Category: Cross training

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Running nowhere, slowly

On 14sep, Daren called to invite me to do the double downhill loop, after a long absence. I did actually have a plausible reason for not being able to go, but what terrified me was that I was so out of shape, given a decline in motivation to even climb aboard the running machine, that the loop might actually have finished me off!

When we’re completely stuck like that, it pays to find a way to do something rather than nothing, and something which is simple enough that you can do it regularly.

My simple something was essentially ‘running for coffee’.

My hob-top quadspresso machine takes just under 4 minutes to brew and for many years I have used that time in the morning to do some simple qigong breathing and stretching exercises, along with a tiny bit of yoga, before sitting to enjoy the coffee.

But I often have one or two more cups when I’m working at home, and it struck me that I could use that time to gently run on the spot. I reasoned that this was about as friction-free as it’s possible to get, in terms of exercise… and that if I couldn’t manage something this simple, then there was likely to be a more fundamental problem!

I started that day with two cups of coffee, and have managed to keep it up across the intervening 7 weeks, sometimes setting a timer for four minutes when I didn’t fancy a coffee. However, I’ve not been slavish about doing it every day as, for example, it’s not so easy to do in front of other people when I’m on campus.

Using my dodgy mental arithmetic, I reckon that 63 stationary runs equates to around 3 hours of running… not bad considering that I would otherwise simply be waiting for my coffee!

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More absence

Last weekend I was still feeling limp and lifeless as the lurgi continued morphing into different symptoms and into its fifth week, so there was no running to be seen anywhere.

However, as a direct result of this post we wandered up to Bedrock Music to buy 24 new guitar strings and while we were there, Kim traded up in the bongo department, from

 to 

To the percussive sounds of a grinning Kim, I then set about removing old strings, oiling fret-boards (with the lemon oil that Lucas mentioned), cleaning, and eventually restringing all three guitars.

There were ten or fifteen wilderness years where I hardly played my guitars and my strings probably did not get replaced at all during this time, or maybe only when my Bro took pity on them on the rare occasions that he was across from the States.

Since deciding to start playing again I have had the strings replaced by Steve at Bedrock or by my good friend Andrew, so this was the first time I had done this task for maybe 15 or 20 years!

I didn’t make as neat a job as Andrew (who is a perfectionist), but the guitars all have a bright sound again and I really enjoyed the process so will definitely be doing it again in the future!  Andrew recently gave me a book of Jazz standards, so I have been patiently trying to twist my fingers into knots for a few weeks now… my resilience is paying off as it now takes me only ten minutes to play the initial 60-second track!

The week that ended in Easter was a really busy one for me and seemed super-long despite only being four days.  So this week I thought I would try taking an additional day off!  Yesterday Kim and I drove down to the amazing Goodwood Sculpture Park and wandered through the woods enjoying the sculptural creativity… it really is a most amazing place.

As we neared the end of the trail there was a tell-tale crack of thunder and a few spots of rain so we retired to the luxurious Goodwood Hotel for a substantial lunch.  When we finally emerged much later in the afternoon, stuffed to the gunnels, the sky was clear and there were deep puddles of water everywhere… our timing had clearly been excellent!

Neither of us could face any further food last night, but in an ad break around ten o’clock we managed to  do another HIT session, the second this week.  It’s amazing that you can schedule a meaningful fitness regime into the time it takes to make a cup of tea, whilst the ensuing heat rush could save a fortune on your utility bills!

The percussive backing track that has become a normal part of life here has quietened momentarily, while Kim taps away on the keys of her laptop, so it’s time to twist my fingers into knots again on those new strings!

By the way, good luck to all you mad people running the Brighton and Paris marathons tomorrow… I won’t be there but I will be thinking of you!  I might even take my runners for a spin in your honour!

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Sprung

With the clocks springing forward yesterday, it was back to peering into the coffee pot to see the water level after a dark 6am start this morning.  But the last time it was this dark was the 1st March, so it’s taken less than four weeks to gain an hour of morning light.  With longer days on the menu it’s difficult to feel anything other than excellent!

With the onset of beautiful weather we spent most of the weekend working in the garden, but based on my HIT experience on Saturday I decided not to run yesterday.  We did the three 20-second burst of running, but each time it felt like it was 10 seconds too long… I was totally exhausted afterwards!

The garden is looking pretty neat though, with the table out for the summer and already used twice, whilst the tea-house has a new carpet courtesy of Kim.

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The lurgi blues

Oh my, the winter lurgi this year was a minger, with a razor-blade sore throat and days of incessant coughing.  Loads of people have had it already and no-one seems to have a good word about it… and if you’ve not had it, then it’s one to avoid at all costs!

Thankfully mine is on the exit ramp now, so I will hopefully be back in my runners next weekend.

Kim and I did manage another training HIT on the 13th and my fitness had already improved sufficiently to bring my knees up while I ran wildly on the spot… thankfully out of the public view!  Even after just 60 seconds of exercise I was SO hot, but there is definitely a benefit to be gained.

It’s a very rare thing for me to ask for sponsorship (and I’m not breaking that habit now either), but my good friend Daren is going to be running the 50-mile Paris Ecotrail next weekend and he is collecting for a brilliant charity that he started in memory of his brother, Clive.  The charity encourages young people to go on adventures… a little like the TMB clallenge that Daren and I went on in the summer, the link for which is on the menu above.

