle in my forearm. (I have just google searched and it was my wrist flexors that were giving up. I could no longer grip with my hand.) I had a few moments rest before plugging on matching Nigel’s pace once again. I dropped 10 strokes from Nigel over the 15 minutes becuase of that rest, I need to work on that group of muscles.
I also bought some super fast mega running sports trainers over the weekend which are specifically designed for running at near hypersonic speeds, as opposed to my previous trainers which I suspect were more designed for fashion. I hit the treadmill and I felt my performance instantly improve by probably about 5%. 20 minutes at a constant and steady 7mph. Nigel joined me on the treadmill for a bit but 5 minutes later he was feeling short of breath. He might have a strength advantage over me at the moment but that will be for nothing if he can't sustain it.
I might not be ready for hypersonic super fast sports running trainers yet though. I discovered a blister in a really bizarre place on the sole of my foot later on in the day, I fear that I might have become so sedentary in my lifestyle prior to this training that I was getting flat feet.
Day was topped out by a roast dinner of epic proportions (thanks guys).
I’m not going back to the gym now until Wednesday as Monday (today) I am going to my GP after work to see if he can shed light on this shoulder injury. And then Tuesday night we have an appointment with the wedding photographer to get the photos sorted. I intend to work doubly hard at the end of the week to catch back up with the fitness plan.
While my better half set about the treadmill, Nigel and I hit the rowing machine, we both cranked up the difficulty level to 6. Set the timer for 15 minutes and set off at a fast 34 strokes a minute pace. We kept this up for about 7 or 8 minutes when I started to feel the burn of an exhausted muscle in my forearm. (I have just google searched and it was my wrist flexors that were giving up. I could no longer grip with my hand.) I had a few moments rest before plugging on matching Nigel’s pace once again. I dropped 10 strokes from Nigel over the 15 minutes becuase of that rest, I need to work on that group of muscles.
I also bought some super fast mega running sports trainers over the weekend which are specifically designed for running at near hypersonic speeds, as opposed to my previous trainers which I suspect were more designed for fashion. I hit the treadmill and I felt my performance instantly improve by probably about 5%. 20 minutes at a constant and steady 7mph. Nigel joined me on the treadmill for a bit but 5 minutes later he was feeling short of breath. He might have a strength advantage over me at the moment but that will be for nothing if he can't sustain it.
I might not be ready for hypersonic super fast sports running trainers yet though. I discovered a blister in a really bizarre place on the sole of my foot later on in the day, I fear that I might have become so sedentary in my lifestyle prior to this training that I was getting flat feet.
Day was topped out by a roast dinner of epic proportions (thanks guys).
I’m not going back to the gym now until Wednesday as Monday (today) I am going to my GP after work to see if he can shed light on this shoulder injury. And then Tuesday night we have an appointment with the wedding photographer to get the photos sorted. I intend to work doubly hard at the end of the week to catch back up with the fitness plan.
Week 3
End of week report.
Week 3.
Three full weeks in and I was starting to fall apart at the seams. The arm pain was getting me down and I was feeling a bit under the weather and by Monday/Tuesday I ended up having a couple of days away from work and the gym.
I got back to life by Wednesday and I did go to the gym that evening, but if truth be told I didn’t really want to. I ended up telling myself that I couldn’t let Nigel get fitter than me and my ego is the only thing that stopped me going home to play the playstation instead.
Thursday was a day of rest.
Friday I was in quite a lot of pain from the arm at work, and after getting my shoulder groped by the first aider at work, she sent me to A&E. The trip to A&E wasted three hours of my life, eventually seen by an impatient doctor who sent me home telling me to have a hot bath and take some ibuprofen (I'm sure I heard him muttering that I was a big hairy wuss girl as he left the cubical).
I did then go to the gym that evening but I left off the weights and rowing machine completely, Instead I did the stomach crunching exercises and the treadmill. I am starting to enjoy pounding the treadmill, and once I plugged in the iPod I got into a zone and built up a sweat made from 20 minutes at 7mph at various inclines (due to the “Fat Burn” setting). By the time I was finished on Friday I was enjoying myself again. Roll on week 4.
Week 3.
Three full weeks in and I was starting to fall apart at the seams. The arm pain was getting me down and I was feeling a bit under the weather and by Monday/Tuesday I ended up having a couple of days away from work and the gym.
I got back to life by Wednesday and I did go to the gym that evening, but if truth be told I didn’t really want to. I ended up telling myself that I couldn’t let Nigel get fitter than me and my ego is the only thing that stopped me going home to play the playstation instead.
Thursday was a day of rest.
Friday I was in quite a lot of pain from the arm at work, and after getting my shoulder groped by the first aider at work, she sent me to A&E. The trip to A&E wasted three hours of my life, eventually seen by an impatient doctor who sent me home telling me to have a hot bath and take some ibuprofen (I'm sure I heard him muttering that I was a big hairy wuss girl as he left the cubical).
I did then go to the gym that evening but I left off the weights and rowing machine completely, Instead I did the stomach crunching exercises and the treadmill. I am starting to enjoy pounding the treadmill, and once I plugged in the iPod I got into a zone and built up a sweat made from 20 minutes at 7mph at various inclines (due to the “Fat Burn” setting). By the time I was finished on Friday I was enjoying myself again. Roll on week 4.
Friday, 17 October 2008
Fundraising
We’re starting to think about raising funds both for charity and as a way to get hold of the boat (which currently is way out of our financial reach).
Devizes Westminster is an excellent opportunity to get sponsorship and raise funds for charities and special causes, and even though you aren’t required to get sponsorship to take part, it seems only right that we do.
There are many good and great charities out there, and we have a few which we have thought about collecting for but we can’t quite decide. But I have discovered a widget on blogger which allows me to poll my vast and numerous readership. So consider yourselves polled. Even if you have stumbled here by mistake, click your chosen charity for me.
In fact, if you have a charity that is close to your heart that you would like us to consider, leave a comment in the comments section of this post and I will add it to the list.
I think we would need to make a decision who will be our named charity by early summer next year. So on the first of June 2009 whichever charity has the most votes on the poll (even if there have only been two or three votes overall) will be the one.
And then the other thing we might have to consider is getting corporate sponsorship to pay for the boat.
