You won't believe this....

Hi people, last night when I was cooking tea for my troops, I sliced the tip of my thumb almost off, not concentrating on what I was doing. I managed to get it sorted before the blood really turned up and hopefully have been able to get the tip to "seal" itself. It was looking promising last night before I went to bed. So I sit here today, having the day off work so I don't bang my hand, giving my thumb a chance to settle down and stop throbbing. Now it's just a waiting game for it to heal enough so I can go swimming. I reckon a week should do it. However, that doesn't mean I'll be doing no training. I guess now is as good a time as any to start on my running training. I may have to start off with a few walks and ease my way into it. Crickey, I really don't know where to start. Any ideas anyone?

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road....

Well, that's not entirely true, the fork isn't actually stuck. BUT, there is a turning point. A challenge of sorts for myself and one that I am prepared to conquer and I have just over 18 weeks to get to the start line and some time to finish the 2009 City to Surf Half Marathon.



My company boss approached me and asked if I ran, "Only if I have to and that's not often, so no not really Phill". He then went on to inform me that he and a few others from work were doing the half marathon and asked if I'd be interested in doing it. Now, I'm not the keenest person when it comes to running, but it took all of 2 mins 43 sec (probably less knowing me) to say "Yeah OK, I'll have a crack at it" I then proceeded to walk to my car all the while saying to myself " What the hell just happened in there and why did you say yes?" Oh well what's done is done and I'll put that on my to do list and cross it off when I'm done.



Had a great swim session tonight with NO CRAMP!

Here's what we did:

4 x 100 w/25 m kick

3x 50m hand sculling
3x 50m elbow bends
100m one arm drill - all with fins

200 m technique swim
300 m tennis ball swim
200 m technique swim
6x50 m - 25 easy/ 25 hard

100m warm down

Total 2000 m

Feeling a bit flat and fat today.....

HI people, today as the heading says, I'm feeling a bit flat and fat today, strange thing is, I have no idea as to why. Also the stuff that I got from the natruopath on Friday has left me with the meanest "salty" mouth ever and it really is quite disgusting! Alas, I shall keep on keeping on with it, because despite the salty mouth, if it helps me with my cramps then all good. I'll just have to up my water intake to try and combat the aftertaste.

Went to the gym at 7.30 tonight and here's what I did:

5 min treadmill set on an incline of 4.0 and speed of 6.0 and the warm up was really good - got the HR up to a good level to start lifting.

Chest / Back

Bench Press 1x20x70 kg
2x20x65 kg
Incline D/Bell Press 2x20x35 lb
Seated Cable Row 3x20x100 lb
Bent Over Row 2x20x100 lb
Machine Dips (to failure) 3x60 kg (33,30,35)
Wide Grip Pulldowns 2x20x45 lb
Wide Grip Chin (Assisted) 1x6

Crunches 3x30

I'm feeling that I need to do something else ie: Cardio wise.... Any suggestions? I might have to get back on the bike, or dare I say it...RUN? I never said or even thought that did I? It must be a typo LOL


Well that's me for the night, So.... Tofa soifua ( Samoan for Goodbye, live long and prosper )

It's been a great weekend....

A very busy weekend for us at 1 Luke Street. The girls did the 40 hour famine ( 40 hours of self imposed silence - it was BLISS! ) Shar and I got jobs done and feel good after our accomplishments - Thanks partner.

Had swimming today and it was really good. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

200 mtr warm up
10 x 100 free (aerobic) :15 sec/ 100mtrs
300 mtr fist swim w/ tennis balls
300 mtr steady swim
400 paddle/pull
75 mtr warm down (backstroke)

Total 2275 mtrs

Feeling pretty buggered now, so I'm going to finish my Milo and go to bed. Here's to a good week for my followers and I see I have a new follower, so welcome, enjoy the journey and feel free to leave comments.

Ka kite.

Although the Hurricanes lost........

Hello, it's been a good few days and although the Hurricanes lost last night, the better team won on the night and it was a really good game. Here's hoping for a final in Hamilton, but the Crusaders have their work cut out for them in Pretoria against the Bulls.
I went to the natruopath yesterday to seek advice on my cramping situation, $41.50 later, I walked out of there with a small bottle of electrolytes which should last me a while, as you only put 48 drops into a 750ml bottle and away you go. She also told me to keep up with the mag phos8, so I'll do that and see what happens over the next few weeks.

Went to the gym tonight and was surprised how many people were there at 6pm on a Saturday.

