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I am very sad to announce that at the Friday night weigh-in last weekend DRT recorded a negative weight-loss of 1lb - this had absolutely nothing to do with me spending two days with JDAW in the preceeding week. Honest, it didn't. The fried breakfast that we had 3 minutes after both arriving in London and the 6 pints of beer between St Paul's and Covent Garden (2 pints of which included a very attractive view) had absulutely no impact on an otherwise feable attempt at "being good". :sackclothandashesicon:

So, a better week is required...

Saturday = 6 miles and around 1,000ft ascent around Edinburgh.
Sunday = 8 miles and around 1,700ft ascent around the Peak District
Wednesday = various meetings in London incorporating 9 miles of walking with no taxis!!!!

Need to walk again tomorrow.

DRT wrote:Saturday = 6 miles and around 1,000ft ascent around Edinburgh.
Sunday = 8 miles and around 1,700ft ascent around the Peak District.

Now that's a weekend! Best I've done (running) is 12 miles, but with nowhere near that much elevation.

My official training program begins on Sunday, but I'm already ahead of pace at the equivalent of about week 8 (of a 19-week program). The half marathon I'm training to run is June 26th.

I finished off a bottle of 2007 Vesuvio last night, and had a great run this morning. Must research that further.

Huh - I did 18 miles, in the Peaks, with crippling boots on, in one day. The boots are now broken in.

Running the Covvy half marathon includes a fair few climbs, although not of Peak District standard I accept. Annoyingly, they've changed it to May so may not be ready for it this year.

I walked 9 miles between meetings in London yesterday. Total ascent 3.5 inches.

DRT wrote:I walked 9 miles between meetings in London yesterday. Total ascent 3.5 inches.

You may already be doing this, but a good idea I now (mostly) follow is not using lifts, but taking the stairs.

DRT wrote:I walked 9 miles between meetings in London yesterday. Total ascent 3.5 inches.

Actually with all the curbs ascended you gained 70 inches.

Week 4: Friday night weigh-in = minus 2lbs (8lbs in total)

Back on target

I ran a 5k this morning with about 3000 other people and finished in a new personal best of 29:31.

We then went out for "breakfast" at 11:30 and destroyed whatever calorie advantage we had created by running in the race. But it tasted great!

Yesterday we walked 7 hills in the Pentlands, covering a distance of 7.5 miles and a total ascent of 2,500ft.

There was a running race on when we were there that was covering almost the same route. The winner came home in just under 1 hour!!

DRT wrote:Week 4: Friday night weigh-in = minus 2lbs (8lbs in total)

Back on target

That's about 1/2 a stone....sure you didn't just drop a rock out of your pocket before getting back on the scale

Andy V wrote:

DRT wrote:Week 4: Friday night weigh-in = minus 2lbs (8lbs in total)

Back on target

That's about 1/2 a stone....sure you didn't just drop a rock out of your pocket before getting back on the scale

Just to clarify for the Americans: 8lbs isn't "about 1/2 a stone" it "is 1/2 a stone"

...which is the total loss over 4 weeks, not just last week

Today I only managed a 1hr 30min walk on flat ground. Everything hurts from yesterday

DRT wrote:

Andy V wrote:

DRT wrote:Week 4: Friday night weigh-in = minus 2lbs (8lbs in total)

Back on target

That's about 1/2 a stone....sure you didn't just drop a rock out of your pocket before getting back on the scale

Just to clarify for the Americans: 8lbs isn't "about 1/2 a stone" it "is 1/2 a stone"

No, it isn't. Half a stone is 7lbs.

KillerB wrote:

DRT wrote:

Andy V wrote:

DRT wrote:Week 4: Friday night weigh-in = minus 2lbs (8lbs in total)

Back on target

That's about 1/2 a stone....sure you didn't just drop a rock out of your pocket before getting back on the scale

Just to clarify for the Americans: 8lbs isn't "about 1/2 a stone" it "is 1/2 a stone"

No, it isn't. Half a stone is 7lbs.

Oops - bloody metric system always gets me!