The boat we need is a two man kayak, preferably of marathon type, and preferably at the more stable end of the racing boat spectrum. Finding a boat that fits the bill on ebay is a very hit and miss thing. And although our feelers are out there looking to borrow a suitable boat, so far we haven’t had any luck. The third way is to buy the boat. I have spotted the one that I would love to demo, the Marsport Condor looks pretty much ideal for this race… Only at over £1200 for the cheepest, we are not in any kind of position to fund this ourselves. However Nigel suggested that we could petition local businesses to sponsor us on this front.
More thought needs to be put into this, but it might be a way to do this race.
Devizes Westminster is an excellent opportunity to get sponsorship and raise funds for charities and special causes, and even though you aren’t required to get sponsorship to take part, it seems only right that we do.
There are many good and great charities out there, and we have a few which we have thought about collecting for but we can’t quite decide. But I have discovered a widget on blogger which allows me to poll my vast and numerous readership. So consider yourselves polled. Even if you have stumbled here by mistake, click your chosen charity for me.
In fact, if you have a charity that is close to your heart that you would like us to consider, leave a comment in the comments section of this post and I will add it to the list.
I think we would need to make a decision who will be our named charity by early summer next year. So on the first of June 2009 whichever charity has the most votes on the poll (even if there have only been two or three votes overall) will be the one.
And then the other thing we might have to consider is getting corporate sponsorship to pay for the boat.
The boat we need is a two man kayak, preferably of marathon type, and preferably at the more stable end of the racing boat spectrum. Finding a boat that fits the bill on ebay is a very hit and miss thing. And although our feelers are out there looking to borrow a suitable boat, so far we haven’t had any luck. The third way is to buy the boat. I have spotted the one that I would love to demo, the Marsport Condor looks pretty much ideal for this race… Only at over £1200 for the cheepest, we are not in any kind of position to fund this ourselves. However Nigel suggested that we could petition local businesses to sponsor us on this front.
More thought needs to be put into this, but it might be a way to do this race.
Thursday, 16 October 2008
A touch of apathy.
A complete lack of motivation struck me yesterday. I had a hard day at work, a proper brain grinder and come 5pm I was finished. It was getting dark outside, and it had been a wet and grim day all day. I just wanted to head home and crash out with the playstation and a bottle of wine. Unfortunately for my apathetic side, my ego had kicked into gear, and it wouldn’t let Nigel go to the gym and get fitter than me, so off I went.
I have nothing really new to report. Exercises were done as per our instructions. I didn’t record the rowing machine reps this time but my forearms really were hurting by the end of the fifteen minutes. My shoulder twinged again so I didn’t push too hard on the arm based bits of the routine. Swum loads, sauna’d a little, and headed home.
Upon reading my post so far it sounds as though I didn't enjoy the workout, I actually did and felt much better for it, heading home re-energised and ready for anything.
I have tried to self diagnose this nagging injury on the internet and it is either really serious and I might have to amputate or it is nothing at all and I am being a bit of a girl. So I have made an appointment with the doctor on Monday so that a professional can tell me what the prognosis is.
I have nothing really new to report. Exercises were done as per our instructions. I didn’t record the rowing machine reps this time but my forearms really were hurting by the end of the fifteen minutes. My shoulder twinged again so I didn’t push too hard on the arm based bits of the routine. Swum loads, sauna’d a little, and headed home.
Upon reading my post so far it sounds as though I didn't enjoy the workout, I actually did and felt much better for it, heading home re-energised and ready for anything.
I have tried to self diagnose this nagging injury on the internet and it is either really serious and I might have to amputate or it is nothing at all and I am being a bit of a girl. So I have made an appointment with the doctor on Monday so that a professional can tell me what the prognosis is.
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
16 days later
I thought I would chart the progress of this fitness curve with observational science and here I am at 16 days since starting this thing with a dash up the Wrekin I thought I would blog my progress.
First off, everything is getting firmer. There isn’t any visible increase in muscle mass yet but I can tell that something is happening. I also feel fantastic, It seems that it is true exercise brings about a general feeling of wellbeing, it is difficult to explain but I just feel pretty good.
The exercises are becoming easier too. After about ten days I was no longer daunted by 15 minutes on the rowing machine. And half an hour doesn’t seem such a faraway target any more.
I weighed in on Sunday, after the gym but before I had eaten anything. I also had quite a lot of hair shaved off (in an attempt to become more hydrodynamic, and lighter). I was as light as I could be, and I weighed in at 68.8kgs and a BMI of 22.5. That is an increase of 3 grams. Now, I think it is too early to tell if that is 3 grams of new muscle or if I just needed a 3 gram wee. Only time will tell.
First off, everything is getting firmer. There isn’t any visible increase in muscle mass yet but I can tell that something is happening. I also feel fantastic, It seems that it is true exercise brings about a general feeling of wellbeing, it is difficult to explain but I just feel pretty good.
The exercises are becoming easier too. After about ten days I was no longer daunted by 15 minutes on the rowing machine. And half an hour doesn’t seem such a faraway target any more.
I weighed in on Sunday, after the gym but before I had eaten anything. I also had quite a lot of hair shaved off (in an attempt to become more hydrodynamic, and lighter). I was as light as I could be, and I weighed in at 68.8kgs and a BMI of 22.5. That is an increase of 3 grams. Now, I think it is too early to tell if that is 3 grams of new muscle or if I just needed a 3 gram wee. Only time will tell.
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
missing in action
I haven't updated for a few days. I have been at home sick and not really in the mood for updating the blog. But now I am.
The weekend saw a surprise (for all concerned) trip to the gym. I didn't intend to after pushing up the Wrekin on Friday but I was actually missing the exercise so off I went. Nigel was still working when I got there so I started to plod through the routine as per standard. (434 strokes on the rowing machine btw. not as many as last time but it was non stop for the full 15 minutes).
I started to work my way through the shoulder and arm exercises but my dodgy limb gave me a twinge so I quit and stuck to the core work and stamina stuff.
Nigel turned up eventually and a I was as good as done so I decided to hit the treadmill. while nigel was rowing (495 strokes) I cranked the speed up to 6.4mph and set about running for 20 minutes. It was pretty easy, though I was puffed out and had worked up a sweat by the time I was done.
As the gym was empty I then started to mess about on the treadmill, and while Nige was over doing the core stuff I wound the treadmill up as fast as I could go. Only I didn't take into account the fact that the machine would take a bit of time to speed up. So made my way up to 10mph and thought I could handle a bit faster, 12mph. Still okay. 15mph... It was at about this moment that the machine reached my peak speed, and at a full pelt sprint I was barely keeping up with it, and it was still getting faster. I don't know if you have ever tried to press a button that is just out of reach while you are sprinting faster than you have ever sprinted before... It's really quite difficult.
