On the Thursday I had just one pe exam -- weight training YAAYYY. Sarcasm, if you couldn't tell. I was still aching from yesterday. I ate a banana in the hope that it might help... and then a smoothie and then an apple then a satasuma. It didn't help. I think the energy drained away in my nervousness.
Last lesson of the day (period six) at 2 o'clock sharp I went to the fitness room by the tennis courts. My pe teachers were talking and getting clipboards ready. They saw me come in and grinned happily. "Last exam in three minutes. At the end of this you'll have 60% of your final pe grade done."
I smiled back weakly. "Depends how good it was done." I said flatly.
"Oh, you shouldn't be worried. Your theory knowledge will help boost your mark. It's hard to be good at both the practical and the theory."
I didn't reply. I just went to my bag and got out a bottle of water, a pen and a ruler. Then I sat on a rowing machine, sliding backwards and forwards on the seat. "Don't use up all your energy before you've even warmed up. We'll just wait for the boys to come before we start." I stopped sliding and she sat on the weightlifting bench next to the Shoulder Press while Mrs C scrolled through her iPod playlists looking for her specially-chosen 'workout mix'.
We waited. And waited a bit longer. Five past two. Eight minutes past two.
I drummed my heels on the carpeted floor. I manouvered my tounge around my mouth in the hope that I would get some spit to hydrate myself. By this time I had gone a bit purple; I'd already swallowed nearly two-thirds of my water but was still in need of more.
Finally the boys wandered in: three out of the six had their hands down their shorts, one ambled in and asked what he was supposed to do next, another one had no pen to write with, and the other said he had to pee two seconds after he sat down. Great. Enthusiasm at its highest point, then. After Mrs R. yelled at the one with no pen to go and get a pen, we all sat in a corner and filled out the sheet. We had to draw a training graph; which meant working out our training thresholds. I had prepared for this so I knew what I was doing. Unlike the boys.
But anyway, I worked out my maximum heart rate. 220 - my age. Done.
Then I had to work out my 'training zone' - your maximum threshold and your minimum threshold of work. Any value between that is your training zone, where you aim to get your heart rate when you train. Your minimum heart rate during training can't be any lower than 30-40% of your anaerobic fitness (the most effort you can put in), which in my case is 214, (220 - 16). So to get this I multiplyed 214 by 0.3 (30%), which was 65bpm. I made it easy for myself - I chose 30% instead of 40% so my heart rate only had to increase by a few beats per minute to get into my training zone. Then we had to write up our maximum threshold of training; can be between 60-80% of your anaerobic fitness. Again, I took the easy option and multiplyed 214 by 0.6.
Anyway, we filled in this sheet and plotted the graph. We all took a resting pulse and then started a cicuit on the weights machines. I started on the shoulder press, then the tricep press down, then the wide grip pull down, then the bench press, followed by the leg extension and finally the pec flye. Everyone else had to work on another machine as well; the leg curl. It involves lying on two weightlifters benches; one flat and one slightly raised. You lie on your stomach and slot your shins under two bars, one for each leg, which are attatched to the set of weights.
There is no way to adjust this machine for body length. You can only change the length of the bars on the end. You just lie on your stomach, legs under the bars, and flex the hinge joints in your knees to lift the weights.
I can't do this; my legs don't reach the end of the bench; so therefore my legs don't reach the bars under which my legs have to go to be able to lift the weights.
But at least I had one less machine to work on.
At the end I was still, like everybody else, tired, and I ached especially in my arms thanks to the bench and shoulder press, but I was quite content with that.
I went home on time (yess) and ate some chocolate, along with cranberry juice and another fruit smoothie.
Apart from the nervousness, food overload and the pain, it was a good day.
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