Instructions Not Included

So I've made no secret of my love of Dancesport. We're now far into the competition season, with only Roses 2011 left to go. This has meant some late nights, some early starts, and interesting dilemmas regarding the D. And where to hide Anneka. 

So earlier in this month had me competing in the Inter-Varsity Dance Competition (or IVDC as it's more commonly known) in Blackpool - the home of ballroom dancing, doncha know? So we were dancing at the Wintergardens. This place is gorgeous, for the record, and has one of the best dance floors in Europe. Problem of course, is that in order to get there for doors opening, and to get ready in time for the first rounds (which of COURSE happen to be one that I was competing in), our coach had to leave at 5am. 

Yes, you read that right. FIVE IN THE MORNING. Oy vey. By the way, I don't live near the university, so that means getting there. Too far to walk, especially with the amount of stuff I take with me, and several hours before the first bus. So expensive taxi ride it is.

Now, in my infinite wisdom, I managed to get my weeks mixed up, and thought that I had another week before the competition, which meant that I didn't really have any time to do those two words that fill me with a kind of dread, coupled with self loathing and ultimately necessity - fake tan. So that meant I had about 24 hours with which to achieve a hopefully appropriate level of tan, which was subtle enough for me not to be scared of my own reflection. I bought a wash off instant tan. 

There are a couple of things you should know about this. 1: I spent the end of my evening in a pair of latex gloves, pyjama bottoms and a bikini top. 2: It took about three attempts to get this right. 3: This was mainly because I hadn't realised I'd bought a shade too dark. 4: I realised about half way through that I would not be able to shower in the morning, and 5: It takes much, much longer than you think it will. 

I slept for a total of 45 minutes that night. Then I got up again, and got a taxi. When we got on the coach, I disovered that I had, in fact, found the coldest place on earth. Customarily, one expects the indoors to be warmer than the outside, but I'm fairly convinced that the sadistic coach driver had actually put the air conditioning on. It turns out that it's a longer drive to Blackpool than I'd originally given it credit for. 

Now last time, when I did a the Northern Universities Dance Competition (NUDC) in Chesterfield, I seemed to spend the majority of the day pretty high, scores wise. I headed out the door that morning coming in at 6.1mmol/l (109). Since my scores have still been rather....uncooperative as of late, I was very happy with that. As we pulled in to Blackpool, I was riding higher, at 13.2 (237), but a correction pulled me back down into range, and I was sitting pretty on 7.9 (142) as Round One of Beginner's Waltz started. 

Alice and I unfortunately got knocked out of this first round. This wasn't much of a surprise though, as I got hit on the head with someone's elbow, and then got rammed by two couples, right in front of the judges' table. Sadly, there aren't any more pictures of us dancing, mainly because our heats of Quickstep, and Jive all happened in a different room, and we just got missed in Cha-Cha. It's probably for the best, because every photo of me dancing ballroom makes me look like a have no neck. It's something of a cross between my still needing to learn better dance posture, and the picture being taken from behind me!

As with Waltz, we got knocked out of everything first round, which was a real shame, particularly for Quickstep, which went beautifully - I was fairly sure we'd progress to the following round. But such is life, and there's still Roses, and next year, although neither with Alice. And whilst I could easily believe that we got knocked out of each class, what I couldn't quite believe was what was happening with my levels. I'd been having such rotten numbers that it was like the Diabetes Fairy had waved some sort of wand over me for the day. Every number was acceptable! 5.3 (95), 7.0 (126), 5.5 (99), 8.2 (147), and so on! I'd decided on trying a grazing strategy, and somehow, it seemed to have worked!

Between the Ballroom classes and the start of the Latin, was the Off-beat competition. This is so much fun. Each university team gets 3 minutes 30 to do whatever they want. It's marked 50% on dance, and 50% on entertainment. Since our entry was a piece choreographed to 'Star Wars Disco Boogie', we were clearly going for the entertainment angle. See my kick-ass Ewok mask if you need further evidence. The whole thing was utter comedy, but apparently comedy that worked, considering we made it to 6th place out of the 12 entries. I maintain that we would have broken the top 3 if we'd had more rehearsal time!

