Hill work

If you look very closely at this picture, at the bottom of the path is a blur of neon yellow. That is Sean at the bottom of the hill we just ran up and down a dozen times. For those of you that haven’t met Sean in real life, he’s quite a tall person. It has been noted by several people that he’s generally a large sized example of a human, I tell you this to point out just how bloody steep that hill is.Unfortunately the slalom stage is even steeper and further – yay!

So today was a trot of about 1.6 miles down down to the park, then 12 runs up the hill. The first person, in this case Sean, ran up the hill and dropped a dog lead. The second person, yours truly, then ran to the lead and picked it up. Then running either further or dropping it a bit nearer the bottom on the return journey. We mixed it up, some longer runs, some short and faster, for a very relative definition of faster. We then walked  the 1.6 miles back and are currently watching the pre-match punditry for Super Saturday.

Later today will come a very important part of the training, an event such as Tough Guy requires an holistic approach. This is why we’re mixing up running, hill work, core improvement and other aerobic exercise. The other element is training for the beers will drink once we complete the course, today will be an intensive session to help prepare for just that.

Edited to add crop of zoomed in image as Sean didn’t believe he was actually in it. The doggie happily running up the hill is Harley.

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Cornwall

Well this week didn’t got as planned. The plan being:

• Drive to Cornwall.
• Drop Bags in B&B.
• Pop next door to pub, have a few pints.
• Go power boating for the week.
• Train at the end of each day.

Unfortunately the plan was altered slightly due to the B&B that I stayed in, being the Blue Anchor public house, which also happens to be my most favouritist pub in the world (And I’ve been to most of it just so I could check)

So the amended plan was:

• Drive to Cornwall.
• Drop Bags in B&B.
• Pop next door to pub, have a few pints.
• Go power boating for the week.
• Enter pub immediately upon returning from Falmouth.
• Drink way to much Spingo ( The Blue Anchors legendary Ale)
• Feel really bad all day on the water.
• .Do absolutely no training.

So I have now caught up on as much sleep as I can and I now realise that burning the candle at both ends is strictly for the under 30s (Bastards)

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Saturday’s a rugby day

Today I have made the proclamation that “No training will be done this weekend”.

Fiona left this morning to Warwick Uni for a few days, so i have been able to lounge around and do as I like, so no real change there for me. I am now showered, shaved and dressed and about to head out and watch the rugby.

Considering the amount of beer I am likely to consume I think holding to not training will be a wise move. Still I need to keep slightly sensible as I have to drive to Cornwall tomorrow  in order to help instruct a power boating course. (Being in the forces in mostly crap but it does have its good moments) and messing about on boats in sunny Falmouth is going to be one of those good moments.

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Sean & Fiona – 12th March

Two hour spinning session today, lovely way to round off the week. Instructors banging tunes need changing tho, he is getting a bit predictable. Mrs G was kind enough to bring cycle my bike into work, with the intention of me cycling it home. That was looking like a real possibility (before the two hour spin session) But afterwards the idea was shit canned for any of the following reasons.

• Inclement weather
• Knackered after workout
• Bad knee
• Knackered after workout

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Sean – 10th March

Right, so no training for me today, I did consider using the rowing machine that’s currently doubling as a clothes horse in my spare room; but it was only a consideration and then only a brief one at that.

I do however get the chance to put my new, very fast, trainers to the test tomorrow.  Thursday morning at 9am I will be doing my yearly fitness test. This will then qualify me to not be promoted again (Bitter and twisted?  Feck Yer!)  Anyway being economical with effort I will be doing the multi stage fitness test (MSFT) as opposed to the 2.4 km run, which is in fact a 1.5 mile run in old money.

Economical with effort because if you fail the MSFT, you fail it sooner than if you do the 1.5 mile run.  If I run the 1.5 miles, I have to complete the entire run before finding out if my time was fast enough to pass relative to my age.  On the MSFT you know what level you require to reach, prior to commencing the test, if you fail to meet the bleeps during the test, you are pulled from the MSFT prior to reaching the required level for your age…..Simples?

At the ripe old age of 38 I only have to reach level 8.1 on the MSFT. This is actually a lot harder these days. My personal best is level 16.6 (any doubting Thomas’s please contact Ken Bleasby from 845 sqn, who ran that particular test with me) but that was way back in the mid 90s.  If I pass tomorrow it will be a personal achievement for my knees, who asked if I could either lose weight or give up training quite some time ago.

On the other hand, if I was playing the long game, I would realise that passing my fitness test to be eligible for a promotion that I will not get is futile, BUT failing the test does automatically put me on a remedial training package 3 times a week (during working hours)for a period of up to 9 months. This would mean that including the cycling in and out of work and dinner time training sessions that I would be doing in the region of 18 sessions a week…..  Too much?… Possibly? but still worth thinking about as Tough Guy draws nearer.

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Sean – 9th March

Huzzah! First day on the new bike and my beautiful wife’s expenditure instantly paid dividends. The ride time into work (The short route as I couldn’t be arsed getting up on time) was reduced by 7 minutes (including some rather splendid tracking down and over taking of other cyclists, never been able to do that on Halford’s finest collapsed star mountain bike). The much feared Mudford Hill, on the cycle home, no-longer fills me with dread and the fervent wish that I had a much larger lung capacity. So with new bike firmly clasped between thighs, I adopted the arse up head down stance that Sunday cyclists are so keen of and I managed to knock a very healthy 10 minutes off the ride home.

