Week 11 - Celebrating Life

Monday

Well, the inspectors didn't visit my classroom but they did have a look at Lucy's lesson. As expected, she received a glowing report.

In the evening, I joined my wife in a party for two.

No exercise, junkfood, booze

Tuesday

Back in training!

Today I did an hour of weight training, didn't eat rubbish food and stayed off the booze.

Weight lifting, no junkfood, no alcohol

Wednesday

I cycled in to work and back. As soon as I got home, I set about lifting some weights. About 50 minutes in to the session, I set up my barbell for overhead press (military press.) I was on the very last set of 12 reps when I discovered that my arms wouldn't do as I asked them. I simply didn't have the strength to move the bar above my ears. I set it down in disbelief. It had only been a couple of weeks since I had been performing OHPs at the same weight. I gave my self a stretch for a couple of minutes and then tried again. Nope, I managed about 7 before my arms stopped working. That was the end of weight training for the day!

No exercise, no junkfood, no booze

Thursday

At about 3am I woke up with a bit of a nasty pain in my neck and shoulders. It was such that I was unable to move my head for a little while. Eventually, things started to loosen a little and I could get my head off the pillow. I'd obviously done some damage to myself trying to reach for that last set of overhead presses. I got back to sleep eventually.

In the morning, I decided a rest day was in order so got in the car with Lucy. 

No exercise, no junkfood, no booze.

Friday

My neck and shoulders were still aching, so no exercise for me. After work, Lucy and I went to visit Jonnie and Sally for a little while. Jonnie and I had a beer. I continued the beer drinking when I got home...

No exercise, no junkfood, beers

Saturday

Today was the day of Eric's Celebration of Life. We had an open house all day with loads of lovely family and friends coming and going. I ducked out of the house in the afternoon to teach my karate lesson.

And what a lesson it was! I pushed the young people really hard - plenty of fast-paced kicks followed by full-on kata. They responded brilliantly and I was proud of them. We finished, as always, on the heavy bag.

Back at the celebration, even more people had arrived! I jumped back in the car to fetch Lily who was promptly whisked upstairs by the girls. She missed the entire gathering! As the celebration came to an end, I dropped my mate Paul and his wife back to their hotel and then took Lily back. I eventually flopped into an armchair at 11:30pm. Everyone else still awake was well into their cups! I had a glass and a half of red wine before dragging myself off to bed.

Karate, no junkfood, a bit of wine

Sunday

Cycling in the lanes with Roger, James and Jonnie. In order to avoid some flooding in the local area, we headed off on our Bushwood start and then headed south down the Widowmaker in Langley. We all noticed how the roads had been strewn with mud and gravel by the recent heavy rains. There was a nerve-racking moment during the descent off the Widowmaker when I turned a corner to find the road lumpy with rutted mud and stones. There was a 4x4 on my back wheel and I had no choice to brake slowly and hope the driver noticed (we don't have brake lights on bikes...)

Happily, I made it down okay and then Jonnie and I followed James and Roger climbing up Langley Road. We didn't catch them, in fact they increased the distance! They were kind enough to wait at the junction.

At the cakestop, we watched India vs New Zealand and had some disappointing cream cakes left over from last night's party. We took the shortest route home, getting wet socks and dirty bikes in the process.  36 miles at 13.8mph.

At home, after cleaning and lubricating the bicycle, I received a message asking me to cover the Sunday evening Karate class. It was a full class with no other instructors there. I decided to work on fitness and kata. By the end of the session, everyone had performed at least 6 kata at full speed and done almost 50 kicks, plus basic blocks up and down the hall! Everyone seemed to be getting stuck in and showed the correct attitude.

Back at home, I decided it was beer o'clock! Cheers!

Cycling, Karate, junkfood, beers