Fit For My Forties

Loch Ness 10km

2010-10-08T05:03:00.000-07:00

Delighted with a finish time of 50:06.

Well, I say delighted but for the sake of 7 seconds I could have had a sub-50 minute 10km under my belt for the first time in about 10 years, grrrr!!!!

The stat porn is a like this

Predicted VO2 Max:	39.9
Predicted speed at VO2 max:	07:23 min/mile
Age graded time::	56.7%

Haven't really though about what the predicted speed at VO2 max actually means, but it translates to 8.13 miles per hour or ~13km/hour.

anyway, the good news is that it's more than 1 minute better than my predicted race times from last week, based on the 5km, but nowhere near the times predicted by the VO2 max measurement on the treadmill...

At least that tells us something... in order to predict a race time, based on a race time, it's much better to base it on a run similar to the one you're actually going to undertake, rather than some crappy gym test... who'd a thunk it?

Event specific testing

2010-09-28T05:15:00.000-07:00

So, it's the big 10km race in Inverness this Sunday and I can't wait. Training has been pretty piss poor if I'm honest though. Putting a 2 week family holiday into the schedule just 3 weeks before the event smacks of poor planning... getting lashed on the vino most night smacks of an irresponsible lack of commitment... ho hum!

I thought I'd put myself to the test as best I can this week to check my form though.

Saturday's 5km parkrun saw me record a personal best 24:40. To be fair it's notth emost accurate timing in the world and I could probably claim a few seconds back for the way the start is organised... but I won't.
Using the Running for Fitness website that gives a predicted VO2 max of 38.9.
According to the VO2 max normalised tables (find them here) that's not much better than average.
The mitigating factor here would have to be that the Glasgow Parkrun is a bit of a beast with 2 laps of a fairly hilly route, but average is less than good in my book!

Race Predictions:

Riegel formula based on 5km time	51:25
VO2 max	51:13

To be fair I'd take either of those time quite comfortably.

Anyway, I went to the gym today and did a V02 max test on the treadmill (5 min test walking at 7.3 km/hour). Estimated VO2 max was 44.3 (that's above 'above average' and into 'good', which is in the very good category and I'm much happier with that... until I relise this means a predicted 10km time of 45:50... I'd be ecstatic with that... in fact 47min would be an awesome 10km run for me...

Quickly rubbing the gloss of that result though was the O'Neal rowing test on the concept2 Rowers, where my meagre 990m is still below average... I think I'm going to assume that the only people they actually measured doing this test were keen rowers with the physique for rowing... unlike my short legged, long backed, not very flexible one...

What does all this mean? It probably means that I could run a half decent 10km if I put my mind to it properly and even if I plod I should still be running much faster that I have been in the recent past...

I'll let you know how it goes!

Squash - Getting better...

2010-07-15T01:54:00.001-07:00

2-3 with the final game going to 8-8, against a man closer to my own age... so not quite as embarrasing as the previous 2 games (0-3 drubbings by pensioners).

Not rushing every shot now as I desperately lunge to get close to the ball, but actually getting into decent positions and giving myself a bit more time to consider the shot. Perversely though, most of my unforced errors came from having too much time to think about what I was doing or getting ahead of myself and moving to the next shot before I've played the current one. As a game, it's got a lot more than just physical fitness or even ability to play a shot. The tactical side of squash turns out to a be a whole lot more important than I'd ever imagined it to be! On the other hand, I came off court dripping in sweat and the guys in the court next to us looked like they were in a steam bath, so it's still a mighty work out.

Running test

2010-07-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

Nice page here on a 1.5 mile running test.

1.5 miles is 2.4 km

To run 2.4km at 15km/hour (the required speed for a 40 min 10km) the 40 year old man will get there in 9 minutes 36 seconds and has a VO2 max > 48 putting him in the top 90% of performers for his age...

Running at 10.8km / hour (my plodding speed) is pretty much the 50% mark - Jo Average! Baws to that!

To get into the top 25% we need to break 11 min 49 seconds, which equates to a running speed of 12.6km/hour - that'll do for a start!

Age Grading & Body weight considerations

2010-07-14T02:55:00.000-07:00

So Finlay has issued the Challenge 40. Run a 10km road race with your target time in minutes being your age...

There's been chat of a wee caveat to entice the rugby boys, which is that if you can bench press twice your final time, then you're ok.

That's maybe a wee bit unfair on the shorter, fat chap (me!) so I'm proposing that he introduces actual body weight into that equation to even things up.

Bench press = (Race time / Age) * Body weight.

So an 85 kg chap running in 40 minutes should bench press 85kg, but if he runs in 45 mins, he needs to bench press 95.625kg.

The gist of it is there are 2 aims here... Run 10k as fast as you can and lose as much weight as you can, but there's no real hiding place!

Anyway, speaking of the Challenge 40 - seemingly arbitrary time limit, I thought I'd do a wee bit research. There's a method used by many running clubs to grade people using the age of the runner and the approximate world record level for a runner that age.

There's a link here but to put things into persepective - a word I'm coming around to hating! - A 40 year old running a 10km race in 40 minutes gets an age graded score of 71.02% - which is actually a Regional class time. The world record for a 40 year old would be 28:25

EXPLANATION
Your age-graded score is the ratio of the approximate world-record time for your age and gender divided by your actual time.

