Easter weekend

well easter weekend, what does that mean ... in short a few days out of the office. It started positively enough, Leeds hammered Bradford - always a good start to a bank holiday. I also managed to squeeze in some decorating... So my hall and bathroom are now white, as opposed to blue and terracota respectively. So that was good.

That takes us to Saturday, were things started to get a little strange. I popped up to Leeds to say happy easter to the folks, and help Phil celerbrate his birthday (happy birthday Phil). All good intentions of going easy on the ale went out the window very quickly. It speaks volumes when even the departure of the birthday boy off home (a bit the worse for wear) did nothing to dampen spirits. So minus 1 Headingly called, which despite being a little quiet, was on the whole very good. A good drink was had by all. Sunday, well I've no idea what happened ... a few cheeky lunch time drinks turned in a session and a half, with yours truly in all kinds of bother. Its probably of little surprise that I ended the night early .. not really sure what was going on.. or were I was :(

The long on the short of it is that Sunday was such a heavy session that Monday was a right off ... I guess that's what bank holidays are for?. As a result I did very little yesterday accept join my friend for a very sedate drink or two. Given my stated fitness drive, and a desire not to kill myself with alcohol, I suspect abstinence from the daemon drink is the key for a while! .... so here's to drying out, and finishing the decorating :)

The time has come to set some goals

With my holiday plans now pretty much finalised, its dawned on me that I need to be setting myself some milestones. Realistically I need to ensure that my fitness is at the appropriate level, not only be able to meet the challenge of what I've planned this year, but also to do it with a smile on my face... Also its about time I made some use of that sport science degree of mine.

So here's the plan... and the goals. The timeline is simple, I start indoor climbing again in two weeks, this should aid technique and flexibiity. Looking forward, I've a little over 10 weeks until I go to Oz, and a little over 5 months until I hit Africa. Oz is more a recreation trip, but I anticipate spending sometime in the Blue Mountains, so with a bit of luck I should get a warm up climb or two in. But whichever way I dress it up, Mt Kenya and Mt Kilimanjaro are the main events. Both aren't very technical, so although I'm doing some indoor rope work this is more to get me in the mood, and the concentration is definitely on energy levels, flexibility and stamina...

So were am I currently, well my energy levels have been a little low recently. However, I think this is work related or simply an indication that I've done to much to soon. But just to be sure I've changed my diet to include more Vitamin B, fruit, beans, Soya and brown rice. If diets the problem I should see results in a week or so, even if its not the change in diet is a good thing. Cardio wise I'm in pretty good shape as I've been running on a regular basis for around 10 weeks. So since, the runnring's being going well, its time to reintroduce cross training and weights to the plan. This should further reinforce the cardio work already in the 'bank' and help to continue to build further. Add to this some miles on the bike, the indoor rope work on the wall, the fit ball and you have the basis of good program....

So the goals - for the next ten weeks ... well achievable is the key so they are (as much to remind me as for your interest).

resting heart rate -> 60bpm (its currently 64)
anaerobic rep rate -> 15 (currently 10)
aerobic continuous threshold -> 90 mins (currently 55 mins)
average aerobic heart rate -> 173 (currently 180)
No wife beater -> 0 (substituted with Guinness)

so there we have it, the aim for the next 10 weeks .... no stella, balance out my diet and increase general fitness. We'll see were we get to in time, maybe even get a six pack again :) ...

Alton Towers and birthday beers

Busy weekend this last one, went upto Stoke Friday, to catch up with some friends visiting from Ireland. An all you can eat Chinese, a few pint of Guinness in Fat Cats and boat load of Cold in Walkabout set the seen very well for the remainder of the weekend. The Guinness might I add was a belated St Paddy's day homage.

Anyways, Friday was a late night as you'd expect, so Saturday morning was a little tentative ... Especially as we were bound for Alton Towers. Now, I've not been to Alton Towers for years, must be over 10 I think, in fact I may have even been still @ school that last time, it was that long ago. I was however quite excited (if a little hung over) @ the prospect of Air, nemesis and Oblivion having seem them advertised loads on TV. As a warm up, and to ease things in gently we hit the teacups and runaway mine train. Stomach sufficiently settle, nemesis and air called. Now I really like nemesis, fast and just plain mad, air on the other hand was a little disappointing, I thought it was tame?. Anyways both were negotiate very quickly as not too many people in either line. We then tried to do Rita and Corkscrew, however both were closed. Instead we headed for Hex .... Which I think is pants!..... if your scared by this you should probably be collecting a pension. However the highlight of the day has to be oblivion, this is just plain silly. I mean who in there right mind voluntarily goes on a ride which involves +4G 200ft drop, well me - twice!. It was good, after sh**tin myself the first time, I went straight back on again. Its just plain insane, I love it!. Upshot is a mass adrenalin rush that's enough to be addictive.

