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!

Back in the Groove and second hand shoes!

After my "recovery week" last week, I am firmly back in the groove, I have properly beasted myself this week and i've loved it! I can't seem to get through a session without looking like i've been for a swim and i'm down to 115.4kg (18st 3lb). Not that dropping weight is what this is about but I have shed some fat and that's beginning to tell. I'm got a slight niggle in the shoulder which could be overuse so trying to take it a little easier but its not causing any major issues with training.

So after last week and feeling horrible, this week has been Cameron's turn to feel crap and unfortunately for Emma and I, that means restless nights! I finally got my first good nights sleep in about 5 days, it was very much needed. To business though...   


Ray's Saturday night wrestling
Shoes - LEGEND!

Within hours of me posting my last post to the blog about shoes and singlets, I had a facebook message from my mate Ray Fetorazzi. Ray of all people had some size 11 wrestling shoes that he was prepared to donate to a good cause. I haven't seen the bad boys properly yet but Ray assures me they are wrestling shoes. I was a little sceptical but after an explanation that the red shoes were bought cheap in TKmaxx in the 90's because they and I quote "looked cool under jeans on a saturday night" I was convinced. I'm looking forward to trying them on.

Monday heralded the new week of training at ENGAGE and its fair to say that I managed to get into it quite well. I had my first proper wrestling session with Michael Cavanagh, in all honesty - it was awesome, I loved it, I think i'm quite "nimbly pimbly" around the mat at the moment (for a big lad) and had a good session wrestling with Dave Foggo. Dave weighs in at about 104kg I think but it a strong lad, so it was good to have him along and wrestling, I think we probably ended up evens in the wrestle in the end. My defence needs work but we were throwing each other around which was pretty painful, probably more so for Dave given that I have Atlas 10kg on him. It's not too dissimilar to rugby really in the techniques to use and certainly the rugby league work i've done in the past transfers nicely across to wrestling. I've got a horrific friction burn on my leg and a cracking bruise on my knee after sliding to leg grab but other than that, I came out pretty well.

Circuits this week have been great, I've really enjoyed them. i'm not sure if its that i'm getting more familiar with the exercises but I am loving a dead lift at the moment and my squats, particularly overhead have improved a massive amount. Altogether a positive week! I've got to do a bit more running, I have done one 2 mile run this week combined with flexibility work which i've needed given the amount of leg work that i've been doing. My take on it all is below.

I Even managed to get a few clips of my training today, which shows you a few of the things i've been up to including my arch nemesis of an exercise, the piston squat. I haven't put all the videos on the blog but if you are interested in seeing the others you can hop across to my youtube channel and that should keep you entertained for a minute or two. My coordination has never been great to be honest so if you want a small snigger check out the single leg hop take 1. I almost wipe out. Below are Piston squats (nemesis) and Swiss Ball hamstring curl (awful things).

For me Piston Squats really take a toll on the knees, I've not had any issues yet, in fact they are getting stronger and able to support but you can probably see me struggle.

  

These are really good, but a nasty exercise for the hamstrings, I've only been doing them for a couple of weeks, so you will have to excuse the form.

This weekend brings with it 4 training sessions for me, one run, 2 circuits and a flexibility session. The good thing is that i've had KCR today which has chilled me out, relaxed me and I feel a whole lot better and my leg length is back to even once more. Just need to get my masseuse on the case for the shoulder and loosen the hammy's and i'll be grand.

The agenda for next week is more of the same really, no wrestling for me unfortunately but I might look at trying to get through to Glasvegas for a session to see how the full time Scottish boys do it and what Vladamirs (Scottish Head Coach) thoughts are on training etc...

As always thanks for reading and sharing the journey. I can official relax knowing that I enjoy wrestling and can confirm that #mission2014 is well underway!

until next time!

@shocksjr



Scottish Wrestling Championships and Man Flu!

Has anyone else had Man Flu this week?

When I started this blog I did tell myself I was going to be 100% honest with how things were going and what I wrote that meant, when things didn't go to plan I would still mention them...and on that note i'm going to probably write this week off as a training week and start fresh next week. 

As i've said from the start i'm a collectively average bloke and it's been really tough to maintain a healthy balance between work, family and training. I now know why its so difficult to make the transition from amateur to professional sport and why people would struggle to make that change. I'm not attempting it by any stretch of the imagination but can see where the problems lie with people who are sitting below the fulltime athlete.

