Road to 2014: Wattbiking to the brink the highs and lows

Honesty is the best policy and during the last two weeks i've hit highs and lows, i've even managed to stay the same. I'll start with the obvious "staying the same". I've managed to keep my weight at 115.4kg despite increasing the aerobic exercise, surprising, I thought I would have dropped but considering the amount of carbohydrates i've had this week, I've managed to maintain it. This is a good thing - Which brings me nicely onto the highs. 

For the first time in about 4 years I actually enjoyed going for a run on the treadmill. Whilst it may be boring (even more so because Emma's ipod is missing), I got through it. I only had to do 2 miles, which I did with ease. The important thing for me is that the knees, which dont like treadmills held up fine. The highs continued as I am now a lot more flexible than I used to be, my stretching sessions have obviously been paying off. I can now surpass my toes in a stretch which is something I can't even remember the last time I was able to do that. 

I've found myself doing a lot of babysitting this week as Emma has started her new job, its exercise in itself. Cameron and I have been playing and running around the soft play, its hard work constantly squatting around and clambering round those places, I almost considered writing off a circuits session but thought better of it. 

The gym has been awesome, i'm in week 4 of 10 and the weights have increased and the reps have also gone up, its a good progression and Alex is happy. We are following Bompa (2005) who states that load and intensity should increase alternatively every 2 weeks. I've been dominating the programme - I love a TRX row (above) and have even found some good form on those bloody piston squats which is no longer my least favourite exercise. The gammy knees must be starting to strengthen up. Continuing on the highs my postural sway and proprioception is definitely better than last week, you can check out my stumble from last week below.

My Funky Shoes

My final high was wrestling! not surprisingly. We had an awesome session this week, I had my donated retro wresting shoes on, they were given the seal of approval by Michael Cavanagh as official wrestling shoes, if a little dated but they saved my feet from friction burn. The session was all about ankle take downs and I think i've picked it up quite well, think its a good move anyway that I will definitely be trying to master when I get to proper wrestling.

With all these good things going on I might come off as a little bit too positive, so allow me to bring myself down a peg or two and give you the lows of the last two weeks. Well, I've been scraping the financial barrel this month, I don't know if its just me or if its everyone, but there always seems to be something extra to pay for, its brutal and really takes its toll. You know your in a bad place when you are scrimping round trying to find money for butter! 

They say bad things come in threes and I managed to knock that out of the park this last two weeks. I broke the toilet flusher, strained my rotator cuff, dropped an piece of orange into a cup of tea, got a flat tire and got bent over by the Tax man. Seriously though, if there was actually an individual that was the tax man they would be getting a slap this month.

Ross, my repair man came in to try and fix me up on Sunday, that was great he fixed me right up and put me in good stead for the week. The massage was a high but I've got it down in the lows section because he abused me. I have had a lot of massages of him in the past but he went to town on the shoulder and the knee I jarred last week and I was some amount of pain (good pain, but still pain).

Finally, I hit a low today, I completely burst myself in the gym, I was super close to being sick. I had to do interval training on the wattbike which for those of you not familiar with that term, basically if you imagine getting onto a bike that is stuck in the mud, cycling for as hard as you can for 20 seconds resting at a reduced rate for 30 seconds and repeating that 10 times. It is Brutal! It is really good but wow it drains you.

In my wisdom I thought I could do a circuit straight after! I blitzed the first two sets (remember this was increased load and increased reps). Come the third set I cracked, hit the wall and almost threw up all over the gym floor. Luckily I gathered my thoughts and ventured out of the gym to find a seat. I could have quite easily passed out but I saved it.

So what now... it's hard training for the remainder of the week. Lots to do towards the end of the week and then into next week. I'm hoping i'll be able to get through the anaerobic exercises, increase the aerobic capacity and lift well to finish off what has been a good but tough couple of weeks. Even better though, I get to have a couple of social pints this weekend at Dave and Rea's wedding which I'm really looking forward to.

I feel its only fair to finish on a positive, every time my head drops I always have this to look at to pick me up again!

When your heads down - keep your eye on the prize

What's my final thought for the day - it's PAY DAY!