I am in a great mood today - I’m going away for a couple of weeks to the South of France. I’m really ready for a break. I’ve been training hard for the last month or so and am looking foward to a bit of a rest from the very early mornings. However, I do have a set of programs to take with me (they should last around 30 minutes or so and will keep my fitness at the same level over the holiday period).
I don’t think I could go for 2 weeks without doing exercise now - I would be bouncing off the walls. Plus, I actually enjoy doing exercise whilst on holiday - diving in the pool after a good run feels fantastic.
I had my body fat checked yesterday and it is now down to 17.75% (from 18.3% last month). I’m fairly happy with that - it is steady progress. I also dropped a kilo in weight. Most of the fat shifted from my waist which feels good too. I’m going to get measured as soon as I come back from holiday to see whether I did myself some damage 
Cheers, Mark
Yesterday I ran the Men’s Health Forum Scotland 10k (in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow). It was phenomenal. I haven’t been doing too much running recently - certainly not distance training anyway. So I wasn’t entirely sure how this was going to go. I ended up with an official chip time of 51.05. That is 13 minutes faster than the one I did last October. The best part is that I feel I could have gone faster in the middle bit - I could feel my pace dropping and my feet becoming very heavy but if I really tried to stay light on my feet my pace would improve instantly.
I have been having achilles issues whenever I’ve run more than 3 miles recently but a new pair of running shoes seems to have cured this - I think the cushioning had just worn thin.
I have been training 5-6 days a week throughout June and it seems to have paid off - I am totally used to getting up at 5.45am everyday now and it feels great. I have been doing quite a bit of sprint and Fartlek training which obviously appears to imporved my speed and stamina.
My weight is now regularly 87.5KG first thing in the morning. This means my BMI or Body Mass Index is now under 25 (which means I am officially a normal weight) but to be honest I think this is a bit of a dodgy tool for really measuring how fit or fat you are - it is a good starter for 10 but as you get into training you need to look at other things. This includes your body fat percentage. My last reading for body fat was 18.3% but I’m hoping to get that down again by the end of this week.
Anyway - I’m feeling on top of the world with my race result and can’t wait for the next one so I can work on getting below 50 minutes.
Cheers, Mark
I trained 5 days last week (Mon-Fri). I planned to do 6 but wasn’t feeling well over the weekend - due to a lot of booze on Friday night. But I got stuck in again this morning and plan to do a full 6 days this week.
- Mon: Upper body - chest and shoulders only
- Tues: 5 mile run, including hills, plus 3×30sprints at the end, core work afterwards
- Wed: Leg training - usual sets including steps/lunges etc
- Thurs: 7-10 sets of sprints (35 seconds sprinting, then walk the same distance to rest)
- Fri: Upper body - back and biceps, plus some core work
- Sat: Core session
- Sun: rest
I’ve got 2 weeks and 5 days before going on holiday and want to really push it between now and then. I plan to still workout most days whilst on holiday but I know I will be eating and drinking more too.