First step, make a salad. Second step, go the gym. Third step, do abs workout. Final step, bring low fat popcorn and Sprite Zero over to the lads for FiFa 10 night. That’s 4 steps to glory and I followed them all. It’s always depressing going back to the gym or to any exercise after a prolonged period away from it (says the man who hadn’t done any real exercise in some 13 years until last October) because your base fitness levels have always dropped way more than you thought they would.

My right leg is still a bit out of sorts after the reoccurrence of my shin injury last week at badminton, so today I stayed away from anything that might make it worse and just cycled and did some cross training, 20 minutes of the former, 25 minutes of the latter. It doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but it’s more or less and hour on the trot of keeping the heartrate up at a decent level, so (in my humble opinion) it’s not to be sniffed at. A little each day presumably goes a long way, though I have yet to independently verify this myself.

Add an 8 minute abs workout into that equation, and a whole day of healthy eating, and we’re back in the game.

The plan, which I’m telling you so you can keep track of exactly where the plan falls to pieces, is to just cycle and cross train all week until Sunday to hopefully get some cardio back without putting the body through too much and give my leg time to fully heal (again) then start back running, but with a reduced training plan from Sunday. Fingers Crossed.

Hopefully if I’m a bit more patient and sensible and start of with very little running (2 miles for long run, 1 for short) for the first few weeks, I’ll finally be able to build it up without injuring myself!! But I think a run might also kill me, look at the state of me after the cycle and cross training today!!

Spin1038 DJ Ryan Phillips is running the Dublin City Marathon 2010 on 25 October 2010. That’s ages away, but he’s really unfit, and this is his training blog to see if and how he makes it to the finish line. Today was training day 126, Monday 1 March 2010

I injured my leg, thought it was Shin Splints, but it turned out not to be and actually to be something to do with muscles around the shin (which is slightly differeny I’m told) then the leg got better after a lot of rest, then I played badminton and it started hurting again. Bugger.

Since I hurt the leg at Badminton on Thursday night I have been staying off the leg as much as possible and trying to stretch the muscles around the shin out as much as possible. It’s not sore to walk on or anything, it’s only sore now if I put pressure on the particualr point where the muscle is damaged. I was seriously tempted to go for a run anyway, but I kind of know from the last time this happened what happens then (severe pain and weeks off training) so instead, I’ve just stopped and done nothing with a view to giving it a few days to heel, not putting too much load through it and stretching and icing it until it is freed up.

On Monday I’m going to get back into the gym, still not running for another week, but doing some cross training and cycling and weights and MORE stretching of the legs. I need to organise a massage too, because the muscles are all knotted up around the injury and Orla’s mum has offred to do it. That’s not creepy right, it’s only a leg massage!!

So, 3 more days sitting on my hole doing nothing. For those keep score at home, thoes days are starting to really add up!!

My Days Are Off Are Starting To Add Up!!

Spin1038 DJ Ryan Phillips is training for the Dublin City Marathon on 25 October 2010. For the last 3 days however he has been sitting on his bum because of an injured leg! Days 123 – 125 was Friday 26th to Sunday 28th of February 2010

According to my plan, in was supposed to go for another run in Marlay Park, but all the muscles that have been causing me problems were tight and sore today, so I decided fairly early on that a run was not going to happen, nothing to do with the rain you understand!

The backup plan was to go to the Wyckham Point Gym and do some cross training and a cycle with some abs work and some weights. What I actually did was fall asleep on my bed, and no exercise. I got home late from spin (at about 3.30) and was shattered tired, fell asleep on the couch then just lost all motivation.

This is a load of bollocks, I don’t need to be told that. I’m a third of the way through my available training time and can’t even get off the couch to go to the gym. Does everyone find it this difficult or am I just a total sham of a man?? Don’t answer that, I know the answer and I will delete your comment!!

More badminton tomorrow, that’s exercise right??

Spin 1038 DJ Ryan Phillips is training for the Dublin city marathon on 25 October. Day 120 was Wednesday 24 February. It did not go well…

Indeed....

It’s not so painful that I can’t walk or anything like that, in fact it feels fine except for if I touch it (it’s very tender) or if I crouch down, like to pick something up, when it is very sore. According to several internet armchair experts, I need to combination of rest, ice, elevated legs and stretches. Lots and lots of stretches. And so that’s what I’m trying to do. I was hoping that I would be back to short jogging on grass by Thursday (it’s now Tuesday) but the way my legs are feeling, I don’t think it’s going to happen.

It also means no squash or badminton and I just found out this morning that I am supposed to have two matches in the next two weeks. That’s pretty bad timing isn’t it?

Hard to write a blog about marathon training when you’re not actually doing any….but I’ll still try!

Ryan Phillips trains for the Dublin City Marathon 2010 – Day 85 – Tuesday 19 January 2010

Today was another day off from Marathon Training. Or, as I should properly call it, a rest day. Having done the 3 mile jog on the threadmill yesterday, my legs are a bit tired, but not injured or feeling too shabby so that’s good news. I’m back in the gym tomorrow for another 3 miles, then again on Sunday for 4 miles.