Age-graded scores have been categorized into these broad achievement levels:
100% = Approximate World Record Level
Over 90% = World Class
Over 80% = National Class
Over 70% = Regional Class
Over 60% = Local Class

To score 100% you would need a time of:

Your age-graded time is your finish time adjusted to that of an open division participant using a factor for age and gender. Thus, the times for women and older participants are adjusted downward, while the times for most open division participants (such as 25-year-old men) remain the same.

Look, noone said it was an easy challenge!

Press up Tests

2010-07-14T01:33:00.000-07:00

Physical fitness isn’t just about lifting. It’s about how strong you are relevant to your body weight, says Martin Rooney, the author of Ultimate Warrior Workouts. That’s why he has his athletes-in-training do body-weight tests. If they struggle, they need to either gain strength or lose weight.

The challonge:
===============
Do as many push-ups as you can in three minutes

The Rules:
==========
1. Rest whenever you want, but keep the clock running the whole time.
2. For a rep to count, you must maintain perfect form: elbows locked at the top, chest five centimetres above the floor at the bottom, hips not sagging and knees not touching the floor.
3. Pace yourself however you’d like, but it’s best not to rush, says Rooney. Take a 15-second break once you slow down after your first burst. Then take longer breaks as you become more tired, he says. Never push yourself to total fatigue.

How did you do?
================

< 55	Below average
55-74	Average
75-99	Good
100-110	Excellent
> 110	Extraordinary

Postscript:
============
Back in the day, I always expected that I should be able to do at least 50 press ups in under a minute without stopping otherwsie I would not make myself available to play rugby... Seems like it wasn't such a bad wee test to have! Wonder how I'll do today??

Gubbed again! but inspired...

2010-07-14T00:57:00.000-07:00

Another 0-3 doing from another retired guy! This is very humbling!

At least this time it was more to do with the fact that my opponent was an extremely skillful player with a beautiful touch... I played much better than I did at the weekend and am hopeful that I might get some league points tonight... although 2 matches in 2 days might be too much at this stage in my regime... sauna at lunchtime I think!

On the broght side though, these old fellas that are retired are enjoying the time of their lives with their weeks filled with golf, tennis and squash. When I'm their age, I can only hope to be as active, but the secret to that has to be getting into shape now and staying in shape for the next 30 years.

Speed test

2010-07-13T05:09:00.001-07:00

Thought I'd better see what 15km/h felt like, so set the treadmill at 0.5% incline and ran for 1 min @ 15 km/h.
It's not exactly a flat out sprint, but it's markedly faster than my normal plod, which according to my calculations is somewhere about the 10.8km/h mark. That being said I run at that (10.8km/h) speed easily and haven't really pushed myself to see how much faster I could go and for how long I could do it.

Anyway, more squash tonight and tomorrow, and some strength testing on Thursday, which will be 80 days out from the event... here's a thought though. What if I just added 1 minute of running at 15km/h every 2 days and did nothing else. After 80 days I'd be right up there at running 15km/h for 40 minutes which would cover the 10km in my target time... Interesting thought! but probably not how I'll approach the problem... although perhaps I should consider doing something like that... hmm! Procrastination mode ON!

Squash'd

2010-07-12T02:55:00.000-07:00

Oh dear! Just got annihalated 3-0 by a retired guy...

Ok, so my technique let me down on more than one occasion, but still... he was retired!!!

Oh yes! and to run a 10km road race in 40 minutes, means you need to average 15km/hour (9.375 miles per hour in old money!)

These moments are what you might call 'eye openers'. Challenge 40 is going to to be a lot tougher than I thought, because
a) I hadn't considered how tough it was in the first place...
b) I'm not in as good a place as I thought I was...

Is it too late to make this a game of golf???

The beginning... again!!!!

2010-07-12T02:10:00.000-07:00

Well, the football is finished, Wimbeldon is over, I'm not even sure what cricket is being played this summer and no Sky TV means no access to the Tri-Nations... all the excuses are played out and we're 12 weeks away from the Loch Ness 10k.

I've been doing a few wee training sessions at the gym over the last few weeks, but not much. Very pleased to note that the 5kg I dropped for the rugby has stayed off, but I could probably drop another 5k quite easily, so best not get too smug about it.

I turned 40, just a couple of weeks ago and that's when I've officially started my countdown to the race, and the other things that I've got planned, but let's set some targets.

1. The bevvy! - I love the drink! I love the social aspect, I love the taste of wine with food, I love the refreshing zing of a cold beer after a long week and I especially love that with friends... The thing is it doesn't actually complement a running or weight loss regime wonderfully well... So between the 30 June and 3rd October there are 95 days. I've got a couple of Edinburgh festival days pencilled into the diary already and I've enjoyed a few nights out watching the world cup already, but the aim is to arrive at the start line with at least 90% of those days designated as AFD (Alcohol Free Days)... there is one sneaky wee caveat that applies: Steaks may be accompanied by 1 glass of red wine and that does not break the AFD (life is far too short for the alternative!)

