Ever get those "OMG I NEED CHOCOLATE.....LIKE....5 MINUTES AGO" moments?

I'm just working through one now.

I may have worked through it by eating chocolate.

I may have made myself feel sick.

If this is the case, I totally deserve it ;)

Anyway, welcome to Wednesday. But on Thursday. It's always nice to be behind the actual day in your head, because when Friday comes you're not expecting it. Wooo.

Happy Friday eve!

So. Yeah. Wednesday pole blog.

I'll have to confess as to why I didn't write my pole blog yesterday. I was sulking. Not only was I sulking, but I couldn't actually type without it hurting - I thought you guys wouldn't mind me missing it.....right? I know, I know - the abandonment smarts, but I was with you every moment. Right in here....

Awwww *soppy moment*.

I was going to go for a picture of a real heart, but thought it might actually detract from the soppy moment. That and the real heart isn't responsible for emotions....it should have been a brain, but again, back to the original point... :P

So, yes. I was stropping.

Why? You might ask. Ooooh. Well.

We go to pole, all is well in the world. I'm looking forward to getting back on track after a couple of weeks where I've either not progressed at all or just sort of slipped off of the pole.

We warm up. My shoulder is stiff from the incident with the empty bar on Sunday (don't look at me like that) but it seems like it'll play ball.

I go to spin and BOOM. On the floor. OUCH.

Apparently, we weren't ready to commit to the pole like that. It was 5 minutes into the lesson and I was benched. I couldn't even get my arm above my head. Useless.

Luckily Tom and Amy were in a wonderfully beneficent mood and quickly decided (after MAKING me tell Karen I'd hurt myself) to show solidarity and spin with me. So we got Karen to work on thinking of one armed spins. It's not quite as much fun with one arm, but it passed the time just as quickly xD

Still, Monday's spins looked pretty and they worked well - I'll even share them with you here ;)

Maybe not the prettiest name, but it looks good xD

I'm working on making that kick even bigger (as Karen keeps telling me to!).

Anyway, I've still not quite regained my arm. No pole, no yoga and no lifting and I have to admit I'm getting a little cranky. Luckily I managed a little pilates this evening with no drama, which has alleviated the yearning to go and do REALLY fun stuff that might break me. More. *hmppph*

To distract myself from thinking about the pain, I've invested my time in neatening my left-handed writing (I can write with either hand, but having been encouraged to use my right hand more my left hand is a little wonky....) and paying attention to what I'm eating. Well. Paying attention to what I should be eating. The first statement was a bit of a lie, since I just consumed the weight of a small elephant in chocolate. Not that the chocolate is a coping mechanism. It just tastes really good.

I think I need better mechanisms to deal with being unable to stick to my normal routine!

How do you deal with being laid-up from exercise?

I made a grievous mistake today.

I did legs day.

I didn't know it would be a mistake, in fact, looking at the squat racks it looked like a positively great idea - and thus it remained to be until about 4 sets in.

Adding the lunges and the barbell hip thrusts was probably unnecessary, but since I was already shaking and sore I didn't see how it would cause any harm...

The thing is, I KNOW about doing legs day after a pole day. Admittedly, doing a legs day followed by a pole day is far sorer, but the principle applies either way round.

I started the session by doing a pull-up.....well, 3/4 of a pull-up :D Given my goals Sunday before last I am pretty pleased about that! (The One With The Burpees).

Anyway, the legs session went as all legs sessions do - I love legs day but given my legs are currently black and blue from poling it wasn't best advised!

Poling....ah yes, I've been poling ;)

This week started with a pull-up on the pole, which is something I've never been able to do! In fact, I did 1 and A HALF pull-ups - get me ;)

I've been building strength steadily and until last night I didn't quite realise how much stronger I had become from even a few weeks ago. I like to think it's the upper gym work, extra pole practice and increased calories that have attributed to the jump in strength.

