Arrrrooooooooo!!!!

So, this Saturday was the Wolf Run!  See the website for more detail http://www.thewolfrun.com/ but in brief it's a 10km run, through fields on a farm, with obstacles every 1-2km.  This was definitely more of a fun endeavour, rather than being uber competitive, mostly because I could only run so fast as the ground underfoot was so uneven - I had one eye on the Birmingham Half Marathon and really didn't want to get injured!  Also, the obstacles were more fun than nasty (this was no Tough Mudder) and gave you a chance for a breather every 15 minutes or so.  Also, I ran in a pack of about 10 people so we were chatting and messing about a lot.  My favourite moment was the downhill where they'd placed a load of plastic sheets, water and some fairy liquid - I just dived head first down it!

Sadly, whether it was the Wolf Run or the Great North Run, something is up with my legs!  I have got shin splints, and my achilles is playing up, and now, following last night's BMF session, the tendons in my thigh have gone like thick steel wire!  I saw a sports masseur last week, who prescribed shaving my legs from the knee down and applying some support tape to hold my calf muscles in place, to help with the shin splints.  Not sure if this worked but I looked a right plonka last night...

However, on more positive news, the bod is coming along nicely.  I did step on the scales last night to discover I'd only lost half a stone but I have dropped 2 inches off my waist and am fitting into clothes that I haven't worn in 4 years!  I had to change my LinkedIn picture this week as people were complaining it no longer looked like me, which is awesome!  And I am going back to Markus on Monday so the big gains should start happening again - rah!

I haven't really mentioned much about the charity I'm doing all this for - I am not really going to start chasing you all for money until next year, but please take the time to check out the Edward's Trust website http://www.edwardstrust.org.uk/ to see some of the great work they do.

YMCA and Jelly Babies can take you a long way... 13.1 miles in fact!

So, this has been what you might call an eventful 6 weeks or so.  I think most people who follow this blog will know that I split up with Fleur since my last post.  Not looking to dwell on it, nor am I after sympathy, it just makes the rest of this post make more sense...

Anyway, having moved back to Birmingham, and having no cash due to getting my life sorted out, seeing Markus has been put on hold for the time being.  With the Wolf Run and Birmingham half marathon looming I have been concentrating on getting my running up to a decent standard.  I have been getting out once a week doing 6 or 7 miles, and a second time doing a shorter run, normally 2 miles, with some form of interval training.  For those of you that don't know interval training is where you sprint for a period, say 60 seconds or 200 metres, then jog for the same, then sprint, then jog and continue until you can no longer stand.  It's great for your overall speed over long distance, and is also, dare I say it, more fun than just running for an hour or so.

I have been trying to get to BMF but most weekends have been taken up with fetching stuff from the inlaws or else keeping busy visiting people.  The last couple of weeks I have been running with Joe Kavanagh on a Wednesday night which has been great - he runs faster than me but not currently as far, whereas I run much slower but further.  I think we're really helping each other.  I've also been trying to keep the core strength stuff up until I see Markus again (2 weeks from now) by doing pullups, situps and pressups every morning.

Anyway, this has been going quite well.  The Wolf Run, which is this Saturday, is a 10k through mud, lakes and rivers, with some obstacles thrown in, so I had been running at the 6/7 mile mark, ready to push up to 13 miles after this weekend ready for the Birmingham half on 21st October.  The combination of the running and the core strength exercises is having a great effect on my physique where I am getting near to my target size/shape.  See below for some before and after/during pictures!

  Fat Bastard

  More reasonable size

So like I said, training is going well. So well, in fact, that when I was asked last Friday (in the pub, pint in hand - oops!) if I would like to do the Great North Run on 16th September as 2 friends had dropped off I said "yeah, why not?"  I even, foolishly, promised to help Claire, the kind young lady who was offering me this wonderful opportunity, when she reached her inevitable wall at 8 miles, which was the furthest she'd ever run.  Oh how I would live to regret those words!

So we went up to South Shields Sunday morning, leaving Birmingham at 4am.  After a nice long drive up the A1 we finally arrived and made our way to Newcastle.  I'm guessing the ticket seller for the Metro hadn't brought his sense of humour to work - when we bought a ticket and he asked if we wanted singles I said "yeah - we'll be running back."  Nothing, not even a smile.  Oh well, maybe I wasn't the first person to say that that morning...  We arrived in Newcastle, made several attempts to get to the toilet, and lined up with the other 54,998 athletes.  It truly was a momentous occasion, from the group warm up to the Red Arrows display, by the time we got to 10:40 and kicked off I was well and truly ready to go!

We set off at a very healthy 9 minute mile pace, which we maintained until mile 7.  As I said, I hadn't run past 7 miles in training yet (that was planned for next week and onwards) so funnily enough I hit my wall at mile 7.  The next 2 miles I got slower and slower and was having real trouble.  My breathing was fine but legs were absolutely dead - I was struggling to lift them off the ground.  My mind was in turmoil - 6 miles is a very long way to go when you are already dying!  The only thing keeping me going was the embarassment of stopping in front of Claire!  Fortunately, Claire was there, and between telling me crazy stories and feeding me Jelly Babies, gradually brought my mind back to the real world and we carried on at a much better pace for the final 3 or 4 miles.