DRT wrote:

KillerB wrote:

DRT wrote:

Andy V wrote:

DRT wrote:Week 4: Friday night weigh-in = minus 2lbs (8lbs in total)

Back on target

That's about 1/2 a stone....sure you didn't just drop a rock out of your pocket before getting back on the scale

Just to clarify for the Americans: 8lbs isn't "about 1/2 a stone" it "is 1/2 a stone"

No, it isn't. Half a stone is 7lbs.

Oops - bloody metric system always gets me!

apology accepted

Hi there,

why we are not using g and kg? This would resolve the issue I think.

I am not really doing Detox at the moment. Had lost though ~2kg over last week because I was driving to Germany in very wintery conditions and therefore not drinking a lot. Otherwise if I stay out of the crash barriers (Port and Stilton ) my weight loss is just a function of how often I go out and drink wine. Port and Stilton adventures always need to be followed up with a brutal gym session. Otherwise they have negative weight effects.

regards

WS1

WS1 wrote:why we are not using g and kg?

Are those the new fangled things that European people use instead of real weight measures?

Indeed! Also you will find that in the US/America you would get by by using those

For history and tradition it makes sense to use these old weight measures. But as you also found out yourself most of the history (power and glory!) has been lost in the memory of the people who live in the present.

E.g. my being German had to reintroduce Port and Steak in my team (quite a few britsh people are in there) as a traditional english dish

So let us see how much history you can bring back.

regards

WS1

Week 5: Friday night weigh-in = -3lbs (11lbs in total)

1lb ahead of target - a good place to be before the Vesuvio tasting

We could start a debate on how rubbish the metric system is. It is brilliant for scientific purposes but generally rubbish for the real World. 1 Kg is too big, certainly too many mushrooms for a single person and it gets rubbish to split so you start using grammes - a quarter of mushrooms (perfect quantity to go with a steak) is now one hundred and twenty five grammes (close enough) - too much of a mouth full for a mouthful of mush.

The only reason we use decimal numbers is due to the number of digits on our hands, it can only deal with halves and fifths so is spectacularly rubbish. Base 8 (pints to gallon, stones to Hunred-weight) is OK allowing halves and quarters. Base 12 (inches to foot, hours on clock, pennies to shilling) is much better as it allows halves, quarters, thirds and sixths. Base 16 (ounces to pound, fluid oz to American pint) doesn't have the 3s and 6s advantage but does have eighths and can be easily translated to binary. Base 20 (fluid oz to British Pint, hundred weight to ton, shillings to pounds) has the advantage of fifths and tenths but starts to get a bit big. Base 60 (seconds to minutes, minutes to hours, minutes to degrees) has everthing but is far too big. Base 14 (pounds to stones) is even more spectacularly rubbish than base ten and is an anomoly in the otherwise immaculate imperial system.

Conclusion - use base 12, you know it makes sense.

KillerB wrote:Conclusion - use base 12, you know it makes sense.

Agreed.

But does that mean I only need to lose 1 more pound to have lost a stone?

Strained both of my calves walking around NYC this past week, so have been unable to run for 6 days. I plan to try a short run tomorrow, and if that doesn't make the problem worse I'll be back on track.

Good thing that my current condition is fairly far along my training program, because otherwise this would have been a major setback. As it stands I'm officially just starting week 2 of the 19-week program, but am still currently capable of the week 8 level of exercise.

The longer runs intrigue me. I'm fairly certain that I could complete them now, but I'm not sure what kind of shape I'd be in for the next 2-3 days. I have a sneaking suspicion that the point of the training is to make the days AFTER the half marathon tolerable, and not so much to actually get you in shape to do the half marathon itself.

Week 6: Friday Night Weigh-in = -1lb (12 lbs in total) - still on target

The continued bad weather in Scotland prevented us from walking in the hills for the second week in succession

This morning I did a local 8 mile walk with no stops, carrying a fully loaded backpack, with lots of roads, muddy paths and fields in 2hrs 10mins. Legs and feet are sore but at least I managed to get out and do something

This weeks objective is to follow Ben's advice and not use the lift once in our seven storey office block. 2lbs to go to get the first of 3 stone off

I did my longest run so far - 7 miles - on Saturday morning before driving to Vancouver for a weekend at the Winter Olympics. Watched Finland beat Slovakia. Drove home.

