Ralph's Health

I went out in the rain last night to get back on track with mid week training. It was horrible, very muddy, slippy underfoot, and my time was slow. But I did it. I'll be doing Macc Harriers orienteering round Bollington tonight, and have another run with Dave planned for Friday evening. All in all not a bad week, to make up for last two weeks.

My knees are still recovering after the weekend run. Sue looked at them over the weekend, and she recommended better warmups and stretches, and also warm downs. I'll do more of that. I think generally they are better than last week, so I'm ready to restart running in the evenings now, starting tonight. I have noticed my weight creeping up again so need to kep on top of my diet still.

I did the 13.9 mile Macc Harriers handicap race over the weekend. It was very cold and snowy, but brilliant weather, one of the best runs I've done. I came in 20/46, which I'm pleased with. Overall my time was 2:49, 6 minutes better than my handicap. Here are full results: http://www.mh.k313.com/mh/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=810&Itemid=48

Still not running this week, last night the pain in my knee was the worst it has been, but I'm not running. This is strange. I had done alot of warming treatment on my knee last night, which could have caused the addiitonal pain. However, I realised that my knee pain really started at the same time I got my new Merrell shoes, which happened to be the same weekend I did the Gravy Pud race. I put the pain down to the race, but I'm now wondering if it is the Merrell shoes? I wore my Inov8s to work today and they feel completely different, much, much lighter, more comfortable and generally a better shoe. I should have bought another pair of these instead of the merrels. Ah well. I'll get Sue to do some physio on it this weekend.

Read some interesting articles on Ibuprofen today, it is 50 years old. Botom line, stop taking it before or after exercise to manage pain. It is not doing me any good. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/phys-ed-does-ibuprofen-help-or-hurt-during-exercise/ My pressups this morning did not go well. I was due to perform 130! but only managed 70 in total. Not necesarily bad news though, as I did a boxing with weights exercise last night which much have had an effect. I also did 23 pressups last night. Pain in my kness is still there. I'm monitoring it as I walk to work, and I THINK the pain is reducing each day. I'm really annoyed about it all, not being able to run this week is not good. Making me fed up which has a knock on effect on my diet. Last night went to Viceroy for take away for first time in months. At least I asked for a healthier option. Today I'm watching what I eat more carefully.

Justt logging an additional 20 pressups...

As I reached my November target of 45 pressups today, I'll set a new one for December. To be able to to do 50 consecutive pressups.

Dave and I ran up onto Shining Tor from Bollington yesterday, a run of 15 miles and 2400 ft of climb. We last atempted this about 18 years ago and it is legendary in that we were a mess when we got back. Yesterday we both fared much better. Here are some photos from the top: Here is the route data:

I did an exhastion test this momring, and finally achieved my November goal of 45 pressups. About a minute later I tried to do more and could not get one, so it was definately to exhaustion.

Todays pressup exercise was 100 pressups - did it ok, because it got broken up into more manageable chunks. Here is progress so far this month: 2/12 80 5/12 62 6/12 78 8/12 100 318 total

I did pretty good on my running in November, the focus was on ascent. During December I want to focus on: 1. Speed - I want to bring my average mph back to around 6mph, whilst still maintaining some level of ascent. I'll do my hill runs but also mix in some flat running to help bring up my average to 6mph, and basically get me running faster. 2. Distance - I want to focus on longer runs. During November my average distance was 6 miles, I want to run longer runs so I'll aim to run at least 7 miles on each session. This will mean less runs on average, but maintaining at least 100 miles in total. I'll also need to figure out a few hills runs that I can do along which are 7 miles or more. I have some bigger runs planned already: Shining Tor from Bollington this weekend, 15 mile Macc Harriers race next weekend, I'd like to try a 20 mile run too, but running out of weekends for that. I might need to do that one evening. 3. Pressups - I did okay with my pressups in N

Quick note to record 32 pressups to exhasution this morning, then 20 and 10 this evening plus 50,20 5kg curls.

I joined Macc Harriers on Wednesday, after a slog round Bosley. Not a brilliant run as there wa too much mud and walking. Had a much better run out with Dave and Matt last night over to Lamaload, round the reservoir and back, navigating primarily by gps. Was good, finished in Bulls Head and three pimts.

