Archive for the 'From the heart' Category

MiCoach, MiRules.

Published on May 9, 2012 in Football, From the heart and Miscellany. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Until very recently, you would have been more likely to come across a baby unicorn reciting Shakespeare than to see me running through the streets of Warsaw.  Before my aforementioned weight-loss and newly experienced fitness, the most you might have expected was a frantic, awkward jog towards the doors of an awaiting tram as they slid, defiantly, shut in front of me.  On those occasions where I did make the tram, I would often watch runners jog down the street with all the grace and apparent ease of an Olympic athlete, or at the very least the Commodore Amiga 500 approximation of one, and wonder what could possibly convince them that this was a more fulfilling pastime than, say, the Internet.

A recent twice-weekly return to the football field demonstrated an embarrassingly obvious lack of stamina though no evident loss of child-like enthusiasm.  Like an astonished puppy comprehending the pleasure of chasing cars, I charged around the pitch like I had never been away and twenty minutes in I wore the expression of someone just woken from a particularly unpleasant dream, probably involving sharks.  Or clowns.  Or clown sharks.

I needed to get fit and of course, running seemed like the simplest solution.  Not one to do things by halves, I went out and bought myself all the paraphernalia required to pretend I knew what I was doing.  I bought myself expensive running shoes, track-tops and an arm-strap for my iPhone.  I downloaded the Adidas MiCoach app for my phone knowing only too well that if there wasn’t some gadgetry involved I would be bored very quickly.

Like a schoolboy taking to the floor for that first, excruciating Christmas party dance, I set out on my first assessment run.  “Start at 5/10 effort”.  How in the name of all that is holy should I know what 5 out of 10 effort is?  “Increase to 6/10 effort”.  I’ve not worked out what 5/10 is yet!  “Increase to 7/10 effort”.  Ah.  Now I’m getting it.  “Increase to 8/10 effort”.  What?!  I was just getting comfortable.  “Increase to 9/10 effort!  Give it all you’ve got”.  Oh God!

Despite experiencing something akin to how I imagine being repeatedly run over by a tractor may feel, I had completed my first run and in doing so had established my MiCoach ‘zones’.  What next?  Investigating the MiCoach website, I found a ‘Soccer’ training routine and scheduled 3 runs per week separated by the two football matches.  Since then, I have diligently stuck to my routine and have found, much like I expect heroin is, it is dangerously addictive.  The endorphins released are quite something and I enjoy the time I have to think or to enjoy some music or podcasts.  there are also few things quite like that post-run shower.

Having the facility to track my progress as I go, using the MiCoach app on the iPhone is possibly what will keep it interesting for me in the long run (pun quite definitely intended).  I can see how far I have run; what my pace is; how many calories I have lost and using GPS it stores my route also.  Of course, all this running is a means to an end so not content with this already perilously high level of geekery, I bought myself the Adidas Speed_Cell.  Now I get to track my progress on the football field too, including the number of sprints, high intensity periods and distance traveled, which can only spell so much over-analysis like a disastrously dull and extremely niche Opta.

In which I bang on about weight I’ve lost

Published on May 6, 2012 in From the heart and Miscellany. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

It often starts with an emotional catastrophe.  Whoever you are, wherever you are.  In my case it was a particularly painful break-up in March last year and a pretty bad one at that.  That I was distraught was clear.  That it would be the defining catalyst for one of the biggest changes in my life was less so.

I have a pretty miserable diet, you see. I’m a fussy eater verging on the embarrassingly phobic and since my late teens it has caused me to steadily gain weight.  Prior to the aforementioned break-up, my girlfriend of the time had a firm but supportive and encouraging effect on this and coupled with a GP referral to a psychologist (I’m not joking) it led to an improvement in my diet, if only a little.

It was only when sitting alone, dispirited and far from home in my flat in Warsaw that I understood something must be done, if not with the eating, at least with my size.  For a 5 foot 6 inch adult male, I accepted 89 kg was certainly heavy but was astonished that a quick check of the BMI scale would label me ‘obese’.  Obese?! Me?! What?!  I was overweight, that was clear, but obese?!  Seriously?!  Compared to a selection of the massive, bovine, individuals walking down Buchanan Street in Glasgow of a Saturday, I was positively fit but in reality, I was obese.  Indubitably, something had to be done.

Like many a child of the 80′s, I’m all about the gadgets so almost without consideration I hit the iTunes app store and found myself the preposterously titled ‘My Fitness Pal’.  Despite a title that had me grabbing desperately for the sick-bag, I downloaded to my iPhone and set about setting it up.  At this stage I had no expectation that it would do me any good but hell, I’m nothing if not an optimist so I set the curve steeply with instruction to lose 1 & 1/2 lb per week.  It told me I was allowed 1490 calories per day and to this day, excepting for the occasional lapse (especially in Scotland), that’s exactly what I’ve stuck to.

