Ok, where to start?
So after the injuries to the shins from running in bad trainers and trying to do too much too soon I laid off the running until the new year.
In the meantime I've continued to do the mma/boxing circuit on the monday afternoons. Tuesdays and Wednesdays I've been hitting the high Intensity internal training circuits. Mainly 4 to 6 stations working cardio, core, upper body and legs, 30 seconds on and 10 seconds off. The sessions last around 20 minutes and the goal is too lose as much weight as possible so I'll have less to drag around Kettering on May 12th.
Thursdays have either been either a heavy cardio or weights session and Friday back to boxing or a 25 minute swim.
On the swimming front I've been trying to go as many mornings as I can but due to the dark mornings I've been a bit rubbish and on average only gone two mornings a week doing 24 lengths.
In the evenings I've been using EA sports active fit 2 to help just to burn a couple hundred extra calories. I'm doing 4 nights a week on this so in total using around 1000 calories a week which in addition to the lunchtime sessions should help the pounds to slowly drop off.
The shins - they have become a real issue as I've tried many different techniques to try and ease the pain felt during and after running. None have really made a great change but I've decided to keep running regardless. I've started changing my running style to try and land more on the front/mid foot and to take more shorter strides. It's helped a bit and I'm able to run 2 x 5k runs a week and today (Sunday) managed to complete 5 miles in 46:55. I had to stop twice to stretch out the shins and hams but the cardio and legs were fine other that the shin pains. I'll be looking to have some treatment on them once I can get a referral from the quack.
My weight around Christmas was 182 lbs, I've managed to drop to 169 lbs, most of that was due to losing the water from previous creatine load cycle. I'm looking to get down to 160 lbs for May.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, November 6, 2011
The entrance of MAN flu...
So, things started a little shaky, what with the injury to the shins and having to stop running but I am still focused on the end goal.
As it transpires the shins were starting to feel better when a new contender entered the ranks...Man flu!
NNNOOOOOOO!
#nosympathywhatsoevergentsnotevenabit
Needless to say I had to lower the level of exercise for a week to try and aid a speedy recovery and to get back on track quicker.
Week 5 - Morning - Swimming. (Monday to Friday)
6 lengths.
Rest for one minute
4 lengths .
Rest for 30 seconds
2 lengths
Once the lurgy had started to lose it's grip on it's host, namely me, I started to put the cardio back into the routine with increasing the distance (and lowering the sets as it were) for the morning swims.
In addition to this I got back on the Monday afternoon MMA type curcuit.
On Tuesday through Friday I managed to sneak in two sessions at lunchtime, a quick boxing session followed by a pretty much all out swimming session.
Week 6 - Morning - Swimming. (Monday to Friday)
8 lengths.
Rest for 30 seconds
4 lengths
Week 6 - Afternoon - Boxing/Cardio (Monday only)
Weighted (10kg) squat walk to 50m
Lunge twists (10kg viper) 50m
30 seconds all out on the heavy bag
30 seconds rest
30 seconds all out on the heavy bag
20 TM pushups 5kg dumbells
50 Jabs
45 seconds log jumps
50 Crosses
30 seconds rest
10 kg bag rolls 100m
25 body shots (each side)
25 Jump squats (10kg bag)
60 seconds kettle bell swings (10kg)
Stretches
Week 6 - Afternoon - Boxing. (Tuesday - Friday)
3 X 3 minute rounds on Heavy bag - (each round split into 6 x 30 second intervals)
Interval 1 = Combonations.
Interval 2 = Speed combonations.
Interval 3 = Heavy shots
Interval 4 = Pummels
Interval 5 = Single arm clinch with hooks.
Interval 6 = Mixture of all of the above.
Week 6 - Afternoon - Swimming.
8 lengths.
Rest for 30 seconds
4 lengths
All in all things are starting to pick up again and I'm looking forward to hitting some more insanity cardio sessions next week. There is also talk of a bleep test once a week with fellow tough mudder Dan, I been told my him that it's a great little cardio session, so might as well give it a try.
