September not as good August but better than before that

September was not as good as August as I covered 300km, 100km down on the previous month. However my weight  is regularly under 80kg which is a big benefit.  I had a really  bad peroid in the fourth week that stopped me running.  I was really depressed  and I knew if I ran I would feel better, but I was too depressed to even get changed for a run. This week I have recovered  somewhat and am back to 100km weeks and I also managed to do a complete week of core work. This consists of three dumbbell  sessions focusing on upper body,  three press up  and two pull up sessions. I am aiming on doing this for September  and gradually  adding a few short yoga sessions.

Another long break

The difference this time is that I have finally started running a decent distance each week.  From mid July I moved to 80km a week and now I am at 100km  a week.  So my August total is 402.km. I am also regularly  that is five time a week, working on my core. I am avoiding junk, mainly sugary junk in my diet as well.  The result of which is that my weight is dropping all be it slowly,  I am almost under 80kgs 

Looking back on my annual totals, below,  realistically if I want to get back to Sparta and finish, I need to do 3500km plus a year. I am not finding the 100km too difficult to do at the moment.  It is just a matter of consistantly making time day by day.  I am returning to work from this week on, which means as I am away from home it will be even easier to schedule. 

Totals September to August each year. 

2013 total 2800km
2014 total 4000km
2015 total 3000km
2016 total 3000km
2017 total 2800km
2018 total 2700km
2019 total 2000km
2020 total 2300km

Back to Basis

I have been drifting around for the last five years,  trrying to fine that extra something to kick start the training.

Maybe  it is time  to get back to basiscs.

Do the simple  things consistantantly instead of looking for the edge.

Review what you did in 2014-2015 and do that.

All, well most of the data is there. so set aside time  for a bit of reading of old blogs.

Had enough

I went to race with a bad back, bad diet, bad training, and bad frame of mind. It ended badly. 

I think I have had enough. For too long I have been struggling with everything. I can't run, I can't get a settled digestive system  and  getting up is almost too much effort in the mornings. 

I can't string sentences together without really thinking about it and even if I do they come out so garbled people ask me to repeat myself. My great joy in reading is dimishing as it becomes more difficult.

I am going to stop putting pressure on myself,  rest up and recover for a while.  

Review October - Started, keep consistant

• I  have run more than 250km in  October, which is more than in the previous few months.





Distance

• I have run  more intensively and according to Garmin my intensity minutes are higher than in the previous few months.



Intensity

• I have swam  more,  if only a little bit more.

 

Swimming

 

• I have kept my weight under under 80kg and stopped it osscilating soo much. I also have an answer to the weight issue.  Too many junk kms and too much weight training added to the stiff arteries means my insulin system is encouraged to store food as fat.  I am reassessing my diet and training. I aim  to eat early and then reduce the calories during the day. Less carbs & salt ( I love salt) more protein and fats.  I am  the  cutting the junk kms and weight training for the next two weeks until the next assesment at the Metobolic institute.



Weight

• I have stopped smoking.
• I have stopped drinking beer, although I have had a few glasses of scotch and wine.

I feel a lot better in myself and can see we are going somewhere.  I still have mood swings,  but they seem less frequent and easier to manage. I have built a couple of troops of friends to keep me  going and they are helping a lot. My Cooper test result has gone from 2.4km  to 2.6km meaning a VO2max improvement from  42.37 to 46.84 ml/kg/min.   When I go boudlering I feel a lot stronger.

So we have some real improvement and we just need to keep going!

Remember your tats, troop and training

Only a short update today as I have already written about the major finding here

What I really wanted to remind myself of is how to deal with the dpressive swings, such as I had last weekend.

1) Remember that you have invested a lot in your symbolic tattoos and to use the underlying symbology to bring yourself up.  The Dragon tries to unbalance the Yin and Yang,  The Buddha uses the Dhrama wheel to rebalance the Yin  and Yang.  The Enso shows nothing needs to be  perfect,  The Water Basin shows you already know what you need to know and the Blue Feather shows you can reach your goals.
2) Remember that you have a lot of people  who really care about you and that you can always talk to them about your moods.  Don't wait until you are on the way up, use them on the way down as well.  They will be keen to help.
3) If all else, fails just go for a fucking run, YOU TWAT!.

Week 44 Done

Week 

Week 45 Plan 

Finally we have an answer

I went to the Institut für Stoffwechselforschung ( Institute of Metabolism Research) in  Frankfurt and met with Dr Thomas Konrad.  Since 2001, the ISF is the only German study center to participate in the EU-funded RISC study ( www.egir.org ) "Relationship between Insulin Sensitivity and Cardiovascular Risk" (QLRT-CT-2001-01252). The study includes healthy 1500 people aged between 30 and 60 throughout Europe. It looks at the effects of lifestyle, environmental factors as well as gender-specific features on the insulin action and atherosclerosis in the long-term course are examined. Currently the 3rd follow-up is in progress since 2001 . In the meantime, more than 60 publications have been published that cover the aspects of "genomics", "proteomics" and "metabolomics".

So I think it is fair to say these people know what they are talking about.  I explained that I am running 50-100km  a week,  eat a healthy diet but my weight is always going up.  I have added weight training and more core work to the running to help improve things,  all to no avail.

Dr Konrad reviewed all the test result of various bloods, blood pressure and heart and thyroid exams.  He was of the opinion  that somewhere my body is under stress causing it to use the insulin  to store food as fat.  He noted my family history where my father died of a stopped heart at 79 and my mother diabetes  The issue was,  given my healthy heart and good blood results there was nothing to indicate where.  

Thus I went through several hours of tests.  The first was to monitor my blood pressure  over a period where I first lay down and rested,  then stood,  then sat and stood and finally sat  and breathed deeply.  Then a lung function test.  Finally a test on  a stationary bike with a ECG and respiration  mask  to monitor how my body reacts under physical stress.  

The first two where as expected showing a healthy heart,  with the only thing of note being the change when I went from  sitting to standing not being as good as expected. 

The bike test was interesting, I cycled against increasing resistance and got up to 150 watts which I was told was good, especially as I didn't break into a sweat.  

They measure my VO2 max whic was 48, again rather good.  Then they found the issue.  The measure of Pulse Wave Velocity   which indicates arterial stiffness was rather bad.  This was the cause of the stress and thus the weight gain. I am trying to do too much

Dr Konrad wanted me  to do the following things 

1) Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a farmer and dinner like pauper.
2) Eat low slow carbs and protein. 
3) Change training to reduce/remove long endurance runs and strength training
4) Focus on interval training

I have another appointment in two weeks to review the effects of the change.

I have asked several questions 

1) How long should each interval session be? 30mins?  60mins?
2) How long should each intervals be? 
3) How long should the recovery be 1min 2 min? More?
4) How frequent should the session be?
5) Is a swim recovery session of < 30mins once a week ok to do?
6) I take it no weights or core work like sit ups should be done?