Posts Tagged ‘archery’
July 11, 2010
While I hadn’t been running for very long (2 and a half years up until I stopped in October) it was something I loved more than any other hobby or sport I’ve picked up and, as any runner knows, it becomes a bit of an addiction. Running did great things for me, not just better fitness levels but it got me enthusiastic about keeping fit and staying healthy, it helped me with my asthma, gave me time to myself, time to think, and was a constant in my life during university, moving house, being unemployed and everything else I’ve been up to.
I don’t think I realised how much I depended on it until I stopped. Frustration and excess energy to start with (as anyone that’s ever had a running injury knows), then anger and more frustration because running used to be the best way to deal with frustration. That vague hope and longing every time I drove past a runner in the street, and reading on other blogs how far people have come in the amount of time I’ve not been running and wondering how far I could manage should I make a miraculous recovery tomorrow.
The running world was an island and I was drifting out to sea. My first thought on a nice evening was still “good time for a run” but I’d lost the urge to lace up my trainers and go.
Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Discussion, Progress | Tagged EIA, training, basketball, resistance, weights, archery, marathon, weight, gym | 2 Comments »
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 | 11 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 »
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 16, 2009
Yes, I feel terribly guilty for not updating all week, but then again I didn’t have a whole lot to say. I shall try harder in future :-)
Tuesday: An hour of 1 on 1 basketball with Ally was all I managed today.
Wednesday: Signed up for a 1 day free gym trial but unfortunately this didn’t go to plan as I didn’t really get to trial anything…never mind. Got to basketball in the evening to find that the venue had put a load of desks out so we couldn’t train. Very annoying. Stumped at my 2 failed attempts at exercise today I got Ally to drop me off 500m from home on the way back from basketball. The car thermometer read 8 degrees. Needless to say, by the end of the run I was wheezing pretty badly. Last time I try that! :-)
Friday: Spent a couple of hours at archery. Didn’t want to overdo it though as I had a postal league shoot the next day.
Saturday: First competition of the BA Postal League today. It would appear that something from our Saturday practice sessions paid off as I managed a 557. Not as great as the last few weeks as I started badly, but I’m quite happy with that.
Sunday: Had a really good basketball training session today, so thanks to Kev, Andy, Gaz and Al. We did many many layups, then a full court 2 on 2.
Total Run: 0.5km
This morning I’m off for another trial gym membership. Let’s hope they actually let me do something!
Posted in Progress | Tagged archery, basketball, EIA, gym | 2 Comments »
November 9, 2009
Absoloutely tragic week as far as running goes. I’ve started looking at the pay-as-you-go council run gyms in the area in an attempt to get some treadmill time.
Monday: Too cold to run today so I did a mini weights session at home in the evening.
Thursday: Finally got an hour of basketball in at the leisure centre as per last Friday’s post.
Friday: Spent 3 and a half hours at archery – though the first half an hour was setting up and the next 2 hours was spent coaching.
Saturday: Shot another Portsmouth at archery in the morning and actually managed to beat last week’s score, giving me a new PB of 562.
Sunday: Had our game against Bury Bombers. Lost 17-71, which was quite a defeat but never mind. I only played one quarter and only scored once, but still enjoyed it.
Total Run: 0km
Well that was short. Hopefully I’ll have something a tad more interesting to post next Monday :-)
Posted in Progress | Tagged archery, basketball, EIA, resistance, training, weights | 3 Comments »
November 2, 2009
First off, congratulations to fellow blogger Mairead who finished the NYC Marathon yesterday! Well done!
So, on with the week…
Monday: Rather disappointed with last week’s run total I wanted to run but didn’t get round to it until I needed it in the evening. Did my normal 7.6k route but decided to add on The Hill to make it 9.56km. I also managed to maintain a reasonable pace (up until I got to The Hill anyway) and made it back in 58:02.
Tuesday: Did my regular 7.6km route but stopped at 7.54 and walked the last 60m. In case you were wondering, yes, I only did it to round up yesterday’s distance.
Wednesday: There was no basketball practice today as the venue is closed, so Ally and I played some 1 on 1 at the leisure centre.
Friday: Archery in the evening. Shot for about 2 hours instead of 3 as I didn’t want to overdo it before Saturday – I was still aiming for that oh-so-close-but-not-close-enough 440.
Saturday: I finally did it! Not quite sure what happened but I felt quite good at archery on Saturday morning and managed to score 560 for the Portsmouth round. Was rather pleased with myself so I’ve ordered a badge to celebrate :-) No running in the afternoon as I stuck around at archery to help coach the new beginner’s course.
