Streak in the Peak

Blogs, eh? None for months, then two in a matter of days. Don't know how I forgot to mention this in my last post; this is perfect blog-fodder (blodder?).

Yup, this was pretty much as it says on the tin. A streak, in the Peak District. A fell run, sans kecks.

Not that we need an excuse, but there was a reason behind it. Jan - fellow forumite, Dark Peak Fell Runner, book swapper extraordinaire - was due to emigrate to Enza (and at time of writing, has). He therefore decided that now was the perfect time to do something the DPFR crew had threatened for a while: to trod their regular stomping ground as the Good Lord intended.

The crowd in the mist

As a result, the night before, there were 19 brave souls, ready to battle the elements in the nip. However, as dawn broke, 8 men realised what they'd signed up for. And then there were 11.

We rendezvoused at Snailsden Reservoir with a worryingly large number of spectators about (amazing what these Dark Peakers think constitutes a wholesome family day out!). Jan also invited a mate, Lee (who's own thoughts on this escapade can be found here) who put a report in to Roch Valley Radio Sports Breakfast show. The weather was grim: 4 degrees, misty, & drizzle. But I'd left home after having scraped the car in -3 degrees, so I thought it positively tropical. And besides, the mist might be best for all concerned!

The route was out to the second trig due SW from there and back. In the spirit of SITP I ran unencumbered by Garmin (just plain forgot it) but from others' I think it was 4-5mi: 2-2.5mi each way. Due to the cold, we agreed to do the outward leg fully clothed to warm up. Trig, strip, and run back. So we did.

The moment of truth, far from being awkward, was surprisingly easy to do. Resigned to it as condemned men, committed as we were? Though it did render the handshakes that we greeted each other with at the start as introductions were made unnecessarily formal. We took some pictures - just for proof, you understand; we're not weirdos or anything - and headed back.

Before

After

Can't stop the bumrush

The 'end' in sight (note dog looking at my danglies - a scary moment!)

And it was quite a nice feeling! Running along with nothing between you and the air. Now I'm not saying I'll take to this on a permanent basis (er, or at all, actually*), but I'd recommend if ever you get a chance to: give it a go. No? Oh well, each to their own...

We got back to cheers and whistles and minimal milling about before getting our clothes on again. Jan made a nice presentation to each of us: a certificate & keyring with 'I streaked the Peak' on them, a bottle of Rescue Ale, a Peperami, and a Tunnocks. Then it was all back to Holmfirth for a few restorative beers and some grub. Obviously someone ordered the jumbo hotdog, though under the circumstances a Walnut Whip might have been more appropriate...

Oh! The irony

All in all, a great day out, and a great send off for a thoroughly decent bloke.

To Jan!

Jan, resplendent

And if that weren't enough for you, there's a video, here. This is heavily edited. Only those who were there get the unedited, director's cut. What goes on the Streak...

*After this, my better half was told at work that there are reports of a bloke who furtively runs Pendle in the buff on a regular basis. She's not convinced that this person isn't me!

Radio Silence is Broken

All been a bit quiet my way, hasn't it? In my last post it mentioned I got a new job, and this has unfortunately left me with less time to do stuff like this (I don't get to 'work' from home as much).

Quick run-down of goings on at chez UFM.

- Pendle Monster completed
- Forgot about Tour of Pendle
- Not making it back in time for runs with Clayton

So not too great. Running has mainly been fast, flat 4mi+ runs before work in York, then hitting Pendle for some major hill sessions of a weekend.

Plans for 2011? HPM if I can get on a team, Fellsman would be nice, a late BGR (if my knee survives the former). I've got an eye on a 2012 Spartathlon, so may need to do other events, as it has got strict qualification criteria regarding 100km & 200km experience.

Also just about to start my own business with a friend in the next few weeks, so no let up.

Watch this space. Assuming I get the time to write about it!

Here Comes the Summer

After the mixed success of my last set of goals, I’ve put together my next set of goals to see me over the summer. As before I’m giving myself a 6-week window, but I’m making it slightly different in that the 6-weeks is the training period, geared towards getting me ready to hit my goals, but this will then be followed by a test week, in which I’ll tackle a different goal each day.

