Homeboy Media News lets us know that the Cyprus Rally is back this year ( official web site confirms the news). The even will take place between Friday, May 16th and Sunday, May 18th.
Takis Kyriakides, Cyprus Rally Head of the Course, said “the new route will incorporate old tracks, which have been kept in fine condition through re-grading operations and regular maintenance, and the new ones designed and constructed this year”.
However, the event will not be a part of the World Rally Championship (WRC) as it used to be during the last few years. There was a chance that Cyprus would come back to WRC schedule this year, but it just didn’t happen. Next year maybe.
Finally, my Christmas / New Year break is over. The gym was closing for a couple of weeks, but, as always, I had some troubles getting back to my P.T. The resulting two and a half month break devastated all my previous achievements…
Before I left the gym for Christmas, I weighted about 109 kilos and could run 3 kilometers for the first run, and another 1 kilometer after a short break. Today, when I got back to the gym, I weighted an ugly 116.5 kilograms. My running was even worse. After half a kilometer down the way, I noticed a really old woman in black coat with a hood over her head running nearby me. When I approached 1 kilometer, this woman picked up a really scary scythe, which was standing against the wall nearby. At that precise moment, I decided to stop.
I went downstairs for some belly pain. Here I managed to catch up with my previous results of 4 attempts of 30 exercises (whatever they are called), and then another 3 attempts of 10 other exercises. I had to take longer breaks though, and it was more painful than I remember it used to be.
Going back upstairs for the second run, I felt really tired. And noticed that the woman in black was still there, and still with the scythe in her hands. She looked like she was waiting for someone, so I decided to skip it this time.
Overall summary: 116.5 kilograms of fat, bones, and flash. 1 kilometer jog is almost fatal. That will need a lot of work to get back to the previous state. And considering that the previous stage was far from perfect, it feels like there is really a lot of work ahead of me… Ouch.
It’s almost two month since I got back to the gym. At first I started with the same program that I end up with last time. For more than a month I was pushing and pulling weights up and down, back and forward. Somehow, it didn’t feel the same. It was much harder and results were much weaker, no matter how hard I tried. That was a bit offsetting.
Then I did something very smart. I talked to Uncle Vova - my coach, trainer, and P.T. advisor. He resolved plenty of my doubts. Aparently, doing weightlifting in the morning is not the same as doing the same weightlifting in the afternoon. The body needs to wake up and get prepared.
Since I can’t go the gym in the middle of the day with my current time table, but only in the mornings, Uncle Vova suggested that I change the program a bit. I listened hard, but than I changed it even further for my personal feeling.
Now I just run. I go to the gym about 8:30 in the morning and I run. When I can’t run anymore, I have a small break doing some other exercises (no weights though). After about 10-15 minutes I go back to running. And that’s it. But I do it every working day (Monday-Friday) for the last two and a half weeks.
The first week that I did this, I could run only about 1-1.2 km during the first time, and then another 0.5-0.75 km during the second time. Today I did 2.25 km for the first run and 0.75 for the second.
I feel that running works better for me. My mood goes up, I’m full of energy for the rest of the day, I have no pains, and I have some gains. I see (and feel) the progress every (and I mean every) day. And progress stimulates me…
Note to myself: consult with people in the know regularly. Listen to what they say.
It came to me that geek t-shirts aren’t very well suited for gyms and other places crowded with strong people. Geek t-shirts tend to be a little offensive and aggressive. Here are a few examples:
“Bow before me, for I am root.” - nobody cares enough to read all of it, and “bow before me” sounds offensive enough.
“I see fragged people” - “frag” is not a wide spread word, and it’s often misread as another f-word.
“I’m blogging this” - “blog” is a very wide spread word, and it can get you killed. Especially by women.
“You are dumb” - OK, you can ware this, but never ever answer the question “What does this mean?” truthfully.
It’s good to know that sports-ware manufacturers realize this problem. That’s why they make t-shirts with just their brand labels - “Nike”, “Adidas”, “Reebok”, etc. These aren’t even real words…
