Friends...

You know on Friends - that show that's repeated non-stop on E4 or E4+1 or whatever channel? The coffee shop, Central Perk, where they seem to spend their entire day sat there gasbagging about this and that on a plush sofa?

Well - that's what I've been doing today. Sat there. On a plush sofa, in a coffee shop, in Kingston, with one-time forumite Annajo, who's spent the last nine months up in Edinburgh studying Artificial Intelligence. All jolly geeky stuff, but stuff that I have an interest in, or have done, so it was good to talk about it, and anyway, she's a nice peep and we always have a laugh.

Only problem with drinking grande lattes all afternoon is the after-effects. I'm currently studying neurotransmitters for biology, and let me tell you, caffeine affects these. Big time. I've come back from the coffee shop completely buzzing, and if I get any sleep before Tuesday week it'll be a bloomin' miracle.

Reminded me of how important it is to keep up with friends though :-). A good day, all in all. Got a fair bit of study done too, although I'm not sure how much of the stuff I've done since I got back is going to stick, as my head is a little...um...jittery!!

Running you say?? Um - well that didn't get done today - was meant to do it, might yet do it, but Big Brother is starting again for the summer, and I really can't miss the launch show :-)

Bushed at Bushy!

Last night was Runner's World social night. I wasn't really sure about going at first, I thought I ought to concentrate on study, and quite apart from the evening of study I'd miss, I knew that the next morning I'd feel like sh1te and probably get not a lot done except vegging in front of the telly watching American Idol all day and repeats of Friends. Actually that last bit's not true - it's been repeated to death - it seems to be on some channel somewhere continuously for the last seven years.

Anyway - I have felt a bit flat this week - I think all this booky stuff is getting to me a bit, so I decided to head along to the sosh anyway, and have a bit of time off! I had a few probs with the trains, but eventually got there about twenty past eight, only to bump into Toria leaving. Then into the bar and settled into a fun evening. Great to see everyone again, and a social newbie - CathyW.

What has surprised me is that I woke up with a bit of a headache. Not that that's a surprise after a night in the pub, but it was the only thing. Normally I wake up feeling like someone's emptied a hamster's cage into my mouth overnight, and feeling like just dozing off to sleep again. Instead, I woke up at six, not quite fresh as a daisy, but at least fresh as some service station flowers ;o). So - I got up, forummed for a bit (WTF was going on last night??), and then decided to do the Bushy Park Time Trial again. Thought it would blow a few cobwebs away (dusting might achieve the same effect, but I digress) and then get down to some study. Turned out I cut it a bit fine, but I made it!

It was a really nice run in the end - I was trying to use the kilometre markers since I'd looked at the route on the website, but I'm not convinced they're accurate! I got to the first one in 5:29, and although I had got caught behind some slow peeps at the start, it shouldn't have been that bad. I gave up hope of breaking 25 minutes again, and settled into the run. Shiraz and a friend called Kirsty passed me early on, but I caught up, and settled in near them. They didn't half gasbag!! No offence guys, but I was busting a gut and you two were chatting away like you were just sat down for a coffee!

I turned into the final straigh with my watch saying I had 5:07 to go until the time hit 25 minutes. No way was I going to make this, I thought, the 4km marker isn't for another couple of hundred yards. Just at this point, Kirsty and Shiraz sped past, we exchanged a few words, and I decided to stick with them as best I could. Kirsty went away from me, but I stuck with Shiraz, and eventually passed her with about quarter of a mile to go. The line seemed to come sooner than expected, and I was chuffed to bits to stop my watch at 24:46. The official time will be slower, but I'll settle for that after a night on the piss!!

And now off to do some study! Will be glad when this is all over.

Through the Keyhole

Appointment with the consultant peep this morning, to find out the results of the MRI. Had a ruddy long wait, annoying really as I wasn't in there for more than about two minutes! Anyway...

