Tag: running

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Everest

It’s kinda nice that after this entry into a new [arbitrary] year lots of companies trying to sell something email with a summary of what I did for 2019. I wrote about my cinema trips in this communication. I’ve now had an email from Strava with a link to my summary for the year. They had some flashy graphics and moving things but there was a summary for me.

2019 Fitness
2019 Fitness

I think the important thing to note from this summary is although I ran/rowed quite farand that not all exercise sessions were included the second law of thermodynamics still runs true for humans.

Energy in – energy out = getting fat

While my fitness has stayed mostly constant, there have been periods of time when I didn’t exercise much because of other commitments. I have recently been eating too much which means I have to start eating less to balance it out. Having to buy new trousers was enough of a warning and it’s time to get the fat burned. I have spent quite a large portion of the last decade aiming for a particular mass and not reaching it so it might be time to make my goal more reachable as we head into the 20s [also noting that it seems to be getting harder the older I get].

Recent exercise sessions have been run-walk rather than run because of extra mass considerations and so I hope to get back to full-on running soon. Also, my number 5 mess dress uniform was quite “snug” before I gained this extra mass and I need it to fit at the end of April.

Mount Everest is 29,029ft tall and it turns out that over a year I have gained slightly more than that in altitude.

Happy New Year all you readers of this rubbish.

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Not 4WD

One of the laces on my running shoes died just over a week ago. I’d been thinking of getting new ones as I was sure these were now two years old and running out of steam. I also know I had written about the new trainers when I got them as a way of keeping tabs on when I bought them. It turns out that was just about three years ago! Here’s what they looked like new:

New – three years ago

This is what they look like now:

Three Years Old
Three Years Old

You can see they are worn, with holes appearing, there’s almost no tread on the soles. So, I took a trip to a local running shop and went for blue this time:

New Blue
New Blue

I guess we’ll see how long these ones last.

By the way, this is the 1501 communication published on this site. Keep an eye out for more over the next few years!

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It Seems A Lot

A little while ago Sony Entertainment made a video giving a run down of my time on the PS4 and you can see that in this communication. I guess these types of videos don’t take a huge amount of effort to produce and they might even have started on Faceshit, I don’t know. However, the other day Strava came up with one for me. I use Strava to track my running and other exercise. This year I’ve also done some rowing on the erg and a little swimming.

Here’s my Strava video:

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An Air Powered 5k

This morning I spent a lovely few hours with old friends beating up an inflatable assault course and generally having a lovely time. First thing to note and to be honest although I’ve had the race number for a couple of months now today was the first time I noticed the devilish connotations:

The Number Of The East
The Number Of The East

The running was great fun. The obstacles more so as I tried to make sure I vaulted or somersaulted as much as possible. I even bunny hopped up all the “steps” on one of the obstacles. It was great fun, although I might have a nap soon.

Leaping Over A Wall
Leaping Over A Wall

My time doesn’t matter because we ran as a team. I’m almost tempted to do the 10k next year!

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Recent Running Routes

Sometime back I started using the Strava app on my phone as some friends were using it and they weren’t on Map My Run. The Strava app has the ability to use a photo taken as the main picture in the saved area rather than a map. I think it looks quite good and I have been trying to take a photograph whenever I am out running.

Here’s what it looks like shared to twitter:

So, here’s a collection of photographs taken while out exercising.

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Burn It

So, the xmas break, which requires food and alcohol, along with a significant drop in exercise has resulted in what I would call a considerable gain of mass. I have written about mass loss before and I wrote more here also. To lose mass you have to burn more energy than you consume. It’s that simple [and no, you don’t have a gland problem!]. Not a lot else to it, it’s the psychology of it all that will fuck you over. I like eating and I comfort eat. It’s the self discipline that hurts. I know that when I am a healthy mass and exercise I can maintain that mass and still have blow-outs now and then.

So, before I get to my numbers, here are some facts about fat and exercise.