Either way, I'm pleased as punch!

Well, as I was saying, the night got off on a good foot (as it were). I've been trying to get the "spin with no name" (aka the "post-it" spin, or "Robyn's spin") constantly for the past 5 weeks. I'm not ready to let it get me, but at the same time, I'm definitely not closer to getting it!

Karen asked what we were wanting to practise and of course, the spin with no name had to get a mention in there! Tom's been practising his flat-line scorpio, which is looking pretty good these days and I've been working on the pike (aka the hip-hold).

Then the glint came into Karen's eyes. I was naturally immediately suspicious, thinking that more arm-pit holds would be required from the lesson. That was only the first thing Karen had lined up. Upon being asked if we'd like to do something "amazing" I wasn't sure whether to be scared or excited.

The move is known as "Superman" and I felt like a million pounds doing it! Tom decided that he wanted to start working on his superman, given that it's a tricky move and can take a bit of practise I thought that was fair, however; watching our instructors show us how to do it I a) knew I was going to get roped into this and b) was very nervous about attempting it!

Tom managed to get a fairly good show of Superman on his first go, with some support - it looked incredibly hard. Like, the sort of hard I'd struggle with.

Then it was my go. There's no use protesting that it wasn't my idea, I just get the "look", so I got on with it.

Up into a knee hook and then......

"move your hips forward and drop the bottom arm Michelle"

I had NO idea how to do that, but Karen supported some of my weight as I worked it out and then all of a sudden it happened - I was in the pose.

I like to think of it like a ribbon unraveling onto the pole - you're in a knee hook and then your body sort of, unravels and in doing so turns around.

It felt AMAZING - especially when I got an "oh my God that is fantastic, that's amazing, well done!" from Karen - you KNOW you've done well when you get that sort of praise from Karen, which makes it worth working for it!

I did it another 5 or so times, only once forgetting how to actually move into it (as soon as the camera came out of course!). As someone said to me last night, the pinch as you move into it really does take some getting used to and the bruises are rather spectacular from doing it. But it's worth it, it's always worth it!

At the end of the lesson I was told I'd need to get a photo of the superman, and I am SO glad I did. Ok, so I *might* have fallen off of the pole at the end of the move having tripped over my feet whilst dismounting. And maybe ending up at your instructor's feet on your back with your feet up in the air isn't exactly the most graceful way of dismounting, but hey, I'll take it - we all know drop and roll works (thank goodness for the martial arts training is all I'll say :p).

Lucky though I wasn't hurt even a little bit (aside from my VERY damaged pride), no one got it on tape (thanks for laughing and asking if they had though Amy :p) and I got THIS photo from it.

I'm still buzzing about it.

It does go to show that you can constantly surprise yourself - when I stepped up to that pole I honestly did not think I'd be able to pull this move off. I thought I had months, if not years of work to put into it - I certainly wasn't expecting to be able to put myself into the pose first time, let alone hold it.

It does show though, that you should NEVER underestimate yourself. Apparently you're capable of things you never thought you'd be able to pull off - remember that.

As I got reminded by Tom though, people have very different strengths. Apparently a basic spin is something I'll need to work on - which both Amy (one of our pole buddies) and Tom found very amusing and given I was being a bit bossy with the both of them (DON'T GIVE UP CMON YOU'VE GOT THIS apparently doesn't go down too well sometimes...) I happen to feel they felt some satisfaction in instructing me in how to do a basic spin and then seeing me fail quite hard.

Additionally, a corkscrew spin......EVIL. I cannot get my bum in front of the pole for love nor money....

Looks so simple.....

I did request another armpit hold - they don't actually seem to hurt too much and they look pretty good, so Karen decided to give me this one. I've no idea what it's called but if you get it wrong IT HURTS LIKE HELL.

My first attempt I managed to wrap my elbow and forearm round the pole, which, when given the weight of my body burned....it burned like it was on fire and led to me (not) gracefully collapsing into a swearing mass at the bottom of the pole.

