Yes, they are - the babies are similar to mallard ducklings (not much larger, actually) and are pale yellow with brown spots. Cute.
Feeling virtuos right now as I just scrubbed down my bathroom (including the toilet, ugh). I’ve made a deal with myself that on non-working days I must do at least one chore. I have to maintain some sort of discipline, heh.
I met up with an old friend last night - hadn’t seen him for nearly two years because we’d both been crap (although he had a good excuse - he became a father). He took me out to a fantastic Argentinian steak house and I had the most awesome, melt-in-the-mouth fillet steak (with veggies and sweet potato fries). Also red win and dessert. Felt very piggy but it was totally worth it.
Fortunatley the weather, though still sunny, is less muggy and I was able to sleep without turning into a sweaty, writhing mess.
Gym today.
(Warm up: 10 x bar)
8 x 30kg (+1)
It’s amazing how quickly you go from feeling strong to failing completely. Still, one more rep than last time.
Chins x 5 (no change)
The last rep still sucked but I wasn’t going to be beaten by it. Think it will be a while before I get 6.
Decline Push-ups (shoulder-width hand spacing) x 17 (+1)
Feet on a step plus 5 risers. I really wanted to make 20 today but I just hit failure. I guess I’ll have to be happy with single rep advances.
Chins x 3 (no change)
26kg Dumbell Rows: 10 R), 11 (L) (+1 left)
That right side is still lagging a bit. No idea why.
High incline dumbell bench press: 18kg x 6
New exercise. I thought I’d give the 18kg 'bells a try but I think they’re too heavy for what I’m trying to achieve, for now anyway. I’ll drop down to the 16kg next time and see if I can get more reps out. My shoulder doesn’t seem to mind these provided I use a steep incline (steeper than most people use for an incline press).
Chins x 1 (and a half) - same as last time. Just died.
50kg Pulldowns x 8 (+5kg)
No change.
Someone was using the hyperextension gizmo so I did a few 16kg windmills. Jeez, a 16kg dumbell is way harder to control than a 12kg kettlebell. Maybe I should try the 14s.
Weighted hyperextensions (16kg) x 10 (no change)
Being honest with myself, I probably could have busted out another rep, but it wouldn’t have been pretty.
I also did 20 reverse hypers, then tried some Turkish get-ups (which I’ve not done in an eternity). Tried a 4kg dumbell while I remembered how to do it, found it easy and did a few with a 6. I should do these more.
Also a fuck load of stretching.
After that, went down to the shops, ordered a filing cabinet for all the papers, bills nad whatnots I’ve got strewn all over my flat, and then picked up my washing from the launderette, which I carted home and put away immediate (miracle of miracles).
Going to relax for a bit now. Maybe eat some bacon and eggs.
Hells yeah to the +1 Chins! That’s wonderful Cal. Love it!
Also love that you’re going in for the cert! Its perfect timing for this sort of endeavor.
Great training all around!
ps. Argentinian steak house - girl after my own heart 
you deserved that bacon Cal.
You got +1 on the milies and thats all that matters.
That is really great that you’ve figured out a way to press without your shoulder complaining. Very creative of you.
Yeah, I did that last time my shoulder was bad, so I knew it was a fair sub.
I took delivery of my filing cabinet (a small one that sits under the desk) this afternoon and have spent ALL frigging afternoon filing. I had two bulging concertina files full of my old bills, invoices, tax stuff, etc etc…plus all the ones I had to retrieve from the floor, the desk, under the bed, you name it… Christ. It’s half past eight and I’m ready to relax now, finally. I swear I’m working harder at home than I was at work.
I’m still dreaming about your filet. Yum.
Yeah, me too.
No workout today - I was thinking about running but I felt too beat up this morning. Instead I spent the morning registering online with some temp agencies, then went out for a nice walk (saw the goose babies and burnet moths again, and had a chat with a man who was watching the geese…found out he worked at the job centre, used to be in recruitment and also used to do powerlifting but got injured. Couldn’t have told from looking at him - was probably a long while since he lifted. Anyway…).
