Back in the Game!

Weeks to go: 7
Current weight: 15 stone 1 pound (ooh, creeping down again, get in!)
Total lost so far: 15 pounds (techically back to halfway again)
...so let's get the running going again, shall we?

Well, not quite, but at least some kind of athletic adventure was undertaken at the weekend. Those of you paying attention (do keep up, please) will see that this past Sunday was the Kingswood Mountain Bike Duathlon run by the nice people at Ashford Triathlon Club. For the uninitiated, this involved 3km of trail running, 14km of mountain biking and then the same 3km trail run again. All in the brisk morning light of a March morning. And all done in 1 hour and 33 minutes. 72nd out of 122 - okay, so not world record breaking, but bear in mind that I haven't done much in the way of training over the last 3 weeks due to injury, so I'm happy enough.

Looking forward; my lack of half-marathon race in the build up to the big one at the London Marathon I'll be changing tack and doing the Paddock Wood Half Marathon on April 5th. And with that, I'll need something to distract me from the possibility of returning injuries and pain.

Something I've used for quite a while is music while I run. One of the most distracting things I used to hate when I ran without it was the sound of my own breathing. If I run at any pace at all, my big mouth makes a fair racket and as such, I always seemed to convince myself I was more tired than I really was. So the 'generic white MP3 player' is a great choice to mask the hurricane-like sounds of my gob and helps me concentrate on the run at hand; be it an easy jog or a fair paced aerobic threshold workout.

Research shows that the rhythm of the music you listen to as you run correlates closely with your footfall and therfore the pace at which you run. Obviously, my giant limbs rotate at a different pace to a tiny 7 stone woman, but you get the picture. Therefore, things like slower beats are better for the more leisurely plods and Hardcore Dutch Gabba is best saved for the lungbusting interval training sessions!

Me, I'm more a fan of the anthemic rock and indie, probably because of it's impression on me during my teenage years. Stand up those of you with any songs from the first Oasis album or Shed Seven on your running playlists! Unfortunately, most of that stuff is archived on tapes in the loft and not exactly transferable (for me anyway) onto the little white music box. But luckily, Kings of Leon are perfect, that and Bloc Party, The Fratellis, Feeder, Lostprophets, Pigeon Detectives. But to each their own.

On that musical interlude: Happy return-to-running! Same bat-time, same bat-channel next week, team.

Now... Witness the Fitness

Weeks to go: 14
Current weight: 15 stone 5 pounds
Total lost so far: 11 pounds
...it's slowly starting to disappear!

Well, slowly just about covers it. But that's the thing with starting a weight loss programme; losing weight too fast can be extremely unhealthy. The body can start to use the wrong food stores to generate energy and actually hold on to it's fat reserves. And illness takes hold fairly easily as well as the immune system packs up. Seeing as I was pretty ill over Christmas, that's something I want to avoid like the plague, not least because it'll interfere with my training. So a 2-3 pound loss each week is just about right to remain healthy.

Anyway, this weeks main point was to let you know when and where I'll be racing in the build up to the London Marathon in April. Two things on the horizon and they're pretty close together:

Sunday 1st of March 2009: Eastbourne Half Marathon (www.uk.eastbournehalf.co.uk)
I did this last year in 2 hours 6 minutes and it nearly killed me. This year I'm aiming for about 1 hour 50 minutes and will be ecstatic if I can actually run up the hill towards Beachy Head this time around.

Sunday 8th March 2009: Kingswood Off Road Duathlon, Ashford, Kent (www.ashfordtriclub.co.uk/kwd-mar09.htm)
3km run, 14km bike, 3km run. All off road. Supposedly a bit of a warm-down after the half-marathon, but I've always fancied a bit of off road racing, so this should be an experience. Run, bike-boy, run!

Sunday 26th April 2009: The London Marathon (www.london-marathon.co.uk)
The big one. 'Nuff said.

Happy running all. Or biking. Choice is yours.

Witness the Fatness

As of today, my bodyfat is 25.3%. A slight drop in the year and a half it's been since I had the test previously, but not exactly remarkable. I am politely informed that this is just dipping a toe into the overweight/unhealthy bracket, which is rather shocking. I know I'm not built like Heile Gebresellassie, but it's a bit of a motivator.

Shamefully, the running programme starts tomorrow.

Eat, drink and be merry (for a short while at least)

Weeks to go: 17
Current weight: 15 stone 8 pounds
Total lost so far: 8 pounds
....but it's been Christmas and some leniancy must surely be allowed!

As I'm sure you know, the festive period is well and truly underway and as such, there seems an almost irresistible urge to gorge on both food and drink for the two weeks that span both Christmas and New Years. This is, unfortunately, at odds with training for the Marathon (exactly 17 weeks from today!).

With that in mind, the kind people at Runners World magazine (www.runnersworld.co.uk) have done what I am sure is some deeply involved research into what might be the best way to cope, including the healthier side of alcohol consumption. Feel free to check this out at: http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?uan=3763.

Personally, I've managed to stay well clear of too much overindulgence so far, primarily due to the horrible cold that I've had for the previous week and am still trying to shake. Yet another hindrance to the training schedule. However, at the proper start of the training regime in a week's time, I will suffer the pinnacle of humiliation by having my bodyfat tested as well. I anticipate shame. More next time.

Also, next time there'll be a list of the events I'm doing in the build up to the London Marathon, so you can all come and point/laugh as you see fit. Cheers! Happy running.

Getting started (or falling at the first hurdle)

Running is not easy. Or at least not for someone of my particular bodymass.

For the last few years I've entertained the idea of running the London Marathon. Not least because it is the World's biggest and technically the original, but because it is also practically on my doorstep. So for 2009, I was lucky enough to get a place through Leonard Cheshire Disability (www.lcdisability.org). Also, at the time (October 2008) I happened to weigh 16 stone 2 pounds in weight. So:

The pledge: Run/finish the London Marathon and lose 30lbs in the process

20+ years of playing rugby have taken their toll on my knees and ankles, so the weight loss is basically to minimise any additional impact on these vulnerable joints. And while the 16 week training regime prescribed by the good fellows at the Marathon doesn't kick in until (thankfully) after the new year, I have at least started to try the running.

And so far I've been attacked by a dog and lost valuable training time to a stomach bug. More of which next time. Happy running.

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