Still, second go....

Presenting armpit hold #2 :D

Yeah, I know I look a little smug.

This was after the incidences with the basic spin and the others couldn't do it (teehee). Also, it's supposed to be a smile, but given that all you're REALLY holding on with is the skin on your inner arm it's sort of hard to smile whilst you want to be crying a little bit. As I find with most pole work.

I'd also like to add (in my defence) that by now I'm actually holding my breath because I'd been in the pose for a few seconds - Karen is just out of shot telling me to put my feet down more.

So, not really smug. Ok, a little bit but they did laugh at my basic spin. And when I fell off of the pole.....honest.

So what have I learnt this week from pole? Mostly that you can completely surprise yourself - especially when you're least expecting it!

Oh, and doing my yoga before going to pole.....what a great idea xD

Today I found myself in what can only be described as heaven on earth....

It was a barn, with poles and there was NO ONE there (well, aside from me and Tom). We paid £5 and got to stay there as long as we liked. We were surrounded by fields and a couple of horses - it was gorgeous and we had an awesome time. I also got to play DJ because no one was using the sound system - Gaga and Maroon 5 are pretty good to dance to xD Lily Allen was voted best pole music for the session!

It was amazing.

My sexy poler dance has some work needing to be done on it though ;) And when I say "some" I mean hours and hours of dedicated sexiness :p

I am of course beyond sore now! We were out last night on a pole night out, it's amazing what a little community forms around a shared passion. It was so nice to see everyone all dolled up for a night out and we were (slightly drunkenly) told several times that we're good students, which is always lovely to hear ;)

My shiny shoes are amazing, although I do now feel like I've done a REALLY long legs workout from them (at least I'm fairly sure it's from them and not from the poles because they hurt BEFORE I went poling ;) ). Anyone else find that? It's funny because I really love gorgeous shoes, however I usually decide they're not worth the blisters - I mean, you can't pole or run properly with blisters on your feet....

#runnerproblems #poleproblems

I don't know when that mindset took me, but I'm ok with that. Got to stay mobile!

I'm going to keep this a short one tonight as I need a bath. A LONG bath. With lots of bubblies to play with. I mean....relax in!

Before I go though, I finally got Hoozio's gift out and I'll leave you with my "artwork" as a parting present :) Our fundraising total is sitting on a healthy £738 and I'm working on getting our pledges actually handed in!!

Remember, I make custom crafts and paintings so give me an email if you'd like something made - they make cute gifts :)

Just to keep you updated, here are a selection of my shinies that I make.

Since I started making them for fundraising I've found I REALLY enjoy making these craft type items and I'm going to continue making them.

My listings can be found on Etsy or you can mail me directly here if you like the look of something (as not all of these are listed on my Etsy shop).

They're all hand-made and I'm working on new designs as we speak. If you'd like a design made or fancy one for yourself, or as a gift mail me at [email protected] :)

They're all under £5 and they're all lovingly crafted!

See. Total cuteness :)

Catch y'all later!!

I'm back baby yeah.

I decided to lay low for a week, eat and sleep my way to being as strong as "usual" and then get back on the wagon in style.

Today marks the day I feel fully alive again. It's a strange sort of feeling, one I'd never have realised was possible before I started working out, but it felt like I'd been suffocating all week. It's one that some of you will nod your head in acknowledgement of and some of you will quirk your head to one side and pass it off as part of my madness, but living without workouts is like living without air.

Ok, so that's being *slightly* melodramatic, but for me workouts represent something very important. As you know I've battled with depression during the course of my life and working out is a very real way of keeping myself alive, happy and functioning. They may as well be air - they're a lifeline to actually being alive.

