Tuesday 26 May 2009

Getting back to fitness

Distance: 625m
Crawl: 25 lengths

Distance: 5km
Time: 22m26s

Gym:
reps: 230

I'd thought about going for a run on bank holiday Monday, but my feet were still a bit tired and aching from all the walking I did in London at the weekend (for some reason I decided it was a good idea to walk from Waterloo to Notting Hill as it was such a nice day on Sunday, rather than go underground...), so in the end yesterday I put my feet up - the only exercise I managed was to mow the back lawn (long, long overdue!)

I went to the pool at lunchtime today for the first time in a couple of weeks. I was hoping to get in a half mile (32 lengths), but soon found I was tiring. Since I've been exercising a lot less in the last four weeks since the marathon, it seems my level of fitness has dropped off a bit. No worries, I still made a good 25 length session.

Then after work I had my "start-up session" at the gym in Wantage. This was little more than an induction, and I have an appointment now on Thursday to have a training plan put together for me. This is so I can get the most out of having signed up for a year's membership, to give me some targets to aim for and a plan to stick to to give me the motivation to go regularly.

Whilst I was there I decided to get in half an hour's workout with a 5k row, followed by some machines. I set the rower to level 3 to closely mimic the resistance when really rowing, and settled into a steady 29/30 strokes per minute. For the last 200m of each 1k I sped up to 33-35 strokes per minute. After a drink of water and a short rest, I did 100 reps on the adductor and 100 on the abductor, and then 30 on the chest press to finish.

So now I'm a fully fledged gym member, I shall be swimming on a Monday, gymming on a Tuesday and again on a Thursday when I can, and perhaps even some classes - but I'll see what they suggest on Thursday. Apart from that I shall be running on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Well - that's the plan anyway. Lets see if I stick to it!

No comments:

Running 13.1 miles in memory of Carl

I ran the Silverstone Half Marathon on 15th March 2009. I managed the 13.1 mile course in 2 hours and 4 minutes. Not a bad effort for my first Half Marathon! I returned in 2010 to run it in 1 hour 54 minutes, and plan to do it again in 2011. I decided to run this in aid of The PSC Trust and PSC Support in memory of my brother Carl, who died from liver failure in November 1997. If you'd like to sponsor me for this - please email me at pscrun@ulen.me.uk PSC Trust
PSC Support Or visit my Justgiving page for PSC Support at PSC Support - Justgiving
Have you signed up to the national donor register? If you haven't yet done so, please think about it, and let your family know your wishes.
Give the gift of life.
Join the NHS Organ Donor Register
Organ Donor Line 0845 60 60 400
http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/register