Friday 8 January 2010

RANT and RAVE Friday

RANT

My journey to work should take 20-25 mins tops. On a bad day it can take half an hour.

However, today it went like this:

* 08:25 walk to bus stop with Joe
* wait for 20 mins in cold while 3 buses go past, all full
* look at t'internet on phone and see that train to victoria (10 minute journey) due at 08:53
* 08:45 Joe decides to walk to tube station but I (foolishly) opt to go to the mainline train station instead
* 08:50 arrive at train station and proceed to wait for train while her arse turns to ice from sitting on freezing cold metal bench (her snowboarding jacket stops at the hips so doesn't cover bum)
* 09:10 is when the 08:53 finally arrives. The train is full.
* 09:15 After waiting for *everyone* disembarking at that stop to get off, everyone in front of me piles/squashes/squeezes into carriage. No room for Tara
* 09:20 Tara walks to bus stop near train station, just in time to see 2 buses she could have got drive past.
* 09:25 Tara is finally on a bus and goes past her original starting bus stop. It has taken her an hour to travel in a 1 mile circle.
* 09:30 Tara gets to tube station she should have been at half an hour ago if she'd been sensible and accompanied her pragmatic boyfriend
* 09:40 Tara waits at Pret in Victoria for her 'skinny filter' while the staff forget her order and prepare everyone elses lattes and cappuccinos, could her day get any worse?
* 09:45 Tara finally gets to work, really really pissed off. So much for leaving early today :-(

Now, I realise that we're *all* suffering in this preposterous weather and my journey was probably tame by other people's comparisons but this is MY blog where I write about ME so I feel sufficiently entitled to whinge about my own annoying journey as much as I please ;-)

If anyone else is likewise suffering from rubbish-difficult-journey-to-work syndrome, I'd love to hear from you, if only for selfish reasons so I can feel better about my own affliction!

RAVE

I don't really ache this morning - miracle!

This is despite my hammering it in the gym yesterday - twice!

I'm happy but a little suspicious and apprehensive that the dreaded DOMs might creep up and catch me unawares later today!

Yes, yesterday I hauled my food-and-booze bloated ample ass to the first my work gym and then our local fitness establishment.. arghh

I knew it had been a while since I exercised, I don't know why though. It's like I had a break for a week or so, and then had a big fat mental block that prevented me working up the motivation (courage?!) to go back.

I've not felt like this for a while, perhaps it was due to the amount of alcohol I was drinking over the festive period, I don't know...

In any case, I was horrified - and not just a little ashamed - to discover when I checked my workout wallet that the last time I did any upper body work was on the 29th November!!! The last time I did any lower body work was even earlier than that.

I can't understand why I've left it so long or how I haven't noticed the days turning into weeks. I feel gutted but at least it explains why my muscles have diminished and what little I have left has a layer (or two!) of fat over them!

I'm also annoyed at myself at how much I've eaten and drunk, but then I have to remind myself that there's a reason why I'm not 'naturally' skinny and I'm still learning to eat properly after years of abusing my body through a variety of food deprivation methods.

Yesterday, I purposefully packed gym pant and a spare t-shirt and, throughout the morning, psyched myself up sufficiently so that by lunch time I was determined I would go and lift weights.

So at 13:30 I dutifully hit the basement of my building with fresh vigour and my familiar tatty weight gloves.

Now my work's gym has a very limited supply of equipment, and the dumbbells only go up in 2kg increments... odd increments.

In November last year I took my biceps curl weights from 9kg to 8kg but yesterday faced with only 9kg or 7kg dumbbells there was no hint of decision-making required.

Here's what I did:

biceps concentration curls - 2 x 7kg dumbbells - 3 x 10 reps
Overhead single arm triceps extensions - 1 x 5kg dumbbells - 3 x 10 reps
Hammer curls - 2 x 7kg dumbbells - 3 x 10 reps
Triceps kickback - 1 x 7kg dumbbells - 3 x 10 reps

That was tough, really tough, it shouldn't have been but nearly 6 weeks without lifting much more than an overstuffed suitcase or two (I always over-pack when going on holiday!), I've done precious little strength training. Sorry :-(

I feel/felt like a bit of a fitness fraud, especially given the ostensive 'theme' of this blog! I mean, talk about talk the talk but don't walk the walk!

So perhaps this prompted a little overcompensation when last night I took my hunky (but also somewhat weaker and plumper) boyfriend with me to our local gym.

We hit the Max Rack (3D Smith Machine thingy if anyone's curious) and started off with the good old bench press. I managed (just!) 30kg (I was able to push 32.5kg, and even 35kg for a few reps last year!).

Then we did some squats. I had 45kg all in and it felt okay actually... well, the first set felt fine, the next felt a little sorer and by the last set of 10 I could really feel it in my hamstrings.

Then we did some stiff-legged deadlifts, I took it down to 35kg. These felt weird, I'm sure my form was poor as I've not done them for ages and it felt like an unatural movement all over again, sigh.

After that Joe did some more leg work and I went on an elliptical trainer and did some rather fast 'running'. After 5 mins I was really out of breath... after 10 I had a cold sweat and by the time I got off after 20 mins I felt dreadful!! I was sweaty and trembly and the walk home (all 3 minutes of it!) was quite tough.

I got in and sat on a mat and stretched for a while with a resistance band, Joe made me a chai tea (yum) and I had some of his Maximuscle Cyclone as my Promax Diet has caffeine in it and, as we didn't get back from the gym till 10pm, I didn't want to be kept awake for much longer!

This morning I feel a little stiff, my chest feels tight and my hamstrings a little tender but nothing like how I anticipated I'd feel, I was worried about being able to walk!

So, a little negative in how long it's taken me to return to training - given how long the break was I'm surprised I haven't put on more weight but then I've still been eating well, my healthy food habits are not likely to be broken anytime soon and the thought of junk/fast food just turns my stomach. I've just been eating too much, too often, and doing too little.

After all

If calories in < calories out Then

weight loss

reverse that and you get the opposite of what you're trying to achieve... I've learned that the hard way and I'm sorry as I feel I've let all you readers down!

However I am back on track, and back with a vengence, with renewed enthusiasm and determination.

2010 is going to be a very good year and one in which I transform my body into the one I've always dreamed of, strong, lean, sexy and toned.

Just you watch this space

TJx

4 comments:

  1. Hey beautiful, love the new domain! Well done for getting back to the gym mate, after having various problems at the end of 2009, my training was hit and miss too but I'm back with a vengeance now.

    Look forward to reading more :)

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  2. Great that you're back in the saddle and filled with enthusiasm!

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  3. I'm stranded at home, miles from my gym-not even sure if it's open. Doing home workouts but NEED to run! NEEEEEEEEEED to run. Got cabin fever! AHHHR!

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  4. It's brilliant that you've got back to the exercising now :) Keep it up..I'm sure you will ;) x

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