Last week I initially spent thinking "oh yes, time to eat ALL THE THINGS and relax", but by Wednesday my mood had taken a nosedive and Sunday I was positively dangerous. I spent most of the week feeling like I was meant to be doing something, like I had missed something. I was restless and hugely irritable. I felt lethargic, bloated and very, very unhappy.

It was when I threw a mini tantrum trying to find a sock earlier today that I knew it was time to work my way back to the gym. I'm going to be honest, but running isn't going to happen just yet on account of a HUGE blister on my big toe that squelches every time I put my foot down (yummeh) but the weight room was calling and who am I to turn it down?

Having uncovered my FitBit that had been washed for the second time in as many months (it's still working thank goodness) and found two socks (not matching of course) I headed out to the gym to meet Tom for our usual kick-ass weight session.

The gym kicked my bottom. I'm not going to lie. I struggled through weights that I usually don't have quite as much trouble with, but I did it. I persevered and finished all of my sets, even upping the weight on my flyes and doing three sets of decline push-ups (which strangely I find easier than normal push-ups....). I even managed half a pull-up. Get me.

My arms are sort of shaky now. And I'm starving

Now one of my amazing #sweatpink sisters has been asking for people to try out her 4 week fitness plan, so on account of my #sweatpink sister Angelena I will be trying out her "4 week Shape Up Plan" for the next four weeks. (You can find out more about Angelena here at her blog "On Fire Fitness"). The shape up plan calls for a quite drastic change in the way I'm going to be eating and feeling about food, which should be interesting - as you all know I'm very much an IIFYM kind of girl (I talk about that in depth here) so trying out the Paelo diet will be interesting. I'm especially excited about weaning myself off of sugar and processed sugars - I went to the dentist recently and got told I need a filling. Fillings do not make me happy. Therefore, sugar does not make me happy! (Given I don't drink, smoke, drink fizzy drinks or eat tons of sweeties and I brush and floss my teeth 2-3 times a day with an electric toothbrush the only "real" culprit is the amount of processed sugars in my diet). It's funny that the final straw on the sugar train has been my teeth - but hey, they have to last a lot longer, so we'll have to keep them in good nick!).

So, my plan going forward will be to follow Angelena's plan - which calls for considerable weight training and HIIT cardio training (just my sort of thing). I'm also planning on seeing how long a streak of Yoga I can get. I plan on doing 20 minutes a day, every day for as long as I can in an unbroken streak. I'm currently on half a day.... 0_o I'm also planning on being able to do a full pull-up by the time I go back to school in Sept.....wish me luck xD

I have to go and take my measurements and get some "before" photos for when I do my final write up for Angelena, but I'll keep you all updated on how it's going! Today is chest, triceps and abs and I feel that it's gone very well :D I just have to finish my dreaded planks (yes, I know they're awesome for core strength but I HATE them. Almost as much as I hate burpees. Actually, possibly more. At least with burpees you're DOING something!).

See. At least someone out there agrees with me! You're not alone Vanessa Guerrero!!

Ha.

Anyway peeps, I'm off to soak my massive blister (which has taken offence to the shoes I put it in) and take my measurements.

Be good and stay happy - keep working out :D

Just a short one today.

In about an hour and 30 minutes Simon and I will be heading off to pick up Tash and Amber so we can register for the event tomorrow.

We're then going to have a BBQ, kick back, eat loads of pasta and prepare psychologically for the event.

At 6am tomorrow morning, we'll be at the start line, ready to walk for the next 28hours or so.

We have spent hours in training, over 400km have been covered in training.

At the moment I'm scared, nervous, excited, worried, excited..... ;) all in equal measure. Our main concern of course is blistering. I've had some pretty nasty blisters - both during last years event and once in training (only once). So here's hoping we finally cracked the blister care!

We've put so much into this event, training, fundraising, planning - it's all going to be done with in another 72 hours. How strange is that?

If you haven't sponsored us - please please do. We're not at our fundraising target yet and we need all the help we can get.

