Cricket Training begins

I don't think it's unreasonable to forget everything you know about a sport in six months. Nor does my body, apparently.

The good news is my calf doesn't hurt after cricket training last night. The bad news is everything else does. As always, the start of the cricketing season is always a difficult time.

Cricket to me is very much a game which relies on muscle memory, which means the first session for the season can often be dispiriting. Things aren't as easy for me as they were six months ago, and also I'm performing actions I haven't done for six months either. Batting and especially bowling involve actions you wouldn't otherwise do.

So my shoulders, lower back, obliques and abs are all sore because they've been dormant for so long. If you remember, when I organised my gym workout I tried to target these groups but had no luck. Clearly.

The other completely dispiriting thing for me was how poor both my batting and bowling was. But that's another story for another time. Or never, preferrably.

One final comment on the cricket training, something else I saw through rose coloured glasses with the benefit of six months' hindsight: it wasn't the fitness workout I'd remembered it to be. At the end of the session I was sweaty and a little tired, but it was a different sort of training to my normal, endurance training.

Training (and cricket itself) features running in short bursts: running in to bowl, running between the wickets, chasing after a ball. Walking in with the bowler is enough for some of us.

The other trait in training and definitely in cricket itself is concentration. Not just watching the ball, but concentrating on your action and stance. It was this that hurt my lower back, particularly batting. But I know it gets better.

Anyways, while I thought at the time I'd done a bit of exercise, in hindsight I'm not all that surprised with the result of my week's training. I went to the gym again tonight although it was an abridged session (didn't really get time to test the calf), and I was denied a chance to run on Tuesday by an extremely frustrating incident that evening. The less said about it on the internets the better.

In the end, I probably did about the equivalent of one session of exercise this week, so I souldn't be surprised that I'm on 89kg. Up a little even.

Wheels...

... falling ... off.

Every week I swear I'm finding excuses to not go to the gym, and then feel hideously guilty afterwards. But guilt doesnt seem to be the great motivating factor that it has been - not before I'm due to do some exercise anyway.

This week I couldn't do anything on Tuesday, as we were interviewing potential housemates. Wednesday I came home feeling like rubbish, convinced I was coming down with the flu, with aching limbs, and thinking I wouldn't get to work on the Thursday. Um... today I guess.

So I ruled out the gym, maybe a bit too easily.

Finally, tonight, with a decent wind blowing and rain coming down, I felt obliged to go for a run. It was bloody cold but I had to give my calf a test. I ran for about ten minutes before it tightened up - at which point I stopped immediately.

So a brisk walk for a few minutes and then a jog home after that which went OK.

I can't say that was a lot of exercise really. And so it was a bit of a shock to find out that I was down a bit to 88.5kg.

The depressing thing is that the only thing I can put the weight loss down to is not drinking too much last weekend. What does this mean?! Where could I be, but for my boozing??

I don't want to think about it.

The Long Road Back

The weekend was obviously a huge disappointment. Not because I couldn't do the City to Surf, but because I missed a golden opportunity to sit down near my house, which is on the route, eat KFC and use a megaphone to heckle runners as they came past.

Really, it was perfect - cold but clear day, I had an excuse not to be running the race, I live really close (50m) to the course - but I got lazy and overslept.

Ah well, someone else can do it to me next year.

My week, exercise-wise, started very slowly. In fact, I didn't do anything as far as exercise goes until Wednesday. I returned to the gym for the first time since my (first) calf injury, and only the second time since I left for Europe in early July.

I'd been told I was OK to get on the rowing machine and the bike, and to swim. In fact it was encouraged. Anything that pushed my calf out of its comfort zone was good actually. And obviously doing weights was encouraged also.

Weights was a challenge not because of my calf, but because of the muscles I haven't used for so long. My abs and shoulders are very sore now, which of course is a good thing because it means I'm working on them and they're getting stronger.

Most importantly, the calf feels better now than it did before I entered the gym. Not least important, I feel much more confident on it. Earlier this week I was like a horse - I could walk upstairs but not downstairs. Now I can manage walking downstairs if I'm careful.

Still, overall, I didn't get a lot of exercise in. I was busy tonight and couldn't exercise. And that's reflected in my current weight.

Down slightly to 90kg.

So I need to lose 11kg in less than four months.

Not easy, but at least I'm moving in the right direction.