From next week there’s something every day when I’m not jogging to keep the fitness progressing, so from next week on there should be a lot less “rest days” where I do absolutely nothing, and at the least there should be some situps, or squash or badminton or something ever day…said he with cautious optimism

Tired Legs....not actually mine, but you get the idea

I could just leave it there to be honest. Today’s training was a badminton match. It was against an Aer Lingus team, and we lost. Again. And worse, I played horrifically badly. Like awful. Each match I play a mens doubles and a mixed doubles. Both matches went to three sets, and in both, I threw away about 10-15 cheap points just be hitting my serve out or missing an easy shot or anything.

4 hours sitting around in a cold hall in Rathmines, for 20 minutes of me playing rubbish and getting no proper exercise because I didn’t play well enough to give anyone a decent game.

To be honest, it was still exercise, it still counts, and I could actually have taken the day off having done 3 days good training Monday to Wendesday. BUT I caved on the diet. It completely fell apart. I got some bad news, and I just fell apart and comfort ate the hell out of it! I mean, I know how hard it has been to shed 6lbs. It has taken me the guts of 8 weeks to shift them, and I’m not kidding when I say I ate enough to put back on 3 or 4 of those in one day. I had 3 or 4 packets of crisps, a big bag of jellies, a couple of bars of chocolate and a few other bits and pieces, and I didn’t have proper lunch or dinner…It’s the undoing of me it really is. When I get down, I start eating junk food at a rate that is truly shocking, and I don’t even feel any better after it because I feel down that I’ve taken a step backwards.

Safe to say that today wasn’t a good day. In fact, of the 30, it was the worse one I’ve have. Even the 1st day where I just ate custard creams was probably better for my marathon training than today.

Disaster…..

Eat Eat Eat....Good training.....not

That was more or less the story of day 30 of Marathon training. Everything was a bit sore and I was conscious that I had a badminton match to play on Thursday so I decided to go wasy easy on the training. In actualy fact, I managed to do pretty much a full session, 20 minutes on the cross trainer (which I might add is 20 minutes of properly going for it, I also do 2 minutes warm up and warm down….in case you were doubting my awsomeness….) and 15 minutes on the bike (likewise).

That’s more than I thought I’d get done today. Result.

Nice Boobs....not me, obviously

Blood, sweat and tears

You probably (a) can’t make out what’s in that photo, and (b) once I tell you will wish you hadn’t found out. That is a little baby puddle of sweat. I know this principally because it’s mine and because I was watching it grow as I cycled my now customary 7km cycle on the sitty down bike thingy. Incidentally, that proper name for a sitty down bike thingy is actually a “recumbant exercise bike”.

I know it’s gross, and I know everyone will say (and many will mean) that they REALLY don’t want to see pictures of my sweat, but nonetheless, I present it as evidence to you, dear reader, that despite having bad days where I binge on junkfood (see Marathon Training – Day 28), when I get my act together, I really do work hard in the gym. Today, I needed to work off a fair few extra calories put on yesterday, so I peddled and strode my little socks off and managed to dump 500 odd calories and a few pints of sweat.

Thankfully, I was in the gym on my own, as for the first time in a long time I had to do some weights. The Wyckham Point Gym has some machines and things so I eyed them all up suspiciously and gave many ago, in the process exercising some muscles that have been dormant for quite some time. It’s embarassing how weak my arms are, it really is. I’ve always said I was built like a kangaroo (big feet, powerful legs, weedy little arms), but even by my own standards, I was embarassed. It’s going to be a long old road before I’m attending any Gun Shows, let’s put it that way. That was only 7 hours ago now, and already absolutely everything hurts. I’d imagine the pain tomorrow is going to be un-ruddy-bearable! If I didn’t think it would push my man credentials over the edge of the cliff they are currently hanging on to, I’d seriously consider a long soak in a bubble bath!!

Tomorrow is a swimming a cross training day (hopefully) and then there’s a badminton match on Thursday to look forward to.

Day 29 – Done

I did my, now customary, 20 minute (7km) cycle on the sit down bike and 20 minutes on the cross trainer at a cost of 500 calories to my diet, which is great. While I was there I realised that I haven’t been in the gym since Sunday (Squash on Monday, Badminton on Tuesday and no exercise on Wednesday) because I was doing other exercise the other days. I definitely need to start going to the gym more regularly during the week, because this week (as last) I’m going to end up in the gym Thursday – Sunday then not at all on Monday- Wendesday, which seems like a bit of an arseways way of going about it.

I think I’ll try and get to the gym Monday Wednesday and Friday each week and then slot other bits and pieces like swimming etc around that, just to try and regularise the routine and hopefully maintain some consistency and not get injured!

Anyway, i pushed hard when i played and probably got a good 20 minutes or half an hour out of the session, and since i was wrecked anyway, i’m going to count that as a result.

I met a friend for lunch, but had a “healthy” 30% less fat pizza. As far as i can work out, what Milanos do is cut the centre out of the pizza and bung a salad in the gap. Hardly surprising it’s 30% less fat, there’s 30% less pizza!

The Low Fat Pizza Theory

I finished off the box of after eights i had bought myself on Friday and also had a packet of hula hoops today, so overall, it has not been the best of days. I’m down at the cheerios childline concert all day tomorrow, so i dont know when i’ll squeeze any exercise in…arse, arse and double arse…here’s to a more successful tomorrow!