A weekend which will live in infamy…

The cause….

I was away from the cave for the weekend to attend a work function in London that happened to coincide with the 2023 London Marathon. Two things happened that smashed my self perception into a brick wall.

First, I had some free time to catch up with Daughter Number One. We went for a walk in a park that had a new collection of climbing boulders installed. In a heartbeat, she was up there dancing on top of the stones, and for the first time ever, I just backed out of a kid-induced challenge and decided not to join her.

I can cite a bunch of reasons for this:

• My shoes were not appropriate for climbing
• I have a touch of tendonitis in my right ankle and did not want to aggravate it
• We had just eaten
• I was on the road with limited clothes and needed to remain presentable
• Blah, blah, blah…

All of the above were true, but none of them was the truth. The sorry reality; I am overweight, my mobility sucks and I am starting to feel my age.

I compensated with some chest thumping and carrying heavy stuff around, but I knew the truth and so did Daughter Number One, even if she was kind enough not to say it.

The next day I met work colleagues, some of whom I had not seen since before Corona. One of them gave me a friendly punch to the gut with raised eyebrows…

Say no more. Point taken. First my self perception as a big, strong, fit guy took a beating. Second, my playful colleague gifted me awareness of how others see me. You want a call to action? There it is with a double barrelled shotgun.

… and the effect

Allow me to refine the problem a bit; this is not a train wreck

1. I am probably the strongest I’ve ever been. In the last 6 weeks, I come close to 1RMs in Squat, Deadlift, Overhead Press and made progress on 20 rep chin-ups. I am on track to make some decent gains in ’23.
2. I am sleeping better than ever with a resting heart rate in the low 40s – it turns out that if you get bed-buying advice from a heavy guy in a white lab coat, you’ll get a bed that suits a heavy guy :-).
3. My blood pressure is excellent – that was not always true but it totally rocks now despite the weight I gained in the last 5 years.
4. My diet is not where it should be, but I know how to fix that. I dropped 30KGs once upon a time. This is just work.
5. My mobility was never great. Work is needed. I hate stretching, so I don’t. But a year ago, I experimented with Sun Salutations and Shoulder Dislocates and worked up a routine that helps…if I do it!
6. Garmin estimates my VO2 Max at 39 which qualifies as “good”. That is fine but a year ago it was 44, bordering on “excellent”.
7. The tendonitis is a new problem that I need to get sorted; this is the main contributor to reduced running and reduced VO2 Max.

Clearly the priority actions are to wind in the diet, start (and stick with) a mobility program, and sort out my ankle, so I can resume a proper running schedule.

To keep my motivation up, I have promised Daughter Number One we will be celebrating my 55th birthday on top of that damned boulder. That’s January ’24 so the clock it ticking. I am also signing up for a Powerlifting Competition in October and want to compete at 105KG – so need to drop 5-6KGs in the next 6 months.

Lastly, I have finally launched this blog to document the journey and keep myself honest – there is no way out now!

Welcome on board. Strap in please – it may be a bumpy ride…