This morning, I weighed 10st 7lbs. Which means I didn't lose any weight at all last week.
This was quite disappointing me for, obviously, but I'm still trying to be positive: at least I didn't put any weight back on!
It might be my body still adjusting to the shock of exercising every day (after the gluttony and laziness of December) or it could be the rest day and the cheat day from last week that dramatically slowed my progress.
Whatever it is, I'm going to continue with my program and see if there is any change this week.
I cycled to work and back (in a gale!) and then did a mini MOT on myself:
Blood pressure: 126/67
Heart rate: 62
The HR was raised a little high compared to previous weeks but I think that was because I was rushing around getting dinner ready!
Tonight was a weight-lifting night. I felt a bit of a twinge in the lower back during squats so I wore a lifting belt for the rest of the session and felt fine. A good sweaty hour of lifting with an additional 100 push ups, 100 tricep dips and 100 leg raises!
Tuesday
Cycled into work and back. I was aware of a bit of discomfort in the lower back. This was obviously a result of the squats from last night.
Tonight at the dojo, I turned up not in the mood. I felt a bit sick, very very hungry, and had a headache. However, after ten minutes of hard, fast basics, the adrenaline was pumping and I was fully engaged in the lesson. A strong finish featuring five different kata meant I went home sweaty and happy!
Wednesday
Cycled in to work. After a very demanding day with the students, I was glad to unwind at the staff circuit training session. Roger pushed us really hard tonight, no water break was longer than 45 seconds and we trained for an hour! We did lots of work with the skipping rope, loads with medicine balls, and over a dozen body weight exercises. Roger was kind enough to let me do the warm down for the group.
Everyone left very sweaty but happy!
I cycled home.
Thursday
Rest day!
I cycled to work and back but that it was it for exercise today. It still ate healthily and didn't have any lovely beer.
Friday
I couldn't use the bike for work today so I had to queue up with the rest of the cagers on the A34.
Tonight, I was glad to get in the dojo and do some hard and fast combinations with Sensei Gary, followed by some heavy bag work with Sensei Mark.
I love bag work - having a target for your kicks and punches is almost as much fun as actual sparring. Unfortunately, I struggled with the last exercise: we had to imagine the bag was an enemy and we had 5 seconds to go mental at it. I tried, but it was still just a bag to me! I gave it a few good digs anyway.
Saturday
Cheat day!
I got up early to get the run out of the way. I ran in the pouring rain for 56 minutes without stopping or walking. That's the longest I've ever been able to keep going. And at the end of it I felt fine and dandy!
For my second breakfast I decided a cheat day was in order so I had bacon and eggs!
The rest of the day was equally hedonistic: It was Jess's 17th birthday so the family celebrated at Jonnie's house. I drank beer and ate cake.
Later, my brother appeared from London and homemade curry and more beer was consumed.
In the evening, it was just me and my PS4...and more beer.
Sunday
I crawled out of bed and waited for the hangover to start. For some reason it didn't and I felt good!
After the unhealthiest breakfast imaginable (Cheerios, apple juice and a donut!) I rode off into the cold to see if Jonnie was playing out. He joined me in the lanes and we set off on our Honiley 40 route.
My back brake doesn't work. I hadn't realised, but the wet and muddy conditions had done a good job of wearing away my brake blocks at the back! How I failed to notice this last week, I have no idea. Oh well, I rode the day with only the front brake. (In his autobiography, which I'm reading at the moment, Chris Froome believes most of the crashes at the start of his career were caused by his over-use of the back brake. Apparently the front brake is the one we should be using while descending.)
When we got to Honiley, Jonnie and I found ourselves in the middle of an organised ride! There were lots of very serious riders, riding very closely together and pulling very closely in front of us (particularly on the climbs when I was trying to get past!) They shouted "CAR!" a lot, very very loudly and seriously. It turns it out it was these guys. My favourite part was watching them all trying to get past a flooded bit of country lane. Some of them carried their bikes and walked in a hedge, one chap stopped at the water's edge and proceeded to perform a spectacular 0mph clip crash onto the muddy tarmac. My favourite was a young lady who, seeing all this chaos, rode up and shouted, "Puddle!" She was deadly serious. Very helpful.
Jonnie and I just rode through it.
They actually stayed with us until we reached our cake stop in Wilmcote! Maybe they had been spying on my Honiley route on Strava and made a sportive out of it!?
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| Jonnie in the lanes. |
Homemade cake and fresh tea dispatched, we clambered back on the bikes for the last 15 miles uphill to home. We had to make a detour because of an impassable flood but this turned out to be a nice route and we might even keep it as part of the ride.
I eventually got off the bike rather sore after 43.30 miles at 13.8mph. Considering the ridiculous amount of standing water around, that wasn't too bad for a guy with one brake.
I visited mother in the afternoon and enjoyed homemade lemon drizzle cake. It really wasn't a day for healthy eating! I did, however, manage to resist a beer.
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