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CyclistLiam

~ Teaching, cycling, politics, history and general cynical views. And coffee.

CyclistLiam

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Day 1 – Watching my weight and not thinking about work

31 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by thehistoryteacher2015 in Uncategorized

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I woke up relatively late this morning (in work terms of waking up at 6.15am) but that has helped in some ways by eating breakfast a bit later.

Weight – 11st 7lbs (73kg)

Breakfast – Using my new BlendActive smoothie maker
  • 1 sachet of porridge oats (Tesco)
  • 1/2 scoop of MyProtein Impact Diet Whey
  • 300ml unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 banana
  • 1/2 tablespoon Nutella

Approx. 400 calories (Thanks MyFitnessPal)

Lunch – Managed to fall off the wagon already
  • Harvester half rotisserie chicken – 1300 cal.
  • Chocolate fudge cake – 1200 cal.

Approx. 2500 cal. (That’s more than 600 over my recommended calorific intake for the day)

Dinner – Will not be eaten today

 

 

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This year (so far) in numbers

31 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by thehistoryteacher2015 in coffee, cycling, teaching, Uncategorized

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Tags

change, cycling, haute route, strava, teacherproblems, teaching, tour

At the start of the year I decided that I didn’t want to set some kind of unattainable New Years Resolutions. I didn’t want to stop doing anything or cut anything out only to set myself up for failure. Instead what I decided was that by the end of this year, 2016, I wanted to be in a position to sign up for the Haute Route in 2017.

It is now the end of the 3rd month of this year and I currently feel like shit.

That whole thing about not setting myself up for failure seems to have come true, probably some time around the start of this month.

January for me went well, I posted bigger numbers than I had previously. I was training at least 3 times/week. Two turbo sessions and at least once out on the road with a club run. At the time of writing this post, Strava is telling me that my last activity (yes I’ve been running too) was 25 days ago.

Here are my goals for this year:

  • 225 hrs (including turbo sessions)
  • 4,750 km (including turbo sessions)
  • 3,500 m/month climbing on average
  • Complete the London Surrey 100 in under 6 hours

So far at the end of month 3 I have completed the following:

  • 45 hrs – below target
  • 1,149 km – just below target
  • 2,930 m/month average – below target

My longest ride so far this year has been just over 100 km. I’ve completed 2 100 km+ rides which is pretty good for this time of year in my opinion. However, I have not trained anywhere near the volume I wanted to be training.

I have been facing a heavy workload as well as taking on tutoring after work during the week which has severely limited my time. Not only that but the last two weeks I’ve been struck down by the most horrendous illness. I don’t know if it is flu as a I refuse to go to the doctor and I don’t like to exaggerate my illness (Yes, I’m a man and am sometimes prone to bouts of “man-flu” but this is something far worse).

I know that I need to get back on track with my evening turbo sessions and also getting out at the weekends but it is increasingly difficult with being a teacher.

I hope that the two week Easter break will give me enough time to rest and fully recover and go back into April with a new found energy to smash my goals for the last 9 months of this year.

One thing I can be pleased with is my weight loss. I started off the year, following quite an enjoyable Christmas period weighing in at 12.5 st (79 kg) and now weigh 12 st (76 kg). Not a huge loss but I am aiming to get down to 11.5 st (73 kg) so I don’t have far to go.

I would love to hear from any other teachers who count cycling as their main hobby outside of the classroom and hear how they cope with the challenge of balancing working, training and a life.

 

The History Teacher

On staying in teaching

31 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by thehistoryteacher2015 in politics, society, teaching, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

NQT, politics, school, teacherproblems, teaching

This time last year I was adamant I was leaving the teaching profession. I was sending out applications to all manner of different jobs in different sectors completely unrelated to the profession which I decided to pay £9000 for the privilege of joining.

I got in touch a teacher specific recruitment company who shall remain unnamed with a view to getting into the more evil side of world of teaching. I was soon persuaded to interview at a school not far from where I live for a maternity cover position.

Whilst I was adamant I was leaving, I was also desperate to secure some form of income as well. A temporary teaching post suited me.

To cut this long and boring story short I was offered the job, accepted after some negotiation of pay and contract (still a contentious issue) and started work in September. I was once again back in a world I hated. At least that is what I thought.

What I have realised in the past year is that I don’t hate EVERYTHING about teaching. I certainly can’t say I love every aspect of the job and there is still a lot I would love to change. However, what I can say is that I enjoy teaching, in the right environment. My current teaching post has taught me a lot, but the biggest thing I’ve learnt is that not every school is as bad as I’d been led to believe by my previous experiences.

