Saturday

Ride 

There were four others at the meeting point this morning and I only recognised two. The hills looked a bit grey, and I suggested that we went along the coast instead. No one decided to take up the offer. We headed for the hills. 

Climb 

This week’s route took us up the steep bike path. It had been a long while since I had done this, and it had not got any flatter in the interim. Two of the new people turned out to be part mountain goat and shot off up the hill. At least I was not last to the stop. 

Fast 

Once we got up to the top of the hill the going got a lot faster as the roads flattened out. The weather had not cheered up, but the speed of the group made up for that. The joy ended in a climb to the high point of the climb. 

Descent 

From here we plummeted down to the seaside, it was a little too damp and windy to take advantage of the slope for maximum speed. 

Finish 

We finished by a cruise along the sea front before heading into the city and the usual café for cake and hot drinks. As we sat there it started raining and refused to stop when we left. I got wetter on the ride home from here than I did on the rest of the ride. 

Lunch 

Once I was showered and changed Loved One and I had hotdogs for dinner. Loved One had spent most of the morning having a lie in after a long week of playing netball and last night celebrations. 

Chores 

There were a lot of things that I should have done this afternoon, but the speed of the ride had left me with aching legs and a disinclination to move too quickly. This was the ideal state to do a few little bits of the computer. 

Nap 

Loved One suggested that as we had an evening planned, I should have a little nap to guard against me falling asleep. I was not feeling tired, but I thought I would lie down anyway. I woke an hour later. 

Town 

We went to the games closing ceremony in town where Loved One met up with her netball team. There were one or two swimmers there, but I did feel as if I was the odd one out. As the evening went on the noise in the tent grew and my ability to hear anything diminished. When Loved One suggested that it would be all right if I went home, I jumped at the chance.  

Reading 

I got home, made a cup of tea, and settled on the sofa with a book and some nibbles. I was in my happy place. 

Bus 

I got a call from Loved One to pick her and her friend up from the bus stop. I was warned that Loved One had had possibly one drink too many. I got to the stop a little before the bus and watched as Loved One’s friend helped Loved One off the bus and poured her into the car. 

Monday

Morning 

I did not have to get up quite so early this morning but the potential for a lie in was short lived has I was, yet again, heading for the pool. This time I was going by train as Loved One had a netball match and found it hard to be in two places at once. 

Alarm 

The bus ride into town was uneventful and because I was slightly early, I missed the train before the one I intended to catch by about a minute. May train rumbled up to the platform about ten minutes later. I was about to step on it when alarms all over the station went off. We were told that a fire alarm had been sounded and that we had to leave the platform area. I went past the barriers and waited. I few of the staff mentioned that they may need to evacuate the building. This was eating into my contingency time but at least I had some contingency. About five minutes later I was told that I could go to the trains. I was soon on my way 

Pool 

I was soon standing outside the pool with a group of people carrying massive mono fins. Today’s adventure was competing in the fin swimming. I was utterly clueless about the events but had entered on a whim, prompted by winning a snorkel in a raffle in Mallorca. 

Warm-up 

I discovered in the warmup that my snorkel was completely unsuitable for fin swimming. Firstly, the soft rubber section folded when I dived pulling the snorkel down my face, taking off my goggles in the process and secondly, the valve at the bottom was not allowed in the event as it was considered dangerous. I borrowed a legal snorkel, but I still could not dive in it. 

Race 

The first race was a fifty-meter surface bi-fin event. I started in the water as I felt that this was safer. I stormed down the pool and came in last with a time only two seconds slower than the first place. This was encouraging. The whole swimming with a snorkel was a bit strange but I figured that I would get used to it. 

Relay 

I do not like relays but, by a process that I did not understand I found that I was now swimming the first leg of one. Again, I opted to start in the water and for reasons that meant I was going first. I knew that I could swim the fifty meters required after doing the first event, so I had a lot less trepidation than the first event. Yet again the swim was over in a flash. 