By the evening, the individual classes were over, I was still coming in good at 5.6 (100), and we were all set to go with the team knockout competition. Alice and I were dancing Waltz for the C team (I had wanted to dance Quickstep, but hey ho, you go where you're put!). In an awesome move, all three of our teams got recalled to the quarter finals, and our A team came in 4th place in the 2nd division. Score one for York!

We eventually got back on the coach home at just after midnight, and a score of 4.9 (88), with the heating finally coming on at Leeds, and into bed, after showering off my orange skin, at about 3am. That's one crazy, and very, very long day. 

I don't know how I got such good scores. I need to look into it a bit more, I think. Shame I couldn't repeat it the other night though, when I was at a workshop on contemporary choreography for theatre. I ended up having a hypo halfway through, and spent the rest sitting on the sidelines, because I knew I was going down again after treating. 

Ah well. You win some, you lose some. Bring on Roses!

However, Andrew "Hannibal" Dyer is a GENIUS, and managed to host it elsewhere :D

So if you would like to watch it (which I hope you will), just click here

So that's two days in a row that I'm talking about hitting things. I promise you that I'm not a violent person, really!

I had to force myself out of bed this morning, and it took half an hour longer than it normally does. I knew from the start that this morning's workout was going to be a difficult one. 

I did my weights - now up to 10 chest fly reps per set, which is great, but after that, I just couldn't bring myself to turn on the Wii and do the rest of my routine. I sat on the carpet with the weights beside me for a few minutes. Right then I just wanted to go back to bed. I didn't want to do this any more. I'd really just had enough. Why was I doing this, when I was tired? What was the point?

The point is that I've committed to a fundraising challenge. JDRF are worth my being tired. It's about getting money for hours of crucial research. It's about support for the newly diagnosed when they're overwhelmed, and a voice for all Type 1's. It's about care until a cure. 

So I ran did a 20 minute free run. It wasn't my whole routine, but it kept me going. For the first time doing 20 minutes instead of 10, I didn't think 5.5k was too bad.

I'm also thinking about getting hold of a Rufus the Bear to take with us as a mascot - what do you guys think? I could make him a little camouflage outfit? I keep laughing as well, because Orange (mobile phone company) currently have huge cardboard cut-outs of all the actors from the A-Team remake in their shops. Shall I go and get my picture taken with them?

Now, I have to say a huge thank you to Dana from I Already Gave My Right Arm To Be Ambidextrous! She commented on my last post to let me know she'd given me the Versatile Blogger Award! This is my first blogging award, so I'm thrilled!

Rule #1: Thank the person who gave you the award.  

That would be Dana Morton from I Already Gave My Right Arm To Be Ambidextrous! Seriously, thank you!

Rule #2: Share seven things about yourself.    

1: I'm learning the ukulele at work. Sometimes my job is awesome

2. I kill all plants, which really makes me sad, because I love them

3. For a long time, I really didn't understand what Twitter was about. Now I'm hooked

4. I'm always nervous getting on and off escalators, because I'm scared they'll eat my trouser cuffs

5. The first night I was in hospital with DKA, I slept in my clothes, because they'd hooked me up to the syringe driver before I could get changed, and I was too nervous/embarrassed to ask how I was supposed to take my shirt off without taking it out

6. I cannot do a front roll, back roll, cartwheel or handstand

7. I moult everywhere. There's something about my hair that makes me think I must be part feline

 

Not all of these are 'recently' discovered, but they are certainly all fantastic!

1. Kelly @ Diabetesaliciousness™ 

2. Chris @ A Consequence of Hypoglycemia  

3. Olivejooice 

4. Alexis-Nicole @ Justice's Misbehaving Pancreas 

5. Holly @ Arnold and Me 

6. Lorraine @ This is Caleb 

7. Ginger @ For Bete's Sake!

8. George @ NinjaBetic

9. Michael @ The Diabetic's Corner Booth

10. Allison @ Lemonade Life

11. Alan @ Poems For Active Diabetics

12. Cara @ Every Day, Every Hour, Every Minute 

13. Rachael @ Flimsy the Kitten 

14. Chris @ The Life of a Diabetic

15. Chris @ Type 1 Tidbits 

Just picking 15 was really hard!