I'm probably exaggerating a little on how bad its been this week, but it certainly feels a little like i've fallen off the training wagon a bit. I've been struggling to sleep, had a horrifically sore throat and had a blocked nose all week. Man Flu has struck. Although not hard enough for me to miss a trip to Alton Towers.

Apart from Man Flu, I think there are a two reasons why I feel like i've fallen off the wagon. The first of those is that i've been on annual leave and being away from work means being away from the training environment, meaning i've had to do stuff at home. Normally that isn't a problem but the reason I've been on annual leave is because we were celebrating Emma's grandparents Diamond Wedding Anniversary down near Blackpool and of course it was my lovely wife's birthday. We had a great weekend with my in-laws and The grandparents even got a hand signed card from Her Majesty The Queen.

The second reason is simply because I've not had time to train, work has been extremely busy and i've not not had time to take a break and get to the gym for a 45 minute session. It's been pretty hectic, I guess I could have got up earlier and got to the gym earlier but I have parental responsibilities in the mornings as well that I enjoy doing and it is always going to be family first.

Scottish Wrestling Championships 2012

So what have I done this week, I hear you ask? Well, I guess It's not been a complete waste of a training week. Yes the diet flayed a fair bit and I was overfed as what tends to happen as family events and I did have to have a chicken Legend at McDonalds on the way home from Alton Towers... but it did give me a chance to recover a little bit. I was having a few little niggles in the knee and shoulder towards the end of last week and they have all but gone and surprisingly, I feel pretty good and am raring to get back into things this weekend.

I did manage to get a few flexibility sessions in which were definitely needed and I managed to get two body weight sessions in as well, not too easy when you are weighing in at 116kg. The sessions were pretty gruelling at times, although its only bodyweight, its all about getting your muscles comfortable to deal with your own bodyweight, i'm getting there but work is still to be done.

Alex prescribed the next phase of my training last week which looked a little bit like my worst nightmare at first glance but as you get into the nitty gritty its actually really good and well structured and there is rationale behind everything. I will be properly wrecked afterwards but I think that's the point. For those who are interested its pretty full on but without giving too much away... it looks like this

#mission2014 Training programme for next week. (Times Subject to Change)

C1 and C2 are circuits, and they aren't easy. Lots to get done next week, throw in wrestling session on Monday and a throws session on Tuesday and you have a pretty busy schedule. 

Eyes on the prize - Singlet I'm going to buy

This weekend,  After cleaning uo some sick from an ill toddler I delved into the world of Scottish Wrestling properly, met a couple of people at the Scottish Wrestling Open Championships which was great. I got a clear answer about what I need to do to qualify and have been invited to train with the national squad with the national coach in Glasgow whenever I can make it. Pretty cool stuff.

I said in my blog that I wasn't planning on competing and I didn't... although, if someone had given me a singlet and a pair of wrestling shoes, then I would have got in there for a fight. Would have been a little raw considering i've never even had a sparring match but it would have been great, I think I would have done alright too. Looking into things that I need to be allowed to compete, I'm hoping to pick up a sponsor who can help me with the cost of all the equipment I need to get. It's not cheap, those shoes below rock in at about £115 - £150 and the singlet is £40.00 and I think I could do with a blue and a red one. It all adds up plus I have to get some lifting shoes for training.

The Ultimate Warrior in a terrible singlet

The singlet is sexy huh? can't wait to get into that bad boy. Actually I don't think they are that bad, at least its not got luminous yellow bits with tassels hanging off everywhere. Not that i'm against that but its not that type of wrestling! but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. The shoes and the singlet are the two essential items I need to get before I can fight properly - maybe for Christmas, Emma? I wasn't planning on fighting until 2013 anyway, although it would have been nice to try to become Scottish Wrestling 120kg Champion this weekend.

The wrestling shoes I want

For those of you who didn't know, for wrestling, you need wrestling shoes. These are a pair of wrestling shoes, I'm not 100% what the difference is but I think they are similar to boxing boots.  Not that I know what they really do for you.

So what now... I need to find a sponsor if I can, if not I will have to start saving but more importantly, i'm hitting the training hard next week. Back on the band wagon and back fully into #mission2014, I've got a clean run till Christmas.