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/running/a-runner's-guide-to-fabulous-abs.aspx There is an interesting section in here on body fat percentages and how the Americans have defined it. According to this, for men to be in the Fitness Range the target is 14-17% body fat. I need to investigate further... Ok... so the first thing I noticed was that it was not age dependant. I'm going to stick with the mibody readings at the moment: I'm currently sitting at 19% so this suggests I can lose a bit more.

I have started to make some progress on this now. This morning I did a combined exhastion test and my reps. I did not achieve 45 consecutive pressups as per my target, but got to 40 before I had to stop. In total during November I did 718 pressups.

I'm relly cross that my scales have lost a chunk of data for November. Some observations: My weight is now stabilising at around 81 to 82kg. This means I've consistently been at or below my target BMI of 23.5 since mid November. There was a blib this weekend just gone. I had too much beer on Friday, then on Saturday I ate at least 3200 calories. Lunch at Pizza express followed by tea at M&D. I did a very slow run that day too. So on Sunday my weight moved from the months low on Saturday of 80.7 to 82.4kg! This shows that alcohol has the effect of making it look like your weight has dropped, only to surprise you the next day, especially if you then consume too many calories. There is more slow but steady progress on body fat reading and muscle mass. Today happens to be my lowest reading for body fat at 18.9%. Here is the data: Here is the data plotted onto the historical chart. I've not yet reached the lowest weight I reached in 2009 and 2010.

I have found that the challenges I've been setting myself have been, in some cases, good motivators. I worry that I'm only motivated to do those things I'd have done anyway, but at least it gives me a focus for my activities. I've been thinking what I could do in December, and given that my 5000m ascent was tough it will not be vertical ascent based this time. Some ideas for running: To increase my average mph whilst maintaining the level of hill running More speed runs, or a focus on Fartlek type running, but while on the hills Run 20 miles on the flat Other ideas: 1000 pressups in December Food and drink: Still struggling to make good progress with this. My food and drink is slipping so maybe need a more focused approach as things are not working out well in this regard. I also need to take into account that it is December, traditionally time for getting ill, eating and drinking lots. I'm away in Gran Canaria too so need to plan this in.

I ran the Middlewood way 4.2 mile run last night in 32 mins dead. My average speed was 7.6 mph. 2 mins 47 seconds faster than previous best. Here is the data for the run:

Last night I achieved my November goal of running 5000m of ascent in the month. It was really hard work, and I'm not going to set that as a challenge again for a while. Here is the data for my running for the last three months: This shows that I'm running further and harder yet my heart rate has gone down. Unfortunately my average speed has gone from 6.5 to 5.5 mph since I really started to pound up the hills. I think it is time to see how my performance compares to the last time I 'raced' my 4 mile route.

Okay - I did 30 consecutive pressups that time. So maybe I've not gone backwards.

I've been running alot this week, every night, I'm at 4,349 with a few days to go before end of week. So far this month I've run 100 miles at 43 metres per mile ascent. Average speed 5.5mph Off for a run later with Dave.

I just tried to do my pressup test to exhaustion and only managed 26, then did another 4. I feel like I've made no progress at all. I've set the program to start again at a lower value. Very disappointed.

I set myself a goal of 45 consecutive pressups by end of November, but I've not really worked at this goal. Here is what I've done this month: That is 367 pressups so far, perhaps my December goal should be to do a minimum number, which might mean I keep up with the program. I have to do an exhaustion test before I move on in the program, so a good time to see how many I can do in one go. Just for fun I might try in a minute, even though I did my full set this morning. I think the program ramps up too quickly, I've been struggling this week which means my motivation is lower.

It is getting to the end of the month and I've started to think about the objectives I set myself. The two uppermost in my mind are running and strength training. For running I'm going to have to put some serious hill work in over the next week, I have to do 1,058 metres of ascent. Here is my run last night which included 4 ascents to trig point on Kerridge Ridge. With this in mind I know I can get to 5000 metres: I've let my strength training slip. I can't quite remember what goal I set, but I think I'm a way off achieving it. I'll have to review and come back.

