In typical blogger fashion, putting things down in writing in public is likely a good way to keep myself on the straight and narrow. In this case, keeping track of my progress at training up for the upcoming Vertical Marathon at Swissôtel The Stamford in November this year. It’s now May, and that gives me more or less five months to get my lard butt in shape, and hopefully lose a couple of kilos in the process. Also, I signed up for the Vertical Marathon the last round, but chickened out at the last minute. Ahem.

While I write this, i’m sweating a puddle in my study, having woken up at 630am this morning for day one of my ‘training’ regimen: jogging around my HDB block as a warm up, and then climbing up the 25 floors of my HDB block. Suffice to say, 25 storeys took me approximately 15 minutes to do, resting in between included.

The view from up top was spectacular in the early hours of the morning, totally worth the climb, and I would have taken a snapshot to share, but a) i didn’t bring my phone along, and b) i was already seeing a number of stars spinning around my noggin.

Now to see if I can squeeze in a trip or three to the gym during the week.

PT aside, looks like Project 600 is helping greatly.

5 down, at least another 30 more to go.

Gyms aren’t new to me. Over the past couple of years, i’ve had memberships in various fitness centers. Each time, i’d go in for a week or two, then find a convenient excuse to slack off. Work, life, the (then) girlfriend; whatever. If it was a legitimate excuse to get away from the muscle aches and soreness, i’d grab at it, even as I knew how good it actually feels when you’ve just completed a workout.

Two weeks ago, I decided to take the next step. This time, i’m hitting myself where it really hurts: in the wallet. How? By signing up for a personal trainer, something I’d swore earlier that I’d never do. 30 sessions in total, roughly S$2.4K committed. That’s like five Nintendo Wiis. Or a pair of 42″ LCD televisions. Two awesomely configured PCs. Four Xbox 360s.

Damn.

I think I finally realise just why you’re paying these dudes to kick your ass. So far, it’s been two sessions, combined with copious cardio in between, and despite the persistent muscle aches, this is the best I’ve felt in a long time.

2 down, 28 to go. Must remember to go pick up a proper weighing scale soon.