How unfit am I? My story of declining fitness

Back in 2004 on an incredibly cold December’s morning, I made the decision to join the local boat club. In my books, it was a brave decision considering I could barely swim and had some reservations about rowing on the most contaminated river in Ireland. It may have been a brave decision, but it was pretty much forced upon me by a mother who was convinced that I was spending far too much time on the computer!

Initially we trained 3 days a week; Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. The training wasn’t that intensive to begin with, a few laps of the park on a Tuesday and rowing on the water to improve out technique on Saturday and Sunday. I actually quite liked it and soon we found ourselves taking part in time trials around the country and the results (while not being good) were very promising! So it was decided that we should train more and attempt to catch up with the other crews around the country who had been rowing for 3+ years. We added an extra day to the regime and reshuffled the contents of the training around a bit. Tuesday became hill running night, Thursday was our park sprint night and Friday and Saturday were totally dedicated to improving our technique out on the water. Sunday was by far the most intensive day of the week as it saw us row in the morning and then do circuit training which our trainer confessed had made grown men cry in the past! I wasn’t crying but I sure was hurting!

As you can imagine, training intensively 5 days a week was bound to make an impact on my fitness. The rowing motion itself put great pressure on your stomach, thigh’s and of course your biceps. The hill running strengthened our hearts and after a few months we were able to run up and down the Rockshire Road 5 times in a row. For anyone not familiar with Waterford, the Rockshire Road is a prolonged hill which seems to go on forever with the added bonus of being very very steep.

Within about 6 month’s I was incredibly fit. I had bulging muscles all over my body, in the most obscure of places as well (but no, not there )! I was able to row 1000m’s on a rowing machine in about 3 minutes which is good going and the one thing I loved about rowing was that you kept having to push yourself. There was no level you should aim to reach as the sky was the limit. You could do a rowing test one week and row 1000m’s in 3:30 and fall off the machine totally out of breath and do the exact same the next week but after shaving 2 seconds off your time. It was this everlasting progression that kept me hooked!

However, my new hobby took a life-threatening blow to the head in May 2005 when I managed to get a job in the Tower Hotel. At first I wasn’t getting many hours but whenever I worked, I benefitted greatly from my physical condition which was good at this point. No stack of plates was too great for me, no amount of suitcases couldn’t be lifted up the stairs and of course, no amount of work was too much. I worked plenty of 18 hour shifts and it was all possible because of my fitness and to a lesser degree knowing that I was going to be paid for my services.

August was to be our month long break from rowing. Our season was a sucess and while we didn’t pick up any event victories, we had improved to the point that we were now beating a crew that only months beforehand were finishing a few minutes before us! In the weeks before August I had been getting more hours in the Tower and wasn’t training 5 days a week like everyone else! During the month long break the others were training while I was working.

When training began again in the beginning of September, we were asked to go on a light run. It was assumed that we had kept up our fitness levels so a light run was considered to be a run out to Orpens pub, up through ballygunner and back down Grange Hill towards the boat club which is situated on Canada St, just off Park Road. It was a 7 mile run and I had given up after about 5 miles. It was on my long and humiliating walk back to the boat house that I gave up all hope of rowing again. I just wasn’t prepared to put in the effort that was now required of me in order to catch up with everyone else! So after 10 months of rowing, I gave up. Just like that. Whenever I look back at the one hobby (apart from my PC) that engulfed my life for almost a year I sometimes wish I didn’t just give up, especiall when I compare what I was like then to what I’m like now…

5 month’s down the road and that pityful attempt at a 7 mile run back in September is the last time I have broken a sweat! I’m eating more and more of all the wrong food and the most disheartening thing about it all is that I can now grab a large chunk of skin on my stomach, something which I’ve NEVER been able to do! My muscles have become a lethargic mess and I always struggle when clearing trays into wash up in work. It’s sad to think that only 6 months a go, I could endure almost any physical challenge thrown at me! Sometimes I think I should join rowing again, but that idea is quickly discarded whenever I do P.E in school and am out of breath after a mere 5 minutes of doing laps!

Unfortunately I can’t see this situation changing. Any traces of healthy living will be wiped from my brain in the next few months and all I can say is thank god for my efficent metabolism and if it ever becomes as lazy as me, then God help me!

tagsfitness, rowing, running, work, exercisetags