I apologise in advance that this video is a little crap, I had to take a video of the video because I cant find my adaptor to transfer stuff over. The guys below were the only two in the 120kg category today. I assume the red won the gold! 

My Final thought for this week is this...I know there are a good few people, even some of my good friends who don't think or don't believe that I can do this... we shall see... but I saw a great quote today that I think sums up where I am with it and what I want my mantra to be over the next two years:


"We all have dreams. In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes
an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort."


- Jesse Owens 



Thanks for reading and feel free to share, in fact please do share this blog.

If you haven't been on the other page of this blog, you check out the team who are helping me out with various bits and bobs. Thanks to them click here to see them - THE TEAM BEHIND #MISSION2014


Keep up on Twitter - @shocksjr

Challenge Cup final and a cheeky trip to London

Its been a really exciting week, although I haven't managed to get in as much training as I would have liked, I've managed to substitute for other things and my motivation hasn't been lacking!

A good friend of mine is making 2012 his year of sport, inspired by the Olympics and Paralympics being held in London, he set out to get to as many sports events as he possibly could throughout the year and take a secondment from his lovely girlfriend and make this year all about sport! You can catch up on his adventures here http://coxysyearofsport.blogspot.co.uk/. 

He managed to get to the six nations, Heineken cup, Tour de France, Olympics, Paralympics, SPL matches, The Crucible and even Silverstone for the Formula 1 to name a few. I have no idea how he managed to afford all this but he has done it and I don't think he will be allowed to go to another sports event till at least the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Me, Coxy and Shadow at Wembley Challenge Cup Final

Overall he has manged to hit 52 events (probably more now) over 30 sports in 17 Cities in 6 countries and shockingly he has only managed to rack up 9 wins for the individuals or teams he has supported. Maybe he is bad luck! Why am I telling you about this you may ask? Well Sport wouldn't be as much fun to watch if you went on your own and Coxy has got friends to join him for each of the events he went to and I was lucky enough to be the  friend who was chosen to chaperon him to the Challenge Cup along with Mark (shadow). Who will always now have a special place in my heart for taking us to possibly the best south indian curry place in Wembley - it was phenomenal!

This meant a break from training (or so I thought), a nice relaxing time down in the capital and a cheeky trip to Wembley. I mentioned to Alex (S&C) that I was heading away and back on the Monday the following week and on that comment, he prescribed my London programme to do at home whilst I was away. What a nice guy! It was interesting getting this new body weight programme done in my cousins living room but I still managed to get a good sweat on. I even managed to get a little flexibility session is a quiet corner of Gatwick Airport before heading home.The things you do!

I was still a little stretched for cash as most people are the week before payday when I headed to London but I was adamant that I could spend a ridiculously small amount of cash and get away with it. I pretty much did that by not taking any public transport and walked everywhere as much as possible. I worked out that I walked atleast 16 Miles over the course of the weekend. Pretty mad when you consider I was only cruising about the London tourist sights.

Challenge Cup Final at Wembley - Warrington vs. Leeds

The Challenge Cup Final itself was pretty good. 79,000 people almost filled Wembley and we took our seats next to Zeus and Odin up high and watched as the ant like figures of Leeds and Warrington fought it out for 80 minutes. Adrian Morley still looked huge. Warrington came good in the end but not before the lighting and thunder hit. It sounded like a bomb had gone off somewhere distant as the Thunder echoed around the stadium. The storm lasted all of 20 minutes and that's a good thing about being up high, not getting wet!

The exciting #mission2014 developments came on Friday whilst I was away, I mentioned in my last blog post that Mike Cavanagh was coming into ENGAGE to do some coaching, he is in on Monday lunchtimes which is awesome and even better we are actually getting a wrestling mat at ENGAGE which is going to be phenomenal for training. I can't wait to get into training properly and start grappling and wrestling. Unfortunately, I'm missing the 1st session because I'm away but come the second week in September, I'm all over it. Actually, I am thinking about setting up a community club properly and getting a coaching badge to help run on a day over the weekend. I'm pretty sure we would be the only pure wrestling club in Edinburgh and the East if we were to do it.

I was doing a little bit of work with Jig on Tuesday at the throws training, we did some ground work stuff, Bear joined for some punishment and Jig worked us pretty hard which is always good (maybe not for the bear). No dropping on heads this week but there was an accidental bollock in the face moment, its all character building! I'm swopping in Training next week for a trip to Alton Towers, so i'll have to make it up somewhere.

