Fat Belly Training - Week Three

Monday - 10st 7lbs
The pain was bad this morning. I couldn't drive, I couldn't even dress myself. Lucy drove me to college, where other members of staff suggested I really should consult a doctor. I called up my GP before lessons started and she told me to go and get an X-ray on my shoulder.
My first lesson of the day was in the gym where I supervised the construction lads lifting weights but frustratingly was unable to join in!
After work, Lucy dropped me off at A&E Solihull. I was there for exactly 3 hours - from 6.50 until 9.50. During that time, I witnessed two 16 year old victims of a mugging stagger in as well as a woman in her 50s in mega-high heels who had just fallen in the street. Worryingly, there was also a chav family who had brought in a toddler with a broken arm. The mother was screaming at an older man in a tracksuit that she was a good mother. And I quote: "I was only drinking Redbull! How can I be a bad mother? SHE'S WEARING A £50 COAT!"
Apparently, it doesn't matter if your child has broken bones as long as he or she is wearing expensive clothes. As might be expected, the hospital staff couldn't find the mother when it was time for the toddler's cast to be put on - she was outside smoking cigarettes.
Anyhoo, I was eventually X-rayed by a tiny Indian lady with cold hands, told I had nothing broken, given a leaflet, and booted out the door. Good news, then.

Tuesday
Nothing happened. I didn't go to the dojo. My shoulder hurts.

Wednesday
Enough is enough. No training = sad, so I put my running shoes on and jogged up and down the Stratford Road for 12 minutes. The shoulder hurt but not too badly. I can run!
I can drive! Lucy drove us to and from college but when we got back home I decided to test the arm and drove around the block. I made it, but reversing is a painful experience.

Thursday
More running, more healthy eating, no booze. Still losing weight!

Friday
I ran for 12 minutes. I then had oven chips with my salmon but I'm not counting them as junk food because of reasons.

Saturday
The arm felt fairly useful today, and the swelling has gone down slightly. It's starting to go yellow...
I found myself doing simple tasks with my left arm without wincing. I dropped Martha off at Sheldon Country Park and found that driving was getting easier too! Reversing is still painful though, unless I do it two-handed with mirrors like a learner. On the way home, I popped in to see Uncle Jonnie and borrow my Turbo trainer back from him. I have never actually used my turbo before, but was inspired after seeing a pic of RocketDog doing some indoor training. I went home hopeful that I could train in the house without the arm being an issue - surely if there are no corners and no hills, I won't have to use the left arm for much!?
Firstly, I got a run out of the way. It was the best run of the year so far. Only 12 minutes, but a good pace. I started and finished strongly. There was even the hint of a sprint for the last 20 seconds!
After a tin of tuna and a rest, it was time to set up my Elite Crono trainer. I hooked it up to the back of my Specialized, got the bib shorts and cleats on and I was off. I'd selected Haken's second album to listen to because it's over an hour long and I'd be training for at least an hour, right? Wrong! Turbo training is hard! I put the bike in 6th gear on the big ring to start with. After about 2 minutes of this, the legs were turning to jelly! I snapped it down to 5th and then 4th. I could just about hold it in 4th gear for 10 minutes and then dropped on to the little ring! I got back into the big ring a little later but could do no more than 20 minutes! (The main reason I had to give up, however, was that my willy had gone completely numb.) By this time, I was breathing hard, pulling Tommy Voeckler faces and had sweat running off my nose and chin! Awesome! I'll be doing this again.

Sunday - 10st 6lbs

I had a rough night's sleep with the shoulder keeping me awake.
A brisk walk in the park with the dogs cheered me up.
At home, I climbed on to the turbo and managed to thrash out 22 minutes, most of it in the big ring. I ended up sweaty with shaky legs afterwards - must be doing me some good, right?

A terrible photograph of me riding my turbo trainer (with a numb willy)

 

 

Week 3 - No junk food, no booze, exercise on 5 days, lost 1lb.

Fat Belly Training - Week Two

Monday
Cycled to work and back and then did an 11 minute run. At college today, I took my construction lads to the gym for an hour's workout. A couple of students worked drop sets with me on the bench press. By the time we went upstairs to do maths, I could barely lift my arm to write on the board! Felt awesome!