Surviving the treadmill we swam for 20 minutes and then sauna'd for about 5 minutes before I nearly passed out with the heat.
All in all a good session.
I haven't done anything for two days now, though there are unconfirmed reports that Nigel gym'd on Monday. I will investigate and report.
The weekend saw a surprise (for all concerned) trip to the gym. I didn't intend to after pushing up the Wrekin on Friday but I was actually missing the exercise so off I went. Nigel was still working when I got there so I started to plod through the routine as per standard. (434 strokes on the rowing machine btw. not as many as last time but it was non stop for the full 15 minutes).
I started to work my way through the shoulder and arm exercises but my dodgy limb gave me a twinge so I quit and stuck to the core work and stamina stuff.
Nigel turned up eventually and a I was as good as done so I decided to hit the treadmill. while nigel was rowing (495 strokes) I cranked the speed up to 6.4mph and set about running for 20 minutes. It was pretty easy, though I was puffed out and had worked up a sweat by the time I was done.
As the gym was empty I then started to mess about on the treadmill, and while Nige was over doing the core stuff I wound the treadmill up as fast as I could go. Only I didn't take into account the fact that the machine would take a bit of time to speed up. So made my way up to 10mph and thought I could handle a bit faster, 12mph. Still okay. 15mph... It was at about this moment that the machine reached my peak speed, and at a full pelt sprint I was barely keeping up with it, and it was still getting faster. I don't know if you have ever tried to press a button that is just out of reach while you are sprinting faster than you have ever sprinted before... It's really quite difficult.
Surviving the treadmill we swam for 20 minutes and then sauna'd for about 5 minutes before I nearly passed out with the heat.
All in all a good session.
I haven't done anything for two days now, though there are unconfirmed reports that Nigel gym'd on Monday. I will investigate and report.
Friday, 10 October 2008
good time
Ran the Wrekin a couple of hours ago. I pushed so hard my legs actually stopped at one point about half way up and I was literally unable to move them for a few moments.
Though I was aiming for sub 35 minutes I was more than happy with my time of 35minutes and 50 seconds. I even allowed myself a mini fist pump when I stopped the clock.
I have decided to abort the gym on saturday becuase of the arm injury so I think this wil the last report of note for the weekend.
Though I was aiming for sub 35 minutes I was more than happy with my time of 35minutes and 50 seconds. I even allowed myself a mini fist pump when I stopped the clock.
I have decided to abort the gym on saturday becuase of the arm injury so I think this wil the last report of note for the weekend.
Week Two
End of week report
Week two.
This week has been marred by a strained arm muscle. That injury was inflicted on Tuesday and here I am at Friday still in discomfort and contemplating having to ease up for maybe another week. Serves me right for trying to push too hard too soon.
Considering we are in training for a kayak race, it does seem quite odd that we have only managed a single one hour session on the water. But the river Severn is up at the moment and it would be ill-considered to take a relative beginner onto it. (it would be a bit daft for me to head out and paddle on that flow either if truth be told) but things are afoot. A good second hand kayak has been sourced for Nigel to practice in, though I still need to collect and pay for it. And another friend is really keen to take to the water too so who knows, we may have a bit of a flotilla going soon.
Sunday. Really good session in the gym. Felt like I was getting somewhere.
Monday. Rest day.
Tuesday. Worked through all the exercises at the gym and because I was feeling super human I did some more for good measure and promptly pulled a muscle.
Wednesday. Rest day.
Thursday. Gym’d it but because of the arm strain I didn’t work half as hard as I wanted to.
Friday. Feeling like a unfit oaf so am going to dash myself on the barren slopes of the Wrekin. Aiming for sub 35 minutes.
Weekend. Saturday will be a trip to the gym. Sunday will be a rest day.
Week two.
This week has been marred by a strained arm muscle. That injury was inflicted on Tuesday and here I am at Friday still in discomfort and contemplating having to ease up for maybe another week. Serves me right for trying to push too hard too soon.
Considering we are in training for a kayak race, it does seem quite odd that we have only managed a single one hour session on the water. But the river Severn is up at the moment and it would be ill-considered to take a relative beginner onto it. (it would be a bit daft for me to head out and paddle on that flow either if truth be told) but things are afoot. A good second hand kayak has been sourced for Nigel to practice in, though I still need to collect and pay for it. And another friend is really keen to take to the water too so who knows, we may have a bit of a flotilla going soon.
Sunday. Really good session in the gym. Felt like I was getting somewhere.
Monday. Rest day.
Tuesday. Worked through all the exercises at the gym and because I was feeling super human I did some more for good measure and promptly pulled a muscle.
Wednesday. Rest day.
Thursday. Gym’d it but because of the arm strain I didn’t work half as hard as I wanted to.
Friday. Feeling like a unfit oaf so am going to dash myself on the barren slopes of the Wrekin. Aiming for sub 35 minutes.
Weekend. Saturday will be a trip to the gym. Sunday will be a rest day.
Deep Heat!
The smell of exercise, that’s what Deep Heat is. I slathered the miracle balm onto my strained shoulder, gave it an experimental twirl and jogged into the gym going “hut-hut-hut-“ Tried lifting a weight. Screamed a tortured scream, and promptly limped out of the gym sobbing… You see the problem with Deep Heat is it gives you a feeling of invincibility, and you somehow think that you know better and that you can defy medical advice. I have learned an important lesson here and will now rest my arm as advised.
I did get some exercise done though.
Rowing machine. The full fifteen minutes is getting easier and easier. We left it on the wimpy resistance notch 4 (justified because I have a poorly arm) and we started out at the same time. Nigel and I kept pace with each other, which I think increased our pace a little bit. I had to break first for a drink, and Nigel stopped a few minutes later. But we got back in sync with each other and in the end completed 471 strokes, and Nigel completed two more than me at 473. I am now not going to bother recording the metres covered, because we had swapped machines and this time it recorded me as having covered considerably less distance, indicating that this reading isn’t particularly reliable.
I also worked on my legs and did 2 full sets of 12 on the prescribed weight. And then after some goading from Nigel’s old boss, did a set of twelve at 66kgs.
I then followed the whole lot up with another 30 minutes swimming.