Watching 

There was a long gap to my next event. This gave me a chance to watch the mono fin swimming. It was amazing and so graceful. I was offered the chance to try a mono fin but having the largest feet in the event meant that no one’s fin would fit me. 

Diving 

Near the end of the break, I was offered a with a snorkel diving lesson. I jumped at the opportunity. It turned out that I could do the diving part, it was the equipment that was letting me down. Someone lent me a proper snorkel and suddenly it became easier. The snorkel stayed on, and I did not end up trying to rearrange all the equipment on my head.  

Fast 

My nest race was the one-hundred-meter surface bi fin. This time I dived. I comfortably powered up and down the pool to record a decent time. I was much happier with my performance. Things were improving. 

Failure 

After a small pause, I was standing on the side of the pool again, ready to start the next event, the two-hundred-meter surface bi fin. The first two lengths flew by but that the start of the third I knew I was in trouble. I could feel the energy draining from my body and it suddenly became hard to breathe. I had gone out too fast and I was paying the price. Mid-way through the lap it all went wrong. My legs did not want to kick and breathing through a tube became a completely alien exercise. I stopped. I could not go on. 

Slow 

With the thought of the last event still in my mind I stood on the blocks for my last event, the four-hundred-meter surface bi-fin. Learning from the last event I decided that I needed to go slowly in this event. There was no point in kicking like a maniac for the first few lengths to be exhausted a long time before the end of the race. I was not worried about the time, I just wanted to finish. I plodded up and down the pool at a steady pace, trying not to kick too much. It started to get hard in the last half. It was the breathing that let me down. I could not get enough air down the tube. I wanted to put my face in the air, open my mouth and let the air in. Every now and again I pretended to sight but that was just an excuse to take a breath. I got to the end feeling that I had given it my all and knowing that if I am going to keep it up with fin swimming that I have a lot more work to do. 

Team 

I thought that I had finished, but the organiser had other ideas. I had been entered into a relay team. At least I knew that I could do this distance. As I could now dive with the snorkel I did not need to go first. I waited for my team mate to touch the side and leapt in for one last one-hundred-meter dash wearing fins and a snorkel. I was starting to enjoy this. 

Medals 

The advantage of being in a sport with very few competitors is that there is a high chance of getting a medal, I walked away from the event with a clutch of silver and bronze ones. Thay gave me a warm feeling of accomplishment. 

Home 

I got home a few minutes before Loved One and sat on the sofa with a cup of tea. I was feeling tired with the accumulated fatigue for three days of racing. I was not planning to move very quickly from the sofa at any point during the evening. 

Supper 

We finished the evening with a supper of cheese and biscuits. I did not need it by I certainly wanted it. The diet would have to resume in the morning. 

Monday

Swim 

Today was a public holiday and that gave us another day to swim at the beach. The water was a little lumpier than yesterday but still just as pleasant to swim in. 

Dolphins 

Troy spotted them first as the two dolphins sped across his path scaring the wits out of him. So much so that he stood up and swore loudly. I saw the Captain standing up and looking out to sea. The dolphins were following another swimmer who was oblivious to their presence. 

Return 

The return from the far jetty felt uphill. There were points where I did not feel like I was making any progress whatsoever. 

Club 

We gathered in the club for hot drinks. Here we found out that the only person who did not see the dolphins was the swimmer that they were beside. He did say that he heard clicks but that was in retrospect and could have been his imagination. We decided to call him the dolphin whisperer. 

Visit 

We popped in to see some friends on the way home. We had not seen them for a long time, so it was good to catch up with all their adventures. 

Fast 

Today is the first day of a six-week experiment with intermittent fasting. The idea is to not eat on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the next week as a way to lose weight. I will eat normally on the other days. The rational is that just not eating is a lot easier than trying to count calories or much about with restrictive intake diets. Not eating should cut enough off the intake to lose a reasonable amount per week. Only doing it for six weeks is so that if it becomes a chore, I know that it is only for a limited time. 

