LearnToRun.com

OK - so it has been a bit quiet on the site recently - a month off to be precise. But I’m back and super motivated.

I had 2 weeks in the South of France which were amazing. Had a series of exercise plans worked out before I went to make sure I kept up some of my muscle strength whilst away. I planned to do at least 3 sessions a week. Here are the main points:

• It was bloody hot so daytime training wasn’t really an option. I had to choose morning or night. In the end it worked out much better at night (5ish) - the sun had cooled and I had at least an hour before eating dinner and getting tucked into the red wine. Morning time was too hard as I always woke up dehydrated (partly from the heat and partly from the red wine).
• The training sessions were either upper body (with various press up and core exercises) or lower body (with various squats). They could be done without any weights or equipment which was great.
• Managed a couple of decent 7K runs too.
• Plus lots of swimming.
• I ate a fair amount - some days more than others - and had loads of thin crust pizza (my biggest treat).
• I drank most nights (totally required when on holiday in France).

When I came back I was measured for weight and body fat percentage. My weight was actually down by a few hundred grams but my body fat percentage was up by half a percent (to 18.25%). This basically showed a drop in muscle mass and a bit of fat gain. But I’m happy that I now know what damage a 2 week holiday can do and how much work it requires to put it right - because let’s face it, we all need a blow out occasionally. I can’t go the rest of my life without eating pizza.

So all in all I’m really happy that I understand what I can do with my body. This really helps to motivate you when deciding whether to sneak a treat or not.

Since being back, I have trained really hard 5 days a week (1 upper body, 1 lower body, 1 core, 1 run, 1 cycle). I also had a big drinking weekend in the middle which added a bit more fat again! But I feel amazing - really in control. Now I’m going to push on for the next few weeks with a tight diet, good sleeps and not too much drinking. That elusive 6 pack is only a few months away. And Australia is looming….

I have just seen something on the BBC news that really made me sit up and take notice: blind football.

I’ve never seen anythinglike this. It is an olympic sport for the paralympics in Beijing (www.paralympic.org). I’m not sure how long it has been going on but I was blown away!

From what I could see, the outfield players are all non-sighted and play with a ball that contains ball bearings so you can hear where it is. What I found amazing was the different skills required to play it - you need to keep the ball moving so that you can always hear it. If the ball stops then you are stuffed. The main man being intereviewed has 100 caps for Britain and his fancy footwork was amazing. Incidentally he also holds down a full time job and a family too.

Anyway - I hope they do really well in Beijing. You really brightened up my day.