I’ve tried to avoid goals I can’t do/measure (unlike last time), but having said that... I’ve still included the bench press goal, my thinking being that I now have a bench that’ll allow me to do it, and BH has said if I’m good I can buy more weights which will mean I have enough to do the hundred in theory, even if my body’s not ready for it!

The weight thing, I’m not too bothered about now. I will try and weigh myself out of interest (if only to work out what weights I’m shifting as a % of bodyweight), but I think the training and continued focus on my diet will probably see my body go the way I want it to anyway.

So then, those goals...

Press Ups

Having hit the 100, I don’t want to lose it, so will be looking to maintain this and still be able to knock out 100 in the test week.

Pull Ups

Complete the 50 Pull Ups Program.

Bench Press

Bench 100kg over 5 reps

Running

Break 7min/mi average over my 4mi run (will be a tough one this, at it’s a hilly one)

I may include a swimming goal. When I swim I tend to do 100 lengths crawl (2.5km). I might set a benchmark time in my first training week, and then set a quicker target time over the same distance for my test week

But that’s it. Simple. I’ve also attached my Week A/Week B training plans, as well as my test week. I may well vary from the training plan, as over the coming 6-weeks I am away with work for a number of days (e.g. 4 days in south Wales) which will throw me out a bit, but I’ll work around this somehow.

And all this kicks off week commencing 5th July (I’ve been ill this week so not trained at all; recovery/get back into it week next week; and then in Northern Ireland for a whole week the week after). I’ll just throw some stuff together to keep me ticking over until then.

Witness the fitness. Or failure, as the case may be.

Time Gentlemen Please

Blimey 6 weeks goes so fast!

Not blogged in a while, but I only ever blog when working from home, and I've been out and about quite a bit since my last post, so not had the opportunity. In fact, I even started drafting this post 3 weeks ago! My silence though should not be taken for inaction. No no, plenty of that. Let's see where it got me with a quick round up of how I did against my goals.

100 Press Up Challenge Completed

Check. Did this in the final week, and boy do I feel pleased with myself. This is an excellent programme for those that want to build more upper body strength, tone up, or just fancy being able to say they can do 100 press ups. Been attempting this on and off since Nov '08, and got up to 80ish before breaking my hand last March. Have since been maintaining at the top level.

50 Pull Up Challenge Completed

Well, not quite. As I said previously, I had started off able to do 15, but these were fairly lazy ones to the chin only. After a rethink, I now do them much harder than before and am making good progress. But because I have started much lower (after a wasted couple of weeks doing it the old way as well) I ended the 6 weeks only up to week 3. The main problem slowing me down, is that I didn't always have access to somewhere to do pull-ups. Press-ups, you can do anywhere there's a floor. With the pull-ups, I only had the staff rest room in the office (an old beam in a refurbished mill), which I could only use when empty (to spare my blushes), and when in the office. I do have a scaffolding pole that I use above the steps to the attic, but the bar is quite wide, and I find my grip tires long before my arms do. 

Since then though, I have found the garage roof, into the garage doorway very good, and at the weekend bought one of those JML door gym thingys that sit above the doorway and use your body as a counterweight. Great fun.

I am even now though still on week 3, albeit due to do the last session today. Towards the end of my 6th weeks I added a new goal which was: Get a New Job. In this time, I applied, was assessed, interviewed (twice) and finally got it. The preparation this required meant the spare time I would have dedicated to some of my exercises was instead spent reading up on industry news, my employers to be, and anticipating various questions.

Sometimes goals have to change to reflect different priorities, hey-ho.

Bench Press/Hitting 12.5st

Neither of these goals particularly well thought out: not enough weight or the correct bench to bench 100kg, even if I could;  and no idea what I weigh still, as I have no scales.

I now have a bench with a rack which will allow me to lift 100kg, but only once I get hold of another 30kg of weights!! Still a work in progress. Now I am maintaining my press-ups at Wk6 of the challenge though, I will alternate the high-rep press-up work with low-rep high-weight benching.

