David Pearce's Fitness Blog

Tuesday 28th July

I have decided to have an easy week. I have put my body through a lot recently and want to give it some recovery time. I am conscience of my calf muscles and ham strings so do not want to over do it. I think they might need a sports massage so will look into that.

I went on a run around the park though at a slow pace just to keep the legs turning. I did not go on the Sweatshop run last night  or and will not go out with the running club tomorrow. Instead I will go on a long bike ride on Thursday and do some rowing to keep my fitness up. My calves should be fresh then for running again at the weekend.

3.81 in 39:58

Sunday the 26th July

A bit of an easy day after my 30 mile ride yesterday so just a quick run doing intervals. That is to say that I did a warm up followed by laps of a track at a faster pace than normal. This activated the fast twitch muscles and gives you speed when you are racing as your body gets used to a higher and harder work load. I only did a little to avoid injury.

2.95 miles in 27:07

Saturday 25th July

I woke up to a lovely day and felt in the mood for a good bike ride so set off in the opposite direction to normal to go and explore some villages near me that I hardly ever pass through. They were beautiful but blighted by ugly council buildings put up in the 1970's.

I ended up cycling over 30 miles and feeling good so it was a god day in the saddle. I should have taken some food though as I did get a bit hungry!

30.89 miles in 2:14:02

Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th

I had a semi rest day after my bike ride on Monday to recover as I knew I also had a long run with Maidstone Harriers on Wednesday. It was really tempting to go out but I had to resist it remembering that I had or was going to be doing 2 long sessions (1 hourish +)

Food followed the regular pattern but I have forgotten exactly what it was! I now I treated myself to home cooked fish, chips and mushy peas on Wednesday before the run though!

3.27 mile bike ride with dog in 21:17
5.9 mile run with Maidstone Harriers in 58:33.

 

Monday the 20th July

I am feeling good today so up for some solid training. My big news is that I have secured a charity place for the 2010 London Marathon which is amazing news! I have only ever done one marathon before and I was injured before and during the race so did a bad time of 5:40! I was hoping to go under 4:00... Looking back though the farthest I had ever run before was a half marathon so hardly the preperation needed! It was in that 1/2 that I picked up my injury though and had planned to do longer runs.

Now that I have my place my training plan is going to be totally different especially as I have 9 months to prepare. I will continue to do a lot of cross training this year as well as building up my weekly running mileage by 10% per week. My long run will be about 30% of the total weekly total. The rest will be made up of Fartlek, intervals, hills and long slow distances. It has been proven that training quality is just as important as quantity. There are huge gains to be made if to up your mileage from say 20 to 30 a week but far less so from 50-60. It is also vital to be able to run slowly and build your muscles with minimal risk of injury.

21:49 bike ride in 1:26:12. This is about 5:30 better than last week.
3.61 mile run in 34:02. This was part of the Sweatshop Monday run but I ran there as well so it is included. I did the 5km in 28:05 which is about 2 mins better than last week.

Sunday 19th June

A bit tired today but still did 3 sessions as we went for an all you can eat Chinese meal at Noble House. I did not pig out though - in fact I was quite restrained and even drank jasmine tea instead of wine or beer.

2.1 mile run in 20:46
6.72 mile bike ride in 30:55
3.1 km indoor rowing in 15 mins.

Friday 17th July

The 16th was a rest day due to my 5.5 mile run the day before with Maidstone Harriers. Today I only did a little training as I have a wedding which means I will be on my feet for most of the day.

The same applies tomorrow where I will do no training as I have a wedding in London so out for most of the day and night. I will be on my feet though and no doubt be walking for 5-8 miles each day...

2.28 mile run in 21:58
5km indoor row in 23:04

Wednesday 15th July

I started off this morning with a small bike ride with Harley my dog followed by a 15 min intense row on the Concept 2. I kept my day delibrately light as I was venturing off to run with the Maidstone Harriers running club in the evening...

The furthest I have run post injury is 3 miles and their 2 runs this evening are 6.5 and 8.5. I think I will have to find a short cut as I don't want to take things too far too soon.

There must have been a good 40 runners their and of mixed ability and speed. I set off with a map they had given me and followed the bunch. They soon left me as I was pacing myself to 10:30 miles so it was nice and easy. I soon caught up with a couple of ladies though and ran with them for a 2 or 3 miles which was nice. They carried on on the short course whilst I turned left and headed back to the club house making my run 5.5 miles. It was very easy I am pleased to say as I did not push myself at all.  I now know I can do 10km races easily in September (I could now but really do not want to push myself as it will result in injury) so will enter a few.