It's November already and I haven't really increased/practiced any of my running other than the few 5ks I did before the injury hit. I'm a bit worried about this as my goal is to be able to run 5 miles by Christmas but at the current progress rate being made it would seem unlikely I'll reach that distance.
Saying that though my swimming is alot stronger and with it I've seen an improvement in my recovery times and lung endurance, which will hopefully I'll see the benifit in once I return to running.
I've found a nice (little) hill that I'm thinking of using for my hill sprints later in the year..........fun!
As it transpires the shins were starting to feel better when a new contender entered the ranks...Man flu!
NNNOOOOOOO!
#nosympathywhatsoevergentsnotevenabit
Needless to say I had to lower the level of exercise for a week to try and aid a speedy recovery and to get back on track quicker.
Week 5 - Morning - Swimming. (Monday to Friday)
6 lengths.
Rest for one minute
4 lengths .
Rest for 30 seconds
2 lengths
Once the lurgy had started to lose it's grip on it's host, namely me, I started to put the cardio back into the routine with increasing the distance (and lowering the sets as it were) for the morning swims.
In addition to this I got back on the Monday afternoon MMA type curcuit.
On Tuesday through Friday I managed to sneak in two sessions at lunchtime, a quick boxing session followed by a pretty much all out swimming session.
Week 6 - Morning - Swimming. (Monday to Friday)
8 lengths.
Rest for 30 seconds
4 lengths
Week 6 - Afternoon - Boxing/Cardio (Monday only)
Weighted (10kg) squat walk to 50m
Lunge twists (10kg viper) 50m
30 seconds all out on the heavy bag
30 seconds rest
30 seconds all out on the heavy bag
20 TM pushups 5kg dumbells
50 Jabs
45 seconds log jumps
50 Crosses
30 seconds rest
10 kg bag rolls 100m
25 body shots (each side)
25 Jump squats (10kg bag)
60 seconds kettle bell swings (10kg)
Stretches
Week 6 - Afternoon - Boxing. (Tuesday - Friday)
3 X 3 minute rounds on Heavy bag - (each round split into 6 x 30 second intervals)
Interval 1 = Combonations.
Interval 2 = Speed combonations.
Interval 3 = Heavy shots
Interval 4 = Pummels
Interval 5 = Single arm clinch with hooks.
Interval 6 = Mixture of all of the above.
Week 6 - Afternoon - Swimming.
8 lengths.
Rest for 30 seconds
4 lengths
All in all things are starting to pick up again and I'm looking forward to hitting some more insanity cardio sessions next week. There is also talk of a bleep test once a week with fellow tough mudder Dan, I been told my him that it's a great little cardio session, so might as well give it a try.
It's November already and I haven't really increased/practiced any of my running other than the few 5ks I did before the injury hit. I'm a bit worried about this as my goal is to be able to run 5 miles by Christmas but at the current progress rate being made it would seem unlikely I'll reach that distance.
Saying that though my swimming is alot stronger and with it I've seen an improvement in my recovery times and lung endurance, which will hopefully I'll see the benifit in once I return to running.
I've found a nice (little) hill that I'm thinking of using for my hill sprints later in the year..........fun!
Still papping it about May but hopefully this will dissappear for and while and come back with rage a week prior to the event.
Still Training, still hoping and 187 days 12 hours 50 minutes and 22 seconds left to train...smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for protein shakes!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The measures taken so far...
O.K, as previously mentioned I've been training for a month so below I've listed what exercises I have been doing:
Week 1 - Morning - Swimming
All lengths carried out as fast as possible (breaststroke)
4 lengths.
Rest for one minute.
2 lengths .
Rest for a minute.
2 lengths.
Week 1 - Afternoon - Cardio.
10 minutes - Crosstrainer (1 minute intervals of rise and drop)
5 minutes - Bike (1 minute intervals of rise and drop)
5 minutes - Rowing machine.
Week 1 - Evening - Running.
5k runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. (post run stretches)
Assault course in Wendover on Sunday.
This is where I found out that running in cheap trainers from Asda was not a great idea.
