New Year - New Gear

As my mileage has been ramping up; sadly my Apple Watch battery isn't coping as well and I'm finding the battery not lasting the day if I do a long run so I've spent some time looking at watches and leaning towards the Suunto Spartan line. I like Suunto as a brand as I've got a few for Scuba Diving and they have served me well. As much as Garmin seems to be the goto brand I haven't really been a fan of my sons so not convinced I'll go with that.

As far as training is going, I'm using the Half Marathon training plan from Strava and ran my 2nd Half Marathon distance this morning. Around 6 minutes quicker than my last one so happy with the progress and think a 2 hour half marathon is the target time for me.

As its New Years Eve, the goals for me next year:-

• Half Marathon - Feb
• Marathon - April
• Under Armour You v The Year 2018 (1018KM in the Year
• Beat my 5K time for 2017
• Beat my 10k time for 2017

Have a great new year eveyone!

Under Armour 2017 Run With Fight

This year I set myself a few goals following last years weight loss and the unexpected interest in running.

1. Run a 10K in 2017
2. Run a Half Marathon in 2018
3. Run a Marathon in 2019
4. Complete the Under Armour You vs The Year Challenge for 2017, 1017 km in the year.

In September, I completed my first target and 2 weeks ago I completed my 4th target. I also upped the ante a little and completed a 10 mile run in October. 

As you will have seen in my last post, I entered the Half and Full Marathons for next year.... why wait a year! So, I'm in the midst of my training for the Worthing Half and on Sunday went for a long training run and completed my longest run to date, the half marathon distance. Wasn't quick but helped me work out what I need to do for both races next year, namely sort some new shoes out and deal with my little toe which seems to be twisted and causing a blister.

Outside of these, I've really enjoyed running and a highlight was on my trip to rome last month where I got a couple of early runs around Ancient Rome and saw the major attractions without crowds of tourists. It's a great way to see cities and something I intend to try and do when I am away.

As you can see below, my You vs The Year challenge is completed,although I am wanting to get to 1117 before the end of the year just to say I did.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Bright10

This weekend I completed my 3rd running goal, the 10 Mile by running the Bright10 which was a great run along Hove and Brighton seafront. Going into the race I had no idea what time I was aiming for, it was more about completing the challenge but last weekend I went on a 17km very windy, hilly run around Lancing and Sompting in 01:48 so expected a 01:40 would be a comfortable target to go for. On the day, I was joined by my two brothers, both of which had run this before. One was aiming for the 100 minutes, and one was aiming for 90 so I decided to push for the 90. I'm quite pleased they provided a 90 minute pacer and resisted the temptation to go out fast and stuck with him. My brother stayed with me for about 3 km or so and then increased his pace but I went in with a plan and was sticking to it. 



As I approached the half way turning point above Brighton Marina I saw my brother coming in the opposite direction, he wasn't too far ahead but I was sticking with my pacer. Coming around the loop, it was great to see my Mum had come over to cheer us on and was a great lift as the pace was starting to get to me. I'd got some SIS Energy Gels for this race, and decided it was time to take one and quite frankly the fairly instant energy boost was welcome. Entering East into Madeira Drive I could see another loop and kept lookout for my brother again on his return West. Once I finally saw him I could see I was catching up with him and my constant pace was working well. It wasn't much further and I could see him just ahead and caught him by the Palace Pier at about 12.5km in.

Another SIS Energy Gel, and I was reminding myself I had less than a 5k run to go and I was comfortable with the pace I was running. The final segment was busier with lots of people cheering and as we ran the final stretch to loop back towards the finish line I could see my family which again was another boost. I had this! With 1km left to go I started to pick up the pace, thanked the pace setter and sprinted to the finish and beat my target by 30 seconds to get 01:29:30.

Towards the half way point, I also achieved 900km towards the Under Armour You vs The Year challenge so only have 110km to go to complete this years goal.

Buoyed by the achievement of today, I've entered the Worthing Half Marathon for February and also entered for the ballot for the April Brighton Marathon. I'm really pleased with how this journey has evolved, starting less than a year ago and challenging myself to do a 5k run before the end of 2016, then for 2017, a 10K and 1017K for the year all pretty much achieved. Next year's goal was to be the Half Marathon, with 2019 the target for the full Marathon but I'm sure I can do them both next year.

What's next!

Chestnut Tree House Littlehampton 10k

So today saw me take on my next challenge, a 10k run. This was the Littlehampton 10k running for the Chestnut Tree House charity, a very worthwhile cause and a relatively local course for me.

I didn't put any specific training for it beyond my normal runs but completed another Parkrun at Hove Park last Saturday and pushed it fairly hard. The result of that was a very respectable PB for me of 24:22, 43 seconds better than my last time of 25:04.

For the 10k, I went off relatively quickly after the inevitable shuffle to the line. I would have been quite happy with any time under an hour for my first 10k but completed in an official time of 52:29

Final goal for the year is completing the Under Armour You v The Year Challenge of 1017km. I am currently at 829km so expect to do that by early November. Brighton 10k, or even Brighton Half Marathon in 2018?

