Week Five

 Got to that point when after five weeks no noticeable gains are being made & I feel very depressed. I will do a cooper test today and maybe after 5 weeks of no smoking and only drinking once in the past five weeks I will have an improvement on 2.44km

Week Four

Not had any alcohol or nicotine for a month now.  Not really missing it.  Gonna try and drop sugary snacks this month,  biscuits chocolate etc. Weight now under 80kgs.  Not as much as last week but a marathon done.  I noticed that in  doing the longer runs I am feeling better mentally which I put down to using fruit rather than sugary snacks.  a total of 300km of running and 50km  in walking done. 

I want to build on this base in February.  The target is to do do speed work twice a week and drop the weight by another couple  of kilograms.  The fourth week will be  a rest and recovery week.

Week Three

Ran more, 80km in total and a 36km on Sunday. doing more in weighted jacket. Weight starting to drop under 80kg. Planning to do 48 next weekend

Week Two

I stopped losing weight.  But by Thursday I started running more. I did my first 30km  run in a while

Week One

I started the week on 83.6kilograms. The plan and what I did was as follows

I lost nearly 4 kilograms. 

The bad year is in the past

It is thirteen months since I wrote anything here.  I have had a bad year running wise. There have been no races to speak of in Germany and I struggled with consistency. 

I enjoyed myself crewing for Fabio in Spartathlon and combined that with a visit to the lion's gate in  Mycenae and the Acropolis Museum.

I rounded the year off with a Marcothon. Five kilometres a day, every day. I have also built up to doing a five minute plank and 100 press ups a day..  So that is an improvement on consistency.

In January, I will be upping that to include some intervals, hill work, Cooper tests, 12kms and longer runs. I have create January's plan already. 

I am finally going to bite the bullet and fast for January to fix my weight. Then in  February start back on  a vegetarian diet until my birthday in March.

At the end of January I will run in the Rodgau 50km,  which will be my first race in far too long. I hope to do sub six hours. If that goes as planned I am going to try the Sparta city race in February.

Then there is the TorTourdeRuhr in June. 

Wish me luck

Noteworthy November

I really shouldn't exaggerate the negatives in my training is in these blogs because,  it is not that bad and it worries a few readers.  That said I don't think things are that bad. I am fit and running, which is more than I can say about some of my running friends and acquaintances. I very rarely get injuries and run quite often.

Over the last four months I have covered an average of 300km a month. My weight has been consist in the low 80s this month. I improved my Vo2 max this month as well.  All my learning and reading programs are going well and I am getting more focus on them as I drop further and further away from  social media and news sites. 

The trick is to ensure the circle of your interest and the circle of your influence are matched. The problem with a lot of people, and I have been guilty of this in the past, is that the interest circle is far bigger than the influence one.  To tack an extreme example, why should a UK citizen living in Germany been at all concerned about what is happening in the USA.  I can't influence it at all and it barely affects my day to day life. 

Focus on the things you can change and forget about those you can't.