Goodbye 2014

So that was the year that was, another year done, with a whole heap of not so good stuff, it started with me getting on the local news for doing the swim at Whitley Bay, which was more like a gentle plodge, given that I wasn't wearing shoes and there were a lot of rocks under foot, the water was a lot colder than the arctic enema. This lead onto me losing my job which was quite good for a bit until it hit home that I didn't have a job anymore, which sparked off my depression and I lost the motivation to do any exercise, I also couldn't face electroshock therapy which some might say isn't something I should look forward to but it tied into me having no motivation. I did do a few Mudder events and decided that I would get myself onto a course that would properly teach me how to program in Android, though I needed to do a one year access to HE course, so I was up to date and could prove I was able to do a degree course.

I attended a talking therapies workshop which helped me to aim towards getting myself back to exercising by making small changes and working on them, which I did by setting small goals for myself like taking the dogs out for a walk and looking into getting sorted out with the local gym.

I spoke to my brother about doing a tough mudder event and my dad also said he would do one with us, so we did just that and it was a brilliant event, aside from them not waiting around for me so we could do electroshock together. They did it and the photos looked excellent.

I started to really enjoy my college course and applied to UCAS and was accepted onto my first choice with a proviso that I get merit overall on my course, based on my last course, that should be something I can do, although I would really like distinction, I'm not going to push my luck.

Although I didn't re-join the gym, I did decide at the beginning of December that I would go for a run, I'd thought about it and just decided to go when I got in from college one day and that was it, I was back running again, I might start doing the fitness classes in January, since its been a while since I did one and hopefully I can see about getting a team together for an event. Since I started my running again, my Dad mentioned there were some free runs that happen around the area, so I might give them a try.

I also managed to get myself involved in a harassment movement called #GamerGate which has a murky history and a whole slew of people who insist its about ethics in games journalism, when for some strange reason most of the targets seem to be games devs or people critical of the movement, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of consumer revolution going on but there are a lot of revolting entitled consumers, so I guess that's what they mean.

Anyway, here's to a better 2015 with less talented people dying and hopefully if there are 'celebrity' deaths they'll be people who have no discernible talent.

Hurrah for better mental health

After my mental health became an issue I became inward and depressed, I couldn't face running, which annoyingly, would probably have helped alleviate my depression, so it was a catch 22 situation, I couldn't motivate myself to run and didn't feel like running and left it at that, I reasoned that I would probably get back to it at some point.

That point came when I went for a short run on December 1st which made my lungs almost collapse and left me with the feeling of swallowing blood, which comes from using muscles I've not used in a while. I just decided that I would just go for a run when I got in from college and just went for one, which means my motivation is back up, so I can put foot to pavement and not find excuses to avoid it anymore, I've managed several runs in the last week, going from 3 miles to 7.63 miles and managing to almost run without stopping, except for the hill with the strong headwind.

I'm not back to using zombies run yet but I should do in the next few weeks as I'm still on series 2 with the 4th series due out in the new year, it'll be nice to see how camp able survives this series.

Starting again, again.

Well my plan of keeping regular blog posts seems to have fell by the way side, although I am using a journalling app to keep a daily diary of things I've done on a day to day basis, I've discovered that my memory is seriously bad, Matthew was diagnosed as having adhd which based on the information that suggests it comes from the parents would explain to me why I sometimes focus all my attention on one thing for months on end then lose interest in it, as if I'd never had any interest at all.

Its also coming up to tough mudder season, the time of year when myself and other like minded lunatics, descend on the countryside and complete a 12 or so mile course of mud, obstacles, cold water and shocks, I missed out last year on completing all 6 events, so this year, I'm aiming to get almost every event under my belt, sadly Dublin is out of the question due to the costs involved, still that'll be a potential 7 events, I have to choose from.

I'm building my fitness back up and getting some miles under my feet, I was also thing about perhaps starting to think up a boot camp of sorts to prepare people for what to expect when they compete in one of the events and also what they should be wearing, to avoid becoming injured or ill when taking part.

The next thing to do is work out what kind of training people should be doing to get over and under each obstacle, so I can go from there.

