Training Log Archive: Arnold

Very hard work but at least I managed the hour (with a couple of breaks.)

Yesterday I found my long lost weighing scales (my daughter had hidden them in the utility room!)

Unless they've gone rusty in the meantime, my weight has gone from ~80kg to 87kg in the last two years, which has come as a bit of a shock despite a niggling feeling that my trousers have been getting harder to do up.

Arguably I was a bit too thin beforehand but nonetheless it's a blow. Though not entirely surprising given my lifestyle over the last 2 years - barely any running, generally too sedentary, too much stress, not enough sleep, too much alcohol considering.

So, I'm putting together an action plan:
- Dry January and possibly February
- 1x short run during the week no excuses + 1x longer run at the weekend (1h+) as bare minimum to build on
- Eventually a new job with more opportunity to run and less stress > ET end of 2023

The one thing I'm not clear about is the eating. Intuitively it doesn't feel like I'm eating too much or unhealthily (if anything, I don't eat enough) but there are certainly some things I can cut out like post dinner chocolate). Overall though feels that the running / lifestyle angle is more important than the eating angle.

In Milan for work. Very tired but happy to get out.

Various bits

To Amma’s via Ham Gate and both sides of Ham Wood

In Bucharest. Long story.

In Paris for work. Super tired, but happy to have got out and seen a few sights.

Felt crap for some reason, so did a slowish interval session rather than the planned longer run. Boo.

Nick Bateson Long-O, Long Valley SW
11.1 / 310

Having done precious few runs over half an hour in the last year, and probably 1.5 runs a week on average, what better idea than to enter a Long-O on a fairly tough (marshy and hilly) area.

Set off at a slow pace to give myself a chance, and controls duly appeared where expected, partly due to the easy planning which allowed for track/path routes in many places.

However after 20 minutes I felt properly shite, wanting to just lie down somewhere and for once I thought it wasn’t going to happen. But I kept plodding and the controls kept appearing and soon enough I was on the final loop - which was pretty painful on the legs and the body generally, but I held it together for a pretty much error free plod around.

Finished around 15th out of 50, which isn’t great, but fastest time was only 10 minutes faster and loads of people packed right ahead of me - so really not that bad, all considering. Now if only I did a bit of consistent training!

The only downer was that on download, my Emit card “reset itself” so I don’t have any splits to compare with Abi. Flipping Emit, honestly.