Had a terrible run this morning... felt queasy and unstable for the middle 2 miles of a 5-miler, but finished relatively strong. I suspect that the 7 miles on Saturday morning followed by ~350 miles of driving in a smart car did not help today's pace.

Debating whether to run tomorrow and skip Wednesday, or skip tomorrow then run both Wednesday and Thursday. I get 2 weekdays off each week, so have to be careful with pre-planning in order to make the long runs on Saturdays possible. Despite the difficult run today, I think I should probably go out again tomorrow.

Weight loss has virtually stopped, but the week in NYC (including a tasting) and the weekend in Vancouver likely didn't help that particular cause.

Also found a new BBQ joint nearby which is tolerable, thus adding to the dim view of further weight loss.

DRT wrote:...carrying a fully loaded backpack...

Would that be fully loaded with a magnum of mature vintage port, collapsible funnel, a dozen filter papers, lead crystal decanter, corkscrew and two Riedel glasses? Are you training for the next London offline but being ready to jog between bottle locations so as to beat the traffic queues?

Week 7: Friday Night weigh-in = +1lb

Must do better!!!!!!

DRT wrote:Week 7: Friday Night weigh-in = +1lb

Must do better!!!!!!

take the backpack off when you get on the scale

On Saturday I did a 6 mile walk with around 1,200ft ascent.

Today I did 10 miles and 2,000ft in the Peak District.

...a good start to the week.

DRT wrote:On Saturday I did a 6 mile walk with around 1,200ft ascent.

Today I did 10 miles and 2,000ft in the Peak District.

...a good start to the week.

Very nice!

I got a new gadget because I'm a gadget geek. This one is a Garmin GPS watch/heart rate monitor, which will allegedly help me run better. It tracks all kinds of things and syncs the data with my computer automatically as soon as I get home. If a cute puppy is a "babe magnet" then this thing is a "geek magnet."

For a first test, I took one of our little dogs for a walk on the nearby boardwalk. It runs through a wetlands, so is perfectly flat. The Garmin said I had a total elevation change of 341 feet. Hmm. A little concerned about the accuracy.

Distance was spot on, though, and that's really all I care about. The manual claims that accurate altitude measurements require 5 satellites (really? why not 4?) and on that walk it could apparently only see 4 consistently with a 5th popping up once in a while (yes, it has a GPS status screen, and yes, I spent time watching it), so that's probably why it was so badly off. Simply toggling back and forth from +/- 50 ft to +/- 15 feet several times during the walk could add up to 341 feet rather easily. Add in the 30-40 feet from my house down to the boardwalk and that's probably it.

I used it yesterday for my second weekly 7-mile run, and I must say that it really does help. It is partly just a welcome distraction, but part of it is also knowing just how fast (or in my case, slow) you're running at any given moment. And it's not just speed - since it monitors my heart rate, I can use it to make sure that I stay within the proper heart rate band for optimum training.

Next weekend I'm supposed to do 8 miles, and the following weekend I'm supposed to do 9. Eek!

Glenn E. wrote:

DRT wrote:If a cute puppy is a "babe magnet" then this thing is a "geek magnet."

Bloody geek! Now I need to buy one

DRT wrote:

Glenn E. wrote:

DRT wrote:If a cute puppy is a "babe magnet" then this thing is a "geek magnet."

Bloody geek! Now I need to buy one

Garmin Forerunner 310XT w/HRM.

It uses the US-based satellite system, but that one is worldwide so it shouldn't matter. I don't know whether or not they're sold outside of the US and Australia, though. Our government can be rather weird about exporting GPS technology. This despite the fact that there are now 3 active (and 3 planned) GPS systems in the world, 2 of which are world-wide, and the EU's global Galileo system scheduled to come online in 2-3 more years. *sigh*

I want a GPS that can use 'em all. Imagine how accurate a device could be if it were reading the US, Soviet, and EU systems all at once!

