Saturday gym

There was no gym during the week or last weekend, as I was at a friend’s wedding for most of said weekend and felt a little worse for wear for the next couple of days. Rather than potentially ruin the nice new equipment, I thought my time would be better spent… doing nothing.

Met Tarkwin at the gym for 9:30pm and, despite having to queue up with all the families with their little kiddies, we were in before 10am. The workout was straightforward as I’m still keeping my limits below what is recommended on the card, preferring to build myself up slowly. It makes sense, and I’m managing to do it okay.

Back to the gym… again!

Today was my first visit to the gym in… some time. In fact, I’ve not been at all this year — and we’re 1/3 of the way through it! My weight has started to climb back up, stairs and hills are interesting again, I’m becoming noticeably lethargic, and yet I’m finding it difficult to sleep properly and to get up in the mornings. There are no valid excuses, merely a list of reasons that begin with me first not being able to go due to injury, enjoying the spare time a little too much, then falling out of the exercise habit and even forgetting to go, and then trying to regain the motivation to get past the embarrassment and gain the willpower to actually get back into the routine.

It’s awful to be back at square one again, knowing that all — or most — of the progress I’ve made in the past has gone again. Still, the irritating optimist I try to hide behind a mask of faux-pessimism knows that I’ve done it once before, so I can do it again.

So today I met Tarkwin at the leisure centre, where we both discovered that the planned gym extension has now been completed, and found ourselves standing in what felt like a proper commercial gym. A strange feeling for a council facility, which my experiences have shown are usually grubby, run-down and provide well-loved wobbly machines. It was unexpectedly encouraging.

Surprisingly, my exercise card was still in the rack, yet Tarkwin’s wasn’t. The staff put a sticker on the card every 2-3 months to ask you to book a Re-Focus (a reassessment to you and me) and if, after a month, you haven’t booked it they remove your card to free up space in the card rack for members who attend — or so the theory goes. I ripped my sticker off late last year as I hadn’t been going often at that point, and the “torn sticker” look seems to get the hint across.

I did most of the scheduled workout, with the exception of the dip/pullup machine and rower, and kept all the intensities at the lowest of the sliding scale and found that, although it was hard work, I managed it without killing myself or feeling bad afterwards. Very pleased indeed — and lifted some of the despair I had at having let myself go (yet) again. Again. Again.

Looking forward to Wednesday’s visit, and plan to get out either for a walk, jog or cycle tomorrow if they weather’s nice. The shoes and Forerunner need a dust-off, and the bike just needs a once-over and the tyres to be pumped up. Providing there’s sunshine, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to get out at start on the road to increased fitness again.

Then I’ll come back and watch the London Marathon and dream of entering it someday. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to do it, but I expect I’ll have done the Reading Half Marathon before then as part of the lead up to it, and a lot of 5K (such as the Santa’s Fun Run) before that.

One step at a time…

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!

Back to the gym & damn these legs

Since my last post I walked every lunchtime religiously for a week – itself causing a mild stir at work (modern culture’s unspeaking requirement for lunch at the desk) – and then in the second week my old friend the compartment syndrome returned. Words did not fail me, but I can’t share them here. (That imaginary 5 year old child…)

This brought a rapid end to my ability to even walk in the interests of health, which is something everyone with legs should be able to do. At my subsequent physio visit Tammy advised that it’s pretty rare for compartment syndrome to strike at sub-10K distances, and is normally reserved for half- and full-marathoners. She says that although the symptoms may appear very similar, in all likelihood it’s probably tight or shortened calf muscles. She gave me some exercises to do – some bear resemblance to those given by the sports therapy clinic I visited a few times in 2007 – and a few more designed to stretch the lateral calf muscles. Oh well, that’s positive – the spectre of possible compartment surgery didn’t sit well with me.

The physio visits have been going very well and I feel that I’m 90% back to normal, though it is clear that the median nerve is not completely healed. Certain actions and movements bring a deep, dull, embedded pain, so I’m continuing the prescribed exercises. I must get this sorted out, as it feels as though the smallest things I try – in order to maintain even a base rate of healthiness – are encountering obstacles. It’s very frustrating.

