No resolutions – just solid plans

It’s these days at the end of the year where most of the people come up with a resume of the current, fading year and a lot of them come up with new year’s resolutions. I’m not a big fan of the new year’s resolutions because most of them get abandoned on the January 1st.

To make a long story short, in 2013 I switched companies and I was able to work in my hometown again. The commuting was a thing of the past and I once again had the time to focus back on sports, because I was a fat whale and wanted to get back into shape. Well, to be honest, I never was in a fit shape, but this should change during the next couple of month.

I started to go back to the gym again and once per week I had a swimming session. Gym was kind of hard during the first weeks, because the massive overweight was something that did not make things a lot easier. I made one mistake, that I returned to the treadmill too quick and I suffered multiple minor injuries and experienced a lot of pain in my knees and hips. But with a few kilograms less, these issues slowly disappeared.

One of the main things I tried to focus on, was to do sports because I wanted to not to simply lose weight. I wanted a large variety to chose from, for instance cycling, swimming, running, strength training and so on.

Running was on of these disciplines where two of my co-workers had a great influence on me. I agreed to join the company relay run in my hometown and took part in the running sessions my co-workers were offering. I have to add, that I never really ran in an outside environment, except a couple of runs during a vacation the year before, and that this was a totally new experience.

It started with a pretty basic distance of 2,5 km and then switched to longer runs. After two or three sessions a 8K was set on schedule and I was very nervous about it. For my co-workers it was some sort of a regenerative run, for me it was like going for marathon. In the week after we did a 10K. I was able to run both of these distances with minor walking interruptions.

I continued my sports programs over the next following weeks and I slowly started to improve myself. I rode my bike faster. I could run longer distances. I could swim much faster. And I finally got stronger and muscles started to grow again.

The summer this year was devastating. The heat was murderous but this is no excuse for anything. I pushed through my training plan and gained some decent results. By the end of August I ran the 7 km distance and an additional 5 km with faster pace three times per week and the issues with my feet and knees started to disappear, because I finally reached a weight that wasn’t that much of an issue.

Mid September was the time of the relay run and I made it to starting positions. I have to mention, that, in the beginning,I was only a runner in case a substitution is needed. I started in the mixed team, got the slowest time but I’ve finished my first public run. I was so excited about it, that I instantly registered for the 13K run at the next marathon event in my hometown.

In the meantime I’ve found a buddy to join me and a friend of mine for swimming. Our plan was and still is to teach ourselves crawling. Till this very day we were only swimming breast stroke and thought it was time for something different. I’m now able to swim crawling but it still consumes a lot of energy and my technique is far from optimal, but I’m still learning and improving.

For the 13K a friend of mine joined me, but she decided to go for half marathon distance. Until this time I usually ran around 10 to 12 km average per running session and I thought 21 km would be too much. The event was yet another very exciting one. It was very impressive to start in a crowd of 4,000 runners. I finished in an acceptable time and was looking for new challenges.

Half marathon and full marathon distance came up on the plan.

During the next weeks a increased the distance per week up to an average of 45 km. And I also started running half marathon distance. The first two runs were very hard and I had to do some walking breaks during the runs, but I finished my first 21Ks.

I did another public run by the beginning of December. I’ve decided to go for the 20K and on the morning were everyone was registering for the, I wondered why no one else, or only a handful of runners, took this distance. Well, I should know very soon. The run was more a cross run than a usual run on roads and gravel paths. Anyhow, I’ve managed to finish this run as well and it was the first 20K where no walking breaks were taken. I was so proud.

So, what’s up next? Well, five running events are already on my schedule. Three half marathons – one in Berlin, another one in the beautiful city of Prague and one in my hometown. But most importantly, I want to conquer the 42.195 kilometers, so I registered myself for the Berlin Marathon. This and the half marathon in Prague are the two events I’m the most excited about. Prague, because I simply want to run through this beautiful (I love Prague) and Berlin, because it’s one of the biggest Marathon events in the world and I want to be part of it.

As you can see, no giant new year’s resolutions, just plans for 2014. I think, the marathon training will be very intense – but the final experience will be worth all the effort and pain I’ll go through. I’m certain about it.

Run, Forest, run!

Last post was back in August, right before I went off for my vacation. A lot of things happened in the between time and I’ll try to give you a short report about the recent events.

