A Week of Twos and Threes

A week of more exercise comes to an end, actually all i managed to do at the gym was running and only 3 times this week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Monday I pushed past my 1 mile best to 2km and without too much of note to mention except a few aching muscles when I got off the treadmill.  I then spent Monday night and Tuesday in Cambridge in a hotel that had a gym so small people were queuing for the machines and this was more than enough excuse for me to do nothing but go back to my room.

Wednesday in the gym was another 2km followed by some stretching as i knew i had a physio appointment on Thursday and i knew they tell me how I should stretch more as my muscles are all very tight.  I did regret not pushing myself more during the session.

Friday morning and fully motivated, and after being prodded with needles and electricity the night before at the physio i am not so sure I should have been going to the gym as knee was a bit tender but it is hard enough to get motivated i should go when i am.  After the disappointment of nto pushing myself on Wednesday i went right pask 2km with the intention of only doing 2.5 but ended up getting off the machine at 3km.  The world was a very wobbly place and all i wanted to do was be sick, some water later and collapsing onto the seat of a machine behind me i walked carefully to the shower.

I spoent the rest of the day at work feeling very pleased withmyself but so tired and the sun coming through the window made it all very hard to get to the end of the dy.  Worryingly i did spend teh day feeling my knee was a bit more sore than it had been for a few weeks - fingers crossed it was teh fault of the physio and not the gym.

Taking to the Roads

The weekend arrives and Saturday is very sunny and a nice warm spring morning and after thinking should I all day I finally get my bike out of the shed where it has lived since i last used it many months ago when Lin was visiting and we went out.

After discovering about the different kind of valves bike tyres can i have i finally get some air into the wheels and I am ready to go.   It takes me all of about 10 yards before I realise the gears will not change again - I have had no end of issues with the gears on this bike since day one.  So a small tantrum later and threatening to buy a new bike i am taking it to the Bracknell Cycles shop who for £44 give it a once over, change the cables and it works perfectly now, why could Bike Hut in Halfords not have done this.

Sunday morning and I am up bright and early on a much less sunny and colder morning and off for a quick ride, 38 minutes in total and never too energetic on a route that took me about 11km and over a hill or two, mainly on back roads.  Having not use my road bike much since owning it I am still a bit unsure of it so never tempted to go too fast, but that will come with time.

The only time I noticed I was putting any energy in was a steep incline right at the end of the route that flattened out just as i was about to have to stop.  But just at that moment i was passed by 3 other cyclists out for a nice easy ride who went past as if i was standing still !!!  This gave me some motivation to try and keep up with them which was going great until they managed to get through a green set of lights that had turned red by my arrival.

Metric to Imperial

After becoming an expert at the 1km run I found myself breezing past this milestone this morning, sorry I meant wheezing past and on my way to the 1 mile marker at which point I turned to jelly. Part of the problem i find is i keep glancing down at the machine to see how far I have completed and seeing the numbers going round so slowly. Even with my iPod going and reading the subtitles for the news on the television screens all that is in my mind is "I must have gone x by now" to glance down and find I have hardly moved. So not only is this going to be a battle with my body but with my mind too, I need to find something else with my mind to do, maybe try doing long division in my head.

I then spent the next 10 minutes having a nice bike ride, again promising myself I could stop after 5 minutes as I was a bit tired.

Another one down

Another gym session today, not intending to be a long session and when Bee and I were both running a bit late this morning not helped when I dropped all the paper for recycling on the floor it became even shorter.

Firstly a good solid km on the treadmill at 10km, starting to feel OK whilst running but still thought the world was ending when it stopped. Followed by a session on the bikes at a fairly high level to get the leg muscles working which I could still feel once I got into the office.

Baby Steps

After failing to exercise yesterday I made the early start to get to the gym. This was made all the harder as I had to get off the new mattress that we received yesterday and meant I had a very good nights sleep.

So, all refreshed and raring to go I went up the stairs to the gym with enthusiasm and vigor, OK more like i dragged myself up wondering why. After some stretching I was back on my old friend the running machine who was kinder to me today, I managed a solid 1km, at a speed of 12km/h and then tiredness hit (or boredom as iPod had run out of battery) and i stumbled around the gym a bit. I did notice a big improvement in my recovery time and went onto the X-Trainer. Again just a short session but 3 levels higher than normal on level 11.

Then off to shower and work, where i must admit all the aches and pains i had after Saturday are not here today, maybe I will try a much longer session on Thursday now the muscles are getting used to the idea of being used again.

