I'VE DEFECTED TO THE DARK SIDE

Well i haven't blogged again for a week, and haven't run for a week but last night I went to Delamere forest to run through the trees....at night.....in the dark......with a torch. i hoped i didn't get lost and i didn't, i saw one star in the dark sky and navigated by that...i didn't really, the course was very well defined and i could follow all the other runners torches most of the way but when large gaps opened up and i was on my own i could follow the glow sticks hanging from trees and the major turns were all signposted although you did have to shine your torch at them to see which way the arrows went.








we had a briefing in a warm tent and then headed for the start, we had chip timing bracelet thingies which i had mine on my ankle, it kicks in when you cross the mat at the start and when you finish so gives an accurate time, i had my garmin on anyway so i could see the route we had taken on here the dark side run.

we all set off slowly heading through the car park down towards the main road, there were Marshalls stopping the traffic as 171 runners, some dressed as Christmas crackers ran across the road and away we went, into the forest. i decided to start off fairly slowly as id never run in the dark before, i didn't know what the ground was going to be like, beforehand i was worried we'd be running through dense trees but then common sense prevailed and i thought we'd be running on the many wide tracks the walkers use, which we did thankfully. the first mile or so was quite firm, a few slippy parts and i thought great this isn't too bad, i had got into a steady pace not to many people were overtaking me, mainly coz i started near the back anyway, i was running close to one young lady when we went down a slope, there was a sharp left turn and at the bottom there was the first mud of the night, not too thick but i had to push the young lady head first into it as she just stopped in front of me.....joking, she did stop all girly like, i don't think she wanted to get her trainers dirty, i managed to stay upright even though it was quite slippy which i am pleased about. the mud was sporadic and towards the middle of the race i found my legs getting a little tired and heavy, not sure if its because i wear knee length calf socks for a bit of extra support but anyway i carried on determined not to stop running as i have sometimes had to in the past. there were a few short sharp inclines but there was always a decline to compensate for that where i could open my legs a bit. i didn't look at my garmin but could hear it ping when id done each mile, once id heard the 4th ping i knew i only had a mile to do so tried to speed up a little bit but save some energy for the finish line, it was as i sped up that i hit the thick mud, there as no escape, i leapt from one side to another of the track to avoid it but it was there too, at one point i thought my trainer was coming on, stuck fast in the mud but i clung on to it and eventually after about 15 meters the mud finished. there was then a climb and i could hear traffic and people shouting so once id got to the top i opened my legs a bit with my eyes fixed on the light in front of me, id just overtaken a 6 foot tall bloke walking which made me feel good, he obviously didn't have the mental stamina of an elite athlete like me ;-) so i began to close in on the light in front of me, the final corner turned into an uphill climb to the finish, i was closer to the light now, i could just make out a pony tail swishing from side to side so presumed it was a woman and with 100 yards to go i picked up my knees and tried my hardest to catch her, i did and then i just wanted to get the fastest time i could so a big effort got me over the line, PHEW, i was hot, a Marshall grabbed me to take my timing chip off me, took him over a minute as he said id put it on wrong, hurry up man i need water, he got it off and i grabbed my medal off a figure in the dark and headed to the tent for some water. there i picked up my uninspiring goody bag which had an energy sachet and a pair of magic gloves, what sort of magic i can do in them i don't know!!

so there you have it, my dark side run in Delamere forest was complete, i did it in an official time of 53 Min's 24 seconds, i came in 44th out of 52 in my age category and 128th out of 171 overall here's me at the bottom 

where to next? 10k's next year and the Chester half marathon

LAZY BOY

since my Santa dash 2 weeks ago I have done no exercise whatsoever apart from climbing stairs and the occasional dog walk and guess what, my weight has started to increase, its not rocket science, I've let my calories slip and puddings are becoming a daily intake when perhaps, NO, definitely! they should be a once a week special pud reward. .......if i have been good.

so i have decided in the run up up to Christmas (17 days if you're counting) i will not have a pudding and will cut down the size of the portions I'm having, a smaller plate was recommended which is a good idea us men wouldn't think of!!

I've been running this morning and it felt great, the weather was chilly but dry, the ground was firm but not too icy and there weren't many people about, i saw a huge buzzard sat in the sun on a fence but i scared him off with my coughing and spluttering as I dug deep to pound out 3.6 miles, CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY EFFORTS its always nice to see the sun and a great sunrise it was too but i also saw the moon, when i was young a long long time ago, i thought the moon only came out at night, i like seeing it during the day.

My average pace seems to be around 9.4 minutes a mile, id like to think i can run faster than that but i suppose keeping it up for 10k or 12.1 miles is the main feat of achievement, the pace feels steady, I'm still carrying too much weight so maybe by the the time March comes around and i start my 10k races in High Legh and Lymm I will be lower in weight and speed might improve, wondering what i should aim for time wise for the 10k, 59mins and 59 seconds as a start point???

Ive recently joined a facebook group called run for fun, and run for fun they certainly do, so much encouragement and praise its a really good group to be in, if you take up running even if its just to do a little exercise, id recommend popping on to facebook and giving them a hello as they'd certainly give you the bug to get out there and enjoy it.
they also have a 14 day core challenge which im going to attempt, who knows i may be posting pictures of 6 pack soon enough.

is this really attractive? i think it has the look of an alien invader.

 

WHAT A PUDDING

Close your eyes, picture the scene, bright sunshine, warm breeze gently gliding though your hair, pina colada by your side and the waves breaking onto the white sandy beach beneath your feet.....FORGET THAT, gale blowing your Santa beard into your eyes, cold freezing rain battering into your eyes and deep puddles all across the 5 miles route of your Christmas pudding dash, add to that a fallen tree we had to hurdle as we ran through the woods around Wythenshawe Park near Manchester twice but all in all an enjoyable run if not a bit slippy and very very wet underfoot.