3.96 mile bike ride in 27:13 with my dog.
5.45 mile run in 59:59 with Maidstone Harriers.
15 minutes indoor rowing

Bowl of bran flakes with sultanas
Banana
Turkey sandwich
Stir fry with Turkey, onion, spinich, potatoes.
Slice of bread and fresh fried turkey

Tuesday 14th July

A bit of easy day today after my long bike ride yesterday and Sweatshop run. After a hard workout it is really important to let your body recover. You will feel all the better for it the next day!

1.93 mile run - 20:01 
3.48 mile bike ride with dog - 26:05

Small bowl bran flakes
1 pint smoothie
Tuna sandwich on wholegrain bread
Wholemeal pasta with turkey, courgette, peas, potatoes and peppers.

Monday 13th July - Sweatshop Run

I was feeling good today so decided to go for a long bike ride - I ended up doing over 21 miles so that was pleasing. I took it easy and averaged 14 mph so not too un-respectable as I am only really starting out.

My local sweatshop runs a 5km run every Monday evening which I used to enjoy when I was previously running 18 months ago. I decided that it was time to get back to it as I throughly enjoyed running with others. There used to be 6 or so of us but it has grown considerably - there must have been 40 people at least. One was a lady whose wedding I had photographed some 3 or 4 years ago so lovely to see her.

Back in the day my PB on the course was 25:38 but there was no way I was going to come even close to that time. In fact I wanted to run it in 30mins or so which would be comfortable and not push myself. This is really important to learn when running. Pacing yourself counts for a lot especially when running in a group. You need to run at your pace and no one elses otherwise you will burn out and maybe by going to quickly at these initial stages will result in injury. This is the last thing I wanted!

Some new runners overtook me about 1/2 mile but I had overtaken them again running at my steady pace by about 2 miles. The tortoise won on this occasion! I finished in 29:28 so very happy all round and injury free. I am really looking forward to a few months time when I can attack my PB. It will be tough as 4.22 over a 5km course is a hell of a lot being 1:30 per mile faster pace.

21:45 mile bike ride - 1:31:44

3.1 mile run - 29:58

Bowl Bran Flakes.

1 pint fruit smoothie.

Banana.

Tuna sandwich with lettuce, spring onion and tomato.

Wholemeal Penne with mince in tomato sauce.

Mince in Tomato Sauce (post run).

1 slice wholemeal bread with marmalade.

1/4 chocolate muffin.

The Weekend and Weigh in!

I had planned to have a good training weekend but my left hamstring had a niggle so I elected to rest it. It is far better to have a rest day or two and recover than force yourself into something that injures yourself. You have to be honest though as you will always have something that causes suspicion - the key is in identifying what is serious and what is not.

I did go on two bike rides on Sunday which kept my legs turning as this hardly touches the hamstrings (I don't think!)

Saturday morning was my weight in - I have lost 3lbs which I am really pleased with. I have actually lost a lot more than that as I have been putting on muscle at the same time as losing fat. My body shape is really changing already  My stomach is not protruding so much and my spare tyre around my waist is deflating nicely! I remember reading some where that muscle weights 5 times as much as fat so it can really disguise fat loss.

Lets see if I can get under 12 stone by next Saturday! That really would make me very happy.

Bike Ride - 4.76 miles in 30:58

Bike Ride - 10:18 miles in 47:00

Friday 10th July

I have not slept well the past few nights - I think I am thinking too much about training! As a result I was not as fresh as I was hoping to be this morning. I still went out on a run though but instead of a steady pace I did Fartleks and Intervals albeit for only 2 miles inc warm up and down! Fartlek is mixing up your running - for example jogging slowly for a while and then really speeding up. Essentially altering your pace at regular intervals. I simply did 400 meters at a time. I plan to go out and do a nice bike ride later though as well as a 5km row. If I have any energy left I will go for a further 2-3 slow run later as well.

Tomorrow is weigh in day so I hope to see some good results!

2.18 mile run in 20:28

13.5 mile bike ride in 1:04:57

2.19 mile run in 0:22:28

5km Indoor rowing in 24:55

I ate:-

30gm bran flakes

1 pint smoothie

Wholemeal bread with turkey, goats cheese, spinich and tomato.