I don’t feel that I pushed the boundaries of physical exertion last night, and certainly beyond the strained arm, I am not feeling any worse for wear today. So tonight I am going to go charging up the Wrekin again. Nigel is working so this is a solo effort. Ten days since the last effort. How much faster will I be this time?
I did get some exercise done though.
Rowing machine. The full fifteen minutes is getting easier and easier. We left it on the wimpy resistance notch 4 (justified because I have a poorly arm) and we started out at the same time. Nigel and I kept pace with each other, which I think increased our pace a little bit. I had to break first for a drink, and Nigel stopped a few minutes later. But we got back in sync with each other and in the end completed 471 strokes, and Nigel completed two more than me at 473. I am now not going to bother recording the metres covered, because we had swapped machines and this time it recorded me as having covered considerably less distance, indicating that this reading isn’t particularly reliable.
I also worked on my legs and did 2 full sets of 12 on the prescribed weight. And then after some goading from Nigel’s old boss, did a set of twelve at 66kgs.
I then followed the whole lot up with another 30 minutes swimming.
I don’t feel that I pushed the boundaries of physical exertion last night, and certainly beyond the strained arm, I am not feeling any worse for wear today. So tonight I am going to go charging up the Wrekin again. Nigel is working so this is a solo effort. Ten days since the last effort. How much faster will I be this time?
Thursday, 9 October 2008
The pain!
This arm strain is no better. Much to the mirth of people here at my office. For some reason I have a reputation that I am a bit of a wimp, and the idea that I have a muscle to strain has been the running joke of the day.
I’m still off to the gym tonight though. I’m going to take it a little easier on the chest and shoulder exercises and focus more on the cardio stuff (rowing machine and swimming mainly)
Anyway, the purpose of today’s post, my food for sport research has gone well. I found this page from the Food Standards Agency and it seems to tell me all that I needed and wanted to know about the fuel that I am putting into this exercise machine.
Basically, for the moment while at the training getting fit stage, I just need to eat a good rounded sensible diet, as long as it is varied enough to cover all the vitamin bases I should be set. I think I might add a glass of milk into my daily diet because I probably don’t get enough calcium but apart from that I am doing everything right. My meals are varied and well rounded, I don’t buy processed foods and use fresh where possible, apart from the odd once a month fast food splurge, I am on the health food line already.
On the same website there is a bit about the foods to be eaten in the build up to a marathon here . I’ll bear this in mind for when we start racing next year but at the moment it doesn’t seem very relevant to our current activities.
I’m still off to the gym tonight though. I’m going to take it a little easier on the chest and shoulder exercises and focus more on the cardio stuff (rowing machine and swimming mainly)
Anyway, the purpose of today’s post, my food for sport research has gone well. I found this page from the Food Standards Agency and it seems to tell me all that I needed and wanted to know about the fuel that I am putting into this exercise machine.
Basically, for the moment while at the training getting fit stage, I just need to eat a good rounded sensible diet, as long as it is varied enough to cover all the vitamin bases I should be set. I think I might add a glass of milk into my daily diet because I probably don’t get enough calcium but apart from that I am doing everything right. My meals are varied and well rounded, I don’t buy processed foods and use fresh where possible, apart from the odd once a month fast food splurge, I am on the health food line already.
On the same website there is a bit about the foods to be eaten in the build up to a marathon here . I’ll bear this in mind for when we start racing next year but at the moment it doesn’t seem very relevant to our current activities.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
The Ghost of Eric Phelps.
It has transpired that Nigel has a little bit of provenance on the water. Eric Phelps, an Olympic sculling champion in the 1930’s (who even had his visage printed on a collectable cigarette card) is related on his mother’s side. Not quite kayaking, but close enough.
Anyway, we met up at the gym again. With thoughts of past rowing champions we hit the imaginary water and set the rowing machines to power level 4. I completed my 15 minutes of sculling a few minutes before Nigel so I sat there counting down his meters compared to mine and generally hassling him to go faster for his last hundred strokes. (This is a taste of things to come for Nigel as I know I will nag just like this on the DW race. Come on. Faster. Only 120 miles to go. just a little bit further.)
I had left my tatty exercise card in the car so I scratted around looking for something to write on, in the end I settled on a scrap of paper hand towel which I have here in front of me.
Fifteen minutes of rowing machine. I managed 3220 metres, with 451 strokes. Nigel achieved 470 strokes, but only pulled out 3008 metres. Curious… I can only assume that I am doing a longer more powerful stroke whereas Nigel is pulling a faster stroke overall but isn’t pulling as far.
We both worked through our sets of weights again. We did pretty much the same as last time, though we did move the weights around a bit.
Leg press 45kgs 2 sets of 12. I did the same weight as Nigel this time without too much additional strain. I think I will keep it at 45kgs for next time.
Erector Spinae 39kgs. 2 sets of 12.
Lat pull down 32kgs. 2 sets of 12.
Shrugs 15kgs. 2 sets of 12. Nigel did the correct weight this time though. ;)
Shoulder press 27kgs 2 sets of 12. I completed it on an increased 27kg weight. Nigel had to drop it back down to the 23kgs to complete his sets. Though he had just worked through other shoulder exercises so he has a good excuses for lifting less than me.
Arm curl 18kgs 2 sets of 12. Nigel didn’t believe me when I told him it was a paltry 18kgs but after completing the first set, he agreed that 18 was more than enough for our spindly arms at the moment.
Chest press 25kgs 2 sets of 12.
Seated dip 36kgs. 2 sets of 12. I loved this machine and did a third set of twelve.
The plank. to failure for 2 sets and the hand to knee to failure for 2 sets. Nigel again suffered on these I am able to hold the plank for more and do more hand to knee reps though.
All of that took a little under 50 minutes, and we followed it up with 20 minutes swimming and a short while in the sauna. I have no idea what health benefits the sauna offers, it seems to be just a load heat to me, but it gives us a chance to have a chat about stuff so I have no issues with it.
After all that I have strained a muscle in my left shoulder though. I’m hoping that today’s day of rest will see it feel better tomorrow but I may have to go easy on the weights on Thursday.
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
It’s not a midlife crisis. Honestly!
Right, I have been keeping a tally on who has and hasn’t declared, upon hearing about the plan to race the DW, that we are having a midlife crisis. Currently 80% of people think that it is one.
Well it isn’t. Certainly not based on the wikipedia definition of a midlife crisis. I don’t feel a dramatic sense of self doubt. I don’t feel my youth is slipping away. If anything I am feeling the vigour of life at the moment. Or is this current vim just my midlife crisis and I don’t know it yet?
