Project X
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<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' data-author="NTA" data-cid="416488" data-time="1393322990"><p>Chiro didn't want me spending too much time with a curved back - don't sit down too long at desk or on the couch etc etc<br />
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I'll ease back into the cycling with a couple of short rides over the coming weekends<br />
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She said it's probably a couple of months to fully heal it, and while I feel good right now, it is usually when you start feeling normal again that the damage is repeated.<br />
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Right now scar tissue is apparently forming a plug over the leaky disc and too much strain could blow it back off again</p></blockquote>
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Yeah that makes sense. I know it won't give you as much fitness, but maybe fast walking for an hour might be a better option than running? I know when my back plays up that running plays havoc on it. <br />
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Hour fast walk is roughly the Same calories burned as a 30min run if that matters to you. <br />
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Dodgy backs suck, that's for sure. Are you doing the exercise to release the pressure? The one the Kiwi invented, lying on your stomach and easing you chest up and resting on your arms (increasing the height over time). Does wonders for putting the disks back where they should be. If I put my back out, I do three sets of that and im fairly mobile again, and it reduces the pain significantly. -
After all this shitty weather I finally got out for a walk last night. But I got bored so I did a bit of running in there as well - damn what the chiro says! I probably didn't make it clear to her that I'm a barefoot runner so heel striking isn't an issue. She said grass running was OK but I figured street running would work in the fivefingers<br /><br />5 km in 35 minutes so around 8.5 km/h making the run bit approx 40%
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<p>bro! go easy on the running mate, last thing you want is to set back your recovery.... unless it's your wife finding out you aren't following the chiro's orders and your back still hurts! now that would be painful!</p>
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<p>Monday night I spent working on pullup form as I prepare to get back into it. Nice night - moonlit, about 21C out on the concrete slab I'd painted Sunday. 5 sets of 5 in between chapters of a book I'm reading. </p>
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<p>Karate last night. Sparring too so sweated like the proverbial bastard.</p>
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<p>Chiro yesterday didn't specifically say I <em>couldn't</em> start running again (I didn't ask), so Friday morning I think a gentle 5km is in order.</p> -
Not related to fitness - I'm at a department offsite today. A few hundred people in the room, and a few manager types spewing bullshit. I'm having to physically restrain myself.<br /><br />So maybe I'm burning a few calories as my brain frantically locks my muscles (including larynx) into place in order to keep me in a job.
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<p>Just be careful your visualisation of smacking em in the mush doesn't become reality!!</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="418652" data-time="1394755504">
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<p>Career shortening opportunities are rife.</p>
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<p>oh, are some of the chicks in the crowd hot!!?</p> -
Fuck yes. One of the facilitators in particular - clingy black dress. <br /><br />Though we are down the wrong end of the CBD for the true hotness: chicks in suits. Lawyers, consultants, financials, HR burds. <br /><br />Been fourteen years since I worked in the city. That's the only thing I miss.
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<p>OK so its been a bit drifty the last few weeks. Haven't really been watching the diet etc. and had a bout of gastric issues related to the inner workings.</p>
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<p>Stepped on the scales Monday morning and it was a 97.4kg problem... :think:</p>
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<p>Yeeeeeeah... anyway. So I've been really clamping down on the eats, avoiding the processed stuff, and this morning was already back towards 96.</p>
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<p>Karate tonight and it was a bit of a dud because sensei needed to drill a few white belts, so the rest of us didn't get as much out of it. Damn shame but I'll do some at home on the weekend to make up for it.</p> -
<p>Re-focus bro!! You'd been making good progress after the move and all the associated work and health stuff. </p>
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<p>You're not wrong, but its been a weird week.</p>
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<p>After the work shit on Friday, I had an awesome weekend camping with the wife and kids and some friends of ours. Full moon, mostly clear skies, campfire, bacon and eggs. Didn't really drink except for a celebratory bubbly - first time we've managed to nail down a weekend camping with these friends in eight years!</p>
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<p>After work on Monday found out my last grandparent died. At least she didn't have to go through any more of her own kids passing away after Dad and his middle sister both went in the last couple of years. While I'm not really shocked - she was 92 and reasonably immobile though still mentally able - it is still another family member lost and gives me dark thoughts about mortality and how I'm about halfway through it, having achieved few things on my own bucket list.</p>
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<p>I started thinking about life in general as well - do I spend time on exercise when I could be spending it on something else?</p>
<p>Does the time left over from work and family allow for the "something else" to amount to more than sitting on my arse?</p>