2. The food - crisps are now banned. Chips are no more than once a week.

3. Squash - I've joined a squash club and I will play in the leagues at least once a week.

4. Weight - I'm loathe to set a weight loss target, but I'm currently 84kg and feel pretty good. The gut is too big though, so I'm going to aim to be less than 80kg by race day.

5. Mornings - We've already wasted more than half of the summer! I need to be out of bed at 6am and going for a short walk / jog. This will start this week.

6. Pull ups - I can't believe how the power to weight ratio has been decimated, but if I can't do 10 proper pullups by race day, I will be raging with myself - currently I can do 4...

Wish me luck!

Loch Ness 10k

2010-05-31T03:39:00.000-07:00

Accepted the challenge! yep!
Entered the race! tick! yep!

125 days (~ 18 weeks) till race day.

Downloaded EndoMondo sports tracker software onto my snazzy new Nokia X6.
Need to get one of those fancy arm bands to hold the phone whilst I'm pounding out the miles... This is the prevarication stage which starts all great fitness challenges!

Football world cup is coming up along with my 40th birthday!

Challenge!!!! Bring it on!

2010-05-27T02:21:00.000-07:00

Crikey!

It's been quite a while since I've thought about my fitness. Got into what I thought was looking like pretty decent form for the Melrose 10's... then got a horrible cold and followed it up with sinusitis. My sympathetic doctor supplied me with the anti-biotics and nasal spray to get me onto the pitch... and what an honour that was, to once again pull on the boots and chuck a ball about with good people. The boys won the plate, Graham Shiel gave me a black eye and I ended up in Border's general hospital for 6 stitches after an accidental clash of heads... money can't buy you that sort of fun!

The last few weeks have been a prolonged period of indolence mixed with over-indulgence though and it's time to start taking care of the physical again. Finlay has come up with the ideal challenge... We all turn 40 this year. The Loch Ness marathon / 10k happens around his birthday... so here it is... Run the 10k in as many minutes as you are old... Pay a forfeit for every minute over your age to your charity of choice.... how confident are you?

As I'll be 40 next month and am currently running 10km in not much less that an hour, it's a real hum dinger of a challenge, but 10km is a great distance. You don't need to be away running for more than an hour at a time when training. You can mix genuine speed work with hill work with reasonable distance work.

The solution is obvious. Lose weight, improve cardio, improve flexibility, improve leg strength and toughen up mentally... Simples!

See you at the start line!

Ye know what ye know. Ye know it's right and you're wrong! So stop it

2010-02-25T07:51:00.000-08:00

I've been off the sauce for a few weeks now. Had a fairly dramatic effect on the weight very quickly, but I was surprised yesterday to be back up in the heavyweight division. I say surprised. I wasn't really that surprised as I've been doing a bit of snacking. A wee biscuit here and there and a bit of chocolate... ho hum! I knew I shouldn't have, but I did...

That's not to say that that I wasn't actually a bit heavier than I expected, but still there was an underlying reason... and here's the really daft bit even beyond the biscuits...

Last week I was eating cup noodles, trying to kid myself on that I was giving myself some energy to work harder in the gym. Was I dickens! I was eating cup noodles because I like them, especially the spicy Tom Yum Tiger ones. It took my boss ripping the piss out of me to make me think about it... So sad am I that I even googled "cup noodles for energy before a workout" to see if I could get some backup... All I got was confirmation that I was eating super processed shite, flavoured with a half cup of salt... I still like them, but they're off the menu ;-(

Worse still, earlier this week I convinced myself that eating houmous and fresh bread would be a terrific snack. Great taste, full of friendly proteins and the oil is the healthy Mediterranean Olive oil. Of course that only works if you treat it like a snack, but the greedy got that I am saw me scoffing a whole tub of the stuff with a wee baguette. OK, so I was hungry, and the stuff I was eating is supposedly healthy. but that was ridiculous AND I knew it.

So, I'm off the drink, exercising more, but the weight isn't really coming down as I'd like it too... because...
i) Well, just weighing yourself isn't the best measure anyway
ii) You need to watch the diet too!
iii) When you're my age, you really need to watch the diet!

New Year

2010-01-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well, that's that! A cracking Festive season. Way too much bevvy than was good for me, but the party's over now and time to get back to business.

I'm going to spend January working on my weight, flexibility and general movement, as well as reacquainting myself with a rugby ball. Fortunately, a few junior clubs are doing some indoor work due to the astonishing snow we've got just now, so that works for me. The big trick I'm going to play this January though is to get along to some dance classes and see if I can't loosen up these old hips of mine. Fingers crossed!

Fool's goal

2009-12-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

Motivation comes and goes. Get fitter, get leaner, feel better, have a great weekend, have a dirty cold, have a setback in life, feel down, eat some crisps, eat more crisps, let the diet slip, enjoy a drink, take some more, drink during the week, it's back to square one cos there's nothing to aim for other than being fit for fit's sake and where's the fun in that? Well that's gone! It's over! Archie has proposed an escapade in the New Year that will fulfill a lifetime's dream. It's a cracker and I'm going to need to be the best I can be to make the most of it. We've got less than 4 months, with Christmas and New Year in between, but this is my picture on the dressing room wall moment. I'm Rocky ripping Appollo Creed from the mirror, then I'm Appollo Creed ripping Rocky from the mirror, then Rocky ripping Mr. T from the mirror (aided by Appollo Creed), then I'm Rocky Ripping the Russian dude from the mirror, because he killed Apollo... I stopped watching them after IV - what happened in V and VI ? Anyway, I've got a goal and it's a beauty! Watch this space!

