February 19, 2010
So it’s been a while! To sum up the last 2 months we had Christmas, I had my 25th birthday, I got a job offer, New Year, and… that’s about it actually.
On the sports side of things I had my first external archery competition of the year – a 25m FITA – on the 3rd January. I shot 517, got a PB, placed 4th overall, and won the C classification medal. A good start to the year. I’ve also shot 2 postal league Portsmouth rounds, and a club competition with another one next week. Things are going well and I’m looking forward to the outdoor season.
New basketball chair
played
Leicester Cobras on the 17th Jan and lost 52-14. By the time I went on court for the second quarter we were already down about 18 points but it was still good fun, and getting the buzzer shot at the end of the game made my day :-) We played
Rhinos on the 31st and lost 33-34 in an exceptionally close game. Unfortunately I only got to play for 3 minutes but such is the game. We play Phoenix Flyers on Sunday, which is my first game in my new chair (see the pic!), which I’m very much looking forward to.
Still no running unfortunately. The problem with my feet has gotten a lot worse and, despite seeing numerous doctors, I’m still no closer to finding out what’s wrong with them. With only 101 days until my next paid-for race I’m wondering whether I’m going to be able to run the distance (or at all) or whether I should be trying to get my money back while I still can.
In the mean time I’ve been rather slack in my gyming and it was only when I got weighed at the hospital in December that I realised how much I’d put on. I did a few cardio sessions in January but we don’t have any cardio equipment that doesn’t involve using your feet so that was pretty short lived. I did a bit of swimming as well but trying to do lengths with no roped-off lanes made it all rather difficult. I’ve now got into a routine of a shorter cardio session followed by weights that I’m sticking to, so hopefully I’ll be back under the 11 stone mark soon enough.
I shall post again in a few months, or whenever I find out if I’ll be running again. Thanks for visiting.
Posted in Discussion, Progress | Tagged archery, basketball | 6 Comments »
December 16, 2009
For me, running has been about The Run as much as it is about keeping fit. Going to the gym was mostly about using the treadmill and any cross training or resistance work was done to help with running (or, more recently, archery and basketball). Once running is taken out of the equation, we’re left with a support system for something that no longer exists. I know that going to the gym is good for me but the motivation is gone.
My most recent run was the 3km (and then another 2km) I managed last Friday. Seeing as how I should be able to rack up the miles with an empty gym and plenty of free time, having to stop after 20 minutes is extremely frustrating. Where I used to feel better after a run, regardless of how long it was, I now just get annoyed.
A lack of running isn’t really conducive to a running blog, and so I’ve decided to take a break while I sort myself out and try to figure out what’s wrong with my feet. I’m staying optimistic and keeping my places in the races I’ve entered for next year so with any luck I’ll be back on here pretty soon. I imagine I’ll still post on the odd occassion anyway, especially when I finish these damned pressups! :-)
See you around.
Merry Christmas.
Posted in Discussion | Tagged gym, motivation, race, training | 3 Comments »
December 14, 2009
Do you like my blog-snow? Here’s hoping for some of the real stuff :-)
Wednesday: Basketball this evening. We played an odd version of cricket, did plenty of suicides and then a game so got a proper workout!
Friday: Finally got round to the gym. Started on the treadmill and managed 3k before the pain in my feet stopped me. Decided to stick to the resistance machines for the rest of the session but the treadmill beckoned again on the way out. Only managed 2k this time but at least I ran.
Archery in the evening…didn’t do too well so only stayed for 2 and a half hours.
Sunday: Couldn’t make archery on Saturday because of a doctor’s appointment but made sure I went Sunday as we were shooting 25m instead of the usual 18 and I needed sight settings. I’m hoping to shoot in the Stourbridge Fita 25 on 3rd January so needed the practice. Only stayed for an hour and 50 though as I had to get back in time for basketball…which I got home to find was cancelled again. Never mind, eh?
Total Run: 5km
Posted in Progress | Tagged archery, basketball, gym, resistance | 2 Comments »
December 7, 2009
I had a couple of days of casual work this week, which has reminded me just how organised I’ll need to be to get to the gym after work when I start working full time…
Tuesday: My new gym has TVs attached to the cardio equipment, which is new for me. My initial excitement wore off on the first day when I realised they only had terrestrial channels… and day-time TV is crap. Back to the ipod I went. Today I tried something different by taking my book with me and finishing off the last 70-odd pages while on the recumbent bike (this was perfectly normal at the uni gym but apparently not so much at this one!) Either way, it did the trick and I managed to keep up a reasonable pace. One hour and 15km later I decided to loosen up my quads by doing a couple of kms on the treadmill before stretching and heading home.
Wednesday: We missed the first half an hour of basketball as the gates to the venue were locked. We decided to just play 3 on 3 in the remaining 90 minutes. Was good fun and certainly a good workout!
Friday: Spent a good 3 hours at archery, though that didn’t seem to do much to improve my aim. Lots of reds (and not enough golds) but it’s all good practice.