Not surprisingly I achieved a new personal best for my Kerridge Ridge run today of 44:27, which is just under a minute faster than my previous best time. I started quite quick, but a little stiff initially, pounded up the hill to the top which is where I got the time back I think, as I was running flat out for the return leg. It is possible I could improve on this by going a bit faster on the downhill sections if my knees were up to it.

I'm not sure why my weight has suddenly dropped from 82.3kg to 80.9kg in 24 hours. This puts my BMI at 23.22. A quick run down of yesterday suggests a couple of things out of the ordinary: 1. I went to Livesey for lunch and had a couple of caffeinated coffees. Nothing too different there. 2. I had some chocolate with very high cocoa content 3. I Ran up Shining Tor and didn't have tea until late 4. Tea consisted of bread and cheese 5. I had a pint of beer in the pub after the run 6. I didn't sleep well (tea too late and lots of exercise) I think the combination of hard exercise in the evening and a late, light tea, plus lack of sleep is the reason why.

I went out with Macclesfield Harriers Fell Running group last night, very enjoyable run from Teggs Nose through Lamaload and up to top of Shining Tor. I will join the club so I can participate in more of the same type of run. Here are the run details. I spent more time in zone 3 than I would normally:

While investigating whether to run with Macc Harriers I found this site, as one of the members runs this route regularly as a speed trial: http://www.mapmyrun.com/

Aprat from the Roaches race this weekend I've not run for a week now. I've been resting my knees pre the race, and then resting them again after the race to try to ensure that they are okay. They don;t feel too bad now, I had some muslce aches above the knee yesterday after I walked home, but right now they feel okayish. I'll try a run tonight to see how they are, and I'm planning a night run with Dave and Matt tomorrow evening. We talked about doing a run over to Shining Tor from Bollington on December 11th. That will have to be my big run for December as there is nothing else in the local racing calendar worthy of note. Aside from that all I've done is karate and walking to work this week. I counted the number of steps to work this morning, is about 1360. This means I"ll need to walk alot during the day if I am to get to 10,000 steps a day. I'll be montioring this soon with the new Jawbone UP device that is on order, hopefully will get it before end

Here is a photo from The Roaches race at weekend. I think I had my belt too tight:

...was tough. 15.6 miles and I recorded 3222ft although officially it is 3700ft. Here is the route information. I did well, but I didn't quite get in under 3 hours. Dave managed it in under three hours though with a time of 2:57. This morning my knees are still very sore. I"m hoping they will be okay by Wednesday. This race helped my with my goal of 5000m of ascent in November, though I'm not sure I will achieve it at this rate. So far in November I've recorded 2396m in 51.66mi which is 46.4metres per mile of climb. If my knees don't get better soon I'll need to take a bit of a break from hill running I think.

I was looking for photos of the Roaches race this weekend, and found the ones from Langley 7 from last weekend.

I've been challenged on why to weigh every day when trying to lose weight. I thought I'd better review this again given that I'm advocating it for others. Why take the measurement at all The reason for taking the measurement is to help you better understand how your behaviours prior to measuring have affected your body, and by how much. It should be used to inform and educate you about how to change your behaviours for the future, as well as to measure how your past behaviours have impacted. It can help you to identify the little behaviour that make a big difference e.g. 'That tea I had last night was bigger than usual, next time I'll make smaller portions and only use one chicken breast if the kids aren't eating with us', or 'wow - if I exercise AFTER my tea, I seem to lose more weight each day than if I exercise before my tea'. Some of these things might seem obvious and follow a general principle, but others will be unique and specific to you

I've just calculated that this month so far I've been running around 38 metres of ascent per mile. The run this weekend will be 71 metres of ascent per mile. the Windgather race was 56 metres of ascent per mile. But, better news, here is a set of performance charts comparing my hill performance over the last few months: September: 15 metres/mile with a 5.2 mph average October: 27 metres/miles with a 5.7 mph average November so far: 38 metres/mile with a 5.8mph average So in November I'm going hillier and faster!