Back at it ... again!

2009-11-03T11:39:00.000-08:00

Well, another stinking cold - maybe the original one came back to haunt me, but again it felt like an age since I'd been to the gym at lunch time. Decided that I would do something a wee bit different today, as I came across a web site with a list of the top exercises for bunring calories and skipping is top of the list. A quick google search seemed to back up the theory. Tuesday is a spin class at my gym, but for a couple of reasons I thought I'd dig out my rope and get into the studio to give it a few turns.

Weighed in at 87.7kg, but have been troughing like a pig for the last 2 weeks, so that's actually not bad result all things considered - or should I be worried about how really bad things must be when I'm up at 89kg... hmmm!

10 minutes on the X-trainer - didn't feel great, but did my 10 dips easily and managed 4 pull-ups withouty assistance, so not too bad there either.

Skipping - why? Well, apparently it strengthens your cardiovascular system, burns lots of calories - which is always a plus, improves your agility, tones the muscles in your legs such as thighs and calves as well as toning abdominals, back, chest and shoulders.

Now, the rowing machine is pretty good for most of that, but I was taken by the agility thing. On the rowing machine you're pretty well static, but there's a lot more movement in skipping and then when it's going well the opportunity to try a few tricks.

The result - 10 minutes skipping pretty hard, sweated a fair bit, but actually I think I need a bit more practice. Also, I think I'll need to get a new battery for my HRM and actually measure what I've done. Really enjoyed it though.

Comfort Zone

2009-10-08T05:18:00.000-07:00

I had apple crumble last night. Not just any apple crumble, but a particularly stupendously delicious home made apple crumble. It was created in the kitchen of one of the other mothers from my wife's ante-natal group with apples from her garden. I had it with Ambrosia Devon cream custard and it was superb. The thing is though, that sort of thing should really just be a wee treat, or even a reward for some other achievement, but it wasn't. It was just there in the fridge and I fancied some, so I had some. I don't regret it for an instant, but what it tells me is that I'm clearly operating in my comfort zone. For 2 weeks I worked tremendously hard and lost 2kg. It was hard to start, but once the losses came it was very rewarding. Since then I've been treading water and maintained the loss - that's a good thing I suppose! I've been going to the gym most lunchtimes and I am completely avoiding crisps and chips - tellingly not chocolate or apple crumble though!
It's clear though, if you want to lose weight, you need to move out of that comfort zone, forego the apple crumble, do some more serious cardio and weights work and shift the lard. Do it in short bursts, then try to maintain the loss is one possible approach - By default it's the one I've been taking anyway.
Next week I'm away to France for a week with work, then I'm going to play golf with some old friends at the weekend. That's not a good time to start a more serious burst of activity, but the week after certainly is. It's time to get out of the comfort zone and back to the grind for a bit.

Rowing test - no cheating allowed!

2009-10-07T10:52:00.001-07:00

Had a bash at the O'Neill fitness test again today, having had a decent Cardio session on Monday and a bit of an upper body session yesterday.
Was pleased to see the weight slip back under 87kg.

964m in 4 minutes - In the Below Average to Average band ;-(
Not as good as I'd hoped, however I've found some weird calculator on the American site that does a weight adjustment calculation which gives me an adjusted distance of 1040m, pushing me up a band to Average... somehow that makes it all sound even worse.

Of course, the sad thing is this weight adjustment calculator is to give an idea of how I'd fare in an actual boat, so counts for nothing ;-(

The truth hurts. I'm an out of shape lardy, who needs to work a wee bit harder just to be average... boooo!

Reseting the counters

2009-10-05T05:16:00.000-07:00

Well, the motivation has slipped somewhat over the last few weeks and suddenly it's a good month since I was doing any hard work. Worse than that though, I spent the last weekend doing some serious indulging and here's the results of my not very scientific poll. The Bevvy has a serious affect on motivation, effort and weight. Was at a wedding on Friday, had a wee hair of the dog on Saturday and then enjoyed a kiddies birthday party on Sunday, where Dad was allowed a wee beer or 3. Net result is that I've creeped back up over 87kg. The surprising part about that I suppose is that it actually took so long to creep back over 87kg and I'm definitely blaming the bevvy for that.

Anyway, I've got a potential park-run buddy joining me this weekend and Finlay has officially recorded a sub 50 minute 10k up in Inverschneckie, so the pressure is on. 2 weeks till the final golf outing of the year and I'd like my swing to be free and easy without having to negotiate the gut that's hanging off the front. Yummm! This vegetable soup for lunch is delicious!!!!

Spiritually refreshed... physically... relaxed

2009-09-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well, just returned from an excellent 2 weeks in the East Neuk. The weather was fabulous, so spent some time at the beach with the wee fella, 2 reasonable runs with Finlay (www.caipliehouse.co.uk) and a couple of rounds of golf would be the sum total of times I actually felt I was exercising.