I managed the 4.9 miles in 49 minutes and 12 seconds, if it had been dry i reckon i could have shaved the 12 seconds off, not bad considering i had set a goal of 60 minutes to be on the safe side, came in 55th out of 133 but reckon i broke the record for eating a mince pie once i had finished. unfortunately they cancelled the mulled wine or i may have been mullered by 12 o'clock.

Here is my Prize for finishing, quite remarkable they got my picture on the medal so quickly.
Here is the run and my vital statistics pudding run details

I think I've got this running bug now, my next official race is in March in High Legh, a 10k memorial race and then another 10k in Lymm in April and then the Great Manchester 10k at the end of May, if fitness goes to plan and I lose some more weight I hope to run a half marathon in the summer if we get one, maybe a Glasgow or a Dublin trip for a holiday run.

LONG AND SLOW

on the advice from an elite marathon runner I took my weekend run nice and slowly but I did go further and i managed a 4 and a half miles relatively pain free. i set off from my flat walking quickly until i reached the frozen entrance to Carey Park, i did some very quick stretches of my calves and off i went. i had recently bought a winter running jacket, on my first run wearing it lst wednesday I was extremely warm, probably too warm for running but this time i was glad i was wearing it, overnight had been a frosty one, we dont suffer too badly with extreme weather, no floods, no major snowfalls and no lovely picturesque scenic views to look at either. 
as i passed a few walkers with their dogs i kept in my mind to not go off too quickly, i tend to think im steve cram and go as fast as i can without dying but with the knowledge of doing longer but slower being better for me in the long run(no pun intended) i took my time for once. i did a route i have often walked, heading off to the river weaver and then turning right and heading toward the flashes, no this is not an instruction to scare the birds away by flashing it is the name of the area which is attributed to the Neumann and Ashton salt workings, subsidence caused by the salt extraction cause the pool or flashes to form. click here for history 
my run was uneventful but i must admit i found it more enjoyble doing it slightly slower, maybe im getting used to running a bit now, the time i took wasnt that much slower than i have been running but it all bodes well for this Sunday...."whats happening Sunday?" i hear you cry, well, this Sunday i am taking part in the Manchester Christmas pudding race at Wythenshaw Park, 1030am for all those who want to cheer me on, its a 5 mile run, 2 laps of a course with various terrain on and off road, i have targetted to finish in under 55 minutes, thats not very fast but its my first proper run for a while so im not being too ambitious, considering ive had quite a bad calf injury i think im being sensible for once.

i will again attempt this 4.5 mile course on tuesday or wednesday and then stretch and rest before sundays race, hopefully picking up a free christmas pud and with a bit of luck a mulled wine to warm my cockles.

REMEMBER

TODAY IS REMEMBRANCE DAY, lest we forget.

today i have been for another run, that's 3 in 2 weeks, not elite running standards i know but after the injury I've had with my calf i think I'm on the right track. i set off on the same route i had been on the previous 2 times but i took a detour(deliberately, i didn't get lost) and ended up doing a mile more, 3.2 miles in total in just under 32 minutes, i was tiring at the end as i hadn't run that far for a long time but all in all I'm very pleased with the time and wasn't expecting to see that i had improved on the last run. my average pace has come down and i have now run over 30 Min's, doesn't sound a lot but i think I've got to get time and distance in my legs in order to improve more. click here to see my 3rd run

my next run should be Wednesday as I'm not working that day, i have my HGV re-test that afternoon.

IM VERY FORGETFUL

alzheimers is setting in, whilst typing out my enourmously long last blog i forgot to mention my weight, i am now down to 188lbs so a massive loss in total of 32lbs which sounds less when you say 2st 4lbs. with me starting to run now and keeping my diet in check im hoping to get even more off, im still wobbly in places so maybe that will tighten up a bit.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN??

Ive been working long, hard, 12 hour days driving around the north west of England and have had very little time or energy to do any exercise at all.
since my last blog, which seems like 21 days ago, i have been to my physio and been told to "go away"....politely and if there is no more pain and stiffness in my calf, "that i should never go again" yippee!!!! so i have to keep stretching my calfs and keep up my good work ;-)

