Up until now my training sessions have all been of manageable lengths, less than 2 hours, which is something I've done many times in the past, a game of football, a long innings in cricket or 2 spin classes. Last week's run was 12 miles which took less than 2 hours, next weekends is 14 miles and this will take me over that 2 hour figure. I'm officially entering unknown territory, if I was James T Kirk I'd be asking for a couple of those red suited fellows to join me. If I was 8 years old I reckon I could get away with asking to hold my mummy's hand. It's definitely squeaky bum time.
This psychological change got me thinking about the obsessive nature of this whole escapade; was this obsession actually bordering on addiction, or had I jumped over the addict border avoiding the redneck patrols and rented a small studio apartment on the edge of the redlight district, working as a barman in a seedy lap dancing club. Who knows?
What is addiction anyway? I've had a look at the symptoms and see how many you recognise.
Pronounced mood swings
Weight Loss
Changes in energy levels
Disconnection from other interests
Change in social groups
Financial unpredictability
Yep, I recognise those and add to that my obsession with reading niche magazines, visiting sport shops and an attraction to getting up early on a Sunday, you can see what I'm getting at.
Week 5
As the Boom town Rats said (google it if you are under 30) 'I don't like Mondays', so a trip to the office today is a good way to fill the day rather than sitting in my office at home looking at exercise paraphernalia and think up naff excuses justifying why I need to deviate from the much vaunted schedule which stares down at me in all it's technicolour glory from just above my monitor. In the end I watch some telly and read my book. Boring.
Tuesday, hooray; customer site visit, boohoo. Only time for a late night run today because I have to go to the shops and buy a new suit because none of mine fit any more. They make we look like I've stolen my clothes from a very fat scarecrow. Didn't think I'd ever have to buy a new belt because all mine are too big!! Tuesday was a proper winter's day and the run required 3 layers, hat, gloves, snood and long shorts. And another thing as if you weren't aware already, hot dogs and delicious home made cakes are not good preparation for a 10km run.
Month end reporting on Wednesday meant a seriously busy day, but I still planned to swim at lunchtime. That didn't happened, too busy, so I changed my plan to a run before the school run. That didn't happen. How about a spin class in the evening, nope. A blast on the turbo trainer after dinner, no chance. Finally how about a late night run, any chance? No. Bollocks!
A good plan is an adaptable plan and so with nothing happening on Wednesday I decided to mix and match and get my exercise in when I could. I managed to do an early spin class on Thursday, but by 8 in the evening I'd done nothing else, time to make up the turbo trainer me thinks. Unfortunately by the time I got to use it the clock was well past 10pm. It's not ideal but I managed 2 hours on the trainer watching Gladiator. I bet Russell Crowe's butt didn't ache this much while he was slaying brutish barbarians. Shower and bed just after 1am.
Still pretty busy on Friday as well so no time for anything through the day so I decide to leave for cricket early and do a 6km run just before nets started. Holy cow it was cold, the little red snow flake in the car means sub zero temperatures. Just over 30 minutes later I'm back in the warm, it wasn't too bad once I got going but my lips hurt the whole time.
Holy hole in a doughnut Batman, Friday was cold but Saturday was more so. I've got a long run tomorrow, snow permitting, so just a stroll along the sea front today. This month's Triathlon magazine dropped through the letter box yesterday so this was a good excuse to spend a couple of hours on the sofa, tea and cakes provided. Thoughts of sunning myself while competing in the likes of Dubai and Hawaii may be just a pipe dream, but maybe one day and if you don't dream you have nothing to aspire too.
Now I know there is a little sadomasochist in every triathlete, you know that drive that pushes your mind to write cheques your body can't cover and sad little bald men to nail their testicles to planks of wood, but running in a foot of snow didn't seem like much of an idea. I was actually looking forward to running in a little snow, but 12 inches seemed a little excessive. So scratch Sunday, lets see what Monday brings. The weather was rubbish but the couch is comfy so used the time to read, read, read. I read some great articles on nutrition, apparently bananas are good for absolutely everything, except piles. By the way can I class 45 minutes of clearing snow as a cross training session?
Training this week
Swimming 0 hours
Cycling 3.5 hours
Running 1.5 hours
Cross training (not inc snow) 1.0 hour
No comments:
Post a Comment