This blog, like every other blog I’ve had in recent times, has gotten away from me somewhat the last four weeks. This has been due to a combination of completing a college assignment, and over the last week in particular, an outer ear infection that’s rendered me incapable of little more than howling at the moon.
Fitness wise, I’ve reached something of a plateau. 5-a-side football has barely been on over the last month because of players being away on holiday. I’ve visited the gym only twice (because of the assignment mentioned above) and I haven’t cycled at all. In terms of weight loss, after initially dropping from 106kg (16st 7lbs) to 98kg (15st 4lbs) over the course of four weeks, I appear to have bottomed out at around the 100kg mark, having put on a little. I suspect my diet requires further analysis and modification, and that’s something I plan to look at, as soon as my ear relinquishes control of my life back to me. A documentary aired last night on BBC1, suggesting that Sports drinks, such as the one I’ve favoured over the last two months, may not be as beneficial to your health as the manufacturers claim. This is certainly something else I need to consider, as well as deciding whether spending £26 on protein shake powder is worthwhile.
I plan on submitting the final draft of my assignment this evening, and that hopefully means I can get back to my healthy eating and exercise regime over the weekend. The right knee itself is holding up okay; I had a final appointment with the physio last week, and he thinks the improvement is enough that he doesn’t need to see me again. The main problem with the knee, apparently, was that five years of sitting at a desk all day had resulted in my hamstrings weakening. At the same time, my quadriceps had retained their strength, but had become tight. This imbalance was the root cause of the pain I was suffering whenever I climbed stairs.
I do feel a morsel of pride that the knee’s almost back to 100%, because I followed the physio’s advice and worked at strengthening the joint again. I’ve exercised (using the leg lifting machines at the gym), stretched, cycled, and I’ve even gone back to climbing the stairs at work, mostly from the lower ground floor to the second. I’d avoided the stairs, and started taking the lift, because the knee was so painful. This appears to have just made it weaker.
So for the latter part of the year, I need to look at new goals. I wish to lose a little more weight (the current target is 90kg, or just over 14st) which I hope will reduce stress on my joints and bones when running, and reduce my body fat. I want to get my knee back to 100% effectiveness, or as near as damnit. But my main goal is to try and get to the bottom of my shin splints-type pain. That’s the main obstacle standing between me and taking up running seriously.
