Thursday 9 February 2012

Week 4 - Thursday 09 Feb - spring time!

So, back to over speeding today! 


My sleep patterns remain erratic. I sleep well one or two nights during the week, but most nights I sleep very lightly or for too few hours. Last night was one of those. Sleep is one of the factors that affects how quickly my body gets into the swing of the training sessions, but I usually find that at 10 am my body kick starts, having loosened up and built up enough adrenaline. This morning, David got me onto the treadmill by 930, for my over speeding session. Most of the session was fine, but nothing special and with one minute to go David thought that I might not make a run today. But then, at 9.59, right on cue, something kicked in and....... I ran at 6.0 mph for about 20 seconds - at least 15 seconds more than Monday and (more importantly) with improved ankle flexion and less pronation. I was delighted with that.


On Wednesday, David and I ran through my goals for the next two weeks. Whilst I've been making great progress, I've been lacking a bit of spring, bounce and verticality, meaning that I've struggled to jump, skip etc. So, today we started to address that. David has some videos of me doing dead lifts (first with just the bar, then with weights), then dead lifts with a jump, then free jumps. I hope to have those videos tomorrow. Anyhow, that all worked, which surprised me! So then I did quick short hops backwards and forwards and side to side. My body surprised me again - that worked really well. 


Then I did some work with Steve to get the quads turning on and off quickly, with some movement in the hips and pelvis. Essentially, I was trying to kick box. Like this.....




and this.......




and then this happened!!!!!!






That was all a brilliant surprise. I left PW very happy today!


I have to show you some of the magic of Southern California. Yesterday, I met up with Anne and Steve again. We drove down to Seaport Village, a dining and retail development on San Diego bay. Nice to get to see a bit of San Diego, but better was to come. We drove back northwards to La Jolla (pronounced "Hoya", in my best Dora the Explorer Spanish accent!). There's lots of money here, and it shows in the houses and high end shops and boutique hotels. This is the coast line. In the distance is the Torrey Pines golf course. What a setting! Last weekend, I had the thrill of seeing a pod of 15 or so dolphins close to shore on Carlsbad beach. But take a look at La Jolla Cove. Max, Amy - keep an eye out for the pelican and the seal pup with the itchy chest!!








I could have spent hours there, even just watching the surf roll in. I was lucky that the sea was a bit stormy yesterday, making for the whitest foaming surf. 






Mind you, not everyone is happy. Apparently two years ago the residents of La Jolla tried to get the seals moved. They wanted their beach back. Stunning!


Tomorrow's training sessions finish at 6pm and then I'm out for dinner, so I'll post my next update Saturday my time.

6 comments:

  1. All looks fantastic - well done, keep going. I can see the kickboxing action could maybe lead onto kicking a football?? Get some rest - chat soon XXX

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  2. Progress, progress, progress. Great stuff mate. The running sounds fantastic. Take care.

    Tim

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  3. Paul - great to see the progress you're continuing to make - it looks pretty demanding but good to see your concentration levels and spirits remain high. Fantastic uplifting scenery so all in all not a bad week! Top tip: cure for insomnia - just think of Wigan playing "football" and you'll be asleep in no time (sorry I couldn't resist!). Keep at it as we all know you will.

    Tony

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  4. Great update. More running and more complete movements foot ankle knee. Also thanks for sharing the sea life update - looks amazing on vid must be even better "live". Good for mental health after all the effort you are putting in - you certainly deserve some inspiring downtime. Slightly different in Surrey - snow on the ground all week and dry cold air. Got some neighbors coming round to watch rugby later so that should be fun. Cheers.

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  5. Hi Paul,Good to see you last night,you'r looking well. Your video's on the beach look fantastic with some great scenery.It will have done you good to have a rest and have a day out sightseeing after working so hard all week in the gym.Our laptop seems ok now thank goodness,so we are looking forward to you next blog. Love Mum and Dad. ps tell that comedian Tony, watching Wigan does not send you sleep ,it gives you nightmares.

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  6. Wow! Great to see you running and to hear how your body just kicks into gear! I also love the kick boxing! That work looks really good for your legs and whole body - it pulls the arms in for support and is great contra lateral exercise (opposite limbs).
    Overall your body's coordination is looking much more developed and refined which means more demanding movements will be available and also simpler movements will become more efficient and smooth.
    As for the sleeplessness, let the acupuncturist know as they may be able to assist with that. It can be a deficiency in certain meridians or disharmony between meridians. Try also the heart stretch we did which is where you bend over and push the back of the chest into the wall with the legs in a sort of down dog position and resist the back to the wall while pulling the quads slightly towards you.
    All the very best and keep the updates coming.
    Viv

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