Posts Tagged ‘EIA’
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 »
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 »
October 16, 2009
Since getting back from Egypt the weather has been rather grim. The temperature has been on the edge between able to run and struggling to run with my asthma. Call me a fair-weather runner but this is normally the time I’d find a gym and hibernate until Spring. Of course, I’d rather not. I’d like to get up in the morning, see the freezing temperatures and hail storms and still be able to go out (just to prove that nothing is going to come between me and my planned 10k), but I won’t.
This past week I’ve been debating runs in temperatures that aren’t impossible, but would certainly be difficult. Consequently, I’ve been avoiding getting out there, and it wasn’t until yesterday that I actually thought about this. I really do want to go for a run, but I think that I’ve got it in my head that no running at all is better than having a bad run. I expect to be able to run at the same pace as I was doing in the warmer months and get disappointed when I don’t. So from today I’m going to be taking a new approach – if it’s above 11 degrees I’ll go out but not worry about how far or fast I’m going. As long as I’ve run for half an hour then I’ll be happy.
Even though running is my first love, it’ll be taking a back seat until it gets warmer (or someone mails me a treadmill). Basketball season is in full swing, WBA having already played 2 games, and with two training sessions a week it should keep us pretty busy until May. Archery is back indoors and TVA is taking part in an indoor league of my favourite round – the Portsmouth. Assuming I have the time (and the petrol money) I’ll be trying to get to archery at least twice a week and get that elusive 550 points.
Don’t be too surprised if the blog takes a bit of a different directions for a little while, I imagine it’ll just reflect what I’m actually up to.
Posted in Discussion | Tagged archery, basketball, EIA, outdoors, training | 1 Comment »
October 12, 2009
We got back from Egypt in the early hours of Wednesday, slept at my parents’ house, and then drove back home in the afternoon so Wednesday was a write-off. Thursday it was too cold to run in the morning and then I was out all afternoon and evening, which brings us to…
Friday: As per Friday’s post, it was too cold in the morning to run. Having picked up some new tyres and inner-tubes for my basketball chair on Thursday, Ally and I decided to book an hour on the court at the local leisure centre that evening. We did some shooting and then a bit of 1-on-1.
Saturday: Archery in the morning. A few of us decided to shoot a Portsmouth (5 dozen arrows on a 60cm face at 20 yards) so it was pretty non-stop. Good score though, got a new PB so pretty happy…which is more than can be said for the afternoon’s run. I decided to ease myself back into it by just doing 5k, but still struggled. I got a stitch, my asthma kicked in and I lost the feeling in my toes and soles of my feet. It took a rather abysmal 31:25, but I’m glad I’ve got that over and done with. Hopefully the next one will be better.
Sunday: A slightly less than exciting session at basketball. There were only 5 of us there and Ally dropped out half way through. Hung around for a while afterwards to work on my shooting.
Total Run: 5km
Posted in Progress | Tagged archery, basketball, EIA, holiday, outdoors, training | Leave a Comment »
October 9, 2009
I’m back! Back to having to have the lights on in the middle of the day and being able to see your breath when you go outside…what happened to the weather while I was away? I’m sure it wasn’t this bad when I left.
Freediving while out by a coral reef.
Anyway, a good time was had by all and I’m both sad and relieved to be home. We got up to pretty much what you’d expect on a beach holiday, mostly lazing around the pool reading a book (or two), but I also managed some snorkeling in 4 different locations and a day trip into Cairo and Giza.
I didn’t take my running shoes in the end. My brother was there last year in September when the temperatures were in the mid-40s and I decided it wasn’t worth it. As it turned out, October was cooler and it was usually around 30 degrees just after sunset. I saw a fair few runners each day along the pavement beside the beach and occassionally got the itch to go and join them, though the bar usually called before I got too carried away :-)
My brother and I at the Great Pyramid
So really the whole week was quite lazy – not that I’m complaining, but 7 days of high carb and low veg meals (all inclusive dinners seem to be more about surviving than calorie counting) have left me feeling a tad…puffy, even if it is all psychological :-)
I haven’t run since I got back as it’s been too cold for my asthma. As I’m writing this at 11.30am it’s still only 10 degrees outside. For the moment I’m going to have to start running in the afternoons or early evening, when it might be a little bit warmer, but my lack of gym membership or treadmill is starting to become a concern. I still have basketball to keep me going but ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Posted in Discussion | Tagged EIA, holiday, swimming | 2 Comments »