I've been running to identify street hills I can use last night, as I'm finding running up Kerridge Ridge in the dark too challenging at night to do regularly. Too easy to trip and just not fun not being able to be sure footed. Best local lit hills with a pavement are up High Street and Cocksheadhey Road. To top of Grimshaw Lane is also quite high. Lowest point is Lowerhouse on Albert Road but this is a bit out of the way. So tonight I'll try a circuit that goes up Grimshaw Lane, down Hurst Lane along main road to Shrigley Road, up Cocksheadhey road and back down, back to High street and up High street to top of Grimshaw Lane. If I can do that in under half an hour I'll do again and instead go up Lord Street instead of High Street. Weight today is great, lowest I've recorded recently and officially now 23.4 BMI. So I've achieved my original weight goal in 2 months, losing over 8kg in the process. I'm feeling alot fitter and stronger, and the hill trainin

Oh bugger. Not a great start. The problem area is Friday night, 4 tins of Stella. This weekend also happened to be a night out weekend where we went to the Pott bonfire. Ok, this week there will be no alcohol intake whatsoever. I need to be in as good shape as possible for the big run on Sunday. Date Units Strength Volume Brand Where 01/11/2011 0 02/11/2011 2.6 5.2 500 Hobgoblin Co-op 03/11/2011 2.2 4.3 500 Fifth sense Corner shop 03/11/2011 2.2 4.4 500 Bomber Corner shop 04/11/2011 10 5 2000 Stella Corner shop 05/11/2011 2.5 5 500 Honey Dew Langley race 05/11/2011 2.1 4.7 484 Red stripe Bonfire night 05/11/2011 3 3.8 880 Boddingtons Bonfire night 05/11/2011 2.4 4.3 568 Vale Inn Bonfire night 06/11/2011 0 27

I did quite well in the Langley race over the weekend. I got a time of 57:08, only 2:50 behind Dave. Overall I came in 143/263, which is respectable, and 25th in my class (MV40). I ran my new Kerridge Ridge circuit yesterday, and got a time of 55:39 for the 5.4mi circuit. So far this month I've run 856m of ascent in 20.9 miles. I've started my strength training now, done two sessions of pressups so far, and a session of weights with the Kinect fitness game. MY problem is that this game has made my knee sore again, so I'll need to watch out. My weight has been gradually going up over the last week. I need to watch those crisps and chocolate, and particulatly the beer. Not been such a great week for beer. I'll plot the data now.

Here are my goals for the coming month: 1. Get weight stable at about 81kg 2. Run at least 4 times a week, and do at least 20 miles a week 3. Try to ascend 5000m with my running - this will be tough - need to get at least 4000m though 4. Keep a close eye on alcohol - rather than set a limit I thought I'd just monitor and record everything I drink instead, then report back at end of month. Using iphone to take photographic record of everything I drink. 5. Follow the 100 pushups program - by end of month aim to be able to do 45 pressups in one go 6. Report a good time for the big November race: http://www.mh.k313.com/mh/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=771&Itemid=48

I'm racing the Langley 7 race tomorrow: http://www.mh.k313.com/mh/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=364&Itemid=71 So yesterday and today I'm resting before the race. I've been suffering from quite sore legs at the back of my thighs (hamstring muscles I think), so I wanted my legs to be fit again. I think it was due to the extra hill runs I did earlier in the week. Last night I restarted on some strength training, just the 100 push ups program again, coupled with some crunches. I'll try to get my free weights from my mum and dad some time, and look into the Xbox exercise program which has been gathering dust. My weight over the last couple of days has crept up from 82.2. to 82.5. No big deal really, but it is because I"m eating the odd chocolate bar and had a couple of beers.

My scales this morning read 23.5 BMI. I weighed 82.2kg, which is 23.58466 BMI. Last night Sharon and I discussed what i should work on and I came to the conclusion that I should not take my weight any lower than 80kg, and that I need to work on a bit of stomach and upper body toning. I'm coming to the conclusion that I will not go to the gym, so I'm looking again at the 100 pressups system. Maybe also include crunches. Mmmm chunchies!

I was pleased with my weight this morning, it seems not to have been too badly affected by my trip to London and a few beers on Tuesday evening. Meal wise, we went to Pizza Express on Tuesday lunch, large pizza, then in the evening a pricey poncey restaurant, I had duck pancakes. Very nice. I had a simple pasta dish yesterday for lunch, with some salad, breaksfast was a couple of rashers of bacon and scrambled egg. Glad to get out of London though. I went for a run last night in the rain, nice to not be bombarded by people.