Anyway. Rest day yesterday so no physical exertions to report. I have had a couple of thoughts though that I have decided to air here to see what becomes of them.
Firstly, I was quite ill last night. Something I ate (or drank) didn’t agree with me and I have begun to wonder if I should put some thought and research into exercise food.
I’m not into the whole supplements thing, and I don’t intend to be drinking whey based powersuperzade three times as day but there must be something I can do to improve the fuel that I am putting in. Research to follow, findings in due course.
And then secondly, on Sunday while we were in the gym the Great North Run was on the bank of tellys above the rowing machine. Watching that spectacle sowed a seed of thought that I have been mulling over for a couple of days. How about doing a marathon as part of my training? I mean, what better way to find out if I have the minerals for a 125 mile kayak race, than by doing another endurance event?
Don’t misunderstand me when I flippantly say, “I’ll do a marathon this weekend, it would be nice training.” Because after the agony’s I have subjected myself to so far, I know full well that I am not in any kind of condition for that sort of thing yet. But a half marathon in October 2009 would be a good test of my metal before we start doing the build up kayak races in January.
I don’t know what is involved in doing a marathon but another good chum of mine ran… it might have even been the Great North that he ran… Can’t quite remember... Anyway, he ran a marathon, and apparently it is a bit more complicated than turning up with a piece of A4 paper pinned to my chest with a number written on in black marker. I will email him and find out what should be done.
Off to the gym tonight again. More of the same, two sets of twelve reps of half a dozen exercises.
Well it isn’t. Certainly not based on the wikipedia definition of a midlife crisis. I don’t feel a dramatic sense of self doubt. I don’t feel my youth is slipping away. If anything I am feeling the vigour of life at the moment. Or is this current vim just my midlife crisis and I don’t know it yet?
Anyway. Rest day yesterday so no physical exertions to report. I have had a couple of thoughts though that I have decided to air here to see what becomes of them.
Firstly, I was quite ill last night. Something I ate (or drank) didn’t agree with me and I have begun to wonder if I should put some thought and research into exercise food.
I’m not into the whole supplements thing, and I don’t intend to be drinking whey based powersuperzade three times as day but there must be something I can do to improve the fuel that I am putting in. Research to follow, findings in due course.
And then secondly, on Sunday while we were in the gym the Great North Run was on the bank of tellys above the rowing machine. Watching that spectacle sowed a seed of thought that I have been mulling over for a couple of days. How about doing a marathon as part of my training? I mean, what better way to find out if I have the minerals for a 125 mile kayak race, than by doing another endurance event?
Don’t misunderstand me when I flippantly say, “I’ll do a marathon this weekend, it would be nice training.” Because after the agony’s I have subjected myself to so far, I know full well that I am not in any kind of condition for that sort of thing yet. But a half marathon in October 2009 would be a good test of my metal before we start doing the build up kayak races in January.
I don’t know what is involved in doing a marathon but another good chum of mine ran… it might have even been the Great North that he ran… Can’t quite remember... Anyway, he ran a marathon, and apparently it is a bit more complicated than turning up with a piece of A4 paper pinned to my chest with a number written on in black marker. I will email him and find out what should be done.
Off to the gym tonight again. More of the same, two sets of twelve reps of half a dozen exercises.
Monday, 6 October 2008
Better, Faster, Stronger.
I have been suffering with a perpetual full body ache since I started this whole enterprise a little over a week ago. Despite going to the gym yesterday and working even harder than I did last time, I feel fine today (there is a bit of a dull ache in my upper arms when I stretch I suppose). I don’t know if my body has given up complaining about the stresses and strains I am subjecting it to, or whether I am already starting to get fitter but either way I feel better than ever before.
Sunday, I met Nigel after he finished work and we hit the gym. And this time I lifted my exercise card to record our efforts here on the blog. (only trouble is I have scrawled all over it and it got crushed in my bag and is now looking a bit tatty. I might get Nigel to half-inch a new one for me so that I am not the only person in the gym with a weather beaten score card)
Training with Nigel is a blessing and a curse. There I am doing my weights, and he strolls on over and goes
“Only 39kgs? Hmmm. I did it on 45kgs and it wasn’t too hard”.
At which point I am forced to say “Huh? Oh? How did that happen? I thought it was on 45kgs but the pin must have slipped. I was going to put it on 50kgs anyway”. at which point I up the weights and burst an artery.
Machismo is going to be the death of me.
The Rowing machine.
Both of us achieved the full 15 minutes. With a couple of minor 30 second breaks for a glug of water about halfway through form each of us. I started and completed the duration with the resistance set to about 4. Nigel started out at resistance setting 7 but was forced to drop it down to setting 4 after about 8 minutes.
The machine records a few stats, and I love stats so I jotted them down for future reference. I covered 3048 metres with 238 reps. Nigel covered 2842 metres with 234 reps. All in all we were pretty much on par and although I did a few more metres and a few more reps, I didn’t start at such a high difficulty setting.
Next time out we are going to start on the same setting at the same time and see if we can keep pace with each other.
Leg Press.
Sit down and push a plate forward. This plate is obviously attached to weights via a complex pully system. We both worked through 2 sets of 12 reps. Nigel moved the pin up to 45kgs for this exercise, I didn’t and stayed at the 39kgs suggested by Fitness Stuart.
Erector spinæ.
This is an exercise that works the muscles in the lower back, Nigel has had a long standing back problem and hopefully working this area will improve the situation. We both moved the weight up to 39kgs and then worked through 2sets of 12 reps without too much difficulty.
Lat Pull down.
This works the large flat muscle on the back below the shoulder blade and also the biceps. I find that when I start this exercise I find it really easy but by the time I get to the 12 repetition I and starting to feel the burn. Weight was set at the recommended 32kgs and again we both did 2 sets of 12 reps.
Shrugs.
These are great. With a 15kg free weight in each hand you just shrug. This works the neck muscles and again we do two sets of 12 reps. This is a surprisingly effective exercise. Nigel accidentally (so he claims) used the 12.5kg weights instead of the 15’s on Sunday though.
Shoulder press.
You kind of push a bar connected to weights upward with this machine. And as the title suggests. It works the Shoulders. I start to struggle with this one, and by the 12th rep I am all a tremble. But we both worked 2 sets of 12 reps at 23kgs.
Chest press.
