Exercise

Well, it's been a while since I last wrote here, so I'm splitting this post into exercise-related stuff vs food-related stuff.

So, exercise. I've been on holiday - a diving, eating, beer-drinking (apparently compulsorary for divers) sort of a holiday. All 3 of us desperados wanted to get fitter and thinner during the trip, so we went out running together on the first day - a lovely 7am run round the streets before the Maltese sun was too hot (at about 7:45) to do much more than walk. And it was a great run, a good start to a one-week running program, but it interfered badly with the diving. Let's just say that getting overheated before diving lends oneself to things like screaming "get me out of here" and damaging one's instructor using only handily-available diving gear mixed with local wildlife (he was very good about it, and I know that sea-urchins hurt). So the morning run was banned after the first day, and exercise was limited to diving twice a day, carrying dive gear to the water (138 steps down - and up - in one case) and back, and walking round interesting places. All I can say is that diving in warm waters is amazing. I felt so utterly priviledged to be in amongst the wildlife in its own environment, and have memories (like finding myself in the middle of a huge school of fish who swam with me as though I was one of their own, or sitting out on the terrace at 6am, and less-good memories of fireworms threatening to attack me. Not seriously, though) that will last a lifetime. Anyways, between that and the cheap/ plentiful/ good Maltese cooking, I came back heavier than I went away, but I think a little fitter and with slightly stronger leg muscles.

Since then, S has decided to help her training prospects by booking us into a set of personal trainer sessions. He's on holiday too at the moment, so we have just over a week to get fit enough to show a convincing fitness test result and survive the start of his training (few things more worrying than a trainer's evil grin). We've been on the power plates most days this week: I haven't seen any weight loss (despite eating sensibly), but I do seem a bit more toned, and I'm definitely a bit fitter and stronger: today, I ran comfortable 10-minute miles where normally I would struggle to finish them. And I walked to work yesterday: 50 minutes, which at 3 mph is roughly 2.5 miles: a perfect distance for a daily training run. Cycling back from the gym hurt a bit though: the powerplate sessions are very leg-heavy, which is great for their shape but no so good if I'm trying to use them for something afterwards. Anyways, onwards. Current weight is 178.6, so quite a bit of work to do on that, but fitness first, then fat...