So How did I do against my October objectives: 1. Run 4-5 runs per week. Do 100 miles during October. This I achieved. I ran a total of 122 miles. 2. Continue to eat healthily at home - allow myself decent portions of food. Mostly achieved. 3. Cut out beer on a Friday evening. Partly achieved. Occasionally had more than recommended allowed. This area still needs work and I definately did not manage a month of abstaining. 4. Continue to remove chocolate and biscuits from my diet in the evenings. Partly achieved. No biscuits at the moment, occasionally still having chocolate. 5. Remove crisps from my evening diet. Not achieved. 6. Start on a strength training regime to support my running. Not achieved - though went to gym to check it out. Need to decide whether to join or not. I also set myself a few additional running challenges for October, to run my standard 4.2 mile run in under 35:30 and my Kerridge run in under 46:30. I achieved both of these objectives

I got one of the figures wrong, my lowest weight recorded in 2009 was actually 79.4kg, not 77kg as originally posted. Here is the updated data:

I went on an excellent night run with Dave last night, in the dark, rain and fog up side of Kerridge ridge over to Rainow, back via RUPP then up the front of Kerridge ridge, back down side and on to The Vale. The two pints of lager at the Vale were my only mistake :-( nice though they were I felt really rough running back home. I think in future I'll stick to orange if we visit a pub mid run. I was also using the new app I have on my phone which gives me 1:25000 scale maps, works a treat. I'll be using it to scan for new routes. Somewhat disappointed that my reading for visceral fat was back at 8 this morning, hopefully one to watch though. I'll need to republish the historical weight data, I thought there was something wrong with one of the lower readings, I was right.

Here is an interesting article on visceral fat, which also talks about a study that looks at the effects of different running targets per week. Looks like 17 miles per week is the ideal target for keeping visceral fat in check. Needs more research though, as I know that 100 miles a month is hard to keep up: http://drpinna.com/visceral-fat-9928

Urgh! Just been looking this up having noticed this morning that my reading for visceral fat had gone from 8 to 7 for the first time. What does this mean? Hopefully good news if it stays at 7. The scales measure between 0 to 29. Between 1 and 12 is a healthy level of visceral fat. Anything higher is excessive. I wonder if there is any more data I can use to compare, surely the less I have the better? Lets take a look at some of my other recent data (not got todays so we'll use the data I had on Monday): Body Fat % : 20 According to the tables, for a 40-49 yo male my optimal body fat % range is 17-23. This was 23 at beginning of September. Definate improvement there. Body water: 58.6 For my body fat reading of 20% I should be in the 63% to 57%. So that is okay too.

I've been analysing my weight data I have recored on my Wii. I've taken a summary of what I have an plotted it for comparison. Here are some facts I've uncovered: I was heaviest at the beginning of September 2011 at 90kg I recorded my largest weight change between January 2009 and April 2009, losing 9.5kg in total I was at my lowest weight in April 2009 at 77kg My rate of change in the last two months is the highest rate of change I've recorded I've not spent a great deal of time at a steady weight Worryingly, I had not realised just how heavy I was getting in September 2011, I was somewhat heavier than I was when I went for my medical in December 2008 when I was in a bad way healthwise. I need to think about what my next goal will be, as I'm getting quite close to my target BMI of 23.5. I'm currently at 23.87. Looking at the data I think it will need to be something around maintenance. I could happily lose a bit more weight and go to 23, but there i

Last night I went out running with my iphone plugged in. I have just bought a Griffin arm band for it so I thought I'd give it a go. First impresion is a bit mixed, although I quite like listening to music while running I definately feel disconnected to the running experience. I can't hear my foot falls so I'm not monitoring my foot position, I can't hear my breathing either. I was alot more wary on the sections where I'm near to roads. I chose Kate Bush Never for Ever to listen to, perhaps because there aren't enough beats I did not run as fast or hard as I would normally do. Perhaps I'll try something with more beats next time. I ran the Kerridge Ridge run in 50 minutes, my heart spent alot of time at the low end of zone 4 so obviously I was pretty chilled.

