Hi everyone,
As I mentioned in my last post, there's now a website set up through which you can make your pledges - click here to go to it.
It's a really good cause, so please visit this site and donate a few quid.
Thanks!
John
Saturday 31 January 2009
Monday 26 January 2009
Training begins and a reality check
Hello everyone, and thanks for the messages on Blogger and Facebook. This journal is going to be on both sites at the same time - isn't Web two-point-oh great?
After spending the weekend sitting in a chair in a hotel function room looking at powerpoint slides I decided I had to run today, no excuses. What made me feel more determined is I weighed myself and I'm in even worse shape than I thought. Apparently three months without serious exercise plus Christmas has taken it's toll, and I'm topping out over 112kg. That's 17 stone 9 in old money.
At the moment my training is just running on the treadmill in my living room while watching TV. It's a nice way to get into it - it's really discouraging to be pounding the pavements when you feel like you're going at tortoise pace and you know you look like you're about to have a coronary. Also you have to guess how far you've gone and how much further there is to go, you have to stop to cross roads and you have to deal with different slopes and surfaces, as well as pedestrians, cyclists, dogs...
Basically, on a treadmill you can just plod away and rack up the miles, getting used to running constantly for as long as you need to, and you've got the TV to distract you. Obviously I'll have to start road-running before the first race, but for now I'm just working on getting my basic level of fitness up where it needs to be.
At the moment my limit is pretty much 30 minutes, in which time I cover about 2 miles. That's probably worth about 340 calories, so not bad, but I tend to hit the wall pretty soon after the 30 minute mark, so I really need to improve if I'm going to survive a full 10K- at my current pace that will take more than an hour and a half.
However, while I know I've got to get better, I'm consoling myself with the memory of not being able to run for ten minutes at a time, only a few years ago. And I was a bit lighter then! I started off running for ten minutes and wanting to die, but I did it three or four times a week, and pretty soon it wasn't that bad. So I upped it to fifteen minutes eventually, and kept going progressively like that. It sounds simple, but it took months to get to the point where I could run for a whole half hour!
So that's the general plan with the training - up the distance gradually, and try increase the speed too.
Of course, if I have less weight to carry around, the running will be easier and faster, so I'm going to have to start looking seriously at my diet soon. Everyone who knows me knows I love to eat, especially the bad stuff. I'm not averse to a bit of salad or veg, but given the choice I'll usually go for meat and pasta, or a sandwich. This is going to be hard, so if you've got any tips that have worked for you, please leave a message below, I'll really be interested in hearing what you have to say.
After spending the weekend sitting in a chair in a hotel function room looking at powerpoint slides I decided I had to run today, no excuses. What made me feel more determined is I weighed myself and I'm in even worse shape than I thought. Apparently three months without serious exercise plus Christmas has taken it's toll, and I'm topping out over 112kg. That's 17 stone 9 in old money.
At the moment my training is just running on the treadmill in my living room while watching TV. It's a nice way to get into it - it's really discouraging to be pounding the pavements when you feel like you're going at tortoise pace and you know you look like you're about to have a coronary. Also you have to guess how far you've gone and how much further there is to go, you have to stop to cross roads and you have to deal with different slopes and surfaces, as well as pedestrians, cyclists, dogs...
Basically, on a treadmill you can just plod away and rack up the miles, getting used to running constantly for as long as you need to, and you've got the TV to distract you. Obviously I'll have to start road-running before the first race, but for now I'm just working on getting my basic level of fitness up where it needs to be.
At the moment my limit is pretty much 30 minutes, in which time I cover about 2 miles. That's probably worth about 340 calories, so not bad, but I tend to hit the wall pretty soon after the 30 minute mark, so I really need to improve if I'm going to survive a full 10K- at my current pace that will take more than an hour and a half.