Similar to the shoulder press only instead of pushing upward, you push forward instead. Again I really start to struggle towards the end of the sets and if we had to do 13 repetitions I don’t know if I could do that last one. 2 sets, of 12 reps. I had the weight set to 25, nigel moved the pin up to 32 though.
Arm curl.
A strange contraption is this machine. But basically it is a really complicated device that gets you lifting weights using biceps and triceps. (I have no idea what is wrong with doing this using free weights) 18kgs and 2 sets of 12 reps. Nigel tried to up the weight but aborted that idea quite quickly but we both managed the full sets at 18kgs.
Seated dips.
I like this machine. You sit down and push down on a pair of really ergonomic moveable arms. Fitness Stuart didn’t show us this machine when we had our induction thing, but we worked it out fairly easily. We both found that 36kgs was a good weight. And again we worked through the 2 sets of 12.
Then there were the core muscle exercises. The power while kayaking comes from the group of muscles in the trunk and it is going to be really important for endurance paddling if we work these.
The Plank.
Laying face forward on the floor, you support your bodyweight on your toes and elbows. Sounds easy, looks easy, really isn’t. We do two of these to failure (keep going till you drop to the floor in a ball of stomach muscle agony). I have no idea how long we hold that, but I recon I maintain the position longer than Nigel. I also suspect Nigel thinks he is able to hold the Plank for longer than me. :D
Hand to Knee.
This is basically a sit-up but you don’t take the effort off the stomach muscles at all (in a sit-up you lay down at the end of each repetition). Again we do two sets to failure. I don’t mind these too much and I will do many before I have to stop. Nigel readily admits that he really struggles with these because of his dodgy back. I’m hoping that the situation with his back will improve over the course of weeks and months because the last thing you need is a duff back on a 125 mile kayak race. (No actually the last thing you would need would be a hole in the bottom of boat on a 125 mile yak race but you catch my drift!)
45 minutes of gym work, and then to finish off all of that we went for a swim. I aimed for and achieved 30 minutes of splashing around. Only to be shamed out of the pool by a 12 year old girl who clearly was in training to be a torpedo.
Monday is a day of rest (and the piano tuner is coming round) but back to the gym on Tuesday.
Oh. P.S. I didn't win that Kayak for Nigel on ebay. It went for more money than it should have. I have spotted a couple of other likely boats so will keep trying.
Sunday, I met Nigel after he finished work and we hit the gym. And this time I lifted my exercise card to record our efforts here on the blog. (only trouble is I have scrawled all over it and it got crushed in my bag and is now looking a bit tatty. I might get Nigel to half-inch a new one for me so that I am not the only person in the gym with a weather beaten score card)
Training with Nigel is a blessing and a curse. There I am doing my weights, and he strolls on over and goes
“Only 39kgs? Hmmm. I did it on 45kgs and it wasn’t too hard”.
At which point I am forced to say “Huh? Oh? How did that happen? I thought it was on 45kgs but the pin must have slipped. I was going to put it on 50kgs anyway”. at which point I up the weights and burst an artery.
Machismo is going to be the death of me.
The Rowing machine.
Both of us achieved the full 15 minutes. With a couple of minor 30 second breaks for a glug of water about halfway through form each of us. I started and completed the duration with the resistance set to about 4. Nigel started out at resistance setting 7 but was forced to drop it down to setting 4 after about 8 minutes.
The machine records a few stats, and I love stats so I jotted them down for future reference. I covered 3048 metres with 238 reps. Nigel covered 2842 metres with 234 reps. All in all we were pretty much on par and although I did a few more metres and a few more reps, I didn’t start at such a high difficulty setting.
Next time out we are going to start on the same setting at the same time and see if we can keep pace with each other.
Leg Press.
Sit down and push a plate forward. This plate is obviously attached to weights via a complex pully system. We both worked through 2 sets of 12 reps. Nigel moved the pin up to 45kgs for this exercise, I didn’t and stayed at the 39kgs suggested by Fitness Stuart.
Erector spinæ.
This is an exercise that works the muscles in the lower back, Nigel has had a long standing back problem and hopefully working this area will improve the situation. We both moved the weight up to 39kgs and then worked through 2sets of 12 reps without too much difficulty.
Lat Pull down.
This works the large flat muscle on the back below the shoulder blade and also the biceps. I find that when I start this exercise I find it really easy but by the time I get to the 12 repetition I and starting to feel the burn. Weight was set at the recommended 32kgs and again we both did 2 sets of 12 reps.
Shrugs.
These are great. With a 15kg free weight in each hand you just shrug. This works the neck muscles and again we do two sets of 12 reps. This is a surprisingly effective exercise. Nigel accidentally (so he claims) used the 12.5kg weights instead of the 15’s on Sunday though.
Shoulder press.
You kind of push a bar connected to weights upward with this machine. And as the title suggests. It works the Shoulders. I start to struggle with this one, and by the 12th rep I am all a tremble. But we both worked 2 sets of 12 reps at 23kgs.
Chest press.
Similar to the shoulder press only instead of pushing upward, you push forward instead. Again I really start to struggle towards the end of the sets and if we had to do 13 repetitions I don’t know if I could do that last one. 2 sets, of 12 reps. I had the weight set to 25, nigel moved the pin up to 32 though.
Arm curl.
A strange contraption is this machine. But basically it is a really complicated device that gets you lifting weights using biceps and triceps. (I have no idea what is wrong with doing this using free weights) 18kgs and 2 sets of 12 reps. Nigel tried to up the weight but aborted that idea quite quickly but we both managed the full sets at 18kgs.
Seated dips.
I like this machine. You sit down and push down on a pair of really ergonomic moveable arms. Fitness Stuart didn’t show us this machine when we had our induction thing, but we worked it out fairly easily. We both found that 36kgs was a good weight. And again we worked through the 2 sets of 12.
Then there were the core muscle exercises. The power while kayaking comes from the group of muscles in the trunk and it is going to be really important for endurance paddling if we work these.
The Plank.
Laying face forward on the floor, you support your bodyweight on your toes and elbows. Sounds easy, looks easy, really isn’t. We do two of these to failure (keep going till you drop to the floor in a ball of stomach muscle agony). I have no idea how long we hold that, but I recon I maintain the position longer than Nigel. I also suspect Nigel thinks he is able to hold the Plank for longer than me. :D
Hand to Knee.
