Lost 1 stone so far

Down 1st(14lbs) - New Weight 16st 2lbs

For those that are interested.....

My Typical Week has 3-4 days training.

Consisting of:

1hr on Excercise bike and 15min run.  + Free weight home workout.
My weights have progressed from 20lb dumbbell curls to a curl of 33lb.  Typically 8reps for 3 sets.
I combine this with standard press ups 3 days per week...4 sets of 15
Chair Dips 3 sets of 15

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On different days I work different muscles.

Yesterday- 60 pressups and Dumbell Chest Press 8repsX3set @ 41lb
3 days ago- Arnold press 8 X 3, DB Snatch 15. Lat Raises 2 X15(Bands), Front Raises

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Mon -Friday Diet consists of

Breakfast - Brocolli with Ryvita and Low fat cottage Cheese.  Or a handful of almonds.
Lunch - Fish + Protein shake.  Or Muesli with scoop of whey
Dinner - Normal dinner(Pizza, Fajitas, Risotto etc etc )
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Sat and Sunday Diet consists of

Cheat days. Booze + Takeaways etc
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However for the next two weeks I am gonna go strict diet to hopefully shift 8lb+  

Down 8 pounds so far

On 16/04/2012 - Weight 240lb
On 03/05/2012 - Weight 232lb

Typical Week - 1 Rest day
                      
Typical Day   -
                         60-90mins bike +
                         15min Run +
                         12X4 @28lb Curls, Hammer, Shoulder,Chest
                         20 Chair Assisted Dips and Press-ups

                  

Run, Walk, Run

Quads were a bit sore from the exercise biking, so today I floundered round a 1.5 mile circuit in about 16.5mins. Run for 2, Walk for 2. Once finished I hit the dumbells for a few curls, and dumbbell presses then finished with a few chair dips and 150 sit-ups.

Weighed myself post run, and clocked in at 237lbs. Probably be fluid loss.

I'm back again at 17st 2lb

4 years since my last post and to put it lightly; I have officially let myself go, since I am now topping the scales at 240pounds. I have decided after a few days of running for 2mins walking for 2mins and wiping out at 1.5miles that the exercise bike was the way to go until I am in better shape.

I am now on a Mon-Friday calorie crackdown. No sugary foods or overeating.

My routine for the past few days has been: 60mis on the exercise bike
12reps, 4 set dumbells
200 situps

I will keep you posted with my weight-loss.

Much Love, An Overweight Runner

PS. My Ass is killing me from being in the saddle.

The magic 800m - Lactate Threshold Running Velocity

One of the major predictors of running performance is your lactate threshold:

This indicates the maximum pace at which you can sustain, without a rapid deterioration of speed. This being a direct result of rapid increases in the blood lactate concentration levels.

The 800m is the perfect distance to put such a system to the test, since VO2Max and running economy are not major influences in the 800m.

To illustrate:

My 800m PB - 2mins 07 seconds
My current 800m - 3mins 17 seconds
Ratio: 1.5
My 10K PB - 38mins
My current 10K - 54mins
Ratio: 1.4

This is why even amongst distance runners, the fastest distance runner will also likely be faster over 800m when compared to his or her rivals!

From my own training, I know that at a HR of 170-175bpm. I can sustain my running for 10K without a major build up of lactic acid. At 180-185bpm I will have fatigued rapidly withing 5-10mins.

It is also worth noting that I didn't really write down my times, or have a record of all my PB's. This is generally because when i got them i always assumed that i would be faster next time!

So even although I am looking towards the half-marathon, the track sessions will still be an important part of my training.

Men's Health 10K 2008 (mhfs) Race Report

The "Men's Health 10K 2008"

race went without incident, my hamstring held up fine. I ran steady 8:50min/miles and completed the course in 54:09, well within my 56mins target!

The course isn't a fast course, and has a few small hills and narrow passages. Many people refused to run the hills, which further slowed me down! I had one incident where i ripped my number and had to stop and reattach it. But to be honest I wasn't that bothered about a second or two or ten.

Legs are a bit still a bit stiff, so i'm taking a day off before my hill sessions on Arthur's seat tomorrow.

So my next race is the St Andrew's Hospice 10K Road Race, on Sat 23 Aug 2008, held in Strathclyde Park. This is a FAST FAST course and is perfectly flat! So I am aiming for sub 48mins for the next one!

My weight is sitting at 14st 3lbs and i aim to break the 14st barrier by this coming Sunday!

1.5 Mile Run

Well my Hamstring still ain't, right!

So I decided to go a "fast" 1.5 mile run yesterday to see how likely it is to hold up for the 10K. In the end I went round the 1.5miles in 11 mins, which works out at 7:30min/mile pace. Though I found even the slightest incline difficult! Looks like Monday's hill session is still in my legs!

I'm not too dissapointed with that, and will aim to keep my pace for Sunday's 10K at the 9min/mile average. After 8K i'll take it from there!

Tonight's plan is to take young nephew to the track, jog round one 10min/mile, then do a fast mile on my own. Then that's me 'till Sunday.

BTW.... My weight is currently 14st 5lbs so i doubt it will be any different by Sunday!