Saturday: A better day at archery but not great. Scored 550 on a Portsmouth round. Congrats to Dave, who broke his PB with a 551.
Sunday: We had our SCA team photo today, followed by onlly an hour of training due to a booking mix-up. Still, we got in some layups and drills so can’t complain.
Total Run: 2km
Thanks to everyone who gave me their input with regards to Friday’s post about whether or not to run the asics British 10k next year. I had a number of replies on Facebook as well as the ones on the blog. As of today the score is 6-2 for doing it, though I’ll give it a bit more thought before sending off the application form.
Posted in Progress | Tagged archery, basketball, gym, race | 4 Comments »
December 4, 2009
The asics British 10k I ran in July was a large part of the reason I started this blog. I wanted to have something to show the people that were sponsoring me, increased involvement = larger donations. At least that was the idea. I had deliberately picked a big race in an attempt to create an ‘event’ atmosphere, something to differentiate it from other races I might enter that weren’t fundraisers.
Unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations and, even though I was very impressed at how much money had been rasied for charity, I made a mental note not to enter the race again. Admittedly some of the problems weren’t the fault of the organisers – my cabbie not knowing that the roads were closed and getting me to the start line much later than I’d planned, for example – but many were. The lack of water on such a warm day, the lack of toilets, the very poor map they sent out with the starters pack, the rubbish finishers bag (for £30 odd you’d expect better)… Regardless, I wanted to get the t-shirt to commemorate the fact that I’d raised money for Lupus UK and finished my first 10k. I ordered it 3 days after the race, on the 15th July.
Some of you may have noticed that the medal and t-shirt picture on the ‘Races’ page is still missing. This is because my t-shirt is still missing. Having sent a letter to the race organiser (yes, there’s no phone number or e-mail address, you have to send snail mail) on the 11th October, and another 3 weeks ago, I’ve finally heard back from them today.
They’ve run out of t-shirts.
Frankly, I don’t care about the t-shirt now. It was the principle of the matter (and the £18 I sent them). I got my money back and a letter saying that they never received my original letter, though nothing to say why they never sent my t-shirt. By way of apology they’re giving me free entry to the 2010 event. The question now is do I take it? After saying I wouldn’t do the race again it seems a little hypocritical to enter the following year. Saying that, the letter in the application pack has acknowledged the main problems from last year and has a list of improvements including more toilets, extra water, better baggage areas and a quicker lead up to the start (as well as a free t-shirt).
I’m undecided, and at the moment more occupied with the fact that the problem with my feet might stop me running that far next year. So what say you? What do you think?
Posted in Discussion | Tagged charity, Lupus UK, race | 5 Comments »
December 2, 2009
Dean Karnazes follows up ‘Ultramarathon Man’ with an account of his 50/50 challenge – to run 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 US states.
50/50 - Dean Karnazes
The full title of the book is ‘50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days – and How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance!’ which seems a little contradictory to some of the books’ content. Karnazes himself says how genes play a major role in the ability to run massive distances, and the science-y bit at the end backs it up. However, there is still an attempt to teach the reader something in the form of textbook style boxes. These cover anything from post-marathon tips to good marathons to run in order to qualify for Boston. Unfortunately, if you’re already a runner there isn’t a whole lot of new information here.
The rest of the book is pretty much what the title suggests. Karnazes has a plan to run in various states as part of a holiday with his family, an idea that seems to get hijacked by The North Face, who turn it into a roadshow/giant advert. It’s obviously more than that – not only an amazing feat for Karnazes but also an inspiration to the people he meets along the way (and a fundraiser for his charity). By the end, however, you do get the impression that he’d have rather just done it his way. The regimented schedule and constant PR is obviously not what he wants to do…supported by the fact that when he’s finished his last marathon he goes for a run on his own, without a map and a time limit.
The book itself is just an account of the 50 marathons, broken up every now and then with various thoughts and musings from the journey:
“Upon receiving this information, I found myself wondering why so many people like Kris are drawn to marathons and other such challenges these days. I can’t help thinking that the phenomenon is in part a largely unconscious backlash against comfort culture and the easy life. Heated seats and online shopping and robot vacuum cleaners have created a void that we’re all sensing. Our modern comforts and conveniences have accumulated to the point that they have stopped making us feel better and started making us feel worse. Some primal instinct lurking deep inside is trying to tell us that what is needed is a good, hard sweat – some struggle in our lives, some physical challenge.”
I must admit I didn’t really get on with this one as well as I did with Ultramarathon Man. Whether it was the book, the fact I was having trouble with my running as I was reading it, or a combination of the two, I found myself leaving it half way in order to read something else before coming back to it.
Posted in Discussion | Tagged book, marathon, motivation | Leave a Comment »
November 30, 2009
Tuesday: Made it back to the gym. I had managed to put it off for a week but I decided it was about time to kick myself into gear. I was hesitant because of the pain in my feet but also because the last 2 runs had been harder than normal. I put it down to having not run for a few weeks (my asthma deteriorates much quicker than my fitness) but was determined to run at least 6k. I actually only managed 5km on the treadmill, but then did 5km on the bike and then another 2k on the treadmill. Not a great result but hopefully I’ll be able to pick back up soon.