Alton Towers was followed by quick beer to watch Ireland get stuffed (not bothered about either team personally, but friends seemed a bit upset) ... in a nice country pub in Staffs. Quick drive home, to join all the gang celerbrating Tom's birthday. Happy Birthday Tom - beer and curry was the order of the day. I drank enough to feel lazy yesterday, but not enough to declare an out right hangover. Good time was had by all I think, although trying to give a 14 stone man the bumps after 14 pints has to be declared as a recipe for disaster!.

Yesterday did nowt, only venturing out to retrieve my car. This is possibly the best thing about currently being single, there's no obligation to go to Ikea, Homebase or any form of garden centre on a Sunday... Anyways I did watch more of the BBC's 'Fighting the War' documentary series, which gives a better insight into the Gulf war. Very interesting, recommend sparing the time to view if you can.....

its the weekend and another birthday

Yeah its the weekend all over again ... seems like a very long week. Anyways, plans for weekend as follows, belatedly celerbrate Paddies day tonight with some Irish friends in Stoke (I had two cans of the black stuff last night, just to stay in the spirit of things). Tomorrow, big day!. Firstly Altern Towers during the day ... and out to help Tom commiserate his old age in the evening. So happy birthday Tom... :)

Anyways, I'm sure @ this stage Sunday will be a right off, despite my desire to paint the flat. Its obvious already I'm going to suffer some form of bad head ... already I can hear the sofa calling!.

paddies day

happy St Patricks day to all .... not that I really care as I'm a Scotsman, however it is an excuse to drink that odd pint or two of the black staff!. Well I don't want to be the odd one out now do I...

curse of wife beater

last night was supposed to be a quick drink for someone's leaving, followed by a quick drink to assist in a birthday celerbration .... However it turned out to be so much more. Having now turned 30, I have to face facts that drinking on a school night doesn't agree with me as much as it used to, so a sensible approach should be adopted to all such occasions. Did I heed my own warnings last night - no!. The evening started quite sensible, a few pints to wish farewell to Karen who's defecting to the opposition, grand I planned to go home early for some tea and meet the birthday lot a little later. Unfortunately that dammed wife beater got hold of me, as I ended up in extended conversations with people I'd not spoken to for a while. All good to this point, however I'd not been monitoring my alcohol consumption ... and it was starting to tell!.

By the time I caught up with John, Debbie, JV, Tracy, Gary etc to share a beer for Richard's birthday (thanks for the pint John) I was several sheets to the wind. At this stage spirits were high, and all was ok in the land of monkey. However, for some bizarre reason spirits took a turn for the worst as I joined John and Debbie for a night cap in the Jug. Why this happened escapes me (no fault of the company I might add) I suspect its something to do with the quantity of stella consumed. In the cold light of day I must recognise the evilness of this substance, and vow to limit my future intake. To John and Debbie who had to listen to my incoherent attempts to right the wrongs of the world - please accept my apologies, I hope I didn't offend to much!. The penance I hear you ask?, well that would be the terrible hangover suffered today. I'm laying low now in utter disgrace :(

anyways ... all that remains is to wish Richard happy birthday and Karen all the best with the new job!.

ps I'm off to rid my home of the evil that is stella, and pass all remaining examples to the homeless drunk who hangs out in the park. I do this before I end up sad and lonely with no friends.

Tunes arrived today

Today was one of those days you look forward to - knowing full well something's gonna appear in the mail. After 3 months of trying I finally managed to replace my copy of 'FC Kahuna - Machine Says Yes' ... along with a vinyl version of the sublime 'Hayling'. Both of which turned up on time as promised, being replacements for articles misplaced after an extended loan to someone.

The downside in both cases is that they're the Skint version, so in the CD case the running order is slightly different, in respect of the vinyl ... I could only get the chicken lips remix's ... neither is too much of a hardship - although I am a big fan of the original mix of 'Hayling'. For those not familiar with the work of the young Kahuna's ... then more information can be found @ Skint. Alternatively the 'Hayling' Video can be viewed via radio 1 here...

There is often a heavy comparison made between FC Kahuna and Air ... I'm personally not sure on that front ... the jury is still out.

Horror of war

Unable to sleep last night, I found myself watching an obscure BBC channel in the early hours of this morning. You know the type, they sit between national geographic and hard core porn, with viewing figures only marginally worse than channel 5. Anyways I'm glad I flicked far enough up the channels to BBC documentary.

I found myself watching a program which followed the story of cameramen and journalists in Iraq during the war. They essentially concentrated on two groups, those 'embedded' with 40 commando, who were amongst the first into Iraq and those described as unilateral - ie independent. The program brought a little bit of mixed emotion, fascination in the first instance especially with the crews exploits in capturing footage of 40 commando at work. However, this was replaced by nothing if a little horror at the true extent of what 'shock and awe' really meant.

If nothing it brought home the perhaps often understated true nature of war, its a dirty, seedy business. A fact highlighted most graphically, when the convoy within which the BBC's unilateral crew was traveling came under attack by allied forces. This friendly fire incident was captured in very graphic detail.

The program overall served to act as a poignant example of the true price of freedom, perhaps even emphasizing our own macabre desire to watch this cost in real time?