Persistent Medial Hamstring Pain!

No running yesterday, only the Gym sesion. Was at the gym this morning too. I'm gonna try one easy mile tonight.

Medial hamstring pain is driving me mad, it even hurts when I sit! Not long 'till sunday!

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Enforced 10K Taper

I managed 7 hill reps on Arthur's seat on Monday, and finished it off with a two mile run/walk up and down the summit. In hindsight Monday's session might have been a step too far!
I only managed 1 ten minute mile yesterday, with young nephew. My hamstring is so tight and has a knot so big, a ship's anchor would be proud! It's one small movement away from pinging!

So I managed 9 days in a row, until yesterday.

I am now in an enforced taper! Was at the gym today just doing upper body, and 2K cycling. I am in a bad way! I "plan" to go out a 5K tomorrow and a wee track session on Friday, just to keep me ticking over!

Still these things happen!

Weekend Run LSD + Speed

Saturday's 10K Training Run (LSD)
Me, my wife and older nephew all went on a 10K training run on Saturday morning at 9 am. Nephew was hung over from night before, but still he gave us a 3 mins head start to our run! He had caught up with us by the second mile, and asked if he could power on ahead. He went round the 10K in 53mins with my wife and I jogging around in 1hr 4mins. I'm just trying to get more used to the 10K distance, with one more planned before "the race" next Sunday. Good to see that at least one 18 Year old doesn't know the meaning of LSD!

Sunday's Track Session
Me, my wife and young nephew all went on a track session Sunday morning at 9 am. This was my wife's first track session and she was pleased to run a mile in 7:15. The session was quite brief:

1 mile - (with little nephew)
1 mile
800 m - (with little nephew)
800 m
400 m

After the session I had lunch at my inlaws, where I was pleased to hear a few people say that they could see I have lost weight. I tipped the scales at 14stone 5lbs

Today's Plans
Well I'm just back from a 4omin gym session, and rued the fact i went at lunchtime as opposed to before work, when it is much quieter. At 4pm the plan is then to head to Arthur's seat for another repeat of our hill sessions.

To be totally honest I'm looking forward to tapering from Thursday onwards! My plan is to rest Wednesday, run Thursday, then rest Friday and Saturday. With the view of being 100% fresh for the race on Sunday. I would put my chances of reaching my 56mins goal at about 50/50.

Today's Gym + 2mile Run - Yesterday's 5K Roundup

Lets start off with yesterday's 5K:

I had planned to take it easy, but my wife had other ideas. She wanted to have a try out of my HR/GPS Garmin Forerunner 305. So she wanted to push it! We were running at just under 9min/mile pace for the duration and I felt pretty good! I'm fairly confident that I could have maintained that speed for 10K.

And Gym session this morning(35mins):

I was feeling some staleness in my legs, but still felt pretty good..If you are interested, here is a typical gym session for me..

45 Situps (using ab machine)

1K rowing (2:10/500m level 8)

2K cycling (5 mins 100-120rpm level4)

Dumbbells (15X10Kg, 15X10Kg)

Chest Expander(15X20Kg, 15X20Kg)

Vertical Chest Press(20X25Kg, 20X25Kg)

Shoulder Press (15X20Kg, 10X20Kg)

Dumbbells (10X12Kg, 8X12Kg)

Tonight's Run

Later I'll be taking my young nephew out a 1 mile run, and on the way back i'll aim to do two miles at 8min/mile pace, with the view to improving my leg speed.

My Weight?

I don't know whats going on with it. It seems to be sticking at circa 14st 7lbs, I am hopeful that this is related to my muscle development and water uptake in the muscles. I'm am not worried and suspect it will start to drop over the next few days.

Running Hill Reps in Edinburgh

'Twas a good training session last night on Arthur's seat. It consisted of 4 X 300m hill reps, then a small run, then a run/walk to the top of Artur's seat and finally to top it all off, another 300m hill rep! All in all a grand total of 4miles.
I'm not fanatical about charts and try to keep them off my blog...but here is the graph of the first set of reps, the pace graphing was all messed up due to the recovery stops...

Here is a table of the reps...

My apologies, like anyone cares! Today I thought my legs would have been struggling but they are fine. So my gym session this morning was a joy, and i'll be out an easy 5K later tonight.

First Sub 1hr 10K round the valley of fatigue

I was initially planning to take a day off from running today on account of me still felling pretty run down after Saturday's sluggish performance.

But I finally bit the bullet and ran my first 10K(6.21 miles) of the year, though I didn't feel too great, I managed to clock 59:14s.

Instead of satisfaction I was actually left feeling a tad disappointed, it is probably the slowest 10K I have ever clocked. The enormity of knocking 22 mins from that time seems like an impossibility. And the 56 mins I am aiming for, for the Men's health 10K on the 15 June, a mere 13 days away, is going to be tough!

I have a track session planned for tomorrow, and a few hill reps of Arthur's Seat planned for Wednesday. Both of these should help improve my speed, but I am now also aware of the need to run at least another two 10K s prior to the race.