This is basically a sit-up but you don’t take the effort off the stomach muscles at all (in a sit-up you lay down at the end of each repetition). Again we do two sets to failure. I don’t mind these too much and I will do many before I have to stop. Nigel readily admits that he really struggles with these because of his dodgy back. I’m hoping that the situation with his back will improve over the course of weeks and months because the last thing you need is a duff back on a 125 mile kayak race. (No actually the last thing you would need would be a hole in the bottom of boat on a 125 mile yak race but you catch my drift!)
45 minutes of gym work, and then to finish off all of that we went for a swim. I aimed for and achieved 30 minutes of splashing around. Only to be shamed out of the pool by a 12 year old girl who clearly was in training to be a torpedo.
Monday is a day of rest (and the piano tuner is coming round) but back to the gym on Tuesday.
Oh. P.S. I didn't win that Kayak for Nigel on ebay. It went for more money than it should have. I have spotted a couple of other likely boats so will keep trying.
Saturday, 4 October 2008
Friday fitness
A sucessful mission on Friday. Managed the full 15 minutes on the rowing machine, though I did set the dificulty level to "wimp". I was breifly interupted by Nigel who was working and came down to see how I was getting on, but the secret seems to be my own music pumped into my ears and a bottle of water on standby. Managed to get just over 3000 metres in the 15 minutes, I don't know if that is good or bad but it is a target for me to try and better next time out.
No problem with the weights, and I worked through all of my sets without too much hastle. Though I couldn't find my exercise card so I had to guess the weights, and a couple of times I put waaaay to much weight on the pin. (quickly adjusted after I ruptured various blood vessels.)
I managed (eventualy after the kids finished their swimming lessons) to get about half an hour of solid swimming in also. If and when we capsize, I will be ready.
Again, very pleased with my efforts, and this morning I can feel pretty much my whole body aching, so must be doing someting. Though weighing in on the Wii I still have exactly the same body weight and mass. I suppose it would be more of a surprise if it had changed after one week of working out.
Back to the gym on Sunday. Nigel finishes work at 3 so will join me then. After that I am going to try and win a Kayak for Nigel on a last minute swoop on Ebay.
No problem with the weights, and I worked through all of my sets without too much hastle. Though I couldn't find my exercise card so I had to guess the weights, and a couple of times I put waaaay to much weight on the pin. (quickly adjusted after I ruptured various blood vessels.)
I managed (eventualy after the kids finished their swimming lessons) to get about half an hour of solid swimming in also. If and when we capsize, I will be ready.
Again, very pleased with my efforts, and this morning I can feel pretty much my whole body aching, so must be doing someting. Though weighing in on the Wii I still have exactly the same body weight and mass. I suppose it would be more of a surprise if it had changed after one week of working out.
Back to the gym on Sunday. Nigel finishes work at 3 so will join me then. After that I am going to try and win a Kayak for Nigel on a last minute swoop on Ebay.
Friday, 3 October 2008
Week One.
Right, nothing happened last night. I was having a rest day. So there is little to report today. Instead I thought I would review this weeks efforts and plan a little bit for next week.
Monday. Success. The plan was to casually run up and down the Wrekin sub 30 minutes. The reality was 43 minutes of raw, chest crushing agony. I think it was Monday night that I realised with concern that I wasn’t as fit as I thought I was.
Tuesday. Fail. I had planned to work out in my home gym that I had created. Only problem, I hadn’t created a home gym. All the bits of exercise equipment had made their way to the spare room but that is all that happened. Coupled with the fact that I was a bit knackered from Monday, Tuesday became a day of rest.
Wednesday. Success but not because I achieved what I intended. I had planned to run the Wrekin again but by now things had moved on and Nigel had organised some real gym time. I worked hard partly because the Monday Wrekin had made me realise that I was not anywhere near my physical peak and partly because on Tuesday I had lapsed in the newly formed fitness regime and I needed to make amends. My body is still reporting aches and pains two days later, so I think for the first time the fitness thing is heading in the right direction.
Thursday. Didn’t win but didn’t fail either. I think I had planned to work out in my non existing home gym again but instead I rested and this time I really deserved it.
Friday (Today) I had planned to go for a paddle. Instead I am going to the real gym again. My aim is minimum 5 minutes on the rowing machine (might set the clock to 10 minutes and see where I get) and I will work through all of the sets of muscle work. Plus a good long swim afterwards. I have brought water with me this time so there will be no sloping off to the water fountain half way through.
Saturday/Sunday. I haven’t worked out completely how I intend to run my weekend yet. Though I am aiming to get the boat onto the water at some point, and the home gym could do with organizing. And there will be a session at the gym on Sunday.
Next week. Monday will be a day of rest, as I have other things to take care of that day, Tuesday and Thursday will be gym days. And on one of the days next week I am aiming for the Wrekin again, see if I can knock some time of the previous best.
All in all I’m pretty happy with the way things have worked out so far. Roll on week two.
Monday. Success. The plan was to casually run up and down the Wrekin sub 30 minutes. The reality was 43 minutes of raw, chest crushing agony. I think it was Monday night that I realised with concern that I wasn’t as fit as I thought I was.
Tuesday. Fail. I had planned to work out in my home gym that I had created. Only problem, I hadn’t created a home gym. All the bits of exercise equipment had made their way to the spare room but that is all that happened. Coupled with the fact that I was a bit knackered from Monday, Tuesday became a day of rest.
Wednesday. Success but not because I achieved what I intended. I had planned to run the Wrekin again but by now things had moved on and Nigel had organised some real gym time. I worked hard partly because the Monday Wrekin had made me realise that I was not anywhere near my physical peak and partly because on Tuesday I had lapsed in the newly formed fitness regime and I needed to make amends. My body is still reporting aches and pains two days later, so I think for the first time the fitness thing is heading in the right direction.
Thursday. Didn’t win but didn’t fail either. I think I had planned to work out in my non existing home gym again but instead I rested and this time I really deserved it.
Friday (Today) I had planned to go for a paddle. Instead I am going to the real gym again. My aim is minimum 5 minutes on the rowing machine (might set the clock to 10 minutes and see where I get) and I will work through all of the sets of muscle work. Plus a good long swim afterwards. I have brought water with me this time so there will be no sloping off to the water fountain half way through.
Saturday/Sunday. I haven’t worked out completely how I intend to run my weekend yet. Though I am aiming to get the boat onto the water at some point, and the home gym could do with organizing. And there will be a session at the gym on Sunday.