My NQT year was spent in what I can now look back on and view as a toxic environment. The friends I have who still teach there have managed to deal with it, and fair play to them because they are forced to become some of the most hard working individuals for the sake of their students. That was not the right environment for me to work in though. To be honest, I don’t think it was particularly healthy for anyone to work there, but I guess some people learnt to cope better and quicker than I was able to.

My health suffered as a result of that school and so did my relationship. As I said, my current school is no heaven, but it is certainly a much healthier and more supportive place to work than my first school.

For this reason, I have decided to keep at it. I have grown as an individual and as a teacher under a much less draconian system which allows a greater level of freedom and which also makes you feel a lot more able as a professional. I have a lot of flaws as a teacher, and as teachers we are forced to consistently face, evaluate and overcome these flaws in order to do better for our students. I realise that I need to change a lot in order to become the teacher I want to be one day and I feel like I can do that in my current environment.

As a profession we are regularly being put down by the press, by the government, by parents and most worryingly sometimes by fellow professionals. It is not an easy job we do as teachers and we all feel completely undervalued and unappreciated by everyone we help. What I have managed to find in my current school is a small amount of hope.

It isn’t in any way perfect, the students are not angels and yes there are still too many middle managers. What is different here is that you are given the opportunity to teach without being forced to follow arbitrary guidelines sent down by the almighty SLT.

I have been given the chance to stay until the end of the academic year and also to apply for the full time position I currently occupy. All I hope is that I can get past my inability to interview well and secure a job which will allow me to become a better teacher.

 

The History Teacher (for now)

A huge shout to Westerham Cyclery

31 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by thehistoryteacher2015 in coffee, cycling, society, Uncategorized

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Tags

coffee, cycling, kent, strava

The other day I found myself almost stuck, in almost the middle of nowhere.

My front derailleur had seized up and I was really struggling to change between the big and little ring. Not a major issue on any other ride but I’d planned an undulating route that should have seen me covering somewhere closer to 1000m of climbing in around 80km riding. I needed both chain rings.

I’ve met the guys in Westerham Cyclery a couple of times on club runs. They have a great little cafe, enough space for everyone from the club to fit and they offer great service. Its a cafe which is run by cyclists for cyclists. The coffee is good and the cake is good, they know exactly what we want, and we know to pre-warn them if we are heading in their direction. It can get quite busy on a weekend morning but luckily I was alone on this particular Saturday morning spin.

I knew I couldn’t complete my ride with the bike in the state it was (yes, it was my fault the derailleur had seized. No, I don’t take good enough care of my bike) so I decided to pull in to the cafe. My problem was soon explained and the bike soon in the workshop. This whole situation sounds pretty normal for now, but they were also swamped with having one club just leave and Sidcup Cycles turn up at around the same time as me. Luckily my bike was in getting serviced, and I was free to enjoy an espresso whilst I waited. The whole thing took no more than 15 minutes from me stopping to being back out on the road.

For me, Westerham is a long way to go for a bike service, but if I ever have a mechanical in the area again, I know exactly where I will be heading.

Top service.

Top coffee.

Top mechanics.

Teacher Retention : More Than Just An Image Problem

01 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by thehistoryteacher2015 in Uncategorized

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Disappointed Idealist

This is long. If you don’t like long, don’t read it. If anyone posts a comment saying “It’s too long”, after reading this warning, they’re a bit silly. It’s also personal: you’re reading essentially my internal argument about whether – and when – to give up teaching. As such, it’s a rambling muse more than an impassioned rant. It may prompt some thoughts about what we can, or should, do to retain experienced teachers. Or it may not. Sorry if anyone is disappointed by the absence of shouting. However, I make up for that by linking all my sub-headings to appropriate cheesy pop songs. Can’t say fairer than that.

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On why I’m blogging…

03 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by thehistoryteacher2015 in Uncategorized

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Given that it is the start of the new year I decided to venture into blogging.  I created a new Twitter account and started this blog.  The cynic in me suggests that this is no more than a way in which to procrastinate, putting off the pile of marking and planning I have on a rainy Saturday when a morning’s cycling was declined over one last lie in.

My aim for this blog is simply to get some of my views of the world down on to paper (the internet) and hopefully share them with some other people.  I’m not expecting to change the world, I’m not even expecting to change anybody’s views but just to share my own views.  Chances are this won’t ever be read but its worth a shot.

As the tagline suggests the focus of my blog will be numerous but based on my main passions: teaching, cycling, history and politics.  Undoubtedly some pictures of coffee will be thrown in there as well.

So there it is.  Hopefully someone will read this blog.  Hopefully somebody will like this blog.  And I’m even more hopeful that this won’t come across as the rantings and ravings of an easily lead, simply fooled, crazy, sleep deprived teacher who sometimes rides a bike.

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