Tonight was the evening that Tarkwin and I agreed that we’d both start going back to the gym. For various reasons he’s swapped his Tuesday and Thursday gym nights to Wednesdays, and I’ve followed suit as we both benefit from each others’ presence and encouragement. It reduces the visits per week, but it actually works out quite well for me as I intend to resume running (at some point…!), and this will enable me to do that some weekday mornings without the overload that was a feature of my fitness regime this time last year (Tuesdays/Thursdays running AM and gym PM, Saturday gym AM, Sunday running AM, plus whatever else we were doing – archery Mondays/Fridays/Sundays, running club Wednesdays, etc). I was seeing amazing results, but it was just too much and would have led to burnout.

Anyway, tonight’s resumption of gym visits was taken with tentative steps as, frankly, I was terrified I’d somehow aggravate the nerve again. I was careful to avoid everything that required arm movement or weights, and that included setting the hamstermill to use my old programme (walking up and down a hill) rather than the current run/walk. Tonight I did the cross-trainer (holding the fixed handles), hamstermill as above, reclining cycle, leg press, Swiss ball ab crunches, and post-exercise stretching. The treadmill and the stretching woke up the nerves in my arm, but not in a painful way. And I saw it as my body warning me to not push it further, and I was ready to listen.

I wore the Polar S610 HRM and was disappointed with the heart rate indications, peaking at 167bpm with an average of 147bpm over 43 minutes – that was with reduced load and times. Though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised – I’ve not attended the gym with any notable regularity since July.

Anyway, I’ve done it before and I damn well know I can do it again. I’m eating well now – not as good as I should, but I’m getting there – and I have the drive and motivation to sort things out again. I just have to take things easy. It’s not pleasant feeling like a geriatric or invalid at times, but I suppose I’ve nobody to blame but myself: years of neglect. Things could be worse: I do not have diabetes, my asthma is well under control, and I have good general health.

Is my optimism annoying or inspiring? I hope the latter.

Resuming archery

After the gym this morning, Tarkwin and I drove to Quicks, near Hampton Court Palace, for our first round of archery in a long time. Tarkwin hadn’t shot since March or April; I hadn’t shot since October last year, and hadn’t shot reguarly since summer 2007! So after a year off, I’ve regained my motivation for the sport and am excited at getting back into it.

We got there to find a motorcycle rally taking place in the fields by the centre, so that ruled out any outdoor shooting. Fortunately they have an indoor range, too, so we joined it with everyone else who was there. One of the AIUK regulars, Miles, was there, shooting compound with his son.

We didn’t manage 2 dozen arrows before I was feeling the strain and Tarkwin decided we should call it a day. I agreed as I didn’t want to push myself after the shoulder problems I’ve been having, and I just really wanted to ensure that my accuracy hadn’t been terribly affected both by my hiatus and by the injury. The arrows were grouping fine, so it was a successful trip.

Very much looking forward to the start of the indoor season on Monday evening!

Saturday gym

Met Tarkwin outside the gym at 10:00, with both of us feeling good – perhaps it’s something to do with it being the start of the day, rather the end of a tiring day like it usually is during the week. Paid attention to what I was doing this morning and managed to complete all of the exercises without any ill effects. I’m still not doing what the programme specifies (e.g. I’m doing 10 mins on the treadmill rather than 15, 4 intervals on the rower rather than 6), but after Thursday I’m not about to make any silly changes.

One thing I have been doing since Thursday is taking the Nike+ kit with me, as the treadmill component of my workout is 50:50 run/walk. By measuring even the pitiful ~0.7 miles it gets me to do in 10 mins, I figure that will allow me to see the entries going up on the Nike+ and Runner+ sites and encourage me to take up running outside the gym again. It also means I can see myself running ‘alongside’ my running friends on Twitter, weird as that may sound.

I’m resigned to the likelihood that I’ll probably need to restart early on in the Couch to 5K plan, but I’ve done it before – I can do it again. Besides, I see fitness as a journey not a destination.

Thursday gym & overdoing it

Met Tarkwin at the gym shortly after 19:30 and felt confident that I’d be able to gently increase the intensity, and had both my Polar HRM and Nike+ kit with me (the HRM to measure where I’m currently at and the Nike+ so I could use it on the treadmill, which now has me running). In fact I was so optimistic that I was thinking about going out for a run tomorrow morning, too.

