Tag: exercise

Running World Cup

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I had another quick run around the blocks today, and it got entered into the running for the Running World Cup, which I think I mentioned here.

I haven’t had a lot to do with it really, but SA is top of the pile in this early qualifying round:

Some surprising entries there, with Tunisia and Romania looking like they’re going to finish high up on the leaderboard. Who knew.? Who even cared?

Incidentally, it looks like the top 16 countries qualify for the next stage (not sure what that involves yet, probably more running) and with 2 days to go, Ireland have been knocked out of contention for the moment by Bangladesh, of all places.

But clearly the main threat to SA is the Smaller European Nations, who have ganged together to make one Larger European Nation. I’m not sure is this is cheating or not, but you’ve have to argue that it’s probably very difficult to run very far in one Small European Nation because you’ll simply run (NPI) out of Small European Nation to run in. So maybe it’s fair enough.

I have a couple of days to add another run to my tally, but I have no intentions of doing so.

I’ll keep you up to date with whatever happens next. (It might not be anything.)

Exercise news

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It’s going to be a post full of mixed feelings and news. Highs and lows. Plusses and minussessesus. Pros and cons.

I’m getting there. Back into gym, back into hitting my weekly exercise goals, back into feeling a bit more fit and healthy. If I were twenty years younger, putting this in much effort and doing this much exercise, I’d be a model of abs, sinew and one big bicep by now. But I’m not that age anymore, and it all take so much longer to get back into shape.

Add to that my sudden weaknesses around beer and big baguettes for lunch, and you’ll see why things could be going more quickly than they actually are. I’m going to switch on my will power for a while and see if I can improve the situation. God only knows where I’d be if I wasn’t getting to gym most days.

Augustus Gloop.

And there’s more. I’m playing some friendly football on Sunday in an attempt to get myself a bit more match-fit (hopefully) ahead of a return to the real thing towards the end of next month. The bad news about this is that it’s brought back memories of that Sunday morning friendly session. I’m going to be much more sensible this time around though: if it gets bad (and at the moment it’s forecast to be 28ºC in the shade, which is manageable), I’m going to stop, instead of trying to die. It’ll be my first kick of a ball in three months. I’m looking forward to it, albeit with a little trepidation.

Next week brings with it the start of the Running World Cup – a thing that I’m doing because I would be exercising anyway, so why not have some fun with it? My knee is doing ok on the treadmill, so why wouldn’t it do ok on the road? I’ll test it on the football pitch over the weekend and see if it survives that.

The future is bright: as long as I can start eating a bit more healthily and drinking a bit less. Sadly, neither of those things is going to happen this evening, thanks to a visit to the local curry house with the Molton Brown boys.

But who knows what tomorrow may bring?

Progress continues

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Back to back to back gym days and it’s only Tuesday. [crowd gasps]
I’m getting the car serviced tomorrow, so I won’t make it four in a row, but hey, the thought was there. I’ll come home and walk the dog instead. Something a bit more gentle with a side-order of snorfing.

Finally, the excesses of the festive season are falling away, and my knee is beginning to recover from the (still bewilderingly) rock hard sand on Struisbaai beach. I’m starting to put a bit of stress and strain on it – a short run here or a quick row there – and I can still walk.

So that’s good.

That said, I’m still giving myself another few weeks before I even consider approaching the health insurance fitness assessment. Let’s at least give me a chance of passing the test and being allowed to live for another year.

Onward and upward.

The battle continues…

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The battle between the allied forces of my diet and my exercise, and my love of beer continues to rage on around my midriff. On the plus side, I’ve been exercising pretty regularly: just about every day to some degree.
Sadly, the high temperatures and my lack of will power has led to some erosion of the benefits of that exercise, in that I have enjoyed some (or more) beers next to the pool, with dinner or – in one particular case – next to the pool with dinner over the last week or so.

It could be worse. I could be drinking and not exercising. Or, if you choose to look at it another way, exercising and not drinking. And so while I’m not necessarily getting all that I could be from my runs or gym visits, I’m happy enough. Everything in moderation. Including, it would seem, progress on my fitness.

But there is progress. A few centimetres here, a couple of kilos there. I’m getting there (slowly). And the great news is that the bits that were the most hurty before Christmas are not the bits that are (temporarily) hurting after my exertions.

This morning’s 5km was my fastest of the year: indeed, looking back, (surprisingly) my fastest since 1st September last year. Evidently, things are on the mend.

Even if I won’t be able to stand up once I finish writing this post.

Ja. I’m a bit stuck. Could someone get me a beer, please?

Hello? Anyone?

Back to it

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I hurt my back at the end of November and – because I’m old now – it’s taken a long time to get right. As a measure of just how long, I don’t think it’s quite there yet. But nearly.

Still, with that as a reason, and my Dad’s visit as a handy excuse, I’ve managed to avoid most forms of strenuous exercise for almost 8 weeks now. Add to that all the calamari, beer and burgers I’ve been enjoying during his stay, and well… there’s some work to do.

I have a couple of inches to lose and a couple of kilos that they can take with them.

This morning (with my Dad still only over Algeria), I went for a slow, hot run. The speed was simply because I couldn’t go any faster, the heat was because it was a hot day.

It didn’t break any records, save for perhaps being the most overdue run in recent history. The back seems to have held up and there have been no immediate after-effects save for quite a lot of tiredness.

Watch this space for more updates as the weight comes off and the fitness increases. Or not, if I decide not to exercise or not to blog about it.