Proof that i'm slightly unhinged if that hadn't been proven already.

It was bank holiday Monday evening. My leg still hurt a bit, there was very little on TV and I had nothing to read as the triathlon magazine I read came out today.

The average person at this point would chill out, might find something to do. What did I do.  Start researching half marathons.  I have now payed for a place at a local (barns green, its kind of local) half marathon on the 30th October.  This caused me great concern afterwards as I thought I had booked it on the same day as the rugby world cup final, and should England get to the final could I finish a 1/2 marathon, get showered and get to a watering hole, for soft drinks of course, before the start of the game.  This caused me great anguish for the whole afternoon until I realised that the final is the weekend before.  Panic over.

More impressively Mrs L and another sea cadet instructor have agreed to train with me and do the race, and another instructor looks likes she will also do it. Result! Team Gold Challenge is growing.   The fact that Mrs L thinks that daily exercise is walking to her car and driving to work makes me wonder how much shopping she did actually do when her and her mum went to Portsmouth recently.  I shall await the credit card bill....

End of a week, and I'm well and truly tired!

So, now then.  Its the end of the week and I haven't updated the blog at all since the pain of the double training session! 

So this week, after the double training session I had to take a few days off training.  However I did manage a swim session during the week for about 45 minutes.  This was one of the first sessions I have done with out the safety blanket of my swimming instructor.  The session went okay, and again I could see improvement in the drills I have been given to do, although I do still feel stupid swimming with a float when I can swim!

This past week was also boot camp training yesterday.  There were 4 of us, so no hiding!  Pushed myself a little bit too hard, and now my thigh hurts!  Not the end of the world, but still hurts.  As a precaution circuits tonight fell by the way side in exchange for a doughnut in front of the TV.

This week is a 3 day week at work for me, so I'm planning a couple of swimming sessions and also the bike may come out to play this week., along with a weights session and a boot camp session on sunday to burn off the left overs of the curry night on saturday night (fund raising for the unit)

The rowing/sailing part will hopefully be completed by the end of June, leaving me 1/2 way through the challenge.

This week my running vests also arrived, so I now have no excuses at all (although I am trying to think of some) to not start to run and plan the 1/2 marathon section.  Damn it I dislike running (unless its chasing some one at work) nearly as much as swimming.

I nearly died in the gym (okay, so that may be an over reaction!)

Today, in a moment of insanity I decided it was a good idea to do a boot camp session in the morning followed by a personal training session in the afternoon.

I don't quite know what made me think this was a good idea, but after a hard boot camp session (which was very very enjoyable) the personal training session was even harder!  Halve the weights I normally use and that's what I was managing to lift today.  Top this with a 8 section tabata on the rower.  Essentially, for a tabata you have 20 seconds high intensity exercise, followed by 15 seconds rest (one section) then repeat it.  I managed an average of over 90 metes per 20 second section for the whole 8 sections.  The fact I enjoyed this was enough to warrant questioning my mental stability even if I did feel a little sick afterwards.

Now to my near death experience.  I'm lying on my back on a weights bench using free weights when my left shoulder, my weaker one, decides at a crucial moment that it fancies going for a shower and doesn't want to be in the gym any more.  It stops working, the weight comes crashing down and, luckily, bounces off the left side of my chest.  Lets put this into perspective.  I'm a bloke.  This is traumatic.  There is NO WAY I can do any ironing this evening as I need counselling for my near death experience.  Mrs L, however, is less then supportive in this hour of need  referring to the fact that I have no shirts for work tomorrow and she's not ironing them. 

The training continues....

Once again , Sunday morning has arrived and I found myself in Hells Bowl taking part in Boot Camp.  This morning was, once again, tiring but well worth while.  Every time I do this I seam to find something that either I can do or that I can't.  Today was bunny hops up a slope.  It was a race between 6 of us.  All we had to do was hop up the slope and then sprint back down.  Sprinting I can do.  It would appear though hopping I can't.  Apparently, if rabbits hopped in the style I was, it would be far too easy to catch them, and this may explain why the space hopper (earlier post) went so wrong!  On a plus side though, the sprinting was easy and down hill, what more could you want.

