Fat Loss Training - Week 7

Monday

Hard to believe, but after all last week's debauchery I have continued to lose weight and have now hit my weight loss target six weeks in a row!

Anyway, it's my birthday. I cycle in to work, have a nice day at college, and then cycle home. Today, I have a rest day for the first time since August. When I get home, I don't pick up the weights! Instead, I crack a beer, have dinner with family, open loads of presents, and eat cake!

Beer, junkfood, no exercise 

Tuesday

I cycled in to work, did some work stuff, and then cycled home. At the dojo, I was put in charge of the beginners and white belts. It's an almost impossible task to keep them all on task and paying attention at the same time. Give me a group of brown belts any day!

In the advanced session, we did some sparring. I managed to go toe to toe with the other black belt and was pleased to keep up with him despite his being several decades younger! I managed to tag him a few times and was definitely ahead on points. However, when Sensei came over to watch, my opponent bashed me with a spectacular spinning backfist! Oh well, I must keep training harder!

Back home for a huge bowl of beef chilli and no booze.

No alcohol, no junkfood, Karate

Wednesday

In the car today. Lots to do at work. Happily my GCSE lessons are now becoming a lot more fun. The kids are getting to know each other, and getting to know me too. We got loads of work done and had a bit of a laugh.

Off to the gym with James after lessons. I wasn't feeling particularly strong during the first six exercises, but by the time I got to the bench press I was aware that I had a bit more energy left. I felt fresh and ready. James and I built the weights up with each set, putting on 5kg each time.

Eventually, with James calling out each rep, I manged to beat my all-time personal record for the bench press, just two days after I turned 51. I went home feeling a bit shocked and rather smug!

After college, Lucy and I popped into Halford's so I could sit on some commuting bikes. The 16" seemed perfect, but so did the 18" frame!

At home, Mouse and Hydro had cooked a fabulous curry, and also a potato curry. Unfortunately, there wasn't much left. I went to bed hungry.

No alcohol, no junkfood, weight training

Thursday

In the car today because we did a big shop after work. Back at home, I did an hour of weight training and then had some beers with dinner. Cheers!

Booze, no junkfood, weight training

Friday

Not a good day for my training plan! Lucy and I used the car for work. After work, we joined Jonnie, Sally and Harry for drinks and then dinner at the local curry house. I even had poppadoms at the start and ice cream at the end!

Then Lucy and I wobbled home for even more drinks...

Booze, junkfood, no exercise

Saturday

I woke up with a bit of a headache. After breakfast, and a trip to the local Post Office, I settled in the man cave to begin marking diagnostic assessments in English and mathematics. It was a long process...

In the afternoon, I was very glad to have a break and get ready for Karate. I didn't have the car so I cycled up to the dojo. Today's session was a difficult one, having students from white belt to brown belt, but we managed to fit in kihon, kata and kumite with two helpings of pad work to keep everyone engaged.

However, one of my purple belts was struggling during kata and I was finding it hard to motivate him. After the lesson, he asked me how kata was meant to make someone a better fighter (he is mainly interested in kumite competition). I explained that kata strengthens the body and focuses the mind. I also explained that it was a way of training alone when there is no partner to spar with. I asked him to always do his best in kata and to apply himself fully - in that way he will take much more from the forms and techniques each kata contains. I hope to see a change in his attitude to kata over the coming weeks and months.

Anyway, back home for more marking. I managed to get more than halfway through the pile of marking before Lucy served dinner. I had marked all mathematics papers and all reading papers. Tomorrow I will have to tackle the writing papers and then finally the massive GCSE English papers! Can I get it done before Monday? Probably not.

After dinner, we had Dodgy Debbie round so we watched Black Sabbath's final concert and had a few (several) drinks. Debbie and I stayed up late to watch the Guns N Roses concert at the Ritz filmed for MTV in 1988. It was awesome, they were even better than I remembered, and I felt like I was 14 again!

Booze, no junkfood, Karate

Sunday

I woke up feeling awful.

After some toast and coffee, I was ready to try to ride my bike. However, I was quite prepared to make my excuses and turn around after a few miles. As it turned out, almost as soon as I'd covered a few miles with the lads I started to feel better. Exercise and banter with your mates: A fantastic medicine!

Jonnie suffered a puncture after about 6 miles. After this was sorted, we carried on at a relaxed pace with the sun in our eyes and the wind in our faces. After we had tackled the main road to Coughton, the wind was at our backs and we trundled along nicely.

Puncture repair in action

After a while we encountered a 10K running event on closed roads. We were allowed to ride on the road, which was very nice of the people running the thing. Unfortunately, most of the 'runners' were walking. And had those bloody earphones in, so couldn't hear Jonnies ding-a-ling as we approached. It took a while to get through them all!

We arrived at Wilmcote and were met with fantastic chocolate cake and above-average coffee. It was a lovely warm afternoon when we set off home via the Petticoat Route in reverse. On the mile long climb I offered my wheel to Jonnie and Mark but I was told to carry on. I then had great fun hanging on to the back of James' wheel as he whooshed up the hill. We made it to the top smiling and breathless.

We had a relaxed attitude to the rest of the ride and we were happy to watch our average speed dwindle down in favour of chats and banter. Today's sprint was won by Mark. He hung on to my wheel and then sprinted away at the end of the climb - just as a good fastman should. I couldn't close the gap in time.

Back at home: lunch, ironing, marking papers, beer and one of the best dinners Lucy has ever produced - some sort of creamy mushroom and chicken affair with crushed potatoes and lemon. Awesome.

Beers, cake, 40 miles of cycling

In summary, another awful week as far as fitness is concerned, but another great week to be with family and friends!