Legs and Shoulders

5 min warm up treadmill

Squats 3x20x100 kg
Leg Press 3x20x300 lb
Military Press (Smith Mach) 3x20x20 lb
Lateral Raises 2x20x20 lb (Dumbells)
Calf Raises Seated 3x20x35 kg
Cable Lat Raises 2x20x11 kg

Crunches 3x30
Good Mornings 3x20x20 kg

20 min FBP treadmill

Swimming tomorrow and I'm looking forward to that. Ciao

Last nights swim and tonights gym session

Howdy people, I'm a bit disappointed with last nights swim, not with the effort on my part, because I'm really training quite hard I think, more disappointed that I'm not being able to shake "IT" off and "IT" just turns up when I'm just "hitting my straps" if you will and that is really starting to piss me off. So, I will take Kathy's advice and go see a Natruopath and hopefully get "IT" sorted. Apart from the cramp, the session was pretty cool, I really enjoyed swimming with tennis balls and the difference afterward when you get rid of the balls is just amazing, so the next thing that goes into my swimming bag will be 2 tennis balls!
Here's what I did last night:
100m swim , 50m kick (x4)
100m long dog 100m duck drill
250m swim
250m swim with tennis balls (fist swim)
400m with pull bouy
TOTAL: 1700m

Tonights gym session was a good one. Arms and the 1 pack plus 20 treadmill

5 min warm up treadmill

Preacher Curls 2x20x38 kg
Reverse Curls 2x20x55 lb
D/B Tricep Curls 2x20x30 lb
Bench Dips 2x20
Tricep Pulldowns 2x20x50 kg
B/B Curls 2x20x60 lb

Crunches 3x30
Hyper extensions 3x10

20min treadmill FBP

I was standing in the bedroom talking to Shar, rubbing my puku pretending that there were defined abs, when she asked what I was doing. I told her that I was rubbing my one pack. She laughed and said it was a crate, then in her next breath she said it used to be a keg. I'll take that as a compliment, because there's no keg there anymore and it won't be reappearing any time soon, which brings me to this mornings weigh in at 6.30am 134.05kg. I'm pretty happy with that.

G'night :)

Training the 1 pack...

Last night when I left the gym I thought to myself "I should really do some ab training as well as weights and treadmill work", because I know that having a solid core is important for pretty much anything that you undertake sporting wise and I guess on a daily basis for that matter.
So, tonight after my 5 min warm up on the treadmill, I started to train my 1 pack, and I also did a bit of work on my lower back too, because you can't have strong abs and a weak lower back - it just doesn't work like that. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

So here's what I did tonight

5 min treadmill

Crunches 5x15
Hyper extension 3x15

D/B Bench Press 3x20x40 lb
Incline Bench Press (Smith Machine) 1x20x70 lb
1x20x40 lb
One Arm D/B Row 3x20x40 lb
T Bar Row 2x20x35 kg
Cable Crossovers 2x20x20 kg
Close Grip Pull downs 2x20x45 lb

20 min Fat Burn Program on treadmill.

Feeling pretty good after that. Have had a good day overall.

Swimming tomorrow :)

So tonight, I leave you with this joke.

3 hicks, Steve, Ben & Daveo were working on a pylon, when Daveo fell to his demise. Steve says to Ben "Someone has to tell his wife what has happened" and Ben says "I'm pretty good at the sensitive stuff, I'll do it."
2 hours later, Ben arrives at the depot, carrying a box of beer. Steve see this and asks " Where did you get the beer?" Ben says "From Daveo's wife"
"That's unbelievable! You told the lady her husband was dead and she gave you a box of beer?"
"Well not exactly" Ben said, "When she answered the door I said to her, 'You must be Daveo's widow' "
She said "I'm no widow"
And I said " I bet you a box of beer you are"


I thought it was funny... See you later

Hi peeps, I've not been here for a couple of days so here's what I've been doing training wise. I managed a swim on Friday after work, however, I was left 700 mtrs short due to "IT" turning up whilst putting my fins on and I will say that on this occasion, the pain was fucking excruciating. Sometimes, the pain is so intense, I just want to cry. Honestly, it get to that point sometimes and it is really starting to get me down.

