Well..

I love the UK’s pre-packed sandwiches!

Cheese & Onion, Egg & Cress and a Ploughman’s – a fine vegamatarian triple pack for only ?1.65!

You know work is riveting when I resort to talking about sandwiches..

My nipples! My poor, poor nipples!!

In a much better mood now. I was running late escaping work (okay, I was actually posting to a.b haha) and thought I’d miss Spin class.

Home, change, run (yeah, sick innit?!) to the gym. Phew! Made it just in time.

My legs were feeling pretty trashed from Monday’s Spin and Tuesday’s Pump class (feckin’ squats!) so I figured I’d do it as easy as I could without looking too soft in front of the instructor/class.

I started slow (I guess? Need my HRM!) but ended up pushing harder at the end than I thought I could/would. I had some seriously odd mental imagery going on to get me through the painful stuff – don’t ask.

Somewhere in the middle (in a 3min high-cadence block) my calves started cramping and I had to slow down. Tried all kinds of quick position changes and pedaling but nothing fixed it. Probably due to too much coffee, not enough water, not enough sleep and I was wearing my runners rather than my SPD shoes. These are wider and don’t fit properly in the straps, forcing me to twist my feet more than usual.

Even when I try to take it as easy as possible in this class I still look more fscked at the end than everyone else and have a lake of sweat around my bike. I felt bad about this when I started but now I just tell myself that the others are doing it too easy.. 🙂

The instructor complimented me on my effort, which was odd (but nice of her) given that I aimed to wuss out!

I staggered out the door and ran, okay, jogged home (4min). Unleashed the beast *cough* for a piss and dropped my water bottle off. Straight back out the door for a lap of EARL (EAling Run Loop).

Now I remember why I hate running! This run felt well dodgy – my feet hurt, my shins hurt, my quads hurt and I had a stitch. This is fun, right? 😛

I thought about shortening it but knew I’d probably get lost so I just did the standard loop. Dodged a few cars which cost me time (not that I was checking my watch) and felt shite for the first half. I pushed a bit harder at the half-way point (so people walking weren’t passing me too often ;)) and harder again near the end, still feeling shite. Ended up with 41:51, which isn’t too bad for me considering the state of my legs before and after Spin. It’s actually quicker than a bunch of times when I’d only done a run. Bully for me! 😛

“What’s the vaseline for, hip?”

Once my t-shirt is fully soggyfied from Spin, it tends to cling to my chest. Man-boobs, I mean err.. my huge pecs.. bounce when running. I have nipple chaffing!! Ow!! Need to apply some vas before doing this again 🙂

It’s not as bad as “this one time at band camp” doing an ergo+run session at CCW with Mick when my white t-shirt ended up stained through with blood from some extra-severe nipple chaffing! Yay for nipples!

I’m currently reading Michael Moore’s book: “Stupid White Men”.

While my bus sat in gridlock for 30 minutes this morning, Moore offered me a sudden flash of inspiration..

Literacy.

I want to improve the literacy of someone, somewhere.

(Relax Dad, I’m not thinking of becoming an English teacher.. yet :P)

I can reed and rite. Could I not use my talents for good rather than evil?

I’m sure with a little practice, some death-stares, and random beatings with newspapers, I could help someone improve their reading and writing. In the process I would be helping myself feel slightly less useless. What an interesting idea.

Stay tuned.

BTW: Grant cooks a lovely salmon with hollandaise-sauce.

2005-12-16 Update

I’ve since found this FAQ discussing Adult Literacy teacher training, this list of Endorsed Initial Teacher Training Qualifications(FE) and this London-based ESOL, Literacy and Numeracy Teacher Training Project website.

30secs happy, 30secs miserable, 30secs happy.. repeat. *sigh*

Till There Was You