Nap 

 The creeping tiredness got to me just after we arrived home and had had a cup of tea. I went for a lie down and Loved One had some lunch. I woke up an hour later with a bursting bladder, a side effect of using water and tea to stave off hunger. 

Reading 

We had nothing planned for the afternoon and it was far too hot to do anything outside. I settled on the sofa with a magazine and worked my way through it. It was nice to have the time to sit and read for pleasure. 

Dinner 

Loved One spend the late afternoon making a batch of potato cakes. At about teatime she sat at the other end of the dining room and has a small tea of potato cakes and salad. I felt a little hungry for a while, but the feeling soon went, aided by a cup of tea or two. 

Documentary  

We finished the evening by watching a documentary on an art theft. It looked interesting in a distracting sort of way but once we got into it, it was fascinating. It was hard to tear ourselves away from it to go to bed. 

Wednesday

Ride

There were four of us on the ride today, it was cold and the roads were wet so that probably put a lot of people off. My bar is a little higher, I’ll start as long as it’s not actually raining.

Truck

Even though we were on a three-lane road the truck driver was under the impression that he had every right to pass us as close as possible and be annoyed that we were riding two abreast. He made his misguided displeasure as clear as he could with the use of his air horn. Some truck drivers just assume that whatever they think is the law of the road should be is actually the law of the road. The fact that they are encased in metal and have the ability to kill me with very little effort doesn’t help the situation.

Fast

The others are normally a lot faster than me but today the speeds were reasonable and I managed to keep up to the second roundabout. Two carried on and two of us turned round and headed back. The fast boys caught us at the lights for the turning onto the boring road. All the lights were with us along the boring road. I kept up until the last set of lights but then the will to peddle went and I dropped off the back of the group. I was quite happy with the ride.

Bus

There was a very fat man on the bus, he took up two seats, and he only paid for one.

Bomb

We were told over the PA that we should leave the building by the south entrance as there was an ongoing incident outside. We later found out that explosives had been found in a neighbouring building. I felt that leaving by the south entrance was the least I could do.

Swim

I was tired when I got to the pool. It was probably a combination of getting up early and swimming for three days in a row. I struggled my way through the session, the only thing that kept me going was thinking that if I gave up at this how would I fare at the end of a long swim. The very last part of the session was to swim lengths underwater doing fly kick whilst wearing fins. I got a third of the way down the pool when my right calf cramped. The whole calf muscle turned into a very painful brick. I struggled back to the edge of the pool and waited for the pain to subside. I’ve not cramped like that for a long time and I really don’t want to cramp like that again.

Call

I finally managed to get though and find out where we are with “the big adventure”. There was a lot of hesitancy from the other side of the world so it looks like I won’t be able to delegate some of the arrangements.

Soup

Loved One and I had a bowl of soup to replace the energy lost in swimming. I suspect that I replaced more than I used.

Wednesday

Weight

I quickly stepped on the scales and was pleased to find that another four hundred grams have disappeared since yesterday. This helped my resolve to maintain the no eating till four regime for another day

Swim

Loved One gave me a lift to the swimming pool as it was on her way to work. One half of the pool was full of fish like swimmers taking part in a squad session whilst the other half was full of people going slower that I though humanly possible. The plan was to do some easy laps to see if my ribs had recovered. I have a race on Saturday so I though that it was not something to find out in the middle of the mass start. I managed to get through the swim without hurting so it was a success.

Call

The phone rang and I thought it was Loved One ringing from work. The number was very similar. It wasn’t. Instead, it was someone ringing about a job application I’d made a few days ago. I had to switch into business speak and sell myself over the phone. It must have gone well as they want me to pop in next Tuesday for the next step of the process.

Spin

I felt that I should celebrate by doing a short and sweaty session on the bike trainer. I selected a video of a suitable length and sweated freely. After a bout ten minutes I remembered that I should have bought out a towel with me as I had nothing to wipe the sweat away. I didn’t want to stop so I just carried on whilst trying to ignore the sweat that was dripping into my eyes. It was hard to ignore as It was stinging.