Picked up a cheap shredder and spent nearly two hours shredding all the old documents I didn’t file yesterday. Seriously, how can one small carrier bag of docs translate into two bin bags of shredding?
Going to cook up some beef mince and broccoli now, and watch some V (I recorded the series when it started, but only started watching today).
90 minute run.
I didn’t have much motivation to either run or go to the gym this morning. I thought about why not - I’d have a good night’s sleep after all - and realised it was boredom. When I run I usually do laps of Tooting Common.
Which is a lovely place to run, but the same shit gets old fast (I actually prefer to walk there - then I can appreciate the wildlife and so forth). And, I’ve been doing the same gym workout since I got back from holiday. There’s a reason for it, but at the same time, I didn’t feel like it today.
So instead I hopped onto mapmyrun.com and worked out a new route that took in Tooting Common, then along some backstreets to Clapham Common, and more back streets home. Came in at around 7.5miles.
Feeling more enthused, off I went. No sooner than I’d got to the top of my road, I turned my ankle. Don’t know if I landed on an uneven paving stone or what, but over it went, ouch. Now, if there’s a silver lining, it was my left ankle, not the problematic right one. If it had been the right, it would be game over. But fortunately I was able to walk it off in a couple of minutes and continue.
I got to Clapham Common and started with the route I’d planned around that, only to get hopelessly disorientated. Clapham Common is weird like that. I run my 10K races there and a few times I’ve finished my race and set off in the direction of the nearest tube station, only to end up on the wrong side of the common.
Anyway, I eventually found my way back to the road I was supposed to come back on, ran along that and then took another wrong turn. I got home anyway, but I reckon I’d covered more like 8 miles by the time I’d finished. It took 90 minutes - bearing in mind I had to stop for my ankle, then twice more to cross main roads.
The ankle was OK until a couple of miles from home, when I could feel it a bit. However, my stiff right calf was protesting louder.
I stuck my foot in a bucket of ice water after my shower so hopefully it’ll be OK now. I’ll have to keep an eye on it and use that blasted wobble board I have gathering dust in the corner.
Bacon and eggs time.
I like your musings and the names of all the various commons and such
Sorry to hear about the ankle and the calf! Maybe you should try a rolling pin on the calf, see if that loosens it up…
That would mean buying a rolling pin. Hmm, maybe a bottle would do.
The ankle’s a bit swollen now. It’s nowhere near as bad as the right ankle sprain I had last September though. This should buff out, so to speak. Hope so anyway - 10K is on the 25th and then I have my trainer course.
stopping to check out your log…I’m not a coaster type fan but my 24 y/o son has talked me into it a time or two…
The ankle is pretty swollen and there has been some bleeding beneath the skin, so it’s definitely sprained, not just twisted. However, it’s perfectly fine to walk around on (with the last ankle sprain, on the right, I couldn’t walk properly for a day and then after that I could walk but with discomfort, but definitely not run).
It’s tender if I press it or if I put my foot into an awkward position, but otherwise OK. I don’t see that there will be a problem with the 10K in two weeks.
Gym today (wore my Chucks to give my ankle some support, but it felt fine).
(Warm up: 10 x bar)
9 x 30kg (+1)
Another extra rep. Progress is good.
Chins x 5 (no change)
I had to stop after 4 and regrip, so, hmm, not so happy with this, but it was OK.
Decline Push-ups (shoulder-width hand spacing) x 17 (no change)
Feet on a step plus 5 risers. I wanted to go for more but damn, I just hit failure. When you’re doing decline push-ups, that means collapsing on your face. Elegant.
Chins x 3 (no change)
Really wanted to get another rep but didn’t have it in me.
26kg Dumbell Rows: 12
Got this, both side, finally. I did have to regrip the dumbell after 8 reps but that’s fine, I got it done. Will move up next time.