Penne with turkey, peppers, onions, courgettes and a tomato passata.

1/2 pint real ale.

Thursday 9th July

Today is a rest day. This is really important and vital for everyone undertaking physical activity. My leg muscles ache a little with all the activity I have been doing so today is the right time for a rest. You should have at least 2 rest days a week and even 3 if just starting out. It gives your body time to recover and repair itself. It is a case of less is more as the down time is when you muscles have time to grow and for you to re-energise yourself for the next few days. I don't have set rest days as my schedule changes from week to week. I have meeting this afternoon and evening so it fits in well.

It does not mean being a couch potato though... It is good to go out for a walk. This will get your blood flowing through your muscles helping to clean out any lactic acid. I still include this in my training diary as it all counts.

1.78 mile walk in 34:40

30gm Bran Flakes

Wholemeal bread sandwich

2/3 tin baled beans

Turkey fried in Olive Oil with thai fish sauce and soy sauce, new potatoes from the garden and baby spinich leaves wilted with garlic.

Wednesday 8th July

It is time to increase my mileage slightly so I went out for a 3.2 mile slow jog. By this I mean that I tried to keep to 65-75% of my maximum heart rate. The best way to calculate your maximum is to do a treadmill test at the gym but failing that do some warm up laps at a local track and then run 4 laps at an increasing pace until you are flat out. Have a look at your heart rate monitor and that will show you your maximum. 

I will discuss heart rate monitors a little more tomorrow as they are an essential accessory for you. Today though I want to touch on the subject of how to approach training runs. Although any walking/jogging/running is good for you there are more effective ways than others. Most beginners want to go for as long as possible as quickly as possible. This is the wrong way to go. I would suggest from my studies that the first 6 weeks at least should be spent doing LSD. No not the drug but Long Slow Distance. This is good at any stage of your running life as it builds strength and aids recovery by letting blood flow through the muscles. It is also acts when starting to recruit your slow twitch muscle fibers. These are what will give you the power to run for long distances. Fast twitch muscles give you speed but we are not worried about that at the moment.

In relation to this it is also important to remember to increase your weekly mileage by much more than 10% to help prevent injury. This can be really hard to do so what I suggest is increasing your longest run by 1/2 mile a week to begin with. I will be discussing long run shortly as it is not too important at this stage. What you need to be focussing on is being able to jog for 20 minutes non stop. This will be hard to begin with so simply walk/jog and increase the amount of jogging you do until you no longer need to walk. Then you can increase your time. You should be aiming to go out 3-4 times a week at least.

3.2 mile run in 33:08

14 mile bike ride in 1:01

5km rowing in 24:59

50 Press Ups

A little upper body weight training.

Holding a "Plank"

Squats

30gm Light Bran Flakes when I woke up.

1 pint "Berry Cool" fruit smoothie after my 3.2 mile run at 9:00.

1 Wholemeal sandwich with turkey and salad

2 slices wholemeal bread with marmite

Turkey stir fry with Pak Choi, peppers, onions and aduki beans.

Tuesday the 7th July

With any weight loss and fitness program it is really useful to have a goal to work towards. In the past for me it has been to complete a 10km, 1/2 marathon and a full marathon. For the past 3 years I have wanted to run the Maidstone Half Marathon but have been unable too due to injury or the fact that I had my one and only full marathon in the same week!.

This year though it is happening on the 18th October so far enough away for me to get fit and train for. I will be following the Runners World training plan so I can aim for a sub 1:50. I will start specific training for this on August the 9th which gives me 10 weeks of hard training. In the meantime I will use the 4 weeks before I start to build general fitness and base milage. I will pay particular attention to my calf muscles as these are the ones that always let me down.

I was really hoping to go on a bike ride later today but due to torrential rain I will have to miss it. Instead I will do another running session.

Yesterday completed the following:-

Warm up and warm down jog - 0.78 miles in 7:58

2 Miles/8 laps of the track in 16:36 (the GPS says it was 1.86 and I did run half on a different track)

50 press ups

30 sit ups 

5km Rowing in 23:00 (1.30 quicker than yesterday as I was doing intervals).

1.94 road run slowly in the evening in 18:50. Followed by...

5.37 mile bike ride in 24.44

Breakfast - small bowl of Special K

After run - fruit smoothie

Lunch - Granary sandwich with ham and lots of salad.