As we reached the final kilometre we climbed a steep hill which once we reached the summit we could see the sea!  Down the other side and into the final straight where there must have been about 20,000 people cheering us on.  We literally hit a wall of sound of cheering, music, and a man shouting over the tannoy.  Although I was completely dead on my feet I found the energy to do the moves for YMCA which was playing.  We finally crossed the line at about 2 hours and 10 minutes, which was not bad considering how tough I'd found it.  I felt bad for Claire, who clearly didn't hit a wall and could have kept up the 9 minute mile pace, and so now I am committed to getting round Birmingham with her in 1 hour 50 minutes.

In all it was an amazing experience so thanks to Claire for inviting me, and thank you and well done to the organisers - it was a very slick event.

This weekend sees me attempt a Wolf Run so I will post again next week with the results and some pictures.

I've got the bug!

Ok so it's been about 6 weeks now since training began, and I have most definitely got the bug for it!  It has now got to the point where if I'm not doing any exercise for more than 48 hours I actually start to miss it!  My normal week now consists of:

• 1 training session with Markus, always hell.
• 1 run to the gym (7 miles) followed by a weights and abs workout.
• 1 just gym session.
• 1 British Military Fitness (see link) session.
• I think I'd like to swap the just gym session for playing squash or something similar so if anyone fancies a game let me know.

This is all having the desired effect, thankfully.  My gut is slowly starting to recede, and I am definitely getting fitter and stronger.  I attribute a lot of that to Markus.  He pushes me much further than I ever would on my own, which is providing really quick results.  This also translates to when I'm on my own as I have more confidence to try harder.  I am becoming less self-concious at the gym now so I don't feel such a muppet lifting 20kg when the guy next to me is doing 50kg!

Also, following a really rough session with Markus a few weeks ago, I have seriously reduced my beer intake.  That morning was a bit of a watershed moment really.  We were doing interval training on the treadmill, which is scary enough on it's own (he was trying to see how high he could get my heart rate - at one point the treadmill was on maximum incline at about speed 16 - heart rate peaked at 179!!!).  However, I'd done no exercise for 2 weeks, and had had at least a couple of beers on most days during that period.  I very nearly passed out, did throw up, and thought I was gonna cry!  Sat in the loo, hugging the toilet, I was coming up with excuses as to why I had to leave.  I talked myself around (lots of "come on you pussy!") and finished the session, but was really embarrassed with myself.  I realised at that moment there was no point playing at this - if I'm going to get fit then I need to rein in the beer, and exercise at least 3 times a week.  Given my job title, Professional Beer Drinker, this has been a challenge.  However, I have just cut out the cheeky beers - 1 or 2 at lunch time, 1 after work etc and swapped them for orange juice and lemonade.  The serious beers, like Jamfest last week, will remain.  This has a knockon effect as when I have a beer I don't feel like exercising which creates a vicious circle; now I am breaking that circle, and I feel great!

Some of you may have had a look around the Tough Mudder website, perhaps feeling inspired to join me on this epic quest?  If you have you may have noticed the Moustache Man...  This is his training video which I certainly find aspirational, although I am clearly a long way away from that!  (see link)  But in the hope that it will help I have decided on starting a little homage of my own...

Day 1

Actually it's Day 12 as training officially started on 15th June...!

A number of things have happened recently which made me realise that I need to lose some weight.  Clothes don't fit properly; my dad (a serial cake lover) made several jokes at my belly's expense at a recent family get together; a certain Insolvency Practitioner pointed out my expanding waist line at a corporate function.  However, 2 things happened which really nailed it home.  Firstly, my wife sent me a link to Tough Mudder saying "you should do this."  Then, I had some pictures taken for a press release and didn't recognise the fat bloke looking back at me (and I had been seriously holding my gut in when the pictures were taken).  It was time to take action.  It was time to take DRASTIC action, if nothing else so that I wouldn't have to buy some new suits!

Things weren't always like this.  Before Fleur and I got together I used to run 13 miles at least once a week.  I was in the best shape of my life.  But when I ran the half marathon I'd been training for in 26 degrees heat, on a hilly course, it was seriously tough and I thought "why am I bothering?"  And as our relationship grew clearly contentedness set it in as the belly started growing.  I have tried intermittently to get back on the wagon, so to speak, but haven't managed to stay on it.

So, following my wife's advice (or request!) I have signed up to do a Tough Mudder.  Go big or go home, that's my new motto!  "Probably the toughest event on the planet" may be ambitious, but I need something exciting to keep me interested enough to do the training.  However, what I also need is some pressure, and so I have offered to raise money for Edward's Trust.  Which is also the point of this blog - to tell as many people as possible what I'm doing so that there's no chance of backing out!

Please follow these pages where I will describe the gruelling training that I go through over the next few months.  And be prepared to part with some cash come the end of it for a wonderful charity.