Three weeks on from my last post, I don’t have much to say. My ear infection has all but completely cleared up now, so I may be able to add swimming to my exercise regime in the near future.
During my third year at university, I used to train with a fellow student who aspired to join the Royal Marines. One weekend during the summer of 2003 I recall, we went interval training in the park. He worked me so hard I was nearly sick, but my fitness improved no end. Bearing this in mind, I decided to head down to the park last Sunday to do something similar, and maybe work in some knee exercises at the same time.
There are numerous trees in the park, planted roughly equal distances apart, making them ideal for what I had in mind. I was going to do some quick turns the way the physio had showed me, shuttling between two of the trees, hopefully building the strength back up in my knee. After a rest, I alternately sprinted and jogged between the same trees, and I repeated this arrangement a couple of times.
It seemed to have the desired effect, because on the cycle home I had to stop due to feeling nauseated, and at Tuesday night football I had the best game I’ve had in a while.
I didn’t go to the gym on Wednesday evening, being at The Dark Knight Rises at the IMAX instead, but the next day I attended my first spin class, which I plumped for rather than the awful Thursday afternoon 5-a-side game. I was a little apprehensive, but while it was hard work, it was not unbearable and I definitely felt the benefit.
After having indulged in a little too much food on Friday night, I was back at the gym on Saturday morning, and Pilates in the afternoon. I’m beginning to feel a lot more healthy, but as always with me, the question is how long can I keep this up? I’m starting to miss a few foods I don’t appear to have the calorific budget for anymore. Weight wise, I’m hovering around the 95kg mark (meaning my total loss is around 15kg), and I think I’m looking better for it. This appeals to my vanity, which I think may be the driving force in all this.
I mentioned the word ‘regime’ earlier, and I’m just trying to keep this one going. Currently I’m playing football on Tuesday, going to the gym on Wednesday, spin on Thursday, and gym and Pilates on Saturday. I think this is the perfect blend of intensities and rest days, but I still think I can work something in on Sundays.
The Olympics has inspired me to try a sport I’ve never tried before (I really fancy archery) or having another bash at one (golf, snowboarding, basketball), but I think it’s important I don’t get distracted from the goal that is the primary focus of the blog is to get to the stage where I can run a 10k. I think there’s a bit of work to be done yet.