As for the weight, I have drastically altered my diet: stripped out masses of the fat I was eating, and replacing with healthier eats: big lunches of pasta (1.5mugs dry), tuna, mayo, sweetcorn and tobasco; snacks of nuts, fruits & seeds instead of chocolate bars. I also finished my protein course and am on the creatine: 1-2x3g in water each day, depending on level of activity. With all this I reckon I have probably gained some towards my goal, but really should make an effort to get weighed!

Running

Wasn't able to get into this as much as I'd hoped, as my injury carried on long into my 6 weeks. However, am now up and running again, combining medium length road runs (4-10mi over some quite hilly roads) with short sharp hill sessions over Pendle (6-7mi with approx 2,200ft of climb).

Swimming

Not the basis of any of my original  goals, but when it was clear I was going to be off running for longer than I thought, I decided to get down the pool. I can now do 100 lengths (2.5km) in good order of front crawl, in just under 1:15, though still with some niggles which comes down to technique. I will probably factor this in to the next set of goals.

My next post will hopefully not be as long coming as this one was, and will have another set of 6-week goals. The main focus of these will be on the running and the pull-ups, but I'm now going to scratch my head over what these will look like.

On the Road Again

Back running last night and feeling fine. Great little run in the sunshine, even got away in just my vest. Mainly on the road, with a diversion over the local golf course and farmer's fields.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29920660

Anyway, how's progress toward them goals coming along? 

Goals Progress Week 1

Press-Ups:

After getting a bit ahead of myself following my initial exhaustion test of 50 (I jumped to week 5 column 3), and failing miserably, I pulled back to week 4 with much better results:

Day 1 (60secs rest) - 21/25/21/21/32, 120 total

Day 2 (90secs rest) - 25/29/25/25/26, 140 total

Day 3 (120secs rest) - 29/33/29/29/42, 162 total

Was supposed to do a max test after this, but this would have put the next week out so tonight I hit week 5 again, hopefully with better results after working through week 4. I have to do a total of 170 over 5 sets, with only 60 secs rest, so it won't be easy.

Pull-Ups:

Again jumped too far ahead on this, but only because I was going for an easy pull up. I was finishing the rep once my chin was over the bar, now I pull further. For clarification, the technique is:

1. Start position: full hang, arms just wider than shoulder width apart, over-hand grip
2. Pull-up until chest touches bar/edge of gripping surface
3. Return to start position, just keeping elbows short of locking at full extension

After an initial max test on the lazy technique (15 reps) and one day at week 3, I redid the max test and got 7 full pull-ups before I couldn't pull my chest up as high. I'm now on week 1 column 3 according to the programme and have got day 1 under my belt (5/6/4/3/5 with 60secs rest).

This will push my six-week goal to the test, as this is a six-week programme, so no room for slip up and repeating a week. In fact, I'm already down a week really, as I'm only just at the start of week 1 (in the programme) at the end of my first week (of my countdown to my goals). Confused? Yeah, me too.

Bench Press:

Very embarrassing this. I don't actually have 100kg of weights to attempt this!! I've only got 73kg of weight to put on my bar. Also, I realise I need a new bench that's got a rack to hold the bar as I hit these bigger weights. The most I can heft up from the floor from a seated position, and then manipulate up my body (without crushing my unmentionables, or my chest) into a lying bench press position is 63kg. Once there, I can bench these quite comfortably. So I need to get a new bench (I've seen a good one with a rack from Decathlon I'll treat myself to after pay-day), and 2x15/20kg plates.

For now, I'll just do what I can with the weights I can move after my press ups.

Hitting 12.5st:

Again, should have thought this through a bit better. I've got no way of measuring this, as we don't actually own a set of scales. However, diet is now heavy on the carbs and protein (mainly tuna/mayo/sweetcorn with pasta or baked spuds), supplemented with a post-training protein shake. Just need to track down a decent set of scales. 

Running:

First run since 17th March last night. 4.09mi, and kept a fairly consistent pace which averaged around 7.30mins/mi. It had 340ft of climb on it, so quite hilly for a little road run. Main thing is my knee felt fine throughout. Gonna give it a couple of days before trying it again, continuing to stretch and stregthen the necessaries in order to fend off future ITB problems. Also going to keep it on road (or at least away from fells with dodgy terrain) for the time being so as not to aggravate it again.