Sunday: Basketball was cancelled again, and horrible weather conditions stopped me running, so today was a bit of a write-off.
Total Run: 17.1km
This week I entered the Great South Run for 2010. I wanted to run it this year but by the time I had decided to it had sold out, so I thought I’d get in early this time and make sure my place was booked. It’s 10 miles, so should be a bit different to the distances I’m used to running, though with any luck I’ll have found and finished a half marathon by then anyway so shouldn’t be too much hard work!
Posted in Progress | Tagged archery, basketball, EIA, great south run, outdoors, race, training | 1 Comment »
October 26, 2009
After Ally had massaged my hamstring on Sunday it was really sore and painful to the touch, though didn’t really hurt to stretch and so by Tuesday afternoon I assumed I’d be OK to run on it. Unfortunately the weather decided otherwise, with rain, wind and a temperature that refused to break 10 degrees.
Fitting new nocks
Instead I decided to spend some time maintaining my archery gear. I thought it was about time to actually fix some of the damaged arrows, put my string back in one piece and replace the old pressure button with the new one I’ve had for the last 10 months. I’d hoped this would help me break 540 on Saturday.
Wednesday: Basketball in the evening started slow but built up to a pretty fast-paced 2 on 3 game (or maybe it was just fast-paced for me as I was one of the 2!)
Friday: Quite disappointed that this was the first time I’ve managed a run this week, but the thermometer read 13 degrees and the sun was trying to break through the clouds so I thought I might try a 14k run. Unfortunately it didn’t really go as planned. While it wasn’t especially cold I was having trouble breathing and despite slowing down, I couldn’t seem to get enough air into my lungs. In the end I decided that trying the full 14k would be a miserable experience. Luckily, 5k into the 14k route takes me to within a km of home so I did a detour and ended it at 5.8km (38:35). Went to archery in the evening and had a few practice shots before Saturday’s Portsmouth. The new pressure button didn’t behave so took the old one on Saturday.
Saturday: After a rather long meeting at archery I finally got to shoot my Portsmouth and scored a rather disappointing 532. I wasn’t really feeling it today so I’ll just be glad I broke 530 and try again next week.
Sunday: Basketball was pretty quiet today, just Ally and Jamie (the coach) for the first half an hour. We did some dribbling, some shooting, and then when Paul arrived we played some full court 2-on-2. Was a really good game and it’s made me feel a bit more positive about the upcoming one against Bury Bombers.
Total Run: 5.8km
Not a great week for running – I really wanted to do that 14km run at some point but it never happened. Hopefully there’ll be any opportunity for it next week some time.
Posted in Progress | Tagged archery, basketball, EIA, injury, outdoors | Leave a Comment »
October 19, 2009
Capris out this week…not a fan of the whole figure hugging look but it’s getting pretty cold out.
Tuesday: I got up and the thermometer said 7 degrees. No matter how committed to running I might be, there was no way I could run in that. By 10.30 it had reached 11 degrees and so I decided to give it a go. Asthma didn’t like it and so I couldn’t go as fast as I would have liked. 6km in 37:31.
Wednesday: A really good basketball practice in the evening. We concentrated on shooting, which was something I needed. Our next game was supposed to be on Sunday but it’s been pushed back.
Friday: Somewhat spurred on by what I posted in the morning (more in the sense of “well I’ve posted it now, I have to run”) I went out for a 6km, which turned into a 7.6km in 46:30. I decided to spend the evening at archery to get some practice in before Saturday’s round.
Saturday: Archery in the morning. 7 of us shot a Portsmouth this time and, even thought I was on for a new PB, I only managed to match last week’s score of 537. Slightly disappointing but still a good score. About 6pm I decided to go for a run and did the same 7.6km route I did on Friday. Even though it felt like a better run I clocked 47:47. Happy with it considering the temperature out there.
Sunday: I was contemplating running in the morning but had an ache in my left hamstring and so asked Ally to give it a massage. I don’t know what was in there but it was the most painful sports massage I have ever had, and it still hurts today. In the afternoon we went to basketball and had a good few hours doing a few new drills and a game of 3 on 4.
Total Run: 21.2km
Congrats to my brother, Neil, who started running not too long ago and recently made 5km in about 32 minutes on a training run. We’ll have you racing in no time :-)
Posted in Progress | Tagged archery, basketball, EIA, injury, outdoors, training | 1 Comment »
