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Day 3: Oh. My. God

Feeling achy but not jet-laggy, finally. My legs hurt walking up the stairs at the station this morning, which was not a good sign considering I’d booked a circuit class for lunchtime.

I was a bit blasé, thinking that a ‘fast 20 minute circuit’ wouldn’t be too hard. Not that I’ve ever done a circuit before, so had no idea what to expect. Let’s just say I’d lulled myself into a false sense of security. It was awful.

There were only 2 of us in the class, so that meant maximum attention from the instructor and absolutely no hiding. There were 6 circuit stations, with 2 exercises for each. Each exercise lasted 20 seconds with a 10 second break between them, and they ranged from such horrors as jumping squats, ‘mountain climbers’, lunges, planks, something I couldn’t pronounce, dips, a press up thing against a box and steps ups onto a step the height of a table. I’m sure there were more, but my memory has blanked them out!

In reality I was definitely not ready for that type of class. I’ve not got enough strength yet in my arms or legs and both were aching from the previous two days of effort. I also don’t really like that being shouted at as encouragement thing that personal trainers do. I’d rather have a nice chat 🙂

Anyway, to keep this up for 90 days I’m going to have to try lots of things for variety, and there will be some I don’t like, or can’t do. I wonder if going on my own today made a difference.

The girls went to another spin class, but I wanted to do something at lunchtime, and it definitely wasn’t so much fun.

Tomorrow is a ‘rest day’ so I’m going to find some yoga or a light workout on YouTube I can do at home for half an hour, and look up some classes at the local council-run fitness centre that might work for Saturday and Sunday.

Daily exercise:     Fast Circuit
Venue:                      City University Gym
Type:                          Mix
Duration:                30 minutes

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17th March 2016

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Day 2: Wheels keep turnin’

Woke up this morning feeling a bit achy in the neck and mid-back, but to be honest, the continually brutal jet lag is far worse than the workout twinges. I’m also still dehydrated so I remembered to drink lots of water before I actually got the headache today.

Choosing from the list of classes at the gym, we booked the Virtual Cycle – a kind of spin class without an instructor. I was pretty concerned as I know you need to be super-fit to spin, but the idea that there was no one there to shout at me convinced me it would be OK.

After you set up the bike the video starts running on the big cinema screen. ‘Tom’, the virtual studio coach, leads you through a 30 minute cycle, which includes 2 climbs as well as the warm up and down.

I didn’t do any of the hill work, keeping my resistance at zero and concentrating on being able to complete 30 mins. I reckon there’s plenty of time to build up to that! The fist 15 minutes were fine, if not a bit uncomfortable (those saddles are hard!), and minutes 15-20 were the hardest. But just after 20 mins it seemed to get easier, almost like my body and mind were getting in the zone and it felt quite easy to get to the end. Obviously, that’s without any resistance, and an RPM of only about 80, but I was chuffed to finish something I was convinced I wouldn’t be able to do.

Lauren, Nikki and Madge all did the class with me and once again having people to go with makes it much more fun. We’re already planning tomorrow’s session…I just need to fit it around meetings.

Daily exercise:     Virtual Cycle
Venue:                      City University Gym
Type:                          Cardio
Duration:                30 minutes

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16th March 2016

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My 30 for 90 challenge

While I was lounging around on the bed in the hotel in New York I watched a dreadful infomercial for a set of exercise DVD’s. The terrible ad went on for about a week, extolling the virtues of a very expensive set of fitness videos – but it did plant a seed of an idea in my head.

I flirt with exercise on and off, I have done for years. But since giving up martial arts I’ve never found anything I could stick with to replace it. I’d like to go back to some form of fighting sport, but I definitely couldn’t keep the pace these days, and my flirtation with other forms of exercise very rarely leads to a second date. I’ve lost count of the number of gyms I’ve joined over the years or the number of false starts. Or the number of excuses I’ve used to to not find a way to fit exercise into my day.

So, my plan is quite simple, though fairly ambitious for me. I’m going to fit in 30 minutes of any type of exercise for 90 days. Ninety days. It seems like quite a long time, but the duration of the experiment isn’t the important bit – it’s saying to myself ‘it’s only 30 minutes, you can make time for it’ that will be the biggest behaviour change. It feels achievable. It feels quick and it feels like something I can stick to. So I’ve joined the gym next door to work, I’ve downloaded My Fitness Pal and Day 1 is done!

Day 1: Body Pump

Daily exercise:        Body Pump
Venue:                         City University Gym
Type:                            Weights/strength
Duration:                   40 minutes

I decided to do a class as the first exercise, and I really enjoyed it. It’s a 40-minute class that they run straight after work. It’s mostly weights-based, with lots of work with a bar. It felt hard, I couldn’t quite do it all and my arms are still like jelly while I’m typing this, but I do feel good for getting started.

Thanks to Lauren and Nikki for taking up the challenge with me. It’s good to have other people to egg you on. Let’s go on this journey together.

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15th March 2016

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Thundersport Round 1: Brands Hatch

The weather this weekend was forecast to be pretty dismal, so I wasn’t sure if we would make it down to Brands to see our friend Michael race, but Sunday dawned fair and sunny so we decided to make the effort. Though we did wimp out by going in the car, rather than on the bike – which proved to be a sensible decision given the temperatures!

