Investment

The activities we chose to do cost something to us. Be that time, money, energy, the loss of something else. To me it is important that the things I do mean something to me. I don't like being wasteful, in any situation.

From the perspective of time, an activity may cost actual physical time. But what about the time it takes you away from other things - family, friends, work. Training takes time, whether you are doing the occasional charity event or racing every week. There will be some cost to your time (and the time of others). If you are even half-way serious about seeking a PB, a sub-whatever time in a race, reaching the next level, then you'll know that it involves an enormous investment of time.

So choose wisely. Time cannot be taken back.
But remember to enjoy the ride. Smile. Breathe easy knowing your decision was a good one.

Financially there's very little in life which comes free. Costs may well be negligible sometimes, but you need to be clothed, shod and get to the place you are going. This all costs. Equipment for everything these days costs. Technology doesn't come cheap (unless you want to follow the buy cheap/buy twice school of shopping). A tri-bike, a GPS watch, a cricket bat, a piece of gym gear. It all costs. And most people want the best for themselves. No matter whether they're on the breadline or on a good and generous income, there is a cost. And a choice to be made when the investment is hard earned cash on that next thing that's needed/wanted/desired.

So choose wisely. Money has to be earned.

Choosing one activity over another. Often a dilemma and a difficult decision to be made. You might chose to play cricket today, but miss out on a family occasion or a local event. Who do you let down? Who or what do you choose?

Whoever and whatever, choose wisely. Something has to take priority. Something has to come out on top.
Though the decision is yours. And yours alone.

With all that said. Often the best things in life are free. A chat with a friend as you have a leisurely run around a reservoir. The way their words make you smile and feel good about yourself.

The way you chose to feel. That's free. But it's still an investment. And it's still a choice.
Energy and emotions will be invested.
A decision made now is the one based on the right reasons. It is therefore the right reason. There is no need to fret about the ifs and buts.

I'm a great believer in doing what you want to do. Because time passes. And time does not stand still. Everything involves decisions and respect for the people in your life. But you are one person. Sharing your life with someone else puts a special twist on that thought process. You become a partnership. Yet you are still you.
Make your choices wisely.
But make them based on what you feel is right.

I learnt some lovely news yesterday from some very good friends. Thinking of them, and some of their generous words they put in their message, reminded me that I'm doing what I love. I'm happy with my life and how it's all going. I invested. I'm glad I did it with the one I'm sharing it with. Life is rich.

S&P gym - training

There you have it. 4 weeks of foundation training complete at S&P gym. It's the first time I've ever had a structured training plan that involves strength and conditioning work, well actually it's probably the first time I've had a properly structured training plan at all. I've enjoyed it. It's meant that I've gone down to the gym and worked. My goals, as I've probably mentioned elsewhere, are to lose weight and get leaner. This has meant a low carb/high protein diet plus hard work in the gym. It's been tough some days. On the food side it's mostly tough when the food planning has gone awry. One could also say it's tough when the lunch choice is rump steak and a fresh salad with olive oil and lemon juice dressing, but hey, someones got to do it!! 

I'll write more about the food side of things separately, it could take up some line space.

So here's what I've been doing for the past 4 weeks:

I have to admit, it's been really good having someone tell me what to do - it's made me work much harder than I would have if I'd just joined a regular gym. There was one Thursday session I could quite easily have missed (various reasons including house sitting elsewhere which made for a longer journey to the gym) - but I didn't want to a) let the S&P guys down b) let myself down by slacking and c) get behind Tim who's following his own programme but training on the same days as me.  I'm looking forward to what's coming in weeks 5-8 of the training; there'll be a new programme waiting for me when I get there tomorrow. It's with slight anxiety that the training will be hitting a new (ie harder) level, but also with excitement that I'm going to get pushed harder once more. The last week of foundation was starting to, not exactly get easier, but the familiar programme was not challenging my body to the extent I know the next few weeks will.

As a final note, a couple of the ladies who train at the gym have been competing in figure athlete competitions - now, seeing them at the gym training hard is a real inspiration. Sean keeps joking that I'm next. I'm firm in my statement that getting me on a stage posing is NOT going to happen. All the same, it's great training in the same venue as the ladies. Truly inspiring.

Planning

As I sat on the turbo earlier today I realised that I was only doing a recovery exercise (today was 30mins turbo, easy pace, keeping HR less than 130bpm) because I had planned my workout schedule. I'm doing it monthly now, as I have a few things pretty much fixed in the diary.

On advice from Zephr (who's done a Gym Jones foundation course) I do 3 hard days, 2 recovery and 2 rest days per week. Now I'm training at Strength & Performance Gym (in Stockport) where I also provide sports massage for their clients I am training under the expert guidance of Sean and Zoran on Mondays and Thursdays. That's 2 of my hard days training. The final hard day is a long run at the weekend. That leaves me 2 recovery days and 2 rest days to slot in. This month I'm going with a short recovery run on Tuesday's, rest on Wed, recovery on Fridays, and rest on the final day at the weekend. Friday recover is either turbo, swim or pilates. I'd like to do more swimming and pilates but with such a heavy schedule I am not going to risk burning out. I'll review this as my fitness increases and see if I can slot in an extra session somewhere.

I'm 2 weeks into the foundation month at S&P. This month is all about getting my body and mind used to working in a functional way, which will get me to my targets. My targets are:

• lose some weight (number not all that important, for me it's about body shape and lean-ness)
• be able to run a 10km fell race in a reasonable time
• get my name on the S&P records board - most likely seems the dead hang, but we'll see!
• do 5 chin-ups
• body weight press-ups

To get leaner and lose weight I am getting help with my nutrition - essentially less carbs, more protein. I've not yet got to grips with when to eat what, though I do know I have to earn carbs, and that I'm not supposed to have cereal (carbs) for breakfast. Sean is fully aware I'm still eating my chosen cereal, though I'm pleased to report I had omlette one day and bacon/eggs another for breakfast this week. I felt quite pleased with myself! I'll be picking Sean's brains more about this aspect of my training. He know's his stuff.

For me, if something isn't planned it probably won't happen. Not to say I can't be spontaneous, I can. But if you take today as an example in relation to training. I woke tired. Yesterday was a long day - at S&P for 7.15am to train, working (doing sports massage treatments), talking to potential clients, over to Rock Over Climbing wall - more work, more talking, on my feet most of the time - back home for about 9.30pm, then some admin to do for work, reviewing the forthcoming days etc and bed about midnight. That's a long explanation, and you can see it was a long day - so I woke tired. I had more paperwork to do, research, housework, needed to pop into town to the post office to collect supplies for work, back home, lunch....still no sign of wanting to do any form of exercise - and a client at 5pm. But, I checked my schedule - saw it was a recovery day on the turbo and got on with it.

Had I not planned in my recovery session I would have just passed the day doing "stuff". Now I've done my recovery I'm in a better physical state (having pumped fresh blood to the muscles I've been working) to do my long run tomorrow (or Sunday - that depends on when family are going to visit).

At S&P my sessions are planned. If they weren't I would do less. I wouldn't turn up. I'd be like a whole heap of gym users who have membership but rarely go down there to workout - you know who you are!! I've been guilty of that in the past. I think it is a great testiment to the guys at S&P that they have such a good ethos about their clients. You're not on your own. You get personal attention everytime you're in there. OK some of it is shouting at you not to stop or slack off but it's all encouragement. They listen to your goals, get to know you so they know what buttons they can push, and then work out how you're going to get from the start to your target. What I do like about their training programmes, apart from them being Totally Unique to each person, is that you have to record your sessions - weights used, reps, and you're encouraged to make notes about what worked, what was difficult, if you had any issues or things were just easy. Then the guys adjust what you do next time. There is no hiding. There is no cheating. If you write something down you've not done you're only cheating yourself, and will just get embarrassed later on. It will bite back.

I guess the way they work there suits me. I'm not lazy by any means, but I work best when what I need to do is written down - that way, however I feel on the day I will get on with it. If I feel tired or lethargic I feel heaps better afterwards. And I feel proud that I've got out there and done stuff to make me reach my goals.

So, setting targets, planning, and being determined all get me moving forwards. I'm also hugely inspired by others around me - Tim is top of the list without a doubt, and also the folk at S&P, fell runners I know (and some I don't), a guy who's running across America right now (due to finish in a couple of days... his blog is here if you're interested - he's an inspiration and a half).

If your interested in stats my HR graph in Garmin Connect is below....otherwise it's just a very pretty wazy line I quite like....
Recovery turbo HR <130bpm at Garmin Connect