Squash today. Played Ali Ross from the club. Was a bit stiff but moved well for the first match (not so well for the second). Pretty good speed and overall good play.
Match 1
Jordan 3 – Ali 0
Match 2
Jordan 3 – Ali 1
Legs feel OK. Knees feel OK.
- j
Joined today by my flatmate, Mark. He hasn’t been running in several years and he did excellent. Finished off my a mini-circuit to get the other muscles working.
It was cold, rainy and windy. Nice.
4.5 Mile run. Pretty good pace.
3 X 1 Minute Squats
3 X 1 Minute Abs
- j
Phew, that was tough. I needed to give my knees a break so I didn’t play squash last night and had a blissful night of relaxation instead. That, of course, made me feel a bit guilty, so I properly punished myself this morning by A) Cleaning, dusting and scrubbing my room/bathroom and B) doing the first boxing/circuit I’ve done in a while.
Today’s workout:
3 Minutes boxing
1 Minute Squats
3 Minutes boxing
1 Minute Abs
3 Minutes boxing
1 minute pushups
3 Minutes boxing
1 Minute Squats
3 Minutes boxing
1 Minute Abs
3 Minutes boxing
1 minute pushups
3 Minutes boxing
1 Minute Squats
3 Minutes boxing
1 Minute Abs
3 Minutes boxing
1 minute planks
3 Minutes boxing
Oof.
On the plus side, I’ve now lost 2 inches off of my waist and i don’t think I’ve ever felt as fit. If the weather holds I’ll probably go for a run tomorrow, as the squash courts are closed (damn you cricket).
But for now, I’m tired (but satisfied).
-j
I’ve been doing a lot of training over the past 3 months. I’ll be doing even more over the next 3. Everyone I talk to says it will really help to keep a log of my activities. It’s a way of setting goals and keeping track of what I’m doing. It’s also (apparently) a very good motivator.
Thankfully my training is, for the most part, more of a pleasure than a pain. At the moment, I manage to break my exercise into three main types:
1. Squash – It’s a brutal workout if you have a tough match. Seriously 45 minutes of hard squash is worth an awful lot. It’s high impact and a very tough CV workout. Overall fitness baby. I usually manage this 3-4 times a week.
2. Running – Running is boring. I mean really fucking boring. On the other hand, I’ve started to enjoy it more. I’ve not been pushing myself that hard yet, mainly just building it up slowly. My route, at the moment, is about 4.5 miles in total. It’s not a huge run, but it’s a good starting point and I normally run 1-2 times a week.
3. Boxing/Routines – I love boxing. It’s a great way of getting some aggression out, and it’s a brutal CV workout. It’s what I can do when I need to give my legs a rest. I normally try to do 10 rounds of 3 minutes. The boxing workout also includes 3 X exercises (at 3 reps each). This lets me break up between each round to do something and let my heart rate settle. Currently doing 3X Squats, 3X Ab planks, 3X pushups. I normally manage this once a week.
That’s not bad. At minimum, I seem to be exercising about 5 times a week. Not bad for a fat lad?
-j
That was fun!
I have to admit a sad fact: I still get a small thrill when I vote in an election. I love it. I’m a junkie for it. I was at my polling station at precisely 07:00 this morning and must have been one of the first in my area to vote.
This has been a fun election. It’s been shaken up. We’ve had ‘presidential debates’ and ‘bigot gaffes’ and one thing seems sure – most of the population is sick to death of all of them.
Having said that, I think there are some interesting things to observe:
The Liberal Democrats are still third-class
It seems pretty clear that the public really took to Nick Clegg during the debates. It was hard not to. He seemed measured and balanced, and was the most personable of the three of them. This election seems to show that whilst everyone seems pretty happy with Clegg, they are still not convinced about the LibDems. I really don’t think this is surprising (no matter how much I was hoping it would be different). The problem isn’t the LibDem leadership – it’s that they have no deep bench. My constituency is a good case and point. I’m based in Edinburgh North & Leith. Our local LibDem candidate is uninspiring at best. He’s not someone that you want to vote for. He’s not someone that I wanted to vote for and, in principle, I tend to lead towards the LibDems.
If the LibDems want to be a serious party, they have to look at what candidates they are putting up. The top shelf is good. Nick Clegg is OK and Vince Cable is great. but it sort of ends there. They aren’t going to be able to compete without making a change.
This isn’t the Landslide the Tories wanted
Yes, the Conservatives are going to have the most seats. They can still get a government as I write this note (unlikely, but could happen). I really don’t think that this is the landslide I expected about a year ago.
Look at the situation. You’re looking at a Labour government that has spent 13 years in power. They presided over one of the biggest financial meltdowns of the modern world (and a lot of people blame some of it on Mr Brown). They started two major wars that have been hugely unpopular, including one which they were shown to lie about the reasons to go to war in the first place. They have faced sleaze and scandal. They have one of the worst leaders I’ve ever seen as their PM (not a bad guy, but unsuited to lead). They were due to get a hammering at the polls. I expected David Cameron’s party to do really well.
