Midlifer Chronicles

Speaks for itself. get going. This short clip is taken from a great interview with coach Polly Brennan on Koast Radio - Taboo Show

It's really important to avoid defining yourself by your limitation or health issue. Here's my take on it.

I'm getting into the groove with the training plan - doing three runs a week and aiming to stick to the mileage on the plan for each week. That meant a long-ish run this Sunday. Nine miles.

It's back to a full week this week and, yesterday, as I was getting myself set up for the week ahead, I was reminded of an experience I used to have when working in the police and returning from a long holiday period. of usually two weeks or so.

This weekend we had a lovely trip away with friends to Whitby and I've reflected on a few things not only over the weekend about life and business, but about the weekend itself.

I am writing this a few days after the Easter weekend and reflecting on a nice relaxed break which contained a little too much wine. I've eased into the running and over the weekend, took some downtime to chill and have the family over for a meal on the Easter Sunday.

I've officially started the marathon training trail. A few weeks before the 25 week programme I have from the local running club, but it feels good to make a start. Especially after the last few weeks of feeling lethargic and de-motivated.

This week I don't have much, if anything to report on my own journey. And maybe that in itself is worthy of note.

Perhaps the nature of taking the longer route in achieving sustainable change is likely to have a fair bit of 'nothing to report?'

Maybe the fact that it isn't full of huge action, amazing effort and big results week in week out, means that we can undervalue the slow and steady?

Following last week's chronicle where I shared the feelings of tiredness and a realisation that I had been overdoing it, I have been working on taking time to down tools whether that's work or the gym.

I've had to take a step back from the level of training I have been doing and no it wasn't as a result of some inner wisdom, it was as a result of another small injury. This time to my left calf as I did some skipping at Crossfit yesterday. I felt it twang a little as I jumped up and down and then knew I needed to stop. I completed the workout by switching the ropes for the bike and managed to continue but I had that old feeling of 'come on Dave man, you knew this was coming.'

I have been nursing some disappointment this week as my wrist injury (the one I mentioned in passing last week) has proven to be more problematic. In other words it hasn't sodding healed.

This week I'm catching myself back up after half-term. Rosie is back to school (or was until the call from the school today) and I'm now tackling a lot of the tasks I need to catch up on.

I also didn't get a lot of training done. Partly due to being knackered from the unexpected 9 mile run last Sunday, partly due to a trip to London to speak for a client and partly due to Rosie being off.

After writing last week about the importance of reining myself in and focusing on 'doing the do' in relation to my 'cabbage, slice and sprout' plan I fell into a little trap yesterday. Nothing serious but just goes to show how 'all or nothing' can show up unexpectedly.

Its interesting how, as one goal is achieved (or not), and I embark on my renewed focus on 'Op DeMoob,' I find that elation of 'the new' kicks in and I automatically start making big plans with massive effort.

So, it's Monday and the weekend is a bit of a blur. I had a reasonable sleep on Friday night, although did find myself waking up a number of times and realising I was dreaming about burpees and rowing machines.

That said, as Saturday morning arrived, I woke early, had a big bowl of porridge and got myself ready for the competition

Just over three days to the comp and nerves are definitely there. I have received notification of the order and times of the workouts for my 'wave' and it's an all day thing with five workouts spread across the day. Five! Yikes! What if I cramp up or burnout! *$*t's just got real!

Well, after a few moments of panic I decided to get some words of wisdom from partner Mark who is a bit of a competition veteran. I've also spoken to a few people who have experienced competitions and the overwhelming message is - 'you'll enjoy it. Just soak up the atmosphere.'

My training continues and I am now into my penultimate week before the competition. I admit I am getting more nervous, but Mark (my partner in the competition) and I met up on Saturday to go through some team tactics and to work on some of the activities that might pop up and might require synchronisation - including a heavy long sandbag called 'the worm.' Boy is that thing heavy! We ran through a number of different moves and the commands that would co-ordinate our efforts and I feel a lot better. Particularly since Mark had me holding the front of the worm meaning he took on more of the weight. He's a good egg.