How will I ever be able to run 13 miles, 1.5km nearly killed me!

It is now the morning after, not a fun night out on the town but the first morning after I re-introduced myself to a treadmill.

It had been a number of days since I cycled in the gym in Cambridge, mainly due to travelling to Ireland for work and then just being too lazy to get out of bed for a couple of days.  Until Saturday morning and Bee  was at the hairdressers and i had 30 minutes to myself before we go Essex to watch the football (last minute winner against Tranmere!!).

The gym was fairly empty and not full of children as it was the last time we came on a Saturday, and I headed straight for the treadmill.  After a quick warm up, I was plodding along at 10km/h and all going well until i glance down at the dials to see i have gone 0.3km and I was starting to get a bit tired.  BY 1km I was in agony, not my knee or anything like that, i just had no energy left in me.  After 1.5km I had to walk out the rest of 2km at 6.5km/h.

I then wobbled my way off the back of the treadmill and gave up the idea of doing anything else and went for a shower, coughing and wheezing all the way there.

Leaving the gym i slowly walked to meet Bee with her new short hair, with an ache in the back of my knee that seems to have gone today which is good, mind you my thighs are killing me!!

I realised this weekend how far i have to go from this to doing 13 miles!!  Luckily i know i was at this point a year ago and just about able to run 10km in a few months but very slowly.  Last year I started running on the treadmill at about 8.5km/h and then found it hard to go much faster so this time I will start at at least 10km/h on the treadmill but my legs might not thank me.

Snow excuse not to exercise today

This week has seen the worst snow for 18 years and the best excuse not to leave the house of a morning, which is not the best way to start a new regime.  Thursday was too icy and my back was still sore so had to stay home.  Friday, the snow had returned so could not leave early to go to gym, also with a late night planned seeing spring awakening in London I could not have a long day.

Excuses aside it is now Saturday and I have finally convinced Bee to use the David Lloyd valentine offer to bring your partner for any weekend in February.

We arrived at the gym after disagreeing which car park is closer and I think I may be wrong on that one, we signed Bee up for two days and went in.  Weekends are very different to week days as parents bring their families out on a Saturday and the pool was full of little ones, luckily Bee managed to get a lane to herself to do lengths, and with her waterproof iPod on she could blank out the noise and swim.

Whilst Bee was swimming I went to the gym and set myself up for another hard 10 minutes on the x-trainer and much to my surprise when i sailed through 10, then 15 and stopped at 20 minutes - wow twice as far in only two sessions!  I then spent 16:07 on the bicycle, it was meant to be 15 but i wanted to hear the end of 'who loves you' from the Jersey Boys soundtrack.  I am very pleased to see improvement already, I now believe if my knee hold up I may actually be able to do all the run; I just hope this is not a false dawn right at the start.

I then met Bee in the pool where we spent some time in the Jacuzzi and then the steam room before going about our day and getting home in time for our new washing machine to be delivered and gave us plenty of exercise trying to lift to unpack and move over the kitchen into its home.

The big question is do we go back again tomorrow as we do have a weekend guest pass for Bee!!  Next week will be a challenging week for me as I am likely to be travelling for most of it so will see how i can fit exercise in with work, this is hopefully something that will improve once i can run again as then i do not need  a gym to exercise just a pair of trainers.

Day 1 - Back to the Gym

Welcome to my blog for my training for the Great North Run on September 2009.

Today was the first time i had been to the gym after an injury to my knee last June had stopped me from running or doing any regular exercise for the last 8 months.

After months of physio and resting and pain i went back to the gym with the intention of it being step one of training for the Great North Run.  I have to admit it was not how i remember the gym being last time i was there, it did however remind me of the pain i went through when i first started exercising about a year ago for the first time in my adult life.  It was hell, i managed 10 minutes on the x-trainer before i thought i was going to die.  After resting on the sofas for a bit to get my breath back i managed another 10 minutes on the bikes before i called it a day.

So far my knee has not objected to being used again, but it will be a while before i try running again.  This is much better than i can say for my back, i woke up with a very sore back so going to the gym in the first place may have been a bit silly but have been a cripple for the rest of the day and had to come home early from work !!

As the day draws to a close I am feeling pleased i have started to exercise again but unsure how my back will be tomorrow and if i can go to gym again, also wondering and praying my knee is finally fixed and will not give way a week in.