So even if you don’t know Daren but you can spare a couple of quid, please donate to a really great cause at http://www.justgiving.com/Daren-Packham – Thank you very much!

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Minute three

We’ve just done our third HIT session and all I can say is that I’m glad each segment is no longer than 20 seconds, and that there are only three of them!

I guess that our natural instinct is to hold back something in reserve, and we can only overcome this default setting because of the short durations involved.  At the rate I was pushing, arms and legs pumping away like a steam train on full tilt, I would flat out on the floor even at 30 seconds!

Having only completed three minutes of exercise in the last nine days, it’s possibly too early to look for signs of progress… but it’s fair to say that none are yet apparent!

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Avoiding the circuit breakers

One of the reasons that people often end up breaking their New Year resolutions is the way that the mind works… or should I say, minds.  Our subconscious is basically a series of computers which manage local services within our body.  They react to both internal and external stimuli, but otherwise they quite simply execute habitual behaviour.

Our habitual behaviour (aka habit) towards the end of a year is generally eating and drinking to excess and doing little exercise… a line of computer code that our subconscious is happy to run for us.

When New Year comes and our conscious decides that we’re going to diet and exercise more, the subconscious is still trying to run the old line of code, so there’s a little battle of willpower.  In most people, the subconscious is way more resilient, having had years of getting its own way and at some point, maybe in February or March, we pause our exercise routine for some reason and forget to get back to it.  At lest until our next reminder when the swimsuit comes out of the cupboard in the summer.

Meanwhile the subconscious goes back to running its old line of code and when we realise that our new routine has lapsed we often get frustrated or depressed, all of which the subconscious wraps into its memory of that new diet and exercise behaviour… essentially making it harder to get back to in the future.

To overcome this cyclical frustration we must simply approach the challenge in a different way.

First, we must accept that the new behaviour of dieting and going to the gym will definitely lapse.  For sure!  So there is no point in getting upset about it.

Second, we should recognise that we won’t pick up on the fact that it has lapsed, at least to start with, so once again we should not be upset with ourselves when we do finally realise.

Third, we should just pick up again where we left off.  In doing this we are essentially offering up a new line of code for the subconscious computer to run.  It will eventually adopt this new code as a default behaviour, although you will undoubtedly have to go around the circuit… lapse, realise and re-present, lapse, realise and re-present… a number of times first.

Except for one week, we have so far managed to stick with the Monday circuits class this year and have even started to add our extra minute from time to time… an indication that the subconscious likes the dopamine rush that exercise gives.  Our good intentions will undoubtedly lapse at some point, as other things distract us, but when they do, you now know exactly what we’ll be doing about it.

Last night there was a round of applause for Peter, whose birthday it is this week.  He quietly works his way around the exercises just like everyone else and has apparently been coming for quite some time.  I think his conscious must be quite resilient though, compared to many people, since he will turn 83 tomorrow.

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Minute two

Sitting here PANTING after our second minute of HIT (High Intensity Training).

My goodness, what an amazing workout!  Though my body clearly didn’t register the sports-scientists assertion that you can do it without sweating… I am HOT!

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One minute of exercise

If anyone could have looked into our kitchen just now, they would have seen both Kim and I running on the spot, flat out, arms and legs working like dirling whirvishes.

And not once, or even twice, but three times, for 20 seconds each time, with a couple of minutes for recovery in between!

We must have looked really silly!

This is further to the Horizon programme last night (previous post), which showed that people can gain a demonstrably positive health effect from doing just one minute of exercise in this way, three times a week.

We don’t have a cycle machine, and our running machine doesn’t change speed that quickly, so we are going to be testing the technique over the coming weeks by running on the spot instead.  I can report that it certainly gets the heart racing!

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Skipping training

After the Saturday gardening, the Sunday run and the Monday work challenges, the idea of skipping training was appealing, but fortunately remained a pipe-dream.

Even as we drove to Haywards Heath, my right ankle and left calf were complaining about their respective tasks in the driver’s footwell.  The warm-up jog was almost enough to finish me off entirely.

But once my body had got over it’s initial recalcitrance, we (being the collection of my body and various minds) had a fun session.  After hurting my back the other week I opted for lower weights, but still pushed hard in other respects… apart from mirth, since Tony & Lee were out of speakable range and I was partnered with Graham, Denise’s (the instructor’s) other half.

The flow of ‘in-dolphins’ was palpable by the time we got home… all weekend and Monday pains & stresses forgotten!  I’m even half inclined to consider taking a further class during the week!

It might even mean that I learn how to skip properly!

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Running, skipping and jumping

More running, skipping and jumping at Denise’s Monday Circuit session last night, although I’ve managed to tweak my back or neck in the process.

Tony & Lee were absent so there was less mirth than normal, so instead Daryl kept pushing me into using heavier and heavier weights… it always makes me smile when you go to pick up a weight and it stays resolutely glued to the ground.  More work required then!

AND, Breaking News!  When I woke up this morning at 6am, there was light in the sky for the first time this year… it may not have been very much, but it’s still a red letter day to my mind… Spring is coming!  YAHOO!