January 23rd

Work today but went aquarunning this evening. Boy was it busy! We have a maximum capacity of 28 and there was 27 of us there.

January 19th

At last it is a no work day and what do I get up to? Nothing in particular. How annoying. I did go aquarunning this evening though so all was not lost.

January 16th

Working today so nothing too exciting to tell.

Went aquarunning in the evening. It's certainly getting busier in there.

January 12th

Another non working day and I was going to go for a cycle ride but it was blowing a hoolie out there.

Peter wasn't working today so I suggested a drive out somewhere, coast or Botany Bay. He was agreeable to this but left it for me to decide so we went to Botany Bay which is near Preston.

Botany Bay is a big old mill that is next to the canal. Last time we went there it was divided into antiques, collectables and junky type stalls and was really interesting.

However several years have passed and to say I was disappointed is an understatement. It is now all new and repro stuff and nothing was reasonably priced. What a waste of a day. To top it all the wind had dropped and the day had turned beautiful, bah!

I went to aquarunning this evening. It was busier than I have seen it in a long while. Oh well at least the exercise was done.

January 9th

Back to work today.

Thought I would be going out visiting but no, I had no work to go out visiting to so I stayed in the office and cleared my back log of administration work.

This evening I went aquarunning. Chris, who was my circuit training instructor, had booked in too. She was already there when I got there.

Chris is superfit and very slim but she found it hard work. Partly because it is learning new techniques and something she hadn't done before. She said she enjoyed it though and picked up a few new moves for her aquafit groups to use.

January 5th

Today was mostly spent putting away the Christmas stuff.

It's surprising how many Christmas items we had out and I am sure once they are put back into storage there will be one we have forgotten to take down. In fact as I write I have just remembered there is a Christmas hat sat on top of a glass head on the top of the bookshelves, bugger!

Anyway after all is tidied away I took my daughter, Isobel over to the other side of town so that she can deliver a homemade birthday cake to her boyfriend. Aren't I a kind mummy!

This evening I went aquarunning. Not an easy form of exercise as you are fighting the water all the time. If you've never done it it is different to other forms of water exercise. You wear a buoyancy suit and you are in the deep end of the pool. There are two tethers on the back of the suit which you attach to a rope that is across the pool.

Bacause of the buoyancy suit you don't need to tread water so you can concentrate on the techniques of running in water. It's not just running though there are other exercises which go by the names of stairclimbing, long armed fist and rockclimbing amongst others.

There is one section where we use foam weights and instead of lifting you are pushing or pulling against the water.

When I first started going I thought they were quite an unfriendly bunch as no-one spoke to me or even smiled at me so I have made a point of doing this if I think it is someone elses first time. Having said that I have got to know a few people now who I get on okay with.

Once again I have been a bit remiss.

I keep meaning to write this blog up regularly but I am essentially a lazy bugger! I enjoy writing it but I don't want to publish it without the photos and I can only add the photos from the desktop and not my PC!

Anyway I am starting again because I now have to start training again for Hamm 2012! Yes I am doing the bike to Germany again for Bradford Disability Sports and Leisure and Bradford Disabled Cycling Club.

Last week I went to aquafit on Wednesday followed by a half mile swim. Thursday I went aquarunning. Friday I actually went for a bike ride, 22.39 miles according to my Garmin. Friday night I did 90 minutes of canoeing but only in the pool. This week I was at work three days so couldn't do the aquafit and on Monday the aquarunning wasn't on. However I did go aquarunning on Thursday night. Friday we went out for a meal as my stepson has completed his apprenticeship so we went out to celebrate but that meant we missed canoeing.

Anyway enough of the waffle. Aquarunning - this is new to me but I am finding it really enjoyable. You wear a special buoyancy suit and go into the deep end of the pool. No need to tread water as the suit keep you bobbing along on the top of the water like a cork. There are ropes tied across the pool and there are tethers on the back of your suit which you clip onto one of the ropes. This means that, unlike aquafit, you are not hampered by others being slower than yourself or taking a breather etc. Imagine table football in water and you are just about there!

The instructor tells you the moves and it's a bit like circuit training as you do the moves for x amount of time and then she blows a whistle and you change to something different. It can be a little repetitive. The first time I did it I thought that wasn't difficult but certainly felt like I had exercised when I got out of the water.

Right I will try and keep this blog more up to date and I will try and capture a good amount of my training in pictures as well.