Dinner - Burmese Curry with turkey (home made and very healthy with lots of spices such as ginger, garlic, onion, fenugreek and mustard seeds.

Monday the 6th July

As I mentioned yesterday, I wrote Monday off when I got up as I was quite shattered from a mad wedding weekend. I felt better having been up for a few hours though so went out for a training session. I usually do these 2 mile runs in the morning when I am walking my dog (Harley) as it makes sense to utilise the time effectively. He runs around the field freely whilst I run so it works out very well.

When you get a little experience of running you will be able to judge your pace more effectively. It is always wise to start off slowly for a warm up and then gradually increase your pace. As you can see from my lap time I have done exactly this. I like to finish strongly as well and this mimmicks a race situation and your body gets used to that extra burst of energy. 

Here are my lap times with each one being .25 mile or 400 meters. My heart average heart rate is in brackets:-

2:16 (122)

2:16 (141)

2:11 (149)

2:10 (151)

2:09 (154)

2:04 (160)

2:02 (163)

1:46 (172)

I also did a warm down walk, stretching, 50 press ups and 30 sit ups. I then came home and did 5km on my Concept 2 rowing machine in 24:29. 

Considering I was going to have a rest day this is not too bad.

I have eaten:-

1 pint fruit smoothie.

1/8 quiche 

Half tin Baked Beans on toast

Small amount of scrambled egg.

1/2 pizza

2 small pieces of dark chocolate.

Not a great eating day as I got up at almost lunchtime I was so shattered. We could not be bothered to go to the shops so just ate what we had in the cupboards. The point is that this BLOG is about being realistic. Sometimes, although rarely you get days like this. The very occasional one will not be a problem. Just don't make a habit of it!

Do you want to know a secret?

It is not really about the scales. They don't really mean a great deal apart from confirming what weight you actually are. Far more important is how you look and feel. If you are fitting into smaller clothes and your usual clothes are too big then that is a good sign and far more important that your actual weight. 

What is most important is your body fat percentage. That is how much of your total body mass is fat. It may surprise you to know that some people who look skinny actually have quite a high BFP which is not good for them and quite surprising for them too.  You can see some guidelines as to what you should be on this Wikipedia page.

It states that for good fitness that ladies should be between 21 and 24% and for men 14-17%. It also gives figures for acceptable, overweight and obese (and athletes). What is your BFP? You can purchase scales from Argos or online that can tell you. I am currently 27%.... Not good and puts me in the overweight category. My goal is to get into the 17% bracket. Please read the operating instructions first as the initial set up may ask if you are an athlete or a normal person. If I set myself on the athlete setting it gives me a BFP of 19.2%. I am not sure which setting I should be under so am going to opt for the higher one for the sake of this BLOG. At some time I will get it measured properly to see what it really is. I have a feeling that it is in-between the two at about 24%. It does not really matter though  - all that counts is that it goes down!

Today is a rest day for me as I had a 10 hour wedding on Saturday and yesterday I helped my assistant out at an Indian wedding which meant I was out for 17 hours. I am truly tired having been on my feet walking for most of that time! Yesterday was also my first ever vegetarian day. The Indian food was delicious and served very frequently. In fact I have never seen so much and it was difficult not to keep returning for more. I am sure it was good for me though being full of vegetables and spice.

Regressing slightly, on Friday I went to the pub with my friends and too much ridicule only had two pints of medium strength ale. The rest of the night I was on soft drinks. This was fine and the two pints went down very well and I did not feel the need for any more.

As a result of having today off from training (it is really important to react to how your body is feeling as long as you are not fooling yourself) I will go on a extra long bike ride at some point this week. I will also train on Saturday.

UPDATE - I have felt a lot better having been up and have complete a good training session. The moral is that you have to listen to your body and get to know it. I felt I was up for some training so went out and did it even though I have previously written the day off. Details of what I did tomorrow.

A semi rest day.

On Friday I had a semi rest day. I was genuinely tired so listened to my body and gave it a little break by doing only a small amount of training. It is important to differentiate between genuine fatigue and just being plain lazy though! It is also very important to give your body rest - especially when starting out. It will help prevent injury and actually make you fitter. You should schedule in at least 2 or 3 total rest days each week so you remain fresh.

Friday July 3rd

Breakfast - Fruit Smoothie (pineapple, melon, red summer fruits, natural yoghurt and a little semi-skimmed milk to loosen the mixture.

