Saturday, May 23, 2009

#dailyexercise

A fortnight ago Toño suggested that we both could shed 4 kg (8.8 lb). Since I'm not exactly at the weight Toño has signed up to when he seduced me in December 2004, I happily agreed, took my first benchmark measurement in two years and went straight to the outdoor pool, which had opened an hour ago for the summer season, for some labs (1 Nm = 1' of latitude = 1852 m = 6076 ft ) in the cool water. Coming back from the pool I tweeted this deed with Ms.Mac's hashtag #dailyexercise.

Since then I actually my daily exercise with the exception of 3 days (mostly hangover related), which give me a rate of more than 5 workouts per week. At the time I met Toño I was at 3 times per week. So I reckon, when I keep the current rate up for a couple of months, I should reach the goal. However, so far, it did not show on the scales but I think some of the weight has already moved places.

I have a rather awkward relation to sport. It took decades until we started to like each other. Actually there are only two sports I really like: swimming and cycling. Both have the qualities that you can do them alone and they don't require significant coordinative abilities. It's the same movement all over again.

PE at school was a dreadful experience. I was the kid which was chosen last when a team had to be built. I can't blame them. I was and still am useless when it comes to team sports. And please don't give me a ball. The only sport I kind of excelled and was chosen first was orienteering. Because I was a boy scout, I knew how to handle a map.

It did not help that I had to go to PE with the girls with a few other boys for a couple of years, because there were far more boys in class than girls. Maybe I can sue the school for therapy to cure this damage.

When I was drafted for the army, I did not manage to get the minimal required points in the sports test. They did not care much for their own benchmarks and took me anyway.

Thanks to the boy scouts I then had my first positive sport experience when I was in my mid twenties. It's hard to believe but I reached a expert level in 'camp sport' and had to go to a course to the federal Swiss sport school. There I had my first real sports teachers who really deserve the job title. What they got out of my wicked body in just a few days was amazing.

The first sport I got into was cycling. Although I had a sever blow-back in 1990 when a bike of mine was stolen only 17 days after I bought it. It was anyway a bad evening. The film we saw I did not like (Pretty Woman) and the lad I was with did not want to cop off with me. Despite this bad start, I kept going and started to like it cycling. The trick was that I went for the hottest bikes and gear (2 more got stolen in the following years).

Surprisingly, it was the army that helped me to get into swimming. Here in Switzerland, when you serve in the army, you have to go to periodic repetition courses lasting 2 to 3 weeks. A way to get out of the uniform is to go for voluntary sport in your off-duty time. I don't like running. But one year we happened to be close to various pools, which I tested. There I swum the first time for longer than half an hour.

This experience motivated me to get contact lenses. Without glasses or contacts, I'm blind as a mole. This was the start of my thing for swimming. After I made it a regular habit (up to 10 km per week), I signed up for a crawl course in 2003. A year later, I met Toño in this course :) The swim team is still together. We practice every Thursday evening and like to party together from time to time.

That's me and Toño in matching speedos:



Why this effort, since the time I took my shirt off on a dance floor is over? I work in an office. But humans have still the genes in them from the time they were hunting mammoths. We have to move ourselves, to feel comfortable. We just have to overcome the lack will power. But I think it pays off. Like I haven't been as horny in a long time as in the last couple of weeks.

6 comments:

andy said...

Nice Speedo, I prefer the blue ones, though of course being a Brit I would never wear them, but nice to look at :-)

Interesting that you say "cop off" I thought that was very English slang.

I've been losing a little weight myself lately and can attest to the horniness!

Mr. Urs said...

@andy if I recall correctly, I'd picked up "cop off" from a Mancunian.

Mickle in NZ said...

Hey - I was completely crap at PE at school too! In a fourth form (age 14)school report I was given the top mark for effort in PE - an A - and the lowest that was still a pass, a C, for achievement.

In other words - Mickle tried really hard but was absolutely bloody useless at any type of sport.

Why didn't they reward me for being the school's sole saxophonist? Huh?? (and I was no Lisa Simpson, thank goodness)

Unknown said...

The exercise is a great thing. I've gotten P back into cycling a bit with me. The workouts I love and now I'm venturing into open water swimming with the wetsuit...

I just the spring and summer months!

Mr. Urs said...

@Mickle in NZ: I new you were the NZ answer to Candy Dulfer. I was also useless in music. A teacher even forced me to lip-synch during the national anthem.

@Expat Traveler: I bought myself some SUGOi cycling shorts. I had to think of you when I read that they are made in Vancouver.

Gauss Jordan said...

Cheers for exercise! I ran another 4.5 miles today, and shaved about 90 seconds off of my time. Not bad. I really do need that new heart rate monitor, though.