My Justgiving page is https://www.justgiving.com/Michelle-Reynolds4/

You can follow our progress through the course on our Trailwalker Facebook page (separate from my Diary of a Pole Addict main page) and we'll be posting up pics as we go!

I won't be posting in the next couple of days - be good and keep up the good work!

I'm now going to go outside and I may be some time...

Today something MAJOR happened.

I took a step towards stopping myself bullying me!

Let me explain. It's REALLY hot here in the South of the UK at the moment. I'm too hot to mess about. I didn't want to wear my 3/4 length shorts because they're too hot - I wanted to wear hot-pants and I'm disinclined to acquiesce to my constant fear of what people might think (*gosh how could they think?!*) with our high-twenties temps (laugh all you like my American friends, it's hot for here :p).

For years I've told myself my legs are too fat. People will look at me (why does that even matter?!).

This is what I look like in hotpants.

Not too bad right? You're probably wondering what on earth the fuss was about. Let me explain - Looking at the photos, I don't see myself, I see a stranger. I can see she's not too badly built, maybe carrying a little extra weight, but it doesn't look awful. You wouldn't second glance it.

But inside my head....I don't look like that.

Let me describe what inner Michelle looks like.

She's 5'6ish, 200Ibs. Her thighs look like downed tree trunks, you know - the big old oaks, the kind of tree it takes a real storm to pull up. Her stomach is gross, like a big bag of goo stuck onto the front of her body. Her boobs are all over the place and she has a stupid dorky face with her top teeth that overhang...

It's weird the pictures we build for ourselves isn't it. I can see the girl in the picture. She's alright looking. In fact, she looks fairly slim. If we're being bitchy we can say theres a bit of weight on the stomach and thighs but she's alright really.

Today marks the first time I stopped myself from beating on myself.

Don't get me wrong, it took a HUGE force of will.

I dressed in hot-pants ready to go to the gym. When I got outside I could see my thighs jiggling with every step, the fat bouncing against my other leg and undulating back across. I felt like with every step a tsunami was happening on my thighs. I had to go back and change. I almost cried. I looked awful, how could I still be so fat?

I made hubs turn the car around and let me go back into the flat to change. I even went back into the house and stood in front of the mirror for about 5 minutes. Willing myself to look different, willing myself to accept me, willing myself to change.

With a feeling of intense triumph warring against blind panic, I turned myself away from the mirror and left the house dressed exactly as I'd come back in when I'd been intending to change.

With one last "tell me honestly, am I too fat for these?" to hubs, I sat myself back in the car and with no elaboration here, had tears in my eyes - from fear, from panic, from feeling like something major had just happened.

I FORCED myself to walk through the lobby, into the gym and workout with hot-pants on.

No one even second glanced me. Well, except from the kiddie who was lifting a good 15kg less than I was on the incline-flyes, but I'm going to guess that wasn't because of my gym attire.

Maybe this sounds totally crazy to you. I know other people couldn't care less what I look like. And in reality it's not really them I care about, it's my OWN opinion of myself that has to change. That's really the root of the issue here.

Maybe you understand me word for word. Maybe you are working up to the same thing I've just done. All I have to say to you, whether you are a sister or a brother is - you look amazing. Don't let yourself tell you any different.

And if anyone else says anything negative to you, remember, it's them - not you. Normal people don't go around trying to make other people feel bad about themselves.

So this is what I woke up to on Sunday morning.

At 5:30am my alarm clock went off.

Dave also felt it was time to be fed.

So, I stumbled out of bed, managed to request coffee whilst Simon was making some (or at least I think I requested coffee. I may have just grunted enough that he knew what I meant) and fed the damn cat.

At 6am Kenny turned up to take us to CP5. This is the Washington check-point and it's exactly half way. 50km in. We're expecting to arrive at CP5 at around 7-8pm on Saturday night (14-15 hours after we start walking).

This is what everyone thought of the CP at 7:30am.