We got to the track about 45 mins before the first race and met up with everyone. It’s been ages since we’ve seen them and ages since we’ve been to a race meeting. It was bloody freezing but great to see our friends. I miss regular bike racing, but I don’t miss standing in the cold for hours.

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6th March 2016

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When in doubt, wear red

Last night we went to a wedding reception. Greg and Mike got married, and we went along in the evening to celebrate with them. It was lovely. And I wore a dress. Not only a dress, but a red dress.

The dress is from Jasper Conran at Debenhams, and I teamed it up with some sparkly cuffs, sparkly shoes and a super-sparkly bag. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of me in the dress, so here’s one of the model!

I’ve had it a while, but never actually worn it. In fact, I’d never even taken the tags out of it. I’ve tried it on a few times but have never been brave enough to leave the house in it, but a wedding seemed the right time to dress up a bit. It felt good.

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6th March 2016

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Planning

New wallchart finally arrived, and my stationery fetish is satiated for a short while.

I’ve had this one by Crispin Finn before, and I love the clean, simple design. The use of their signature colours is really striking and it’s beautifully screen printed on a pure white 120gsm fully recycled uncoated stock. No shiny shiny laminate.

The planner arrived folded and sealed in a screen printed brown kraft bag, with a sticker seal.

I couldn’t wait to get it on the wall and start adding the really important dates for the year, and I love seeing how the wallchart fills up as more plans are made and 2016 shapes up. I’m such a stationery saddo.

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21st January 2016

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Snow

I woke up to this.

It all looks so peaceful, with that wonderful light. Lovely to look at, not great to try and get to work in. But I love this bit, while it is all still so unspoilt.

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17th January 2016

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Good beginnings

The first week back at work is over and finally the jet lag seems to have receded. Along with the return to work came a return to the low carb diet that had been so successful 18 months ago.

In the intervening time I’ve put on about 8lb, and am determined to shift these and a stone more. So out go the pies and chips and chocolate and in comes the protein and salad. So far, so good and I don’t feel too hungry. The plan is to do this for 2 weeks as strictly as possible, then to start some light exercise. I already feel much better for eating healthily. Cutting the majority of sugar out of my diet definitely suits my body and helps with my Polycystic Ovaries. Taking up some exercise is also going to improve this.

I’m planning to keep the exercise and a weight-losing carb maintenance plan going until mid-March. I should then be able to get a view on how much I’ve lost and how far there is to go. And then have a few days being a bit more relaxed while I swan around in New York celebrating my belated 10-year wedding anniversary.

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16th January 2016

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New Year, New You…yeah, right.

It’s taken ages to unwind and relax. I knew it would, you can’t work all year without much of a proper holiday, have a crazy December and end the year feeling burnt out then miraculously expect instant relaxation the minute you finish work. But I’m still surprised how long it’s taking and I’m not sure I’m fully refreshed yet.

I’m loathe to make resolutions as they just get broken and I’ve never been much good with sticking to rules, even ones I make for myself. The whole ‘New Year, New You’ stuff is largely unachievable as I don’t think you can’t change yourself overnight; it’s much more subtle than that, much more about evolution and tweaking and gradual improvements – and not losing the awesome bits of you in the process or becoming a change/diet/fitness bore. I’m going to think much more in terms of goals and things to achieve this year, but for them to be foundations to be built on in years to come. The fact I’m about to tip over ‘mid-forties’ in 2016 isn’t entirely lost on me and it might be time to start thinking about a bit of ‘mind, body and soul’ long-term attention.

I definitely want to lose weight, and I know I should drink less and move more. But I’m going to focus on the ‘moving’ bit, rather than the ‘weight’ bit and hope one follows the other. I’ve set a goal to buy a pushbike around Easter-time and I’m going to learn to cycle. I mean, I can ride a bike, but haven’t done so since I was a child and not properly on a road. Seeing as how I’m so hideously unfit that will be quite a challenge, but I think getting out and about in the fresh air at the weekend will be good. Until then, it’s going to be about finding a rhythm and routine around going to the gym.

I am really interested in some of the School of Life classes and events and I might book myself into a couple of the shorter ones as a taster to see what they are like. I’m curious as I’ve never done anything like that before and there’s a wide range of topics. They are short enough to be doable and not too long to sit through if they are dull.

I’m also intending to plan my holidays and time off work better, making more of my weekend and evenings, rather than being so washed out by the week that it just becomes recovery time. I might even try and get a hobby or volunteer. I’d quite like to do something around mentoring, but don’t really know where to start, so might look into that. I want to focus on some key things at work and I also need to have a big clear out of stuff I don’t need at home – downsizing an office leaves you with lots of surplus furniture and it’s cluttering up the house, along with my mind.

I signed up to this fun website called Only Do 1 Thing, which sends you ‘nudges’ – something different to do every day. Not sure I’ll do them all (pretty certain I won’t) but it’s fun and might be an inspiration to do something I wouldn’t normally do.

I can’t really put much of this into action until I get back from holiday, so I’ll spend the last few days continuing to relax and thinking about how to achieve these goals and coming up with some more…and of course researching online where I can buy a nice wallchart and a paper diary 🙂

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4th January 2016

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