Tomorrow will be the 14th July. Which means there is just over a month to go until The D Team challenge takes place. 

I've managed a couple of interesting things. I've moved up my weights, so that I'm using dumbbells weighing 10lb each, instead of the 5lb ones I was using before. I'd been finding doing chest flys unbelievably difficult with this weight increase, but I've pushed through and had a bit of a breakthrough this morning. I wasn't completely trashed after doing my set amount of reps! Hoorah! That means that I can start thinking about doing the amount of flys that I did with the 5lbs now! 

I've also twice now managed to break the 3k mark whilst doing ten minute free running on the Wii Fit. That's been one of my goals, so I'm chuffed to have managed to do it. Now, I know of course, that these are 'Wii Distances', not real world ones, but I'm still pleased. 

All in all, I've been finding doing these workouts before work difficult, but I have found myself enjoying them as well, which is pretty great, because although I've loved going to the gym whenever I've been able to afford it, I've never exactly been one for sticking to 'in my front room' type exercise. I have to attribute a good deal of this to encouragement from the wonderful Ginger Vieira. She's been really helpful, giving me advice via Twitter (yes, I am a hooked convert), and pointing me in the right direction. If you're after inspiration, I suggest looking at her latest vlog. See, women can do weights! Oh and Ginger, if you're reading, notice how I also slipped 'chuffed' in again, for you? ;)

You might be wondering what the heck the picture of someone dressed as Wonder Woman is doing on today's post. Maybe you're not - you might be wondering about something else. But I'm going to assume that you are for a moment. Admittedly, it's not the first time I've had Wonder Woman pay a visit, but this is not about that. For a really long time, I've so badly wanted an excuse to dress up as her. I haven't, for several reasons. First up, I haven't really had occasion. That's one of the main reasons. However, I've never felt comfortable getting my legs out. I don't like having them on show, and the only time I ever wear anything shorter than just above the knee is in bed, or if I'm going swimming. I just don't like my thighs - no-one really needs to see that, at the end of the day! They're about the size of Shropshire.

However, in the next fortnight I have the opportunity to dress up. But I noticed this morning, after doing my workout, that my thighs in general felt different. By that, I mean, more toned and not as flabby. Sure, this is almost certainly psychological, because I doubt that the fruit of my workouts would show this quickly. But I'm going to keep telling myself it's real. That way, I'll have another reason to keep it up after the challenge is done!  

In an attempt to cross another thing off The List though, I've had Andrew buying me costume things off Ebay. On top of him harassing customer services over my laptop on my behalf. He is on his holiday - I should really leave him alone! Thank you, Andrew - you did help me get the laptop back! 

I've also been 'let loose' today! I'm guest blogging for Allison at Lemonade Life today. Please do have a wander over there and check it out, particularly if you've not read her blog before - it's always a good read!

Mixed bag of short updates tonight. First up, my laptop should be back in my hands at the start of the coming week - hooray! I have missed it dearly.

Second up - The D-Team Challenge has now in fact been booked. We'll be undertaking this madness on Saturday 14th August at 9:30am. We now have all four members of the team, and with the imminent return of the laptop, this means I can vlog for you all. With the challenge date now in sight, both training and fundraising can begin in earnest. I'd be very appreciative if those of you who are regulars here could help spread the word about what we're doing, and try and help gather support and funds. It's all for JDRF at the end of the day. That's what I keep telling myself when I don't want to do another ten arm and leg lifts. 

In other news, I now have a date for my pump clinic appointment. Had a bit of clash, but managed to reschedule it for 3rd August.

Just so you know that it's not just me training for this madness, I challenged Andrew to take on my workout routine this evening. He did. So I took pictures. 

