My week at Tough Love Central Station (Part One)

Jules goes to Melbourne

The purpose of this five day visit to Melbourne was to try on the full uniform kit for my new job as a Graduate Ambulance Paramedic with Ambulance Victoria and to find a place that I could call home. Or that was the official purpose. The unofficial purpose? To do some (or lots of) training at Harper's. One may argue that it was really all about Harper's.

Here is a report on my time in Melbourne. Since I can't write a brief version of anything I've decided to be a Craig-copy-cat and break this post into four parts.

Sunday 1 Feb

I flew into Tullamarine (Melbourne) airport at 10:20 AM and slowly made my way to my friend's place in Caulfield North via the Airport Sky Bus, a train to Flinder's St Stn and then the No. 64 tram.

At 3:00 PM I met up with a bloke named Pat who I was possibly going to move in with if we mutually agreed we could live together after half an hour! We must have decided we could as it's all happening. I love the apartment - it's a year old and still so nice and new. Why settle for 'mediocre' when you can have something 'amazing' (without being over-the-top)?

Monday 2 Feb

At 9:45 AM I set my eyes on the one-and-only Harperdome on Nepean Highway, Brighton East. Having not slept very well, I was (silently) hoping for a miracle boost of energy when I arrived here this morning. I walked up the stairs and expected to see a reception desk. There wasn't one. I kept walking and found the Baldman in his office. Not feeling sure he would remember me from RYL Sydney (Oct 26, 2008), I said 'Johnny, it's Jules' (did you know it was me, Johnny?). We had a bit of a chat and he introduced me to Michael who I knew from Craig's site as 'Mikey.' 'You're still alive after the beer fueled marathon, I see?' He told me he was looking for a new challenge. He didn't seem all that fussed over my idea of him doing an Ironman Triathlon. "Too much training." Johnny pointed out Rona to me, who was close to drowning in her own sweat on the StairMaster. After she was done, we shared a welcome-to-Harper's hug, complete with sweat! Nice. Thanks, Rona. First lesson: Harper's is definitely not a place for the faint-hearted, the precious and certainly not for the sweatophobic (I made that up - someone with a fear of sweat). My debut PT session here at Harper's would be with Rona, in 45 mins at 10:30. Yes, I know, I was eary. Very early. I like being early. (I used to play the clarinet and one of my orchestra conductors said to us: "If you're on time, you're late." Think about that. So, if you're 'early' that means you must be on time; if you're 'late', you're mega late! Are you confused yet?) The Baldman printed some stuff for me. I signed my life away, basically. Rona took my BP (it was a little high - I was anxious? Excited? In a new environment. I hadn't slept too well), HR 58bpm. I finished off the paperwork and then changed into my workout gear. I was ready to rock and roll. I had found that boost of energy. Must have been the AMAZING atmosphere at the Harperdome. What else could it have been? Okay, so it may have come within me.

As all good PT clients do (I'm by no means new to personal training), I jumped on a treadmill (scheadmill) and did a 10 min run @ 8 km/hr to warm up. Okay, so it ws a slow jog.

Jules' debut Harperdome PT session - with Rona

My session with Rona was for 1 hour. It was primarily an assessment to get an idea of where I was at with stuff. I hadn't done much strength training stuff for a while - yeah okay, I had done zero. I was fully into my triathlon training. 100% cardio, in other words. She wanted to see how I did pushups (I did the chick version, on my knees, but my chest had to touch a wobbly disk each time). Specifically, how many could Jules do in a minute? I started pumping them out easily but then slowed considerably. But I didn't stop to pause. I was happy with that. We did some lunges on the cable machine thingy, and some where I had to balance on one leg. That was tough. I did dynamic lunges where I stepped forward with alternate legs across the room, and then the same thing but holding a medicine ball. We also did some dumbbell bicep curls, tricep pushdowns and dumbbell shoulder press. On the cardio side of things, she had me doing shuttle runs, and straddle runs (is that what it's called?), and 2km on the upright bike. We finished off with some core stability stuff. You meanie - after all my lil muscles are fatigued?

I was in for another treat. As if meeting the Baldman (again), Mikey and Rona wasn't quite enough, I met Mountain Girl (Cherie Horne). I was actually lying on the mats when Cherie came over to say hi to Rona. Rona she said 'Cherie, this is Jules.' Cherie said 'The Jules?' I had been in email contact with her and had mentioned I was keen on doing a session or two with her this week.

I jumped on a spin bike and rolled my legs over for 1/2 hour, then did a run-off-the-bike on the tready for 10 mins, then a cool-down walk for 10 mins.

The double dare

On Australia Day (Jan 25) Craig Harper did a four-hour segment on SEN ('Melbourne's home of sport' - a radio station). Craig invited any of us grasshoppers to phone the radio station for a live-to-air chat. Long story cut short, Craig dared Michelle to ring in, and stupidly (in the theme of an old kids quiz show called Double Dare) I double dared her and 'threatened' that Craig and I would collectively come up with a 'physical challenge' for her to do at RYL in May had she not called up. I offered two prizes: a king size cherry ripe (her favourite chocolate bar) OR a 30 min PT session at Harper's. It all worked out amazingly as I wanted to meet Michelle but there were logistical issues. I had limited time and she worked (although I knew she had Monday's off). Brain wave: get her to come to Harper's! Fabulous, Jules, fabulous.

Michelle has her first PT session (ever)

I booked in Chelle to train with Rona after me. Mine was at 10:30, and hers at 11:30. Chelle 'enjoyed' her session with Rona, and got a lot out of it. I was delighted. Rona gave Chelle some stuff she could do at home and told her to buy a swiss ball, which she actioned straight away (there's a fitness equipment shop downstairs from Harperdome). Well done Chelle - good work. No procrastinating for you. Impressive. When you out-grow those exercises Rona gave you, let me know. We'll organise a repeat dose of the above (maybe).

Cherie, Chelle and I had a great chat after we were all done. Thanks Cherie (again) for taking the time to chat with us. We set up a time to train at 5:30 PM Tues (which we later changed to 5:30 PM Wed).

Chelle and Jules sit down to eat a farm animal

Chelle and I had lunch afterwards. I, personally, was starving and felt I could easily inhale not just one farm animal, but two. We found a cafe on Centre Rd and sat outside to a yummy toasted roast chicken on turkish bread. [Shut up, Craig - I know that probably wasn't the best choice of bread but gee it was good] And how cool are those plates? Never seen anything like it. I want a set like that. I wonder where the owner got them from? Might have to go back and ask! The cafe staff were great. (We even mentioned the topics of your talk-back radio show that Chelle and I rang in about. We were talking about the sausage roll-in a bread roll thing, and one of them said 'and the twistie roll.' It was funny as you had some callers ring in with that too). Was lovely meeting you Chelle. Keep doing what you need to do. Special thanks goes to one of the cafe staff who took this pic of Chelle and I.

Jules' debut swim at MSAC

As if an hour with Rona at the Harperdome plus another 50 mins cardio wasn't quite enough, at about 6:00 PM I headed out the door of my friend's place and jumped on a tram. The wrong tram. Again. The journey to Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre that should have taken 45 mins or so took more like 2 hours. Call me blonde. Call me uneducated. Call me whatever you like. I did my scheduled 3.2 km swim and was among the last three patrons out the door when they closed at 10:00 PM. Yes, it's really true - the journey to MSAC took longer than my actual swim session toook.

So that was the entree - my first taste of things to come for me at Harper's. Come back tomorrow for part two where I talk about some big lessons that I learned from the 90 kilo bloke with short hair and big biceps.