Been lax on this again. for my breakfast had usual toast, orange, tea, cod liver oil. I've dropeed taking the vitamin supplements for now. Lunch, sat in a Liveseys and had their Scorcher. Very nice but bad for me salami, jalapeno, cheese and chilli jam on toasted bread, and two cappucinos. For tea had two fried eggs on toast with cheese on. A pretty cholesterol heavy day I'm afraid, but I did look up and eggs have the hdl type which is not too bad. Snacks have included lots of Orange juice, a small block of choc, some small stuffed peppers (again sat fat cos of the cheese) and a few olives. Yesterday was better, usual breakie, for lunch a cheese and sundried tom sandwich (I asked for chicken but got cheese), for tea a chicken, pepper and onion fajita or two. Some choc snacks, crisps, and woe is me 1 bottle of alcoholic ginger queer. Not great, but not too bad either as I'm working it all off at the moment. My poor arteries, well I'll find out in November when I ge

Still got a cold but felt better later so went for easy ride along middlewood way to end - totally dull and boring 15 miles. Went to gym trial with Rick, there is a punchbag there which I spent half an hour on working on my punches and kicks for karate. Will try again tomorrow or Friday. I'll probably join as they do one month membership. Later on tonight went out to try my new cycle lights on off road circuit. Usual one, here is my heart data, and the time to beat of 42mins 16secs. In the drak makes it harder so should be able to beat that with ease during daylight hours.:

My run last night I achieved my target or running my canal run in under 1 hour, I got 58:25, not bad considering I have a cough and cold at the moment. I looked at my best ever time for this run, set in mid March 2009 at 56:55. This is a new challenge for October. Last night I went to karate, was feeling tired after run, but good session. Tonight I'm going to the gym with Rick for first time, to see if I want to join. I'm really not sure to be honest, as I've never stuck with a gym for any length of time. I find them boring to be honest. I did two bike rides over the weekend. One good one with Tom and the same route the next day on my own. I'd like to ride more if possible.

Just about to set off on 7 mile canal run. I aim to get it in less than 1 hour. Fastest time is 57 mins, not aiming for that tonight.

I've been away for a week at Lakeside YMCA with the school. Brilliant week, ate lots but also did lots of activities. It is time to post up my latest weight data. Here it is:

I did not intend to run this fast tonight, and had Tom with me on his bike. I also stopped for 10 seconds to tie a shoelace, so all in all this is a good effort. One minute faster than my previous best time. I also felt quite strong at the end of the run. Here is my heart data, which is also good as I spent most of the time in zone 4.

Last night I had planned to do an evening run, but by the time it got to 8pm I just did not feel like it. Perhaps it is because my kneee is worrying me, perhaps I've had enough... So instead I stayed in and watched the telly. For lunch today I had cheese and onion and tomato sandwich, with olives and crisps. I will aim to do a run either this afternoon or this evening. Nive weather at the moment so I'll try to get out later. I've not been logging my food very well recently, lets see what I've been having: Monday: Day at home with Tom Lunch: Egg and cheese on toast Tea: Chicken, peppers, onion and tomato baked and served with cous-cous Tuesday: Went to London Lunch: Pizza Express hot pizza, orange and soda Tea: Plenty of beer and duck pancakes from weird techno restaurant Wednesday: Still in London Breakfast: Bacon and scrambled egg Lunch: Small portion of vege pasta and salas Tea: Chicken, pepper and tomato fajitas Thursday: Lunch: Tomato soup and

My weight has not been too badly affected by my visit to London and night out.

I weighed myself this morning and could not quite believe what I saw: 86.4kg. I think this must be because of the calorie loading I did before the race over the weekend, and the extra food I ate yesterday post race. Slightly disappointing to increase by nearly 1.5kg over the weekend. I'm sure it will go again over the next few days, though I'm not sure what effect my trip to London tomorrow will have. My knee seems okay today. I plan to run later on for a short run to see how it fares. Karate tonight also. Then I have a day or so off as I'm taking a trip to London for two days with Si.