The food was wonderful, all locally grown produce. There was a great butcher in the village and all the veg straight from the surrounding fields - but I was dreading the gym today. The stomach is definitly grown, so surely I'd packed on the beef?

Surprisingly it's stayed around the 87kg mark and the 2000m row was ok... on reflection although I've eaten well and enjoyed a few glasses of wine, sometimes even to excess, the food has all been good and fresh. There's been plenty of low impact wandering about and carrying the boy about, so maybe I just did enough to not put on any weight. Shows how sedintary life can be when settled into the work routine and not moving from the desk for hours at a time I suppose. Really must make sure I don't allow that to become the habit now that I'm back to the grind.

Returning to the gym

2009-09-03T02:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I've lingered long enough and eaten like a man who hates himself for over a week now. It's time to get back into the groove, but what a stinker of a cold I've had, so I'm really not looking forward to going back to the gym today. I'm thinking 20 minutes easy cardio and a wee sauna just to get the systems back up and running. I won't go near the scales though, it could be devastating...

Update:
*******

It was nowhere near as devastating as I feared.
weight still below 87kg (86.8kg to be precise)
20 minutes cardio and 30 press-ups easy (only aimed for 25 as a test...

Maybe I'm still benefiting from the 2 weeks good work before it all went pear shaped. Now there's a good thought for getting stuck right into it again

Going backwards...

2009-08-26T05:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a terrible period for my fitness campaign. The calf tear stopped all the serious cardio work and now I've got a stinker of a cold. Had it for just over a week now and although I seem to have gotten over it mostly, I still can't see me training before the weekend. Haven't even bothered to weigh myself...

What it reinforces though is that fitness can't just be a wee fad. It can't just be something that you do for 6 weeks or so aiming for a specific event. It has to be an everyday part of your lifestyle and the big events are something that you should ramp up for. I feel like I've gone backwards, just by standing still and I think that's probably due to the low level of my base fitness. The 2 weeks of gain are probably lost, but I need to use this as motivation to maintain a better lifestyle...

Treading water

2009-08-13T01:46:00.000-07:00

Haven't been able to do the same amount of Cardio due to calf tear. I think what I'm seeing from this though is that the 1 hour cardio boxing class is definitely having the biggest impact. Everything else I'm doing, watching food and light weights with easy cardio on the gym equipment simply maintains the status quo. My swimming has come on leaps and bounds though, much more flexible in the shoulders and actually using them to pull myself through the water a lot better than I was at first. Getting the technique right there is probably the most important thing.

A wee note about the calf tear though. A fairly mild injury which has stopped me running and doing anything with any impact. The treatment which has involved friction massage, using an elbow, to break up the scar tissue has far outweighed the injury in terms of pain. Thought I was healed this week, but he found the last wee lump of scar tissue and put me out of action for another 2 days... Hopefully I'll be fit for running at the start of next week, but I am reminded why we called them the Physio-terrorists back in my playing days.

Lesson: take it really easy when you're easing your way back into a program. Injury in the early stages has a real chance of putting you right off it altogether. Keep a steady head, maintain the weight loss you've worked so hard for and keep focused on the lifestyle changes. Next week's Cardio class will be burning plenty away again.

Another setback

2009-08-04T05:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I've got a wee tear in my calf. Spent too much time up on my toes at the cardio class - Should have stopped when I felt it stiffen up. Should have iced it after and should have been more careful going up the stairs on Sunday when it tore ;-(
Didn't run, drunk too much red wine and the weight has slipped back up to 87kg.

Pressups were good though, 2 sets of 25 plus another 10. Dips & Pullups pretty poor and rowing was back down to 904m, although I was probably being a wee bit conservative on the ergometer due to the calf injury.

The momentum that I was gaining has definitely dropped off though, so I'm going to have to be ultra careful about what I eat this week, as I won't get anywhere near the same level of cardio exercise as I have been getting. I'm going to give the upper body a complete beasting on Thursday and see how this theory of building muscles assists in weight loss by increasing the metabolism, I've been doing a bit of weight work for that purpose anyway.

Reunions...

2009-08-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

I had a wee reunion with some old school pals and my big friend beer. Beer was in great form even if he does seem to have become a bit more expensive to hang out with lately, still he's left me with a lot to remind me of him today.

Of course that means Friday was a very naughty day, with my now traditional Gammon Steak & Chips at the pub. It doesn't look like I'll be doing much to work off yesterday's deficits either with today being no more than a bumble about the house kind of day. I'll definitely aim to run longer tomorrow though, maybe atbout 12km if I can manage it.

A few setbacks, but still progressing

2009-07-30T05:38:00.000-07:00

Didn't do any exercise earlier in the week - had a sore throat, which felt like an infection that might be heading into my ears. Was a bit disappointed not to be able to train (Good sign!) but willingness not to train could have been an indication of a waning in motivation. Fortunately, this program has a longer term goal with a very specific target in mind, so there's no way I could allow it to slip for more than a few days. Went to the gym for a sauna, just to ensure the habit of going there didn't slip back into one of heading into the town centre with my colleagues at lunch time. Think that was a good idea!