Finally, back to my training I'm away next week to Emma's grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary which is a pretty awesome accomplishment. Alex very kindly has prescribed me some training to do for the next two weeks whilst he ventures off to France on his motorbike. There is a lot of running in this block and back to the circuits and the dreaded wattbike tabata intervals, which may kill me off. I should be starting to look that little bit fitter come two weeks time. The key for me is to try and maintain a little weight! 

It's the Scottish Wrestling Open Championships next week, I elected not to enter this year, simply because I don't feel I have done enough wrestling yet to warrant a decent competition but next year! I will hopefully be Scottish Champion and well on my way to qualification for Glasgow 2014!

As always, thanks for taking time to read the blog, feel free to share it around and again as always you can catch me on twitter @shocksjr #mission2014

Oh and if you are interested in Wrestling in Edinburgh, drop me a line, I'm starting to collate a database of interested people:
mikewallacewrestling@hotmail.co.uk

Circuits - VO2 Max - Circuits

Me promoting Community Sports Development

I'm delighted to say that I made it through week one of my training and week two is now pretty much done. I feel good. I feel like i'm making progress, I've lost a reasonable amount of weight in the last 3 weeks, just through two weeks intense exercise and 4 weeks diet. I've dropped 8kg (about the weight of a West Highland Terrier) That puts me down at 115.9kg

I feel alot fitter and stronger than this time last week but that might be because i've reintroduced carbs at a low level back into my diet to get me through training.

Last week was pretty brutal, my legs took a pounding and by the time I got round to circuit training on Thursday I still wasn't sure how I was going to do it. The warm up on the crosstrainer was difficult as my legs were screaming with DOMS but I managed to get to the platform for the circuit. 

The circuit was a muscular endurance circuit that did really test me. 8 sets of 12 repetitions featuring the good old 50% weight (60kg) parallel squat, push ups, TRX rows, Leg raises and sprints. followed by a 21 minute boxing circuit. New levels of tiredness that i've never experienced before.

Michael Cavanagh, kindly gave me a ring at the end of last week and we are moving to set up the Wrestling club at [EN]GAGE. Michael is hopefully donating a bit of time to help out with the coaching, so if you are reading this and interested in Wrestling, get in touch with me and i'll give you all the info when it starts. I can't wait for that! very cool that its happening!

By the end of training last week. It left me wondering how the hell I was going to get through the next 18 months if I could only get up and down the stairs without bending my legs but 3 Stretching sessions later and Monday was back around and i'm still here!

The weekend was Awesome, Giles, one of my best mates got hitched to Becky - it was a cracking day, they lucked out on the wedding and everything went smoothly. I had a few drinks as ordered by Alex but nothing too extreme.

I've also got another in kind Sponsor. Ross Grady is now officially doing my massages as and when required which is fantastic, he knows how to cause me pain (good pain obviously) but another person i'm grateful to have on board.

I rocked in on Monday, actually dreading what was going to happen, but Alex sat me down and told me that week one was all about shocking the body and getting the mindset right to push you to levels that you need to get to and continue on. What a B*****D!

I say that but I got through it and that's the main thing. Week two was a lot more gentle. I'm not into 10 weeks anatomical adaptation and prehab, basically getting my body ready for Hypertrophy and Max Strength. Monday's session was tough but really good and Tuesday's session was later on in the day after Throws with Darren "Bear" Steadwood. It was pretty hard going but I was feeling pretty good. I threw Bear but "accidentally" dropped him on is head, occasionally stuck the knee in his side a few times and landed on him a couple more times. Bear, sweating out 4 days of booze joined me for my circuit as well, it wasn't as phyisically taxing as I would have liked to see bear go through, but it was great for technique, we were squating, overhead (OH) squatting, push pressing, OH lunging, Deadlifting and a few others, all in all the volume was high (160 reps) but the intensity and load were quite low. Still, pretty hard work!

Wednesday hailed a rest day, well I say rest day... I actually find flexibility a bit tough, but I am getting more agile and more flexible as the days go on.

Thursday - Not so fun! I had to do my 1st VO2 Max test in 9 years. Alex will give you a bit more information in the video below:



VO2 Max test

And here is me starting...

This wasn't the most fun I have had over a Thursday much time, but I guess it needed to be done!

