David Furnace

24 11 2009

Well, so much for creating a new gym ‘regime’ this week.

Last night at 8:30pm we discovered water dripping at some rate through our bathroom ceiling, the result of (discovered by a friendly neighbour willing to get up in our attic) a cracked 90-year-old heating system pipe. Pipe which had evidently been put under increased pressure thanks to our furnace’s annual service and check up yesterday!

The wall below is damp and pitted and the wallpaper has all bubbled up, but worse is the water is leaking through an electrical fixture. We thought we had the problem contained, but at 2am I woke up to the sound of further water dripping down.

So I have had to call out a service tech to hopefully resolve the problem. No, I don’t know what it’s likely to cost either. All I do know is I am up and awake at 3:37 in the morning and the chance of getting back to sleep anytime soon is south of zero.

Go to the gym? I believe that falls into the category of “having a laugh aren’t you?”





Like riding a bike….

23 11 2009

These last few days I have felt very lethargic and flabby indeed.

It seemed imperative that, with the start of a new week, I should try to get back into some sort of a gym routine… if only to try and balance out the ‘excesses’ that Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day will undoubtedly dangle before me.

With all that in mind – and an indigestion system that felt it might actually play nicely for once (instead of hinder) – I managed to get to Urban Active at 5:30am.

I decided to return – for the first time in a very long time – to the mini weights circuit. I managed 30 reps on 9 out of the 10 machines (I was unable to use the tenth because it was marked “out of order”), setting the weight levels quite low so as to (hopefully) not strain myself.

I followed this up with 10 ‘difficult’ minutes on the elliptical and 9½ (far easier) miles on the recumbent bike, old podcasted episodes of BBC Radio 4’s “Armando Iannucci’s Charm Offensive” proving themselves to be fine distractive backdrops to my exertion.

I then did a few minutes on the “leg stretching” machine to finish off (what I felt was) a constructive 90 minutes workout. No sauna or swimming pool today as they were just too busy ( I have found them to always be busier before 7:30am, after which many people have left for work).

Home to a shower and my weigh-in, where I again busted the scale at 207lbs. No gain on a fortnight ago, but no loss either. Pretty much what I was expecting.

It’s now a waiting game to find out if my exercise transmutes into any physical ailments. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a “no” in that department!





Hotel Du Lack

19 11 2009

So, we’re on a short break doing part of the bourbon trail in Kentucky.

We’ve holed ourselves up – at no expense whatsoever – thanks to free hotel nights earned – at the Candlewood Suites in Clarksville, Indiana… just across the river from downtown Louisville.

It’s a new hotel and it has a small gym, and… well, I finally did something this morning!

10 minutes on an elliptical, 2 miles on a “stationary bike” (as opposed to recumbent bike) followed by ten minutes on a treadmill. Not a huge workout, but enough to get my heart rate up a little.

There’s also a pool here but I’m not sure I can use it for my walking exercises as its depth runs to over 5 feet and one end. As always, time and enthusiasm to find out will tell





What Riot?

17 11 2009

I have not been to the gym – or done any significant exercise (other than a very brief bike ride) – since the 5th of this month.

No, I am not proud. Heavier maybe, but not proud.

Hopefully, normal service will resume next week… although there’s a slight chance I might get a treadmill or two in during our imminent hotel stay in Louisville.





I’ve Got a Bike… …

14 11 2009

About a year ago, long before “going to the gym” was even a seed of a thought in my mind, I walked into Montgomery Cyclery and took an instant shine to a bike called the Electra Townie 7D.

I took it out for a spin around the store’s car park and streets and found it a most comfortable ride indeed.

Many of the bikes in Electra’s range – including the Townie - are made using what is known as “flat foot technology”, where the frame sits you in a more comfortable upright position and the pedal location is ahead of (rather than below) you. It’s a little akin to a recumbent bike, if that makes sense?

I temporarily got quite enthusiastic about owning a bike again, this Townie becoming a little bit of a “Holy Grail” for a while. I was only put off by the outlay; it carried a price tag of almost $450 which was way outside my financial comfort zone at the time.

Plus, when we first moved to Newport, I nabbed a couple of cheapo bikes for me and the wife only to have them ‘waste away’ in the corner of our garage through a distinct lack of use. In retrospect we both decided that was essentially because they weren’t really sized correctly for us. I’d bought them very much on the spur of the moment and it turned out that the wife’s was too big for her and mine was too small for me. Neither of us felt comfortable in going out on them. I eventually tarted them up a little and sold them for a profit on Craigslist.

Since then, and certainly since joining the gym, the idea of cycling has again nagged at me, even moreso after I read a couple of books about urban biking habits. David Byrne’s “Bicycle Diaries” (about cycling round the major cities of the world) ramped up my interest, whilst Jeff Mapes’ “Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities” made me remember how I used to cycle everywhere all the time when I was a skinny little teenager. It also made me yearn for being part of a similar ‘revolution’ in the Greater Cincinnati region.