Loading up the Wii Fit, and putting together my usual routine on his profile, I got the response of 'that's quite....thorough', which I actually found to be reassuring! I had been worrying that the whole thing was too wussy, or too easy. I am however, now told that it is not. 

To be honest, I would have been satisfied with an assessment of the Wii Fit routine, but to his credit, Andrew wanted to do the whole thing, just as I do it. Which meant starting with the weights. They look ridiculously small in his hands, and after advice from Ginger, I plan to up the weight of my dumbbells, starting from tomorrow. Andrew has a much better general level of fitness and strength than I do, so the weights and ab crunches were no problem for him.

Yoga, which I've always thought Andrew had problems with, since he struggles to balance on one leg, didn't seem to be too much of an issue tonight. I was very impressed with his balance - and slightly miffed that my own isn't as good! However, I was rather pleased to receive the reminder that he is actually human, rather than an exercise-droid, when the air got a little blue during his attempt at the Grounded V. I hate that one too.

I'm also rather convinced that the female equivalent of the Wii Fit Guy (Wii Fit Girl, I suppose?) is really quite shamelessly flirty. It's a touch concerning, and reminds me exactly why I have Wii Fit Guy as my trainer, even if I want to wallop him over the head with something the majority of the time. 

The muscle exercises didn't cause much of a problem either, except for ones where you have to stand on one leg. Until we got to the Parallel Stretch. That thing is evil, and I'm starting to think this might be a fact universally acknowledged. I've yet to find a person who enjoys doing this, and if I did, I'd be a bit scared of them, to tell you the truth!

Lastly, an 'island lap' on the jogging option. I always, for some unknown reason, managed to score a better 'burn rate' on this than Andrew does. I really, really don't understand how. He did really well today though, and managed to do the lap in 10 minutes, which I didn't think was possible, and scored a personal best on the burn rate. All in all, I say a very well done to him for doing it. And having just asked him, what was his final verdict on the workout as a whole?

Yey! I'm not a total wuss! Now to see if I can get Rob and Tom to take on the challenge, perhaps.

In other news, we've made it up to 4% of the total fundraising goal! Thank you so much to those of you who have donated already - you're absolute champions. As promised, I will be booking the date this week. I'm just waiting for news from Amsterdam to finalise the dates. I love that that sounds dreadfully exotic, but isn't really! Our fundraising pack from JDRF also turned up today, which I'm rather impressed with, and I'll be looking at that in great detail over the next couple of days.

Oh and yes, I did do this routine myself this morning. I didn't just watch Andrew do it!

So, yesterday I told you that I managed to get over myself, and actually perform at an open mic night. Hooray! That's one to cross off the list. I've had a couple of people ask me about this on Facebook. To answer these questions:

1: I sang a song called 'Out The Door', by Kate Micucci (watch it on YouTube!) Most people haven't ever heard this song, and they're more likely to have come across her as either Gooch on Scrubs, or as part of Garfunkel & Oates

2: There is no video, as I didn't take my pocket-cam with me. Maybe next time! Andrew did take a couple of photos though, as seen here. Sadly the lighting wasn't particularly flattering to either me or photography in general

It did not go perfectly. I did made mistakes, and I was unbelievably nervous. Andrew suggested I try a bit of Dutch courage to 'bring down the nerves, and bring down the crazy' - or something to that effect! So I had a rather large glass of wine first, which is a dangerous chance for me, really, as I'm a notoriously easy drunk. Sometimes one glass is all it takes for me.

But I did it. It was terrifying, but it was great as well. All the people there were really lovely and supportive. I'm only really sad that where we went is so far out that it might very well be difficult to go out there again, as I don't drive. 

Training wise: I did my workout proper yesterday. Today I did my weights, but not the WiiFit routine, because I didn't go to bed til very late, and spent the whole day walking around a theme park. 

Many thanks for all the lovely sorts who have offered to fill in for me here whilst I'm away for a week next month. I do still have one spot left, so do send me an email if you're interested in writing a guest post.