Wednesday: Pilates class in the morning as mentioned in Wednesday’s blog post. Basketball in the evening was pretty good, we played a 2 on 2 for most of the session.
Friday: I told myself I was going to go to the gym in the morning and then never got round to it (though I did manage my end-of-week-5 100 push ups exhaustion test). I then spent the rest of the afternoon feeling terribly guilty about it and resolved to try harder next week.
Archery in the evening. The heating has broken though so it was pretty cold, and that had a significant detrimental effect on my shot. Stayed for a couple of hours and then decided to call it a night.
Saturday: Went to archery armed with my Helly Hensen base layer and plenty of change for cups of tea. It was so cold that people started to leave early, reducing the amount of body heat (the only thing warming the place up) and making everyone else colder :-) A few of us shot a Worcester round today instead of a Portsmouth (I scored a 270 – not too bad) and then I stuck around for the last day of the beginner’s course. The kid I was teaching did really well and hopefully he’ll decide to stay in the club.
Sunday: SCA played Leicester Crobas 2 today in our last game of the year. I played half the game, in alternating quarters, but didn’t score this time. We won 36-32, which was pretty good, so congrats to the guys.
Total Run: 7km
Congrats must go to Rachael, otherwise known as Marathon Mummy, who’s really making progress with her training for the VLM next year. Head over there and show some support!
Posted in Progress | Tagged 100 push ups, archery, basketball, EIA, gym, pilates | 3 Comments »
November 25, 2009
About a year ago I was doing another 1 day gym pass with a friend and managed to get talked into an Ashtanga Yoga class. Ashtanga Yoga is fast and fluid, one move swiftly becomes another and poses aren’t really held as much as moved in and out of. By the end of it I had warmed up nicely and was feeling stretched, though nothing could prepare me for what I felt the next day. I discovered muscles I never knew I had and just about everything hurt. It was probably something I would have kept up had I been a member of the gym but unfortunately I never got to have another go.
I had a quick look at the class timetable when I joined my current gym last week in the hope they did something similar. I saw they did Pilates and so went along this morning to try it out.
I wasn’t expecting anything as rigorous as Ashtanga but I hoped for something that would help me with my stretching and challenge my core. Unfortuately I didn’t really get much of that. Going to a mid-morning class obviously attracts a fair few of the retired generation and the class seemed to be too preoccupied in catering for their needs. While we did do some leg stretches it was very cold in there and having not really had a warm up I was careful not to push too far for fear of injuring myself.
I also had a few doubts about the instructor. She seemed nice enough and I told myself off for judging her on first impressions (she was a few pounds heavier than your average gym instructor). However, those doubts returned steadily thoughout the class (eg. telling us that bicep curls work the forearm and lateral raises are the same as pressups) and I left somewhat unsure about her as a teacher.
Overall, not what I was hoping for, but I might try it again in an evening class where there might be some more people who are looking for a challenging workout.
Posted in Discussion | Tagged gym, pilates, yoga | 1 Comment »
November 23, 2009
Nothing you don’t already know I’m afraid…
Monday: Did 5.1k on the treadmill as part of my one-day free gym trial.
Tuesday: Had my gym induction today. I had intended to do a long run but, because of the problems with my feet, I gave up at 5.5km.
Total Run: 10.6km
Wednesday’s basketball was cancelled again and my parents coming to visit at the weekend stopped me from doing much then. Another poor week but I’ll try and make up for it this week.
I had my first commissions cheque from RoadID this week. A handsome $2 which will be donated to my next charity run :-) If you know anyone that works out in the great outdoors then consider a Road ID for a Christmas present – just click the blue logo on the right hand side of the page.
Posted in Progress | Tagged gym | Leave a Comment »
November 18, 2009
My one-day gym trial on Monday was a success as I actually got to trial the gym. The two gyms I looked at are both part of the council-run leisure centres around here and so are much cheaper than joining a ‘real’ gym. This one on Monday was a lot bigger than last week’s, had newer equipment, a free weights section and a stretching mat so I liked it much more. Unfortunately it’s not within walking distance but it doesn’t take too long to get to by car.
During the trial day I got shown around and then got a chance to use the treadmill. I managed 5.1km but pain in my feet stopped me from going much further. It’s a problem that’s been getting worse over the last 10 months or so, though it’s only been the past few months that it’s affected my running. This is the first time that it’s stopped me from finishing a distance I’ve set out to do and was a bit frustrating but at least I managed that far. I decided to finish off on the exercise bike instead (built in iPod charger was a first for me) and did 5k on there at a decent clip.
Yesterday I had my proper induction and, while I didn’t really need to shown around again, the induction is free (I’m on a pay-as-you-go membership). I got to 5.5km on the treadmill before having to stop. Not very far but it’s better than nothing. I’m just glad I’ve managed to get a few runs in this week.
Posted in Discussion, Progress | Tagged gym, training | 2 Comments »
