What makes you happy ?

FeedDemon just went off after finding all the TongCasts :) (and thanks to Simon and Claire for responding after my last post). So that's some rowing sounds booked in. I thought I'd got Moyles on the Zen when I got there today ….. I used random play instead so I got bored after 31 minutes which was 6000m. I will do 6000 in 30 minutes – it's the next goal. Faster not further. And despite the fact I wear gloves (because my hands get sweaty and the grip goes and then I have to move my hands about and that means I start to realise just how long I've been on it even though the time is right in front of me) I've blistered my fingers. Bad form. What with that and a blister on my right foot …. if I was Seb Coe I'd be given the summer off. (Whatever happened to Steve Ovett? I assume he's gone on to a decent life instead of joining a lying bunch of politicians)

Fish. Beast is on a fish/rice diet for 6 weeks. Suspected allergies. He's already cost a stack and this just adds to that. Big dog, big bills…

Must be thunder nearby – flickering electrics. I love thunderstorms, lightning and everything like that. It's at times like this I wish was near someone I really disliked. I'd give them a metal coathanger and make them go stand in a field :)

Back to being busy …… it's only 18:30 ……….

Went to the gym with the sole intention of doing 10,000m rowing. No machines, no weights, just rowing. After about 20 minutes I decided to do an hour because I was on for at least 11400 and just after that moved the goalpost to 12,000m. And 2 minutes past the hour I got it. New record :)

At the gym most of the lockers are arranged in U shaped groups with a smallish bench to drop the bag / towel onto, ties laces etc. There is however a line of lockers which face everyone. Their bench is in the middle of all. It is used by:

1. Huge blokes who you really would not argue with
2. Blokes hung like a donkey’s donkey
3. A group of lads out to impress each other
4. ……and the preeners

The first 3 I can understand and have no issue with. But the preeners really annoy me. One today.. I’d seen him in the gym doing weights. More keeping toned than looking for bulk and apart from wearing a belt on his lower back when using a 10kg bar there was nothing odd. He had come out of the shower as I went in. I had a long – very long – hot shower. I came out and he was just putting his underwear on. After he had adjusted, moved, adjusted again, smoothed the creases out, checked and smoothed his skin, he went for the trousers etc. After each item the skin was touched, almost caressed as he looked – not glanced, not ‘look the other way while squinting hard to the side so no-one can see me looking‘ – admiringly at his bod in the mirror. Watching him – I was so amused by this I was going slow to see the spectacle … he probably thought I was admiring him – when putting his shirt on was painful. This guy wasn’t going out to the catwalk – the catwalk was coming in to him! I have seen some guys in there who pose, some who take too long with the gel at the mirror, a couple who like to dry their nuts with the hairdryer but this guy took preening to another level. Given my unkempt state I left the room before him. I was sitting in the front area as he left some 10-15 minutes later. There are some very freaky people around ….

Reluctantly went to the gym. Didn’t feel like it at all but I need to build the habit. Did 30 mins on the rower (5600m) really easily – I think I need to up from level 4 / go longer – then some weights but my left arm was strangely weak. No pain, no sensations just no ‘pull’ after a few reps. X-trainer I got fed up after 15 minutes (Hill, level 10). It was bucketing down with rain so pointless having a shower – I grabbed my bag, baseball cap on head and after only a momentary pause at the door headed out into the rain. Not drizzle, not ‘a bit wet’ but full-on rain. I can’t believe I did it but I dried the seat before I got on. WHY? It’s not like I’m going to feel a whole lot better when I get home and the one dry patch is next to my ass is it? I’d love to know if the mudguard on the bike worked but as water hit me from every possible angle I have no clue. Got back drenched. Had shower. And now I feel like craponastick. I’ve eaten. I’ve had water, I’ve done nothing stupid – but I’m shaking and I feel really odd. Weird.

And I’m a few minutes into the rowing with the Zen on Random All play. The second track in was fantastic. I have NO idea who it was but it was really cool – I didn’t know it was there. The very next track was complete garbage – I have NO idea who that was either. Sometimes a little disorganisation in the right places makes for little ‘surprises’ I guess. (I wonder how I can sell that idea to the wife…)

A new record for me. 60 minutes rowing, averaging 29s/m, total distance 10650m. I needed the marker. I skipped the cross-trainer :)

Took The best of Moyles to the gym. Thought I’d give something other than music a whirl at distracting me. Start show, start rowing. It’s quite amusing in parts and I’m aware that my inane grinning may make me look even more of an idiot than normal. I’ve done around 20 minutes when a woman gets on the rower next to me and starts going. Her pace is faster but otherwise I paid little attention. Then the part of the show covers an interview he did with Madonna at some awards show. He warned that there was a lot of bleeping in it. No swearing, just bleeping. At one point in that I started laughing – and the woman on the machine just stopped. She stopped, got off and headed to the other end of the gym – I watched her reflected in the mirror and I lost sight of her as she went behind the equipment. I fully expected one of the staff to come tell me not to laugh at other people. I was actually worried it would happen. And it put me off my stroke too! After I’d done the rowing and some weights I spotted her at the other end on a steps machine – and no staff thankfully. It’s taught me not to take something which could make me laugh though… Daft – me a 41 year old guy worried about being told off :)
Still…. 20mins there on the bike, 30 mins rowing (level 4, 31 s/m), 20mins crosstrainer (level 7 , Hill) and 20 back on the bike. Makes up for the chocolate for breakfast :)

