Week 3 comments

Another awesome week, food consumption has been great, even with a weekend to Cardiff and an outing to Harvester! I would usually have a starter, combo main and pudding, about 2000 calories, yet I had a salad bowl to start, plain chicken breast for main and a treat of chips, total of 800 calories..... big result!

Swimming has come along in leaps and bounds and have entered the fast lane when swimming, averaging about 40 laps in half an hour (about 900 - 1000 metres).

Gratuitous hill shot

Sarah disappearing up the hill

Went for a cycle with Sarah in Cardiff, my gods do they grow hills, had to keep apologising to Sarah when the 15 mile route turned into a hard cycle of Caerphilly mountains! Will probably be a while before she trusts me again!

Running wasn't great this week, mainly due to the cycle mileage but also due to my trip to Cardiff, will hopefully increase this week.

Week 3 stats

Weight = 15 st 12 lb (previous week 16 st 2 lb)
BF = 28.8% (previous week 29.5%)
Waist = 44.5 inches (previous week 45 inches)
Chest = 45 inches (previous week 46 inches)

Cycled = 130 miles
Run = 2 km
Swim = 90 minutes

Week 2 comments

I have had a great week training, I didn't do any where near the normal amount of miles cycling as decided to take an easy week doing the shortest commute to work, but have had some great successes!

Through my work I have joined Hampshire health club, that has full facilities including an indoor and out door swimming pool, and after practising swimming, last night I finally made a break through and actually got my breathing sorted, I am 80% towards swimming freestyle correctly.

I also went for a 5km run today and found it quite easy, keeping a steady pace while the kids and Sarah joined me, with the kids on there bike and Lochlan becoming my pacer :o)

Lastly, and most importantly, I have reached my first weight loss goal of 16 stone 2 pounds, which is officially my lightest weight since I went past it 13 or so years ago!

Next week I plan to up my cycling commuting as well as continue to improve on my swimming!

Week 2 stats

Weight = 16 st 2 lb (previous week 16 st 8 lb)
BF = 29.5% (previous week 30%)
Waist = 45 inches (no change)
Chest = 46 inches (no change)

Cycled = 53 miles - (really poor amount this week)
Run = 7.5 km
Swim = 90 minutes

I GOT A PLACE! Ride Across Britain 2012

I have recieved some amazing news today, I have managed to get a place on the Ride Accross Britain in September - http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/

I am one of three people who will be doing it on behalf of Visa and I am currently a big bundle of excitement and nerves, as its a bug deal, over 100 miles a day for 9 days, for me its taking cycling to the extreme!

I will seriously need to look at a training plan for what will be required to achieve this, but my first thoughts are not to stop training for a Triathlon, as Running and swimming will only add to my cycling endurance and fitness, it will all depend on time, as I dont want this to take too much of my family time away!

2nd Swim success

After watching Youtube, listening to advice given by friends I went to the pool for the 2nd time, HUGE success. I swam for roughly 40 minutes and had no issues with cramp, muscle fatigue or cardio. I went with a friend who I cycle with and he gave me some pointers which greatly improved technique, and after doing some more research online have confirmed that my main issue is breathing. When I actually did it right, my hole motion changed and I started to speed up.

I found a fantastic site http://www.swimsmooth.com/exhalation.html which detailed my exact problem

"The trick is to get used to exhaling into the water and feel relaxed doing it. This sounds easy but you need to break the existing habit, which can take some persistence."

 I am extremely happy that my issue is quite common and should go away with practice, so plan to go again Friday and practice, practice, practice!

week 1 comments

The week started out really well, with me cycling, running and swimming, unfortunately I caught a cold and decided to restrict myself to just cycling on Thursday and Friday.

Happy with results so far, over 3lb weight loss and 0.5% reduction in Body fat, looking forward to a full week of training and getting back in the swimming pool to see if I can correct my mistakes.

Have eaten really well the last week, not eating any cakes in work or any treats at home, instead sticking to fruit and low fat products..... hopefully will be recovered by tomorrow and can see if I can drop another 3lbs next week!

Week 1 stats

Weight = 16 st 8 lb (Weight on the 01/01/2012 17 st 1 lb)
BF = 30%
Waist = 45 inches
Chest = 46 inches

Cycled = 96 miles
Run = 2.5 km
Swim = 30 minutes

First Swim

Cycled 15 miles on my work commute today and then a further 5 to and from the swimming pool!

Today was D-day for swimming, I think its been about 5 years since I swam laps in a pool. I have been quite nervous about going, I have never been a strong swimmer and have never had a proper front crawl technique, so I new this would be my week point from the get go.

I decided to play it safe and stay in the slow lane for my first outing, and what can I say, I thrashed my legs, I inhaled water and I spluttered my way through 1 kilometre of swimming in 30 minutes, not feeling to happy about it but have watched a number of Youtube videos to see where I am going wrong, and initial thoughts are that I am not kicking from the hips and that I am lifting my head to far out of the water when trying to breathe! I plan on going again Friday and depending on the outcome will depend on whether I find someone to give me proper swimming lessons.

On a positive note, Since Saturday I have not eaten any crap, have turned down Sausage sandwiched, home made cup cakes (this was hard), Yorkshire puddings and the cakes and sweets people keep bringing into the office to share..... very proud, The scales show the weight dropping, but not logging anything until my official weekly weigh in!

feeling good

Cycled 15 miles today on my commute, and as soon as I got in I put the running kit on and went out for 2.5km's at the track, run 2 laps and walk 1 lap.

Have also had a great 3 days food wise and turned down some of my evil favourites... sausage's, bread rolls, feeling really positive!

In order to allow me to cycle to work I need to ensure I dont do to much running so that it makes my legs sore again, so easy build up is in order.

I have also had a few email conversations with some friends who have done a few Triathlons and they have pointed me to a place that sells ex-rental wet suits, as these can be costly but are a requisite for most outdoor swims, so will need to get one as well as aTriathlon suit....... who would have thought I would A) ever think about bying an all in one lycra suit and B) actually be quite excited about it :o)

30 mile work commutes for the rest of the week with my first swim session happening on Wednesday!

First official weighin

Weight = 16 st 11.2 lb
BF = 30.5%
Waist = 45 inches (although my trousers are 38-40 so cant figure that one out)
Chest = 47 inches

My first run

I donned running kit last night and went out to see what my abilities are when it comes to running, it has been 4 years since I last ran, so the goal was to attempt to jog for 30 minutes around the track.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/workout/85136302

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but it definately wasn't easy, I managed to jog 5k in thirty minutes. My legs were tired for the rest of the night so did lots of stretching and used some recovery cream I used to use when cycling did this to me. Even with all of this I woke up this morning and ouch!!!! Legs are feeling tight and sore, will have to make sure I keep stretching today as would like to go out again this weekend.

So it starts

I have decided to keep a diary of my attempt to get fit in 2012, I already cycle a lot averaging 30 miles a day commuting to work, as well as the odd 100 mile sportive in the summer months, but this year I want to run, cycle and swim.... Yes you may have guessed, I want to do a triathlon!

I will be posting my weight and size stats as well so that I can monitor improvement