From Average to Athlete

This is a really important lesson that I (re)learnt the other day. Being in better shape means eating better, not eating less. In fact, just eating less may do more damage than any good.

Since getting down to my best weight of 78.6kg I got a bit slack and started re-gaining the weight I had lost so well. (Well, I was pretty pleased.)

So, I started to simply eat less. This consisted of a good breakfast, no lunch and no snacks and then dinner.

Now to the more educated or experienced the problem is obvious but it was interesting to have the scale tell me the raw facts. And here they are.

When you eat less, as opposed to better, your body (well, my body) looks for sustenance. If you are not eating well, the body looks for “nutrition”. Fat in the body, as far as I understand, is not “nutrition”.

So the fat stays, the muscle reduces! Weight goes down, fat content stays up!

And when you (I) run, it is harder because there is more fat to carry and less muscle to carry it.

Many of you are now saying “duh!” and I guess I kind of knew that but to re-learn it was interesting and useful.

Planning for snacks and eating healthy will mean you will lose weight and build a better body - maybe not with rippling abs - but a healthier body overall.

So, eat better, not just less!

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He’s okay! He’s still alive!

It’s been a while since there was a post from this part of the world so if I have caused you any worry, sorry about that! (Bill who?)

Life has just been flat out and, when I have got to the point of posting, I didn’t have it in me to be creative and write. So, rather than bore with crappy posts, I thought I’d wait till I had something to say that may be vaguely interesting.

A few things have happened health-wise that I do find interesting so over the next few days I’ll post about them individually. These will be things I have learnt about fitness and health and how it relates to me. If they help others, that would would be great.

Lesson 1: Being Decisive.

I posted ages ago about thinking less and doing more. This has come back to me so much recently. I ran through the winter months without to much of a problem. We didn’t have a hugely wet winter in Perth so running in winter sounds more determined, perhaps, that it really was.

Plus I was seeing real progress. I got down to 78.6kg - a loss of around 10kg from my starting weight and only 2.6 kg from my goal.

I was so close!

But then, for some reason, I got:

• complacent
• lazy
• cocky
• all of the above

So here I am at 83.8kg and miles away from my goals!

And it all comes down to indecision. Lying in bed fully awake in the morning and NOT going for a run or even a walk.

Why?

Rationalisation! I can go tonight. Or, I went yesterday, I’ll go tomorrow.

So, yes, I am weighing less. I still exercise more than I used to.

Good for me.

But I still have around 8kg to lose. More muscle to build up and more water to intake.

And it’s as simple as making the decision to act.

An Interesting Lesson

I also learnt a very interesting lesson the other day about eating correctly to lose weight effectively. This lesson affect how I run, how far I can run and how I feel when I run. More on that tomorrow.

In the meantime, I have DECIDED to go for a 10km run/walk this afternoon.

Bill

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With all my thinking about exercise I finally bit the bullet and did some. (thank you, thank you, please, no, you are too kind!)

Sunday I got out for a walk around the bridges circuit (pictures wouldn’t transfer from phone, still working on it) which is around 10km … in 34C heat. The FBH joined me for 3-odd km before she turned back (I thought we were halfway and wondered what the point of turning back was) until I realised we started at a different point and I’d only done 3km of 10.

Anyway, I kept going doing a little jog here and there but the heat was a tad too much so I just walked most of the way. Though I did run the inclines. And that really was an effort.

In the end the 10km took around 85 minutes. I was shocked. Though I wasn’t busting to get round, just get round.

We headed home and watched a really great movie called Angel-A by Luc Besson. A bit out there, in French and black & white but an enjoyable movie.

Then last night I got home and the FBH said “Are you going to walk before or after dinner?”

If I ate dinner I wouldn’t walk, so we changed and headed out. 6-odd km with the tempo of run a song, walk a song. And that took around 50 minutes.

So it seems I’m slowing down with the heat. I’m also trying to run slowly.

I seem to have this thing that as soon as I start a run I want to finish and it keeps my pace up, but often the pace isn’t sustainable, hence the walking. I really do need to learn to run slowly.

My Garmin 305 has an exercise where I have to run (I think it’s 2km) without my heart rate getting out of zone 1. I’m not sure I could do that and run at the same time. Walk yes. Run, not sure.

So, happy that I’ve done a couple of runs and feel a lot better for it. I also feel like the desire to run regularly might be back so I’ll look forward to that.