And they didn’t. I think this says a lot. There is still a huge backlash against the Tories across the UK. Look at the map – Scotland, Wales and the North are still shying away from the Conservatives. This is still a hangover from the old tory ghosts. It also says something about how uninspiring David Cameron has proven to be. Will all of those factors in his favour, he couldn’t inspire his party to victory. Astonishing.
British people whine a lot.
Jesus I laughed every time I saw that grumpy woman on TV bitching about not getting to vote. Her civil rights have obviously been hideously violated and she’s not backing down! In truth, I have a limited amount of sympathy. Do I think everyone should be able to vote? Yes. Should all votes be counted? Yes. But the truth is polling stations were open since 07:00. Are you seriously telling me you couldn’t get to the polls until 21:59? Come on.
I didn’t get home until 02:00 last night, and I was up at 07:00 this morning. I’m off to make coffee and prepare for a meeting.
But that was fun!
-j
Thanks to EE for this heads up.
-j
I have two things I should be doing right now and neither of them are writing down shite from this weekend. On the other hand, I’m watching some Deadwood right now and, well, why not?
So….
Squash results are coming in. I had two league matches the past week and won both of them. First match went 3-1 and the second one went 3-0.
Friday night was the league night. It was excellent. Great time. I got to play against five different people. 5 games in 2 hours. oof.
Training is going well. More squash this week than running, but I’ll get some running in next week.
-j
It’s my old mate mark’s 32nd birthday today.
In honour of him::
Happy Birthday
-j
Well, the weekend has come and gone and I managed to do a bit of training.
Saturday:
- 4.5 mile run
- 3 X 1 minute squats
- 3 X 1 minute sprints (100 metre)
-3 X 1 minute ab planks
Sunday:
Had a great walk. Started up at the office and walked to Arthur’s Seat. Went up Salisbury Craigs and up the top of the seat, round the loch and down home. Probably about 8 miles in total.
see?
- j
(I’m a big fan of Talking Points Memo, and I wrote this entry over there)
This election is fascinating for so many reasons.
On the one hand you have Brown, a prime minister who hasn’t won an election, faces a strong case of labour fatigue, and has proven himself to be a weaker leader than most thought possible. (He’s turned out to be the perfect No.2 guy, and probably should have stayed as a bridesmaid)
On the right you have Cameron, slightly baby-faced, coating familiar conservative policies with a new sheen of polish, warmth and (quasi) personality. He faces the accusations of being too posh, too privileged, and too much in the coat pockets of the old Tory guard. This is particularly relevant in areas like Wales, Yorkshire and Scotland, where Thatcherism hit hardest with the breaking of the coal-mining industry.
Then of course, we have the third party – perennial ‘third-placers’ – Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats. Nobody ever really gives the LibDems a chance, but this election seems to be changing that by the minute.
(Ok, you probably didn’t need the brief history lesson, but it’s the morning and I’m up early)
So, my thoughts on the Election:
1. Brown may still win. This pains me as I have a £20 bet on Brown losing, but I think it’s starting to win its ugly head again. Mainly because of the debates. The strong showing that Nick Clegg has made in these debates has placed him on the front stage of this election. The Lib-Dems are riding high on the polls right now, mixing it up in the 30% range with the other two.
I think this could play for Brown. If Labour and the Tories are too close to call, the swing towards Clegg may is also a swing towards the left, away from Cameron and the Conservatives. Most pundits are predicting a minority government, but I think there is a very real potential of Clegg swinging voters towards Brown. They will claim to be voting LibDem, but be scared that this is a throw-away vote to Cameron, so will end up voting for Brown.
2. Clegg will lead to Cable. Most of us who support the LibDems wrap ourselves in the Vince Cable flag. He’s by far one of the party’s best politicians, and someone who is poised to make a big gain if the LibDems force a coalition government. There is a lot of talk about him getting the Chancellor position. In my opinion there couldn’t be a better candidate for the job.
3. Dissatisfaction reigns. As much as I have been a supporter of the LibDems for the past ten years, the reality is simple: The only real reason the LibDems are in such a strong position right now is the overall weakness of the two other parties. Labour has been massively burnt on issues like the Economy and the War, and the Conservatives are still fighting off the reputation of Thatcherism.
4. The debates have hurt Brown and Cameron. This probably seems obvious, but the debates are a light-year away from performing on Prime Minister’s Questions. Brown has never really shined and these sorts of contests, but it’s been surprising how weak Cameron has been. I have to admit that I’m predisposed to disliking Cameron, but even I expected him to do better. He’s had difficulty casting himself as anything but an empty shell of soundbites, and he’s been schooled by Clegg on how to (at least appear to be) engage with the public.
Brown is doing, well, as you’d expect him to. When he sticks to substantive issues he comes off a knowledgeable, and when he puts his cheesy grin on his face, he looks pained to be there.
I still believe that this will be a minority government for the Tories. The real question will be how much momentum can the LibDems carry and, more importantly, when it comes to the day of the vote, will people actually vote for them. If they do, this could be a remarkable election in more ways than one.