Ralph's Health

Not good - was over in Chesterfield seeing a client and stopped at Pizzahut for lunch. It was chocka with fat people! I had a salad from the salad bar and a 11 inch pizza (that was the smallest I could have). For tea I had a single egg omlette and tomatoes, no cheese. I've had a few bits of dark choc today too. I ate alot yesterday after run, so weight this morning was 86.9kg. Hoping to reduce that down to 86kg by start of next week.

I did my usual 4.8 mile hill run tonight up onto Kerridge Ridge. I had previously looked at my old run data and had it in my mind that 45:21 was my best time, set in June 2010. However I cannot be usre as there is no route data. My time tonight was 48:10, which compares well to all my other runs of that course this year: 3/1/11 55mins 5/5/11 51 mins 3/5/11 53 mins Here is the data for the run:

I'd said to sharon earlier that the hardest part of the race was in mile 11, I thought I'd just run out of steam before I saw my data. Here is an interesting graph of my performance compared to the elevation change. I now understand why I was feeling so bad. Weird thing is I can't remember the hill at this point! According to this data the greatest elevation change occured at the point when I fwlt like I ran out of steam. Also check out my pace int he final stage post 13 miles: 7mins 10 secs.

I completed the half marathon in 1:56:26. I very pleased with this result, my aim was to get 2 hours or less. It compares well with my previous 1/2 marathons times: 1:52:50 2010 Macclesfield Half - I was very fit having competed in a Summer of Fell Races 1:56:26 2011 Macclesfield half 2:02 2009 Wilmslow Half 2:18:11 2009 Macclesfield Half Here is the heart data, which shows I was working hard for the whole race. My average heart rate was 170, max was 178, I spent most of my time in zone 5: I shall now be focusing on hill training in preparation for the Windgather 13.5 mile fell race in two weeks. Todays weight measurements: 86.6kg wake up 87.3kg pre run 86.4kg post run I had a problem with my pockets and keys today. I put a load of jelly beans in my pocket along with a car key. I couldn;t easily get the beans out because I was worried I was going to lose the key. Next time try to separate into separate pockets.

I found this BBC article a bit depressing, not really much of a mention of exercise as a primary mechanism for weight loss. However, this article , was a more useful read and highlighted that protein can help you feel fuller for longer. One of the issues I have is that I feel hungry, so if I take on more protein it might help. Will remember this and try it out. Finally, this article advises that people who want to lose weight should weigh themselves every day in order to enable you to make small adjustments as necessary. This fits with my philosphy that the more regularly you are sampling the closer you are to being able to pinpoint why changes are occurring.

My experiment didn't prove anything really. My results were the same regardless of whether I had water or not, unless I was not dehydrated? I've been slacking on the food log, yesterday I had my usual breakfast, two rounds of toast and marmalade, with benecol spread, 2 tablesspoon cod liver oil, a glass of fresh orange and mug of tea.. For lunch from the deli we got there late so I had a panini style sandwich, smoked chicken, salad and sun dried tomatoes. I had a late evening meal after a 4 mile run and bed for the kids which was beef curry, rice and red kidney beans. followed by a couple of slices of cake and a cup of tea. I was in a bad mood last night after arguing with Sharon so I had a bag of low fat crisps and milk at bed. This morning I had a bowl of muesli, orange, tea, clo and a multivitamin. I'll probably have a sandwich at lunch, Sharon is sorting out tea for tonight.

I did a bit of research on bioelectric impedence tests, which is the method my scales use. I found this resources useful (again) http://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/BI.htm I read that dehydration can affect the results so I shall do an experiment. I normally weigh myself first thing in the morning before I've had my breakfast (and I'm probably dehydrated - well I'm thirsty anyway). So I shall do the following experiment to determine the validity of the data I'm gathering: 1. Weigh myself and record the bioelectric impedence results 2. Drink 1 litre of water 3. Wait 10 minutes 4. Weigh myself again and compare those results. I should ke 500g heavier and if I'm dehydrated I should see a change in the bioelectric impedence results?