Carl [kahrl] -noun
1. A strong, robust fellow, especially a strong manual laborer. 2. A miser; an extremely thrifty person. 3. A 25 year old Irish guy with too much to say and not enough people to listen.
From this day forth, tumblr will be my “Fitness Diary”. Starting yesterday, I have embraced the idea of getting fit and some kinda crazy-long charity run/cycle/whatever. What that may be exactly is secondary right now. As things stand, I just need to get somewhat fit.
I went for a 15min cycle yesterday, and despite keeping at a steady pace, my heart of beating out of my chest and I was very light-headed. By my old standards, that’s just pathetic. It was a bit of a scare, so I need to take this seriously.
Being a skinny guy, I’ve always been able to fly around the place, quick on my feet and naturally quite fit. But in the last 2 years or so, I’ve barely moved from my desk, either online, writing or eating ice cream. A sad truth. I haven’t been getting any fatter, just lazier and unhealthy.
Well not anymore! I am 100% commited to this and have made a number of goals…
Get back to marathon running fitness
Do most of my training outdoors, documenting the places I visit
Bulk up a bit, gaining weight through muscle build-up instead of fat
Reach a BMI of 21kg/m2 (Gain 12lbs)
Try get others involved and promote fitness
Raise money for charity through various runs, cycles, etc.
Most of my posts will either be photos or weight/workout updates (Like the following)
Current stats:
Weight: 151lbs
Height: 6ft 2inches (Obviously not gonna change)
BMI: 19.4
Last excercise: ?????
Total minutes excecising: ??????
Other such stats that I’ll make up as I go along.
Well that’s it for now, just typing this up and posting to make it “official” so you guys can make sure I don’t bail on this.
Oh and a photo to leave you with: To prove just how dedicated I am, I have made myself more aerodynamic.
Keep fit! Or else?
There are few things in this world that make me “feel” like I’m eating healthy more than smoothies. So I’m going to try have one with lunch most days. Made at home, of course, this one has the simple ingredients of orange juice, one banana, strawberries, and wholegrain yoghurt (the yoghurt could have done without the “wholegrain” - A wee bit lumpy)
Well, it’s been seven days already, so time to tally up my miles, workout hours and current weight. I’ve not weighed myself yet, so I apologise in advance if I’ve lost weight and swearing ensues.
Well, here we go…
Cycling In 3 days of cycling, I cycled roughly 11 miles.
Walking
Not counting “normal” walking (to the shop, etc) I walked for the sake of fitness 3 times and tallied up 7 miles this week.
Workouts
I need to make myself a better system of measuring the amount of work I’ve actually done on my body, but for now we’ll just say I did 30mins a night all but one night, totalling 3 hours of weights, press-ups, sit-ups and squats.
Weight
Now, time for what I’ve been dreading. The weigh-in. Off I go to document the tears of joy, or choke on the tears of defeat… (insert other dramatic nonsense, and some tense music, if you will).
…
In a blur of victory, I give you this!
154.2, that’s 3.2lbs gained this week. Which increases my BMI by 0.4 to 19.8 I’m actually delighted with that! :o)
And no, I haven’t had work done on my feet, but thanks for asking.
Considering my life before this week had zero miles of cycling, barely metres of walking, and no workouts other than lifting ice cream form the freezer, and taking into account that I’ve not gained a pound in over a year… this is encouraging.
I’m not too worried about future weight gain, because I know it’s going to even itself out soon. As long as I’m not getting skinnier, all is well. The key now is to add to the miles I’ve travelled, and push up the hours of working out.
I guess that’s it for now. Next installment will hopefully come with lots of nice photos, since I am going hiking tomorrow.
It’s very easy to ignore the east coast of Ireland when talking about our beautiful scenery. The west seems to get all the attention when it comes to “green” Ireland, while most peole associate the east with the grey city of Dublin. The following photos, taken just outside Dublin in Co. Wicklow, will hopefully show just how great the east coast can be. Also note that this is just a simple 8km walk, a teeny fraction of our wonderful coastline.
This is a very old walk, and you can clearly see how some of it has eroded the walkway, causing the path to be “offcially” closed. Although still 100’s walk it every day.
Along this coastline, you can see the train tracks of the train I took to get to Greystones, along with 2 tunnels… the one currently in use, and another that was used many years ago before the eroding coast made it too dangerous to use.
In total, I must have walked about 10km from start to finish, and I have to say it was an amazing short ramble. I cerainly now believe that the key to being fit and active does not lie in a gym or on a threadmill, but rather in the open air where one can actually have reason for being fit. I mean… what’s the point in being able to run forever if you’re not outside enjoying nature in the process? Short answer: there isn’t one.
No longer shall I trudge around on my brothers piece of crap bike. I gots me a new one!
Comes with all the usuals, from alloy break things, to full suspension, to self-launching rocket pads. Well… I actually know nothing about bikes, but it does look pretty cool!
It came boxed up and needed assembly.
Thankfully, my dad was on hand with his magic tools to help! (Sorry dad)
20mins later… it was ALIVE!
I’ll probably remove this bell. It’s fairly pathetic. I need to get a horn off a monster truck or something…
And now, for some random angles and close-ups.
I’ve taken it on it’s maiden voyage, on my 2mile track. Didn’t kill me, so I guess we’re gonna be friends now.
A day later than expected (see last entry for reason), here’s the info from week 2:
Cycled 6 miles. Hiked 6 miles. Walked 6 miles. Make what you want of that, but it’s 666 for me this week in terms of ground covered. That’s 18miles covered in each of the last 2 weeks. Admittedly they’re not huge numbers, but with the first hike complete, and a new bike purchased, I feel a lot was done this week.
Today’s weigh-in has me at 156.8 lbs, which is a weekly gain of 2.6 lbs. Total gain of 5.8 lbs in 2 weeks. I’m not expecting to repeat such levels of weight gain in the next couple of weeks, while I try work more on cadio exercise instead of muscle building.
Physically, I’m feeling better than I have in a long long time, and mentally, I’m feeling more “up for it” when it comes to getting out there and doing things. So all-in-all feeling positive about the whole project.
I intend to start scheming tonight and figuring out what’s next in terms of hiking, travelling and having fun outdoors.
Watch this space.
Carl.
Feel good after that cycle. Legs still pumping, but the rest of my body feels fine. Not light-headed or breathing as heavily as before. Timed myself on my cycle track for the first time today. 9 minutes exactly. Let’s see how long it takes until I bring that time down to 8 mins.
20 followers may be a small number on the grand scale of the internet, but considering I don’t know most of the people following me, it’s a great honour to have you on board, following some unfit irish guy.
So thanks to all of you, and a special thanks to all those who have recently been “recommending” my blog via this link.
I guess there’s only one way to thank you guys right now… with a thank you photo. :o)
I’ve been cycling my make-shift track every second day for 2 weeks now, and have noticed the last 3 times all coming to 9minutes (give or take 30seconds). So I’m setting myself a challenge to never again take any longer than 9 minutes.
I feel there should be consequences, so will have to think of a forfeit if I fail the challenge.
If you have any ideas of what said forfeit could be, feel free to drop me an e-mail: carlpconnor@gmail.com.