Ran in 2:31:30, which is an improvement over last years time, 2:36:48. Weather was overcast, and towards the end rainy, my knees are now sore, getting regular icing. Dave also improved his time by 5 mins getting around 2:08, fastest runner was 1:36. Here is the data:

I did my standard 4.2 mile run last night, focusing on my technique. I concluded that I'm already placing my foot nearly where it should be but my technique needs some work, especially keeping my head up and body straight. Last night I tried running with higher cadence and ensuring my foot was under my body, and therefore my heel was hardly touching the ground. It was difficult to keep up as I got tired, and by the end of the run my calves were more sore than usual. However, my time was not too far off normal  even though I felt like I was running very slowly. today my knee is certainly no worse than yesterday, so I think it is worth pursuing this line a little further. I doubt I'll be able to run like that for 13 miles on Sunday , but I'll try it in parts. Weather for Sunday over Buxton way looks grim. Heavy rain and moderate visibility. Not good for running in the fells.

I've been reading through various Web articles to identify what I can do to improve my running technique. Here are the things I'll be watching for on my next run: 1. Mid-foot strike - not heel or toe 2. Foot strike under the centre of gravity - under my hips 3. Keep back straight and head up 4. Arms should not be traversing side to side 5. Arms bent at 90 degrees 6. Body should be relaxed 7. High cadence should enable the body not to move up and down This article has some nice diagrams which show some of this well.

This weekend I'll be running the hardest race I've ever done. I did it last year and got a time of 2:36:55 according to the official results http://www.goytvalleystriders.org.uk/fellraces/results/WindgatherResults2010.htm It is a 13.5 mile race with 2500ft of climb, which makes it much more challenging than a typical half marathon. Last year I developed a nasty blister by mile 8, due to getting soggy feet early on. I remember it was painful to run up Shining Tor on it. This year I intend to try to avoid that, hopefully my new shoes and socks will help me avoid blisters. I just need to make sure they a re well broken in by then. My target time is 2:30, which is pretty optimistic I know, but I'm hoping that I can do better this year by avoiding blisters. Dave and Matt got in at 2:15 and 2:19 last year. To do this I'll need to maintain an average pace of 11.11 minute miles.

I'm starting to suffer from knee pain again. Been monitoring since start of week. I think I aggravated it by my fast run on Monday, and poor running form down the hills. I've been icing my knees this week after running. I'll do one more light run tonight, probably 4 miles, practicing a lighter technique and landing midfoot under my body, then thats it until Sunday. Depending on how my knee is after that race I may switch to cycling for a little while to let my legs recover completely, or I might just take a break. In a couple of weeks I'm off to Lakeside with Tom and his class so I'll not be running much then anyway.

I did my first night run with my new gear last night. Enjoyable even though it rained. I ran my usual Kerridge run, took longer than usual as I was taking it easy with new new shoes and headtorch.

Bought a pair of Innov 8 Rocklite 315 today. Also got some new running socks. X-Socks.com Sky Run. Will try them out later along with my new head torch.

I don't understand why some days I see such a large reduction in weight. Yesterday I measured several times at 85.9kg, and this morning I'm 85.1kg, nearly 1kg difference. I didn't feel any more or less dehydrated, all other factors were the same. This puts my BMI at 24.42. I also noticed my muscle mass increase today to 40.4. I need to look into how much lag time to expect between actions and weight loss. Perhaps it is simply because I've been working hard from Sunday onwards. I definately feel it is time for a break, no running tonight unless my new headtorch arrives, in which case I'll try my first night run.

Canal run slow 7m by ralphpigskin at Garmin Connect - Details Last night I was just running to check my legs and knee. There was some soreness in my right knee yesterday and I and I wanted to check it out. The run was one I"ve done lots of times before so a good benchmark run. 1:07 is one of the slowest times I've done this. I've done it in 56:54 at fastest. Hoeever, I was in the low end of zone 4 for the whole run.

I hit my first target last night on my Kerridge Run, achieved my best time ever at 45:21. Was pretty tired at end, and this morning my knee has suffered a bit. I need to take it easy on the descents for the next few days if I am to be fit for the big race at the weekend. Been trying out the Garmin Connect site, see if this link works:

By the end of the month I want to be able to run my standard 4.2 mile run in under 35:30 minutes and my 4.8 Kerridge run in under 46:30. for my standard 4.2 mile run this will be a best ever time, and for my Keridge run will be close to my best time. I'm not actually sure what my best time for the kerridge run is though, as I only have time data over the distance, and I remember doing that run in reverse and getting a better time.