By September I had lost an absurd 15kg, simply by eating what I always have but eating much less and, of course, tracking the calories in my new ‘pal’.  By Autumn, my body had decided it had had quite enough of all this change thank you very much and obstinately refused to change any further – and no discussion was going to make it reconsider.  Throughout Winter, I managed to steal a couple of kg without my body noticing, lest it get rather upset, however, my goal of a 68 kg target that would leave me in the ‘Healthy Weight’ area of the BMI scale for the first time in my adult life seemed frustratingly elusive.

…And then I started to play football again.  A bad achilles injury exacerbated by my weight had led me to ‘hang up my boots’ a few years before and I was sure, despite my obvious love for the game, that I would not play again.  Realising the tendon may be able to cope with the reduced strain, I gave it a go and indeed, It was fine.  I began to play twice a week (and expect to increase this with a 3rd game soon) but stamina was a problem during a 90 minute match and to combat this, I took up running on the days when not on the football field.

Without even realising, the last few kg disappeared, solemnly, into the night leaving me to bang on to anyone who might listen that I had reached 68.1kg, safely inside the healthy weight zone on the NHS’ own BMI index scale.

Triumph.

I celebrated, as all Scots surely must, with a deliciously chilled can of Irn Bru and with a promise I would never let that happen again.  It took me 14 years to build up that weight but it only took me a year to lose it.  If that can’t be considered a positive outcome of a catastrophic situation, I don’t know what can.

Here’s to a lot more football.

Warning. Contains me.

Published on January 4, 2012 in From the heart. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

I’m not going to lie to you Marge, 2011 was atrocious. The initial shock and enduring sadness of my split with my girlfriend after almost 6 years together has been the most prevalent detail of the last year and I am not at all sad to see it off into the distance behind me. While I initially struggled to cope with life on my own in a foreign city, there was some ebb and some flow. Though in retrospect, I’m sure I should apologise for my capriciousness, the year did hold some occasional moments of happiness or achievement that, if I chose to look on the bright side, helped me through the arduous times.

In February, my brother and his wife had a beautiful little girl, called Charlotte. I am now an Uncle. I travelled back to Scotland in March to visit and to meet her for the first time and I fell in love with the wee thing. When I returned to Warsaw, and I mean that quite literally, Asia and I split and my life turned inside out for a while. By April I was living in my own little flat in the centre of Warsaw and had decided, mid-term at least, to stay. I spent my evenings practising piano, reading or meeting friends in cafes. I don’t remember too much of the first few months of single life but I do remember, I suppose as a reaction to living on my own and to the split itself, that I started to diet and to exercise – losing just over 20kg (3 stone) since then with only a few more to go before I get to the target I set for myself.

In May, I sat an ABRSM piano exam and passed with merit, before – regrettably – barely touching the instrument for the next few months as I concentrated on DJ sets and shows. Summer passed far too quickly and in early autumn I had trips to Qatar, Orlando, Scotland and Iceland before starting back with my piano teacher in October. Since then, I’ve done little but concentrate on piano, preparing for my next exam and doing everything I can to bounce up through the grades quickly without, of course, compromising on technique and what I still have to learn.

In December, I spent another week in Scotland for my niece’s first Christmas and both good and bad things, expected and unexpected happened. Par for the course while spending Christmas at home. I did, however, get to see Airdrie United play a match away at Forfar Athletic where we won 2-3 with a last minute goal, and I “saw in the bells” at the O2 Academy with the amazing 2 Many DJ’s before coming back to Warsaw the next day – never happier than to sit at the piano again.

Drawing a line under 2011 isn’t difficult and I’m glad it’s in the past but while it almost seems masochistic, I don’t want to forget this year for the lovely things that did happen. I do, very much though, hope that 2012 is filled with a little more to make me happy than its predecessor was. Certainly it has started positively and save for the poorly timed New Year news of the inevitable new man in my ex’s life – and the heavy heart felt thereafter, I feel strangely optimistic. I’m enjoying piano more than I think I ever have – spending 3 to 4 hours daily at the keyboard and while I expect 2012 to be a year of study in technique and improvement, I want to see a progression in my grasp of music theory and composition also.

When 2012 draws to a close, I’d like to feel I’ve done more with the year than I did with the last. Of course, 2012 is the year of Poland and Ukraine’s hosting of the EUFA European Championships so summer is certainly going to be interesting anyway but I would like to explore Poland more and enjoy Warsaw’s cultural life more (and to that end, I’m plan to see at least one show each month at the Filharmonia). I want to spend more time in cafes reading books. I’d like to see my friends more and, besides the passive search for the girl of my dreams, I’d like to meet new people to spend some of my time with.

I seem to say this every year but I hope to spend more time writing for this blog and in 2012, I plan to write more about the music I’ve listened to, the films I’ve watched and the books I’ve read. I will write more about experiences of being in Poland and any trips around the country, or indeed the world, I might have. Inevitably though, I expect, will concentrate on my piano studies and my attempts to compose – both successful and unsuccessful.

For now though, it’s time to end this unexpectedly personal post and simply say to anyone reading, “Have a happy new year and an amazing 2012″.