Improve thyself

I was watching on Sunday afternoon one of these very silly television programmes about fat people struggling to lose weight. I do apologise of the use of the word fat, I should have said ‘weight challenged’ or whatever is politically correct these days. Anyway, the programme was called ‘obese – a year to save my life’ or something dramatic like that and followed the struggle of a 38 year old mother who was around 38 stones (around 240 kilos), if I remember correctly, thus the use of the f word. She had reached a state where she couldn’t put on her own underwear or take a shower without the help of her eldest daughter (poor thing).

The whole show was meaningless to say to least, however what amazed me was the constant progress that woman was making. At the end of the year, she managed to lose 10 stones (around 64 kilos). That made me question my fitness progress through the recent years and what’s gone wrong and where. Right before I met JJ I had started doing sessions with a personal trainer and was training for my first half marathon in Bath, story you can find here. My first half-marathon was a huge success and I finished it nonstop in a respectable time for a first timer. The following year I tried another half marathon (here) and overlooking some minor problems (lack of water, very hot weather) I struggled to finish it and I had to stop a couple of times. Nowadays I don’t think I could even do half the distance without having problems. It feels like I’m going constantly downhill instead of improving.

On the other hand my gym sessions with the ‘pt’ are generally doing fine. I still have troubles with some exercises and I can’t do a respectable number of pull-ups. When I say respectable I mean more than 5 with the pt’s help (which is truthfully three quarters on my own). Having the pt help me doing pull-ups is embarrassing to say the least which is why I ultimately hate the exercise. However, I can feel that I’m getting stronger and excluding the Christmas Period that I’ve been somewhat lacking in training my arms and back are getting bigger.

I do have to focus more on doing cardio exercises, lose some kilos and get back in running. I can’t even fit properly on the running gear I had bought almost 3 years ago. So, I’ve decided to join a race late March. It will be just a 10 kilometres race but hopefully it will get me moving. Funnily enough one of my new colleagues, a very fit metrosexual with a great sense of fashion, asked me about running and he decided to do the same race as me with his girlfriend! Now I have to face an extra challenge of actually doing great in the race since they will be there as well. I will not be able to hide my shame.
We’ll see how it will go…