06.29.07
End of week 8
Yesterday’s swim didn’t go well. It didn’t have much of a chance, as I didn’t go. I just didn’t feel like it, it’s cold and windy and I decided in the morning that I wouldn’t go.
Today’s weight session was pretty good. I did five minutes warmup on the arc trainer and after I finished I did 10 mins rowing. I did the bicep curls with the lunges again and my knees didn’t hurt particularly. All the other exercises went well. My knees hurt now though.
I checked with Habit and as I thought, Sarah was wrong about the free physio session, so I’ll think about what to do about the knees. It’s hard to tell whether it’s pain or stiffness, to be honest.
I’ve been doing this two months and not lost any weight yet. I do feel stronger though and I like the routine.
06.27.07
Wednesday weights
Running terribly late today, my own fault, got engrossed in the library and then found I hadn’t left enough time. So I went to Majestic today instead of Johnston Street. Boy was it crowded there. The equipment wasn’t overly busy, people moved around quickly enough and I didn’t have to wait to use anything, but the lack of floorspace made things difficult.
I gather my use-your-body-as-a-bench exercise is the Latest Thing to hit NZ because ever since Sarah showed me that exercise I am tripping over other people doing it. This isn’t a case of me just not noticing before, far from it, since starting this malarkey I have been very interested in other people’s exercises, gives me something to aspire to, that sort of thing. I really did not see this exercise at all until she showed it to me, and since then there has been at least one person a night doing it, not including me. Anyway I am holding my own on that one, am surprisingly stable now and the chest presses are pretty easy.
I have been worried about my knees. Walking is OK, but going up or down stairs causes a bit of pain when I bend the knee. I thought it might be the squat exercise but Monday’s exercises convinced me it wasn’t. So today I did the lunges without the bicep curls.
First the good. I was impressed with how well I could do them. Miles better than in the first six weeks, I don’t quite get down to where my thigh is parallel to the floor, but it’s not far off.
The not so good: yes I think the lunge exercise is hurting my knees. I’ll talk to someone on Friday about it.
I didn’t do the upright row exercise today. Things were a bit hectic in that part of the room so I gave it a miss. Instead I tried the chest press machine I used to use, the one where I was OK up to the last two of each set. And today yes, I was much better. So something’s working.
06.26.07
Tuesday swim
Good swim tonight. I left work a bit early and was in the pool by 5:55. It was crowded, I think there were five of us at one point (there are two lanes). Two got out – good, because they were only larking about I think. By the time I got to lap 7 there was just me and one chap left, so we had a lane each. I like it like that.
I did a few lengths breathing every fourth stroke. Then I did some more breathing every six. Six is better. I’ll settle on six for now.
I did 18 laps in 35 minutes (600m). I could have stayed in longer, but I’d promised myself a splash in the spa pool, but when I got there it was out of order, and I didn’t feel like getting back in the pool again.
Sarah asked me at the last assessment what I did each lap, and when I told her she said it was good to do half on my front and half on my back, so I’ve not been trying to do more than one front-crawl lap at a time. However I would like to be able to do two front-crawl laps in a row, for example, and not flake out at the end and essentially have a rest by spending the second lap floating on my back. So I shall work towards that. Starting last night I did laps 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 as front-crawl, the rest on my back.
Blood sugar before going in: 6.2 Afterwards: 4.9 
this made me very happy.
06.25.07
Monday night weights
Pretty good tonight – 5 minutes on the arc trainer, then the weights, then 9 minutes on the rower bringing me to 14 minutes cardio today.
The trainer had to leave before I could ask him about my form during the squats, but my knees didn’t hurt doing them today. However there was a bit of a twinge during the lunges and even on the arc trainer. Could it be the arc trainer I wonder?
The TVA exercise is bloody difficult. That is all I’ll say on the matter.
06.23.07
End of week seven
I was pushed for time on Friday night as we have a project due out so I didn’t get into the gym until 6.15 and we all remember how it closes at 7pm by which time we have to be out So I didn’t do the full routine and I didn’t do the cardio afterwards.
The exercises I did do were good – I did all except the upright row and the three abs exercises – except my knee hurts a bit when doing the squats, so on Monday I’ll ask a trainer to check if I’m doing them right.
Today (next day) I am feeling a little stiff in my lower back so hopefully some good is being done there.
06.21.07
Thursday swim
There is no doubt that Thursday is the low point of my week. I am always more tired and less inclined to go for my swim on Thursday. Contributing to this is the fact that the walk is further to the pool, a whole five minutes further, this gives plenty of time for bad self-talk such as “Perhaps it would be better to skip it tonight, after all I am of course [insert dumb excuse here, eg 'really busy', 'really sick', 'running late']“. This is where McKenna should be helping but I forget to use my secret motivator. Have to remember that.
Fortunately when I got there the pool was empty. It looks blissful when it’s empty, so I cheered up a bit and got in. I took it slowly though, and did 14 lengths in the half hour, 7 front crawl and 7 on my back. Played with pushing off under water vs pushing off at the surface, surprisingly (to me) I get further on the surface, perhaps about a stroke’s worth further.
The six strokes per breath worked pretty well. Talking to Podna on the way home (who was captain of the swim team at school etc), apparently he used to breathe every two strokes. This seems very frequent to me, but presumably you breathe more shallowly, it might be better. Might try every four strokes next time.
Today my lower thighs, knees and middle back have been feeling rather stiff. I think this is a good thing, maybe those exercises are challenging me after all. So to give myself a treat I had a dip in the spa pool after my swim. Mmmmmmmm spa pool.
06.20.07
Full go at new routine
Went to Johnston St on Monday and had my first go at the new exercise routine with all numbers of sets of all numbers of reps etc. And I implemented my New Idea.
I warmed up for five minutes on the rowing machine and then onto the weights. The lunges are a bit wobbly but getting better. All the other exercises were just fine, up to the knee drops for the transverse abdominal muscles. So much so that I wondered whether they are challenging enough – I mean this is only my first time on the full set. I still have at the back of my mind Sarah’s point that as you get stronger, you do them better and they become more challenging, maybe this will happen with this lot. Anyway after the full lot I went back to the rower and did another 8 minutes, bringing my cardio time on weights days to 13 minutes, ie 1 minute extra a day as Sarah suggested.
I was not quite staggering into the changing room at the end but I did feel I had worked hard. Hard to know whether that’s the weights, the extra cardio afterwards or a combination.
New idea
I’ve just read something that I’m going to try. Cardio work can use glycogen OR other fat, whereas weight training just uses glycogen. So instead of warming up for 20 minutes before the weight training (I’m only on 12 minutes at present, but you get the idea), if you warm up for 5 minutes, which should be all you need, then weight train, you’ll deplete your glycogen, and then if you do 15 mins cardio you will be burning fat.
Makes sense to me. I’ll have to monitor my blood glucose to make sure glucose is being liberated properly and I don’t go too low, but provided I have my snack at 4.30 I should be OK.
06.19.07
Tuesday swim
Tonight’s swim was good – 30 minutes, 16 lengths, 8 front-crawl, 8 floating on my back.
Have been working on getting a good breathing rhythm on the front crawl. I start off OK, but about two-thirds the way along I am starting to not get enough air and sometimes I actually stop. I find four strokes per breath is too short, and I thought eight was about right, but tonight on the 11th lap I tried six and did a lot better, so I’ll try that from the outset next time and see how I get on.