Watching the weight but not keeping to a healthy diet. So that is the next task. Need to plan my food intake rather than wonder what’s in the fridge/pantry.

Europe Trip, Looking for a Race

Oh, with our trip to Eurpe next year I plan to find a 5km or 10km race to run in. So if anyone knows anything about that, please feel free to contact me. We are going in July/Augsut (hottest time of the year!) so maybe runs will be at a minimum. It’d just be cool to have run the Frankfurt 10k or something! (you know: been there, done that, got the T-shirt!!)

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It’s Sunday afternoon, early. There is a mild breeze wafting through our backyard. It’s currently 29.3C and it’s a glorious spring day.

The FBH mentioned last night there was a 10km walk today and we decided to enter. I had a quick look at the ad in the paper for the Big Walk and saw that the start time was 9:30am.

Fantastic! A good lie in, a couple of short macs and then wander down to Burswood Park and a nice leisurely 10km walk. No race, no rush but a great event to support and get some sunshine and fitness in at the same time. I’m IN!

Around 8:00am I mention to the FBH that we’d better get moving if we were going to take part. She (kind of smiled and said) we needed to be there by 7:30 to register! Dammit!

So, no 10km walk this morning but we are off in about an hour for an afternoon walk of around 10kms. The weather is just too good to be inside at all today.

I thought I’d do a walk instead of a run as I have been out of the regime for a bit so I’m not going to push it too much. The 10km walk will take around 80 mins so that will be nice and as I’m in no rush I’ll stop and take a few pictures to post later today. Perth is very picturesque this time of year. Maybe a few cats (catamarans) will be out on the river to day, adding some man made colour.

Oh, interestingly, I am meeting with a guy called Sandy Gordon this week. Can’t remember if I’ve mentioned him but he is a lecturer at UWA here in Perth. He has coached the likes of the Australian and Indian Cricket teams on how they mentally approach the game. I’ve always been curious on how elite sports people think, particularly in times of intense pressure (don’t mention the current series in India please! :)  )

I’ll let you know what happens with that. I catch up with Sandy on Wednesday afternoon.

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One thing that is helping me stay focused on getting fit and staying fit is reading what others are doing about their own regimes. I read quite a few blogs regularly. Some because the writer is so different from me and others because I feel some affiliation to them, that I am contending with similar challenges to them and I am inspired by their perseverance.

The regular ones are:

Andrew is getting fit

Andrew’s Blog

Learning to Run

John is fit

Mizfitonline

Run Bulldog Run

There are other random ones that I frequent but I find myself coming back to these pretty regularly.

But as I get more and more of an appetite for this type of information, I begin to look elsewhere and I generally find good blogs via blogrolls at these sites.

And then I noticed on Andrew is Fit that he “kicks ass” and something called Alltop.

I heard about Alltop a while ago but it must have been in its infancy because I thought nothing of it. Now, however, is a completely different story. It is a veritable feast of information and, if you’re like me and want more information on fitness and health, then this is the place to go.

Alltop is an aggregator of information all categorised under relevant headings. You can search a term (fitness) as well as search by A-Z. You could get lost here by seeing so many options and I am sure I will spend a fair bit of time scrolling through this “Mega Blog Roll” - they are all blogs from what I can tell.

I searched for, and found, Andrew’s blog listed there along with the last 5 posts, as it does with every blog listed so you get a feel for what the writer writes about.

I also learned that they list blogs are regularly updated so you get fresh info all the time as well as some corporate sites (Washington Post) so they can, according to them, have credibility. That is a great plug for Andrews as he is always posting and keeping us up to date with is progress and has earned his spot on Alltop.

Anyway, have a look over there if you haven’t been before. It’s a great place to get started on new info in this context. (I still got to Google first for most of my research, but this will be a close 2nd.)

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Exercise has taken a back seat lately.

I tell the world this just for those who may also struggle. It’s rarely a physical thing. We can all walk, stagger and stumble forward. It’s just whether we want to or not. And at the moment, to be totally honest I guess I just don’t want to enough.

I do wake up at 5:30am still. I still think “don’t think, just get up!” and I continue to lay there - convincing myself it would:

• be a good idea
• I’ll feel better when I get back
• I’ll lose weight
• I’ll feel better about myself

… and I continue to lie there.

This is quite weird because today Perth is expecting 30C! Bring it on! I love the summer weather.

