Tonight was another successful gym trip - it's almost to the point that this is routine and mundane and not worth commenting on, but for novelty alone I'll keep bringing it up. I managed to get home quicker from work, so Chrissi and I ignored this entirely and still managed to leave for the gym at the same time. This week I repeated and slightly extended the same routine that I did last week, yet found myself struggling considerably less by the finish. I suspect that on the achievement level this only proves that I was starting from such a low base that all I've done is drag my fitness out of the trench where it was skulking and bring it up to somewhere approaching ground level. At best.
In today's songs that I thought of that were blindingly obvious that I forgot to include on Monday's playlist: Pink by Aerosmith and Yellow by Coldplay. It's not as if I needed to do much more than think of the colour for either!
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Mysterious Missive
I noted on Friday that I'd received a surprise letter the previous day, which required a signature and therefore required me to go and collect it. While this had initially surprised me, by the time I got to the Saturday and headed down to the local delivery office I had figured out what it was.
Contained within the envelope were our tickets to the Live at Jodrell Bank show in just over a week - I had been starting to wonder how we got or where we got the tickets. It is quite sensible though that as we had booked in February they would only start sending out the tickets a couple of weeks in advance to avoid people losing tickets!
I could try and explain what the Jodrell Bank Live event is, but I'm not entirely sure! It features music and science at an all-day festival housed at the giant Jodrell Bank telescope. The headliners of the event we are going to are the immense Icelandic band Sigur Ros who I find fantastic. It should be something to look forward to, and the weather forecast itself is even good! That in itself is worth celebrating - as we'll be outside most of the evening at least.
I'll definitely add a couple of blogs at the end of the month about this, and may even include a couple of pictures to help provide context. I usually roll my eyes aggressively at people who feel the need to photograph their gig-going, but this is a bit different so I may want to take a couple of shots myself. More at the end of next week!
Contained within the envelope were our tickets to the Live at Jodrell Bank show in just over a week - I had been starting to wonder how we got or where we got the tickets. It is quite sensible though that as we had booked in February they would only start sending out the tickets a couple of weeks in advance to avoid people losing tickets!
I could try and explain what the Jodrell Bank Live event is, but I'm not entirely sure! It features music and science at an all-day festival housed at the giant Jodrell Bank telescope. The headliners of the event we are going to are the immense Icelandic band Sigur Ros who I find fantastic. It should be something to look forward to, and the weather forecast itself is even good! That in itself is worth celebrating - as we'll be outside most of the evening at least.
I'll definitely add a couple of blogs at the end of the month about this, and may even include a couple of pictures to help provide context. I usually roll my eyes aggressively at people who feel the need to photograph their gig-going, but this is a bit different so I may want to take a couple of shots myself. More at the end of next week!
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Unheralded Success
Despite not announcing and foreshadowing it on yesterday's blog, nevertheless Chrissi and I managed to go swimming this evening. We'd half planned this yesterday but it still took a fair bit of effort to turn this into an actual trip! As opposed to doing this when we got home, with the 6-8pm session at the leisure centre dedicated to an 'all welcome' concept, we opted for the 8-10pm 'lane swimming' instead which was obviously a little more in line with our intentions.
So we ate, relaxed and despite being comfortable and at home we managed to head out to the leisure centre, get a good 30-40 minute swim under our belt and return. I feel quite tired and should definitely sleep well tonight! Or so I hope ...
The annoying thing with theme blogs like yesterday is that even once written, I still mull the theme over in my head and think of items that I missed. In this case, the obvious omission that sprung to my mind not long ago was the not-at-all obscure Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl. Not at all obvious!
So we ate, relaxed and despite being comfortable and at home we managed to head out to the leisure centre, get a good 30-40 minute swim under our belt and return. I feel quite tired and should definitely sleep well tonight! Or so I hope ...
The annoying thing with theme blogs like yesterday is that even once written, I still mull the theme over in my head and think of items that I missed. In this case, the obvious omission that sprung to my mind not long ago was the not-at-all obscure Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl. Not at all obvious!
Monday, August 19, 2013
Playlist Challenge I: Colours
So after last week's post and after a conversation at the weekend, I've been tempted to start a new theme of a playlist challenge. I enjoy trying to come up with songs linked around a similar theme and a common link. My challenge is to be to try and present a convincing playlist of at least five songs while trying not to 'repeat' on links - forcing myself to at least be original.