<p>Can I enjoy life being below a peak I haven't yet found, or do I need to keep searching for awesomeness to give meaning to the time I have left?</p>
<p>Can I financially afford any alternatives presented to me when my wife and kids aren't on the same wavelength as my fitness desires?</p>
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<p>Perhaps I'm over-thinking it, but the self analysis has been good in a way as I look at my personal, financial, and family needs. You can't have it all, and I've decided to concentrate on the personal in the short term so I can at least feel good about engaging the rest of it. I want to recapture the feeling I got when reaching a new weight goal like cracking 100kg or 90kg, or setting a new time record for distance.</p>
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<p>I also realised that I've not been sleeping well since Dad died, rarely going unbroken through the night (though my bladder needs to take some of the blame for that). I realised I've not been particularly active during that time either, and now the heat of summer has gone I've pretty much run out of excuses on that front. The mornings are cool, and I need to get back into the habit of road work as the base layer for everything else.</p>
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<p>So yesterday:</p>
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<p>Walk at lunch time (work) - 1.02km in 9:49</p>
<p>Run after dinner - 3.01km in 16:43</p>
<p>Walk home after run - 2.01km in 19:24</p>
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<p>I was struggling to get out that 3km, and had initially thought I could do 5 but wasn't up to it. Carrying the extra weight and not having any practice in really killed, and made me realise how far I'd slipped, especially how bad the time was at around 5:34 per km.</p>
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<p>But it'll be a case of building back into it, and looking at being under 90km by mid-June, before I turn 38, and then keeping it there even through the beery summers...</p> -
<p>Flew to Adelaide Wed/Thu for my grandmother's funeral. Sad occasion (made me think of Dad) but good to catch up with family I hadn't seen for years, who were all genuinely happy to see me. So it finished on a high. Plus a road trip behind the wheel of a Commodore SV6 which was nice to drive, even though it was only about 150 klicks each way out of Adelaide.</p>
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<p>The scales weren't thrilling reading this morning - 97.1kg - so its time to genuinely get back on the horse instead of lying to myself while eating chocolate. </p>
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<p>I've entered this year's City to Surf here in Sydney, 14km run from the east side of the City to Bondi - up Heartbreak hill - in August. This is my long-term goal.</p>
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In the meantime I need to restore my core strength, up the body weight work, and start off doing some sprinting work to build the leg strength. All this muscle work should help shed the fat (with an appropriately sugar-free eating plan) to drop the weight in the first instance. I don't fancy going for a 10km run at anything above 95kg to be honest. Nor should anyone.</p>
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<p>Weight goal by end of May is under 90kg. So I'll need nearly 1kg per week which I haven't done since the very early stages. So this will be a test, and I think the secret is to build into it rather than try to smash it from day 1.</p>
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<p>But I seem to say that every few weeks...</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="420958" data-time="1395972595">
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<p>I don't fancy going for a 10km run at anything above 95kg to be honest. Nor should anyone.</p>
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<p>This.</p>
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<p>I ran two half marathons when I was at 106Kg. Times of around 2 hours 15. Could barely walk for days afterwards</p>
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<p>I run a half now at about 1 hour 30 at 78Kg Genuinely have no idea how I finished 30 kg heavier.</p> -
<p>Dropped a piece of timber on my foot today while wearing my Maori safety boots (jandals to you lot). So decided not to run today. Instead did some body weight:</p>
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<p>Dual set of 5 x pull up + 10 x pushup then rest: 3 sets</p>
<p>Dual set of 10 x 10kg sandbag lift* + 10 push up then rest: 3 sets</p>
<p>Tuck jumps x 10: 2 sets</p>
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<p>Took 13:19 to complete that. Trying to concentrate real-world exercises with explosiveness - hence the tuck jumps, which are hard for a fat bastard with no ankle flexibility to squat properly, and therefore no technique. But it was tough.</p>
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<p>* Not sure what to call this, but basically I have a 10kg bag of gravel that was meant to go on the garden. Start in a deadlift position, bring to chest while standing, then press up. Take it back down in reverse order until it touches the ground.</p> -
Charity cricket for work yesterday, played at the local indoor arena under indoor rules. Won one, lost one to the eventual winners. Fuck!
Anyway, I've now got a few niggles to add to the sore muscles from Saturday night, but to all come good for a run tonight if the rain holds off
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<p>Another quick body weight work out tonight:</p>
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<p>Dual set of 5 x pull up + 10 x pushup then rest: 3 sets</p>
<p>Dual set of 10 x ??kg paver lift* + 10 push up then rest: 3 sets</p>
<p>Tuck jumps x 10: 2 sets</p>
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<p>Time was 13:52.</p>
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<p>Bleah - too much resting time</p>
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<p>* Same type of lift as the other night, but the 400mm concrete paver is probably not 10kg ...</p>
