nanako

Totally agree, also the control baffles me. Doing these moves so slowly and controlled. Amaze !

PS Went out running with the club on Tuesday but skipped today's long run. I read a study about there being a sweet spot around 10-15 miles a week where runners live the longest. I am translating this into 'least oxidative stress' = 'least danger of getting ill' in my own little head. So I'll stick to these 10 miles. Maybe more-ish when I'm on holiday, to make up for the lack of other stressors. MAJOR progress on the chin-up ROMs ! Almost surpassing the 90 degrees now and much more elegant (it was about time). Maybe two centimeters already on the pull-ups but it may just be just in my head.

Biggest of biggest w00tS ! I've just sent the paper draft to my co-authors ! This is another thing I've been able to strike off my "Things that haunt me when I wake up bathed in sweat in the middle of the night at 4 am" "Things about which I am going to feel so much better once they're sorted" list. Very pleased ! This leaves only 3 items all of which are 'minor'. Of course I didn't live like a saint and work like a horse. I didn't sit down every morning, I think it was only 6 out of the 14 of the challenge so far. A lot of work was done today on the playground and 'watching' the athletics world championship on telly**. But hey, I finished it ! And that's what counts. I'm really proud. So I'm giving myself a big B+ on this one. I never would have been able to do this without you. Without you, I would have shoved it back into my subconcious, would have procrastinated endlessly and dodged emails from my co-authors, jeapordizing my future collaborations with them. But with your help I managed. Thanks for that, Nerdfitness. A big thank you ! Tomorrow then, it's off to Cornwall for a well-deserved two-week holiday. For now, it's a nice glass of white wine for me. But, tomorrow, I'll have to get up at 6 again to finish another draft for my other co-author before I leave ... much more timely and less nightmarish though. So it's actually just a nice half an hour of work. Have a good 'un mates ! I know you will all be diligent and strong as usual while I'm away. **(This is an old trick I learned when I was at college. When procrastinating, it helps to occupy the mind with something soothing so that it won't be as easily distracted. After a while, the brain will focus on the work and stop wandering. I know, I am weird.)

No, he didn't, he shouted some abuse and walked away. If only I hadn't been in shock, I would have run after him and smashed his face in with his stupid iphone. Ah well. No stopping next time. Smash right into them, let their insurance sort it out.

That sounds totally reasonable ... I wish I could do that at home ! Made some progress being disciplined but the last two days, I slipped back again. Today I read this article which says that without counting calories people can save up to 250 kcals a day by just not eating junk after 7pm. So you're spot on. That sounds good, I'll try. Will bring a tape measure and some nice white wine so I won't be tempted too much by that lovely Cornish ale ... mmmhhh !

Man, I never do the best I can. Or maybe I just can't do as well as I think I can ... It's not that I slack off or anything, it's just, life gets in the way; there's things that just go wrong - long hours here, somebody falls sick there - perfection is just too hard to achieve. So I never get there, and I'm not happy. And that makes me unhappy. Maybe if I picked one single thing, that would work. But my life's not like that. I have kids and I have a demanding full-time job, this means I'll always be torn between the two and never be perfect in either. Then, on top of that, there's exercise and all that ... and the things I want to achieve outside of work and family. So I know I'll never be perfect and still I set my goals too high.

I'm living Wolverine's dream here - losing inches while gaining weight. Another half inch each lost on hips, tummy, and waist. Unfortunately this is not my dream really. I'd like to lose bulk first an foremost, but I just can't get myself to keep to a decent deficit. Bike accident today ! Smashed into another cyclist who had stopped for some moron who walked onto the street without looking because he was fucking texting on his fucking phone. Thankfully nothing happened, but I'll have to pay the other bloke £50 to straighten his back wheel. Smartphone guy did a hit and run, fucking bastard. Sorry, language. I'm REALLY pissed off. REALLY.

No work on the paper today, worked long hours yesterday and went for a run after, so I woke up this morning over tired and my brain was mush. Only two more days !!!

Maybe I shouldn't have asked you guys ... that sounds too familiar !!!

Mmmmh fudge ... Erm, never mind. It's probably the running. Did you eat enough carbs before and after the run ? I find that helps to keep myself from bingeing all day after a hard run.

I think you did fantastic ! Sorry about the guinea pig but the festival sounded like a blast. :-) Nice exercises too.

Well done ! Seems like you're smashing it !

Yesterday and today, half an hour on the paper each. Not enough but at least it's getting done for once ! Can see a rough draft going out on Sun for co-authors' review. Sunday, squats 20-20, plank 2x 1 min. Yesterday, chin-ups 4-3. And I finally managed to not binge at night for the last two days, staying under 1900 kcals. That's with 80% paleo - no sweets or processed foods, little dairy and 1-2 slices of bread a day. Happy but can see this success jeopardized already when I go camping from next week. I am already thinking, hey, what's the point of losing 2lbs if I'm going to gain them back on my holiday ? Must find clever holiday eating strategy (I don't have a smartphone and cannot log). Maybe stick with paleo and try to stay a little bit hungry every day. On another note, I must review my expectations/reward/success schemes. For me, I always set myself up for failure like this: 1 set the highest expectations 2 never fulfil them 3 only ever achieve part of my goals 4 end up with a quite reasonable "success" that I'm not really proud of (best case) or even ashamed of (worst case) I really wonder why I do this. Any ideas would be much appreciated ... you know how it is with blind spots, everybody can see this but yourself you cannot. If I managed to lower my expectations in the first place, I would be able to fulfil them no probs, and end up with the same result and the feeling of total success. Why do I deny myself this ?

Good thoughts and prayers on the way. Very much hope she feels better very soon.

Yay for camping and hats off for your willpower ! Don't let the bears bite you !

I can't believe you - or anyone, for that matter - are actually doing this. The horror ! I wouldn't last a day.

More push ups by the way - 4-5-6-4-4. This must be the most boring challenge ever for people to read. I feel like I'm not even doing anything. But then, hey, slow and steady, right ?

Shouldn't be a problem to switch cheat days when there's a social occasion, right ? Especially if you don't have socials that often. Been thinking of you today as I'll take the kids climbing tomorrow hopefully.

This, totally ! MiLs are the worst, I'm glad I never see mine (she lives in another country and never comes to visit). Don't worry too much about the overeating, it sounds like you had a bit of a stressful time, and it could have been worse. You got this !

Sounds good ! Candlesticks, those are not normal "candles", right ? Backroll is horribly hard imho. Again, you can do these until you're 10, and after that ...

Sound like your back on track, great ! Have a lovely holiday !

Thanks luv ! You'll get there fast, I improved so much over the last months, will be the same for you, definitely !

Did pyramid sets of chin-ups today - 4-4-3-3-2-2-2-3 with much improved ROM. Still only 1cm of pull ups

Thanks !

I had a race tonight on my "home ground", the Towpath. Don't want to be bragging but I did REALLY well for my standards. I did a pretty constant 10min/mile and an overall time of 61.47 mins. Which means that the under-an-hour benchmark is not far now !!! Yay ! I know this is still REALLY slow for normal (club) standards but I've actually improved my 10K time by 7 minutes over the last, erm, 3 months. Which is really really cool. I know it's easy to improve at my stage (I kind of had to start from scratch last year) but hey, if I hadn't put those miles in, I wouldn't have improved, right ? Very pleased. Enough bragging already, I'll go celebrate ! Tempo run tomorrow then and I think it's a 12K recovery on Sun, or something.