So Fridays swim was:

200m free warm up
100m one arm (arm by side)
100m one arm ( arm out front)
100m long dog
200m technique swim - concentrating on a hard pull under the water
6x 50m aerobic :15 sec rest/50m
300m paddle swim - no pull buoy
Total 1300 mtrs

Todays swim was much better, although having said that, I felt like I had been on the piss all night and smoked about 2 packets of cigarettes in the process, as my breathing felt like shit. Got through the session without cramp however and that was just brilliant. Here's what we did:

200m warm up
100m one arm100m long dog
Main Set: 100m steady :20 rest + 50m HARD :30 rest x6 = 900m
500m paddle & pull buoy - hypoxic breathing every 2nd stroke x25m & every4th stroke x25m - for whole 500m
8x 50m HARD :15 rest
TOTAL: 2200m

I've actually just returned from the gym about 15 minutes ago, having done what I was supposed to do last night, but couldn't be arsed and ended up watching Jackass 2 on the telly. I had seen it before, but they just do crazy, stupid shit that's funny, because it is so crazy and stupid.

Legs & Shoulders

5 min treadmill warm up

Leg Press 3x20x300 lb
Lunges 3x20x30 lb (dumbells)
Military Press (Smith Machine) 3x20x20 kg
Lateral Raises 2x20x20 lb (dumbells)
Seated Calf Raises 3x20x35 kg
Cable Lateral Raises 1x20x14 kg
1x20x11 kg
20 minute Fat Burn Program - Treadmill

Feel pretty knackered now so it's off for a Milo, shave n shower and bed. So, todays farewell come from the tiny principality of Andorra. They're wedged between France and Spain and their language is Catalan. So, Adeu from me. Talk to you again later.

I'm having the night off....

Isn't it funny how a day pans or doesn't pan out? It was one of those days where as soon as I turned up for work and immediately thought " I should've stayed in bed " well, it didn't get any better and after an hour of being dicked around and going from the Mount to Merivale to pick up truck keys and back to the Mount to get the truck, then off to Welcome Bay to start work at 8.45 when I'm normally started at 7.30, the day quickly turned to custard, eventually got home at 6.45 and am pretty much buggered.

Anywho, that's enough about work... Last night was bicep & tricep workout and here's what I did.

Warm Up
5 min treadmill

Preacher Curls 2x20x50 lb
Reverse Curls 2x20x60 lb
D/B Tricep Curls 2x20x35 lb
Bench Dips 2x20
Tricep Pulldowns 2x20x45 kg
B/B Curls 2x20x60 lb

Treadmill 20 min Fat Burn Program.

Swimming tomorrow :)

Ma te wa

Swim session

Just finished pool session. It was a good one and I really enjoyed it. Got through the session, didn't warm down though because "IT" set in.

Warm Up
4 sets of 50m free, 25m kick

Drills
100m catch up
100m one arm
100m long dog

Main Set
8 sets of 50m (25 steady, 25 steady but with hard kick)
400m free - I timed this and did it in 8:24.70
200m pull - no paddles & concentrating on long, strong strokes
400m pull/paddles - as above

I think I'm getting better with my technique, I'd love to go to a place where they do video analysis and see how I swim. Scary thought :/
If you're reading this Kathy, how am I doing with my swimming?

Well, I'm off to shower this nasty chlorine smell of me and bed. So, todays farewell comes from the tiny Mediterranean archipelago nation of Malta (it's a cluster of islands 7 to be exact) and it is quite simply Sahha.

Here hopefully are some pictures of the ice from yesterdays hail storm.

Snow family in Taupo Ave, Berescourt Park, Cnr Concord Ave & Paterson St - all after the hailstorm. The other 2 were videos of the hailstorm. Top: Farm St and Bottom : Harris St about 10seconds before I had to go fishing for rubbish bags in the middle of the road.

Gym session

Had a really good weights session last night.
5 min warm up on treadmill

Chest & Back workout
D/Bell Bench Press 3x20x40 lb
Incline Bench Press 2x20x70 lb
One Arm D/Bell Row 3x20x40 lb
T Bar Row 2x20x35 kg
Cable Crossovers 2x20x20 kg
Close Grip Lat Pulldowns 2x20x55 lb

20 mins fat burn on treadmill

Was a little reluctant to go to the gym, it was nice and warm in the confines of home by the fire, after working in the ice and knee high puddles chasing rubbish bags and bins I was frozen to the bone. It took a long time to warm up. I'll try and put some photos up on here. Once I got through the warm up however, I was "sweet as".

Swimming tonight, so I'll be back later to report in.

Oh, weight this morning at 6.30.......... 134.80 kg. (Something's working) :)

2 in a row....

