Ralph's Health

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