Do you consider yourself interesting?

I only ask, because I think that everyone is interesting. I think one of the reasons we watch (or watched, in my case) Big Brother is because we’re interested in how other people act, and what other people do. We like comparing them to ourselves, and thinking how we’re like or dislike like them; how we’re better or worse than them in certain aspects. I posed the question a while ago on twitter, whether people thought they would win Big Brother if they were on it, and lots of people did. They assumed, as I do, that they would be better at it. Or more interesting, or more fun or whatever it is.

It’s been playing on my mind recently, because (clearly) I have a blog, and you’re reading it, but, in truth, since I stopped training for the marathon, it doesn’t really have a purpose or direction. I update it every so often with random thoughts and ramblings but they could be (and usually are) about absolutely anything. Now, I don’t read anyone else’s blog, even though there’s millions of them out there, so why could/would/should I expect anyone to read this? Woah Woah Woah, before you go dashing off, I think you should read it, I just can’t quite put my finger on why.

I see a few problems with what I might call ‘personal’ blogs. If you’re just talking about yourself and your life, then don’t you really need to give us all the juicy stuff? The behind the scences fights, the family fallouts, the career plans, the next big ideas and all of that? But can any of us really afford to spill all the intimates of our personal and professional lives on the internet, and why would we want to?

I’m interested in radio, clearly, I work in the medium. I have a huge interest in it, and have lots to say on the topic. I think lots of it is great, I think lots of it is shit. But who am I to judge, and why would you want to ready my thoughts on it?

I’m curious as to what would make you most likely to visit this website. What should I focus on? Any one particular area, or just keep posting on whatever I like and leave it to the world to stumble across posts they might like? In truth, I find it a bit therapeutic (though perhaps overly self-indulgent) to just write down whatever comes into my head, but then I could just keep a private diary and have the same effect….

When last I posted, I had just been sat on the couch eating Lidl Strawberry icecream straight from the tub with an ice pack on my leg, feeling very sorry for myself. I’ll be honest, the next 11 days followed in a pretty similar vein, but with incrementally decreasing amounts of ice cream. I became totally disillusioned with the whole notion of running the marathon. Not because I have any less desire to do it, but simply because it started to look like it was never going to be possible. The marathon is just over 7 months away, which means (notionally at least) that I have been training for 5 months. I think we can all pretty much agree that not being able to run a mile after 5 months of training for a marathon is not really a great return on ones investment?

So I ate and drank my way through just about any bit of food or drink that I could get my hands on and predictably piled on the weight (though, according to a chart I saw in a shop window I’m spot on target for my BMI) back up to about 12 Stone, having been down about 11 Stone 4lbs at 1 point.

However, a couple of days ago, while on my third bottle of wine of the evening on a break down in kinsale, I realised that the reason that I was running the marathon was as a motivational tool to get fit. So whether or not I make the start (or for that matter the finish line) is less of a concern than whether I am physically fit at the time of the marathon. If injury means I can’t run, then I guess I’ll have to take up cycling or swimming or something, but it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t keep exercising, keep trying and seeing if there’s any hope of making the marathon through physical therapy, or orthotic insoles or something.

And so, as I have done several times over the past 5 months already, I vowed to get back on the horse that is the Dublin City Marathon 2010 and to come back harder, better, faster, stronger (as Daft Punk might say) on day 147, Monday 22 March 2010…

Nothing like that feeling of the first day of lent, or perhaps new years day, when you’ve decided what you’re going to give up, or what your new years resolution is going to be. It’s very inspiring….until it all falls on it’s arse again and you feel worse than you did before you started. The last 11 days….

Just to update this post (it’s now 9.36pm), I have now played my first match, which we won. 3 sets and some good exercise had by all, EXCEPT that I have injured my leg again. Exact same spot, exact same pain. What a fucking pain in the hole! I am only hoping that this means it was never the running to start with that caused the original problem, but rather the badminton. That would mean I can’t really play badminton any more (which is fine since the season is over) but can still run and so keep training. I have called Orla to put the ice pack in the freezer and am making arrangements to get a leg massage to try and unknot the muscles as quick ad possible. Tits, arse, balls, wank I say!!

One Final Update (It’s now 11.15pm) I’m now finished my badminton match, and as predicted it took longer to get through 2 games of badminton than I hope it will take to run the marathon, at a time of 4 hours 15 minutes. What a sham. We lost by the way, Dunboyne Badminton club kicked our ass, but I did manage to win my mens double match if that’s some small consolation.

