Return to the Routine

Well, that was the plan anyway.

After four weeks off travelling and recovering from jetlag, I arrived home from work a bit late. I stood in my room for a couple of minutes, half in work gear and half in running gear, wondering if I should just brush of the run, but I eventually went. Again, guilt was the motivating factor. So I took off for my 10km run along the normal course.

I knew I was in trouble when I needed my second wind after 150 metres.

It didn't get much better for the rest of the run. I got stitches in about four places in my belly and felt like stopping many times on the run.

But I got to the end, eventually, taking a laborious 48:30 to get through the 10km. That's about 3 minutes outside of my best time.

It got worse. On Wednesday I was a little stiff, and not in a good way. Quads in particular had ceased up. So I stayed on the safe side and didn't go to the gym. I justified it by saying sometimes I need a day's break between exercise to recover.

Then today I could barely move. I walked like I was using crutches, and getting to the bathroom at work, which involves stairs at the moment due to renovations, was a genuine struggle.

So that time, plus the struggles in the run and afterwards, tells me I've lost a lot of my fitness base.

Given I have just sent out a challenge, this could spell trouble.

In the meantime I'm back up to 89kg. Not entirely unexpected. Cycling for two days on the holiday wasn't exactly keeping up my fitness regime.

The City to Surf Challenge

The Challenge is out there. On Monday I sent this out to friends I hoped would join me.

Yeah I'm competitive, and you can tell, but it is a great motivator.

We'll see how this works itself out...

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Today I was off sick from work.

So it was somewhat ironic that I used part of the day to sign up for the City to Surf.

It's on August 30 and I'm doing it (just the 12km thanks, no marathon for me). I've never done it before. In fact I don't think I've ever run 12 consecutive kilometres before.

Some of you have known me for a long time, through the highs and lows of my fitness and weight (both of which are ongoing struggles I'm not going to pretend are over). For those of you who in the past had the luxury of saying "yeah I might be a little unfit but at least I'm not Plugger" your comeuppance has arrived. For those people I have a question for you.

My question to you is this: do you think you can beat me?

I am of course joking a little bit, but I'm keen to take this challenge, in less than five weeks, and I figure it will be much better and much more fun to do this with mates. It might even help us motivate each other. Bragging rights are a great motivator.

If you're keen, then visit here and get yourself organised.

I have taken the rather ambitious step of registering for Group B (you'll know what that means when you sign up). I'm a little bit scared about it now.

So who else wants to avoid the shame of losing to me, or even worse, chickening out? Who else is keen on doing this (with or without bragging rights)?

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If you're keen, then get on board.

A Slack Week?

Well sort of. No exercise whatsoever. Not a skerrick.

On Tuesday I couldnt run, last night I worked late and tonight I was busy getting ready for the trip.

In fact I've been so busy I haven't even weighed myself, Having been so slack, I'm not in a huge rush to do so.

And because I'm going away, I don't expect to do much updating while I'm away.

But I will say this: I'm doing the City to Surf. And I will be hassling my friends to do it too, just so I can beat them.

More entries coming soon, including some travel shenanigans.

Wardrobe Malfunction

It's been a long time since I played netball, but I used to love it. We played netball on the tennis courts at UWA, up near the sports centre. We played mixed netball (obviously), and in those days that was enough to make me feel like I was getting weekly exercise.

I played GS.

For the uninitiated, that means I covered a third of the court, and with my good mate Stevie (who played GA) we were the Mounds of Pounds.

Every now and then we'd play when it was raining. Seems shocking now - a lawsuit waiting to happen - but it did happen every now and then.

We did it just enough for me to get romantic about it. I loved the idea of "wetball" and played it just seldom enough that I could wax lyrical about it. Since I stopped playing netball, I've wondered whether I viewed the wet weather games through rose coloured glasses.

But then winter came around here this year. I've been itching for a Tuesday (the night I run) to be a wet day, and in particular a wet night. I've been itching to run in the rain.

Finally, this week, I got my chance.

My heart was a-flutter as it rained during the day. I haven't been this excited about running since I kicked it up to 10kms a few months ago.

It didn't all turn out as expected though. Don't get me wrong, I expected my shoes to get heavy while running, and I knew my fingers would get cold, but I was in for a surprise nonetheless. I wore a yellow shirt rather than the usual white, so I wouldn't give passers by a peep show. Not without paying anyways.

Running up Hay Street, almost home, I ran past a girl holding an umbrella. She looked at me like I was a freak. I was grimacing a bit but I thought it was a little rude of her.

Then I got home. I looked down to open the door and noticed a red stain on my shirt. Funny, I haven't used my yellow Aussie cricket shirt for cricket for a while, so there shouldn't be a stain there. But there were two stains.

My nipples were bleeding.

I just realised how gross that sounds. Just be thankful I'm male.

Anyway my nipples are still sore, after two solid sessions in the gym also. And so are my abs.

So I've certainly earned this: I'm down 1.5kg to 86.5kg.

C'mon!

Short and Sweet

A very quick one this week. My facebook status tells it all really: I ran 10km in 45:20 this Tuesday. For reasons I won't go into I was frazzled, nervous and bloody tired by Tuesday night. I took off on my run faster than normal, but really struggled at the end. I was sure it would be a crappy time, I was struggling that much. So I was pleasantly surprised - enough to yell out "f*ck yeah!" over my iPod out the front of our house.

Wednesday and Thursday - no gym this week. I'm not saying why but I'm not feeling guilty, unlike other times.

So I've got what I deserved this week. Slightly up to 88kg.

I need to give myself a kick in the pants before I head to Europe. Might have to do a bit more running too. I'm tempted to up the course from 10km to 13km (about the length of the City to Surf - that's no coincidence).