Below you will find two video clips... the first is me really beginning to struggle and the other is me at exhaustion. Wonderful stuff!

I keep telling myself that it will all be worth it 2 years down the line if/when I make the Scotland Squad for Glasgow 2014.

We are underway

[EN]GAGE - my training venue

Having absolutely no idea what I was walking into with the Strength and Conditioning side of things. I was actually a little nervous heading into the [EN]GAGE at Edinburgh Napier University and as it turns out, rightly so. 

I'm now only  at the end of the second  day of the programme and absolutely wrecked, my body is in shock and I can barely walk up the stairs.

The nutition side of things is not too bad, expensive but on the whole not too bad, got some nice stuff in there and my only criticism is that it might get a little repetitive but that's not to say that's the nutritional programmes fault, more my lack of knowledge on what to do with it. My very own gourmet chef is doing pretty well to keep me going in the evenings with some good meals.  No spuds, bread, pasta or rice though which hurts my soul everytime I see someone eating something.

So to training...DAY 1... I rocked into the gym at [EN]GAGE raring to go, had my weigh in and which I was sitting at 119.6kg. Exactly where I want to be in about a years time but sporting less fat and more lean muscle.

First port of call was the cross trainer for a gentle warm up of 7 minutes then another 5 with the RPM sitting above 65. Not too bad. I still hadn't seen the format for the session but knew it would involve some 1 rep max stuff on the platforms and it did. After some more warm up drills I got onto the platform and battered out a few sets of parallel squat (arse to knees) before reaching 120kg and loosing form, so I was given 115kg baseline max. Not too shabby for a guy who hasn't lifted properly in a little while.  Especially as my squats normally are a curtsy's and I rarely made it past 1/2 squat.

I was happy, was being the key word in that sentence...why? because Alex announced that the next section would be circuit training to mimic the 6 minutes of anaerobic exercise that wrestlers have to do. This wrecked me. It included skipping, lunges, squats, medicine ball throws, push ups and rotational Bulgarian bags. I should point out I learnt to skip a couple of months ago with Steve, whilst he was training for Tough Mudder but give me three weeks and i'll be better than most 10 year old girls. 

3 times round the circuit was enough to have me bucketing with sweat and almost on my knees. This was day one. Lots of stretching, helped but not enough. 

I very kindly was given a session of Kinetic Chain Release (KCR) from Laura (one of our lovely staff) and that chilled me out and brought my hips back into alignment. Was very good, slept well that night! If you don't know what KCR is it's a protocol designed to fix leg length differeneces, however to do that the joints have to mobilised, muscles releases and the connective tissue stretched. I think its great and and it definitely helped me, I had a small discrepency at the start (about a thumb and a half) 20 minutes later I was back to equal and my squat had improved a bit as well. Good work Snedden!

So to day two. Weigh in at 118.6kg (happy to loose some weight as we go through the conditioning phase before hitting hypertrophy before Christmas) Which means from starting to think about giving this a bash I've dropped 6kg in 3 weeks.

I arrived into the gym at 7:56am again raring (not so much raring this time) to go and same thing, onto the cross trainer for a bit and into the sports hall. Alex almost killed me, the warm up was a session in itself and after more bloody skipping, bear crawls, squats, overhead lunges, push - ups, jumping jacks and split squats I was brought to my knees in the third set...with two exercises to go I took solace in the toilet, got to my knees and acquainted myself with the the big white bowl and said a farewell to my breakfast. Took my teeth out first having learnt my lesson on numerous nights out!

I actually looked like I had been swimming and went back finished the session and jumped in the shower. My quickfire session was over because I had a training course to start at 9:00am, realised I had left my work trousers at home and had to go in shorts. Great! even better, I was late, my shorts are covered in paint and I was still pishing out sweat. Happy times!

A beautiful picture of Jig

I was in pieces come 1:00pm but had session two of the day to get underway. James Millar (Judo coach extraordinaire and my throws coach) arrived an hour later and straight to business, a reasonably sized warm up with increasing difficulty turned on the sweat taps again and I was ready to be thrown about. Luckily Clive and Kev were doing this with me and gave me some really good opportunities to throw. We learnt two throws today which was awesome, really enjoyed it, I was beginning to get it but am a bit of a lump, so it will take me a little longer to get the speed and agility up, I swear Jig can move at Mach 3. Same time next week! Big units welcome.