The running goals are the ones I'm prepared to be most flexible with, as I've got to nurse my knee back to health, and I'm not going to sacrifice my running for the sake of hitting a couple of goals. Will keep this one under review.

Swimming:

Having got my breathing technique sorted out, I'm going to time myself over 1km in the pool tonight, and from there set a time goal over the same distance for the end of the six-week period. Watch this space.

Eat my Goals

With the decision last week to get a bit more focused I've been having a think about my goals and have decided to give them a bit more structure. So all this to be achieved in the next 6 weeks:

• 100 press-up challenge completed
• 50 pull-up challenge completed
• Bench press 100kg x5 reps
• Up weight to 12.5st (from 12st)

Assuming my legs start running this week too (testing them out tonight), I'll be aiming for:

• Sub 7min/mi average on a regular 7mi route of mine (quite hilly road route)
• To be able to run all the way to the trig at Pendle following the Tour route up to CP1 (currently break into a walk part way up).

I might also add a swimming goal here too, but I need to sort my stroke out. Currenty gasping for breath at the end of my crawl stroke. I'm trying to use a 3-stroke rhythm, alternating the side I breathe out of, but think I might be either too fast/slow in exhaling in the water, leaving me panic breathing when I lift my head out of the water (and having to rest after every other length catching my breath). Will work on perfecting this stroke first. If anyone can help out with this, let me know.

To assist with all of these, I've changed my diet in the last week. With more activity during the week, I've been more reliant on cooking for myself. Until last week, this involved pizza, fish finger butties, and Frey Bentos pies. Last week, I started hitting the jacket potatoes or pasta, mixing up some tuna, light mayo, sweetcorn, and tobasco. 

I've also got hold of some protein and creatine supplements - there's an excellent offer in Holland & Barrett if you buy their magazine (99p) there's vouchers to get a decent sized tub of protein & creatine, both for less than £20. I'm only going to use these as recovery supplements, one protein portion after each session,  moving on to the creatine after this runs out.

At the end of the six weeks - assuming I've hit my goals - I'm going to set another set of goals. I'm not sure what yet, but have been inspired by an article in the afformentioned H&B magazine and like the look of the Gym Jones 300 test (a programme and test put together for the actors in 300, but a good focus on total body strength/fitness). Also been inspired by Ninja Warrior(!), a Japanese obstacle course based challenge, currently showing on Virgin (but also broadcast on Challenge, I think). Looks good for a laugh, but also quite tough.

Got six weeks to work out what goals I could build using these as start-points. In the meantime, I've got plenty to be getting on with.

Beefcake

With my knee out of action I need a new focus. In quite a timely way, just before my knee went I noticed I'd developed what could only be described as a runner's frame. Not quite a racing snake, but I'd defnitely lost a lot of my bulk up top. Since my knee fixed itself last August/September, 99% of my training has been for running, and all my upper-body work went out the window. So I'm now quite weedy again.

Time to work on the 'big guns':

Big guns

In order to do this, I've restarted the 100 press-up programme, and my own 50 pull-up programme (essentially, just the press-up programme, with all the numbers cut in half). 

So far...

Press-Ups: 

Max Test 1 - 50

Day 1 - 118 total (28/35/25/22/8 - instead of 35!)

Pull-Ups

Max Test 1 - 15

Day 1 - 40 total (7/9/7/7/10 - but last set I needed a couple of rests to finish)

Failed both my first days, but think I know why: in both cases, I may have got carried away after my max tests and moved too far ahead in the programme. Add to that the fact my first press-up day I did the day after my max test, and it all kind of fits. Will adjust my position in each programme throughout this first week, until I find my level, & then the only way is up. Will also dust off my weights and bench once I've cleared out the garage (a job for a bank holiday, if ever there was one).

Grrr.

Still continuing with my Pilates and ITB work, and halfway through the second week of my enforced rest. Gonna try a little 3.5mi road run, possibly Monday. Watch this space.