Turns out there is a tear in teh cartilage round the back of my knee, which he thinks is causing the pain on the inside of the knee. Not sure about the quad soreness, although I guess it could have an impact on the quad (think it's the sartorius) if the knee was unstable.

Anyway - no definite dates yet, they're going to call me, but I'm on the waiting list for the op. Keyhole surgery to take a look and hopefully snip off any stray bits. Should be in and out in a day, with any luck, and then physio afterwards.

Guess that was the best possible result. It does still mean my running's a bit kyboshed for a while, but at least there's a definitive diagnosis and it's hopefully on its way to being sorted :oD

Sore!

Went to the gym this morning - that's three consecutive days of training, which is the first time I've done that for a while!

Anyway - my legs were still a bit achey in the quads after yesterday's BPTT, but I still went for it in spin, and had a great class, even though I did have to switch bikes as the first one I got on was making a horrible noise when I turned the resistance up above bite point. Sweated buckets, as usual, and then off to body pump. I'd decided to put some more weights up today, after doign some of them in Wednesday's class.

There was some body builder looking type in there today - not massively huge, but still far broader than the usual participants, and I thought my weights were probably going to look puny! Even so, I went for it with 15kgs each end on squats, whereas I have been doing 13.75. It made quite a difference - as much as anything the fact that my back was working a lot harder. Legs felt it as well, but it was after yesterday's run and a spin class!

Chest I did 12.5kgs each end, which was okay,a lthough the sloooow push ups at the end were a killer. I stuck with the same for back, which was fine until the 12 clean and presses without a break at the end of the track. Not sure quite what the idea of that is - an old release started with consecutive ones and then put in rows "as your technique will suffer as you get tired", and this seemed to directly contradict that! Anyway - I missed one, otherwise fine. Really feeling it in my shoulders and lats though.

Went back to more normal stuff for the rest - even cut the biceps back to 6.25 each end after my success with 7.5 on Wednesday - as much as anything because my shoulders were killing my and I didn't want to put extra stress on them.

Oh - and the massive body builder type? He was struggling more than me using less weight than me! What's that about eh? Okay - he wasn't one of these super-massive types, but definitely if you'd stuck a tape measure round his arms at various points, I reckon they were a hell of a lot bigger than mine.

The last few days I seem to have been eating less - not snacking on handfuls of dry cereal which is a bad habit I've got into while revising, and has probably contributed a fair bit to weight gain! I've reset the ticker at the top :o)

I've Runned!

Got up today feeling energetic, and as a bit of a last minute thing decided to do Bushy Park time trial. I'd done spin yesterday and some weights, but wasn't aching too badly, so decided a nice gentle run in the park would be good. Unfortunately I don't rreally do running gently very well, and so I found myself putting my foot down in the first 400 yards of it!

Anyway - I managed to keep the pace up reasonably well, with very little niggly stuff, and got across the line in just under 25 minutes on my watch, two seconds over on the official clock, but I started right at the back since I intended to go slowly! Pleased with that - just a smidge over 8 min/mile pace.

Tomorrow it's off to the gym for more spin and pump. I think fitting exercise into the study schedule gives me energy.

Been studying fairly well - goign through making up questions for myself. I am getting rather bored with study - maybe I need to do some past papers again soon. I have a lot but not enough to keep me going on their own, so I need some more stuff to do - hence making up my own questions which means going through the notes, and then doing the questions will require me to go through them again! Then finish off with a last few days full of past papers. I'm also doign diagrams, going to do some practice essay questions for module six, including mind maps to help make links to the other modules. Then after the first exams on the fourth, I'll focus on module five with just a bit of time on module four - as much as anything because it may crop up in the module six paper - I'm not too bothered if I don't do better than the 72 in module four.

Chelsea won the footy - so that was great news!!

