Wednesday 7 March 2007

Played squash today

Squash is one of my favourite sports. I started playing when I was 12 and didn't stop until my mid-thirties. One of the things that I've loved about losing all this weight is that I've been able to play squash again. Last year I started playing with a couple of guys from work but various things cropped up, such as childcare arrangements not working out and blisters, and we haven't played much since October. I've really missed it, so it was great to discover that childcare has been sorted out, injured feet have healed, and we're booked in regularly on Wednesday.

Tonight was a blast, and I'm sure we'll all be a little sore and sorry tomorrow. There was no easing into it. Everyone was playing to win! Ok, well I was playing to win! And I managed to win three out of five games. I'm moving around the court much faster than I did last year. This running really helps.

After squash I was dropped near the gym so that I could go and collect my points. I'm still feeling the effects of those one-legged squats, so I modified my weights routine to leave out anything that hurt my quads. It was a pretty low key workout, concentrating on my arms. I have been doing roll downs for an abs exercise for a few weeks now. I hate them, but I'm glad to say they are steadily improving. I had a major milestone today. I went to use the assisted chin ups machine, and I didn't have to add weight! Whoever used it last was about my size! Usually I have to add another 20 kg or more to the counterweight. I'm starting to feel like I'm a normal sized person.

This morning's session went quite well. I decided, after yesterday morning's series of disasters, the bike wasn't going to defeat me. I managed to find one with a working drink bottle holder, straps for my feet, and a display screen that displayed stuff. (I may have been wrong when I thought that the display didn't work yesterday, but that is yet to be fully established.) I managed 15 mins on the bike, riding 5.4 km in that time. I was really pleased with how I went, as I struggle with exercise bikes. I guess the RPM has been making a major difference. If I keep this up, I may be able to transform my "loungeroom art" back into a working bicycle. I finished off the session with 10 mins of "Fat Blaster" at 5.6 km/h on level 6. I skipped the stretching so that I'd catch my bus, but I made up for it tonight.

I ran into my friend's fiance this evening and he did the classic doubletake "Kathy, you look great". It was wonderful to see his reaction. I haven't seen him since October / November last year, so he really noticed a change. I love seeing people I haven't seen for a while.

2 comments:

Celeste said...

"loungeroom art"!! LOL!!!

Andrew(ajh) said...

I played squash with one of my mates last year for the first time in about 20 years. The only winner was the ball, it escaped pretty much unscathed, didn't get hit too much!