This year has been an excellent year fitness wise, firstly we continue the never ending grizzle with the Sarcoidosis. and I was invited to participate in a long study on it, as apparently it has a very high suicide rate, . I was then subjected to a mass battery of tests, far more than I’d had previously and ended up in a meeting room with four consultants in which they said you’ve still got Sarcoidosis, We can still see all your lymph nodes inflamed and going for the burn, but all your scar tissue has gone from your Lungs and you are no longer showing any of the debilitating symptoms that are normal. And I said, Yes, that’s because I cough it all up, I have an amazing PT and Spin teacher who run me into the floor for 8 hours a week.
Then for the first time, the NHS sat down and asked me what I was doing and how I was doing it. After explaining the weekly schedule, the targeted exercises and the mental support I get from so many people, they went “Oh, do you want to swap chairs? You can sit where we are.” We all laughed and they said, “Just keep doing what you’re doing, your are an outlier on the study and don’t need the help, We’ll see you in four years.” So the way we are handling it seems to be just right , But it does, however, require constant maintenance. And as my weekly lung test shows I would be a fool to ever take anything for granted.
But moving on to less serious updates:
1) I am now actively using a 40kg kettlebell and my arms have not been ripped out of their sockets, and I can strict press a 36kg
2) Thanks to the house move and a bill that made me squeak, I have purchased an I.C.G. home bike, which means, thanks to Louise I do spin twice a week at a level now that is topping at 1,200 calories per 55-minute session. Really good progress.
3) I’m back to fencing. Again, thanks to the house move I have run out of excuses and am now back to Haverstock fencing club, it is still as amazing as ever and alas my old bad habits are still there, but I am determined to get there each week and have fun while my knees last.
Goals
1) Lose some sodding weight. While both Sam and Louise constantly try to steer me to a realm of healthy eating, I still eat garbage, but its a bit silly now. I’m currently at 114 kilos; I need to get that down to 100 kilos. Thankfully, Louise herself is changing diets this new year so we can be miserable together while I finally listen to what I have been told.
2) Get to at least 1 fencing competition. I have been told that its a serious game now and not the fun we used to have and to take part in the seniors instead, but I don’t care, I’m just going to go and have a fight.
3) Get the heat problems under control. one downside I discovered this year is I have been controlling the heat of my exercises a little bit too much, as I personally overheat easily as well as the lung thing does not like heat much, this resulted in me thinking I was better than I am in a real world situation both in fencing and when on a spin bike in a real class. To solve this I will be artificially jacking up the heat at home spin to rediscover what it’s like to actually do it in a class. as well as in general P.T., the simplest solution is to wear my fencing jacket for none fencing fitness, I did that on the last spin before Christmas and it took my watts per kilo from a slightly unbelievable 3.0 to a far more sane 2.8 which makes a lot more sense.
4) Get back to Turkish get ups. They were something I really liked as a challenge, but because my elbow hated me . We had to stop doing it, I really want to get that back and get to a solid 36kg.