The opening theme I randomly selected was colours. Playlist as follows:
New Order - Blue Monday
Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze
AC/DC - Back in Black
The Beatles - Yellow Submarine
The Clash - (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
Nena - 99 Red Balloons (a narrow winner over UB40's Red Red Wine which was a strong contender for the repetition alone)
Dropkick Murphys - Green Fields of France
For bands you can have Green Day or if you want to be poppy about it, you can also include Pink. The obvious album choice to conclude the theme is Foo Fighter's The Colour And The Shape.
It was fun trying to restrict myself to a certain theme and still try and come up with a collection of good songs to include. I may try and make this a regular event!
The opening theme I randomly selected was colours. Playlist as follows:
New Order - Blue Monday
Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze
AC/DC - Back in Black
The Beatles - Yellow Submarine
The Clash - (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
Nena - 99 Red Balloons (a narrow winner over UB40's Red Red Wine which was a strong contender for the repetition alone)
Dropkick Murphys - Green Fields of France
For bands you can have Green Day or if you want to be poppy about it, you can also include Pink. The obvious album choice to conclude the theme is Foo Fighter's The Colour And The Shape.
It was fun trying to restrict myself to a certain theme and still try and come up with a collection of good songs to include. I may try and make this a regular event!
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Best of Intentions
I had meant to blog yesterday. These meants don't add up to much, however, but the thought was there. I'd planned on doing this at many different times throughout the day - in the morning, before we went to the gym; after we went to the gym and before we went out, when we got home - but in the end simply didn't make it.
The gym was good but hard work - we were really pushed again this session, which was probably good but left us feeling really sore afterwards! Both yesterday and today were a struggle as a result of this lingering soreness, of protesting muscles. I was surprised - I didn't realise I had muscles there, or if they are they've never done anything which which could explain why they're protesting having had it easy for so long.
I'm not sure either of us are going to incorporate this particular session of pain into a regular routine. It felt effective but the lack of breaks between exercises really hurt. We would have to take it pretty slow to start with at least! I've been up to this point debating with myself as to whether this feeling a day and a half later is good, because I worked that hard - or bad, because I clearly never work hard enough for that to hurt that much! Jury is still out on that one, but the longer it goes on the more it leans towards the latter!
The gym was good but hard work - we were really pushed again this session, which was probably good but left us feeling really sore afterwards! Both yesterday and today were a struggle as a result of this lingering soreness, of protesting muscles. I was surprised - I didn't realise I had muscles there, or if they are they've never done anything which which could explain why they're protesting having had it easy for so long.
I'm not sure either of us are going to incorporate this particular session of pain into a regular routine. It felt effective but the lack of breaks between exercises really hurt. We would have to take it pretty slow to start with at least! I've been up to this point debating with myself as to whether this feeling a day and a half later is good, because I worked that hard - or bad, because I clearly never work hard enough for that to hurt that much! Jury is still out on that one, but the longer it goes on the more it leans towards the latter!
Friday, August 16, 2013
Target Hit
So this morning I managed to surprise everyone, including myself, by getting up in time to go for a swim. This was closer than planned - after waking at 6am and turning over, it was only the accident of setting my alarm onto snooze rather than switching it off entirely that caused it to prompt me a second time with an audible nudge-to-the-ribs at 6:15.
Having managed to force myself up, from there it was more straightforward - remember to collect change of clothes, head to car, from there go to the leisure centre and commence with the changing and the swimming. All of which were accomplished with a minimum of hassle, and I got to work slightly earlier than necessary (reduced summer traffic can claim an assist there, I think).
This coming weekend I'm actually moderately busy - on the Saturday at least. I need to fit in a haircut, we have a gym session scheduled, I want to swing by the post office to collect a mysterious letter that came for me midweek and requires a signature, and we're at a friend's housewarming party in the evening. All in all, enough to keep us busy!
Having managed to force myself up, from there it was more straightforward - remember to collect change of clothes, head to car, from there go to the leisure centre and commence with the changing and the swimming. All of which were accomplished with a minimum of hassle, and I got to work slightly earlier than necessary (reduced summer traffic can claim an assist there, I think).