As we walked off Tash was muttering something about "those smiles you see. They're faked". Bah, whatever happened to team spirit ;)

40km was curiously easy for everyone, with the level of training we've been doing it's no real surprise, now it's only those hills that are getting people. We lost Simon down Death Hill at one point. He'd stopped to eat....I didn't have the heart to tell him we'd likely be doing it in the dark, so eating there could get you trodden on!

With 10 hours together, there are lots of topics of conversation that come up. Tasha's bodily functions seem to come up a lot. Amber's proficiency with finding the biggest rocks to kick by "accident". Simon's knees and me? I'm all about the trees people.

It's funny, this weekend we walked around 55km (in total) on 5 hours sleep and there's always a point that the delusions set in...

It would seem that we're all going to have a tomato and potato smoothie, that's been put in the washing machine in the light-house....

Let me explain.

Tash declared, about 8 hours in, that she wanted FRUIT. Fruit, now preferably. Which got us talking about smoothies. Simon listened for a while and with a look of great concentration told us that he'd like "those round, red things, you know - those tomatoes in his smoothie".
"Tomatoes?" We asked.
"Yeah. They're round. They're red. They have green bits. They're a bit like those other things." That helped....
Those other things. "Raspberries". He declares, looking very serious.
"You mean strawberries?"
"yeah, they're the things".

Right.

Amber on the other hand had been talking about the Lighthouse we had to go past at Jack and Jill. Lighthouse? Oooops. Think we meant windmill there dear!

Testing new things:
Before we set out I'd decided to do an experiment. I don't know why I do these things, last week worked perfectly well, but still I had to find out.

I'd been told that wearing liner socks with thick socks will reduce rubbing. Sounded legit.

So, with one foot with a thin sock on, and one foot with a thin sock and a thick sock on I proceeded to walk 40km.

The results?

...it was a real boost to everyone to KNOW they can easily cover 40km and we learnt lots of stuff!

• Don't mess around with things that work!
• Don't eat too much sweet stuff.....all those breakfast bars....so sugary >.<
• Pack for rain but prepare for scorching heat (we were forecast rain....and this is what we ended up with....)

Anyway, so, what can you expect on long distance training?

Blisters!
Delirium.... ;)
Tiredness
and LOTS of calories!

I'll leave you with our photos :)

5, 000 calories burned, not nearly enough eaten. Time to gorge :P

Stay happy and keep clicking peeps! <3

It's been stuck in my head for about 24 hours now. I'm passing on the buck :P

Thank goodness today is Wednesday. I've spent all day thinking it was Tuesday, but without the expectation of pole...it was like being in limbo! At least Tuesdays = pole day. Psuedo-Tuesdays do not!!

I got given some chocolate a couple of days ago. An innocuous box of Cadbury's Heroes. I swear sometimes that my students are entirely set on getting me to look the way I did when I was bigger because apparently they can't believe it would happen. Oh, it would happen. One day, when I'm offered a cupcake, or a brownie, or a chocolate I'll get food-blindness and it'll be like the hulk transformation....only I'll eat ALL THE THINGS. That'll learn em... :p

Anyway. The chocolates are sat on my desk. If you listen REALLY carefully, you can hear them, they're whispering "Twirl me round your tongue Michelle, get all Twisted up with us. We're Caramel-ing for your attention, don't Fudge this up..." .... honest...

It's like when you pass the cakes in the staff room that have been left out from our "coffee" mornings whispering "look into my Iii-cing Michelle, you know you want to...."

No? Just me then.

So, yesterday was POLE. POLE. Whoop!

Having done an EVIL upper session with Tom on Monday, followed by a 45 minute swim and a core gym session on Tuesday I got to pole feeling a little worse for wear. Now, when I say worse for wear, I mean that my arms no longer move above chest level and I think my hips have locked up.... ;P

Still, that's no reason not to stretch it out, shake it off and get onto that pole :D

Tonight we'd been "demoted" to the shorter pole we started on, it felt weird but after a few inversions it all got pretty much back to normal.