The vacation itself was for one week only and I tried to used it to focus a lot on sports and improving certain disciplines – running, for instance. Back in the days of August I was still suffering from some minor injuries in my right foot, mainly fibre related, that were causing some trouble to correctly balance my right foot while running. As a result of this, I had some serious problem to normally walk after a running session, because I wasn’t able put my foot on the ground without any pain. Pain also occurs while resting the foot.

Whatever the case, I continued to run no matter what kind of injury I was suffering from and it became better and better. I ran around 45 km on my vacation and it seemed to have some sort of curing effect. I was very happy about these circumstances and I was now able to take the whole running thing to a new level.

I still have to admit, I’ve chosen running, because it was one of these kind of sports that I liked least and it would take a lot of willpower to get through this. And another aspect, I didn’t want to leave my running team for the relay run high and dry.

A couple of training sessions were left until the big day – the relay run. I finished them smoothly and without any interruptions or any other disturbances. The day of the relay run itself was very exciting, because I’ve never been to such an event as an athlete. Actually, I’ve never been to any sports event.

I couldn’t ever image that there will be so many runners in my hometown appearing on such an event. I was so excited that very day, that I even forgot where the meeting point for my team was, but we finally found each other and we were ready to run. I was the third of five runners in my mixed team. The whole starting area was very crowded and I did not realize how this whole this would work in the first place, but after a couple of minutes and after the first round was finished I’ve finally found out, how this relay run does work.

I’ve finished my lap in 11:59 min for a 2.5 km distance, which was more than two minutes faster than the time I was running at the very beginning of my training. I was happy with this result and it’s something I can build on. I’m not a Usain Bolt but on the other hand even no fatty with a short breath after 100 meters of running.

After this run I’ve tasted blood for these kind of events and I instantly registered for another in mid October, which I will tell you about in my next post.

Can you hear me?

The last week was a little counter productive and I was forced to stop with sports, especially with swimming. The reason was an inflammation of the middle ear – and this on both sides. The right side was the painful one with almost no ability to hear anything and the left side just slightly def and felt a little thick. There were almost three days where I had to turn my TV set to volume setting “Screaming out loud like bloody hell” to hear at least the important parts of the dialogues spoken.

My doctor was off for vacation so I had to go to a doctor who did the substitution. I found it quite odd that I wasn’t given a sickness certificate – my right ear was obviously more than just shut by pus and I it was just painful – like an aching old tooth that rots in your mouth.

swimming

Right after that an odyssey began to find a doctor specialized in ENT. I visited five (!) different doctors until I finally found one who wasn’t off for vacation or was denying my visitation. I spent almost two hours with traveling around in my city just to stand in front of closed doors and almost another two hours of waiting in the waiting room to finally be able to consult the ENT doctor.

The whole consultation lasted no longer than five minutes, with the advise to get ear drops for my ear. No antibiotics were given. And I had to ask for a sickness certificate. Bloody hell – I was in sodding pain!

Anyhow and almost like I expected, the ear drops didn’t make any difference because my ear was stuffed with so much pus and grind that the drops couldn’t even reach its goal. I needed antibiotics and a shit load of painkillers because the last nights were almost without sleep. So after another day without any cure in sight I went off to the emergency house in our town and consulted another doctor and this was quite a good decision of mine.

First of all, the doctor took a look at both of my ears and found out that both of them are affected. Secondly, I finally got a prescription for antibiotics (hell yeah!). And last but not least I got my ear slightly and professionally cleaned and stuffed with a curing salve. This was all I actually needed. Within another day it felt like things were going worse but it was also this kind of pain that gets you to know, there’s something that’s going to change and things will get better.

Like I said, I wasn’t able to do any sports during these days and I honestly were not in the mood for any kind of sports. But I also found that just sitting around at home wasn’t a good choice as well, so I grabbed my new bicycle and went out for a ride. The first ride was around 29 km and the second one I made the day after was around 48 km long. There I’ve found that the bicycle training in gym was worth it. It was quite warm and hot these days and I sucked out both of my water bottles till the last drop of water, but it was fun and in the evening hours I got a few nice views on the landscape around my town.