Yes, they sell that one in the UK, but at £250 I think I'll pass and buy another 63 half bottles of Croft Unfiltered LBV 2004 instead

DRT wrote:On Saturday I did a 6 mile walk with around 1,200ft ascent.

Today I did 10 miles and 2,000ft in the Peak District.

...a good start to the week.

Monday: 7-8 miles with moderate undulation.

This morning I ran 6 miles and my new Garmin told me that I had 355 ft of ascent and 568 ft of descent. One problem - the route was a loop.

62:22 which is very good for me running alone. For whatever reason I'm faster with a partner or during a race. /shrug

My training program only has me scheduled to run 4 miles tomorrow, so I'm going to go for speed. If I can break 40 minutes by myself that'll be a milestone for me. (Only 4 miles. I remember not so long ago when that route was my long run.)

DRT wrote:

DRT wrote:On Saturday I did a 6 mile walk with around 1,200ft ascent.

Today I did 10 miles and 2,000ft in the Peak District.

...a good start to the week.

Monday: 7-8 miles with moderate undulation.

Tuesday: 3 or 4 miles walking in London plus an off-line
Wednesday: Nothing.
Thursday: Nothing.
Friday: 8 mile walk with moderate undulation.

No Friday night weigh-in this week as I am 275 miles away from the official scales. But a much etter week than last week

Week 8: Weight unknown.

I'm not in Scotland this weekend so had to make the most of what the English countryside has to offer for my main walk of the week. From Edale car park I completed a circular route via Jacob's Ladder, Kinder Low, Brown Knoll, Lord's Seat, Mam Tor, Hollins Cross, Back Tor farm and then back along the road to the car park. After 5 hours , 11 miles and 1,900ft of ascent in a very strong wind I was back at the car with sore knees and feet and my face is now bright red from wind-burn. What a great day out

I'm feeling rather beat after this weekend.

Saturday morning was an 8-mile run. We set out just to finish, but somehow maintained a very high pace (for us) for the first 6 miles. Upon seeing how well we were doing, I decided to try to maintain that pace to the finish. My running partner hasn't been running as much as he should so he depleted his energy stores and had to stop at about 7.2 miles. I managed to finish at pace, but it took everything I had. Still, 8 miles at just under a 10:30 pace is excellent.

Foolishly, we then got up at 6:30 am on Sunday morning to run in the St. Patrick's Day Dash in downtown Seattle with 7000+ other lunatics. It is only a 3.85-mile race, but it is a race so of course everyone runs faster than normal. (10:00 pace for me.) We all felt good while we ran, but all of yesterday afternoon was spent napping.

In order to salvage the day, I had to go over to Roy's to try 9 Ports (7 Martinez, 2 Ramos-Pinto) on Sunday night. Thus, an excellent weekend was secured.

Normally today would be a running day for me, but I'm counting yesterday's race instead so that I can try to recover. I think I have discovered that 8 miles requires that I stock up on extra energy before setting out, so I'll be consuming an energy bar and drink before doing any future long runs.

Did a 9-mile run this morning. It started out very nicely - I managed the first 5 miles in 49:45 - but then I "bonked" and slowed dramatically. Mile 6 took 12 minutes, mile 7 took 13, mile 8 took 12:20 with effort, and mile 9 took 11:20 with a weak and wobbly finishing kick. I probably started too fast, but it felt good at the time so it didn't occur to me that I might need to slow down and conserve energy.

Must remember to bring along an energy bar and something to drink on these longer runs, because once you bonk there's just no recovering.

Next week's schedule increases the weekly mileage, but without a long run on Saturday. I'm supposed to do 4, 7, 5, and 7 which should actually be easier. The 8+ mile runs really wear down my joints and muscles, but 7 or less just feels like a good run.