On another note, I must apologise if you've been waiting for a reply to an email, comment, or private message from me for a while. My laptop has not been working for some time now, and I currently don't have it in my possession. I'm using Andrew's laptop to blog, which means I don't often get time to respond to most emails. So if you've not had a reply from me over anything, that's why. Oh, and I have my friend Nick visiting this weekend, so I'm rather tied up over the next few days!

I have a bit of a list, that I add to as I think of things. It's not quite a 'bucket list', but rather a list of things that I've never done, and want to get round to doing.

So far this year, I've crossed climbing a tree off that list. I've quite a few things on there, which vary from visiting Italy to actually seeing a firefly. Between now and Sunday, I'm hoping to cross one, and possibly two things off the list. 

Number one is going on a boat. No, seriously, I've never done it. Lots of people find this bewildering, but I honestly haven't. Boat cruise down the River Ouse - oh yeah.

Number two isn't a definite, but a strong possibility. This is playing my guitar in front of people. Singing at the same time, obviously. Of course I've sung in front of people many, many times before, but I've never successfully made my way through playing a song on a guitar in public.

I'm very nervous about it, and I'm not sure if it will actually happen. I feel it's probably going to be more of a case of putting my guitar in the car, and seeing whether or not I chicken out when I get there. I'm having a lot of problems as well with my fingers causing me pain on the fretboards, where I lance. Serious ouchies. 

Anyway, I'll let you know what happens.

In other news, workout was HARD this morning. I did not want to get out of bed, and I almost stopped half way through, because my arms were hurting me an awful lot. Thankfully I managed to get through it.

Something went rather wrong with my bolus for dinner tonight, and I ended up at somewhere between 14mmol/l and 16mmol/l (252-288 mg/dl). Managed to do a decent correction though, and at last check I was at 4.9mmol/l (88mg/dl). So I'll probably end up actually having to eat something before going to bed, as it turns out!

Hoorah! The Wii Fit Guy actually had some nice things to say to me this morning! Which was good, because I needed to hear him say something nice.

So, I promised to tell you what this was all for. Here we go!

What is it about?

It's about me, and friends (who will now be referred to as The D Team!) taking on a high wire obstacle course in Dalby Forest, Yorkshire. The date is yet to be securely fixed, but it will either be in mid August or very early September.

The course in question is run by a company called Go Ape. Since they themselves say it best, this is what they describe themselves as:

So that's zip wires, nets, tunnels, bridges. Oh, did I mention I'm claustrophobic, and I still have remaining issues with heights? Quite honestly, I'm also not in the right shape to take on a challenge like this. Which is why it's a challenge at the end of the day! Let's see what the course we're taking on has to offer during the two-three hours that it's estimated to take to complete it:

 I will complete this. Why am I doing it? I want to raise money for JDRF. I know I'm not alone in thinking this is an amazing charity that is doing really important work. They need our help. If that means I have to do something stupid, something beyond my capabilities, and something that's going to be really hard work for me, so that I can try and support them as much as I can - well, then I'm going to do it.

I'll be keeping you updated along the way, with more training reports, videos (almost certainly complete with the A Team theme tune, I'm sure), and more. What I'm hoping for is your support. 

I will be setting up a fixed page on here in the next couple of days, with all the details - details of the event, members of The D Team, and links to a page where you can make secure donations if you feel so inclined (which I hope you do!) I hope that when these details are up, you'll help spread the word, so you can all watch my quite probable humiliation, and help the team raise money for a fantastic cause.

No, it's not a marathon in the literal sense, but getting ready for this is going to be just as gruelling for me, if not more. 

And that's Day Four

I was determined that I would get up this morning, and do my work out before heading off to work.

I've not exactly made a secret of the fact that my sleep routine is rubbish. I struggle to get up. However, if I know I have to get up for a thing, I'll quite often wake up hours in advance, because I'll be paranoid about oversleeping. 

So, I aim to get up at 7:40, so I can do weights, jogging, my 20 minute yoga/general exercises, and a few of the balance games. What time am I awake?