Robyn was instructing us tonight, and came over just as Tom was chickening out of trying to do a one-handed knee release. He blames the hairs on his legs. I think he's just being a wimp ;P

What were we doing last time? I kept VERY quiet at this point. What was I doing last (yes, I am fully able to admit to being a wimp at this stage. Although if I'd known what Robyn had in store I'd have been singing it from the roof-tops) I was doing double knee-hooks (OUCH) and Gemini into Hip Hold....Robyn didn't know this, as Tom explained he was going into a Flatline Scorpio from Butterfly. I happily helped Tom onto that pole, positioning his arm just so....

And then came my turn. Uh, yeah. Not attempting that just yet. I finally 'fessed up and told Robyn what I'd been working on....mostly.

Apparently the two moves we'd been working on were "hard", why not try something "easier"?

Easier.

Now that's a relative term isn't it.

Half-star into Geneva into Genie. Uh. What?

Geneva - check, Half-Star....check-ish. Genie? What the hell is a Genie?

Well. This is a Genie.

Let me explain what a Genie is.

It's actually 30 seconds of mind-numbing pain from pinching my fat thighs, tilting backwards to try and get my hip (which is still stiff from the 40k on Saturday) to BEND round the pole to get my second leg on.

Hilarity ensued. Robyn very patiently held my weight as I got my arse onto the pole and sort of almost got it. "Lean back into it, go on - just there". For some reason that command did not compute and I ended up sliding down the pole on my left butt cheek with as much dignity as I could muster.

I suddenly felt nostalgic for the old "drop and roll" moments we'd have (which I might add are still really handy for that inverted thigh-hold).

Eventually, with a look of resignation Robyn left us to go and check on the other pole she was instructing, leaving me with a stern "when I get back you'd better have done it" *gulp*

So, with Tom on hand here ensued my battle with the Genie.

Having tried (and failed) several times, frustration won out with a rather colourful explanation of why I *couldn't* do it. I didn't mean that and I knew it. I can do anything I put my mind to.

Tom stepped forward to have a pop and got a hissed "I'm not finished yet. F*ck this move". Within 30 seconds I was sitting in a Genie.

The Michelle from a year ago would have stepped back and let Tom go. Hell, the Michelle from 10 weeks ago would have done so, but I know something now that the old Michelle didn't know. I know I can do it.

Having droned on at you guys, week on week - never give up, believe in yourself, do the things you want to do I knew I couldn't just give up and let the weak side of me win that one. I'm not going to roll over and beg for the old Michelle.

So, having had a good pop at Genie and knowing now that it CAN be done, I took a break. I'm not going to lie, the back of my knee looks like someone has taken a bat to it. Think black and blue. In fact, lets get a picture in here.

Thing is. It hurts like hell, but it's a symbol of the work I've put in. It's a symbol of something much bigger to me too. It's a symbol of all of the weakness inside of me no longer being there. Old Michelle would never have bruised just for the love of doing something.

I got an approximation of Genie, which I'll continue working on, but felt like finishing the evening off with a spin. So I got Robyn to show me a spin I REALLY love the look of, not sure what it's called - it looks like a variation to the Rockstar spin, but with the split grip and the second leg over the top....no, I'll take a video when I get it. At the moment all attempts are ending in one leg dragging round behind me and/or me in a heap on the floor....which is of course apparently amusing to watch...

Now a few people have spoken to me, saying that pole looks great - they'd really like to try it out. I always totally recommend it, it's amazing exercise (I may not be able to pick up a pen today, but it shows it works - also, the progress pics on my upper body would suggest that even without the weights recently, pole has been making some amazing changes in me :D).

So what would I recommend you bring with you to a pole lesson?