last Monday i took the first steps toward training for my 10k "race" in Manchester next May, i had been reading a "running for beginners" magazine during my breaks on the road, that stated i should start slowly, walking 5 mins and running for  1 minute, sounded like a good plan to get me started. bearing in mind the last time i had run or should i say "tried" to run i was over 2 stone heavier and had a problem calf, so i walked about 250 yards till i got to the gates of Carey park, then i started to jog, it felt good, in fact so good i ignored or should i say "forgot" about the walking part and just kept going fully expecting to feel bad in a few hundred yards....i didn't and kept on running all the way round until i reached the gates again on the way out of the park, i walked the 250 yards back to my flat as my warm down.  click this link to view that run 
i hadn't felt so at ease running for about 20 odd years, I've never been a good runner, its always been a struggle, at school i hated cross country, i was more of a sprinter at junior school but when i went to high school i don't know what went wrong, i seemed to be running backwards compared to the others, they grew tall and i stayed a little short arse. the regular twice weekly runs when i joined the army seemed to help a lot, i felt i was improving but the disciplined routine of the army apprentice college fell away when i got my first posting to Catterick, i seemed to struggle after that, the emphasis was no longer on fitness but more on the job itself supplying the rest of the army with kit from nuts and bolts to heavy artillery and everything in between.
the days after Mondays run my legs were slightly stiff, i wasn't like a board but i knew i had done something i hadn't for a long long time, the aches gradually faded away and today, Sunday, i woke up early, my running gear was already by my bed so i got straight into running mode, put my heart monitor on, fired up my garmin forerunner 405cx and set off out of the door at walking pace to warm up a bit, it was very cold and id wished i had found my fluorescent running gloves as fingerless cycling gloves leave the extremity's of my fingers vulnerable to the nippy cold air, wimp you say!!! got to be comfortable to enjoy the run which in turn will not make it a chore to do, so that's my next task finding them!! anyway back to the run, i started running before i had reached the gates this time, i had set off on the same course as Monday thus giving me a baseline to work from to see if it had become any easier, i think i will stick to this course for a while so i can monitor any improvements, will there be any???? certainly hope so. i found it slightly harder than Monday, i don't know whether that is down to the time of day, i hadn't eaten anything before i went out, I'm not good doing exercise after eating, lets just say things don't stay down inside my body! i was fully expecting to get so far into the run and feel like i needed to stop but i seemed to develop a sense of determination and kept saying "keep going" and indeed i did, i managed not only to run all the way to the gates but all the way back to the flat. i downloaded my efforts from my garmin to my laptop, you can view the run HERE, the results are improving and i had my heart monitor on this time so i can see how much effort it is taking me in future.
so i am hoping that work will allow me to get a run in next week, in an ideal world i guess running Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday would be great, maybe i will have to get up early to achieve that.

IM JUST USELESS

at blogging, i haven't blogged for a month so i must be useless at it, I'm sure there are millions of people all over the world waiting on my next blog episode, well here it is at last, finally, the thing that you've been waiting for your whole life.

nothing has happened! 

to my exercise regime, i am still under physiotherapy so therefore have had no go ahead to commence anything more than a brisk walk, i could have done some spinning on my turbo trainer but my life seems to be just work at the moment. after 8 years of self employment i have decided it has become too much of a struggle finding work enough to pay the bills, as David Cameron says "we're all in this together" and while he gets paid thousands and thousands for basically smirking on TV and shouting "ere ere ere" in the houses of parliament, I and the rest of the country have to try and graft to make ends meet, so i have signed up to a couple of employment agencies, the first agency got me the odd day driving an industrial bin wagon around deeside and Ellesmere port, that soon ended when they messed me about so i ended up going to one in Warrington, the very next day i was off to Haydock, no the races weren't on, i was sent to a company who seem to pay peanuts, well they got this monkey for a couple of long days, 6am starts and finishing at 4pm, well that was the plan, the 2nd day i sat in a canteen until 830 and then when our truck was loaded we ended up driving around the outskirts of Manchester until 530pm so a long long day but thankfully it was only 2 days and then i had a phone call saying some better news that they had a company nearer to home who paid more and wanted me for a week with 8am starts. after driving around the WA, M and OL postcode areas for a week i had the boss shake hands and tell me they'd had a phone call from a customer praising me, so for once i felt good and proud of myself, i think its best i don't mention the problems I've had with the tacho now I'm in a positive mood.

anyway, this blog is meant to be about my health and fitness, well i feel I've been too hectic this week with work, not been finishing till almost 8pm and I hadn't weighed in for around a week so when i got up yesterday morning i stood tiredly on the scales expecting no change as that was what had happened for the last few weeks, i felt id hit a brick wall with weight loss, started to question what id been eating and whether my lack of exercise was the reason id been stuck. i slowly looked at the scales and imagine my surprise when i saw that my weight had dropped to 13st 8lbs, that's almost half a stone lost in the week id been driving, i hadn't been eating a lot for my lunch as i didn't want to end up being like the stereotypical lorry driver like this one

so i have another week at the same place coming up, hopefully my will power to resist truck stops and crap food along my journey may bring another good figure on the scales come next Saturday.
when i reached 14 stone i felt really good, although i set myself a target of trying to get to under 13 i really thought it might have just been wishful thinking, but 8lbs to go and how amazing would that be, to see 12st something on the scales. i need to get an appointment made to see the doctor and review my health after 3 months of dieting, will be very interesting to see my results cholesterol wise as that was slightly above where it should be when i went last time. 

remarkably and maybe foolishly, the day after i got under 14st i signed up to do the 2013 great Manchester run, it is only a 10k which i think is around 6.5 miles but i think its a challenge i can do, it isn't until the end of may so i have all winter and spring to start some proper fitness training and get out there and achieve something, 50 will be upon me before i know it and i don't want to be idle when it arrives.

and finally id like to congratulate my friend for completing the Chester marathon, her first, 26 miles is an amazing achievement in such a fantastic time of 4hrs 20, well done Lesley.
I'm pretty well sure that's beyond me, ill just set my goal of the 10k....and a time of..........???

UNDER 14 STONE GOAL REACHED

Hooray, party time, for the first time in years I have broken 14 stones and it feels good!!!