Last week I wrote about feeling the pressure to train more and harder for the impending competition (now under three weeks away!). I have found that I did give in to that pressure and train more than I would usually. I added in some additional running to go with the training too. In my head I was getting ahead of the game for my October Kielder marathon.

So last week, whilst hectic was productive and I managed consistent training over the week. That I think is down to being fired up for the year and having a looming fitness deadline - the crossfit competition. It's amazing how that can really focus the mind. There were two occasions where I was toying with skipping the training only to think about that competition coming up. It got me to the gym and I feel better for it. I wonder what will happen after that competition?

As I write the chronicles this week I am acutely aware that I now have just under 5 weeks to the Northern Championships CrossFit finals - Yikes! I've enjoyed Christmas and New Year, with some training (not a lot) and more eating and drinking. We also seemed to have shared round a few bugs and sore throats in the family too. Suffice to say, I don't feel like I've made the best use of the last few weeks in preparing for the finals. Still, 5 weeks is a good chunk. Isn't it?

The news of our surprise qualification through to the Northern Championship finals has sunk in a little more. After a chat with partner in crossfit crime Mark, I am now less panicky, and more excited. I now see that, rather than adding in loads more to my training to get ready for the final,

Well, it seems that Mark and I have only gone and qualified through to the finals of the Northern Championship CrossFit competition in our category (scaled male). I'm a bit (read 'a lot') stunned actually, and now realise that what started out as a challenging but fun experience is now a very 'out of my comfort zone' public experience.

Last week I shared my crossfit challenge and how an out of reach goal can help focus our motivation and efforts on striving towards our goals that little bit more.

That was all well and good, however, Mark shared the videos of our qualifiers with me and I had a good old fashioned response to watching myself on video; self-loathing.

If you are following me on Instagram or connected on Facebook, you will have seen my posts relating to the qualifying rounds of the Northern Championships - a regional CrossFit competition. Over the last few weeks, with Mark Telford (whom you may remember from previous podcast episodes), we have completed three 'Workout's' (Or WOD's), in a bid to get through to the Rainton Arena finals in 2023.

This week has felt hectic and chaotic. I've started to get my mojo back and feel more engaged with getting things done including ensuring I sweat the health, diet and fitness sprouts. That's a win. Not perfect, but better than the last few weeks.

I have found, however, that the days feel more hectic than they have been, more chaotic in some respects.

It's been a funny week this week. Not haha funny, but strange. Feelings of low mood and questioning my progress and decisions outlined in last week's chronicles (get back to some basics in terms of the morning routine, curbing the drinking again and following the snacking rule).

It's funny how the resolve we can have when we make decisions and plans can evaporate rapidly in the face of self-doubt. This is not uncommon for me and others and navigating this is vital to get going and keep going.

I do, however, find the feelings of motivation and even excitement at dreaming about the goal achieved, making a plan and resolving to crack on is a very seductive place to be.

This week, I get honest. not that I haven't been thus far, but I have realised that things have slipped for me and I have kind of bumbled along at a plateau that hasn't changed for a while. And I know why. I'll come back to that.

It's ironic, that after a catch-up with Graeme in which he mentioned the visual of 'Kerplunk' (check out the FAQ How can small habits actually help sustain my weight management?) I started to see how this is playing out in my own efforts to build my health foundations. Over the last two 'chronicles', i have have explained how my efforts at batching food, prepping soup in advance and so on have represented my own efforts to add sticks to the Kerplunk game.

Operation de-moob’ continues. As I considered my plan I looked for the areas I could tweak. Rather than being all or nothing, the sprout-sweater approach is to focus on one area or aspect at a time. One such area is mid-afternoon when working from home. Typically, that’s the time when energy and focus drop and the need for something to pick at beckons.