At my weigh in the scales were showing 14st 6lbs, so I am also desperate to shift those 6lbs ahead of the race. If ("that's a big if") I can shift that weight, then a 56min 10K shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Friday, Saturday, Today

Friday's 10K didn't quite go according to plan, on account of me not actually doing it. Instead, I picked up a second hand mountain bike for £70, and by the time I had cycled the 4 miles home with it - at a fair speed - my quads were on fire and i was soaked with sweat. So i gave the run a miss.

Saturday morning I took my young nephew out a 1 mile run in the morning where he got a new "road mile" record of 11mins 24seconds, so i was pleased for him. I then finished the morning off with a 4.5 mile run. I laboured severely under the heat and plodded along at a very slow 10:35min/mile pace

So I am having a rest day today, thus I am rounding off my weekly mileage at 19 miles for this week. And for the period 5-31st May, my first month's training, i have clocked up 40miles running, not including the gym sessions. Though my weight is still sitting at 14st 7lbs and has been for a good few days. Hopefully that will change soon!

Easy 1 Mile Jog + 2 Miles Run

Despite my cold, I couldn't contain yesterday's run to just one mile with young nephew, 10:53....

Instead I also decided to go a wee two miler on my own, which on a mostly uphill course I managed to keep an 8.15min/mile pace, which though not that fast, still pleased me.

My wife is out on a works night out tonight, so I plan to do my first 10K training run tonight and see how I feel.

Hill Training Roundup

Yesterday's hill session was a bit of a wash out. Mainly on account of me being up all night with a bad cough and blocked nose.
Yesterday I gave the office a miss, the gym a miss, but not the hill session!
I souldn't have bothered.... I managed 4 reps in total, the last two involved me swapping insoles with my nephew on account of his shin splints!
Feeling slightly better today, but I will limit my activity to 1 mile with my younger nephew.

Body Mass Index - BMI Calculator

Here is a simple BMI claculator, which may be of use..

I suppose i should have called this blog the obese runner!

Speed Session + Lactic Acid (C3H6O3) = Empty Legs!

Yesterday's tack session was a good laugh. The team consisted of me, nephew age 19 and nephew age 11. The wife was doing a yoga session in our house with my mother in law, so a hard track session didn't seem like that much of a chore!

The session

1 mile - (with little nephew) - 9.46

1 mile - 6.51

800 m - (with little nephew) - 5.07

800 m - 3.17

400 m - (with little nephew) - 2.44

400 m - 1.27

200 m - (with little nephew) - 1.12

200 m - 37s

So with this being my fist speed session, there were a few interesting findings. With my weight at 4 stone 8pounds, and me 5ft 8, here are the results ;)...

1. My lactate turnpoint is probably around 7.30min/mile
2. My maximum sprint is 4.10min/mile over 200m

3. My physical maximum HR is 192 bpm

4. My "full out" sprint lasts for 20-23 seconds before ATP+Creatine stores are wiped out!

All rather uninteresting I suppose!

But on the plus point, this morning's gym session felt ok, though I will be doing an easy 5K tonight! As tomorrow is a Gym + Hill Sessions day!

Back on the roads & track

After the rest period I was desperate to get back out running; Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were necessary but unwelcome recovery days.

My Saturday run was a joy! Nice steady 5K with the wife and 18 year old nephew. Then me and nephew broke off and extended it out to 5miles, at an improved pace. The last mile in sub 8 min pace. I enjoyed it so much, i finished with the "sprint then vomit" combination. Fantastic!

Sunday, was the easy day. A steady 4 miles and my heart rate at even 165 for the duration. And as an added bonus my weight was new low of 14 stone 8 pounds!

And for today, i'm shortly off to the gym for a weights session, then this evening, a speed session on the track to help blow off the cobwebs. 1 mile time trial, then 1 x 800m, 1 x 400, 2 x 200, and finally 2 x 100.

Easy 5K run tomorrow, then the hills on Wednesday! I'm looking forward to it!

Few of my chums are mulling about the "first monster" biathlon. http://www.firstmonster.co.uk/challenge.php

It is a week after my half, but i'm swithering, but i don't like having to rely on other people staying un"injured"..Aye

The PB Blues - Dreams of Past Glories

"To boast of a performance which I cannot beat is merely stupid vanity. And if I can beat it that means there is nothing special about it. What has passed is already finished with. What I find more interesting is what is still to come." Emil Zatopek

For the umpteenth time I am again trying to get back into shape, and sitting here typing with my sore aching limbs, the thoughts of past times and glories are never far from mind. Unfortunately the medals hanging behind my computer desk act a constant reminder, especially now that some are beginning to rust!

The "What's the point even trying?" philosophy never far away from my mind. How can I ever compete with the 9 1/2 stone 19 year old me, who would run 10K in the morning and then another 10K in the evening? The same person who would go out four a 4 hour run, just because!

Then I have a good dose of perspective, my goal is to improve tomorrow on where I am today.
The times themselves are irrelevant and more a symptom of my continual improvement. I will set my self challanging but realistic goals such as my sub 2 hr half, which I will then reassess as my training continues.

Either that or take up "egg and spoon" racing witht he view of getting some new PB's!