This coming weekend I'm actually moderately busy - on the Saturday at least. I need to fit in a haircut, we have a gym session scheduled, I want to swing by the post office to collect a mysterious letter that came for me midweek and requires a signature, and we're at a friend's housewarming party in the evening. All in all, enough to keep us busy!
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Thwarted Plans
My main non-achievement today was going for a swim after work (or before work if I was up particularly early). I wasn't up particularly early, so I decided to do it in the evening instead. Except ... my plans were foiled by the inconvenience of the leisure centre not having open swimming sessions on a Thursday evening (and the same for Friday - at least I checked a day ahead this time).
So instead I came home and watched the baseball. That still counts as "sport-themed activity", right? Although by that token, so does checking my Battrick scores on my phone ... no, I'm going to have difficulty getting that argument to hold its weight.
Check back tomorrow for more feeble excuses as to why I didn't manage to go for a swim again - the goal is to get up and do it in the morning before work, so there's a certain onus on getting to bed at a certain time to get up at a certain time and get all this done!
So instead I came home and watched the baseball. That still counts as "sport-themed activity", right? Although by that token, so does checking my Battrick scores on my phone ... no, I'm going to have difficulty getting that argument to hold its weight.
Check back tomorrow for more feeble excuses as to why I didn't manage to go for a swim again - the goal is to get up and do it in the morning before work, so there's a certain onus on getting to bed at a certain time to get up at a certain time and get all this done!
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
I Spend More Time Explaining My Absences Than Actually Being Present
After a recent good run [read: not abysmal] of blogging, I lapsed again yesterday by not bothering to blog once again, leaving the day devoid of content, wit and insight. The main reason for this was that I didn't head on the computer at all last night - on arriving home Chrissi and I immediately went straight out again and headed to the gym, and afterwards I was showering and resting and again not particularly inclined to come onto the computer.
I know, headed to the gym! The casual indifference with which I wrote that and then moved on without fuss is marked, as if this routine is so ingrained that to even draw attention to it is unnecessary. Particularly now with a single gym session under my belt, it's all so mundane. Run-of-the-mill. Old hat.
It wasn't, of course. It was a lot of effort (which it should have been) and I felt shattered afterwards (which I should have done) as I simply wasn't used to pushing myself that hard for that long. That my warm-up of a 6 minute jog on the treadmill is not far off half of my rarely occurring 'run' exercise - that should have said enough with regards to how unusual this burst of exercise was. I followed that with a 1000m row (target: under 4:30, achieved comfortably on the clock but not without effort), 10 minutes on the ever-baffling crosstrainer (where after a helpful comment from Chrissi I spent most of the time trying to work out whether I was running forward or backwards), some time spent on various machines which work various muscles I don't think I have and then 12 minutes on the bike at the end.
I was pleased that I went, however. I didn't even feel huge after-effects today from it, although the occasional twinge and tiredness did confirm my decision to make today a rest day and postpone my half-considered swim after work. Perhaps tomorrow I'll do a swim, and then with Friday a second rest day this sets us up nicely for the personal training session on Saturday.
Hopefully.
I know, headed to the gym! The casual indifference with which I wrote that and then moved on without fuss is marked, as if this routine is so ingrained that to even draw attention to it is unnecessary. Particularly now with a single gym session under my belt, it's all so mundane. Run-of-the-mill. Old hat.
It wasn't, of course. It was a lot of effort (which it should have been) and I felt shattered afterwards (which I should have done) as I simply wasn't used to pushing myself that hard for that long. That my warm-up of a 6 minute jog on the treadmill is not far off half of my rarely occurring 'run' exercise - that should have said enough with regards to how unusual this burst of exercise was. I followed that with a 1000m row (target: under 4:30, achieved comfortably on the clock but not without effort), 10 minutes on the ever-baffling crosstrainer (where after a helpful comment from Chrissi I spent most of the time trying to work out whether I was running forward or backwards), some time spent on various machines which work various muscles I don't think I have and then 12 minutes on the bike at the end.
I was pleased that I went, however. I didn't even feel huge after-effects today from it, although the occasional twinge and tiredness did confirm my decision to make today a rest day and postpone my half-considered swim after work. Perhaps tomorrow I'll do a swim, and then with Friday a second rest day this sets us up nicely for the personal training session on Saturday.
Hopefully.
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