Anyway, that’s the end of the badminton season (unless Mount Pleasant come back to us to re-schedule matches that were missed) and I can’t say it has been particularly helpful for getting me fit. Tonight, I did work hard and sweat and panted and did all the things that make you think that you’ve been doing some physical exercise, but those nights have beem few and far between

Of course the big story from today is that my bloody leg is now at me again. I am gutted. I’ve been stretching and benging and flexing and doing all the thing the physio told me to do to minimise the risk of the injury re-occurring, but to no avail. I had originally thought that the problem must have been the running, but since the leg only started hurting when I was playing badminton today, I’ve been thinking it might be the badminton rather than the running! Still, whatever the cause is, now I can’t run or put too much weight on it again until it’s better. Arse to it!!

Arse to it!!

Ryan Phillips is a DJ on Dublin radio station Spin 1038. He is trying to train for the dublin City Marathon 2010, but keeps getting injured. Today was day 122, Thursday 26 February 2010, and once again, he’s injured. Pants.

I had a right pain in my hole trying to find out from VHI where I should go and where and what was covered. They were looking for treatment codes and doctor’s names and all sorts of things so eventually I just lost interest in the conversation and nominated Vincent’s private. Hopefully I will be covered.

Anyway, when I spoke to the doctor, she told me that as long as I wasn’t getting chest pains or anything I could keep training as normal, so I finally hit the gym for the first time in over a week. Just eased myself back into it with 25 minutes on the cross trainer and 20 minutes on the threadmill. I’m not supposed to be running on the threadmill, but the guy in Amphibian King told me to try them out in the gym on the threadmill in case they didn’t fit properly or something, in which case I could bring them back because I still hadn’t worn them outside. They are pretty cool, feel much better than the runners I have been running in, but I could still feel my knee getting at me after 20 minutes on the threadmill.

I was running at a really slow pace, because I wasn’t really running but more trying out the runners. Still, I ramped up the pace to the pace you’d need to run at to finish the marathon in 3.5 hours, and it is FAST. I lasted about a minute at that pace, but in 10 months time, I’ll be hoping to run at that pace for the whole race. To be totally honest, right now, that doesn’t seem possible at all, so I’m wondering if I should lower my expectations a bit and aim for the 4 hour mark instead of 3.5 hours.

Anyway, it was good to be back in the gym (even if it was freezin), and that the ECG thing isn’t urgent (even if I still am a bit aprehensive about the tests)

Back on track a bit at least….

I tried getting the locum in the surgery to call me two days go. No luck. I tried calling Vincent’s myself, no luck. So I’ve just had to sit tight and wait for my doctor to get back into the surgery, which was supposed to be today. I say supposed to be, because when I called I was told she wouldn’t be in until Monday. I explained that I had been told it was today, but apparently, it’s Monday now because she’s sick. Fine.

Eventually the locum called me back and told me that my ECG results were abnormal, so I have to go for an echocardiograph and a stress test ECG to find out what’s causing the abnormal ECG results. He couldn’t do anything more and said I’d have to wait for my doctor to call me on Monday. Jesus TF Christ, how hard can it be people. SO, I rang vincents, to see if I could book those tests, because I booked the ECG myself originally anyway. But, according to them, you can’t book these ones. My doctor has to send in a referral letter to the hospital, then the consultant cardiologists have to look at it and see how urgent it is, then make the appointment.

Quite like the incredible hulk me….

Grrrrr....

Sorry, I’m not sure what i was trying for there. My unofficial physio came over to the apartments. I say unofficial, because I haven’t told her that I’m planning on running the marathon and that she has to treat me for free every time I injure myself. This will test to see if she’s reading the website anyway.

I’ve been harping on since day one about my weak knees and ankles and that I can’t do any real jogging until I get them sorted. Well according to Clare, it’s most likely that my problems are stemming from my posture, and the probably culprit is none other than my ass, which is pulling everything in the wrong place and putting pressure on my knees and ankles (note, she didn’t call it my ass, it is my “glutes” apparently that are the problem).

Either way, I’ve been given a load of exercises to try and fix the problem. I must take a video of me trying some of them ,they are very funny. And can I just tell you, that doing squats (one of the exercises) is outrageously painful and energy sapping! So, now that i have my exercise and things, I’ve got to put them into practice for the next month and build everything up, so I’m still on course to start doing some serious jogging after Christmas….

