Heure de reprendre

Well, here I am again.  I had made good progress over time, cutting down by 10lbs in nearly two months.  It might not sound much but I was happy.  This was always going to be a slow, manageable drop.  And then, when I last piped up on this blog, I wasn't feeling well.  In fact, I felt like crap.  I lost about 6lbs in two weeks.  Not good.  And then, well Christmas started kicking in and I still wasn't particularly well.  I say all this as not as an excuse but as a reminder to myself that I was derailed by understandable causes so not to get disheartened; there is always time to get going once again.

January...less justifiable.  I think I went a grand total of 0 times in January.  I'll not bore you with why but that let's just say it was more than avoidable.  On the plus side what was also avoided was those gym packing, New Year's Resolutionaries who make training a misery.  They will sit with their friends going at a snails pace for an hour without breaking a sweat, monopolising kit that could be far better used.  Alternatively, they will fiddle with the equipment for ten minutes, be on it for two and then move on to the next one, again without a drop of hard work besmirching their foreheads.  Ahh well, they are gone in six weeks, and they are a necessary evil in order to effectively subsidise the regular users sessions. 

So now it's late February and I can't waste any more time.  And thankfully I haven't entirely anyway.  I have been re-engaging this month bit by bit.  Two sessions in the first week, then three, and last week four.  Last week also commenced the beginning of the diet improvements.  Cut out the rubbish while at work, drinking limited to Fri-Sun and moderated at that.  I've treated this all as a build up, to wake up my legs so they don't collapse into a pile of blubber after one good session.  And it seems to have done the trick.  On Saturday and Sunday I hit the spinning bike for an hour (Saturday) and 45 mins (Sun) after to mins of treadmill/rowing respectively.  Pushed hard each time, dripping with sweat, good stuff.  And today I don't feel so bad, only a few aches and pains.  Tonight is a night off (though planning on a long walk) so I should be good to go again tomorrow.

That's enough of the past, what's in store for the future?  Well as I have a holiday in Argeles, France this July I have a pretty damned convenient target.  It's a reasonable time frame and a motivating goal to keep in mind when I feel like slacking.  For those who haven't had the pleasure of going there, here is my favourite view...

Those are the Pyrenees mountains from the French side.  By July the place is as hot as a pasty Northerner like me can bare.  Good food, tennis, sun, boat rides to medieval towns, what more could I want?  Oh yeah, phenomenal quantities of wine, beer and pastis.  Heaven.

As I'd prefer to more fit than fat when I get there I have to get me arse in gear now.

So, what is the plan?  Highly boring I know but it'll be much like last years as that was proving effective.  I'm thinking cardio and core training until May/Mid-May then dropping the cardio to 20-30 mins a session and doing some solid compound training aiming for strength.

I'm also learning French for the first time since 2001 and have been using the brilliant Collins French with Paul Noble.  I've learned, and retained, so much in a short space of time with this set and frankly without all too much effort.  If any of the two readers left of this blog are looking for an efficient method of getting a really solid grounding in French, I couldn't recommend it enough.

Okay, advert over.  I'll come back tomorrow with actual stats and p'raps pictures too plus the deathly dull details of what I have eaten.  I'm sure your all on the edge of seats in anticipation.