Boxing For Buhinga: The Fight Club Diaries. Week 10
Eurgh - what is the deal with the weather? Another miserable Monday dawns. That combined with the amount of food I consumed over the weekend isn't helping my motivation or resolve this week. All I want to do is wrap myself in my duvet, a la hibernation. Admittedly I always do get a bit like that at this time of year but it seems to be worse - possibly because of the contrast between that and what I actually have to do, which is drag myself to the gym, the Tuesday night sessions and as a special bonus I have a 6am personal training session at a boxing gym in Kew to go to this week. Yay.
To my huge annoyance this week two things happen 1) the scales aren't moving and 2) I can't stop eating - like literally, I'm starving, all the time. And when I say all the time I mean ALL THE TIME. I can't stop thinking about eating, it's not even like normal diet cravings when you think about pizza, or cake, or chips constantly until you give in...I happily munch my way through two packets of Graze savoury roasted seeds (go on admit you leave those until last too) - this is 400 calories in SEEDS for goodness sake. I Google and question various sources (MyFitnessPal - it's a plateau about to break, Livestrong - it's my body needing some nutrient it's not getting, Merciless - it's a muscle building week...) whatever the explanation it's driving me insane, I've only just learned portion control and now THIS ISN'T HELPING!!!!!
We have a different trainer as Jacek is on holiday - it's a bit of a lower intensity session but we feel like we're learning more skills. Especially Lora who learns what a squat is :-)
I grump on all week about my planned early morning, make a massive drama out of going to bed early and hardly sleep panicking that I'll not hear my alarm (I have no idea why this sudden panic - I got up at 5:30am for years when I was in store retail), however coming out of the gym at 7am I feel amazing. Smug. And amazing. The session was really useful but hard work and by no means flattering......You know when you have learned something, and then you go and do that something in front of someone else who knows how to do it, and you kind of secretly want them to say 'Wow you're a genius. An undiscovered talent. Seriously a natural'...well it wasn't like that....as I walked out the trainer said 'that was alright...in the end.'. Hmph, not massively the effect I was going for I'll be honest. BUT 6am peeps 6AM! I sign myself up to Thursday night classes..I like mornings, but not that much.
Exciting news is that the bike I've been waiting an entire six weeks of Cycle-to-Work-Scheme admin for is now ready for me to collect. Am akin to small child in levels of excitement. To be fair my bike is bright red, with cream wheels and a basket - you would also be excited. I embarrass myself hugely by having no idea how to get on it in the shop (in my defence I always insisted on having boys bikes when I was a kid - the thought of having a red bike, with a basket would have horrified my 9 year old self, so the fact I don't know that you're supposed to step INTO the lady-bike...meh not my fault). Small boy serving us laughs.
Super excitedly I set off through Richmond Park- only to get half way home and for the seat to drop down rendering said bike un-rideable for the want of a spanner. Have to push bike (which FYI weighs a ton) all the way home. Bash legs with pedals a lot. Learn lesson about spanner, and small boys who work in bike shops.
Sunday I take the bike out for a proper spin with my two friends from work. They quite clearly leave me behind most of the way and I do have to get off twice because my 5-gears and my thighs can't handle the hilly bits. But other than that we make it round the 7 mile route. I do nearly fall off looking at the deer and swear quite a lot which image-wise does not really befit the lady-bike (yes that was me). Gain multiple bike related compliments however from fellow cyclists - including from the man behind the checkout in Waitrose who was quite keen on my basket (I took it with me- the basket, not the bike, that was outside locked up. Obviously).
We have a thing about naming things with odd names in our family (after all we do have cats called Dave and Jim). Christen bike Petunia - wanted to call her Bob but both my brother and a variety of other household objects are already called this, plus lady bike is definitely a girl. Boyfriend shakes head like 'I live with a madwoman' :-D
About Boxing for Buhinga & Universal Chance
The Boxing for Buhinga event will be held on the 24th of November at the Grange St Pauls hotel in London. For tickets and enquiries go to http://universalchance.org/tickets/. You can read profiles of all the fighters at http://universalchance.org.
Universal Chance is a charitable trust set up by a group of friends who share a common desire to use the skills that we have developed through our careers to do what we can to help communities that have not been granted the same chances that we have whilst inspiring others to do the same.
We are dedicated to implementing tangible projects that will help less privileged communities and individuals reach their potential . This could be anything from improving education facilities to providing medical facilities or giving access to clean water. To find out more check out our site http://universalchance.org/ or follow us on twitter at @universalchance.