Tuesday
Cycled to work and back. Karate was great tonight - training with the brown and black belts and trying out some advanced freestyle stuff in a non-stop lesson.

Wednesday
My morning run was a little sketchy because of the icy conditions under foot! I managed 11 minutes without a rest and was glad to get back inside. I cycled to work and back. Wednesday night is Dungeons and Dragons night and when I had finally dropped off the last of the players it was after 10pm before I sat down to a huge bowl of casserole. I know it's bad to eat that late but I was too hungry to sleep on an empty stomach!

Thursday
Cycled to work and back. Ran for 11 minutes.

Friday
Cycled to work and back. I've been so very hungry at work today but still managed to resist the table full of junkfood in the staff room. Had two bananas and a handful of nuts for lunch. As soon as I've lost enough weight I'll increase my food intake at work. Back at home, I did my first proper weigh-training session of the year:  I had a go at squats, overhead presses, shrugs, front raises, side raises and curls. Obviously, I wasn't moving the same weight as I was at the end of the summer but it felt great to be lifting something! I finished off the session with 5 minutes of stretching. I was a little disappointed to find that my shoulder started to hurt towards the end of the session. How long do these injuries take to heal!? I swallowed some Ibuprofen and applied a bag of frozen peas. Tonight, I considered having a beer but I'm glad I was able to resist - I'd have only regretted it the next day.

Saturday
Dojo was awesome this morning. Another lesson with no kata - nothing but combinations. I felt that I was strong and reasonably fast, but I did make quite a few mistakes in the combinations. Training at 8.30 may be too early for this old man's memory! Next, I did 90 minutes of walking with the dogs. It was very cold in the park but beautiful in the sunshine. In the afternoon, my desire for something sweet and/or a beer was actually affecting my mood. We still have plenty of chocolate, cakes and ale in the house and today I was barely able to resist. I got a bit sad and restless. If the weather conditions had been better I would have gone out on the road bike. Instead of giving in to my urges, I cheered myself up by reading X-Men comics whilst listening to drum and bass tunes. Worked a treat!

Sunday
Well, this could be the end of training.
The day started splendidly with porridge and coffee and bright sunshine pouring through the windows of my man-cave. The day was very cold (0 degrees), but as soon as I defrosted the car and loaded the bike, I was on the way to pick up Jonnie. We arrived at Deadly Dan's house and the three of us headed off on our mountain bikes. It was immediately obvious that the tarmac was treacherously slippery due to ice. I was very glad to get onto the mud and grass of the Lickey Hills. We met up with RocketDog and three other chaps. The seven of us followed Gary around some very challenging downhill trails, Jonnie and I struggling to keep up with the three fat bikes leading the way. Indeed, one hill was too much for Jonnie and me and we ended up walking down. ( I tried to ride it but fell off fairly soon. At least the landing was soft.)
After a good sweaty climb, the seven of us found ourselves back at the visitor's centre. The next stop was the Waseley Hills! Unfortunately, as we were heading down the road out of the visitor's centre, my bike cannondaled on the ice and slipped out from under me. Jonnie was behind me and saw the whole thing. He said that as I was falling, it looked like I decided against putting my arm out and landed on my shoulder instead. (Maybe I was trying to do a Ju-Jitsu breakfall and land on my back? Is it possible that I'd remember it after all these years?) I came down very hard. It knocked the stuffing out of me and I sat in the road for a while making pathetic noises while Dan tried to get me up. I eventually made it on to the grass where we decided that I hadn't broken anything and was alright to carry on. Except that after a few hundred metres it was clear that I wasn't alright. I could barely put any pressure on the arm at all and couldn't pull back on the handlebars. Any offroading was out of the question. I signalled to Jonnie that we'd have to turn back. We rode the remaining 3.5 miles back to the car and Jonnie drove me home.
Back at home, Jonnie and I enjoyed a morning beer each while I stretched out on the couch. Later, the NHS Helpline told me that I hadn't broken anything and to just take some painkillers for the next 72 hours.

