Week 16 - 0% chance of Rain

Monday

After work, Luke and I travelled over to Wilmcote to move some furniture for Jane. On the way back, we accidentally went to the pub to enjoy some HPA on tap! My wonderful wife had a homemade curry ready for when I got back home!

No exercise, no junkfood, beers

Tuesday

Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol

Wednesday

Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol

Thursday

Lucy and I used the car for work. It was open day at the college and we stayed late until 7pm. After work, the family went along for dinner at The Fieldhouse. I sampled some good beers and had a proper giggle. The only downside was that there was simply no time to exercise.

No exercise, no junkfood, booze

Friday

I got to the dojo early and used the time to get a sweat on using the heavy bag. My left knee is still very tender so I concentrated on punches, elbows and mawashi geri using my right leg (not my favourite leg.) This evening's Karate session was run by Sensei Ronnie. After I led the warm-up, I was asked to teach the white belts. I like coaching, but unfortunately it means that I don't get to train! I led them through basics followed by kata followed by some pad work. Back at home, the wife was already on the wine, so I decided to have some beers with my dinner!

Karate, no junkfood, 3 beers

Saturday

Up at 6am to drop Mouse at the train station. It was a gloriously sunny start to the day but very cold - literally freezing at zero degrees.

At home, I used Youtube to find some heavy bag drills. I didn't restrict myself to Karate: I found some interesting boxing and Muay Thai drills too. I intend to try them out with my group this afternoon.

After dropping Lucy at the train station, I walked Freddie in the sunshine. The park was rather busy even though it was a very cold day. Home for lunch.

My Saturday Karate lesson was well attended by some fantastic young people ready to train hard for their grading. Sensei Gary came to have a look at their kata skills and then set instructions for the session before bowing out. I mentally binned my lesson plan and started a kata session! The standard was good but we worked hard to make it better!

At the end of the session, we did managed to do some of the heavy bag drills I'd been looking at earlier in the day. The students seemed to enjoy it and left in a good mood. The only downside to today's session was one of the family members of a late arrival who wanted to stay to watch. She was playing noisy videos on her phone - even when we kneeled to bow at the end of the lesson! Rather disrespectful...

At home, Tilly and Jake came round to watch Doctor Who. Then they stayed to talk all the way through Strictly Come Dancing. I stayed sober and grumpy.

Karate, no junkfood, no alcohol

Sunday

It was a cold day, at zero degrees when I left the house. Happily, there was no frost or signs of ice on the roads. The four of us set off along our Nutbush High Cross route. It was very quickly apparent that keeping my road bike in the garage for a month had done it no good at all. The headset was a little stiff which affected my ability to lean the bike over in the corners - it turned in straight lines instead of a smooth arc. I fiddled about with the bike with the help of James and Roger, but I had rounded one of the bolts so it was fairly fruitless. I struggled on and took it easy on the bends.

According to BBC Weather, there was absolutely no chance (0%) of rain this morning. It started raining at about 9:30 and by the time we reached Wilmcote we were fairly soaked. My new gloves performed fantastically well in the conditions so my hands were okay. My feet were a bit chilly however. Jonnie was suffering with his hands and had a hard time warming up at the cakestop.

We ate lovely chocolate cake (my first sugary junk food for a month), James gave us some great news, we chatted to Yvonne and Jane, and then we reluctantly stepped outside again. It felt even colder now than when we had arrived! I was eager to get going and keep the pace high in order to warm up. I had to find the right balance of speed and not dropping anyone as we went along. 

About 7 miles from home, Jonnie's bike suffered a puncture to the front tyre. Roger actually helped him find the thorn and then put a new tube in. James and I had a chat and made unhelpful comments.

Jonnie and Roger fixing the bike. I helped by taking selfies.

We got back after 34 miles with a careful average of a little over 13mph. As cold and wet as I was, I made time to clean and lube the bike before putting it away. 

In the evening, Jane came over for dinner and I enjoyed a few ales!

Cycling, junkfood, beers

Summary

Needless to say, with two days without exercise and plenty of beer, this week was a training fail!