1. Water Bottle - you WILL sweat. It's hard work - the girls in the YouTube videos make it look easy simply because they have practised. If you look back over my pole videos you will see the difference ;)
2. Flip-Flops - I recommend wearing open footwear that you can slip off. If it's your very first time you might want to check you won't be doing anything with your shoes on, but most dance lessons I've been to are a no-shoe zone. It saves having to try and get your socks back over your bruised feet at the end of the session....
   
3. Loose trousers - the first lesson or two you might get away with 3/4 length shorts. After that, you'll WANT the hotpants, so much more freedom for movement but whatever you do, if you're going to cover up at the start of the lesson go LOOSE. I know for one that when I get hot I puff up. Tom will attest to seeing me trying to get back into a pair of jogging bottoms once. From then on, I've gone trackie sort of loose.
   
4. A Caribina - one of those climbing clips. One of my fave things full stop, but for pole, you can have it attached to your water bottle/bag and then simply clip your watch and any bracelets/rings you have to it. No fussing around with pockets or worrying about losing them, all in one place. Yesterday my water bottle had my watch, my wedding ring and my spare hairband clipped to it.
   
5. Your phone - even at the start TAKE PHOTOS. They always look cool and they'll help you track your progress. If you look at my first Pole Freaks article, you can see clearly my progression and they were all kind of accidental photos. I never thought to take them at the start and it's one of my 'regrets' for my pole journey - I'd love to see full progress from then till now!
   

If you're more advanced I'd say liquid chalk in the last place there, but it's really best suited for the end-ish part of the evening when you're hot and slippy.

Pole-rs out there, do you agree? What would your "top 5" be?

I have at least two more bites that look like that. And they're still swelling :( (sympathy sympathy :p)

My nemesis. The horsefly.

I learnt an important lesson on yesterdays walk...TAKE INSECT REPELLANT!!

Anyway, enough fishing for sympathy....for now ;)

The day started with a picture of some of my favourite food....flapjacks :D Love these things - Kenny makes great flapjacks. It's part of the Support Team specification ;P

I don't blame Simon for dancing around that one. Amber did *try* to march through it, but stopped when she started taking water on board ;)

I would have filmed said encounter, but there had been some mutiny regarding the camera already. Apparently I can "stuff it". Hmmppph. Luckily for everyone (or maybe for me), my phone died shortly after horse-fly lake. Before that though, I managed to get some gorgeous shots....

Spending 10 hours with people under continuously exerting conditions shows their character well. Aside from the occasional mumbled death threats regarding rather steep hills and one occasion where there was talk of exsanguination via horse-fly just to make the walking stop (apparently if the team leader stops, they get to stop.....according to Simon it would be a bit like in Minecraft when you have the sheep and you're leading them along with seeds. If you drop the seeds the sheep just sort of wander off).

Speaking of....does anyone know how much blood is in those things!!? One landed on Tash, which Amber managed to take a good hit at and the thing literally popped. There was blood everywhere (most of which I assume was mine). It was like some sort of gory vampire movie. There was blood all over Tasha's leg and it even spurted on to her other leg.....gross.

I don't usually like to kill insects, I always feel a bit guilty when a spider dies on account of me (Dave the cat is very adept at catching insects), or the poor ladybird that Simon put out of the car-window.....insect murder is NOT ok people. But horseflies. I was eventually out for blood. I even managed to get one that was trying to bite my stomach. Yeah. Got her good.

By the time we reached "Kill You Hill" the horseflies had gone to bed and we were left with just getting up the thing. I have to say, near the top I was tempted to just drop to my knees and lay on my face for a while but Tash got me though with a rousing rendition of "Careless Whisper". We rocked that tune.

Shortly after that Amber volunteered to be used as a sled. At that point it was well time for home...

Anyway, 9.5 hours after we left Hartness Down we arrived in Storrington. Or, well. A field near Storrington. Kenny picked us up and we were home, to watch the footie by 10:00pm.