In the meantime it was back over to the gym for more time on the bike and the cross trainer. Really pushed myself and upped the tempo and resistance. I was sweating buckets (lovely) by the end. One thing that I find strange about particularly the bike and the cross trainer, is that on the bike, my heart rate will be lower, but I’ll be a lot more out of breath and “feeling the burn” whereas on the cross trainer, it doesn’t feel like I’m pushing myself too hard, but I’m heart rate is throught the roof?! Thoughts/Suggestions anyone?

To celebrate the fact that I had done so much in the gym, I had half a bottle of wine, half a packet of the big pack of walkers sensations and a load of after eights. Ok, so in terms of weightloss, that’s no use, but in terms of improving general levels of fitness, I think the balance was acceptable for a Sunday evening in front of the TV with X-Factor!!

That's me squatting that is

I”ve been at this training lark for nearly 2 weeks now, and I’m feeling really good about myself and my progress, which I’m describing as very slow, but steady. I told my friend Deirdre the other day that I was going to run the marathon next year, and she laughed, which I thought was a little mean! But she’s probably right to laugh, I’ve come up with schemes like this many times before and never followed through with them. Plus, in the 5 years or so that she’s known me, I don’t think she’s ever seen me do one minute’s exercise, let alone anything that would inspire confidence that I could ever hope to run 26.2 miles. I told Orla about it, and she said that maybe I shouldn’t tell people I was running the marathon yet, in case I didn’t end up doing it. That misses the point of the marathon blog. One of the reasons I’m shouting from the rooftops that I’m running it is so that I have to go through with it. The more people that know, the better, the more pressure I’ll feel and a sense of responsibility to them to follow through on this.

Anyway, having duly convinced myself of my own righteousness, I sulked off to the gym. My standard routine at the minute is 20-25 minutes on the sit down bike, and 20 minutes on the cross trainer. I’m still not touching the threadmill for fear of injuring myself and am happy just to be doing anything that raises the heart rate, burns calories and makes me sweat. The above regime does all of those things admirably. One of my favourite pasttimes in the gym is people-watching. Not in a pervy way (and not just because I’ve never seen a good looking girl in our gym), but more in a “ooooooh, that’s how you use that thing” kind of way. Sometimes you see people who clearly know what they’re doing, sometimes you see people who make you fear for their personal well being the way they are wrapping themselves around any particular machine. Often, they make me feel very bad about myself, being fitter, healthier and generally in a better state of repair than am I. But that can also be quite motivating, and make you push yourself so that hopefully one day you can be the person that makes someone else feel bad about themselves!! Hurrah!

I often find weekend training the hardest, because it’s the weekend and training feels a lot like work, but it can also be quite rewarding when it goes well, which it did today, so lets put it down as a good day today, and go watch the X-Factor!!

My Reward

My logic (yes there is some there) is that the marathon is a year away at this stage, so for the next few months, I’m just going to concentrate on general fitness and achieving some level of same, without necessarily concentrating on distance (or in fact any) running. Before I hit the tarmac, I need to strengthen my ankles and knees, because they are prone to injury and basically cripple me every time I do any sustained trainig.

In the meantime, I’m relying on swimming, squash and badminton to get my base level of fitness up to some sort of acceptable stanard….

That being said, how fooking long is a real swimming pool?? Like most of you, I’m used to swimming in gym size pools, which are rarely 25 meters. Most are somewhere between 17-21, and those extra 4-5 meters are actually A LOT when you’re back swimming lengths of a pool for the first time in years. A LOT I say. I don’t fully get the layout of the Trinity College swimming pool though, it took a fair few minutes of suspiciuos looking wandering around to find out where I was supposed to change and how to get there without seeing anything I shouldn’t be seeing. In the end, all I saw was naked men, which I guess is a result, albeit a bit of a disappointing one.

Wont lie to you, I’d say I only did about 15 lengths, maybe 20 at a push, and they were done 4 or 5 at a time. Breathless, yes I certainly was. Unfit, absolument. A LONG way to go to run 26.2 miles, certainly. Cautiously optimistic, yes. Going to have a mini Dairy Milk to celebrate my work today, indeed.

Day 3 tomorrow, and I’ve a badminton court booked and ready for action….but no parter at the moment, which could potentially be a problem.

I'll be in there somewhere