Next week. Monday will be a day of rest, as I have other things to take care of that day, Tuesday and Thursday will be gym days. And on one of the days next week I am aiming for the Wrekin again, see if I can knock some time of the previous best.
All in all I’m pretty happy with the way things have worked out so far. Roll on week two.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Official. I am unfit
Nigel had arranged for us to go to the gym and be given a training regime by the fitness dude Stuart, designed to get us ready for the DW. And Stuart knows his stuff, he had picked out muscle groups that are worked hard while kayaking. I know that time in the kayak is the best way to focus on the correct muscle groups but getting to the gym is a lot less hassle.
I try but I can’t quite remember the names of the machines or the muscle groups we are working on at the moment, I can remember the pain though.
We worked our way through the different machines that worked various different muscle groups. One for the legs, one for the triceps one for the biceps, one for the back, one for the neck, one for the shoulders and pectorals. And then we did some simple exercises which focused on the core muscles, the plank was my personal favourite. All of it a piece of cake. Don’t get me wrong, I could feel the muscles burning afterwards, but in a good way and I felt pumped. And then we moved across to the Rowing machine.
We are going to have to spend some time on the rowing machine to build up our cardio work because I am sure that a non stop race is going to need some endurance. I have discovered to my dismay that my endurance threshold is about two minutes.
We sit down and get given the rundown on the machines. Stuart sets the rowers to 15 minutes and me and Nigel start sculling down an imaginary river. For about 30 seconds I am thinking that 15 minutes was going to be easy, half an hour would have been more of a challenge. Then after about a minute my mouth has gone dry, and I can’t seem to keep up my work rate. Suddenly the resistance on the rowing machine seems a bit high. At about two minutes I am spent and I have to stop to rest for a moment while Nigel infuriatingly keeps going. I row on and off for another five minutes but I can’t do anymore. I have no stamina. Nigel doesn’t finish the full 15 minutes either but just like the Wrekin, it is little consolation as he is going to be my crewmate for the DW. We call it a day in the gym after that and head to the swimming pool to wind down.
Stuart suggests that to improve we will need to be going through these exercises three times a week, and I have vowed to go Monday Wednesday and Friday without fail. The rowing machine is going to be my nemesis I think but it will not beat me next time.
I try but I can’t quite remember the names of the machines or the muscle groups we are working on at the moment, I can remember the pain though.
We worked our way through the different machines that worked various different muscle groups. One for the legs, one for the triceps one for the biceps, one for the back, one for the neck, one for the shoulders and pectorals. And then we did some simple exercises which focused on the core muscles, the plank was my personal favourite. All of it a piece of cake. Don’t get me wrong, I could feel the muscles burning afterwards, but in a good way and I felt pumped. And then we moved across to the Rowing machine.
We are going to have to spend some time on the rowing machine to build up our cardio work because I am sure that a non stop race is going to need some endurance. I have discovered to my dismay that my endurance threshold is about two minutes.
We sit down and get given the rundown on the machines. Stuart sets the rowers to 15 minutes and me and Nigel start sculling down an imaginary river. For about 30 seconds I am thinking that 15 minutes was going to be easy, half an hour would have been more of a challenge. Then after about a minute my mouth has gone dry, and I can’t seem to keep up my work rate. Suddenly the resistance on the rowing machine seems a bit high. At about two minutes I am spent and I have to stop to rest for a moment while Nigel infuriatingly keeps going. I row on and off for another five minutes but I can’t do anymore. I have no stamina. Nigel doesn’t finish the full 15 minutes either but just like the Wrekin, it is little consolation as he is going to be my crewmate for the DW. We call it a day in the gym after that and head to the swimming pool to wind down.
Stuart suggests that to improve we will need to be going through these exercises three times a week, and I have vowed to go Monday Wednesday and Friday without fail. The rowing machine is going to be my nemesis I think but it will not beat me next time.
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
The Experiment
Over the course of the next months I am going to carry out an observational experiment and chart how (if at all) I manage to get fitter. I took a rather candid photo of myself a couple of days ago with the intention of putting it up here on the blog. To my surprise, the photo doesn’t show the body of an Adonis, it seems to show a slightly skinny bloke with scrawny legs and the essence of a beer belly. Rather than subject the internet to this picture, I am going to save it for a future blog entry where I can show the me of now with the superfit me of the future. (I might also sell the photos to the sort of marketing people who advertise fitness machines on satellite TV late at night.)
I am also going to chart how my weight and body mass index change through the coming months. The Wii Fit will do this for me, and every few days I weigh in and the console records my stats. I realise that muscle tissue is heavier than fat tissue, so I am assuming that my weight and BMI will initially drop as I burn off the fat deposits over the first month or so but then, as muscle is laid down my weight will go up and my BMI will go from normal to overweight.
As of last night I was 68.5kgs with a BMI of 22.37
I am also going to chart how my weight and body mass index change through the coming months. The Wii Fit will do this for me, and every few days I weigh in and the console records my stats. I realise that muscle tissue is heavier than fat tissue, so I am assuming that my weight and BMI will initially drop as I burn off the fat deposits over the first month or so but then, as muscle is laid down my weight will go up and my BMI will go from normal to overweight.
As of last night I was 68.5kgs with a BMI of 22.37
Rest Day.
So much for my 7 day exercise rota. I fell at the second hurdle. Tuesdays home gym list of exercises did not materialise. Two reasons for this, and they sort of knock on from Sunday.
Sunday I had planned to turn spare room into gym, but instead I went kayaking, so I don’t really have the home gym ready yet, and then the cumulative physical exertions of Sundays boating and Mondays run/walk up the Wrekin meant that I was a bit tired. Pretty lame excuses really and I am a bit cross with myself this morning but that’s water under the bridge now.
It’s okay though. Tonight amends will be made. Nigel has arranged some gym time, in a real gym. Hopefully we will get some expert advice from one of the guys there who will be able to put together a bit of a tailored exercise program that will be better suited to getting us ready for the DW race.
Sunday I had planned to turn spare room into gym, but instead I went kayaking, so I don’t really have the home gym ready yet, and then the cumulative physical exertions of Sundays boating and Mondays run/walk up the Wrekin meant that I was a bit tired. Pretty lame excuses really and I am a bit cross with myself this morning but that’s water under the bridge now.
It’s okay though. Tonight amends will be made. Nigel has arranged some gym time, in a real gym. Hopefully we will get some expert advice from one of the guys there who will be able to put together a bit of a tailored exercise program that will be better suited to getting us ready for the DW race.
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