Now that my cycle time is reduced, does this mean that I am not getting the benefit of the journey I once was? My exercise time has now effectively been reduced by 20 minutes per day, assuming that (a) I get up in time to cycle the full 8’5 miles to work and don’t take the short route and (b) that I knock the same 10 minutes off on the run into work as i did on the cycle home.

Should I train hard in order to fight easy? Work harder on the cycle home on the old bike so I can reap the rewards later on? (Like feck!  The Cannondale F6 officially rocks.  The old bike is now demoted to being the camp tramp and will only be used for running me to and from the gym whilst I am at work.

Unfortunately I can’t give a report on the performance of the Saucony Flash C2 as cct training today was a boxing style cct,.devoid of any running. Obviously if there had have been any running I would have been the fastest as I had the newest trainers (yes that’s how it works) The only thing I will say is that the gym need to invest in some new skipping ropes as the one I used didn’t work….Pahh!

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Sean – 6th March

Todays plan was to buy new shoes and a new bike. unfortunately I did n’t make either if these but i did do a lot of chillaxing…which was great.

Tomorrows plan is to check out the local bike shops and see if they have anything not made out of lead, depleted uranium or a collapsed star. After that I will take Fiona to ‘The hill‘ (Early Sean Connery film check it out) I have a feeling we may just look at it and not run up and down it but we can only wait and see.

Congrats to Kerry on her new shoes!

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Sean & Fiona – 5th March

After being awake and at work (I sometime like to combine both of these feats) since 08:00hrs on the 4th of March, I found myself on the main gate of HMS Heron at 04:00hrs on the 5th of March directing (with love) the last few drunken marines form the Armoured Support Group to their beds.  With the last drunken sailors and marines safely onboard I retired to my bed safe in the knowledge I could have a few hours sleep before returning to work at 08:00 hrs  and seeing off the rest of my working day slumped over a steaming cup of coffee* and the dismembered parts of a .50 cal machine gun that I would be pretending to clean.

Well it all went horribly wrong for me and I didn’t get a few hours sleep, instead I received a terror shake ** and then had to muster my unshaven unshowered self infront of an officer who was asking my why it had all gone horribly wrong; So being polite as I could, I explained that the problem was in-fact his fault and not mine and promptly showed him the relevant Naval publication to back up my stance ( smug level set to maximum).

Anyway as interesting as my duty was and as much as I love being awake for nearly 30 hours, I can hear you asking whats the point…Well the point is I am trying to explain that no training will take place today, Simples!

Nah! only kidding. Fiona is coming in after I complete my duty hand over and we are hitting the gym for an hour before I cycle home (had you forgotten my bike was at work?)

Not train???? MTFUCC!!!

Coffee in the forces comes in 3 standard flavours;

1, coffee, black no sugar is a Whoopi (black nun)
2, coffee, white no sugar is a Julie (white nun)
3, coffee, white 2 sugars is a NATO Standard (presumably as this was the standard brew sank by the majority of the forces) However there are those who now call a coffee white 1 sugar, a NATO standard but they are in-fact wrong on some many levels.

If you want to drink a coffee that isn’t included on the recipe sheet above, you make it yourself and are classed as an awkward bastard.

** I was going to add something about waking someone up from a deep sleep but I really am too tired, try YouTube. with a terror shake it is very definitely better to give than to receive.

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Sean – 3rd March

Left for work a bit late this morning, so I took the short route into work down the A37, Remembering quickly why it’s called murder mile. Too many trucks passing  a little bit to close for comfort; However it did save 10 minutes and have two miles off the route.

Dinner time training was a spinning session, rather than the Brickwoods ccts. I did stick my head in to see what they where doing, even squeezing out a few press ups for being adrift but alas the cct was purely a sprint session so I told clubz (Navy physical training instructor) “To poke the cct up his hoop” and left to go spinning (At least you can sit down occasionally on a spin-cycle)

The cycle home was uneventful other than managing to come home in sub 50 minutes,so i’m happy with that.

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Sean – 2nd March

Cycled in and out of work today, totaling 17 miles in a time of 1hr 33 mins. Outside air temp for the cycle in was a bracing -2( before wind chill) Luckily my testicles are silicon and didn’t freeze off.

Cursed bike in and out of work, the gears constantly slip in the top three gears(accounts for my slooow speeds ) I compared the bikes weight to a work colleague’s and found that like its rider, my bike is a fatty (19.09 Kg)

Also managed to do an hours training at dinner time with the young lads and lasses who have just started training for the Brickwoods field gun competition (car park field gun). I was reasonably chuffed with my performance, but not so impressed with the young lads and lasses who struggled to keep up with the oldies.

“Brickwoods?! Brickwoods isn’t Field Gun! Girls do Brickwoods!”

Pat Patella, Portsmouth First trainer 1999, Portsmouth Command Field Gun Crew.)

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