Did my cardio class last night and went pretty hard for an hour, but pulled up with what I thought was cramps in my calf towards the end - now regret not icing that as it's still a bit tender.

Used the lower leg inactivity as an excuse to concentrate on upper body in the weights room today and after some chest & back exercises, went all out on the show-pony triceps and biceps (too vain for words!). Still shit-house at the pull-ups but much better performance on the dips (3 sets of 10 no bother! which is great progress).

Food wise I also had a wee slip up, succumbing to the temptations of a Cornish pasty. Beautiful meat filling right enough, but the pastry, the pastry - delicious but full of fat. On the other hand we had roast Chicken on Sunday and I made my own stock (Chicken carcase, an onion and a carrot in the pot for a few hours - skim the fat away in the pot of you can, but I cheat and once it's strained, put it in the fridge to remove the top layer after it has solidified). Made a sublime lentil broth with the stock, using Scotch-broth mix soaked overnight, an onion sauted in butter (I know! I know!) and the stock. Really chuffed with it, even if I do say so myself.

Net result? I know you're waiting for this bit on tenterhooks. Weighed in at 86.5kg, exactly 2kg lighter than 2 weeks and 1 day ago. That's 4.4lb in old money and pretty much what the health professionals would suggest was a healthy amount of weight loss over the period. Just got to keep it going, as I think those first few kgs were really the low hanging fruit, ripe for falling off.

Feeling very good this morning!

2009-07-27T00:53:00.000-07:00

Well, that was an entirely alcohol free weekend - Ice cold in Alex was probably a good movie pick too... see a dyspeptic officer let himself and his crew down, then aim for redemption in the form of an Ice cold lager, but only after achieving his goals... I'm a long way from Alex just now, but at least I'm not trying to cross a desert in a dodgy old Ambulance.

Anyway, a fairly decent hour long run, probably just under 10km last night and good grub all round. The wife and others minded like her might suggest that the roast chicken dinner accompanied by roast potatoes done in goose fat was a step backwards. I don't care what these Philistines say - a wee bit of what you fancy is just as important in this lifestyle change that I'm undergoing.

Bit stiff from the run but otherwise elated at getting through the weekend and notching up that 1st entirely alcohol free week.

A good week - need to finish the job though!

2009-07-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a good, nay a great week! Starting off feeling a wee bit down in the dumps about it all, but as the days have gone by I'm starting to feel progress. Been eating better, haven't had a beer for 2 weeks, although did drink too much wine last weekend.

I've been swimming twice at lunchtimes, pushed some weights about once, been for a longish run and done an hours pretty tough cardio-boxing circuits. Today's big luncg being the only negative, but I've allowed myself that anyway - just means there's no more credits in the body bank for other indulgences.

I'm pretty impatient with this sort of project, but the truth is it takes time. You can undo 5 days good work with a binge out at the weekend, but if you don't binge, then next week you've gone 2 weeks and should be feeling the positive effects. It'll be easier to get through next weekend than this for the reason that you've already gone one weekend without sliding off the rails and next weekend you'll have more to lose, ie 2 weeks of good work.

So, a quiet and peaceful weekend to all! Think of me as you order another beer before heading home via the kebab shop. I'm metaphorically running up a freezing burn in the snow to shift some rocks about.

still working...

2009-07-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

Swam 10 lengths of the wee pool yesterday lunchtime then did 1 hour Cardio in the evening, involving lots of movement and circuits. Great class actually.

Weighed in at 87.2kg at lunch today and did a bit of an all round workout with the weights.
Leg Press & Leg Curl; Super sets
Lat Pull-Down, Dumbbell Chest Press, Dumbbell Flies and seated Row
Preacher Curl, triceps extension (rope), upright rows; Super sets

Have discovered Paterson's oat bites Cheese & mild chilli as a replacement snack.

Feeling a wee bit holier than thou, now!

A mixed bag of progress

2009-07-21T05:22:00.000-07:00

Well, the good news is that the fancy electronic weighing & height machine is back up and running, so a down to the daks weigh-in measured me at 1.71m & 86.8kg - BMI 29.6.

Ya Beauty! Down to seriously overweight, verging on clinically obese rather than actually obese ;-) of course the extra 2cm helps too, but shows the importance of getting a decent measurement in the first place anyway.

Of course, we need a level of consistency, so the old school machine in the gym - with clothes on - has me at 87.6kg which is still a loss of 0.9kg - Not too bad!

Treadmill score dropped off too though, but that may be more to do with it being a heart rate test and the amazonian goddess working out on the squat rack which was in my line of sight. Pleased with the press-ups, disappointed (and surprised) with the dips scores. Can't complain about the pull-ups and elated with 963m on the O'Neil test taking me up into the scoring zone. Didn't really recover well enough for the 2nd test to have any real relevance, other than it convinces me that I'd score better with the damper set at 3 or 4, but not as much better as I'd probably have thought before trying it. I think it has more of an effect on the technique rather than anything else, but certainly would lead to more distance - might try it when fresh just to see how it actually goes, but this week was about setting a marker for improvement, which I think I've done.

