Diary and training update…

My last week! Starting last Tuesday! After the usual stuff, dropping Helen at work, seeing to the birds doing the washing up etc. I had a great morning of reading and prayer up till lunchtime. After lunch it was up to the gym – good session, then home shower and prepare tea before fetching Helen from work.

After dinner it was off to Traktors swimming session – 200m warm up, 100m catch up, 100m single arm, 100m touch, 100m in/out/in – the touch one was useful – think helps your position in the water…. but not really sure I understood the in/out/in thing…. or got it anywhere near right!! Then sprints 4x25m 23/23/22/21, 2x50m 57/59, 1x100m 1:59, 2x50m 57/55, 4×25 26/27/25/25, 1x100m 2:15 (blew!) then 200m warm down. After first 4x25m we did push offs to finish before checking times. Didn’t feel I was doing as well as previous weeks. And my turning ability is appalling!! If I could learn to turn effectively I’d reduce my times in the pool significantly.

Once home watched the new BBC drama, ‘Paradox’ – good tense stuff, with some interesting entries re God, his existence and potential intervention into the situations arising. Bed 11pm and slept solidly till 6.20am – good stuff – doesn’t happen often!

Wednesday showed sunny blue skies so thought I’d do some more painting – was just getting ready to start when the window cleaner called – said, ‘yes please’ as the windows needed cleaning, especially upstairs – but that meant I didn’t want to risk water running on the paintwork, so painted te boundary wall and little garden wall and then worked on preparing all the other stone surfaces for painting. Done by lunchtime, so after a large washing up session, up to the gym with Julie. After dinner I was off to a Governor’s training session…. which didn’t happen…. much as I supported Bedford Borough for the new Unitary authority, their administration is appalling! They haven’t notified when you’re registered for something, just assume you’ll turn up…. and it seems neither do they notify you if something is cancelled or venue moved….. really annoying…. came home, read paper for a bit…. then early to bed…. read for about 30mins and asleep before 10pm!!

Thursday morning had an extended time of reading and prayer to start the day. Sunny outside, but everything wet overnight. Once stone work had dried off from the rain of the night went and got second coat done on exterior wall of bathroom – pleased wit the result. Lunch then up to Kempston pool for a swim. Did 200m warm up, then 100m catch up, 100m single arm, 100m touch, 200m pull buoy, 100m kick board then a timed 400m – pleased with 8:35, followed up with some sprints 4x25m 25,24,24,21 & 2x50m 54,55 and a bit of sculling to finish.

In the afternoon I got some more painting done and put first coat on front bay window stone work, until darkness started to drop in. Stopped and cooked chicken do-piaza for tea – nice!!

Evening off to Traktors spinning session – did a little better than previous week – only failed twice, though boy, did the legs ache during those long sprint sessions – and it seemed that I’d pulled a muscle earlier in the day in my left arm and when down on bars it started to hurt a few times too, so had to be careful – not sure whether it was when painting or swimming or when or how to be honest – but a bit annoying! Once home watched latest episode of Spooks – excellent episode after the previous week which I found a bit disappointing.

Friday, after taking Helen to work off to do big Tescos shop, then see to birds. By this time I’m hungry again so had a second breakfast – no wonder I’m not losing those extra pounds very quickly…. but a sausage sandwich is lovely!! (Kindly prepared by Julie!) From there out to painting work, got second coat done on front window, and first coats on rest of downstairs stone work – porch, tops of front wall and rear lounge window sill. Really pleased with way window looks now. Didn’t approach upstairs as it was pretty windy and didn’t fancy being up a ladder in the wind. Since then the weather has turned much colder and its below recommended temperature for painting this paint, so no second coats yet… supposed to be a bit milder tomorrow, so maybe…. we’ll see!

After a late lunch and getting some household duties done up to gym around 3pm. Went for my step up/down (11.5kph – 14kph – 1.5kph 2min 30sec intervals over 30 minutes)) run on the treadmill, reducing from schedule by 0.3k at 2min interval and kilometre points – hard going to finish it, but managed it – surprised to find overall distance slightly shorter (about 40m) than when I did the 0.4k drops last week – think it was probably in the build up time, timings meant I probably dropped a bit more, but definitely not the case on the way down. Next time I’ll try and not drop back as much on the build up and see if I can manage it! Rest of session okay using reduced weights because of elbow problem. (Me using 6ks taking the michael out of another guy using 32ks for same shoulder press for not using decent weights!! He is one strong guy!) Good final 10mins on the bike – level 9 – cadence 100+ – just dropped back to level 7 & cadence 90 couple of times when heart rate high.

Quiet evening in reading paper, latest ultra-FIT magazine and watching new version of Pink Panther film – had me in stitches repeatedly!

That was last week, the weekend can wait for another post!