Ireland day 0870. Thursday 15 February 2024- Gym Return *

Ireland day 0870. Thursday 15 February 2024- Gym Return

Today’s summary	After a lot of persuasion by Val, I returned to the gym this morning. Was OK. Got a haircut in the afternoon then enjoyed a delicious salad made by Val in the evening. Day 1 of a healthier lifestyle!
Today’s weather	Damp and drizzly to start after overnight rain, a bit brighter later. Light westerly wind. Appx 12c

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where I walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Malahide hidden hill path closed

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

Over the last few months I feel I have rather let myself go. I’ve been eating too much, and not exercising enough. OK I have some decent-ish excuses – hospitalisation and a new job being two of the most notable – but they are more or less behind me now (and I finally close off my job with a Board presentation next Tuesday). So I really do need to start doing something to get back into shape.

I let my gym membership lapse last September and, at Val’s instigation, I decided to renew it. So while Val went off to Tesco to buy salad and vegetables ( 🙁 ) I toddled off down to the Arena gym at the Grand Hotel to rejoin. Just for a month this time, to see how I get on – but at least it’s a start. I spent an hour sweating over the rowing machine, cross trainer, exercise bike and weights, then finished off with 24 lengths of the pool. I actually quite enjoyed it and certainly felt very virtuous by the time I’d finished.

We had beans on toast for lunch when I got back, then in the afternoon we both went into Malahide to get a few more bits (not much success I have to report) and I got my hair cut. The no 4 and no 2 should last me a couple of months and I feel better already.

Once it was dark, I decided to head out on a short walk up my newly-discovered “hidden hill”, only to discover, to my dismay that the path was blocked off by a double row of builders’ fences. Hopefully it will be reopened soon but for the time being at least someone definitely didn’t want anyone passing that way. So I had no option but to retrace my steps back down to the coast road, and return to the flat via Tesco.

Val pulled together a delicious pear salad for dinner using a recipe from St Delia’s “How to cheat at cooking” book. As well as tasting nice, we convinced ourselves that it was healthy too.

So – day 1 of a new healthier lifestyle successfully completed – I just need to make sure I don’t lapse into a late night biscuit frenzy, which does sometimes happen I must admit. Just need some good TV to distract me! Thanks to Val for setting me off on the right path and for the delicious food!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


First lot of today’s cherry blossom – by the Grand Hotel	Second lot – by the railway station

Colourful sunset over the Casino grounds this evening. Red sky at night – a good day tomorrow, perhaps?	I went up the “hidden” hill from the Seapark side and the path was closed by builders’ fences just beyond here. Tried to find a way through but it was well and truly blocked so had to retrace my steps back to the coast road.



Sunset over the Dublin Road railway bridge. I’d never noticed the huge number of chimneys and windows on the terrace of houses on the left hand side of the road before