Martin W Smith

I haven’t written anything for well over a week now, to be honest not much has happened. That’s not at all surprising considering the circumstances.

The bank holiday weekend was very much needed. Even though we couldn’t go anywhere it was just nice not to have to sit in the home office (spare bedroom) and work for 4 whole days. I don’t think I’ve taken a bank holiday off for over a year. The nice weather was a happy bonus, so we could at least sit in the garden.

I’ve been keeping up with the exercise, the diet, the learning and the reading. I’m up to 25 minutes of jogging now, that’s Day 2 of week 7 of couch to 10k. The first time I tried on Monday I couldn’t complete the 25 minutes, it would seem I’ve been running too fast and my calves ended up cramping so bad I had to stop. I’ve been twice more since, but slowed the pace and I was able to complete it although my calves still hurt.

I think I’ve said it before, I don’t think I’m built for long distance running. I prefer to run faster over shorter distances. I’m not sure if I’ll make it the end of Couch to 10k, I’m already reaching my limits and I haven’t even got to 5k yet. I’m going to keep trying, but if I’m honest I’ve got no real interest in running a 10k anyway. I’m just trying to lose weight and get a bit fitter. What I really want is to be able to go for a 30 minute run 3 times a week and for it not to nearly kill me.

The exercise that I do on the days I don’t jog is going better. Yesterday I did 170 pushups over 9 sets. The last set of 50 is really tough and I can’t do it all in one go, I have to rest for a few seconds now and then. I can now do over 30 pushups consecutively, before I started I could only do about 13. I’ve also been doing the speed rope, which I’m pretty good at now. I taught myself to skip a couple of years ago now. When I started I couldn’t do it at all, now I’m pretty fast and can skip better than my girls. I’ve been using the resistance bands as an alternative to weights and I feel like along with the pushups I’ve built back up a little of the muscle I’ve lost since I stopped going to the gym a few years back. Muscle memory is a great thing.

I’m currently down by 2.5 stone since the beginning of January although I didn’t lose anything this week. I think the slight gain in musle has cancelled out the weight lost in fat. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway.

I finished the book I was reading What I Talk About When I talk About Running in just under a week. It was actually pretty good, unlike anything else I’ve read before. I don’t really know how to describe it, but I’m glad I read it. I’ve now started reading Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz about big data and what you can learn about people from what they search for on the internet. It’s fascinating and I’ve been getting through it pretty fast. I started it on Wedesday and I’m over a third of the way through the 300 pages.

The online training is going well, I’m rattling through the courses on Datacamp and learning some really useful techniques.

That’s pretty much it for now, stay home, stay safe and stay productive (if you want to).