Lunch - A wholemeal sub with turkey and salad.

Dinner - Spaghetti Bolognese. To this though I added extra onion, finely diced carrots and at the last minute baby spinach. The spaghetti was wholemeal.

If I get hungry between meals then I snack on fruit.

Run - 1.64 miles in 16:20

50 press ups

30 Tricep Dips

My running was all mixed up. Running at a constant pace each day is not very productive in preparing yourself for a race however far away that might be. It is important to do intervals and mix the distance up, do speed training, intervals and various other things which I will go into in future posts.

Today I ran 1/2 mile at normal pace and then rested. In then ran 0.25 mile backwards. This was to work muscles that may otherwise not get used and to balance up with running forward. I can't remember what it calls but it is good for you and you can real feel it afterwards! I plan to do this once or twice a week for a short distance.

I also ran 0.25 miles at full pace which was equivalent to 6:00 per mile time. It was a really good run and made me very out of breath. As I progress I will do repeats of these - maybe 4-6 times. At the moment though I do not want to over exert myself and pick up an injury. Even by doing just the one it is working my fast twitch muscles which will help to give me speed later on.

Saturday and Sunday this week are rest days for me as I have weddings on both days. I will still be walking a long way! I will try and find my pedometer to measure just how far. The next BLOG entry will be on Monday to reflect this.

It is also weigh in day today and to prove where I am I have taken a photograph to show the scales. Lets hope that red needle moves to the left a bit next Saturday!

Where I am now...

At the moment I am 12.5 stone (175 lbs) and am aiming to get down to 11 stone (154 lbs). I plan to do this by eating more healthily and training.If you have read my background then will now that I am prone to calf injury, I used to be 16.5 stone and that I still have some inherent fitness due to past training.

Previously when I lost weight and got pretty fit I did it too quickly which is a classic mistake. My heart could take the extra work but my calf muscles could not. As such I am being careful now. Instead of just running I will incorporate cycling, rowing, kayaking and walking into my fitness regime. I am building my base fitness and strength to give me a body which is capable of training hard and entering races (not to win - just to measure my personal bests and fun).

The most important aspect of what I am doing is mental preparation. If I did not want to lose weight and feel fit then I would not be able to do it. I would fade out after a few weeks (like most people who join a gym) and revert back to being fat again.

You have to be prepared mentally to take on the physical challenge and also to eliminate the desire for bad foods. You need to look forward to training and not have to fight will power to eat cake or chocolate. It is a state of mind. You almost have too feel sorry for someone who is eating junk food. 

I will be going into this more deeply over the next few weeks with articles detailing my thoughts and those that I have learnt from others. In addition to this I will be documenting what I have done training wise each day and what I have eaten broadly. I will also include and "bad" items which everyone needs sometimes - the key is moderation and how often...

I will start by telling you my training from the 1st July 2009. You will be able to see my progress as I lose weight and what I have done to accomplish this. You may wish to follow what I do but please consult a Dr first to ensure you are able to do so. 

If you do and I say that I have been jogging or running then it is fine if you need to walk/run. In fact if you are starting out with zero fitness this is the best way to start and build up your stamina gradually. There are many website out there that will be able to help if I have not covered something. At the initial stage it is more about moving and eating well than anything else.

This is simply my own training plan that I have devised. I have no qualifications in it but do have some self experience. I have a Garmin Forerunner GPS watch which is how I have all the data. It does not include daily tasks such as walking etc.

Wednesday July 1st

Breakfast - Fruit Smoothie home made.

Lunch - Granary bread sandwich with ham and salad.

Dinner - It was my birthday so I went out for a small curry and one pint of Cobra lager.

2 mile run in 17:58

8.28 mile bike ride in 24:49

50 press ups and 30 sit ups.

Thursday 2nd July

Breakfast - Fruit Smoothie home made.

Lunch - Granary bread sandwich with ham and salad.

Dinner - Left over curry that we bought back from the restaurant (you don't have to eat it all at once!)

2.4 mile run in 23:32

11.53 mile bike ride in 47:26

Welcome!

This Blog is all about my mission to lose weight again and keep fit. You can read a bio about me and a little background to why I have started this BLOG here. I really want lots of comments on what you think  - it will keep me motivated and help others if you have sound advice. Please do so at the bottom of each post.