Hi there,

DrDirk came over from Germany for the weekend to enjoy himself before the Malvedos tasting. In order to properly warm up we opted on Friday evening to celebrate his BA business class upgrade with a Noval 1985. On Saturday we went to the opera and later to the Crusting pipe to enjoy a Croft and Sandemann 1982 with a big Steak .
I have to admit we got thirsty on the tube (usually a Derek pehenomenon ) and a Taylor 1970 had to opened and enjoyed.
Today we went for a 10 mile walk (The High Weald walk in Kent/Sussex) and enjoyed a half bt of Berry Brothers 2007 on the way (in carried with Riedel glasses). Detox needs minimum requirements

We feel prepared for the Malvedos tasting!

regards

DrDirk and WS1

WS1 wrote:Today we went for a 10 mile walk (The High Weald walk in Kent/Sussex) and enjoyed a half bt of Berry Brothers 2007 on the way (in carried with Riedel glasses).

This seems like an excellent plan from a calorie intake point of view, but I suspect that carrying the bottle and stemware with me while running would be too cumbersome. Perhaps a backpack hydration unit would work better.

I frequently run on the shoulders of roads, too, so I worry that the B.A.C. produced might induce weaving. While amusing to watch, it might startle the drivers of the oncoming vehicles.

Week 10: There is now 1st and 1lb less of me than there was in Week 1.

Today I walked around 10 miles in the Pentland Hills, which was my first serious walk for two weeks. My legs hurt.

As expected, this week was actually easier even though it involved more miles simply because there was no long run. I did do 7 miles twice, but at this stage of the game 7 miles isn't really pushing things for me so I don't get completely worn out running that far.

Since I'm about 7 weeks ahead of schedule to complete this training program, I'm going to repeat weeks 11-13 and then 10-13 to allow the calendar to catch up, then will finish weeks 14-19 at the correct time. I've been told that the last few weeks of a training program before a race are designed specifically to help your body be in top form for the race, so I want to make sure that I give the program the chance to set me up correctly.

Yesterday I did a 12 mile walk in the Peak District. The total ascent was approximately 2,500ft and half of the 5 hours were spent walking along a ridge at around 2,000ft into a very strong headwind. I hurt in places that I didn't know I had

Today I walked around 3 miles in London.

Sunday was a 60 mile circuit race (did the Pro 1-2 race) that took 2 hours to complete. That's averaging about 30 mph for the whole race...I'm still sore but the 1967 Quinta do Roeda I have in the decanter right now should help dull the pain.

Andy Velebil wrote:That's averaging about 30 mph for the whole race...

It takes a steep hill and a stiff tail wind for me to reach 30 mph on my bike!

Today's run was supposed to be relatively short - 4 miles - and I have a rest day tomorrow before another long run on Saturday, so I decided to see how fast I could go.

So... fast is relative, no laughing allowed!

I set a new personal best of 39:06! I was really trying to break that 39-minute mark, but just didn't have enough left in my legs. Still... that's 30 seconds faster than my previous best, and a good 4 minutes faster than earlier this year. Progress!

Some days I think my rough goal of 2:11:00 for the half marathon (10 minute miles) is possible... other days I'm not sure. But I still have 3 months of training to go, so there's still a chance!

Glenn E. wrote:I set a new personal best of 39:06!

Well done Glenn!

I lost another 2lb this week, making the total 1st 3lb since late January.

Today the weather was rubbish so I just went for a gentle stroll of 15 miles in just under 4 hours

This is a holiday weekend in the UK (both Friday and Monday off work) so I am planning to do 4 days walking in a row for the first time. My target is 50 miles in 4 days so only 35 to go

DRT wrote:I lost another 2lb this week, making the total 1st 3lb since late January.

Nice! You're disappearing at a prodigious rate!

DRT wrote:This is a holiday weekend in the UK (both Friday and Monday off work) so I am planning to do 4 days walking in a row for the first time. My target is 50 miles in 4 days so only 35 to go

Today I did 15 miles in the Peak District with about 2,000ft of ascents. 2 days and only 20 miles to go to reach my target

As I sipped my beer beside a log fire in the The Cheshire Cheese Inn at the bottom of the final hill I decided to send Glenn a wake-up email to spur him into action. It seemed to do the trick

Not doing too badly...
Just 3lbs behind target after 11 weeks