Archive for March, 2009
March 30, 2009 at 11:31 pm · Filed under BMF
I have had a long held, yet chronicly resisted urge, to run around a muddy field under the command of some fella wearing army fatigues.
Today I caved in and signed myself up for a trial run of the british Military Fitness experience.
A very weird thing.
It’s like an S&M version of school PE classes but without the pleasure bit.
It started with a dose of ritual humiliation as I was directed towards the beginners bucket of red tabards and told to pick one. Not knowing anything better, I developed my own criteria and selected the first tabard that didn’t have 69 emblazoned across the front. The lucky top was – 48. A nice even, rotund sort of number.
Turned out to be an exceptionally snug little number.
I stood there trying to shield my rather trussed up physique while I watched the others scrabble through the bucket discarding rather more than the 69′er. It didn’t take me too long to realise that the darn things were sized and I’d managed to leverage myself into the smallest one in the pile. Meanwhile the other stick insects were practically drowning in voluminous cotton affairs.
Anyway it was too late to remedy the matter. If I’d tried to peel it off at this early stage my baggy t-shirt would have come with it and quite possibly the whole enell bra contraption. The embarassment would have been too great.
So off I trogged, into the muddy field, to experience, quite possibly, the worst night of my life.
We ran and ran and then dropped to our knees to attempt 80 odd press ups and burpees before running again and whining. It was horrendous and I felt sick but had to run more because the guy in the combats was a rotten mean man. Well, he probably wasn’t really rotten and mean but I did feel very sick and I am still not entirely sure whether I liked it or not. But it was an exceptionally tough work out and the other folk were jolly friendly and I seem to have signed on the dotted line and committed myself to unlimited monthly classes……
More military anxiety to follow then.
Popularity: 39% [?]
Related posts
Tags: BMF, British Military Fitness, knee
March 11, 2009 at 8:52 pm · Filed under Commuting, Running
The new accessible job arrived and sucked away all my handy exercise avoidance excuses…..time to resurrect the running commute.
My first attempt was an unwelcome struggle, my head was in a seriously moany place and my feet were doing that teenage scuffing thing. I made it past two commons lurching in a stop go fashion and finally quit at Somerfield in order to replenish the Stella supplies.
Today’s run was a bit more exciting, I’d heard a rumour that the non runner may be catching the 5:18 train. Thereby giving me approximately 25 minutes to hot foot it down the high street and nonchalently drape my sweating being across the bonnet of her car to ensure a lift half the way home.
Needless to say I made it. Amazing what you can pull out of the bag for an easy ride.
I got an iPhone recently which has proved mighty useful for navigating me through some commutimg crises but will unfortunately result in a decline in photo quality for my blog.
I’ve been checking out the promisingly named “50 Awesome iPhone Apps for Runners” blog post, they don’t all have very good reviews on iTunes but I may check a few out. High on my list will be True Weight – 3 months of idleness has not done me any sartorial favours and I need to get back in control.
In the spirit of
1. getting back into the swing of things
2. jumping in at the deep end, and
3. acquiring more t-shirts
I’ve signed myself up for an assortment of events.
First on the list is the London to Brighton bike ride which has been on my wishlist for some time.
Then it’s time for a re-run of the British London 5k which promises to be particularly exciting – at least in terms of the location of it’s post race champagne reception. Stay tuned.
Finally (at least for now), I’ve gone and signed myself up the scary Great North Swim. I’m hoping to be able to finish it without the asthma attack this time, which probably means a little more training…
Popularity: 27% [?]
Related posts
Tags: commute, Running, Stella
March 2, 2009 at 11:37 am · Filed under Equipment, Running, Shoes
I think I may have suggested a little while back, in a pub somewhere no doubt, that I would put happiness to one side and actually start running again in March. The arrival of the month also coincided quite nicely with the delivery of a damn fine pair of running shoes, so the pressure was building.
These are the Salomon XA Pro GTXs and are a very desirable pair of trail running/adventure madness style shoes. They require rather beefy terrain so yesterday I bundled the non-runner and the mountain bike into the car and headed off to my favourite off road haunt – Swinley Forest in Bracknell.
The non-runner vowed to stick with me on the bike as I led the way on foot through the undergrowth. With an evil glint in my eye I hit an immediate right turn out of the car park and headed up and across the bracken to the forest proper. It was steep, strewn with stump hazards and ruts and altogether pretty tough going. My lungs were burning and I wanted to quit but the expletives exiting my loved one’s mouth made it all the worthwhile and I kept heading up until I thought she was going to quit on me and head back to the cafe.
Respite from laughter was required so we took a short flat section for a breather before heading off in search of shoe testing swamps and hills.
The shoes are very impressive. They’re extraordinarily light, in fact I suspected the box may have been empty when I picked it off my doorstep, but I still felt very supported by them. They have a good cushioned sole a very simple and effective lace system. I really like them a lot actually and as I’ve they’ve got a gore tex lining, my feet stayed dry even after a bit of light puddle action.
They are fortunately very grippy as well.
I took the lead on one particularly exciting stretch of singletrack before realising that I didn’t really stand much chance of staying ahead of a carreering lunatic on a bike. I upped the pace and started squealing like an out of control rhino on a snowboard. Legs were ticking over at a rare ole pace but my body was still in the lead. I expected my chin to reach the forest floor just moments before the chasing bike nipped at my heels and left me with broad tread marks along my flattened body.
At the first sign of an escape route, I threw myself off to the side, to roll gently in a bank of soft mud, only to spot the non-runner, half way back up the slope, hands clenched tightly over both brakes, bouncing ever so tentatively and non-threateningly downwards on locked wheels.
I muddied my shoes for nothing…..
Popularity: 29% [?]
Related posts
Tags: review, salomon xa pro gtx, Shoes, Swinley Forest