Byrne’s book suggested that wannabe cyclists should buy as good a bike as they could for the least amount of money, recommending that no-one getting back in the saddle needed a state-of-the-art titanium framed affair costing a fortune. A simple three-geared comfortable bike was all that was necessary to pootle around the neighbourhood.

I took his advice to heart and started scouring the local pages of Craigslist on a daily basis. A few bikes that fitted the bill (priced anywhere from $25 to $170) popped up from time to time but they were either too distant to travel to or had already sold by the time I’d phoned or e-mailed the sellers.

Then, on Thursday, it happened. Someone in Hamilton offered up an Electra Townie 7D for sale at $300. It seemed a little too expensive but there was no way I wasn’t going to go and take a look at it. We made arrangements yesterday, where I discovered it was less than two months old, had been bought locally, was in near pristine condition and yes, the seller would come down to $250.

I decided ‘gift horse’ and ‘mouth’ and came away with it, despite it being Friday 13th.

I took it out for a spin this morning and…. well, let’s just say it will take a LOT of getting used to! I cycled about a mile and came back with extremely achy upper thighs and wheezy breathing rhythms. The latter is probably the result of my cold not completely disappearing yet (the bike ride potentially proving a mistake I know) but the former surprised me in terms of the amount of time I spend on the recumbent bike at the gym. Obviously there’s a new set of muscles at play here?

So, the revolution I spoke of earlier may be several months off – maybe years? – but I am hoping the purchase of my Townie 7D will encourage me to do a little more exercise outside the walls of the Urban Active. Time will tell.

Anyway, here she is in all her resplendent glory… I have nicknamed her “Syd

In time she’ll get some fenders/mudguards and a bike rack of some description. In keeping with her name however, she might also need “a basket, a bell that rings and things to make her look good“, a reference which will be totally lost on anyone not familiar with the late 60’s output of Pink Floyd.





Burred Flu

11 11 2009

This blog is starting to resemble some kind of soap opera concerning my various illnesses.

No gym this week at all.

The flu jab I had last week seems to have done its job and… well, given me the flu.

I’ve been running a temperature since Monday and have been bunged up and fuggy as a result. Dayquil and Nyquil have been doing their job (slowly) but I’ve been little more than a snotty despond.

A walk round the neighbourhood this morning sadly left me a wheezing mess so I’m back to taking it easy and trying to beat this rotten arse of a sickness.





You have the right to remain silent….

9 11 2009

The last seven days have hardly been a banner week in my “weight riot” quest.

That leftover Halloween candy really HAS been haunting me.

Plus, yesterday, whilst up picking up a box of a dozen fresh Krispy Kreme donuts for a friend of ours, we got sucked into their “buy a second second dozen for a dollar off” sale. Meaning WE had quite a few to munch on. Which we did. Or, rather, I did. Scrummy as hell. I just have NO willpower in the face of such sugar-laden delights.

In fact I ate so many donuts I really ought to arrest you in the name of the law!

No gym this morning, but a weigh-in registering 207 lbs, a gain of 2 lbs. Serves me well and truly right doesn’t it?





Necking it

5 11 2009

I woke up with no neck pain so headed to the gym this morning.

Thought it prudent to take it easy so all I did was cycle a ’simple’ 8¼ miles on the recumbent bike.

Not before my ‘downstairs’ started to give me little achy grief though.

If it’s not one thing, it’s another. It all feels very frustrating right now, I know that.





Pain in the Neck

4 11 2009

No gym yesterday or this morning

Could hardly lift my head off the pillow yesterday thanks to what seems like some kind of neck injury, a problem which remained in situ all day, and is still nagging me this morning

I feel like my Hugh Hefner bobblehead after a rigorous head bobbling, as if my neck can’t hold the weight of my fat head.

We went out for lunch yesterday and I couldn’t even enjoy it because of the pain and the apparent inability to sit up straight. Even sitting here typing this is proving, lets say, problematic.

Bollocks.





Turning back the clock

2 11 2009

The clocks going back this past weekend has really thrown my body out. I was really restless yesterday and suffered another poor night’s sleep last night.

As a result, the gym seemed like a real effort this morning but I did manage to get there for a while and do 10¼ miles on the recumbent bike.

That was it though. My groin became really painful and I wasn’t about to risk making it any worse.

I forgot to weigh myself when I got home today… which is probably for the best.

I entirely blame the children who live in and around our neighbourhood for the (probable) increase in my weight this week.

Every Halloween we normally get between five and seven hundred trick or treating beggars . Accordingly, this year we purchased the pre-requisite 650+ pieces to hand out.

Only to have just 325 kids call. By a considerable margin our worst ever turnout since living here.

Meaning we have 325 pieces left over. They won’t keep until next year so…….

Yes, it’s a bugger.

Anyone for another fun-sized Snickers?