I am having a very nice weekend. Well, except for the persecution I am currently suffering at the hands of Mr Fidget. i briefly mentioned it on
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rhube's journal yesterday, but I will explain here. On Friday night, at some point during the night I turned over, and kicked Fidget off the bed. He woke Jamie up with his cry of protest as he sailed through the air, and woke me up with the crashing sound as he landed on our bedroom bin. He jumped back up on the bed, but sulked at the foot until I went back to sleep. At which point he decided he obviously really needed a wee, and that I would have to get up and deal with it. So he climbed all over my head, and started wailing, so i got up, came downstairs, saw it was his breakfast time, fed him, and went back upstairs grumbling "you can use your litter tray, you can't go outside cos you aint got a collar on". So he ignores his food, and five minutes later, as I'm sinking back into a sort of doze, he's back upstairs, wailing away. So i put his collar on and came downstairs to let him out, and decided to stay up.
Managed to convince Jamie to go food shopping in the morning, and also to go swimming with me at lunchtime! Then we had an afternoon of Heineken Cup Rugby on the telly, which was kind of bad for the Welsh teams cos they all lost. Best we could muster was a draw for Cardiff Blues, against Harlequins of all teams, so an embarrassing performance all round really,
Then we ate yummy chicken from M&S which was very tasty.
Today, I was also woken up lots by Mr Fidget while I slept, as he clambered about and wailed and was generally annoying. Think he hasnt quite forgiven me for throwing him out of bed yet! Got up, had breakfast, and then Jamie and I went on an adventure.
We went to Craggy Island, which is an indoor climbing centre in Guildford. We had a private tuition session booked (all the taster sessions were fully booked up for ages, so we booked a private tuition session, which was an hour instead of an hour and a half, but was one-on-two, rather than one-on-six, so on balance it was better I think) and it was awesome! We had a very brief safety discussion (which was basically, don't be silly) and then we were straight up on the walls. A quick practice on the traversing wall and then we were off! We'd been watching from the cafe for a good half an hour, and those walls are bloody high up when you get to the top. Watching people was making me feel sick (I've never been great at heights) but I have to say, once you do it yourself, and you're actually up on the wall, you don't notice the height at all! You're far too obsessed with where the hell you're going to put your foot next, or which route you're going to take etc. Jamie was worried that I wouldnt be able to hold his weight when he was climbing, but we proved very quickly that I was more than capable. And apparently they have bags of sand that you can clip to your harness to add extra ballast, if the weight difference is too great.
Overall, it was very enjoyable. Lots of hard work, made more difficult because we were wearing trainers not climbing shoes so the grip was a lot less. Chris, our instructor, said I was very good, and he was very impressed. Apparently my belaying technique is very good. We managed every climb he gave us, except the last one which had an overhang bit and not very many easy hand holds, so our fingers slipped a lot.
So, the next step is to go on the beginners course which ends with a test, which if you pass, allows you to climb independently. They're booked up till Christmas though, so that will be in January. Its expensive, £89 each for the 6 hour course, but we had so much fun, and it was such a good work out, that we're definately going to do it.
Just need to pick up some climbing shoes, cos trainers are no good and although you can hire them, we'd prefer to have our own.
My body is in muscle-related agony now though - shoulders, back, forearms, calves. All very sore! But I am sure, when I am doing it regularly, I shall not be so badly affected!
So, my new fitness regime will be:
cycling (or walking) to work and back every day
swimming (half an hour or so) on Tuesday and Thursday evenings
Gym (half an hour or so) on Wednesday (fat-burn) and Friday (cardio) lunchtimes
And climbing on Sundays (hour or so)
Oh, and daily sit-ups.
This, combined with a renewed effort to eat healthily (including eating a decent breakfast before I go to work - I have new organic cornflakes!) and to reduce my unhealthy snack intake, should mean that by next summer (when Jamie and I intend to go on holiday somewhere warm and sunny and relaxing) I will have a body I will be willing to bare on a beach and be proud of. Yay!