However, while I know I've got to get better, I'm consoling myself with the memory of not being able to run for ten minutes at a time, only a few years ago. And I was a bit lighter then! I started off running for ten minutes and wanting to die, but I did it three or four times a week, and pretty soon it wasn't that bad. So I upped it to fifteen minutes eventually, and kept going progressively like that. It sounds simple, but it took months to get to the point where I could run for a whole half hour!
So that's the general plan with the training - up the distance gradually, and try increase the speed too.
Of course, if I have less weight to carry around, the running will be easier and faster, so I'm going to have to start looking seriously at my diet soon. Everyone who knows me knows I love to eat, especially the bad stuff. I'm not averse to a bit of salad or veg, but given the choice I'll usually go for meat and pasta, or a sandwich. This is going to be hard, so if you've got any tips that have worked for you, please leave a message below, I'll really be interested in hearing what you have to say.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Friday 23 January 2009
Introduction
Hello everyone, and welcome to the first post in my "60km to Lourdes" blog.
I'm fund-raising for the Catholic Association, who do some great work in taking sick, disabled and elderly, as well as able-bodied people together on pilgrimage to Lourdes in France every year.
Many of you will know I've been involved with this organisation for over 12 years, and through them I've had some of my most enjoyable and life-changing experiences, and met some of my closest friends - plus of course my beautiful girlfriend Jo-Jo!
The work they do is also incredibly valuable, as you'll see if you visit the website. They've been running for over 100 years, and I want to do my bit to give something back.
I was thinking about what I could do to raise some funds over the last few weeks. In the past I've been involved with organising several sponsored walks, which started with just me, my Dad, and Matt Betts, but quickly grew to be a significant group event. What would be a new challenge? Well, one up from walking is running, right?
So I thought I'd do a sponsored 10K. I've been meaning to get fit and do a 10K run for a while.
Then, I don't know why, but I suddenly decided I'd do SIX 10Ks, one a month from March to August, in the run up to the CA's 2009 pilgrimage to Lourdes - hence the title of this blog. Unfortunately, I've told a few people about this now, so I can't back down!
Here's the thing though: I don't like running. I HATE running. At seventeen stone, I am not built to run. Guess I'd better start training...
Part of this blog will be to detail my progress between now and the final race in August. I hope you'll tune in from time to time to follow my progress. I'll be posting lots of photos, and all my results as I go. If you want to sponsor me I'll be setting up a donation website, details to follow in a later post.
My first race will be the Brooklands 10KM on 29th March. Wish me luck!
I'm fund-raising for the Catholic Association, who do some great work in taking sick, disabled and elderly, as well as able-bodied people together on pilgrimage to Lourdes in France every year.
Many of you will know I've been involved with this organisation for over 12 years, and through them I've had some of my most enjoyable and life-changing experiences, and met some of my closest friends - plus of course my beautiful girlfriend Jo-Jo!
The work they do is also incredibly valuable, as you'll see if you visit the website. They've been running for over 100 years, and I want to do my bit to give something back.
I was thinking about what I could do to raise some funds over the last few weeks. In the past I've been involved with organising several sponsored walks, which started with just me, my Dad, and Matt Betts, but quickly grew to be a significant group event. What would be a new challenge? Well, one up from walking is running, right?
So I thought I'd do a sponsored 10K. I've been meaning to get fit and do a 10K run for a while.
Then, I don't know why, but I suddenly decided I'd do SIX 10Ks, one a month from March to August, in the run up to the CA's 2009 pilgrimage to Lourdes - hence the title of this blog. Unfortunately, I've told a few people about this now, so I can't back down!
Here's the thing though: I don't like running. I HATE running. At seventeen stone, I am not built to run. Guess I'd better start training...
Part of this blog will be to detail my progress between now and the final race in August. I hope you'll tune in from time to time to follow my progress. I'll be posting lots of photos, and all my results as I go. If you want to sponsor me I'll be setting up a donation website, details to follow in a later post.
My first race will be the Brooklands 10KM on 29th March. Wish me luck!
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