Run 5.30

This morning I woke up at the obscene time of 4am to take part in the Run 5.30 Brighton event. The 5.30 is a 5K run/walk that takes place in town centres around the world at 5.30am, before a regular business day and today's city was Brighton and it's currently been run in various cities in Italy and today my home town of Brighton.

Brighton Run 5.30 - Before the start

I've been suffering with knee pain for a the last week and have been taking it relatively easy and wanted to do this race but as an experience and not go too mad. Taking it easy, on a flat course I managed a 5k time of 24:38 and an overall time of 25:09 which makes it my fastest race 5k and second fastest 5k. My first bit of running bling though!

Quite pleased as I was taking it easy. The knee held up well but was a little sore after and I've had it wrapped in an ice pack which helps. Toying with entering a 10k next, maybe Littlehampton in September.

Progress on the 2017 1017k Challenge is going well, just shy of 600k now and I'm well on track to finish by the end of the year. I'm amazed at the progress in such a short space of time and it's obviously infectious as my wife has started the Couch to 5k program and my son finished his first 5k run yesterday.

I've also recently discovered the Relive application, which makes a video based on your Strava run. Below is my run of the 5.30 at 5.30.

Half way there!

I've pushed hard with the running to get back on track and racked up over 190k for June. That's got me over half way on my Under Armour You VS the Year 2017 Challenge.

Top 2% for my age group isn't too shabby either.

I've just signed up for my first paid race, the 5.30 at Brighton. Running at 0530 doesn't seem ideal but some good charities and should be a good experience.

When a weight gain is good!

Back from the gym this morning, started with a Boditrax scan followed by a 5k run and then some weights. I've pushed harder on the runs this week, added in some sprint sections and increased the weights significantly. I'm at 462/1017 on the Under Armour You Vs The Year challenge so well on track to complete this years running goal. Actually, the graphic below looks great, top 3% and 4977/198729 for my age group isnt bad for a newbie.

The scales this morning showed my weight had increase 0.5kg so I was a little despondent after over 5k everyday and eating very carefully. However, the Boditrax scan put a smile back on. A kilo of fat lost and 1.5 kilos of muscle gain, more than happy with gaining weight today! Fat percentage is now down to 12.4%, compared to my first scan result of 21.3% and I'm only 1.6Kg away from my initial muscle mass weight of 57kg. 

I've set the goal for the next reading to drop another 1%. Looks like this weekend is going to be great weatherwise so time to go off and enjoy it!

Is this thing on?

I've been wrapped up with training and now well beyond my target and at 66Kg and my goal this year is to complete the Under Armour You vs Year 2017 challenge of 1017k in the year. I'm slightly behind target due to injuries but only by 30k. Lately I've been thinking about diets, fads and how many people approach dieting and how success often leads to failure. I'm included in that camp, well I'd like to think I used to be included in that camp. Previously I've dieted, achieved success and then in next to no time I'm back where I started and more often than not I weigh more. Simply because the diet works, but my lifestyle didnt.

 This time around, my lifestyle has changed and I can pretty much eat what I want although my sweet tooth seems to have gone and for the first time in my life I actually enjoy salads! Diets are short term gains, and they need to be seen that way. If you can't maintain the diet, you'll put the weight back on as soon as you finish. If your diet leaves you hungry, its not sustainable. Pretty obvious really but the amount of  diet books, pills and the whole diet industry seems to be capitalise on the quick fix rather than the lifestyle change needed.

 My diets worked, I've eaten healthier for sure and exercised but the key has been to consume less calories. Exercise has given me calories in the bank to eat more if I want so I havent had to be strict and I don't walk around hungry all the time. My magic number in terms of calories, was 1600 a day, and thats before my excerices "banked" calories which are usually around 500 or so.

Breakfast is typically around 500 calories, and lately it's been Overnight Oats, usually the Peanut Butter version. I find this fills me up and gives a good mix of Protein, Fat and Carbohydrates to keep me going through the morning.

Lunch varies, quite often it's Eggs of some description or Chicken Salad.

Dinner, is whatever my wife makes. Meats & Salad or a Slimming World recipe (shes a member and I must admit I enjoy some of the recipes).

My only concession to the Diet industry is Protein shakes. Tracking my food with MyPlate shows I was struggling to hit the protein requirements and an SIS Whey protein is usually my top up after a workout.

Target Smashed!

So after this mornings weigh in, I'm now at 65.9kg ahead of my 6th goal weight of 66.8Kg. In eight months, thats a total loss of 19.8kg (3st 1lb or 43.7lbs). The last few kg have been hard to lose and my final stretch goal to 63kg isn't far away but I know will be hard. Running has been hard lately, torn hamstring and sore knee has kept me restricted. Holiday to Cornwall in a few weeks and doubt I will get much running in. Will enjoy the pasties and cream teas though, I might be on a diet but still want to enjoy the guilty pleasures life offers.

Achievement Unlocked

Didnt set out to do this run this morning, just got carried away and pushed through to do my first 10k. 59 minutes wasn't too bad a time either. Treadmills are so boring and I was attempting a 5k, then added another 1k and kept doing that and after hitting 8k just decided I might as well. Who knew!