Yetjust a few short weeks ago, I was getting up at 5:30am whether it was cool, cold, freezing, windy, raining or fine! Go figure. I leapt out of bed back then!

Not today.

So, while exercise is fuzzy on the radar, my eating is still there so I thought over the next few days I’d track what I’m eating and consuming and deliver a tell all kind of journal.

The main things you’ll see is the amount of coffee I consume as well as the breakfast we developed (well, the FBH developed and I consume) and how that is a good start to the day. (I’ll pry the ingredients from her.) The rest of it at the moment tails off from there.

I am no longer on the Jenny Craig diet. Not that I don’t like it, it’s a good diet but I do need to do this on my own.

Okay, so the next post (tonight) will be a day’s dietary consumption with the context of weight loss / management / gain!

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Woohoo! The book (Art of Possibility) have all been dished out.

Well done to:

• Andrew E
• Andrew H
• Dave W

If you email me your postal address They’ll be winging their way to you tomorrow. (Forgot to chuck them in the backpack today - sorry about that!)

Andrew E - I obviously have your address so no need to send it again.

Andrew H and Dave W, let me know by private email (billjw zero five @ gmail dot com) and I’ll get them in the post.

I hope you get as much value, motivation and insight as I have done over the years.

Regards

Bill

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For those of you who missed it I had 3 copies of the Art of Possibility to give away and still have 1 left if anyone is keen. (Both Andrews were quick to snap up the first two copies and they are winging there way to Victoria and NZ by the end of the week.)

There’s no catch and you don’t have to do anything to get the book, apart from being the next person to say “I want one!” and give me a mailing address privately.

Why give a book away for free? It’s fun! Try it!

Been getting back in the saddle this week with a couple of runs of 5 and 5.5 km. Trying to ease back into increasing my distance but not pressuring myself to break any records.

The 5km run took around 32 mins and the 5.5 km run took over 38. I obviously walked a lot. Well, not “obviously” but I did!

I’m finding the runs harder for some reason and my feet are hurting more than I remember before the 12km City to Surf. This is with now relatively new shoes (Brooks Adrenaline) fitted with orthotics. So I’m a bit mystified and a little down that I’m not improving. One step at a time I suppose. Maybe stacking on a few kilos may also be a reason.

Another 6km run tonight and we’ll see how we go.

The weather here is picking up as we head into summer. The trees are green and the mornings are golden again and I get to ride home (motorbike, not cycle) with it still being a little bit light. Time also to get down to the beach and enjoy the scenery of the coast line for a few runs too.

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I am a huge fan of the book The Art of Possibility by Rosamund and Ben Zander.

So much of a fan that every now and then I buy 5 or so copies to give away. I just bought another 5 and gave one each to my son and daughter (they would have preferred the cash but they’ll learn! )

The book is the best book on personal development I have read (and I’ve read a few) mainly because it is not a ‘how to’ on actions but a ‘how to’ on thinking. That is, think differently to create a different outcome.

One concept they offer is to ‘give yourself an A’ in regard to a significant achievement as you set out on it - at the beginning of your quest. That solves the problem of striving in a sense and you relax a little. You’ve got your grade, now get on with the job - just work to keep the grade.

The next task is, once you accept you have achieved your goal and earned your ‘A’, to write down how you achieved it. The context is looking back on what you had to do, rather than just planning ahead. Kind of like reverse planning I suppose.

The key difference is this allows you/me to walk through all of the tasks, efforts, emotions and frustrations we might have felt but still come out on top - genuinely earning the ‘A’.

Ben Zander applies this to his music classes at the beginning of the year. He gives them their ‘A’ and asks his students to write a letter to him outlining how they achieved their ‘A’ - not how they plan to achieve it.

It helps you think differently and I have used it with all sorts of things. I don’t always get to the goal (the world is not perfect) but if you take the time to sit down, reward yourself with the ‘A’ and then reverse plan you may find a whole lot of energy and enthsiasm that may have been hidden without doing it.

This is probably similar to Stephen Covey’s “begin with the end in mind” which I also like.

So, my current three goals are:

• 76kg
• 18% body fat
• increase my running distance to 13km

I now have to accept that I have achieved those goals and write down how I did it. I’ll do that today and post the result tomorrow. I’ll also write up a couple of examples from the book.

Oh, and I have 3 copies still I my bookshelf. First in, best dressed if you want a copy.

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