Dear Diary,
I must confess I cross trained quite a bit this week and didn't run as much as I should have. I find myself so busy now that I'm unemployed.. and I had a gig to prepare for in the Dew Drop Inn...
But I played football on Tues and Friday, managed 2 20 minute jaunts and a nice long 1 1/2 hour walk on Saturday through the backroads of Kildare with my mother.. gorgeous day!
The gig went great on Saturday night and pleased to say they invited us back. The band is a two man show with Cian Mekitarian and myself on vocals/guitars, playing some good covers and we are called Kaibosh. More on that as it develops.
Week 4 is going to be a cracker..promise!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The second week (Feb 9- 15)
Life gets in the way with pleasant distractions..
Monday: Ah week two, its not quite as cold and a definate feeling that spring may well come around in the coming days. Commenced the week with a nice easy 30 mins jog. The old man an I play tennis once every few weeks so he took me on and beat me 6-2, 1-6 and 6-3. A humbling loss for me but I will resolve to get even!
Tuesday: I played football for 1 hour and was absolutely wrecked in the last 20 minutes of that hour. But I was amazing in the first 8 minutes.
Weds: REST as I was really feeling the last two days exertion. Very conscious of not over-doing it and risking injury. Hamstrings really tight so plenty of strectching throughout the day.
Thursday: Its my first variable pace running session. Picked a quiet circuit of the park and ran 10 mins until a light sweat was up. Then 1 minute fast pace, followed by 1 minute jog. Repeat 5 times (10 mins) 5 min cool down and stretch. Very tiring but felt good after the challenge, obviously once my lungs had remembered to breathe again.
Friday: in a panic to prepare for my fathers wedding tomorrow. We are having a Stags night out tonight and he is staying in my house. Kept drinking til 6am. Elbow is well excercised.
Saturday: Wedding was great craic and my father is now twice married and I have a whole new family by law. Great day and night and great to see relatives again. Elbow was sore from yesterdays workout but it was a trooper and got me through again. Legs saw some action on the dance floor. Bed by 5am
Sunday: I would like to say that I did the right thing and sweated out the weekends excesses, but this would not be an honest blog if I did that. Turned into a happy cabbage on the couch and dreamt of a seriously challenging start to week 3. Bring it on.
Monday: Ah week two, its not quite as cold and a definate feeling that spring may well come around in the coming days. Commenced the week with a nice easy 30 mins jog. The old man an I play tennis once every few weeks so he took me on and beat me 6-2, 1-6 and 6-3. A humbling loss for me but I will resolve to get even!
Tuesday: I played football for 1 hour and was absolutely wrecked in the last 20 minutes of that hour. But I was amazing in the first 8 minutes.
Weds: REST as I was really feeling the last two days exertion. Very conscious of not over-doing it and risking injury. Hamstrings really tight so plenty of strectching throughout the day.
Thursday: Its my first variable pace running session. Picked a quiet circuit of the park and ran 10 mins until a light sweat was up. Then 1 minute fast pace, followed by 1 minute jog. Repeat 5 times (10 mins) 5 min cool down and stretch. Very tiring but felt good after the challenge, obviously once my lungs had remembered to breathe again.
Friday: in a panic to prepare for my fathers wedding tomorrow. We are having a Stags night out tonight and he is staying in my house. Kept drinking til 6am. Elbow is well excercised.
Saturday: Wedding was great craic and my father is now twice married and I have a whole new family by law. Great day and night and great to see relatives again. Elbow was sore from yesterdays workout but it was a trooper and got me through again. Legs saw some action on the dance floor. Bed by 5am
Sunday: I would like to say that I did the right thing and sweated out the weekends excesses, but this would not be an honest blog if I did that. Turned into a happy cabbage on the couch and dreamt of a seriously challenging start to week 3. Bring it on.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The First Week (Feb 2nd - Feb 9th)
Well we gotta get started sometime..
Day one Monday: Redundant with no reduncay payoff. Unemployed. Could slink into string vest complete with yesterdays pot noodle stains but resist the urge. Crawl out of bed and search online where to find a good pair of running shoes. Seems like people in the know prefer Asics and that a shop in Terenure called Sportsworld has these and are dedicated to running types of people.
So I get dressed and run...to the car... and drive to get some very nice personal service and a pair of size 9 Asics Kayonos. Apparently great cushioning. I had a back injury in December and could hardly move for weeks, so this seems like €130 well spent..
Dragged my girlfriend Gillian away from her business- she is a personal stylist, www.eyeforstyle.ie (for those interested in looking good )and is generally busy and we jogged in the phoenix park for 20 mins.
Day Two Tuesday. Spent a delightful day browsing the shops in the city centre. Snow everywhere. Bought a Marathon Handbook, complete with hellish training regimes and what are meant to be inspiring stories of athletes finishing the Marathon in the same time it takes to figure out an episode of Lost. It also siad it is important to have rest days, so I followed that advice and did NO TRAINING. Pure hero.
Day Three Wednesday. Here's where it gets interesting. I put my game face on between 1.30 and 2.30pm and accomplished the following: a 25 minute jog, and TWO circuits of assorted excercise on the roof of my aprtment block in full view of any residents hapening to face my way from other blocks. The joys of city centre living. Circuits went as follows:
10 x Press ups
10 x sit ups
10 x Squat thrusts
10 x Tricep dips (on fence)
10 x Back extensions
10 x Crunchies
10 x Close arm press ups
Run up 4 flights of stairs
Have cigarette and gloat.