This evening Cameron for some reason was crawling all over my legs prodding as I screamed in pain - little sadist... So a Muscle Therapy Bath and Sleep is on the agenda! it is much needed. 

Tomorrow hails day three and its again a circuit (new least favorite word) and flexibility training. So fingers crossed no puking tomorrow. I'm sure Alex has other ideas.

If you want to keep up with my rants @shocksjr on twitter

Calm before the Storm

Having had a pretty hectic couple of weeks at work, I managed to book in for some much needed annual leave. I decided that the best thing to do was to catch up with the family, so took the wee man and the wife up north to Pittenweem (my home town) for a couple of nights before heading further north to catch up with my in laws. This of course is my relaxing time before hitting the gym and training next week, not that i've gone OTT. Just the calm before the storm.

I'm a little bit relieved this week to be honest, I came away with a niggling pain in my knee after playing my final game for the eagles against Aberdeen and it wasn't getting any better last week with a lot of running around and walking but this week it's been no issue and probably just needed a break. I'm hoping that I'll be a able to strengthen it over the next couple of months anyway to reduce the risk of injury.

Pittenweem for those of you who don't know it, is a small fishing town in the East Neuk of Fife. It's a beautiful little spot and somewhere when you live there take for granted but always nice to come home. My mum was reluctant to move here about 25 years ago because she thought it was called (and I quote) "Piss and Wee". Muppet.

Pittenweem from the West Braes

Many a good time in Pittenweem. I went to school about a mile away in Anstruther at Waid Academy which is only a small school considering its catchment area but met some good friends.

Emma and I took the little guy for a long walk around the town yesterday. It was a beautiful day and well worth a walk. The place looks fantastic, looks like its been tarted up for the Pittenweem Arts Festival and it was great to donder around. 

Fishing at the weem

Cameron enjoyed a long walk of a short pier, I was crapping it about having to jump in after him if he plummeted off the edge but we got away with it and decided to keep him in his buggy.

Even though I'm hanging out on holiday, I'm still getting myself in the zone for whats happening next week and still really looking forward to it. In fact I could say that I've been wrestling all week with Cameron, every time I try to change a nappy I have to get him in some sort of hold to pin him down.

Last night, was BBQ night at the Wallace household, my dad has bought a new charcoal BBQ which I like to think is from my input in thinking that gas takes the fun out of it and charcoal and building fire is manly! That said we struggled to get it lit last night, had to use "Easy Start" (the stuff that could start a diesel truck) to get it going. I class myself as a bit of a BBQ pro, but last night I lost down a sausage and a bit of chicken off the grill into the charcoal - devastating for a BBQ chef of my calibre. Not that anyone noticed! I say I'm a pro but my timing was a little off last time I had one with the bear and it ended up being a twilight BBQ.

A couple of interesting potential developments this week on the Wrestling side of things as well. I had a chat with Neil Gibson (360 Conditioning) who said he would take a look at the S&C programme and see if he had any comment. Neil is very experienced in this field, is a sports scientist by trade and i'm usually happy to take his word as gospel on these issues. Hopefully Alex and I will be able tie up with him before Monday. 

The second one was on twitter, Jim Whitehouse, a mate from uni said he was going to have a chat with the Bank of Scotland about their local heroes programme for emerging sporting talent. We shall see what comes of that, but because I haven't started competing yet and the Scottish Wrestling haven't really heard of me yet I would be surprised if anything actually came of it but you never know. That said, the funding would be mega useful, the nutrition plan isn't cheap and i'm going to start heading through to Glasgow for training which will be costly.

Unfortunately for me, there aren't any wrestling clubs local to Edinburgh, but Steve Riley, a friend of mine and a former RL player I used to coach suggested I check out the grip house in Glasgow to do some training, which I will do. 

Final development this week is that I signed up to Scottish Wrestling and am going to venture along to the AGM to scope the lay of the land and then head along to the Scottish Championships on the 8th September and see what competition I have for Glasgow 2014. I'm confident I can do this and there is nothing more important than self belief.

The family and I are off to Aberdeen this afternoon for a couple of nights before hitting my last proper BBQ before training on Monday! 5 Days to go before the real stuff starts and I can this Blog will get a bit more interesting.

#mission2014 #5daystogo #startthecountdown