This week I will continue with my sports schedule as usual, except swimming. I’ll pause for another week and will then continue with swimming as well. And I hope that my ears will not cause any new pain in the near future.

Sports variety

Summer boils up Europe and I long every cool down I could possibly get. The heat these days is absolutely terrible, but nonetheless the sports still continues.

I’ve reached a point where sports fits perfectly into my every day life and I do not feel too distracted or disturbed. Back in the days I found it pretty tiring when I had to get to the gym four or five times a week doing almost the same every time I’ve been there. Currently, that I’ve changed my sports schedule to multiple and different activities I find it way more exciting.

I don’t feel like I’ve to follow a specific routine and there’s enough change to stick with it for a very long time. There’s at least one time a week where I got out for a run. Another day is for swimming. Another is for a cardio program that drives me to my limits (and let’s me sweat like hell). Another day is strength training only. And so on and so forth.

There’s always something to be excited about and I still see improvements in all these different disciplines. Which is far more encouraging than just waiting for the next big bang in a progress chain that only includes one or two completely different activities. One week I gain a better technique or speed while swimming, the other week I find that running is getting a little easier.

I’m very happy with this schedule and all these different types of sports activities and I’m very sure that this could last for a long time. On the other hand, I finally started losing weight and my body no longer seems to be confused of what is happening to him and to spare and save energy for bad times. It’s a weight drop of almost 7-8 kg and tendencies is still going downwards.

Still – I’m focused on the relay run and not to just loose weight. Even after the relay run I’ll try to find milestones in different sports disciplines rather than focusing on my weight. It’s the overall body feel that counts much, much more than some stupid digits on the scale.

Achilles’ curse

If you think things couldn’t get any worst things will start to get real bad. As mentioned in previous posts, I thought was suffering a tiny little injury that is located somewhere around my heel spur. Luckily it’s not an issue with my heel spur, it’s an issue with my Achilles’ tendon.

Details on this latest issue will I get to know by the beginning of next week. Hopefully it’s not such a big thing and I hope even more, that this will turn out good without having a surgery or something.

Secondly, my back – or my shoulder to be exact – thought to come back to my mind by reminding me of its existence with a terrible pain during a swim last weekend. A blocked muscle caused a limitation of my heads movement abilities and a lot of terrible, quite disturbing sufferings.

It wasn’t actually that kind of a big deal, but nonetheless I find these tiny issues and injuries pretty annoying. Especially with a “tight” training plan. I’m forcing myself to stick with this plan and every interruption is sooo not welcomed, you cannot imagine.

Anyhow, I still continue with sports and I still have the goal to do the relay run. I switched to sport types that are less demanding and it’s going quite well in that manner. I hope that the issues that I currently have with my back and my foot are gone in the near future, that I can  move back to my regular training plan.

Doing a running training is much more efficient when you run, if you know what I mean.

Break even

So I’ve made it into the relay team of my company. Well, I’m reserve but nevertheless I’m part of a team and I get some good training with experienced runners over the next couple of weeks. Nothing that would hurt.

Speaking of hurt – I kind of injured my heel spur at one gym session the other and instead of just breaking everything up, I decided to give it a rest for a few days and then continue with sports that doesn’t stress my feet that much. At least one time a week I go swimming, so my feet will be fine. And in the gym I moved to rowing and indoor cycling.

Rowing for instance almost killed me after the first time doing so for such a long time. My legs felt like filled up with plumb and I had sore muscles in my neck and my upper arms. I’ve done multiple sessions so far and I’m getting used to it. I always underestimated rowing but compared to jogging, which powers me off quite good, is one sports discipline that’s able to show me my borders.

And speaking of borders – I seriously have to do some extra training for my back. During the rowing sessions I felt that my back isn’t as muscular as it was a few month back. I was never in the condition that I looked like a body builder when it comes to this, but I always managed to train the stabilizing centre of my body quite good – like belly and back.

This is very important to gain good training results, because you don’t develop in a good pace when you miss to do the additional workouts your main disciplines base on. Always keep an eye on your centre!

To summarize what this post was all about, even with injuries, I’m still focusing on my training. And hopefully I’ll get back to jogging and running very, very soon. Everything looks good so far.

