LearnToRun.com

So I’ve started the New Year with a resolution or two…

Number 1: Learn to run (again).

I have learned about diet and fitness and muscle growth over the last year or so - and it has been fantastic. However, I have slipped with my routine since moving to Australia. Lots of partying and lack of routine has payed havoc with things. But now it is time to settle back into things.

Now - as a bloke - there is nothing more likely to make you try harder than a bit of competition. So I jumped at the chance when a mate from Uni suggested on Facebook that he is going to run 100KM a month. We both have a Nike+ and decided to challenge each other. The system is great - allowing you to set a challenge and then see who gets there first. Ours is “greatest number of kilometres in 30 days”. I tried out the system tonight with just a 2.6K run and it works great.

Now I just need to step up to the plate and show him what I’ve got. Bring it on Martin Arndt!!!

Last week was really bad timing to relaunch myself into a fitness regime again. Having just moved from the UK to Sydney, our container arrived on Wednesday and I had to do 6 hours of removals on Tuesday in preperation. I spent 16 hours unpacking on Wednesday, with 12 hour days on Thursday and Friday. I was totally knackered and unable to get into training. I guess the lifting of 253 boxes up and down stairs did me some good though

So I had to postpone the starting of a proper routine. I kick started again today with a chest workout this morning. I upped the weight by 5 lbs from last week. It felt amazing though. A real rush of endorphins and I’ve felt it all day… This should be a really good week, just getting my mind focused before Christmas (which should help me avoid too much over eating).

Cheers, M

My learning to run blog has slipped a lot in the last few months - mainly because of my focus on moving to Australia and all the chaos that is involved with that. I have also decided on some business ventures for Australia (some of which involve commercial blogging). In researching this, I now realise how much I don’t know about blogging and how much of an amateur I currently am.

I am going to put this site on hold for a few weeks while we make the move and I am also going to do a complete redesign, with a focus on what I really want from learningtorun.com.

Please check back in soon for the new look and the new focus.

By the way - my body goals are totally on track. I have upper body muscles now - which is magic! I am still getting compliments which really helps the motivation. I now feel in control of my body and fell I have found a life long method for sustainable fitness and health… with some fun thrown in.

Bye for now. Mark

I cancelled my training session this morning - I am still suffering with a really bad headache. I think I could train OK but I don’t want to bring the virus back again. I’m thinking a few days off, along with good sleeps, will help me to get completely over it. I’ll try not to eat too much crap whilst I’m off so I don’t pile the pounds on….

I bought a new training top today - it is from adidas and has a criss-cross across the shoulder blades. The idea is that it pulls your shoulders back during training (and when you are not training). I have always had rounded shoulders and a big focus for me is to strengthen my upper back to resolve this (or minimise it at least). Lets see how the top works out… Looks bloody cool - although I’m still a bit podgy to get away with it in public. From a distance it makes you look really athletic but up close it shows off your worst bits too

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. 

My Achilles pain has subsided today - I iced and stretched it last night and it seems to have done the trick. Another day or so rest for it and all should be OK I think.

Fortunately it is upper body training tonight so it shouldn’t clash. I’ve moved it from 7.30 to 4.30 so I can watch the Champions League Final tonight. Couple of beers in the pub - probably Sportsters in Stirling - should be a great night. I’m a neutral but I will definitely be siding with Man United tonight - North vs. South

This week has been pretty positive - I managed good interval sprints on Monday:

• 1 sprint (approx 36 secs), then 1 walk (same distance) - repeat 6 times.
• 5 sprints up and down very steep small hills, running between 4 points of the compass
• 1 sprint (approx 36 secs), then 1 walk (same distance) - repeat 4 times.

My thigh strain was a little sore so I put ice on again afterwards but I was really happy that I made it through the session.

On Tuesday I went for a full round of golf which is a pretty good way to keep your muscles warmed - my standard of golf is pretty shit though so I need to get some benefot from it!

On Wednesday I was back to the original upper body session which went really well - I can feel myself getting much stronger (especially my chest and shoulders). I’ll lay out the full workout here for you to see exactly what I’m doing. I felt a bit of a twinge in my left hip as I was doing the exercise where you stand with legs apart and weights in hand, then stretch down to each side for 15 reps. It has been a bit nippy since then and I think it is my hip flexor muscle - it is buried way deep inside and wouldn’t really benefit from ice.

It was twinging again this morning during my boxercise session but I manged to push through - I think it’ll be OK by next week. Boxercise was fantastic - I haven’t done it for 4 or 5 weeks and it was unbelievable how much more stamina I have now. I could have gone on for longer than an hour which is incredible.

Also, the 10 minute warm up run hardly even registered which makes me feel good about the 10K on June 15th in Bellahouston Park. This weekend I’m going to go out and do a proper road run to see how my stamina is for running - if I can do a good 40-45 minutes without dying I’ll be happy. Then I’ll build it up over the next couple of weeks.

 Cheers, Mark

Right. So I haven’t been blogging for a few weeks - this has been down to a lack of focus and a lack of consistency - pretty much sums up my last month’s running!

Anyway - I met with my new personal trainer (Scott) nearly two weeks ago. We talked through what I wanted out of training and set somes goals and some tasks. We agreed that we would have a tough regime for 3 months and then see where we are. So I can confidently say that by the end of June, barring injury or death, I will be in much better shape than I am now. I’ll post a before and after photo like the kind you see in Men’s Health and see what a difference it has made.

Scott gave me a sheet to record my food diary for 4 days and my sleep diary. I’ll discuss these in more detail over the next few days. We then met 5 days ago to discuss the diaries and made a plan based around them.

The Goal: lose weight, tone up and be fit for running a half marathon.

The Timescale: 3 months (April-June)

The Diet: The diet is really critical and I’ll go into more detail soon, but the basic idea is high protein and low/zero carb after lunch).

The Tasks: Mon/Wed/Fri - 6.30-7.30am workout with Scott. Tues/Thurs - 6.30-7.30am walk dog for 4 miles. Sat - anytime - light run (2 miles) or core work.

Sounds pretty full on but also very doable. Scott is very motivational and it is great to have someone to kick you up the arse when the going gets tough.

I’ll keep a tight blog on what happens during and after each session and let’s see where it takes me. Cannot wait.

Cheers, Mark

Start your engines!

Here goes…. First blog on my site about getting fit, learning to run and just feeling better about myself.

Running starts tomorrow morning…