  • One pound of fat is roughly 3500 kcalories.
  • 10 metres walked or ran is roughly one kcalorie burnt.
  • Daily intake for a man should roughly be 2500 kcalories.

So, my ideal mass would be <80Kg. However, I’ve not been that for a long time and I would be happy with <82.5Kg which comes in at 13 stone in old money. I am currently hovering around +90Kg. This upsets me greatly, but it is my own fault. Now is the time for action. Let’s just assume I want to lose 10Kg just to make the numbers easy. It’s worth knowing how long this will take and what effort I will face. I think many people are unrealistic about mass loss.

Some maths:

10Kg is approximately 22 pounds of fat to be lost.

22 pounds of fat is roughly 77 000 kcalories extra that needs to be burnt.

If I reduce my daily intake by 500 kcalories then this would take 22 weeks, as I would lose one pound per week. This is nearly half a year, which is a depressing amount of time to be on a restricted calorie diet.

If I maintain 2500 kcalories per day and run to burn the excess I will need to run 770 kilometres. Given that my average run is probably around 10km this means 77 runs. If I manage to run twice a week, on average, then this is over 35 weeks which is again an intolerable amount of time.

What I need to do is reduce my calorific intake while at the same time exercising to produce the desired results in a shorter (but sensible) length of time. I aim to be a healthy mass again by the end of March. This gives me three months or twelve weeks. I need to lose around 2 pounds per week. I can do it. I am determined to do it as some of the health issues that I have mentioned previously are back.

My progress isn’t going to be public. I am not going to start tweeting about this all the time. I probably won’t even mention it if I do or do not get down to the target mass.

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Blue Bell Hill

As I ‘ve mentioned before in this forum I do feel lucky to live here. My normal running route now takes in part of the North Downs Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty. This is a photo I took from the top of Blue Bell Hill overlooking the valley of the Medway.

Kentish View
Kentish View

I think the real view is much prettier, this doesn’t really capture it!

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Time

I’ve been feeling that I don’t have time to do all the things I want to. I’ve been adding to the “things what I do” list and unfortunately I don’t see a lengthening of the day to allow me to do these things. I think this means that I have to give up or lower my priorities of “things to do”.

Things what I have done regularly:

  • Running
  • Rowing [erg]
  • Listening to podcasts
  • Listening to music
  • Playing Gran Tursimo
  • Watching American Football
  • Watching Babylon 5
  • Write stuff on this website
  • Go to the cinema regularly

New things what I do:

  • Write music
  • Play on the PC
  • Play on the PS4 more
  • Watch Hawaii Five-O
  • Listen to more podcasts
  • Learn new music
  • CCF

I’m not too happy. All of these new things have to be prioritised. I could do with about an extra 4 hours a day to myself. I have to work and look after my family so once that’s all done I get little time to do all the things I want to. I don’t even consider myself to be a busy person. How do you get to do things if you are VERY busy? I don’t get it.

Now, I guess I am lucky that I do get time to do these things and I should be grateful and I think I am. I get to do things that I like doing, I just have to ensure that I balance my time successfully.

I have also come to the conclusion that I need at least an hour of “brain dead time” each day, preferably once the house is nice and quiet. I can cope with less than an hour if planned and I extend the time another evening. Oddly enough some things which I really enjoy don’t count as part of that hour. Gran Turismo is great and I play it a lot [not so much recently]  but it doesn’t count as part of the hour, it’s something I have to concentrate on and work at, the rewards are good. Cinema doesn’t count towards the hour but most TV shows do. I guess that means I need an hour of stuff to watch each day, to keep the brain fresh!

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Accomplishment

According to my Up by Jawbone band, I have completed 3,500,000 steps since I started wearing the device. This isn’t really the total amount I have walked because there have been periods of time where the band hasn’t worked properly and I’ve been waiting for a replacement and also I didn’t use it for about a year when I ran. So, ultimately, my real total of steps is far more.

Up Steps

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