A bit smarter

And so I woke up this morning with the good intentions of entering the Harrogate 10k firmly put back in place. I could barely stand on my forefoot, let alone run on it. Needless to say, that race has been shelved, and I'm unhappy about it.

Admittedly, I had enjoyed a good night with a colleague and his partner on Friday, but that should not have affected my cardio more than the lack of work that I have done over the past 2-3 weeks.

Many/all of my previous posts allude to my mentality that I want to push myself as hard as I can, and of inclination to sit uneasily with moderation. But I'm sitting here now uneasily with my lack of fitness, and my fat belly, and weakened legs, and I'm determined to do something about it.

Before I rattle off some ideas, I think I might want to ask the fourth wall quite why I'm writing this. Apparently I have a reasonable number of people read this blog from my twitter (public) and FB (private) accounts. Whether that is true, or whether Google are being a bit cheeky to boost their advertising revenues (for when the service is free, YOU are the product), I know at least a few people are reading it, and that is enough.

I am also writing this as a public blog simply because it is far more motivating that writing in my private diary.

Finally, I'd like to think that the times when I've read a blog of someone in a similar position to myself might be repayed by someone stumbling onto this one. It might happen.

So, what I should do:

a) Be a bit smarter and plan my training.
b) Start training from scratch.
c) Reinvigorate my diet again, in particular my portions.
d) Invest in physiotherapy and insoles.
e) Regularly hit the cross-trainer for HiiT.
f) Consider joining Scarborough AC (although they aren't so hot at replying to emails it seems!)

And so!

a) Although I have some patterns to my training, I am fearful of impact training on my muscles. Without having some protection in the form of (expensive) insoles, I refuse to begin any of the running schedules.

b) I want to 'do' the gym 3-4 times a week (if not a bit every day now it's the holidays.) For my mind and metabolism if nothing else. I also want to strengthen my quads and calves and ankles using the exercises and stretches shown to me. Having tried them a few times (such as simply moving onto my toes 12x3 sets) I can feel my calves tightening to the point of pain.

c) I generally eat healthily. I never eat fried takeaway food, and I eat an Indian or a fry-up only once a week. My breakfasts are great. And I never eat an entire pizza. However, two things have seen my weight balloon, and hence make running more difficult and me more injury-prone:
- I am far too lazy when it come to making food for the next day. I enjoy purchasing all my food at school. For breaktime I eat two cheese pizzas that have to be heavy as hell on calories (500-700+?) I now ask for fruit (!) Also, while I used to be smarter about my portions, that has entirely gone out the window. I happily consume 400g of mince, a jar of sauce etc. And I eat cheese with most meals, and more than a few bottles of beer. Quite how I reduce these portions depends on my lifestyle; as a lodger I am very limited to what foods I can store. That should change soon.

d) When I was younger I had NHS insoles for my shoes. Like with all things, I trained far harder than I should, and therefore pulled the muscles away from my shins. It was, frankly, traumatic, and make walking painful. It reduced the strength I had, and made me a 24.6 200m man into something nearer 27 (as I do now.) Now I've got an income, I hope that the investment (of £100s) should give me something that will build up my muscles again and change my gait. I am prepared for them to do near to nothing, though. But I have to try.



e) I am happy to continue to work out on the cross-trainer most days this holiday. But it only goes so far with the fitness.

f) I think joining Scarborough AC is long overdue!