Ralph's Health

John managed to get me looking very la-de-da in this. It looks like I'm hardly moving, but probably doing about 12/15 mph of this final downhill.

I've run a couple of races recently. Reasonably happy with my performance in them given the heatwave we have right now. I did the Bollington Nostalgia hill race last Sunday and achieved 1:04:00 which is a bit slower than previous best but still good considering how hot it was on the day. Wednesday on the Macclesfield Forest Five was better, did it in 47:36 which is almost 1 minute faster than last year. this is the first time I've beaten a previous time this year, so very please with that. Diet wise the hot weather is taking its toll, far too much lager being drunk at the moment. My weight has now stabilised as about 82.2kg which I'm happy with.

Ran 42:36 on the Kerridge ridge 4.9 mile run last night. Almost 30 seconds faster than previous PB set in January 2012. Tonight attempted the Middlewood Way and was 2 minutes slower than PB. Here are details for PB run last night. Good thing is my heart average was not too high.

I raced on Saturday, a bit slower than last year but faster than 2010: 2010 - 59:41 2012 - 54:29 2013 - 57:41 The field was much bigger this year with 246 competitors, and there was an additional stile wait at the beginning which slowed me down by a couple of minutes. Next race is Bollington Nostalgia. I've just checked my time for last year which was 1:01:17 so that is the time to beat this year. Having a fast day today after visiting Alton Towers yesterday, following by Ronnies.

Ran a half marathon distance on Sunday along Middlewood way in 1:54. Not best by a long way but best this year. Tonight I ran up to Shining Tor and back in 2:13. Pleased with that as first time solo.

I've started to feel tired and low motivation to run again. I ran last night but my heart was not in it and I ran the KR 4.9 in about 49 minutes. I guess this is a result of overdoing the running recently. Today was supposed to be a fast day but I doubt that will happen either, at least not a 600 cal day. I suspect that will fizzle out as it is too hard to maintain. I've already eaten chocolate. The headaches have come back, due to see the docs tomorrow. Oh woe!

Recorded lowest weight today which is close to my target of 82.5kg. At this point I need to continue to get rid of fat but start working on strength and muscle. I've dug out my old dumbbells - not sure if they will be much use, though I have sore arms and chest from playing with them earlier. Here is my latest weight chart: I've dropped about 6kg in 25 days which is 1/4 kg a day. Not too bad.

Had a nice day today at Weston Park model air show. Weighed in at 83.9kg and weighed the same each time today when got home and again after tea and run. Not a bad time tonight on Kerridge ridge run : 44:28, one second slower than last Monday. In two weeks time it is the Whaley waltz, so I'm starting to get training for that now. Will look up previous best times and also the distance. Yesterday we went to Abyss and I got a Yellow Tang, nice fish. Currently hiding lots. Before I forget here are my last few days weight. Friday: 83.6 Saturday: 83.7

Ran in 32:42 racing tonight. Just under two mins slower than personal best. So far today eaten: Breakfast: 1/2 slice toast and cup of unsweetened tea Lunch: Soup and roll from services cup of coffee Water At home: 4 blocks of choc Tea: Cupa soup and rice cakes

Here is my weight chart for the past 2.5 weeks. I have achieved the initial goal I set to get to 84kg: Next and final weight goal is 82.2kg which will take me to 23.5 BMI. I may not go this far though as now the changes to my appearance are starting to show on my face.

I ran the 4.9m run tonight in 43:33, just under a minute faster than last night. This is now only 29 seconds off my best ever time I have logged for this run at 43:04 in January 2012. this is a fantastic achievement for me given that 2.5 weeks ago I was only able to run it in 50 minutes, and was feeling very unfit. I was more tired and feeling faint though than I can ever recall before and had to call Sharon to make sure I did not faint. 15 minutes afterwards and I'm still sweating. Interesting results with weight today. I've been away on business and this afternoon had a frustrating caffeine filled afternoon trying to buy phones with Simon, and failing. when I got home I felt full of caffeine and frustrated. I weighed in at 83.9kg, 200g lighter than first thing. I did not eat or drink anything before my run and got back weighing 83kg! To celebrate my achievement I'm going to attempt to connect my watch to my computer.

Just run Kerridge ridge 4.9 in 44:27. This is a good achievement considering my fastest time for this ever was in Jabuary 2012 at 43:02. Very pleased with that performance, it also demonstrates how a few days off can improve performance as the best time I achieved during my intensive exercise fortnight was 46:55 last week.

So far today I have had: Breakfast Half round of toast and butter: 100 calories 1 cup of tea no sugar: 15 calories Morning Water Lunch Portion of sweet potato, hot dip and small portion of soured cream (Vale): 200 calories estimate Soda water: 0 calories Afternoon 1 cup of coffee no sugar: 15 calories Planning beans on toast for tea which will be about 300 calories.

I've spent the last two weeks doing quite an intense training and diet regime. I crashed this weekend though. I had already come to the conclusion late last week that I could not keep up the intensity of running as I was starting to get sore and tired, particularly on the knees. I missed a run on Friday, then on Saturday it was hot and I tried to run my normal Kerridge Ridge run and failed. I gaev up half way round as my feet and knees were hurting. I suspect this is due to the hard ground and my Mudclaws were the wrong kind of shoe. Yesterday I went to Cosford airshow and missed another run. Also my diet this weekend took a tumble. On Saturday I had three Hobgoblin tins with lunch, and yesterday at airshow had three Carlsberg lagers. So in total over the last 2 weeks I had 6 beers. Weekend also saw several chocolate bars, donuts and bacon butties. Chart below shows the impact: Generally there has been a good downward progression. Red bars show the weight the day after

Ran in the Higher Poynton Bulls Head fell race tonight. About 8 miles and 1200 feet, did it in about 1:11 which is about 5 minutes slower than last year. Not too bad as it was my first race in a long time and I've done 5 miles a day in the last 10 days. Not had any alcohol now in 11 days. Tomorrow is my 4th fast day.

Today is a fast day, my third so far. I just ran a more leisurely Kerridge ridge in exactly 50 minutes. Yesterday was my best performance recently at 46:55. I was really pushing myself after a week of training. Fasting today has been quite hard, I was away on business and could not find anything light to eat a Costa coffee. Here is what I've had so far: Breakfast: Half round of bread and lightest butter: 80kcal Lunch: nothing except coffee and sparkling water: 15kcal Tea: Two rounds bread  and a portion of baked beans: 400kcal This means I've got about 100 calories I can consume and stay within 600. Hmmm, chocolate... Sharon and the kids are trying the new fitness Kinect program.

Achieved 36:01 this afternoon.

It is fair to say that I have been struggling with a few things recently. Since Christmas I've been suffering from stress from the situation at work, and the increasing pressure of running out of cash due to contracts not happening when they should have. I'm pleased to say that from a business perspective at least, things are starting to go in the right direction again, with the award of a new contract, and other opportunities that have come in. But the deterioration of the business which started in about May last year has taken its toll: 1. I stopped running an competing regularly, and I also stopped training with my running buddies. This started slowly with loss of motivation around the middle of last year, and ended with me not really competing much at all as the year progressed. 2. my weight started to go up, partly as a result of not exercising enough, partly as a result of eating too much because I was stressed (especially chocolate) and partly because I started t

Weighed in this morning at 88.2kg. So I have weight to take off again. Tonight I did the 4.2 mile run along Middlewood way again, in 34:24. This is a good improvement over yesterday by 2 minutes. Pleased with that.

Ran the Middlewood run in 36:30 tonight. Slower than ever but faster than I thought I'd do it.