Fast

With all the excitement and activity, it was gone eleven o’clock before I even thought of food. This was a good thing as I felt I could easily distract myself with trivia until four. I managed this by binge listening to one of my favourite podcasts and working on the next task in my monthly to do list.

Feast

I managed to get to quarter past four. Then the urge to stuff myself became too strong. I started with stewed plums and yoghurt and continues with more fruit, then a little more fruit. I stopped when I realised there was a high possibility of spending the rest of the evening on the toilet.

Dinner

We had a whatever was left in the fridge meal this evening, leaving the fridge an empty echoing void. The problem with this is that an empty fridge makes me feel hungry.

Plums

The birds have been attaching the plum tree so it was time of the yearly plum harvest and stewing festival. It would have been better to do this during the day but as we were away for the weekend it had to be done this evening.

Freezer

We ended the evening exhausted but with a freezer full of stewed plums.

Tuesday

Spin

I started the day with a long sweaty session on the bike trainer whilst watching a detective drama on my tablet. I got rather involved in the program and found that the time went past a lot quicker than normal.

Fast

I decided to carry on with the fast today as the weight was starting to come down again after it peaked at the weekend. That, and I just couldn’t be bothered to sort out breakfast.

Jam

I made some more Lemon Marmalade this afternoon, only this time I put it into smaller jars so that Loved One could decorate them with ribbons and give away to friends.

Feast

All though the day I was determined not to indulge in the four o’clock feast. I lasted until five minutes past before diving into a slice of bread and jam. I then followed that with some slices of ham and then an orange. I stopped there even though I was still feeling hungry.

Walk

Loved One insisted that we went for a walk in the local park this evening. She had been to the podiatrist this afternoon for treatment for a long-standing problem. He had slapped some tape on her feet and instructed her to go for a walk. We wandered down by the river and then strolled back via the site of my bone cracking accident. Loved One was not convinced that the tape had helped.

Dinner

I had prepared as much as the dinner as I could before we left the house. All I had to was add heat to produce a simple meal.

Reading

After everything was cleared away, I did a little bit of research about file formats for e-books in preparation for a little project I’ve been contemplating for a while. I got very lost in the details and ended up not seeing the trees for the wood.

Monday

Alarm

I was rudely woken by the alarm this morning. Loved One doesn’t normally work on a Monday but today was different. She had to leap out of bed and get herself prepared, she wasn’t doing much leaping when I retuned with the cups of tea. The look on her face said: I have no desire to go to work today.

Fast

After feeling full and bloated all weekend I decided that I would resume my fasting again today. This time though I was going to try and cut out the four o’clock feast. I feel that that is going a long way to sabotage the good work of not eating.

Feast

I filled my day with domestic trivia hoping that it would keep my thoughts away from food. All went well until about half past three when my stomach started reminding me of its presence. At quarter to four the messages were unmistakeable. It wanted food and it wanted it soon. I lasted until just gone four and gave up. Two slices of bread and jam later the messages were slightly quelled. I had some ham just to make sure that they were completely silenced.

Dinner

The problem with the four o’clock feast is that I’m not hungry when dinner time rolls around. Tonight’s meal was pasta and sauce, Loved One was swimming tonight so we wanted something quick and easy. All I had to do was warm through the already thawed sauce. It was good and easy to make but I did feel that I didn’t really need it.

Tuesday

Spin

I woke with a bit of a sore throat this morning but that didn’t put me off my plan of starting the day on the bike trainer. I kept it easy as I have been told that breathing too heavily would hamper the recovery of my ribs. I felt quite good after it.

Fast

I thought that I’d attempt another fast this week even though last weeks wasn’t overly successful so breakfast was a large glass of water. Hopefully this week will be a little more successful than last week.

Garden

To avoid eating lunch I fiddled around in the garden. I had a list of little things that should be done and I happily worked my way through the little chores. The list was quite long but I made a small dent in it. It made me happy.