After the run on Sunday I felt some pains in my knees/ankles and shins so I popped some Nurofen and went to sleep, the next morning I awoke to feeling as if my shins had been hit with a lump hammer! Yup, shin splints!
Needless to say high impact exercise was now out of the question for a week so I maintained the swimming and cardio but no running for the next week.
Week 2 - Morning - Swimming
All lengths as carried out as fast as I can (breaststroke)
4 lengths.
Rest for one minute.
3 lengths .
Rest for a minute.
2 lengths.
Week 2 - Afternoon - Weights (Tuesday and Thursday)/Cardio
Bench 3 sets 8-10 reps.
Pec deck - 3 sets - 8 -10 reps
Chin ups 3 sets reps - 8-8-6.
Shoulder press - 3 sets - 8-10 reps.
Russian twists - 3 sets - 15 reps
10 minutes - Crosstrainer (1 minute intervals)
5 minutes - Bike.
5 minutes - Rowing machine.
Powerplate stretches.
On the advise of Mr Winston I went and had a gait analysis carried out on my running style at "Up and Running" in Aylesbury and the girl in there was vert helpful and knew her stuff and after 15 minutes of trying on various trainers for a mild to moderate over pronaters I settled on some Mizuno Wave Inspire 7.
I waited a week and then went for a 2 mile run in them, although still painful the difference was like night and day, I only wish that I had started running in them initially then I could have avoided the downtime in training, but we live and learn huh?
It looks like I'm not going to be able to run again until around end of October beginning of November after seeing the doctor so I needed something to help keep the cardio up and burn fat to lose this mammoth tyre that it still growing around my midriff and so enters "Insainity workout"
These were recommended to me by fellow Tough mudder trainee Dan who plays football quite alot and insisted that running all the time will do more harm that good with shin splints, so we have now chosen to do these workouts at lunch times down the gym.
Boy are these workout tough?! yes...yes they are.
They're pretty constant for the whole duration and by the end of the DVD you are properly dripping in pools of DNA (by this I mean sweat!)
So Weeks 3 and 4 have been as follows:
Week 3/4 - Morning - Swimming - (Monday - Friday)
6 lengths
30 second rest
4 lengths
30 seconds rest
2 lengths
Afternoon (Tuesday - Friday) - Cardio - Plyometric - Resisitance - Recovery.
Insainity workout DVDs
Monday is an MMA training session with the following curcuit:
Weighted (10kg) squat walk to 50m
Lunge twists (8kg med ball) 50m
30 seconds all out on the heavy bag
30 seconds rest
30 seconds all out on the heavy bag
20 TM pushups 5kg dumbells
50 Jabs
45 seconds log jumps
50 Crosses
30 seconds rest
10 kg bag rolls 100m
25 body shots (each side)
25 Jump squats (10kg bag)
60 seconds kettle bell swings (10kg)
Stretches
I'm looking to have some pyhsio on my achilles within the next couple of weeks and I'm also going to buy some compression socks to aid with recovery and get me back in a fit state to start running again.
Overall so far I've noticed an increase in my cardio recovery rate but I feel that distance running is quite a way off, although my legs are definitely stronger I need to work on strengthening my tendons and surrounding muscles.
More flexiblity is also required, running on slippery mud could cause alot of extensions of the muscles and joints to occur and cause injury on the day so the more supple the better.
My aim is to be able to run 6 miles without stopping by Jan 2012 and slowly increase the distance during spring. If I can run 8 miles straight come May I'll be happy but for the time being I will continue to work on overall cardio and explosive power.
206 days 22 hours 59 minutes and 50 seconds to go...
Week 1 - Morning - Swimming
All lengths carried out as fast as possible (breaststroke)
4 lengths.
Rest for one minute.
2 lengths .
Rest for a minute.
2 lengths.
Week 1 - Afternoon - Cardio.
10 minutes - Crosstrainer (1 minute intervals of rise and drop)
5 minutes - Bike (1 minute intervals of rise and drop)
5 minutes - Rowing machine.
Week 1 - Evening - Running.
5k runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. (post run stretches)
Assault course in Wendover on Sunday.
This is where I found out that running in cheap trainers from Asda was not a great idea.
