New Year and all that…

It’s with the usual sense of shock that I realise I haven’t updated this blog in some time. It’s not entirely surprising as since my last post I’ve only made it to the gym 2-3 times, walked 3-4 times, and have done no running or cycling. Some of this has been due to a new business venture I’m putting together, which has been consuming all my recreational time, including my exercise time, but essentially it’s poor time management and some misplaced priorities. What’s worse is that I’ve put even more weight on: I’m back over 120kg. In all, it’s abysmal.

Conversely, Tarkwin has been making great strides in his physical health plan. He’s almost down to my minimum from last year and is looking worlds better for it. People may seem — or say they are — happy when fat and overweight, but the physical, emotional and hormonal benefits of slimming down are undeniable. You don’t have to be the ridiculous “ideal weight” than the BMI fantasy encourages, but somewhere in the broader Overweight category is worlds better than Obese (or higher).

With my return to work this week, after a lovely break over Christmas and the New Year (happy new year, all!), I plan to resume my exercising. As might be expected, already there has been a speedbump in that plan as yesterday I managed to hurt my lower back whilst carrying stuff downstairs into the garage and slipping on the icy steps. Not ideal, but I know it’s just a speedbump. I’ll be careful with it and start out easy.

My shoulder is still not completely healed, as evidenced whenever I happen to sneeze. It’s making me think that I may never be able to resume recurve or traditional archery. I might be able to do compound archery (referred to as The Dark Side because it’s as far from conventional archery as it’s possible to be), but even that’s not certain right now. Besides, I feel that I need to regain my core strength and basic core fitness before I consider it.

Fortunately (for me) it’s the middle of winter, so nobody in their right mind is riding a motorcycle with any regularity. While this means my riding skills are going rusty (I find that even a week without driving a car makes my driving feel uncoordinated for a short time), it does mean I’m not tempted to try out a ride on the bike. The sore back also puts paid to this for now. I suspect I’ll need to think about a more upright bike soon enough, especially if the shoulder continues as it has. The original plan was for a touring bike anyway, so now maybe it’ll become a necessity. Still, we’ll see once the sun rediscovers the northern hemisphere.

I’ve also made the decision to completely give up fullbore target rifle. It’s not just because of the bad experience I had with my previous club, but also because the government and the MOD (as owners of the ranges most people shoot on) keeps adding more and more hurdles and requirements to clubs and members. As it’s not something I’m prepared to invest time in to become a competitive shooter, I may as well accept that it’s more effort than it’s worth and be shot of the increasingly wearisome responsibility of having a sniper rifle in my house. Increasing bureaucracy seems to be a sure-fire way of discouraging me from anything…

So there we have it. I’ve let myself go and am feeling physically and mentally bad for it (this is different from the “how could I have let this happen?” guilt/disgust, which also exists) and I’m full of good intentions and a plan to rectify it. Time to strap up my rustbucket of a body and rediscover my motivation.

Wish me luck!

Doctor’s appointment

Finally managed to see a doctor today, having rung on Friday to book an appointment. Frankly, Dr Smith is a stunning lady – definitely not your stereotypical doctor.

After giving the background about my shoulder, that I want it sorted ASAP for both work and archery, how parts of my left hand are seriously lacking in strength now (thumb, index and middle fingers), how I get a weird tingly feeling like bugs crawling over my shoulders and down my left arm, she thinks that I’ve somehow trapped or damaged my Median Nerve. This ties in with my earlier conviction that it was a nerve injury, or a flare up of my 1989 shoulder nerve injury.

The doctor recommended a physiotherapy appointment with a physiotherapist who works out of the surgery, so I’m now awaiting a callback.

As mentioned in my previous post, the doctor has advised against doing anything that puts demands on my left shoulder, arm or hand. So I’ll only put posts up here when I have news, rather than a string of “No X today because of shoulder”.

I also asked about why the outside of my left thigh goes numb after riding my bike, and it appears that it’s due to a nerve being trapped by a ligament near the crotch. It’s exacerbated by aggressive riding positions (my bike’s rider geometry is aggressive), tight riding trousers (mine can be tight if I don’t take care when getting on the bike), and by being overweight (hello!). So there’s another mystery solved.

Saturday gym & health update

Well, I finally made it back to the gym this morning. The shoulder pain has lessened sufficiently to allow me to give it a go, and I’m pleased that it behaved itself nicely. If nothing else, it confirms it’s not a muscular issue and it lets me finally get back into resolving my deplorable loss of fitness and form.

Met Tarkwin in the leisure centre carpark at 10:30 and we didn’t waste any time giving ourselves a chance to back out. We both agreed to take it easy by dialling down our cardio and weight routines, and it worked a treat. I was able to do a full workout, at lower intensity, and felt great for it afterwards. Sure it wasn’t the level that I should have been doing, but I’d much rather take it easy than end up damaging myself or passing out. Tarkwin had the same positive experience, too.

So there it is… the start of my long road back to fitness. My weight has steadily crept back up to 118kg, I haven’t run since May and haven’t ridden my pushbike since the start of August. I’ve been very keen to remedy that ASAP, but the shoulder has been hampering that. And I’m still planning on doing this year’s Marlow Santa’s Fun Run, having recently received the entry details via email, which means I need to get my act together.

I have, however, been riding my new motorcycle – when the shoulder has been behaving – and that, strangely enough, has often been a workout in itself. For some perspective: I picked it up from the seller in the Tawe Valley in south Wales in mid-August and rode it the 160 miles home in some of the worst weather the region had seen in years. To make it worse, I hadn’t ridden at all in over 12 years and I spent the next 2 days with almost head-to-toe DOMS caused by a mixture of the stress of the ride (it’s a hell of a bike), the weather buffeting me, my long riding hiatus making me hang on for grim death, and muscles that have long since forgotten what’s required to ride a bike. I’m pleased to say that I’m now able to ride for hours with no more than normal concentration- and exertion-tiredness.

So although I’m disappointed I’ve ruined my previous hard work, I know what it takes to fix it. So… back to it!