Behind the mask

I’m wearing a large mask these days. I’m not quite sure if this mask hits its purpose, but I’m stuck. Since I got away from my old company, where I was hired for almost five years and wanted to explore new territories I actually feel like walking in circles. It is even more frightening that I feel as if I walk backwards.

It’s hard to describe. After all these years I finally made it to the company I always wanted to work for and I feel so unsatisfied. I felt unsatisfied in my previous company as well, but one of the main reasons there was the commuting issue which has exhausted me.

The problem keeps growing an growing. Every time I start something new which excites me for a while I suddenly feel bored, in certain situation annoyed, and I want to leave it. The long breath I need to keep connected with something is gone. And it’s not even the long breath, I currently question everything and everything bothers me.

As you may know, I’m back into sports. After a long period with several small and bigger issues that did not allow me to train how I would actually have liked it I’m back to gym and the natatorium. I’m pretty good and fast when it comes to water sports but in the gym I’ve to struggle a longer period of time to get back to the point where I want to be.

But even there do I suffer the problem that it does not really catch me and it feels more like an automated process and not a thing that people usually do to have fun and enjoy. That’s in fact the core problem – the fun is gone.

With this core problem right in front of my eyes I’m watching out for a solution that is not to be seen yet. I’m tired of this and I really want it to go away.

A lack of everything

It’s been quite some time… (n’yah, yet again another post that starts with this lame excuse) …but I haven’t actually found the right amount of enthusiasm to write. And last but not least, nothing worth writing about happened.

For the those of you interested in my “sports career” I can tell you, that it is currently not existing. I’m pushing the gym appointment in my schedule from one week to another and it’s frustrating. On the one hand I feel the lust and passion to get to gym again, but on the other side I’m just sick and tired of this stuff. Right now, there’s a massive need to actually do some sports because I – once again – gained a lot of weight and my nutrition in the recent has been more than just wrong. According to my BMI and a look in the mirror I’m obese.

But like I said, it’s some sort of a battle of conscience in my head and I wonder who’s going to win. My next appointment for gym is set for tomorrow afternoon and I’ll tell you in the near future if I made it or dumped it.

Yet another hobby of mine that got a little abandoned is the photography. But that’s basically a problem with everything that I currently have no real drive or creative inspiration to go out and take pictures. Right now it’s just the comic books that give a little bit of satisfaction and enthusiasm.

Well, that’s not the real truth. I’ve bought a new notebook a couple of days ago. Actually it’s a refurbished one – an IBM ThinkPad with Core 2 Duo processor. I’ve added a few more gigs of RAM that I had around and replaced the HDD with a faster model by Western Digital and this baby runs like hell with a Linux Mint installation on it. That’s basically why I bought this notebook, because I felt a little “disconnected” with Linux and everything what’s going on in the scene.

I’ve rented this vServer for TeamSpeak several other net related things, but the maintenance is not that intense, that I’ve to work with Linux on a daily basis. And in my current job I do more IT management that actual IT administration, but hopefully this will change during the next two years.

So as you can see, there isn’t anything special going on at the moment. I’m having this serious issues with my sports activities – or the lack of it. And my creative inspiration is still gone and missing.

SE 3.0 – Interim Report – #9

Almost two month away from this blog and no report about my current sports activities. And there’s a good reason for that. An injury was the reason for my long time of absence. Everything started very well on the first days of my vacation.

I got to jog every second morning and right after that I went to swim in the lake nearby, which was so refreshing. Till that time the only problem I had was this muscular imbalance around the left shinbone. To a certain point I was able to handle it, but on the very last day of my week in the forest that was scheduled for sports I had to cancel during my jog. Mainly because I slipped pretty hard off a stone and was not able to cushion it. Well, another lesson learned.

So that was a minor problem, that wasn’t actually that kind of an issue, because I had planned to rest for three or four days and stay away from sports. During that regeneration period came issue number two. My back – I had this terrible, awkward pain around the right middle of my back. It wasn’t that I couldn’t actually move or something, it was just painful and very disturbing. Vacation 2012 was ruined.

It took just two days and went to my doctor. She ordered me an x-ray to see if there’s anything wrong with my spine or related. It took a couple of days till the statement was done and it says that everything was all right. Well, the pain in my back told me something different. Next conclusion of my doctor was, that it has to be a static problem. By having said that she kept me off vacation and work as well for another couple of weeks. This whole things lasted for five weeks. Only one of my previously planned three weeks of vacation were taken. Serious bullshit.

