grading

I had my TKD grading last Saturday. I was gutted I didn't get to spar or break, but only a couple of weeks til the competition anyway.

And I just found out on Monday that I passed - B+...woohoo, no longer a white belt :D Hope I get it through in time for the fight.

2 weeks today!

Not a lot happened last week out of the ordinary. The standard weights/tkd/running combo.

Had some fun practicing sparring the last few sessions at taekwondo though, then today we did some board breaking as well.

About 5 or 6 months ago we were doing some breaking in class and, if you're punching, the rule is to punch with your first 2 knuckles; it spreads the impact.  It makes sense. However, despite this advice, I still just went ahead and punched square on with just the middle knuckle.  The board broke, but it felt like that wasn't the only thing.  My knuckle swelled up like I'd superglued a golf ball to it and even up to today, there was quite a big lump with a bit that moved around...not so good.

So when today we were doing more breaking I thought..."Ha, I have learned my lesson, no longer will I just use one knuckle for I have experienced the downfall of this strategy..." Unfortunately, mainly down to sheer incompetence, but partly due to the fact that; with my knuckle being quite a bit bigger than it used to be, in order to punch with 2 knuckles I would need to turn my wrist almost 45 degrees off to the side, I proceeded to use almost entirely my middle knuckle...again...and...once again the board broke.  But...once again my knuckle swelled up like I had pumped it full of helium.

And now it looks a bit like this:

And that's after icing it for half almost half an hour...
I could have someone's eye out with that if I punched them!

I'll be wrapping my knuckles carefully in Doncaster I think!...

Had a decent run on Wednesday as well.  Just over 3 miles at a steadyish pace.  I think I'm going to start increasing the distance in a couple of weeks time, this time though I'd done a few sprints along the way and I was totally ready to come in after 3 miles.

Indoor football starts again tomorrow as well, so weights at 3, football at 6...let's see how that one goes!

it's been...one week

In reference to the song, I don't know if any of my chickedy chickens were from China, but given the amount I've eaten I'd say there's a good chance I've gone international with my chickens...
Chicken and Pasta, Honey and herb chicken, chicken sandwiches, Nandos (does Nandos count as an international chicken?)

Taekwondo last Thursday was good, was a bit of an informal lesson, a bit of a laugh but that was definitely made up for with a beasting on Saturday.  Preparation for the grading which is in 3 days in 2 days *gulp* tomorrow!
Can't wait though, and definitely can't wait for February 13th and the Doncaster competition...

Last Friday night I somehow managed to do my ribs in after a few drinks when at some point it seemed like practicing some Judo throws was a good idea (I was the recipient of them).  I woke up on Saturday morning feeling like I'd been repeatedly kicked in the side in my sleep.  Which made weights on Tuesday a nightmare being that any sort of movement hurt, but I just about got through before whatever muscle it is that's damaged decided to spaz out and stab me.

Since Tuesday I've done 3 weights sessions now.  All of them a little bit light just to get back in to it, but I'm planning to nail it from Sunday.  No run this Wednesday but I am going swimming Sunday so that kinda makes up for it...doesn't it...? Don't judge me...

Still not eaten crap either which is good.  A big steak and chips tonight, and some carb-loading for tomorrow.

I have a feeling that I'll be peer pressured into a takeaway at tomorrow night's poker night.
Ok NOW you can judge me...
Chicken and pasta before I leave it is then!

Wish me luck for tomorrow!

owwwoww...owww

I had to double check this morning that I hadn't accidentally slept in a box of rocks.  It feels like I've been beaten about the chest and legs with a bag of snooker balls...

it's all worth it...it's all worth it...

Last night didn't start well at all...I was late back from work, then I realized I'd left my running trainers in my car which was parked at a friend's house, then on the way up the stairs to get a hoody, the cord from my (as yet unused) headphones snagged on the banister and snapped the jack clean off...

Undeterred; after 5 or 6 minutes violently beating the pillows on my bed in frustration, one £20 order placed on play.com for a new pair of headphones, a cheap pair of headphones unearthed and a crappy old pair of trainers laced up...I headed out.  With my phone strapped to my arm; exercise tracking software fired up and songs playing (albeit scarcely audibly through the headphones WHICH, annoyingly, spent about 50% of the run trying to eject themselves from my ears) I felt good...I was achieving!

And...after about a mile I began to think perhaps I wasn't in such bad shape after all!  This is easy!...

Then I got to an slight incline...

I dug in and pressed on, only about half a mile to the top.

The route I'd planned took me on a loop and back past my front door and the temptation was there to "just stop in for a quick drink of water and straight back ou....ooh Indiana Jones is on tv!!" Especially since the next section was the road up the side of Mount Everest.