Got a PT session in about an hour, so will put a FULL update after that.

Swimming.

Another swimming lesson done.  There were high and low points today.  High point number one was almost 1 length of the pool front crawl (about 1 metre off).  I know this doesn't sound much, but for me its a mile stone! 

Been given my homework to do (learn how to relax in water) and booking my next session. Progress is slow but positive!

Canoe photos

Okay, forward is easy, where's the breaks?  WALL!!!!!!!

Yes, I fell out in 4 cm of water! 

Canoe plus me = Great fun

The venue was Chichester Canal,  the challenge was canoeing and it lasted all weekend.  Yes, you have guessed it, I have completed my canoe section of the challenge.

The weekend was with sea cadets, and involved canoes and kayaks and falling into the canal, both intentionally and not so intentionally!

As regular readers (and I know there are one or two of you) may have picked up, water is not one of my strong points.  To say I approached this activity with a little bit of anticipation would have been an understatement.   However, the staff were fantastic, the cadets were great and I have found that canoeing is great fun and very understated.  At the end of the weekend I walked away with a BCU 1 star pass and think I have made a step towards being a little more confident in non swimming pool water.  Photos may follow later, but probably not the one of me falling out the kayak when I was trying to get in the thing!

Its not as easy as it looks.  Its not a case of just sticking a paddle in the water and paddling, there is so much more to it.  After two days of this I now have muscles aching that I didn't know I had.  Its all good aching, but I've had to cancel circuit training tonight to try and recover before my swimming lesson tomorrow!  Despite the aches this was great fun, and I would urge everyone to try it.

I'm looking at the next activity to do and will keep you updated.  2 challenges down, 8 to go.  Bring on the next challenge!

Me, Circuit training and a space hopper

Once again, Monday night is circuit night.  This week there was the added challenge of a space hopper station.  Surreal, I know.

Essentially, one person went along the room 3 times on the space hopper, whilst every one else was on a station working.  Once the hopper operator (sounds better then bouncing gym goer) has done their set distance, every one rotates one station and the process starts again with a different hopper operator.  Again, this sounds easier then it actually is.

I'm sure as a child I went on a space hopper, but I can't remember it.  Every one else gets onto the hopper station and they are off, like bouncing orange blurs along the gym floor.  I was there, thinking how hard could it be.  Its a large orange ball that you bounce on whilst holding on.  Then it was my turn.  Slow is an understatement!  The first effort was more a jump, land and jump again with no bounce.  The second go was a little more effective, but still left a lot to be desired.  Needless to say, I wont be swapping my bike for a space hopper, even if it was good, tiring, fun.

This weeks activities include a swimming session and at the weekend hopefully a weekend of canoeing with cadets (weather permitting) there may also be a run or CV session somewhere in the week. 

On a slightly different note.  There is now a link to this blog on several different websites, and a big THANK YOU to every one that reads it.  The mere fact I can see that others are reading this is great motivation.

Relaxation and a well deserved break

So, with all this training I felt it was about time I took a weekend to have a break and chill.  Friday was a meal out and proof that there is no such thing as a steak that is too big if its washed down with a suitable beverage.    Saturday started well and just went down hill really.  A visit to fortress Twickenham was planned, to watch the Army/Navy rugby game.  The first half was fantastic, second half not so good.  The army won by a large score.  Nothing more to be said and should NEVER be spoken about again.

Sunday morning, new week and a fresh start.  Boot camp was different this morning, as Hells Bowl was a swimming pool after all this rain, so we had to use a field nearby.  The session was, as normal, challenging and REALLY good.  It is a first, I have no bruises and didn't hurt myself.

I will, at some point this week, place my training programme on here but need to check it first.

Back to work, Great.

My leave is over, back to work....  Didn't manage as much PT as I wanted due to a BBQ and some brick walls that needed building in the garden.  I did however manage a run (with my dog) and a boot camp session.

Bootcamp was, as expected, great fun but hard work.

Canoeing is planned for a few weekends time, and another swimming session is booked for 2 weeks time.  Its all starting to take shape.

I'll put my training schedule on here at some point in the near future.