Item	Previous	Latest
Weight	88.5	87.6
Treadmill test	44.1	43.5
Pressups	23	25, 20
Dips	6	5,3
Pull-Ups	2	4
Rowing test @ 7	903m	961m
Rowing test @ 3	N/A	858m

That Rowing test

2009-07-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

A wee bit ego probably isn't a bad thing when it comes to trying to get back into shape, but last week mine was taking the rowing test results ver badly indeed. 903m rowed when below average for the 30's was 957m and 938, for the 40's. It's been burning me badly, but chatting with one of my colleagues he put me onto the damper setting. Bit of research on the Concept web site reveals that the damper is normally set to around 3 to emulate real boat conditions... well I feel a wee bit better now, but to measure any improvements I have to stick with the same settings, pah! but I'm not really happy that I can't compare myself with that chart... soooooo! Here's the plan. Do the 4 min test with damper set @7 - Hopefully do more than last week. Recover from the test then repeat with damper set @3. See if I go any further. If the ego is sated, I'll probably stick with a higher setting to give the upper body a better workout anyway, but it'll be good to know, even if I am comparing myself with some arbitrary table on the internet... ego! hmmmph! Will be extremely dissapointed if I don't get into the below average band! You may not hear from me if that happens!

A little bit of resolve...

2009-07-20T02:13:00.000-07:00

Well, the weekend started well enough with a very easy jog round pollok park. 40 minutes at a real slow pace and no real problems, other than a slight stiffness in the groin, which is an age old problem.
Alas it all went downhill from there. A wee glass of wine on Saturday night became a couple of glasses of wine. Sunday was a rest day, but the family came around, we had a big buffet dinner and I clambered into a couple of bottles of Red...
Don't feel too bad today, other than a slight pang of regret that I'm not sitting here having completed the 1st weekend without sauce ;-(
Lunchtime will be a spot of stretching a Swim and a sauna. Fitness test tomorrow.

Components of fitness for a 40 year old

2009-07-17T06:08:00.000-07:00

What is fitness? Many things to many people I suppose, but for me right now here are the components I'm thinking about.

Cardio-vascular endurance (Sorry for anyone reading this getting terminologies mixed up, but basically I'm talking about longish runs - 5km time trials are pretty good in this respect and I'm fortunate that the Pollok park, parkrun is near the house).

Aerobic endurance - turns out it's the same thing as cardio-vascular endurance, but in the gym I'll use the 4 min rowing test for this anyway, although I reckon I'm never that far from Anaerobic workouts on that bloody ergometer.

Anaerobic fitness - this is really about the ability to recover from working flat out for a short burst. I don't really intend to do anything specific about this just now as I reckon trying anything that intense given my current condition will just lead to injury. Eventually I suppose it'll be like a game of squash or 5 a sides, but I probably still won't measure it.

Strength - Well, I'm probably beyond the stage of shifting weights about the place for posing or looking to make muscular gains, but body weight exercises seem a pretty reasonable guide. I'm thinking that power to weight ratios are probably best tested with the press-ups, dips and pull-ups, especially the pull-ups, unfortunately.

Weight - I'm going to use the BMI thing as a decent guide here and I'm way overweight. Plus I've got too many pairs of trousers that are now not comfortable, so I'll be saving a fortune if I can drop a few cms round the waist.

Flexibility - I've ignored this for my entire life, but it's something that I intend to address in this new regime. But how does it get measured. I'm going to try to find a sit & reach box - maybe I'll ask the gym to provide one.

Friday on my mind

2009-07-17T01:23:00.000-07:00

Friday's are going to be a tough challenge in this quest for improvement.
I've been in the habit of enjoying a roll with tattie-scone and lorne sausage on a Friday morning for some years now. Last year I started going for Friday pub lunches with a colleague, and they are magic! Great value too! but normally accompanied by chips. Indeed the menu is Fish & Chips, Gammon Steak and Chip, Beefburger & Chips, Sausage & Mash or a Caesar salad. On a good day we might go for a pint or 2 between work and home.

Clearly the Roll & Lorne have to go ;-(
For lunch, I'm still going to have my pub lunch, but I'll forgo the pint of Best that washes it down. There won't be any stopping off at the pub on the way home, the money saved will go on a Euro-millions ticket instead.

Result:
========
Gammon Steak, runny Egg and chips with Mayo and Tomato Ketchup.
Pint of Soda & Lime!
Very delicious, but a wee bit naughty...

Race entry

2009-07-16T02:20:00.000-07:00

So, the East Neuk 10kEast Neuk 10k race has been entered.

11 weeks and a few days out, so plenty time to get some miles into the legs.
A gentle lunchtime session at the gym beckons with the cross-trainer for 15 mins. It's pretty good exercise and minimal impact, followed by 10mins on the treadmill at an easy 10kmh.
25 mins cardio is a reasonable aim for today I think.

update
-------
15 mins level 9 Random on the X-trainer - 3km & 221 Cal
10 mins @ 10Kmh incline 0.5% - 1.77km & 175 Cal

396 Calories. Hmm! I always get confused about Calories and KiloCalories.
Apparently there's about 280 Calories in a Mars bar, so I'm going to go with those results being about the same scale.
Interesting though that they think the treadmill is a bigger burner than the X-trainer.
Anyway, good to set a goal and achieve it. Must remember not to reward myself with a biscuit though!

