Fitness

Selfish post coming up. More of a diary or training entry than anything really.

The long road back to fitness and no-fatness (or at least less fatness) has begun in the last few weeks. I have been exercising semi-regularly, with a few lunch time swims, a few gym sessions and a handful of stout, steep, sweaty walks up The Peak, either relatively fast on my own, or a slower power workout pushing a buggy with one or, even on one occasion, two kids in it! It is pretty steep in parts and pushing almost 50kgs of child and buggy plus dragging my own 88+ kilos of lard ass up a hill in 30+ degree heat and 90+% humidity is pretty tough! However the views are stupendous at times and the great feeling of escaping from Hong Kong's population crush is liberating. Once back on flatter land, with the heartbeat slowed down sufficiently, the endorphins kick in and a great feeling of smug satisfaction greets you. However, no matter than I might feel great, no one else wants to get too close to me to share the joy and love because by the time I have even gone half way, you could wring me out, put me on a line and then a wind tunnel before I might stop sweating and start to dry off! That's a funny thing about exercise, no one really cares that you have done it except yourself. Hearing about other people's workouts nauseates me and often promotes self-loathing.
The lunch time swims are in a 50m pool. And I am finding them tough, not least because I am hungry, tired and its in the midday sun. It does not sound like much to complain about, but believe me, without a coach, some other whippersnapper there that you want to beat, or the dread of performing badly in an upcoming event, it is pretty hard to motivate oneself. However, I think I have a more mature approach to exercise now, as I head towards late-30s - it is hard enough to get out and do your exercise often enough, so one might as well work hard when one does manage to do it, but within the limits of fitness, age and body! After tens of millions of metres in the pool in a lifetime I know my body well enough to know what is too much, but I also know when I am just going though the motions and it is time to give myself a kick up the backside.
I have been reasonably pleased with progress. I am starting to "feel" better in the water, I can go longer distances without seizing up or talking myself out of it. Whilst the distances are short in comparison to the long distance sessions of my teenage hey days, c. 2000m vs6000-8000m behemoths, they feel good and there is room for one or two decent sets, as well as a warm up and cool down. I was pleased two weeks ago to do some 100s turning on 1.50, touching in the 1.30-1.35 bracket. I think I did 6 that day. This week I did 8x100s on 1.40, touching all around 1.25. Today I decided to lay down a 1500m marker and then try and do one every 3-4 weeks and check on progress. Nothing amazing, but a 22.45. That is 1.31s per hundred, quite steady, without too much lactic acid build up. I would like to try and take 30-45 seconds out of that on the next timed swim in a few weeks as hopefully I get fitter stronger and lighter/slimmer!

So, a post-Millennium 1500m long course PB! The first of many I hope.

Here's to keeping it up over the coming weeks, months and years!

The Achilles still are daffied and I have accepted I will never be able to do long distances of running - i.e, more than about 4kms!!! But I can walk and still jump around with my kids and that is what matters, not the narcissistic/mid-life crisis/must challenge myself and recreate my youth that many blokes my age and older are going through.

Long may it continue.