Well the last few weeks have not been totally successful, if by successful I mean I have lost any more weight. However I refuse to be down beat about it… There has been 5 days of my own birthday celebrations followed by those of my mother in law… So during this time of multiple cakes, goodies, meals out, and boozing. I have managed to stay completely off of the booze, not do too many sponge slices… And have stayed exactly where I started all the silliness. So no weight off, my once plummeting graph of progress looks more like I have flat lined on a hospital monitor over the last few weeks but at least it hasn’t risen at all!
I have been using the new gym membership a bit to counter act a decline in road time on the bike. I have swam, and completed a few very rushed weights sessions. The swimming has been more enjoyable than I expected it to be, and I have enjoyed using my improved fitness to get me through the pool better than I have managed in years. I do still have a worrying pain in my left shoulder when I do front crawl, a hang over from a rather too enthusiastic jump from a pirate boat trip in the summer I suspect, but it’s not a problem when I do the froggy stroke… Errr… Breaststroke! That’s it! I seriously had to pause and think what the ‘froggy one’ was really called then, what a tit!..
It’s been interesting going swimming again, because in the recent few weeks my daughter of 7 has graduated her how to swim lessons to join the local swimming club, where the training of even 7 year old girls seems to be a lot more serious. It’s been humbling to watch her do length after length working on her style, and form and increase her levels of stamina. She is already becoming a very neat swimmer, she puts me to shame. But she makes me exceedingly proud!
watching her and the older kids through the various levels getting coached properly and educated how to perform the various stokes correctly has really had me thinking about how poor my own style has become over the years. My breaststroke arm stroke is completely different to theirs, the kids, especially at the end of their sessions when they ‘go for it’ look like tiny Olympians, cutting through the water like sports stars in the making… I look… Well lets face it, I must look like an overweight dad flopping through the water trying to loose his gut! Certainly no would be athlete! I think the style has possibly evolved a bit since i was taught to swim! As my arm movements are totally different, i treid it the way they are taught and it feels very unusual… And my legs… Well I am glad they are behind me and I can’t see them! It would be too embarrassing! my legs are doing what must look a bit like a hybrid move between front crawl, injured frog and old lady side stroke, and unless i really concentrate that’s exactly what they go back to.
I also realised, I am actually not sure what they should actually be doing?! How are you supposed to do the froggy legs?!? I might have to do some research into this!?!
I have been lucky enough to get a lane to myself each morning I have been to the gym, although now, as I write this that maybe because I have such appalling skills that anyone who thought they might share a lane with me, thinks better of it when they see me thrashing about!
The other thing I have had to tackle is my swim kit… Most of my swimming shorts are big baggy board shorts designed for beach holidays and slides at centre parcs rather than exercise or sports… I have dug out my shortest shorts in a hope that this would reduce the drag, but these just actually restrict the movement of my legs… So off I popped to sports direct in search of some googles (so I don’t turn up to work with eyes so red everyone suspects I have been on a massive bender) and some less restrictive, and more hydrodynamic swimming attire… All they seemed to have were shorts that more closely resemble cycling shorts than anything else, so I bit the bullet and figured well this must be what everyone wears these days and bought a pair. When I showed these to my colleagues at work, expecting perhaps a ‘yep they look more suitable’ type comment, I was actually treated to howls of laughter, and some actual tears of joy at the sheer ludicrous thought that I was actually going to wear these in public… Comments like ‘i used to swim a couple of times a week, and i have never seen another man wear anything like this’ followed by enormous laughter. Maybe i am too sensitive, but i was actually wondering if they ever would be seen in public… Sod it! Of course they will! See, that is the liberation of being nearly 40, I actually don’t care what anyone thinks, they will be more practical and comfy, I am going to bloody well wear them! I can wear shorts like this on my bike, why should it be a problem at the pool… When my other shorts get wet they cling, what’s the difference?! Nuffing!!!
So that’s it… Very little cycling, no weight loss, but I remain positive, and I am still training and trying, and that is the blog entry this time!
So a note to myself (which is what these mainly are!) keep at it, the next drop in weight will come, just stay off of the sweets and cakes now and keep exercising… Weight loss will follow! I am sure if it!
The DUCKs 