Apart from that, areas of life other than study seem to have been neglected. This is a shame - I need to work on them after exams. More social stuff, hopefully meeting someone special (I have a few candidates in mind) and generally chilling for a bit would be good. I was thinking how life has all sorts of areas to it, and I must try to get them all working well, not just focusing on one thing at a time. Okay, I'm male, we're not supposed to be able to multi-task, but I do need more than my job to keep me happy. Anyway - the focus for the next four or five weeks is on study, and after that the other stuff can come in.

Go to see the knee peep on Wednesday - let's hope that brings good news. Although the run this morning went well, I really don't think I'm able to train like I used to. Here's hoping I can get something fixed. I'd like to do an autumn tri, even if it is only a sprint!

meMoRIes - of the way we used to be...

Today was knee scan day - so it was off to the hozzy straight from work pretty much. Had a nervewracking moment when I couldn't get the bike to start (still not sure why, think it was the electrics) an then all of a sudden it flicked back into life. Bit worried it was the cut out mechanism and that somebody had been trying to start it while I wasn't there :o(

Anyway - I arrived at the hospital, found my way to the MRI suite, and sat down as no-one was there. A peep appeared and gave me a form to fill in, which was basically asking if I had any bits of metal in my body, including from things such as shrapnel from a war wound! I'm not that feckin' old!! Not sure what happens about filings - would my mouth suddenly get sucked inside out with the filings stuck to the inside of the MRI machine?

Anyway - a rather attractive young lady called me through, gave me a gown that doesn't do up at the back (I discarded my shorts) and it was into the MRI suite. Much as I remembered tbh from the days when I had my head done for epilepsy, except that this time I didn't go right into the tube as my knee was what was getting done, so less claustrophobic. I don't remember thatmany scans last time either. It did make me think how much had changed since those days about twenty years ago, and how (fortunately) I didn't have to worry about my brain flipping out any more :oD

Anyway - now I wait until the 23rd, when I've got the appointment, to see the results. Hope they find something they can do somethign about - not being able to throw myself fully into training is irritating. I faxed the withdrawal form from IM Austria this morning, so that's all official now. Damned annoying.

Study-wise, I'm working fairly well, but still finding it hard to distribute my time between the modules. I need to revise them all, but then again the temptation is to put more effort into the new stuff as I haven't scored anything for that yet, so I really musn't savrifice loads of marks in them to beat my module four mark from January by a few marks! I need to revise it anyway as the module six paper has a synoptic element, which basically means they can draw together themes from the course including other modules, but then again it won't include the options bit as not everyone did that. I may even not seriously go for a higher mark in module four. Finding it tough now, and wish I didn't have to wuk!

More Milestones :oD

Been a busy couple of days - doing loads of study (although somewhat distracted by the forums, and of course my new biology student forum that I found!), but I've made my own notes on pretty much all the topics now and I'm goig through past papers. Still an awful lot of factual information and definitions to be learnt, which is rather tedious but essential to score good marks.

Can't remember if I said - my mark for the January module got put up by two - not as much as I'd hoped but I can live with it. What was annoying was that I got the impression from the letter with the upgrade was that I wouldn't get the re-mark fee back, which wasn't what they told me. Anyway - I'd put it down to experience, but this morning I got a cheque through for the £37, so all's well that ends well!

I've been struggling with a couple of forms for the last few weeks, but killed both of them off now - the NHS bursary form and the student loan form. Both now dispatched, although I have to drop my passport in on the way to the club 10k tomorrow to prove that I am who I actually say I am!

I've finally, officially, withdrawn from IM Austria. I'd pretty much planned to since the knee injury didn't heal after Crimbo, but was putting thins off in th ehope it would sort. TBH, with taking on the teaching work and the need to revise, I'm rather glad in some regards that I'm not doing it. Still a shame though. The insurance didn't cover injuries unless they made it impossible to start and had suddenly come on, so I only get 50% of the money back, but I'm not too bothered. I'd mentally written the money off anyway.

Well - the next six or seven weeks are critical - everything is now in place for the physio course next year - except the B grade in the exams. I'm hoping that if I put in the work that it should really just be a matter of routine, but that doesn't make it any less stressful!