After the run on Sunday I felt some pains in my knees/ankles and shins so I popped some Nurofen and went to sleep, the next morning I awoke to feeling as if my shins had been hit with a lump hammer! Yup, shin splints!
Needless to say high impact exercise was now out of the question for a week so I maintained the swimming and cardio but no running for the next week.
Week 2 - Morning - Swimming
All lengths as carried out as fast as I can (breaststroke)
4 lengths.
Rest for one minute.
3 lengths .
Rest for a minute.
2 lengths.
Week 2 - Afternoon - Weights (Tuesday and Thursday)/Cardio
Bench 3 sets 8-10 reps.
Pec deck - 3 sets - 8 -10 reps
Chin ups 3 sets reps - 8-8-6.
Shoulder press - 3 sets - 8-10 reps.
Russian twists - 3 sets - 15 reps
10 minutes - Crosstrainer (1 minute intervals)
5 minutes - Bike.
5 minutes - Rowing machine.
Powerplate stretches.
On the advise of Mr Winston I went and had a gait analysis carried out on my running style at "Up and Running" in Aylesbury and the girl in there was vert helpful and knew her stuff and after 15 minutes of trying on various trainers for a mild to moderate over pronaters I settled on some Mizuno Wave Inspire 7.
I waited a week and then went for a 2 mile run in them, although still painful the difference was like night and day, I only wish that I had started running in them initially then I could have avoided the downtime in training, but we live and learn huh?
It looks like I'm not going to be able to run again until around end of October beginning of November after seeing the doctor so I needed something to help keep the cardio up and burn fat to lose this mammoth tyre that it still growing around my midriff and so enters "Insainity workout"
These were recommended to me by fellow Tough mudder trainee Dan who plays football quite alot and insisted that running all the time will do more harm that good with shin splints, so we have now chosen to do these workouts at lunch times down the gym.
Boy are these workout tough?! yes...yes they are.
They're pretty constant for the whole duration and by the end of the DVD you are properly dripping in pools of DNA (by this I mean sweat!)
So Weeks 3 and 4 have been as follows:
Week 3/4 - Morning - Swimming - (Monday - Friday)
6 lengths
30 second rest
4 lengths
30 seconds rest
2 lengths
Afternoon (Tuesday - Friday) - Cardio - Plyometric - Resisitance - Recovery.
Insainity workout DVDs
Monday is an MMA training session with the following curcuit:
Weighted (10kg) squat walk to 50m
Lunge twists (8kg med ball) 50m
30 seconds all out on the heavy bag
30 seconds rest
30 seconds all out on the heavy bag
20 TM pushups 5kg dumbells
50 Jabs
45 seconds log jumps
50 Crosses
30 seconds rest
10 kg bag rolls 100m
25 body shots (each side)
25 Jump squats (10kg bag)
60 seconds kettle bell swings (10kg)
Stretches
I'm looking to have some pyhsio on my achilles within the next couple of weeks and I'm also going to buy some compression socks to aid with recovery and get me back in a fit state to start running again.
Overall so far I've noticed an increase in my cardio recovery rate but I feel that distance running is quite a way off, although my legs are definitely stronger I need to work on strengthening my tendons and surrounding muscles.
More flexiblity is also required, running on slippery mud could cause alot of extensions of the muscles and joints to occur and cause injury on the day so the more supple the better.
My aim is to be able to run 6 miles without stopping by Jan 2012 and slowly increase the distance during spring. If I can run 8 miles straight come May I'll be happy but for the time being I will continue to work on overall cardio and explosive power.
206 days 22 hours 59 minutes and 50 seconds to go...
Monday, October 17, 2011
In the beginning....207 days, 13 hours, 0 minutes and 27 secs left.
So...as the description has already stated, I'm your average 35 years old that has started to worry about my health and so as many of us do, I've set myself a goal that probably is a bit...no...alot beyond my station.
This goal is to complete a Tough Mudder event in May 2012 which gives me 207 days 12 hours 59 minutes and 21 seconds left to train for this self inflicted challenge.
What is a Tough Mudder?