I’ve gained around 7kg since I last went. Not that there is a problem with my weight – I should weigh more if anything but the distribution could be improved. But that’s at the bottom of the list if indeed it is on it. The rowing machine is still there! Yay! And it’s got a funky new control monitor thing that I couldn’t entirely figure out so I couldn’t set the resistance. I did just over 1000m then stopped – first day, don’t overdo it. My having no music didn’t help – I forgot the volume control on the earphone lead. Anyway, dropped a couple of kg on the weight and did half what I would have done before. The shaking told me I had done enough … but it was fun, I really enjoyed it so I’ll be back tomorrow/Friday before my official weigh-in and suchlike on Saturday. (The part today was very pleasant indeed. Oh yes. The woman who took all the info ….. .. about 5’11, blonde streaks, great eyes and perfect weight distribution.) When D reads that last sentence she’ll have a pop at me :)

Comment I got the other day: “That’s a nice tattoo. How do they do that then?”. I didn’t explain….

BT have bumped up the exchange speed which is now around 4* what it was a couple of months ago. I could even get used to watching Question Time online. Bar Channel 4 News it’s about all I stop to watch. Not quite sure what I’ll do with all this faster stuff (which is £5 / month less than I was on) but at least the girls will have to work harder to slow things down of an evening.

And I’m going back to the gym. J has done the sums and says the cost is okay every month and I need to get a wee bit fitter. Walking the beast twice a day might tire the legs a touch and doing the housework might burn off a few beans but it doesn’t do much else. So I’ve looked at the Zen to organise some music and lots of tracks appear to have track number 0. My fault for when I put them on so tonight I’m tagging and playlisting. At least I can listen to music while rowing again – I just checked and when I left the gym last time I’d done 124000m with the average duration being 5000 and the longest 10000. Wonder how many I can do tomorrow before I fall gently to the side…

Today I decided to ‘unmothball’ the bike. So it’s had a good clean, puncture mended, new chain, seat repaired, brake cables sorted and lights removed. The nearest cycle shop does a full service for £30 (ex. parts) which would be very good value – I had a bike serviced a few years ago and the difference is marked. Down to me this year though. So right now it has some oil seeping (hopefully) into all the right (hopefully) parts and tomorrow – assuming not raining – I’ll fully test the cables. I really do hope the cables are okay – one of the most obtuse things in the world are bike cables. I think I’ll need to buy some proper cable lube though.
Spoons. I couldn’t find two spoons to take the tyre off (well, spoons I’d not get told off for using) so a screwdriver and a cake slice did the job :) Because I knew I’d got a flat I bought a puncture repair kit. And wow haven’t they changed ! (Note the space before the ! :) ) When I was a teenager, in a kit would be the ‘Vulcanising Solution’, some fine sandpaper, several patches, a little cube of french chalk and a small wax crayon to mark the hole once found. Today I found no chalk and no crayon. Do they intend to make finding and keeping the hole in sight so much harder ? Do they also intend that we glue our inner tubes to the tyres so causing more purchases ? Those little items are essential (remember the small rough patch on the reverse of the kit box for rubbing the chalk against ?). Why did they go ? They’ll be making self-adhesive patches and doing away with the glue next ! Luckily for me, the hole I needed to patch was not only large but also easy to find by studying other landmarks on the tube. And for chalk – I was in the kitchen so I used several pinches of flour :) ).
Tomorrow I ride, and maybe even fit the utterly pointless rear “what’s the point” mudgard.

I realised today at the gym that I’ve been neglecting the ‘exercise’ bits in favour of the weights so looks like I’ll have to do something about that. And today, one of the rowing machines was out of action !!! I had to wait to use it so did some weights and that threw my lttle routine completely out of the window. Not good. Habits are good.

I read something earlier on Irr.Ti. which is a USA issue and one that I find disturbing but I’ll have to try to not blog about it else people might think this is an anti-US blog. Which it is not. Really !

June 6 …. Must get my music CD thing made and sent, and talking of shiny discs, if you believe that you should have the right to make as many copies of your DVD’s as you wish, head over to read the article here – www.cdfreaks.com/news then go get the program from here – www.free-codecs.com and while you are at it, go get a copy of the most excellent DVD Shrink.

And youngest has gone off to York with the school for a week. It’s after 3:30pm when she would normally be around, so it’s feeling quite odd here !