Exercise - Week 18

It's winter in Cape Town, it gets dark quickly, it's too cold and wet... These are some of my latest excuses to not get out there into the big wide world and do some stomping, Namibia though was a whole different story.

I recently spent 3 weeks in Nam, i took my food with me but as with all business trips i had dinners to attend and my eating patterns were out of sync, much to the delight of my PA who scoffed most of my pre-prepped meals for me so what to do, i set a goal of coming back 145kg a goal which i managed to hit, while i was up there in Namibia i didn't weigh myself once, i bit nails and fretted for a whole 22 days from one Cape Town weigh in to the the next, i ran about a lot, actual running, the great thing about the lagoon in Walvis Bay is the run around it, it is tarred and paved, flat and the lampposts are evenly spread out so i ran lampposts ( i never knew you spelt lampposts as one word with two p's [or the word 'spelt' does not exist]) at first i ran one lamppost and walked another repeat for the 5km it takes from one end of the lagoon and back, the following night two lampposts ran and one walked, the following night i had to stay in due to being on the verge of crippling my groin, i did weights instead and groaned every time i got up out of the chair... Anyway i ran the lagoon in a fashion about 12 times during my stay and two nights before i returned home i ran 4 lampposts and walked one cutting my 5km time from 56 minutes to 49 minutes, not very fast i know but at the time i was in the upper 140kg's.   On my return i will take up the Wunning again (walking+running = in my mind wunning) and see if i can get that time down a bit more.  The best thing about the wun is the moment you have got off the sofa after procrastinating, saying 'ah well i'll go out for a walk at least' getting outside and smiling wide when you are wunning the second set of lampposts.

Erm i also thought i would strengthen my core muscles by planking, didn't really work out for me though, i bought a purple roll up mat, got back to the flat, put it down on the table, stared at it for a bit, watched some telly, stared at it a bit more, got all self conscious about being a loser, rolled the mat out, got into the correct attire, found a 'planking for beginners' video on You Tube set that up and got into position for what the athletic 25 year old Lycra clad Hollywood hills lady by the pool explained was an easy 5 minute plank session to get me into planking.... so.... i hit start on the video and she goes on a bit about how planking frees the mind and loosens the soul, and instructs me to get into the basic planking position, on my toes, body stretched out, palms on the floor in line with my shoulders and PLANK... 30 seconds planking 30 seconds rest and repeat for 5 minutes, now unlike the toned fit instructor i resemble a well fed capital D in the stomach department and towards the end of the 3rd plank i was sure i heard my spine start to crack so i stopped... I'll get back to planking at a later date.

To combat the plank failure i found two very helpful videos for a beginners dumbbell (double b...) session and an abs session you can do standing up, i did both twice with not much effort well some effort but it was a lot more pleasant than the Hollywood plank, the next day i didn't really feel much but the day after yebo there's the pain, my abs especially in my lower and side abs and my triceps... I will continue this one.

Although exercise is grinding to a halt in Cape Town and i know i should be doing something, i am still getting out with the family as much as possible, walking to the shops as before and maximising my effort on the weekends, i should really be getting on that damn spin bike, maybe i will this week... i'll keep you posted...