It is a 10-12 mile obstacle course designed by Special Forces to test all around strength, stamina, mental grit and camaraderie. Forget finish times. Simply completing a Tough Mudder is a badge of honour.
If you want to know more and see videos of previous events click the link below (I can reccomend some of the electroshock therapy ones on you tube):
http://toughmudder.co.uk/
Some of the obstacles involve the following: Crawling through stinging nettles, dunks/swimming in ice cold water, Log carrys, running through fire, berlin walls and getting electoshock therapy (10'000 volts)
Click the link below to see the map of the hellish course that I'm going to expose myself to:
http://toughmudder.co.uk/events/south-eastmidlands/south-east-midlands-2012-course-map/
Also check out the link below of this ober hardcore 45 year old training for TM:
This guy is my hero!
Needless to say I will need to be in better shape than I currently am, which brings me to my current unfitness level...
I don't run as I have legs like a pigmy hippo and a stomach to match... I gave up smoking for my 35th birthday (Although I will have a big hannibal smith cigar after finishing this run!)
Whilst standing over the grave of my old friend Nic Otine I found my 2nd and 3rd best friends (beer and junk food) consuming alot more of my time. So much so infact that after one bargin bucket session, washed down with a tasty beverage of course, I looked down to find that not only could I not see my belt but I couldn't see most of my feet either.
This triggered me to join the gym and make a stand against the middle aged spread that continued to use me as it's host. I must admit for the first time in a long time I started to feel physically stronger but.....the cardio was not good people...not good at all.
Then a friend posted on facebook "This tough mudder event looks awesome!, who's in?" and that is where this all started...............thanks Walker!!
The reason for this blog is for me to document my training over the coming months and to share the techniques, tools and hopefully the achievements that I make in order to reach my fitness goals.
I have been training for just over a month now and I will post up the sessions that I've been doing later in the month as I think that this blog is long enough for an introduction as it is.
207 days 12 hours 24minutes and 16 seconds to go....
This goal is to complete a Tough Mudder event in May 2012 which gives me 207 days 12 hours 59 minutes and 21 seconds left to train for this self inflicted challenge.
What is a Tough Mudder?
It is a 10-12 mile obstacle course designed by Special Forces to test all around strength, stamina, mental grit and camaraderie. Forget finish times. Simply completing a Tough Mudder is a badge of honour.
If you want to know more and see videos of previous events click the link below (I can reccomend some of the electroshock therapy ones on you tube):
http://toughmudder.co.uk/
Some of the obstacles involve the following: Crawling through stinging nettles, dunks/swimming in ice cold water, Log carrys, running through fire, berlin walls and getting electoshock therapy (10'000 volts)
Click the link below to see the map of the hellish course that I'm going to expose myself to:
http://toughmudder.co.uk/events/south-eastmidlands/south-east-midlands-2012-course-map/
Also check out the link below of this ober hardcore 45 year old training for TM:
This guy is my hero!
Needless to say I will need to be in better shape than I currently am, which brings me to my current unfitness level...
I don't run as I have legs like a pigmy hippo and a stomach to match... I gave up smoking for my 35th birthday (Although I will have a big hannibal smith cigar after finishing this run!)
Whilst standing over the grave of my old friend Nic Otine I found my 2nd and 3rd best friends (beer and junk food) consuming alot more of my time. So much so infact that after one bargin bucket session, washed down with a tasty beverage of course, I looked down to find that not only could I not see my belt but I couldn't see most of my feet either.
This triggered me to join the gym and make a stand against the middle aged spread that continued to use me as it's host. I must admit for the first time in a long time I started to feel physically stronger but.....the cardio was not good people...not good at all.
Then a friend posted on facebook "This tough mudder event looks awesome!, who's in?" and that is where this all started...............thanks Walker!!
The reason for this blog is for me to document my training over the coming months and to share the techniques, tools and hopefully the achievements that I make in order to reach my fitness goals.
I have been training for just over a month now and I will post up the sessions that I've been doing later in the month as I think that this blog is long enough for an introduction as it is.
207 days 12 hours 24minutes and 16 seconds to go....
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