I’m not entirely sure what went wrong, as I did dial down the exercises (albeit less than on Saturday), and felt winded by comfortable after the elliptical, treadmill and bike. The rower display was dead, so I may have overdone that – I felt unable to do the full 6 mintes of 30:30 on it. And the remaining weights just started to make me feel worse – bad enough that the dizziness I was experiencing made me concerned that I might lose my footing on the monstrous assisted dip/chinup/pullup machine.

It took a good 5-10 mins for the dizziness and horrid feeling to go once I’d stopped, though at no point did my hearing diminish or my vision tunnel (as has happened before, most notably on my first ride on the mountain bike). After a while I was back to normal and, though I’m yet to check the recorded readings on the Polar, I don’t think my heart-rate was doing anything weird. Most likely a combination of overdoing it (my limit seems to be far lower than it was even 6 months ago), being dehydrated (I’ve been drinking quite a bit of decaf tea the last few days and hardly any water), and being perpetually tired (I keep waking up in the middle of the night when my shoulder hurts, though it is getting more infrequent). What a mess.

Oh well. Give it time and I know it will resolve itself. I just need to be patient, careful and persisitent.

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!

New gym programme

This morning was the revised appointment for the run-through of my new gym programme. Met the trainer, John, almost bang on time (was nearly late!) and saw Tarkwin looking much the worse for wear, as he’d got there at 10am. Claire had left gaps in the programme (mainly durations and weight amounts), presumably because she was expecting to run through the new programme with me, but as luck would have it she doesn’t work Saturday mornings. Such is life.

Was able to cut the trainer’s time down a lot, as all I needed him to do was help fill in the gaps Claire had left and to show me the monster machine in the corner, upon which I’m to do chin-ups, dips and pull-ups. Upper body strength has never been my thing – even when I was a fit and thin 10 year old doing karate three times a week – so I reacted with much relief when he explained that it’s counterbalanced. The effect is that you set a weight under your body weight, and the difference is what you’re lifting (e.g. if you weigh 100kg and set 60kg, you’re lifting a counterbalanced ‘body’ weight of 40kg) – what a great idea. So we set mine to 40kg under my body weight, and he explained that I’m to increase this gap as time progresses.

The whole programme is very different to my previous one, with a focus on cardio, core and upper-body strength, and sees me finished within an hour:

• Cardio: 10 minute warmup on the cross-trainer/elliptical, 10 minutes on a run/walk profile on the treadmill (which felt great, actually), 10 minutes ‘circuit’ on the bike, up to 6 intervals of 30:30 on the rower.
• Weights: Chess press, chin-ups, dips, pull-ups, leg press
• Mat work: Swiss ball crunches, plank

This is the first programme I’ve had that doesn’t have progress marked on it. Nearly all the weights are 15×2 with the instruction to add more weight (and even to drop the reps if needed to achieve it) as time goes on. I presume I’ll book in for a review in 3-4 months and we’ll see how things are going.

I can already tell my upper body muscles are going to be complaining tomorrow. Which is good… apparently.

The bike ride that wasn’t

Today’s plan was to do the now-familiar towpath circuit – from Caversham Bridge to the Kennet mouth, up the Kennet towpath to the Oracle, through west Reading’s quiet roads back to the start – and to finish it off with a nice lunch at the Riverside Restaurant. Tarkwin and I had arranged to meet by the bridge at 10:00, which would have timed it nicely.

As I was putting my shoes on and getting ready to head out the door, Tarkwin rang… to ask me to pick him up in my car with my bike rack attached. Turns out he’d bent his front wheel trying to get past a gate by Rivermead Leisure Centre. I got there to find a sheepish grin and a bike with a bent wheel – short of doing a wheelie all the way home, that bike wasn’t going anywhere fast.

So we loaded the bike onto the rack, dropped it off at his place and went to The Gorge Cafe, on the opposite corner of the roundabout from the restaurant, and had a nice fry-up instead. It’s a place I’ve wanted to visit for years, and I wasn’t disappointed – a proper English-style diner, but without the 1950s aluminium-and-lino decor and grime. Then went for a wander down to the waterfront and sat watching the world go by for an hour. It wasn’t as strenuous a morning as we’d planned, but it was a pleasant substitute.

Pleasant for me: I don’t have to fork out £50+ for a new wheel.