Day 4 Thursday. As I live within 10 minutes of the Phoenix Park in Dublin, apparently Europes largest park in one of its smallest countries, I decide to do some jogging there. Feeling good and no ill effects from the circuits yesterday. Manage to keep going for 30 mins before wishing I was at home nursing my lungs.
Day 5 Friday. I am going to a seminar on setting up an E Business so I cycle to the RDS in Ballsbridge.. roughly 5k. After the seminar (which was all seated) I cycle to the gym to do some free weights and use the stepper machine as it is is low impact. I also did some swimming. All very relaxed though but very happy with my application to the cause to date.
Day 6 Saturday. The weekends here. My mate Simons had his birthday yesterday, drinks were had, semiar on again this morning, cycle there less enthusiastically. Cycle back. Tired. Head too full of information from seminar, legs too hevy from past days exersions..
Day 7. Sunday. Gods day. we must rest. on religious grounds. Ahem.. er Amen.
Day one Monday: Redundant with no reduncay payoff. Unemployed. Could slink into string vest complete with yesterdays pot noodle stains but resist the urge. Crawl out of bed and search online where to find a good pair of running shoes. Seems like people in the know prefer Asics and that a shop in Terenure called Sportsworld has these and are dedicated to running types of people.
So I get dressed and run...to the car... and drive to get some very nice personal service and a pair of size 9 Asics Kayonos. Apparently great cushioning. I had a back injury in December and could hardly move for weeks, so this seems like €130 well spent..
Dragged my girlfriend Gillian away from her business- she is a personal stylist, www.eyeforstyle.ie (for those interested in looking good )and is generally busy and we jogged in the phoenix park for 20 mins.
Day Two Tuesday. Spent a delightful day browsing the shops in the city centre. Snow everywhere. Bought a Marathon Handbook, complete with hellish training regimes and what are meant to be inspiring stories of athletes finishing the Marathon in the same time it takes to figure out an episode of Lost. It also siad it is important to have rest days, so I followed that advice and did NO TRAINING. Pure hero.
Day Three Wednesday. Here's where it gets interesting. I put my game face on between 1.30 and 2.30pm and accomplished the following: a 25 minute jog, and TWO circuits of assorted excercise on the roof of my aprtment block in full view of any residents hapening to face my way from other blocks. The joys of city centre living. Circuits went as follows:
10 x Press ups
10 x sit ups
10 x Squat thrusts
10 x Tricep dips (on fence)
10 x Back extensions
10 x Crunchies
10 x Close arm press ups
Run up 4 flights of stairs
Have cigarette and gloat.
Day 4 Thursday. As I live within 10 minutes of the Phoenix Park in Dublin, apparently Europes largest park in one of its smallest countries, I decide to do some jogging there. Feeling good and no ill effects from the circuits yesterday. Manage to keep going for 30 mins before wishing I was at home nursing my lungs.
Day 5 Friday. I am going to a seminar on setting up an E Business so I cycle to the RDS in Ballsbridge.. roughly 5k. After the seminar (which was all seated) I cycle to the gym to do some free weights and use the stepper machine as it is is low impact. I also did some swimming. All very relaxed though but very happy with my application to the cause to date.
Day 6 Saturday. The weekends here. My mate Simons had his birthday yesterday, drinks were had, semiar on again this morning, cycle there less enthusiastically. Cycle back. Tired. Head too full of information from seminar, legs too hevy from past days exersions..
Day 7. Sunday. Gods day. we must rest. on religious grounds. Ahem.. er Amen.
The Saga begins..
It is February in Dublin. Post Christmas, mid credit crunch, everyone scurrying home to avoid the snow, dark, miserable weather, dark miserable news everywhere.
I have just joined the ever expanding ranks of the unemployed when my Company had to trim costs due to the unfavourable economic climate.
The celtic tiger economy suddenly seems a preposterous notion- much like another notion that had cropped up into my head over the past few weeks.. to run the Dublin Marathon in October. What had come over me? I had turned 30 in October. I am still smoking, drinking, and liking takeaways far too much.
I, Rowland Smithers am not known for running any length of distance, or for having the discipline, endurance and sheer guts to follow through with a training program of this magnitude. I only skulk to the gym to use the sauna facilities.
So this is a blog of one mans struggle to live up to the expectation of his crazy notion, to bring some light back into February and maybe inspire a soul or two along the way.. bring on the plan, the pain and the encouragement and ridicule..
I have just joined the ever expanding ranks of the unemployed when my Company had to trim costs due to the unfavourable economic climate.
The celtic tiger economy suddenly seems a preposterous notion- much like another notion that had cropped up into my head over the past few weeks.. to run the Dublin Marathon in October. What had come over me? I had turned 30 in October. I am still smoking, drinking, and liking takeaways far too much.
I, Rowland Smithers am not known for running any length of distance, or for having the discipline, endurance and sheer guts to follow through with a training program of this magnitude. I only skulk to the gym to use the sauna facilities.
So this is a blog of one mans struggle to live up to the expectation of his crazy notion, to bring some light back into February and maybe inspire a soul or two along the way.. bring on the plan, the pain and the encouragement and ridicule..
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