5:30am. Urgh. Of course it is. I'm not going to get up then, though! But can I get back to sleep? No, not really. So I did get up eventually. 

And....drumroll, please! I did work out! I was a good girl! 

Now, just the other how many days until the event happens to go...

The Wii Fit guy. If you've played Wii Fit at all, you know who he is. That's not even the right guy, I think, but it's the best shot I could find. 

He's the 'trainer' who leads you through all the muscle and yoga exercises. I've not selected the female trainer, because I don't think I could cope with a perfectly-computer-generated woman telling me how well or badly I'm doing. I think I'd imagine she was laughing at me. So I use the man. 

First thing after getting up, I check my waking levels. 7.3mmol/l (131 mg/dl) - good to go. 40 reps with the weights, then load up Wii Fit Plus. Twenty minutes of yoga and muscle exercises.

During this time, I did find myself yelling at the Wii Fit guy (who needs a name - suggestions?). Stop telling me my body is shaking. I know my body is shaking! It's because what you're asking me to do is difficult!

Did it all though (with some minor cursing), and then did the obstacle course (most annoying game ever?), Step Plus (because it's hilariously easy) and jogging to cool down. 

That's Day Two done. Let's see if I can manage to do this all before going to work tomorrow. Place your bets, please!

Yep, that is me. With weights. Andrew has a new camera (which is really awesome), and took this one of me.

I'm working out. This is a new thing for me. Admittedly, these are fairly wussy weights - which I have just noticed say York on them! - only a total of 10lbs, but you've got to start somewhere.

Why am I working out? Well, several reasons.

Reason 1 - I was hoping to take part in this event, which I mentioned a while back now, to raise money for JDRF. Unfortunately, it looks like this isn't going to happen, because although 'my team' can afford the entry fees OK, the cost of travelling, accommodation, and food in London is not cheap, and has just been brought to my attention. So sadly (and this is sadly) that particular event has had to be put on the back burner. I would have loved to do it, and would like to do it in the future - and perhaps do the whole event - but it looks like it's not meant to be this year. Unless some kind soul out there feels like helping me out with the practicalities, in which case, drop me an email!

However, there's now a new event in mind, which actually should end up being harder work for me - and make me have to face several fears! No more on it just yet, but as soon as I've got confirmed team members, and dates, I'll be putting up a sponsorship page, with the whole story. Keep looking out for it!

Reason 2 - Ginger Vieira and I are working on a project. Pretty hush-hush right now, but it WILL happen. If you don't know Ginger, do go check out her site. She's really awesome, and I'm having a lot of fun getting to know her. She's also an record holding powerlifter, and bench press champion. Hopefully she'll bear with me whilst I work up from wussy weights.

So what's my workout plan? Well, I'm still putting it together, but I'm having some help from the Wii Fit, and have put together a 20 minute yoga and muscle exercise plan, which I'm hoping to do before work every morning (giving me further motivation to GET UP), as well as reps with these 5lb weights. I'm looking to do four sets of ten reps, and work up from there.

What else? Well, sadly Dancesport has broken up for the summer, as far as I can tell. Silly university terms. So to fill the gap, I'm visiting a climbing wall, and I'm going to be taking up running.

You probably have no idea how much actually saying that fills me with dread. I hate running, I really, really do. I can sprint OK, but sustained distances? Let's just say that one of my proudest moments running was putting on a sprint at the last minute doing cross country at school, which meant that I came second from last in my year group as opposed to last.

So why am I doing it? Well, I want to try and raise as much money possible for JDRF. So I need to be able to do the event I'm planning on. I also need to be seen to be making a serious effort. I'm hoping that by tracking my progress with this, I'll be able to give you a good laugh - it's going to be thoroughly unglamorous, and maybe you'll take pity on me, and pass on the word of what I'm going to do.

Like I say, keep your eyes open. Probably next week I'll have details for you. And possibly a first vlog on the subject. I also need to get pre-exercise levels right. First 'training hypo' happened today.

We're off to a good start.