Well, my training plan is now useless. At the present level of pain I won't be able to ride, run, take part in martial arts or lift weights. It's a huge blow and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't absolutely gutted. Nothing feels better than eating well, training hard and earning a good night's rest. Now, I'll be reduced to a couch potato for at least a few weeks. I won't be ready for the Mad March Hare sportive and that makes me sad.

Oh, I'm now 10st 7lbs.

Week 2: exercise every day, no junkfood, beer on Sunday, lost 2 lbs.

Fat Belly Training - Week One

When I returned from holiday last year, I was 9st 10lbs. When I weighed myself at the start of this year I was 10st 13lbs of flabby 40 year old. That means that due to my injuries, illness and general gluttony over Christmas, I had put on a staggering 17lbs!

On March the 1st, Fast Ant, Uncle Jonnie, Roger the Engineer and SidneyBear will be joining me on the Mad March Hare - a 65 mile ride down to the Cotswolds and back. In order to do a little better than a 12mph average and to actually enjoy the ride, I thought a bit of training was in order. And so it was that after the final ale and slice of cake of the Christmas holiday had been consumed, my training began in earnest on the 5th of January (when I returned to work!)


Monday 10st 13lbs

It was a bit of a shock to the system not having bacon and eggs for breakfast. I forced the cereal down and cycled in to work. That evening, after I had cycled back, I went out for a brief run in the dark. I don't work in miles, rather in minutes. As the weeks go by, I will increase the amount of time I can run without stopping. Tonight it was 10 whole minutes!

Tuesday 10st 10lbs

Where did 3lbs go!? According to my brother, I've lost weight through water loss. The guy knows a lot more about fitness than I do...
I cycled to work and back and then went for the first martial arts session of the year. I came out feeling good!

Wednesday
Just another 10 minute run - this time at 7.20am before breakfast, still asleep on my feet. The good news is, I didn't have a heart attack.

Thursday
Cycled to work and back. Another 10 minute run: this time with Martha. It's always nice to have company. She runs a little slowly but she never seems out of breath. I'll suggest speeding up if she starts running regularly with me. At the moment, it's just great that she's out of the house and training!

Friday
Cycled to work and back. I was looking forward to my first weight training session of the year. Unfortunately, I had left my weights bar at work! ( I use it in the gym lesson I take with the lads on the construction course.) A little disheartened, I did a half hour of dumbbell exercises with some bodyweight stuff thrown in. Still not satisfied, I forced myself out for another 10 minute run in the dark. Not having a Friday night beer seemed like some sort of cruel and unusual punishment, but I got through it.

Saturday
By this point, I'm waking up feeling better than I had for about 3 months! I was wide awake and ready for action as soon as my head left the pillow. I walked the dogs with Mouse and then put 2 IKEA shelving units together (without swearing!) I went for another run and managed 14 minutes without stopping.
We had a party at our house. A party with real ale and pudding. Again, it felt like torture to not indulge in my favourite unhealthy things, especially when I poured one of my own beers for Uncle Jonnie! I stuck to fizzy water, tea and no pudding...

Sunday 10st 9lbs

It was icy when Roger, Jonnie and I headed out on our road bikes this morning. I was using cleats for only the second time in my life. The lads bore witness to me struggling to get in and out of the pedals - I'm really failing to get the hang of it. If there was an emergency, there is no way I could get a foot free. I would just have to look for somewhere soft to land!

The first seven miles or so were fine. Then we began to notice more and more ice on the roads. My back wheel tried to slip out and so did Jonnie's. Roger may have been experiencing the same difficulties but if the did, he didn't say anything! He just applied rule #5 and vanished over the horizon. Near the end of the ride we encountered cyclists shouting to us from the other side of the road to take it easy - some of them had fallen on the ice. I was very glad to get home after a very tense, very slow 22 miles.
In the afternoon, Martha and I went to the dojo for a good, hard techniques and kata lesson!
Upon my return, Lucy laughed at how fat my belly looked in my gi (karate uniform). At least she now admits that I'm overweight and she may even stop buying breakfast biscuits for my lunch!
I've lost 4lbs this week. I'm happy about that. If I lose only 1lb per week from now on I'll be satisfied.

Week one: no junkfood, no alcohol, exercise everyday, loss of 4lbs.