Motivation

2009-07-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

I remember reading a story about Jim Telfer and his attitude to training. He'd convinced himself if he couldn't be the best number 8 in Scotland, he could certainly be the fittest, so he devised a running plan which involved steep hills, running up burns and humping rocks about when in the burns. What really got me about the story though was that he used to pray for bad weather, because he knew that while he had no compunction about going out to train in the sleet or snow or on Christmas day, he didn't think that his rivals would be out there training and so he felt that was when he benefited most. Quite frightening really! Anyway, I'm not going to pray for bad weather, but I might send some of my mum's shortbread up to Fife!

The other guy who has something of a pedigree in success is Sir Steve Redgrave. He was explaining to a journalist about the monotony of training to reach the levels that he did, but his motivation was that if you didn't train today, then you'd lost that opportunity forever. You can't make it up by training harder tomorrow. Tomorrow you should be doing tomorrow's training.

That reminds me that in my current state I really have to take it easy and build up gently through a period of acclimatisation. The last thing I want is to start getting inflamed tendons or skeletal problems from going to hard too early. This is about a lifestyle change more than anything, but remembering what Steve Redgrave said I'll try to do a little every day and Jim Telfer's words will hopefully keep me from straying from the path, wouldn't want to make life too easy for my rivals ;-)

Food & Drink

2009-07-15T05:46:00.001-07:00

So, I'm not a junk food addict, I just happen to love it! but I also love cooking fresh food at home, so it's really shouldn't be that difficult to cut out some of the crap that I eat, simply through plain laziness.

I'm not going to go into this in an utterly over the top manner though, so on the banned list from now are : crisps, chocolate bars, chips especially the Pie beans & Chips variety - which are utterly banned, whilst other chips are restricted to once per week if part of a meal deemed to be acceptable by my own variable standard, lorne sausage (hmm! it hurts to think about that one... maybe I am an addict...) and.... sniff! Haggis pasties :'-(

I generally don't drink fizzy juice anyway, but maybe I take too much coffee, so I'm going to restrict myself to 3 cups per day and replace any others with water or Peppermint tea, which I'm told is good for the digestive system.

Alcohol is off the menu at home and will be restricted to only 1 day per week - possibly reinforcing my already terrible binge drinking habit, so that'll be under review. Hangovers are strictly banned though!

Where are we now? - the weigh-in

2009-07-15T05:19:00.000-07:00

So, in order to make improvements, we firstly need an honest assessment of where we stand. In the past I've participated in, or just tried, many sports. Rugby has always been my main passion, but I've boxed, kick-boxed, run for fun, run for charity, played football amongst fairly decent amateur players, held my own in the work squash leagues and enjoyed cricket. I think the fittest I ever got in my 30's though was when I joined a surf life boat team and was training with them. One of the guys had me on the ergometer every other night getting my stroke right and I was either up swimming or rowing pretty early most mornings.
Anyway, I'm claiming a fairly decent knowledge of how the body works and have devised my own wee fitness test for the purposes of this exercise.

BMI

At rugby clubs up and down the land overweight, over-opinionated twats (I know! I know! but hey it's my blog!) will tell you that the BMI isn't a very good measure of their physique. That's because they're mainly fat doughnut loving beer monsters who would rather shovel another sausage roll down their gullet than face the truth.
Anyway, I weighed in at 88.85 Kg (I've been worse though!) and measure up at 1.69m (no sniggering at the back!) which gives me a BMI of 30.99, comfortably in the obese category. I need to drop down to 85Kg, just to be only 'overweight'.

Treadmill Fitness test

I've always been a bit sceptical about these, but let's see how it goes with the 5 minute VO2 test.
Estimated V02 - 44.1 above average.
Surprisingly not bad, but perhaps the remnants of what might once have been described as a decent engine in footballing parlance... we'll see!

Press-ups

Back in the day, I wouldn't have considered pulling on my boots unless I was capable of doing 3 sets of 50 press-ups in a minute, with a 30 second break. Now I've decided to use 25 press-up sets and see how many I can do.
23 press-ups - Not even 1 complete set - oh dear! ;-(

Dips

Dips are measured in sets of 10 with no time limit, just do them and have a break of no more than 30 sec before the next set.
6 dips - oh dear! ;-(

Pull-ups (Chin ups)

I've always been shithouse at these anyway, but only 2 using the underhand grip.
Very poor ;-(

Rowing

The 4 minute O'Neil fitness test
4 minutes, Damper @ 7
903m
Way below average ;-(

Warm down

10 mins on the cross trainer but no stretches as the fire alarm went off.

The Beginning

2009-07-14T06:23:00.000-07:00

Last week the challenge came from Fife. We're both overweight and we know it. We're also both overly competitive for men of our, now becoming considerable, years.

It looks like it's the Anstruther Haddies 10k at the end of September, although there does seem to be some side betting on a weight drop of 5kg... not quite sure how that will be judged fairly, but given that I've had a weekend on the skite and was out at a charity quiz night which involved beer and wine - AGAIN! - I don't think I've made a very good start on that ambition.