Had a really good session at the pools today. Just two of us swimming today though. Paul and myself.



Warm Up

200m free



Drills

100m one arm

100m long dog - all with fins



Main Set

10x 50m free - 15 sec @ 50mtrs ( concentrating on technique / steady pace )

6 x 200m ( 3 x free , 3 x pull / paddles ) - 30 sec @ 200mtrs



Warm Down

200 easy kick with fins

200m free - nice and easy



Total 2500 mtrs.



I actually felt like I could've swum for longer, but am really happy to have reached a first in my training - being, 2.5km. I'm pretty pleased with myself.



Mag phos 8 seems to be doing what it's supposed to, but it is early days yet so we'll just keep on keeping on.



Going to the gym tomorrow, been a little bit lazy with this as of late, so time to buck my ideas up.

Yay! A session without cramp!

Went to the pools today with my darling. I thought I'd finish my session that I didn't finish on Thursday, even if it wasn't what was on the training program on Thursday night.

Warm Up
200m free

Drills
100m one arm
100m catch up
100m long dog - all with fins

Main Set

100m technique
400m pull / paddle

Warm Down

300m free

Total 1300m

I felt alot better after this - had to make up for the dissmal performance of Thursday night and NO CRAMP!!! Looking forward to tomorrows session. I did get some Mag Phos 8 tablets so am on a course of those and we'll see how we go.

So until next time and as they say in Russia : Do svidaniya... (it means Goodbye)

I'm not happy

Went to swim squad training tonight and was just getting into the swing of it all and then it happened. Only this time, it happened in the worst place possible - inside of thighs, yeah that's right plural... thighs. I'm just pissed off right now, so I'm not going to bang on about it. Off to see the homeopath tomorrow. Hopefully some mag phos 8 tissue salts will help.
Going to bed now.

Goodnight.

PS. Only did 700mtrs tonight.... something else for me to be pissed off about.

Swim session last night was really taxing - but do able. Even if it did take me a couple of go's at it.
I got cramp again at the very end of the session but I wasn't going to let that get the better of me. Here's what we did:

200m steady warm up
100m one arm drill,100m long dog drill,100m "duck feet" drill - all with fins
200m easy technique swim
8x 75m as: 25m easy, 25m steady, 25m hard (15secs rest)
400m paddle/pull
300m steady swim
TOTAL: 2000m

Hard means hard -doesn't it? LOL

No gym session tonight. I'm off to save some lives - Late night donations at NZ Blood Service. I do this 4 times a year and if it helps someone out then cool.

So until next time....

Arrivederci

I haven't blogged since last Tuesday after my swim session, so here's my week in review.

Wednesday 29/4
Arm workout at the gym...

Kickbacks 2 x 20 @ 20 lb
Machine Dips 2 x 20 @ 78 kg
D/B Curls 2 x 20 @ 40 lb
Incline Curls 2 x 20 @ 40 lb
Hammer Curls 2 x 20 @ 20 lb
Close Grip Bench 2 x 20 @ 80 lb

I quite enjoyed this workout and was pumped afterwards.

Thursday 30/4

Happy Birthday Vince Lee David! (my step son - 9 today)
We had a birthday tea for Vince Lee, Nan & Pop came over from Huntly and it was cool. Party food!!! YAY!!!
I was absolutely knackered after work so I didn't do any training of any description. In fact had a pretty lazy 3 days training wise Thurs, Fri and Sat.

Sunday 3/5

Swim session with Kathy.

Did 2300 metres today, in what was a fairly hard but excellent session.
I'm really enjoying swimming with the squad and getting a push along with the training.

Here's what we did.

Warm up:
200 free
2 sets of 100 free with 50 kick

Drills:
100 one arm swim
100 catch up drill

Main Set:
6 sets of 100 mtrs - 75 steady, 25 hard. 20 sec rest / 100 mtrs
8 sets of 50 mtrs - kicking. 10 sec rest / 50 mtrs
500 mtrs pull ( pull buoy & paddles )

Warm Down:
100 free

Felt bloody good after that one.

Received a bit of bad news today. Brother Maurice broke a bone in his hand whilst out on a training run. He'll be alright though. He's a tough lad. Hope it gets better quickly brother.

Monday May the 4th... Star Wars day.. You figure it out...

Gym session tonight. chest & back as per last Monday.
Felt a little flat today to be honest, but got through the workout without any hasslehoffs.

Weight as at 6:15 am 136.50kg pretty happy about that.

Until next time... GOODNIGHT