High incline dumbell bench press: 16kg x 10 (-2kg)
Added this one in last time and made the mistake of starting too heavy. So I moved down a weight and got 10 good reps with that. The angle of the bench is steep - somewhere between a regular incline press and a shoulder press, hence the weights being a bit lower than I’d use for a regular press.
Pull-ups x 1 (and three quarters)
Went with the prone grip for this set, just to see how it would affect my shoulder. Didn’t feel bad. I don’t go wider than shoulder-width, though. Nearly got the second rep but couldn’t quite get my head over the bar. Close, though.
50kg Pulldowns x 9 (+1)
Another one rep victory, heh.
Decline sit-ups x 12
Added these in, and boy I must need them. Bench was on its steepest incline, and optimistically I grabbed a 10kg dumbell, put it behind my neck and couldn’t bloody move. Then I went and got the 5kg dumbell and got about two reps and realised I had to walk before I could run. Rest of the set was done with no added weight. Obviously I have to work at these, there’s clearly some core strength lacking here.
Weighted hyperextensions (16kg) x 12 (+2)
So finally I got the 12 reps at this weight. Which means I get to move up to the 18s next time. Now, question is, am I actually going to be able to pick the damn dumbell of the floor and get it behind my neck?
Just did some stretching - I forgot about the TGUs - will remember those for next time.
Wow! Great training Cal! You’re progressing quite nicely.
Lol @ falling on your face on the dec pushups - this is why I’m reluctant to try them off the wall. That could get ugly.
Glad you’re confident re: the ankle.
3 PR’s is def. a good day Cal. Glad your ankle is okay. Wish I could hang in chucks. They sound so badass to me.
does your gym have weighted fixed barbells? Thats what I use for the hypers.
There are but they’re in the upstairs gym…the hyper bench is downstairs. That’s not to say I couldn’t go up there and get one to bring down but it’s overall less hassle to use a dumbell.
Went for a longish walk this afternoon - after a few cooler days it’s suddenly hot again - 31C/88F now. Will still be 75F tonight. Ugh. I had a shit night’s sleep last night (I actually got up around 4am because I was too hot to sleep) and I guess I will again. Anyway, it’s nice to walk in the sun, at least. The Egyptian geese are down to three goslings, though… sad face The man I spoke to the other day said that they’d lost the last litter - swans killed them or something like that. I hope these three make it, they’re so cute and fluffy.
Ankle was fine to walk on. Looks ugly, though.
Cal, that was a great training. So much work done. And, you made me laugh with your description of failing on the decline pushups! I admit to never going to failure on those for that reason.
Another hot one forecast (30 degrees…30 sticky degrees) so I thought, fuck the gym, packed my smallest (12kg) kettlebell in my backpack and headed up the road to Tooting Common. Kicked off my Crocs (yeah they’re fuggly but damn they’re comfortable and good for hot weather) and did the workout barefoot, on grass, surrounded by trees and flowers. Didn’t wear my watch so I just took 20-30 breaths between each set. The workout was (as far as I remember - I may have got some of the order wrong, but it’s more or less correct)
20 KB swings
Windmill (approx. 10 seconds per side)
10 Right arm snatches
10 Left arm snatches
20 Right arm swings
20 Left arm swings
15 push-ups
10 Right arm overhead presses
10 Left arm overhead presses
20 Static lunges (right)
20 Static lunges (left)
20 KB swings
Windmill (approx. 20 seconds per side)
20 Plie squats (holding KB)
10 Right arm cleans
10 Left arm cleans
It does sound quite a lot but didn’t really feel that way, although I could feel my thighs afterwards. Bitches are going to be sore tomorrow.
Stuck my KB back in my pack and wandered around the pond. Two black momma ducks with chicks, and the Egyptian geese were there with their three surviving goslings. A man feeding the birds said there were pike in the pond. Guess we know what happen to the missing ones, then. Apparently the swan pair there also had cygnets which went missing. Nature can be pretty harsh - but nature is also a nicer place to work out than inside a gym.