A new year of sporting fun

So I decided to try and do some exercise on a daily basis and had this whole plan mapped out which has sadly gone all to pot, I have been getting back to fitness class and have managed to shed almost all the weight I put on over Christmas and following the slimming world plan I've been making some lovely food, I got back to using my fitness pal just to see how many calories I've been eating following slimming world.

I've meant to get back to my running but have been finding excuses to not get out there, the usual its too cold or wet allow me to not get back training for the tough Mudder events, if I don't get training and bring my weight back down I'll have problems getting over obstacles and don't want to fail doing the human gecko this time.

It looks like there aren't three events in a four week period this time, which is good since I could barely run the last one in Wales. I've also got plans to compete in a triathlon and a zombie event happening in Newcastle this year.

So a busy year of sporting events planned, along with Lee's 18th in Barcelona to look forward to, I might even get Matthew to do a tough Mudder event with me, if I can get him out running.

Who's the guy that's a hit with all the scales, that's right Wildheart Baby

So I'm finally free of 3 stone or 42lbs as the people over the water like to say, this is quite literally a great weight that's been lifted from me, I no longer carry the equivalent of

• a 15-foot canoe
• a 3-year-old child
• an average human leg
• a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
• five gallons of water

 Thanks to things that weigh 40 pounds

I look a damn sight better, I'm eating a whole lot better and more importantly I've stopped eating as much as I used to, so I'm no longer having a large bowl of cereal and then having another one, as the first tasted so nice. I'm exercising a whole lot more and at times annoyed at myself for getting out of shape, through bad habits and just not caring about my health.I think my ultimate goal is to have myself a flat stomach, since I've never had one of those and it would be nice to finally have one, I still have a little way to go, since I still have a tiny spare tire. I've already had people say I've lost more than enough weight but not for me, I haven't, I'm doing this properly, no starvation diets, no ridiculous ideas of how little I should weigh.

I think part of the problem with the last time was sustaining an injury whilst walking Alfie after a long 12 hour shift on my feet almost the entire time. He pulled me forwards as I chatted to my mother on the phone and my left heel struck the ground and I suddenly felt an huge pain and an inability to actually walk on it. I let it heal for about a week or so, I was able to walk in it but as soon as I tried training, the pain flared up and I ended up, lightly limping home. I did compete in the race I was training for but that was the last I ran, sadly my healthier eating regime seemed to also disappear soon after this. Occasionally I would get still get the pain, which I knew meant until it healed fully I wouldn't be able to train anymore.

I've not felt the pain in quite some time, which leads me to think that the injury is finally fully healed and losing the extra weight can only help matters. I guess that I should have been more careful, that you can get an injury from the simplest thing, which is one of the reasons I'm going to get someone to check my form to ensure that I'm lifting the heavier barbell weights correctly, as I don't really want to put my back out, as I'm approaching middle age, that would be an injury I probably wouldn't recover fully from.

Although I'm enjoying writing the blog posts, I should really be writing other stuff as well, otherwise it'll seem like I've become a bit weight loss/fitness obsessed.

Starting to get there.

I recently had a good tidy of the bedroom and computer desk and discarded a whole heap of old items I no longer needed or wanted, mainly old cds for the Subway in store music system filled with mono pop hits, I also managed to find two power supplies I had thought lost, sadly my iPod didn't turn up.

Amongst the old receipts and cinema ticket stubs, I found weighing machine print offs. This was from the time I was in training for a road race, my parents who are very dedicated runners, thought it might be nice if my brothers and I took part in a race with them, so I bought some proper training shoes and started running and watching what I was eating.

The print offs, reminded me that I managed to get down to 14st 4lbs (200lbs) with a body fat ratio of 19.7% I only stopped watching was I was eating and training due to an injury I received walking the dog, I still did the race but stupidly didn't continue training.

It means that with my weigh in today at 14st 10lbs (206lbs) with body fat at 19.8% means I'm well on my way to weighing less than I did in 2007, it also means that if I continue on this journey, I'll end up being slimmer than I have been since I was a child, though I was never a slim child so it shouldn't be that hard..

Hopefully this time, I've changed my eating habits enough, that I'll not going back, to gourging on fast food and eating due to boredom.