The Eve of Derby Day - June 7th 2014 - Week 2

Day Eight: Friday 6th June (Oaks Day)

Yesterday, I was tired out. Listless and emotional. Food withdrawal was likely to have some impact and I had bad news all the way through.

Today was tough too - not least because I experienced an IBS attack at 3.16am which kept me awake till six. I never quite shifted it and, at midday, felt compelled to take Co-codamol for the first time in months. 

A pack of Weightwatcher's Fromage Frais, was probably the trigger, but with something like this, you can blame what you like - you will never truly know.

I read about Ricky Gervais, who has a similar build to me, and his trials and tribulations during a similar fitness routine. 

ricky-gervais-tells-jon-stewart-why-hed-rather-die-drinking-beer-and-eating-pizza-in-a-bucket/


PM: 1) New weights programme. 
       2) 40 minutes X-trainer
       3)  15 minutes Interval training
       4)  Sauna

750 calories expended.

TV: Multiple Soap.  Hagiography of someone called Tina on ITV. Pretty. Killed, apparently. Is Hilda still on Corro? 

Food: Vegetable medley. Jacket potatoes. Oaty biscuits. 3 litres of water. (Sigh - this really is the worst part of the regime. I can see what Gervais is saying. Just writing down the last two sentences is depressing).     

      Mood Rating: 5/10  Keyword: Irritated

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Day Nine: Saturday 7th June (Derby Day)

It's Treat Night tonight.

I thought about what was written last night and realised that after three weeks of doing this (two weeks before I started recording), I have not eaten anything nice at all. 

Nice for me is a takeaway. 

Nothing home cooked, which is almost universally boring. Nothing like seven pints of cider in the Dog and Duck topped off with a visit to Mustapha's.

Feel like a pizza from Pizza Hut, full of MSG and Added Sugar.

I can't eat pizza because the cheese acts like a constrictor around my innards, sadly. (Once ate three large.)

Mmmm. What else?

Curry used to be a cheap and cheerful meal, but it's now become a set-piece dinner only affordable on birthdays. 

Fish (and chips) is unethical because of those giant nets used to catch cod, combined with unsustainable fishing quotas. Anyway, I don't like eating fish - especially those with eyes still intact. (I quite liked tinned salmon - which is a bit like meat, isn't it).

KFC, my absolute favourite, doesn't do my any good (see Pizza) and McDonalds is so un-treat like..more like a staple...

...so that leaves a KEBAB based treat

...that was one from two years ago...:D

How do I justify this?

If I knock off 750 calories this morning in the gym, and stick to fruit in the interim, I might be able to get a plain kebab and chips tonight and what steps I lose toward the goal, I gain in mood health (which is a big dodgy at the moment).

On the other hand, I might not. This may all be the vivid fantasy of the marooned surrounded by coconuts and lemon grass...off to the gym...
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Day Ten: Sunday 8th June. California Chrome Blues

The Derby was a muted affair, dominated as it was by Aiden O Brien, who seems to be the only trainer in the world who actually wants to win the old race. However California Chrome's defeat in New York has left me feeling down. 

What a brave animal - tried all the way to the line over a distance too far and was beaten by fresher, locally trained horses, whose names we shall all forget in three months; animals which didn't contest Churchill and Pimlico. It's not hard to see why Coburn was furious afterwards.

We'll never forget you, brave California.

As I have aged, I realise my relationship with football has become jaded, inspiring shoulder-shrugs more than anything else, but horse racing still has the capacity to jolt my tired heart: Last night in New York brought the emotion into clear focus.

To the point. There was so much racing going on yesterday, I didn't do any exercise, which I feel guilty about. Sorry, gang.

I still had my treat too - something I needed to do as I could feel my mood flattening by the day last week. People talk about sugar rushes and carbo crashes - I think I needed one. 

The other night, I ate mediterranean vegetables with crispbread. Anyone who knows me will attest I am not a mediterranean vegetables with crispbread type of person and it was beginning to get to me. I needed to eat something bad. 

So I had a kebab with onion bhajis and rice from the Vegas kebab house in Carlton - possibly the finest kebab on planet earth. I didn't drink alcohol, which was something.

No matter. I am up for the challenge again today and I am about to go on a long run in the sunshine.  If I can make eight miles, I shall be buzzing.

Thank you, everyone, for reading (and commenting on) the temporary blog. It inspires me and - selfishly - because you read, I won't stop running.

Update: 8 mile run (Nature trail). Flat. About an hour and ten minutes. No breaks. No twinges. Gym tonight at 7.

PM: 40 minutes weights. Quick burst on the X-Trainer (200 calories burned). Sauna for an hour - and a hot one too, with one of the gang restless and ADHD about the water bucket.

Food: Nothing until 11am. Low calorie Crackers. 3 litres of water. Some Go Ahead apple slices.  A plate of beans with pitta bread after training. Bed early.
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Day Eleven: June 9th 2014

Torrential rain outside my window. The sound of the rain is special, especially when there are no cars on the road outside. Thunderclaps shake the walls of my flat. Delighted to be indoors.

AM: A poor nights sleep punctuated with vivid dreams of several people I would rather forget. This left me tired, so I did 45 minutes at 115 constant Heart Rate on the X-Trainer for 500 calories and then came home to satsumas and pitta bread.

Will do more later.

PM: New programme of weights mixed with the spin bike and X-Trainer for an hour. Low weight, high reps - double sets. One hour.

Sauna for 15 minutes but two numpties came and bored me to tears by not talking, so I left, came home, ate tea. Beef cubes, carrots and parsnips. A touch of horseradish sauce and a litre of low calorie squash. Satsumas and red grapes for pudding.

Mood Rating: 8/10  Keyword: Enthused
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Day Twelve: June 10th 2014

An accidentally blank day...

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Day Thirteen: June 11th 2014

AM: 8 mile run down the nature trail. 


Tough start, despite the glorious summer morning. Legs felt like they were inlaid with metal cables. Could barely walk in the opening metres and it took until the very bottom of the trail, near the entrance to the Racecourse, before my legs loosened up. 

At one point, I was travelling so slowly, I felt I was rupturing the inverse space time continuum, but I made it back home without stopping, which is something.

Teaching creative writing tonight so no more exercise for me today.

For those of you who aren't on FB with me, on my birthday, the 23rd June, a day where I leave my forties behind, I plan to run the 14.1/15 miles from my house to Nottingham.

And more to the point, it's weigh-in time on Friday.... *gulp*
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Day Fourteen: June 12th 2014

AM: Spinning class with Lee - few people at the session. The trainer is big on stamina and sprinting and I love it (I was exhausted with fifteen minutes to go), but others prefer the Monday night sessions that involve lots of jumping about. He appeared worried, which is a pity as he is a top lad. He did have 15 there the other week, so I think it may be a volatile time slot. 

I also did 30 minutes of my cardio weight programme beforehand.

Food?

Porridge, satsumas, grapes, Yoghurt slices and pitta bread for breakfast and lunch.

This for tea, after an hour's X-Training in thirty minutes...