I've had a celebratory dried date to mark the achievement but no time for resting on my laurels or my fat backside, I've not been able to exercise due to my calf injury which at first was diagnosed as a partially torn Achilles but is now being talked of as a deep calf injury. anyways after 2 visits to the physiotherapy department at the local infirmary and 3 weeks of twice daily stretching its feeling a lot better, i know its not 100% sorted but i feel more confident to try and use my turbo trainer now, I've had a couple of goes on it but will do it daily now, 20 Min's at least just to get the heart going.

today is Great North Run day and i have a couple of good friends taking part so good luck to them, not sure i would like to fight through the massive crowds of runners there is there, 40000 runners getting in my way that wouldn't be fun! but saying that, this year i had signed up for the Sandbach 10k but had to pull out due to this calf injury, i have had it a while!! so i would like to attempt one of those next year as well as some cycling and who knows i may even apply for the great Manchester run.................................UPDATE..........................Ive just entered the BUPA Great Manchester Run on the 26th May 2013

Hopefully my friends can encourage me and give me some advice along the way, its only a 10k run, I've done 2 half marathons in the past from one extreme to another, Ripon while i was quite fit during my Army years, i finished that in 1hr 40, I also did the 25th Malta half marathon when i was 42 and very unfit, my training included one 2 mile run and a few days in the bars in Sliema, that played a big role in my very slow time of 2 hrs 30 Min's not helped by my calf injury!

 

so my next target is going be breaking 13 stone, that's not going to be an easy target but one I'm determined to do, being able to do that would obviously make running that 10k in Manchester a lot easier. hopefully the cycling on the turbo trainer(and outside if weather and time permit) will boost my weight loss, I've also got a fitness disc for the XBOX so I'm going to be busy sweating from now on.

BODY FAT %

When i started out on this adventure to make myself healthier and leaner i was quite shocked to see my body fat %, it was just over 30% meaning out of my total weight of 220lbs(99kg, 15st10lbs) 66lbs or 30kg or 4st 10lbs was FAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


this chart below shows how much body fat we should have for our size

 

well for the last few days my weight seems to be stuck at 14st 3lbs, BUT my body fat seems to dropping daily, when i first started the figure never seemed to move away from 30%, sometimes it would drop to 29% and sometimes it would rise to 32%, I've not been sure whether my scales are broke(due to the weight inflicted on them over the last few years) or whether they just don't work properly or indeed if the batteries are flat. having just been on them again after my tea a delicious weight watchers sweet and sour chicken mmmmmm i am convinced the scales are OK, the figure is reading 24%, now if I look at the chart above and i check along for my age group 25-35

OK 36-45, you'll see that I'm now in the average section, i don't care if this info is wrong I'm celebrating it as a slight victory, no battle is won and the war against bad health certainly isn't over. i definitely don't feel average, i still feel fat because i am, I've still got a lot of fat around my spare tyre and thighs but I'm noticing muscles in my legs i don't remember seeing before.

 

I've discovered i really like olives, i best behave and not have too many covered in delicious oily dressing from the farm shop, just a treat every now and then!!

KNOCK TO MY CONFIDENCE?

tried on some t shirts in TKMAX the other day, earlier i had bought a fleece for the indian summer we are about to have and was shocked that i could get into a size Medium, feeling all full of myself i browsed the sale rails(tight-arse) looking through all the M sized t shirts, found 3 i liked and went to try them on, entered the changeing area with a smile and took off my shirt and put on the first one, oh dear, it went on but was a bit like one of those spray on tops that hug the contours of the body, not a good idea and definately not a good look. off it came and on went the 2nd one, the same occurred, why am i not surprised! took it off and along came my smile with it, reluctantly i tried on the 3rd one and it wasnt as bad so i kept that one as i know i will get into that one soon enough without it cutting off my circulation, i swapped the other 2 for large sizes and headed for the checkout desk to pay.

what ive learnt is that although the t shirts i already have are now getting way too baggy to be anything but rags for work, i still have an enormously long way to go to get the body i want, the good points are my once ballooned stomach is now a lot flatter than it was and my chins are reduced to one, unfortunately the michelin tyre around my waist is proving hard to shift but ive got to keep telling myself ive only just begun this long journey towards a healthier me and along with it a slimmer body, i ceetainly know where the excess stones are on my body, upper thighs, waistline and moobs.

 

WHATS MY TARGET?

I was asked today what my target weight was, a quick think later and i decided anything under 13 stone would be ok, then I thought id check on the NHS website, it says that for my height 5'7+1/2" i should weigh between 8 1/2 stone and 11 1/2 stone, well I'm an endomorph which means i have a stocky frame with stronger thicker heavier bones than someone who is a long distance runner so i reckon I'm going to be a bit over the 11.5 stone guideline the NHS has me down for.
my BMI has dropped to 30.9 from 34 back in mid July i think that's good going, so the target now for a good BMI of 24.9 is a weight of 11 stone 7 lbs, Jesus i think that's going to be tough going, are the NHS correct with their figures???

I've been to physiotherapy this morning, i woke up and my leg felt quite ok, not right but better, so i decided to walk to the infirmary, bit of a mistake that as i nearly didn't make it, walking up Winnington hill was excruciatingly painful, this was then explained to me by the physio as walking up hill was using the muscles that are inflaming my problem.
my problem is a partially torn Achilles tendon, this was probably done over 2 years ago when i did the Malta half marathon. id felt my calf go after 15 minutes and carried on for another 2 1/4 hours to finish the 13.1 mile race, what an idiot!!! 
anyway I've been given stretches and exercises to do twice daily, bad news is i hoped id be able to run once everything was sorted out but it appears that is not the best thing to be doing once you've had a tear, but the good news is i can cycle so i maybe becoming a bit more focused on doing that as best i can, although I've been told not to cycle out of the saddle, could make it difficult going up some hills. 

think this but further up towards the calf muscle(partial tear)

DROP 'EM

Yes this morning i weighed in and I dropped 2 things, firstly I dropped my underwear and stood on the scales looking out of my window at the busy shoppers going into sainsburys, it was 815 there werent many about in this rain, secondly, i dropped my weight too HOORAY!!!

looking down I thought, "wow, not seen that for a while", yes the figures on the digital readout of the scales read 14st 5lbs which equates to 201lbs or 91kgs, thats a loss since ive been recording the figures of 19lbs, 1st 5lbs or 8.6kg, thats quite a weight not to be carrying around anymore.

i do remember my friends wedding back in about 1991 ish when i was at the post office getting wet and shoving bits of paper through peoples doors, we decided to lose weight to look good for the wedding, i did get down to under 90 kg so its been a while since ive been around that weight. the difference is that time i did the atkins diet, all I ate was meat slices, chicken, eggs and cheese, lots and lots of cheese strangely it worked but im sure it wasnt as healthy as what im doing now. i choose wholewheat and wholemeal instead of processed stuff and my portion sizes have come down from eating for 2 down to eating enough, food is fuel after all, i even had bacon and egg the other day, just 2 rashers with the fat cut off and scrambled egg, id have probably had twice the amount before with baked beans, mushrooms, toast and HP sauce so you can see why my calorie intake is reduced.

im starting to think im going to need a new wardrobe, not a few pieces of wood screwed together but a new set of clothes, trousers are sliding off me, t shirts are very baggy but my socks seem ok!

so there we have it, some good news on this wet and windy day, im still losing :-)



28 mile bike ride

BIKE RIDE WITH ROB
click the above link to view our ride, 28 miles through the cheshire countryside,

STANDSTILL

well i feel I'm at a bit of a standstill at the moment, not because my weight has ballooned or anything but because of my calf/Achilles. i think the injury stems from the Malta half marathon i did in 2010, after 15 Min's of that i pulled a calf muscle, stupidly maybe i carried on in the heat for another 2 and quarter hours, a lousy time and agony towards the end but i finished and got some bling lol. anyway the damage was done, during the last couple of years I've just felt a stiffness in my calves in both legs, no pain really but recently on walking and trying to "jog" i.e. my attempt at running very slowly, I've been getting a very sharp pain in my right calf, sometimes its low above the Achilles and sometimes it feels higher up more in the calf muscle on the inside of the leg. I've bought a neoprene calf support which i wear during the day and a heat/cold pack for freezing and using at night, I've also purchased some knee length compression socks which were recommended by my elite running and cycling friend, they look quite sexy but I've not tried them out yet. i have finally recieved a letter from the NHS to say i can make an appointment for physiotherapy so will be giving them a ring in the morning and see what the experts say about it.

so ive not been able to do any exercise at all, no walking, no running, no cycling and no mountain climbing. ive bought a turbo trainer for my bike so i can use it as an exercise bike during the long cold summer oh yes i mean winter months coming up, click the link to see my new turbo trainer hopefully i can start a gentle workout on it without too much strain on my leg, comes with a free DVD so i can feel like im riding part of the tour de france. so until ive visited the physio im sort of stuck without exercise which isnt helping my weight loss programme but once my leg is sorted i will be making an effort to do more.

i'll be weighing in tomorrow so maybe 1 lb or 2 will hopefully be gone.

WEIGHED IN

yesterday I weighed myself, i actually do as youre not supposed to do and i wiegh myself every day just to see what effect my daily calories and hard work has on my body.
when i started this blog i was 220lbs and i felt like a blob, i also looked like one and acted like one so i must have been one, anyway so to the weigh in

naked apart from a nervous smile i ran down the stairs like a child on christmas day, ok as id just got up i trudged downsatirs to where the scales are and stood on them fingers crossed and waited for the beeps, one beep when it registers the weight, then 5 beeps as it counts down to the end and displays wieght and body fat %,

result as follows, 14st 9lbs or 205lbs, thats 15 lbs or 1st 1lb lost, quite pleased with that after a few weeks, im quite into the calorie counting now and im averaging around 1200 calories but the 2 days where i "fast" i aim for 600 but went over today, consider myself told off but there wasnt one bit of crap food in that, today ive had shredded wheat, quorn sausages, sweet potato, carrots and peas so I'm definately being a good little boy. 

calorie counting

ive been calorie counting now for about 2 weeks, i seem to be doing very well on that count, ive set myself a target of 1500 calories a day apart from the 2 days i only eat around 600 cals.
i am doing this by monitoring them on my iphone app myfitnesspal, he is a link to my profile on there so if youre bored and interested click here and see what ive been eating, it might surprise you.

im weighing in tomorrow so will post results then of weight and body fat % according to my scales

UNDER 15st

well i thought id share some good news, i weighed myself on friday and for the first time in a long time i am now under 15stones!! since July 8th ive lost 10lbs, not really been trying that hard but have cut back on pies and crap, basically most of what i ate lol, nah seriously i have cut back and i hardly eat bread now and have vowed not to buy a pie ever again for myself.

DOCTOR DOCTOR

Well ive had enough, walking briskly isnt getting my heart rate high enough to make me breathless, when ive attempted to jog and ive only done it in short slow bursts my calf and achilles on my right leg give me so much pain i have to stop and hobble. ive tried rubbing in deep heat, ibuleve freezing gel and ibuprofen all to no avail so ive been on the phone, made an appointment and seen the Doctor, she has referred me to the physio so ill be seeing him for my arm and my leg now! 
i also told the Doctor about my right knee giving way under me on Sunday, not sure if the dancing and walking in Blackpool was the best thing for an ageing old fart like me, seems im falling apart, maybe ill be the first Bionic man one day, who'll lend me the money?

diet change

if youve read my introduction youll realise ive struggled for a long while with my weight, yes seriously!! im not the waif like athlete you thought i was, probably since i left the army in 1988 when my exercise output dropped immensely. ive been on a lot of different diets, cabbage soup diet, cambridge diet, slim fast and the atkins diet, i loved the atkins diet, who wouldnt, bacon, meat and cheese all the time and i did lose a hell of a lot of weight, i even got into 34" trousers back then. well i watched an interesting programme the other night about fasting dieting, more of a way of life than a diet, the guy presenting it Michael Mosley was so impressed by the research he found in America that he decided to follow the routine one of the doctors devised for him. i wont go into too much detail, the link to watch it is HERE.

Basically, he has "fasted" 2 days out of 7, fasting in this instance is eating 600 calories at the most, the other 5 days he has eaten normally. after 5 weeks his results were as follows, he'd lost over a stone and his IGF1 levels were reduced by 50%, doing the fasting apparantly makes the brain produce new neurons, this helps the stave off the effects of dementia, it is also believed to considerably reduce bad cholesterols, increase good ones and reduce the risk of cancers. its an interesting and good programme i reccommend you watch. 

so after seeign the doctor today i asked about this fasting, she was a little perplexed about it, she had never heard of it and would only suggest i stick to NHS advice and to cut down and exercise, i said im trying to exercise but until my leg is fixed im struggling, anyway she said it was up to me but she doesnt see it being a risk to my health, so today ive only eaten 600 calories including drinks, well actually 597 so i could eat more lettuce if i get peckish later. might turn into a rabbit!!!!!!!

EXPERIMENT

i was weighed in the surgery, 97kgs or 15st 3lbs so lets see how the fasting has an effect on that. i had bloods taken a few months back so have records of those so im going to stick to this and see how they change if at all, 3 months time it'll be November and ill go back and have bloods done again and be re-weighed, fingers crossed there will be a positive outcome to this and hopefully by then the physio will have worked a miracle and ill be able to do more exercising.

CHESHIRE IS NOT FLAT

well Sunday the 29th July was the day I rode from Manchester to Chester for Breakthrough Breast cancer, when i signed up to do it, it was billed as a gentle ride through the pleasant scenery of Cheshire, it appears the author of that statement is a certified escaped lunatic. Despite cycling up Kelsall hill a few times in my training for my French escapades i believed the rest of Cheshire, apart from the hill Beeston castle sits on, was as flat as one of my old inner tubes.

arriving at Platts Fields in Manchester the heavens opened and the few riders who had assembled as early as possible were getting a soaking, myself included. My Dad dropped me off and i stuffed a banana into my face to give me some energy and i clipped into my pedals and rode to the start, i got to the start and soon realised my left shoe was stuck to the pedal, panicking id fall flat on my face in front of others i gently put my right foot down and smiled as I struggled to free my left foot, others commented on how my tyres were like razor blades, i laughed as i knew they weren't aware of my problem. the shoe came away from the pedal and i took it off to inspect it, somewhere between Paris 2011 and Manchester 2012 one of the allen screws in my cleat had vacated its proper position. luckily i had packed a set of allen keys and managed to tighten up the remaining screw to enable me to clip and unclip safely. the time was here and i approached the start line, set my garmin forerunner to start and set off, in the rain, through the puddles and over the absolutely rubbish pot hole ridden streets of Fallowfield and away we went. I'm not a cyclist who can bimble along at the start, i have to get going and get into some sort of rhythm, so i overtook a few people dressed for the mountains their bikes were made for but the traffic lights were holding me up, at one set i was overtaken(the cheek of it) by one of these mountain bikers wheelying passed me, i was quite impressed actually as i sped away from him, HA.
The rain soon ceased and I managed to sight see a few things, Christies hospital, several private golf clubs, Wythenshaw park as we headed off from the urban sprawl and into the countryside. the route meandered through posh areas with some lovely houses and industrial estates with decrepit units, i recognised Ashley post office where i used to collect mail on a Sunday when i worked for the royal mail, after then there was an ever increasing smell of cow manure and some of that was on the roads mmmm reminds me i need to clean my bike. we crossed the busy A556 by the Swan Hotel and were well into jungle by then, rain was holding off and the sun even poked his head through the clouds to say hello. the route was well signposted direction wise but the water stops weren't, the first one at the Kilton Inn in Mere went in the blink of an eye, no warnings just a sign as i went passed it, i decided maybe stupidly to not turn round and top up my water bottle and just keep going, id done 18 miles by then and felt OK so off I went heading towards my home town of Northwich. we skirted by Arley, Great Budworth and Comberbach, at this point i was beginning to feel a little stiffness in my left ankle, this is unusual as its normally my right calf and ankle that cause me problems, maybe it was the curse of the cleat screw attacking my good leg. i stopped at the Spinner and Burgamot for a stretch and a drink, not an alcoholic one just the remains of my water bottle. a quick rest and off i went, through Little Leigh and down to the River weaver, we crossed under the rusty bridge on the A49 and headed off to Crowton, took a right turn up the first steep hill of the ride, I'm unashamed to say i had to get off and walk up the hill, i wasn't the only one!! stiffness and thirst were attacking my psyche but you cant stop an old soldier, we just carry on no matter how slow. the next water stop which was signposted wrongly was at the Tigers head pub at Norley, i missed it and when i got to the next Marshall i complained and he kindly topped up my water bottle, this gave me chance to have an energy gel which id had since the 2011 big battlefield bike ride to Paris, it wasn't in date but it worked, i got some energy and pushed on, slowly!
i knew we were heading through to Delamere forest, i just didn't know it all seemed to be uphill, again I got off my bike before i stalled and fell off and walked up another hill. once we were almost at Delamere the thoughts of it being all downhill to Chester were soon battered, screwed up and thrown to the back of my mind in anger. as we rode up and down and up and up through the forest i was see sawing with a lad on a mountain bike, he was upset too as he was told this ride was a 3 on the difficulty scale, the same as the Manchester to Blackpool ride he had done 3 weeks earlier but he said it was much more difficult, I agreed as i walked up another hill,

 i stopped again for another out of date energy gel and an isotonic drink, surely that will get me to the finish now. as i got to Tarporley the heavens opened and a 5 minute deluge of biblical proportions drenched my pink t shirt, i decided to carry on through it as skin is waterproof and the rain was quite warm. a large sign telling us there were 10 miles to go came into view, it was a flat 10 miles but did seem to drag, the signs were 2 miles apart and obviously in 2 mile reductions and seemed to take an eternity to appear. the last mile was one where a smile ran across my face, i knew id made it and as i turned the final corner in the Christleton Law College i could see the finish line, the cheers and applause rang out and i smiled for the camera as i dipped over the finish line.
53 surprisingly hilly miles were complete and i slumped to the ground and downed another bottle of water, £100 although not the greatest amount in the charity world was raised by my kind friends and will hopefully do some great work for the Breakthrough Breast cancer charity.

surprisingly my body didn't take too long to recover, slight bit of crepitis in my left ankle but not the aching legs i thought i would have, so all i need to do now is think of my next challenge!!

me at the finish 

MANCHESTER TO CHESTER BIKE RIDE

FAILURE!!!

oh dear, opening myself up for abuse here to finding excuses, i did my work, worked all day Sunday till about 430, came home and got changed into my cycling gear, sexy big daddy style bibshorts and a t shirt as it was quite warm still. put my heart rate monitor on, switched on my garmin and did my safety checks on my bike(you should do these you never know if your wheel will fall off!!) felt the tyres and the rear one was low so pulled the small pump out of my rucksack and proceeded to inflate the tyre, 40lbs, 50lbs PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT, the valve snapped off with my obvious manly hand action, "oh fluff" i muttered to myself, quickly released the quick release wheel (greatest invention since the....wheel) and took the tyre off and removed the tube, ran, well walked up the stairs to find another tube and came back down reassembled the tyre and tube onto the wheel and for the second time began to inflate the tyre, 30lbs, 40lbs PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT, valve number 2 snapped, either there was a problem with the valves or I'm just too much of a man, clumsy man at that!

so having knackered my only spare tube i was left with no option but to cancel the ride i was looking forward to, cue accusations of "any excuse ". 
i had the dilemma of whether to take the wheel to the bike shop and get them to true the wheel and fit new tube or order some tubes and do it myself, being a bit of a tight ar$e i decided not to pay the shop and ordered some on line, i ordered 5 so I've got a few chances of cocking it up again.


in 6 days time its my ride from Manchester to Chester for breakthrough breast cancer, i have decided to wear pink for the day as a show of support for all those ladies who have or have beaten cancer, my mum included, I'm sure ill manage to get a few photos of me in pink for all those who need a laugh.

SUCCESS!

I've woken up on a Sunday morning way too early, its 7am and there's no point lying in my pit like a teenager so i am up and blogging before i go to work, yes work on a Sunday morning i must be an idiot. 

truth is my parents bought a house 3 weeks ago and I've been ripping out the kitchen and bathrooms and refitting them with brand new stuff from top to bottom, lowering ceilings, plastering walls, tiling, painting and generally moving things from one place in the house and back again, oh and spending lots of time looking for tools i keep forgetting where I've put.


yesterday i planned on going for a gentle cycle ride after working there but in the end i didn't get away from there until gone 7pm and i was starving, that's a good sign isn't it? feeling hungry must mean i haven't had as much food as i would normally have. i went to sainsburys as it is 50 yards from my door, much nearer than the 100 to Lidl, 120 to Aldi, 200 to Iceland, 300 to Marks and Spencer's and 1000 to Tesco, i plan to stop going to sainsburys and walk to the next furthest one away each week, eventually when I'm fitter i will end up at Tesco in Lands End, now theres an idea for a bike ride!!


anyhow, seeing as i got a compliment from Lee the plasterer yesterday saying how i looked like i had "lost some beef" i decided to have a weigh in this morning, if you remember from my first page i started my life changing way of life at 220lbs, well i jumped on the scales, breathed out in case the air in my lungs aided a false reading and closed my eyes, prayed to an invisible unproven master or mistress in the sky and waited for the beep of the scales to tell me it had registered my weight, i looked down in anticipation remembering i had been very good this week and had no chocolate or biscuits or crisps and if i say so myself I've worked up a sweat at work once or twice lifting plasterboard onto the ceilings, the result.........
216.8lbs 

that's a loss for all you mathematical geniuses of 3.2lbs, I'm very happy with that and its a good start considering I've done absolutely no exercise at all, i know you can lose a lot of water at the start of a weight loss programme but i don't care its hard enough as it is.

so today after work, NO!  im not going to work until 7pm today and will aim to finish around 3pm get home, change and get on my bike and do some miles as this time next week I'll be in my pink t shirt cycling from Manchester to Chester, pictures will be posted of me in my attire so you can see if theres any difference.

above is me last year on the HELP FOR HEROES big battlefield bike ride and if i say so myself I'm not exactly ripped am I? that England jersey was an XXXXL I think and i fit it snugly, maybe next year i could do one of those before and after pictures wearing the same clothes and having enough room inside them for 2 people. 

and below is me in 2009 so as you can see my problem area is my middle, my spare tyres, all those saved up sausage rolls, pies, chocolate, crisps and pints of beer. its a hell of a lot to be carrying around extra and it has taken a toll on my back and knees I'm sure.

A LITTLE ABOUT MY PAST

Well where do i start?

Today Mattthew, i'm going to be Geoff, 45 years old, 5'7" and feeling a complete useless wreck of a human being.
but I do have a vision and a goal, to get myself a lot healthier than i currently am. I'm 220lbs in weight, I've used the american format of lbs as nobody will know how many stones that is.

its 15st 7lbs for those who wish to gasp in horror, at my worst i think i tipped 16st on the scales, yes i had to go to a public weighbridge to weigh in.
The picture on the left is how i feel i look, lazy, sedentary and depressed I've let myself get into this state again, just imagine that body and the head of George Clooney and that's probably a good description of me.




As a child I was always active and outside, football in winter, cricket in the summer and tennis when Wimbledon was on, i didn't have a bike until i was about 12, my parents moved 3 miles from school and i didn't qualify for a free bus so i cycled there and back most days after doing the longest paper round in the world going up one of the steepest hills in Cheshire up to the farm by Delamere Park and back home, used to hate Wednesdays and Sundays(not the ice cream sundaes) as the local papers and Sunday supplements were a bit heavy to say the least, look at the paper boys and girls of today, they get mollycoddled with trolleys and hi vis bags, wimps, and their bags only have about 3 papers in!!


when i left school i immediately joined the British Army, more fitness than you can shake a camouflaged stick at, i was never any good at running but you were forced to do it and it did improve my overall fitness. i can remember doing a cross country run once a term as one company against another, A company was mine, B company were just useless, we had 4 terms and on the first one i was a young NIG(new intake group) think i came in 123rd, by the end of term 4 just before i passed out(something i do now thinking of running!) i came in 45th, yes they don't give medals to 45th place but i felt really good and even managed to sprint Usain Bolt style in the final 50 metres.
i spent 5 years serving my Queen and country, as well as doing 8 mile runs with full kit on there was always the football to keep me going but even then discovering beer and my diet was taking its toll on my fitness, i was starting to struggle with runs, this was a combination of being hungover most mornings and starting to put weight on. at the time i didn't think i was overweight but i did get many comments from the fitness geeks, wish id taken notice or had someone to put an arm around me and say "come on lets get you fitter", i found i was left to my own devices and went backwards. 
i did manage to do the Ripon half marathon in a very respectable time of 1 hr 40 Min's, wish i could do that now!!


on leaving the army, i was back in my home town of Northwich in Cheshire, not the leafy Cheshire of footballers but the industrial scar on the landscape of Cheshire, ICI decorates the skylines around here. i eventually managed to play in a football team on a Sunday morning, a few Saturdays and the odd evening 7 a side game but that was it. having sustained a few injuries the final straw was a torn ankle tendon which still plays havoc with my ankle now 22 years later so i packed in playing.
i did do some running prior to my wedding but that soon faded out a bit like the marriage really, guess i just didn't have the incentive back then. 
in 2008 in mid depression i decided i needed to do something, i do my best for charities and decided to search the Internet for something exciting to do, being an ex soldier one thing stood out for me, a new charity to provide rehabilitation for our wounded boys and girls had been set up and they were doing a cycle ride from Portsmouth to Paris, i signed up, 320 miles of french countryside it was advertised as, £2500 was needed to raise individually and that was daunting, in fact it was harder than the ride itself! i had bought an old racing bike off eBay, drove to Buxton to pick it up and got on it straight away, i enjoyed the training for the ride but was worried id struggle to do the 70-80 miles a day they said we'd be doing, so i decided to do 70 miles in a day. for anyone thinking of doing this you'll say to yourself "where the hell do i go?" i just hit the A49 and rode down to Shrewsbury got to about 35 miles and turned around, i took 2 bananas and a bottle of energy juice, that is never enough to keep you going, by the time i hit Tarporley about 5 miles from home my legs fell off, i had to stop to try and get some feeling back in them, i had no energy whatsoever, i searched in my back pack and found £2, my immediate thought was "CHOCOLATE!!!!" I summoned up some mental strength and rode the next 2 miles to a petrol station at a snails pace, how i managed to walk into the shop still amazes me, £2 worth of chocolate and i was boosted enough to get home. covered in sweat i thought to myself that France was going to be very hard indeed.

the ride in France was a fantastic experience and id recommend it to anyone, yes anyone, there were people in their 70's doing the ride, some even bigger than me belly wise and we all made it around as did the inspiring lads who had lost limbs on active service in Afghanistan, you couldn't not finish when they are so determined to do it with half a body!!
i liked it, no! loved it that much i went back in 2011 and did it again. 


in between the rides i took myself away again to escape from married life and went to the island of Malta to do the half marathon there again with the soldiers charity help for heroes. being a bit depressed again I decided it was a bit of a holiday and ended up drinking too much and having a good time in the sun instead of preparing for the run. this took its toll and i pulled my calf muscle after 15 Min's of running, being the old soldier that i am i carried on and finished the course in a very sore and disappointing 2 hours and 30 Min's, carrying on tore my calf muscle and i was in agony, i am still suffering with this injury today 2 and a half years later.


so apart from the cycle rides and the half marathon i have done very little exercise for around 15 years, i still have a road bike and on the 29th of July i am cycling from Manchester to Chester which is around 48 miles for the charity BREAKTHROUGH BREAST CANCER i haven't done much training apart from  a 10 and a 20 miles ride a few weeks ago but I'm quietly confident of completing the task.


that's just a little about me, i hope you'll tune in again and follow me on my challenge to get fitter, healthier, reduce my BMI of 34 and waistline of 40 and hopefully this will enable me to live a bit longer, thanks for reading, Geoff