Wednesday 18-03-14 Gym Bunny

I’ve never thought of myself as a gym bunny. I was a member of the gym at work a number of years ago, but after a few months I developed a serious cold that knocked me out of action for a couple of weeks, and I never went back.

TW has offered to get me membership of Worthing Leisure, or Southdowns Leisure for some time, and each time I’ve said yes, I am interested, but she never followed through and actually signed me up. Until a couple of weeks ago, that is, when there was a free signing up Saturday.

As a concession member (the kids had already signed up, so TW & I signed up separately and because we live at the same address we get a partial discount), it costs £39 per month for each of us. If we are still using the membership at the end of the year, when the kids’ membership lapses, we’ll probably sign up for a family membership.

The first class I went to was a “weight loss boot camp”. There were about seven or eight of us doing 50 seconds of exercise with a ten second changeover. It was overwhelming; the exercises were done at quite a pace and there wasn’t much time to pick up the correct way to perform the exercises. Luckily TW was there to see me straight. It was quite a shock, and certainly different from running; with running, I can set my own pace, and just detach myself, not really thinking about much at all except the rhythm of running. With short sharp bursts of exercise, I was worried whether I was doing the right sort of bends, were my hips supposed to stay face on?, was I supposed to stretch behind my head?, could I balance like that? But I made it through, and actually felt good for doing it.

I can’t think what happened then, but I didn’t do any classes or go running for the rest of the week. I think it was due to the snow and extreme cold. Then I cricked my neck, so I missed the next week. But by Saturday I was ready for another class, and so we signed up for Body Balance. I think I mentioned this in a post last week. It’s a mix of tai chi, yoga and pilates. The class was quite full, and we were standing in front of a mirror wall. Some of the class were obviously experts and able to pull off the poses and stretches effortlessly, striking an aesthetically pleasing and solid stance. They were a most impressive sight in the mirror. Unfortunately, as the class went on, the pleasing zen-like movements were marred by my sweaty red-faced wobbling in the background. The class did get harder as it went on, and although I found it tough, I did enjoy it and we are going back. I have discovered though, that my body leaves a lot to be desired and I have no balance.

Next time I think I’ll cover the circuits class I went to on Monday night. It was a lot harder than I was expecting, but again, I think I am going to go back. I do ache a bit, I’ve done three classes in five days, which is quite intense for me, but they’ve been enjoyable so far. If I can build the classes into my routine, I may even keep it up, who knows?

TTFN.

Wednesday 17-01-04 The Dentist

I had to go back to the dentist today. I had a check-up on my last working day of 2016, and he told me I needed a filling. I agreed to have it immediately but unfortunately it was in one of my back teeth and it felt like he was drilling into my head. He gave me some anaesthetic, but I could still feel the drilling, it was still painful. I think the air blowing across my sensitive teeth didn't help much either, but probably the main agent fighting the anaesthetic was the alcohol in the cans of beer I drank the night before. He managed to drill nearly halfway to the fissure that needed cleaning out and filling, and gave me some more anaesthetic, but it wasn't working. Eventually he gave up, filled in the hole with a temporary filling, and asked me to come back.

So for the Christmas period I was quietly dreading my return visit to the dentist, hoping that I would be able to handle the filling. I pootled down there today and sat in the chair, and again I took the anaesthetic. He drilled and it was painful again, but I think I was managing okay. The dentist realised though that it was the machinery (the drill and the air) which was the issue, and so he abandoned those and carried on with just a scraper. He got into the fissure and cleaned it, and then filled it. I was pleased he was able to complete the filling, and pleased that I didn't need to have a general anaesthetic or something along those lines.

Of course my mouth was numb for the rest of the afternoon, but that is it for another six months. I will be using floss and interdental sticks a lot more than I have been. Hopefully I can avoid another filling for another couple of years...

Illness and Frailty

Child No. 2 was sick this week. And by 'sick' I mean we awoke to the sound of vomiting on Monday morning. Her little six-year old body was wracked with vomiting 10 times in three and a half hours. And then, as quickly as it came, it went. We'll never know what caused it. And I got to work from home on Tuesday because the school insists on a 48 hour quarantine.
In other news, I banjaxed my neck on Friday morning and have been suffering since. It's on the mend now, but I'm taking it as a sign that need to get running again.

Running III

So I continue to amaze myself. We stayed up until 23:30 last night, And I was up at 05:45 ready to go for a run. I'd had a bit of drink taken, but not overly so (and I reckon my unit intake was lower than The Wife's), but I was still surprised to be awake and ready to go.

And this time I decided to extend my run, to a whole 1.24 miles. Again, I ran the entire distance (except for a short stop while crossing the road, to let a car past). I maintained my average running speed at 10m19s per mile; a bit slow, I know, but I'm hoping this will come down as the weeks go on. 

In addition, I'm hoping to push out the distance I run, slowly so that I don't stop or have to take breaks. I may even get up to 20 or 25 minutes running - we'll have to see.

But tomorrow I'm off to the in-laws for a long weekend, so I won't get to run until Weds. Boo!

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

Running

First run in years. I think the last time was with Caroline while we lived in Kemptown, so pre-2003.
One mile in eleven minutes, not great. Room for improvement. And if I'm less wheezy next time, that would be good...

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site