I’ve been working this for one month now, so here is my summary of what I’ve done so far: 1.       Lost 4.5kg, bringing my bmi down to 24.7. I need to lose another 4kg to reach my initial target of 23.5 bmi but at the moment I’m not sure if I should go so low 2.       Done plenty of runs – more than my original target I set. Set some good times for various runs, including a reasonable time for macc half 3.       Done my karate each week 4.       Not done so well on cutting out beer/alcohol – need to work harder at this, particularly a Friday 5.       I’m not eating so many crisps before bed now – but still the odd pack 6.       I’ve cut crisps out from lunch – would be better to eat them at lunch than before bed though 7.       Morning chocolate bars I’ve not had 8.       At home eating far less biscuits and less choc 9.       Eating at home has been a lot more healthy in the last month My target for the next month is to: 1.       continue to run at my current level, which is about

After an appalling start to the weekend (deadly combination of sun, pub and beer) I managed to partially redeem myself yesterday by running 9 miles in the morning (my standard two runs up onto Kerridge ridge followed by 4.2 miles along middlewood way) and followed by a 5 mile walk with rest of family in the afternoon. I did not beat any times, but on my 4.2 mile run I was under 38 mins which is much better than one month ago. I weighed myself this morning and I'm 86.3kg. I'm rather disappointed with the software that comes with my salter mibody scales, as I seem to have ongoing problems getting the data from the device. It would not download the last three days work of data. Piece of crap software.

My resting heart rate today was measured at 56bpm, which is about 10 lower than 2 weeks ago. Here is the data:

I've had a break from exercise over the last two days, mostly to allow my body to repair any damage caused from overrunning at weekend. Still walked to work and yesterday had longer walk to school and then park. Found some interesting trend data for uk here . I'll be running again tomorrow evening and over weekend, I'd like to do another 10 mile session at some point ready for the big race next weekend. My weight over the last couple of days has been hovering at the 86.6 to 86.7kg mark. Diet wise yesterday I took a break and had a couple of beers, crisps, cake and sweets. Today not too bad, a few jelly babies and chocolate after tea. Went out to flying field tonight for abit.

I'm suffering from fatigue from the weekend run plus my run last night. Tonight I only achieved 50:02 and struggled to get my heart pumping in zone 5 much at all. Here is the data as a comparison to last night:

It is a few hours after I did my initial test, just for fun I thought I'd try some more and found I could only do 8 this time. Clearly my session earlier worked me harder than I thought.

I just tried the initial test on the 100 pressups challenge and managed to achieve 30. This puts me in Rank 4, which means I start at week 3 column 3. I've looked at their logger site and it does not contain full details of all the reps done, but does count the final rep. I guess it is assumed that the first set of predetermined reps have been completed. five minutes after doing the pressups I can still feel the effects which are light head, sore arms. It must have worked then. initial test: the road to one hundred push ups Age < 40 years 40 - 55 years > 55 years Rank * number of pushups performed 1 0 - 5 0 - 5 0 - 5 2 6 - 14 6 - 12 6 - 10 3 15 - 29 13 - 24 11 - 19 4 30 - 49 25 - 44 20 - 34 5 50 - 99 45 - 74 35 - 64 6 100 - 150 75 - 124 65 - 99 7 150 & above 125 & above 100 & above

I've been reading quite a few weight loss and running sites recently, and there is a consistent piece of advice which I can no longer ignore. Strength training, I need to do some. So I've read up on some of the strenght training exercises and found press-ups might be a good start, if I don't want to use weights or join the gym. I found this site, which challenges you to do 100 press-ups . I'll try the initial test in a bit. I also read up on a couple of running sites that I should be thinking about whether I want to lose weight or just lose fat. Well, it is the latter of the two, but weight loss is the best way I can measure. I read on another site that weight loss occurs across the body by first losing weight in the face, arms and legs, and for men the abdomen will be the last place it goes. I'll have to find out if my face looks thinner yet.

Just found a photo of me at yesterdays run, fairly early on I think. Both feet off the ground: