I've entered a run

11th March, two weeks before getting married, I'll be doing the Cambridge Half Marathon. It'll be the first serious run I'll have done in about two years. Main aim is to lose some weight which is off the scales right now.

Another disaster of a month

So much for this months goals - I'd estimate I'm up on 180km at the moment on the cycling challenge and I've done nothing towards the running goals. I went out tonight for a run, deciding to go back to the Couch to 5km program. I decided to have a go at week three (5 mins warmup + 2 x (90s jog + 90s walk + 3m jog + 3m walk)) and I didn't complete the final 3m non-stop due to a stitch! Depressing!

Anyhow, plan is to restart this months cycling goal next month and finish the C25K (or at least make progress on it).

Update

I'm already four days behind on my cycling challenge for the month - not a great start. Various reasons during the work week, but I really don't have an excuse for not pulling some miles back today - sheer laziness. Next week isn't looking great either but 1000km is still the aim.

On a related note, I've bought a new bike - Giant TCR 0 (2011). I was considering a Giant Defy 3 (2010) which was full carbon, but I tried both and was really impressed by the TCR. I still have to wait for the cycle-to-work formalities to go through, before picking it up, but hopefully I'll have it all sorted before the end of June.

Goal for June

Ok, so we're almost in June - how time flies. Just been looking at some bike events and I was thinking I should set myself a goal or two for the month. So I've been thinking:

• Cycle 1000km or more in June
• Enter one 10km and one 5km run

For the first goal, I'm hoping to get some longer cycles in and not just my usual cycle to work routine (18km) - I essentially need to double the daily distance, but I'm hoping some longer rides at the weekends will also help clock up the miles.

For the second, it's just an attempt to get back into running - don't care if I end up walking most of the runs, but I'd like to set a time and beat it next month.

Bad day...

Enough said!

So I do have some willpower...

For the second day running, I've had no chocolate at work - I seemed to average at least two bars per day in recent times, so that's a massive improvement. That's not to say the rest of the day was perfect - had an icecream (feast - yummee) at lunch and a fish and chip dinner. But I figure, the 900+ cal's saved on chocolate is probably a message to take from this post :)

Deja vú: No news is bad news...

I'm sure the last few updates have been pretty similar reading but may as well give a quick honesty update. The only exercise I've been getting recently has been cycling to and from work most days (every day this last week), which is about a 10km \ (20-23 minute) cycle.

I keep meaning to get out at lunch or do a long cycle too or from work, but truth be told, I'm just far too busy at work to do it. I really need to make time for this though, as my weight is actually off the scales (i.e. > 125kg) so it's really a case of being back to a place I never wanted to be again.

The busyness at work also means that my diet is woeful for the most part, really falling back into old habits of hitting the vending machine when "hungry".

So that's the reality check - now to address it...

Cycle to work and a short lunch run

Trying to get back into an exercise routine after last weeks holiday and Febuary's disappointing totals. Cycled to \ from work today which was a bit tough (mainly since chain had got really rusty!) but weather was quite pleasent. I want to start doing longer cycles in the mornings, but I'm such a disaster.

Got out for a short run at lunch as well, a long time since I've done that. Nothing great to report, besides the fact I actually done it - 7 min non-stop with a few run\walks to round out a total run of 20 mins which I'm not going to complain about. Plan is to build on that and see how it goes.

Quick update

So far a quiet start to 2011, despite the big hopes in an earlier post. I was cycling into work around 80% of the time throughout Jan but for one reason or another in Feburary, that's dipped to about 20%.

Had my first sick day at work yesterday - some sort of cold - I really should have taken Tuesday off as well, as that day I definitely felt worse, but work commitments didn't really allow.

Hoping to get back out on the bike at the weekend, sore throat permitting - will update if that happens.

Chris

Quick update

Following the big cycle on Sunday, I've been pretty dead - body just tired and generally feeling sorry for itself. Thankfully though, no lasting trouble from the cramps and I've cycled to \ from work both days.

Just thought I'd add a little postscript about an incentive scheme I have for 2011 - the idea is to get a new bike sometime during the year. So, I've decided that any day I cycle to & from work I contribute £3 towards a new bike. The reason for £3 is that it's approx. the cost of a return bus ticket to work. So far, I'm up to £9 :)

First cycle with local club

Joined the local cycling club this morning for one of their Sunday club rides - the plan was to join the intermediate group, but I arrived slightly late and ended up going with the sporting group.

The pace for the first half of the ride wasn't too bad, not down to my fitness but the fact there was icy patches on the roads so everyone was taking it easy. I hung at the back for most of it, chatting away to one or two of the guys and generally being pulled along.

My first struggle was just before the cafe stop just after 30km - overall the cycle was on flat terrain, but a slight incline at this point coupled with a change in direction causing a headwind meant I was dropped for a bit - I didn't really mind, as worst case I'd just cycle home by myself. Anyways, just after stopped for a tea and chat in a nearby cafe (it was a bit early in the ride than they're used to, but the idea was to give the sun an hour or so to remove some of the ice on the roads).

Second half of the ride was a totally different experience - I actually thought I'd never make it home I was so shattered - I'm not sure if it was the break or just a fuelling issue, but I was struggling big time. Thankfully (for me), one of the other riders was also struggling, so at least all the embarrassment wasn't mine.

The group were pretty good at holding back but about 50km in, we were on a national cycle route, well signposted back to Cambridge and it made no-sense for them to wait for me. My fellow struggler also hung back as the other took off, soon never to be seen again. We stuck together for a bit, but after 5-10km I let him off ahead as I just pulled over and took a rest. Still around 10 miles from home, I carried on at turtle speed, stopping frequently and generally feeling sorry for myself.

I started to cramp up a little, while another few km passed, until I'd a major double cramp in both quads 3km from home - pulling away from a roundabout. I decided to call it quits there and walked the rest of the distance home.

Overall, very glad I got out, though a bit disappointed by the performance. Can only get better. See the screenshot below for a bit more info.

NYR: Fitness - running

I don't have much in the way of running goals in 2011. One thing I've signed up to for with a few lads at work is to try to do a mile in 5 minutes. Personally, I think this is impossible for me (think one or two of the lads might be able to do it) but I'd be happy with anything under a 6 minute mile. So I'm setting the gold standard for this as 5m, silver 5m 30s and bronze as 6m.

After that, I'd like to get back into some shorter distance runs, 5km \ 10km max. But I'm not putting any other pressure on this - what ever happens, happens.

NYR: Fitness - cycling

Fitness-wise, my main focus in 2011 is going to be the bike. I'll definitely be running again (see below) but for the most part, biking will be taking priority. I'm also hoping to get back into the pool in 2011 and christen the wetsuit that I bought but never used in 2010!

I've also decided to "retire" from gaelic football, but no doubt I'll be called in for a few guest appearances.

Cycling
I've got a couple of goals in this category, which if I acheive, will certainly aid in the completion of other goals.

Distance
This goal will take a standard format where bronze = 4000km, silver = 5000km and gold = 6000km

100km+ rides
The plan here is to do at least one 100km ride per month. Some of these may take the form of events but a good few of these should also be training rides. The goals again take a standard format, where bronze = 12, silver = 16 and gold = 20 100km+ rides.

Obviously, the more I do of these, the more realistic the first goal becomes :)

Another way I hope to help achieve this is to join the local cycling club, which do group rides most weekends.

Time Trials
Not sure what to put here, but would like to do a few time trials over the course of 2011. Standard for this will be: bronze = 3, silver = 7 and gold = 12

NYR: Weight

So for the next year, I'm going to make a couple of New Years Resolutions in different categories - each with a bronze (easy), silver (medium) and gold (hard but not impossible) standard.

Weight: The scales are currently sitting somewhere over the 120kg mark, which is disappointing. I don't really know what to put down here as a goal - on the one hand I know how tough it is and that scares me, but again, I also know what's achievable. Most weight-loss books suggest not losing more than 1lb-2lb a week, but I'm going to be a bit more conservative for the coming year. My main aim is to be around my pre-marathon weight (lets say 106kg) come the end of the year.

Bronze: 1kg per month or 12kg over the course of the year.
Silver: 1.5kg per month or 18kg over the course of the year.
Gold: 2kg per month or 24kg over the course of the year.

The starting weight will be based off my PhysicsDiet profile weight as off 01-01-2011. I'm also going to start doing daily weigh-ins again (where possible). Hopefully that graph on the right hand side will be going green.

Happy New Year

Just looked back over my blog posts in 2010 - all four of them in total. It's not an understatement to say that also sums up my physical activity in 2010. There's probably a few factors at play behind the scenes, between work, lack of motivation after the marathon, new living arrangements. But mainly, (at least early in the year) it was a total lack of motivation.

The blogging suffered because of this, since there was nothing to report, which meant the (generally) positive feedback from anyone reading was also forgotten. A few of you tried to get me back on track over the course of the year, alas to no avail - sorry.

So one of my main aims for 2011 is to start blogging again, if only for my own sake. I'm going to start it off with a series of new years resolutions for 2011 which I'll write up over the next day or so.