After 3 days I reached the summit and resigned myself to the fact that the entrance to Surfachem was my bed for the night, even considering what would make the best duvet - an empty cement bag or some leaves.  Somehow I kept going, partly as it was all downhill for the next 1/4 of a mile (though downhill is surprisingly tough as well) and pounded on for the next loop round the town centre.

15 minutes later I arrived at my front door, hot, sweaty and with hair that would cause passers by to recoil and turn away in distress (imagine the horror fake scared hair on end look and you're close)
but glad to be home and beaming with an undeserved sense of accomplishment.

It would have been so easy for me not to have bothered going last night with it being late and not having trainers/headphones etc, but this blog did its job.  There was no way after 2 days I was going to miss out on scheduled exercise and have to write about how I failed, so sat on my couch watching Top Gear with a bag of Wotsits to comfort myself.

Taekwondo tonight.  I've got to get swotting up for the grading a week on Saturday.  Hopefully tonight I'll be able to lift my legs enough to kick people higher than their shins, though I'm not holding my breath...

This links to details of my run

aching

Well...first day down and I'm definitely paying the price for slacking off... aching like mad.

It's good though; it lets me know I have actually done some work and reminds me to keep going so I don't feel like this again!

I'm a bit gutted about the weight I could handle as well.  I'd say it's dropped by about 10%...which is a pisser... but hopefully given a few weeks I'll be lifting more or less what I was before.  Maybe it's partly a result of being worn out from exercises earlier in the program cos I'm not used to putting in that much effort for that sort of time period any more, so hopefully a few sessions will get me back into the swing.

Out for a quick run tonight then, let's see how that goes with the aching! Quite looking forward to using my new headphones and phone holder arm strap thing and my new iPod shuffle  (won in a raffle at work!).  Not that I'm a geek for new gadgets or anything...

I do tend to get a bit bored just running, I definitely need music to keep me going...

Day 1 down, day 2 in progress...

the start line

My first start line was way back in...err dunno probably 2005 when I looked something like this...

and now I look something like this...

Inbetween times I got to this

so this is my 2nd major start line...I'm aiming to get better than the above picture but also generally fitter as well.

Quite conveniently I've got a nice little short term goal coming up soon. 

There's a Taekwondo competition coming up on...I think it's the 13th of Feb taking place in...I think it's in Doncaster (I really need to get organised).  For that I want to get my cardio up, specifically quick bursts of high activity and quick recovery.

So I'm penciling in for tomorrow night a light 3-4 mile jog round the town to get going then interval sprints up the steep hill by my house.  Sprint to one lamppost, walk to the next til I get to the top, jog to the bottom and start again, basically till I feel like I'm dying, which at the moment will probably be one time up and rolling all the way back down!

Tonight though, is the first night back at weights.  Back to the old program, just slightly lighter to get back into it without injury.  Jump in both feet first next week and really try and break myself!

day 0

Ok, day 0...starting tomorrow I've decided I'm going to get fit... not that I'm exactly out of shape at the moment, it's just I've kind of half-arsed it for about 6 years now.  I've improved, then slacked off...eaten well, then eaten crap.


So, as of tomorrow I'm back on the weights, back on the running and back on healthy food.


This past weekend I've known it's coming so I've allowed myself to go a bit crazy with the junk:

Friday night - curry with a starter
Saturday night - curry with 1 and a half starters :/
Sunday night - Pizza express pizza
Today for lunch - McDonalds feast
From now on its all chicken, brown pasta, as little bread as I can limit myself to, steak, gammon (no fish - I can't stand it) maybe throw in a few protein shakes as well if I think I'm working hard enough to handle the extra calories.


So the aim of this blog is to hold myself accountable really.


I'll try to update with my progress and photos etc...that way (assuming anyone else reads this) I've got witnesses who can mock me about being lazy and fat.  And even if I'm the only person who ever looks at this, at least I'm giving myself an honest insight into what I actually eat and how much exercise I actually do.


So - the first picture - the ridiculous lunch I had today!  I don't even wanna know how many calories are in it.

As of tomorrow it's healthy eating, weights Tues/Fri/Sun, Taekwondo Mon/Thurs/Sat and I'll try and throw in a few runs on Wednesdays and Sundays.  ( I have a kind of hope of working my way up to do a marathon in some time, and I also wanna do a triathlon at some point.  Also, next January an there's event called the Tough Guy I think it would be awesome to have a go at).


So let's see how it goes; I want to look back in a years time and not recognize the pictures of me!...