Food

I started eating at four on the dot. I started with some fruit, which would have been my breakfast and then I followed that with a left-over fritter and some nuts (my lunch). It was all washed down with many cups of tea. I have a feeling that this little feast is not quite in the spirit of a fast.

Visit

Loved One rang me to say that we would have a guest for dinner this evening and that she would pick up another fillet of salmon on the way home.

Guest

Loved One’s chatty friend arrived a little after seven and started talking. I have no idea how she can find so much to talk about. It is just constant. She seems to have an opinion on everyone in her social circle and is very willing to share it with anyone who cares to listen. I busied myself in the kitchen preparing salmon with mashed potatoes, asparagus and a small salad. She stopped talking at about ten and went home.

Thursday

Swim

Loved One left early again today to go for a swim. I knew that because she wasn’t next to me in the bed when I woke up. I had no recollection of her leaving the house.

Spin

I got on the home trainer for another short spin this morning but I really didn’t have the energy today. It could have been the warmth, it was going to be a hot day and it was already edging beyond my comfort zone. It could be the lack of breakfast, but then I always spin before eating when possible. It might have been the effect of two days of not eating till four in the afternoon. Whichever it was it made for a deeply unsatisfying training session.

Fast

Today is day three of trying the not eating till four in the afternoon so I went through the normal teeth cleaning and glass of water routine for breakfast. I’m not sure if it’s getting easier or harder but at least when I stood on the scales, I was the same weight as yesterday. This was good.

Hot

The weather took a turn for the hot today. As the temperatures soared outside, I stayed in the cool. I had no desire to go outside and instantly be covered in sweat.

Bread

The bread came out of the bread machine at one minute before four. I had to wait a whole minute before I could devour the crust smothered in lemon curd.

Watering

By the end of the day the garden was looking a little wilted. It needed water and that needed me to brave the heat and splash water all over the place. I took one step outside the house and was instantly covered in sweat. At least I could use some of it to water the plants

Meal

Today marks one year since Loved One’s Mother passed away so the family decided to mark the occasion by going out for a meal. Eight of us met up at a local pub and whiled the evening away over well cooked but small portions and a few beers. I sat at the end of the table and chatted about endurance sports with Loved One’s Sister’s son. He does peddle prix and rowing.

Cheese

Loved One and I finished the evening off with some cheese and biscuits whilst watching a police drama on the television.

Thursday

Fast

I decided yesterday that I would eat very little again today. So breakfast disappeared from the morning equation. I realised that making and eating breakfast takes up a large portion of my morning, so instead of feeling hungry I stayed in be a little longer. My daily visit to the scales showed a slight increase but nothing worth worrying about. I did feel thirsty this morning but that was soon cured with another cup of tea.

Journey

Nearly all of my colleagues were talking about this morning’s spectacular sunrise. From this I can deduce that they all live to the west of work and were driving east. I didn’t see it.

Swim

The pool was delightfully empty again today. I had a whole lane to myself for the first few minutes and then shared it with one person for the rest of the time. The power of the new year’s resolution swimmer’s resolutions must have faded. I spent a lovely half hour alternately doing drills and swimming lengths. It was so much better than work.

Announcement

We had an e-mail today to announce that the head of department was leaving with immediate effect. There had be rumours for weeks so it wasn’t a big surprise however the reaction from some people was a little strange. It was almost as if someone close had died.

Bike

I got home and settled into a session on the bike trainer, I felt a bit lethargic to start with but that feeling soon went as I started warming up. I had an episode of a television program running on the lap top to keep me amused as I peddled furiously. I felt quite good after this session but I knew that I wouldn’t be doing the same tomorrow, three days in a row is enough.

Dinner

I avoided eating anything for dinner but that didn’t make the hungers go away. It wasn’t a sharp hunger pang it was more a nagging back of the mind feeling that I had missed something. I kept it at bay with numerous cups of tea and a Lettice leaf.