Training

Being this lazy is difficult. Obviously, I don't mean it's difficult to be this lazy, but rather being this lazy creates difficulties, if you see what I mean. One difficulty is keeping fit: I'm not particularly lazy in the physical sense, and am quite happy when playing football or riding my bike, but because I'm mentally lazy, I struggle to motivate myself to do these things in the first place. This last week, however, I find myself having properly exercised for seven days running. The first four days of this regime consisted of surfing, which wasn't that strenuous for me because I like to mess around in the shallows where the waves are more frequent and hence I don't do much paddling, but I was in the water for a good few hours a day so I think it did some good. Normally, these four days would have been an isolated blip in my imaginary exercise diary, but surfing with a friend who wants to join the Marines and warms up every morning with silly numbers of press-ups has a habit of making one feel a bit guilty for neglecting one's body. Hence, in the days since coming back from Cornwall, I have been cycling and walking. Walking long-ish distances with hills and stuff, that is. It counts.
Coupled with this new promise to myself to get out of breath at least once a day, I have started eating fruit as a snack. Normally I'm a crisp person, or maybe cheese and digestives, but this week I've been getting through a couple of apples and a banana a day, which is impressive when considering that I don't even like fruit - I think of it as medicine to stop me eating nice, bad things. The reason that I started off this post with a mention of my mental laziness, however, is that I'm not sure I can continue this lifestyle. Tomorrow (a.k.a. today, since it's now after midnight), I go back to work after a week off. Work begins just forty minutes after I get up and ends not long before it gets dark, so cycling, my preferred activity, is off the menu unless I make a special effort to get up early. Breaking up a Sunday afternoon of sofa-warming with a leisurely, unhurried cycle through the countryside is one thing; forcing my zombie self to face a frosty October morning ride with a strict deadline is quite another. But...
My life is changing. I have a job for pretty much the first time. I am going travelling alone for the first time. Today I watched a Grand Prix from start to finish for the first time (note to self: don't bother again). If all this is changing, perhaps I can stick to a routine after all? Sod it, here goes, this is my plan for this week:

• MONDAY - No exercise, stayed up too late writing this blog entry to make an early bike ride a sensible option, but that's OK because without this post I wouldn't be doing any exercise anyway.
• TUESDAY - Pre-work bike ride: 30 minutes.
• WEDNESDAY - Same again, but 45 minutes.
• THURSDAY - The big target: an hour.
• FRIDAY - An hour again. Is this too silly?
• WEEKEND - Do some biking if free.
• MISC - Do a few sit-ups throughout the week. Try and manage one press-up after miserable collapse in presence of laughing wannabe Marine mate. Bit of football if opportunity arises.
• FUTURE WEEKS - Buy some weights. Genetics and lack of use have conspired to give me the arms of an eight-year-old girl.
  

Sometimes, this blog is for me more than you, especially since I'm not entirely sure you exist.