Especially when you consider that I haven’t had a few weeks off for almost a year and a half. Which leads to the next issue. I already had several problems with my back over the last couple of month. Some minor and through several short periods even some major problems. But nothing that lasted for longer. Me and my therapists did a lot of research (of course) to find out where my problems come from.

We considered sports, some untreated injuries, wrong mattress and last but not least the furniture I got at work. You may guess it, it actually is my office furniture that cause these (meanwhile) serious problems. My desk is too low and my chair is a piece of junk that. Nothing that stabilizes, nothing that’s comfortable and far and beyond from healthy.

I’m a pretty petted person when it comes to comfortable office furniture. My last company had these chairs and desks where you could spent days and days on without getting tired or having any issues. I was complaining a little about the fact, that my desk was around 2-3 cm too low, but I had several tricks at the end of day to compensate this.

My desk and chair at home is basically the same. The desk is custom made and the chair is one of these common, badass comfortable ones. It wasn’t all that expensive, rather than the furniture I had at my last company, but I am able to sit there for hours without getting into any trouble.

Long story short, my therapist gave me the advise to quit my job, because with that in mind the whole therapy would be some sort of a bloody joke. Quitting my job is not the best solution, but it is quite an option. I’ve recently made a request to get a new chair and desk that would fit my needs and do no longer get me into such trouble and pain. I hope there’s a good solution on the way otherwise I take the advise of my therapist… well… maybe… possibly… we’ll see.

Anyhow, this whole thing took me apart from sports and gym and I’m not very happy about it. I would’ve been fine with a simple sports injury, but the fact that wrong furniture at work causes this bloody, damn issue makes me sort of furious.

I’ve planned to get back to gym for the first time at Saturday. I will try the treadmill and the elliptical. I’ve scheduled sports for three times per week, don’t want to exaggerate anything. Hopefully I can finally make it to the natatorium and swim a couple of lanes. I’ll keep you informed.

SE 3.0 – Interim Report – #6

Almost four month after revisiting my personal “Straight Edge Project” it’s time to summarize several things.

Most importantly, this is the longest period of being “straight edge” since the very beginning of the project back in the days. Most, if not all, projects finished about 2 or 3 month and only a few things remained. For instance, to stop smoking was the most important thing and is still something I’m very proud of.

Several other things did not remain. Like doing sports continuously or eating healthy and more “efficient”. But these thing have changed. SE 3.0 was the first project that did not focus that much on strong rules and dogmas. This made it much easier for me to keep the pace and stick with it. I sure have schedule for my gym lessons and I do not eat like a pig each and every day, but there’s a spare room left for such things. Till one certain degree of course.

I’m aware of the fact, that one of these days I’ll have to face my very own motivation. This day has been reached and it does currently feel quite exhausting to do SE 3.0, but I’ll stick with it. No matter what. It’s very difficult, mostly because of the schedule my work day dictates me. I waste tons and tons of hours with commuting and my true spare time is limited to almost a single hour per day. I don’t count sports and such as spare time.

Most of the time at work I simply sit and don’t move around very much. So sports is something absolutely necessary to have, like a counter reaction. I have to do it, also because I see it as an prevention. I don’t want to suffer one of these office illnesses or drown in my own fat masses. I don’t do sports mainly for a fun reason, I do it because the daily life, especially at work and in offices, turns human beings into wounded, disabled soldiers of work.

It’s important for me to stick with the project, because my first milestone is still not reached. I wanted to get below 100 kg in August and currently I ply at 102 and 104 kg. I don’t really think that I can reach the mark below a hundred, but this doesn’t bother me that much. It’s way more important to get below the hundred to actually reach a first milestone.

On the other hand, it’s good to not have such a drastic drop of weight. What goes down pretty quick, goes up quickly as well. I want to avoid such things. What counts for me is the fact that I’ve finally managed it to have a continuity and a schedule I can follow without having a greater loss. The bigger loss is of course the commuting, which bothers me very much at the moment. But I don’t want my SE 3.0 get affected with the disaffection I have with my work day conditions.

It is exhausting and I’m very tired at the moment, but things gonna change.