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.
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