I tried to goblet squat a 56kg kettlebell today!

I failed. That’s my story.

Seriously though, what even is that? It’s the weight of a small person! The gym is coming along swimmingly (probably the wrong metaphor to use there, although I do sweat a lot). It can be a bit tough sometimes because weights are, you know, quite weighty, and then during the afternoon of gym days I’m out on the bike for a medium length ride with efforts. Still, I’m moving forwards and if it was easy everyone would do it!

One of my current habits at the gym is to either not feel the exercise at all, or to feel it in completely the wrong muscles. It usually goes something like this…

Chris (my personal trainer): So this one should really focus on your hamstrings now.

Me: Ahhh, yeah. Erm. I’m feeling it mostly in the backs of my knees.

Chris: Really? Not through the hamstrings at all?

Me: Nah. In fact, when I said mostly, I meant only in my knees!

Chris: I see… *confused face*

Other than training, I went up to Colchester to get a heart scan with the people at CRY. It’s a really great charity and well worth doing if you’re between the ages of 14-35. They say ignorance is bliss, but in this case it’s important to know if you have a problem!

I also dressed up as a Dinosaur and did some twerking. Wow, I’m a teenager. I’m off to France on Friday for a team bonding weekend so that should be a laugh. I’ll tell you how it goes when I’m back. Ciao for now!

In a word, stiff

I’m coming to the end of my second week of training now and as you can tell, from the fact that I’m writing a blog post on Friday night (rock and roll!), I’m getting back into the swing of things. I’m re-remembering things like: exercise is tiring and eating is important so you don’t feel dizzy when you stand up (all important life lessons I might add). My general condition could be summed up in a word as: stiff.

I am enjoying it though, despite lingering nostalgic memories of recent frivolities. Cycling is what I do best (in fact it’s all I can do) so I better get good at doing it again.

Pigeons: friend not foe.

I've had a pretty comical week in terms of day to day events. On Tuesday I bent my rear mech on the way to the gym so my gears didn't work great, and then I found a half dead pigeon which had been clipped lying in the road. Unfortunately it was pretty mangled so I had to put it down, which wasn't overly pleasant. The gym went well, if you ignore my eternal embarrassment at complete chin-up inability of course, and so I set off homeward bound on my pushy. Five minutes later and I shift into the 25 sprocket and snap my rear mech clean off. I mean really.

It was a fantastic tap dance all the way to the train station in my cleats, although thankfully it was mostly downhill so I rolled parts of it. Life is indeed a roller-coaster as by complete chance when I was waiting for a train in Guildford a lady approached me to ask about the times. I answered her, noted she was French, did my best Franglais accent and we got talking. I’m going to my first French lesson chez-elle on Monday, so we’ll see how that goes!!

Gaffa: the stuff that dreams are made of.

The strap on my cycling shoe also snapped  the other day which resulted in some gaffa-tape fun. You've got to love that stuff, so many uses! But I digress.. That’s been my week pretty much, just earning and burning (fat that is). I've got a long ride to do tomorrow so must dash. Goodnight one and all!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life

So it’s that time when I have to start riding my bike again. I’ve been playing for a while now, perhaps too long. The first week back to training is always truly terrible but it’s a necessary evil, so come Monday: je vais rentrer entraînement!

Every year I try and do something extra to push myself up another level. Two years ago it was getting a proper coach; last year it was stretching and foam-rollering; this year it’s going to be the gym. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous at the thought a few days ago. The gym and I have a love-hate relationship: I love leaving and I hate going. Having the upper body of an 11 year old girl we’ve never been the best of buddies, and adding into the equation the fact that I’m a sweaty devil you have a recipe for embarrassing disappointment.

The only bit of equipment I knew how to use.

This year though it’s going to be different! Yesterday I had a great meeting with Chris and Sean from SC Vital Fitness who put me at ease. Chris has a cycling background so understands that: (a) cyclists generally hate gyms and (b) my core strength is comically bad. 

We went through a thorough check of background, possible injuries, flexibility and coordination tests, so before we’d even hit the dumbbells I knew I was in safe hands (dumbbells is a joke by the way!!). Talking to Chris actually got me excited for my future gym-ing as he’s got loads of knowledge on training methods which can directly improve me as an athlete! He also understands that the bike will always be the priority so we’ll be able to work as a team to get the best out of my training and recovery time. All I can say is- bring on the six-pack!