Marathon Preparation & Execution

Marathon Man.

It's been a long and tiresome road, and I'd like to apologise for being offline for a while. Early starts at unfriendly times, running in the rain, wet feet and gel farts (from electrolytes) have been keeping me occupied recently. There was soreness, aches, pains and days of seemingly endless dehydration and thirst. But the journey to prepare for my first marathon was massive. It was a personal endeavour of epic proportions. It was, however, more than I had ever told anybody, and now a few days after completing my first ever marathon, and the legs are back to normal, I'd like to share.

The decision to run a marathon was not something I'd suggest taking lightly. You gotta prepare yourself in every possible way. Yes there's physical conditioning; strength training, stamina training, speed work, hill training, short runs, long runs....pace runs, time trials and well miles and miles of heart. You gotta be aware that its not just the running. It's far more than that. You need to also consider the mental preparation that you need to do - you need to force yourself to run, even when you don't want to. You might not like the heat. You may hate running in the rain.  You may not like early mornings, or hours and hours of time away from loved ones. You might doubt yourself, but whatever it is, you need to prepare yourself, and get over whatever you don't like, or usually avoid to prepare.

For me, running every weekend in the rain, most evening in the dark and spending hours away from my darling wifey, were the hardest. Sure I'm an ex-pom and I'm used to the rain, but it's physically draining, plus you get more friction from your clothes and skin, your at greater risk of trips and falls and injuries - so it's pretty de-motivating some times. It's those times I reminded myself of the reasons I chose to do this seemingly insane venture. It was also most prominent of me to remember those immortal words of Michelle Bridges (who incidentally was the head coach for the Blackmore's Sydney Running Festival) 

"JFDI - Just Freaking Do It".

My Reasons

So, what was it the pushed me through all those hours, kilometres and seriously chaffed legs (and arms)? In truth, I did the 42.2km run to test my resolve, to prove to myself I could do it and most of all I wanted to earn my Bateman running stripes by completing the cycle. Throughout my entire life I've had the pleasure of watching my parents complete every type of running festival except the marathon, and they completed them together. For one reason or another, it was a challenge to great and maybe too risky for them to attempt, and I decided that as their son I would take up the challenge and complete it on my family's behalf. I wanted a Bateman from my family to finish a marathon. It's probably silly to hear, but my parents blessed my marriage to Winnie with a very special gift that has been with them on every run, my mum's wedding ring. I now wear this ring (7 sizes bigger) as my own wedding ring, and so carry the weight of their love. I also carry (closely to my heart) the experiences that have made this ring most precious to me. It needed the marathon and it now has that too. It's up to me to add the next new experiences! 

I was told by a cardiologist that my heart operates like a marathon runner's - not bad for an out of shape fatty, but I couldn't believe that until it had run a marathon....NOW I have a marathon runner's heart, which incidentally beats very slowly, but very powerfully.

In terms of my resolve, I needed to see this through. I needed to know if I could actually do it, and if I could actually do it well.

I'm a distance runner.

I've been trained to keep going even when it's hard.

When it hurts, When it sucks.

When I don't want to

I look past it.

Relentless forward progress to the finish.

Call it what you want:

Stubbornness, Endurance, Determination. Guts.

Deep Down,

I don't know how to give up.

(and its always worth it in the end)

Preparations

Well, if you've been following this blog I've been preparing since the start of this year. I ran when I posted down to Melbourne, I ran at every opportunity and I spent a lot of time getting ready. I invested in proper running shoes and socks. I made sure I had good running clothes. I tested compression technology. I tried "Skins" and "2XU" products and I reviewed them, determining that 2XU are way better than skins. I was forced to learn and adapt myself to understand, and apply basic nutrition for runners and how to 'feed yourself' on the runs. I instigated the assistance of Iron Ray and researched glutard friendly electrolyte gels and  supplements for recovery. I planned my runs, and used tools like Map My Run and Garmin Express to keep up with my progress. It's been hard finding the time to write on tho blog but I've kept notes and now I'll elaborate!

Learning to chow down on energy providing foods, slow release carbohydrates, fast release proteins, energy and electrolyte drinks, gels, chews and the methods of carbo-loading building up to the big runs and eventually race day was one of the toughest elements. Get it wrong and you get cramps, indigestion and dehydration. Get it right and you run well, but still have to go through the ringer to train for all the other potential risks!

I found on the long runs two things that took a lot of planning that really contribute to my marathon:

Coconut Water and Electrolyte Chomps! The Coco-water was great, but I needed to run with it and the chomps needed to be timed and not just munched on for fun. I developed a routine of one chew every 15 minutes after the 60 minute mark. I then added the extra carton of coco-water at the 25km mark..my only issues were how I was carrying all this and trying not to spill the sticky-coco-water as I sipped it on the move...I was pretty tired of sticky hand syndrome (plus I felt like I was wasting precious electrolyte) so I developed a novel tool to assist me.... a straw! I pierced a straw and sipped it down like a boss! It did however take me up until race day to work this out!

Also, learning the benefits of compression tights, I realised that keeping them on post long-runs was a must for at least 30-45minutes to ease the soreness, and it worked very well for me.

In the course of 9 months or so (give or take a few weeks) I managed to clock up 413.89km of running training, thats 41:12:07 of running time and that doesn't include the time spend training in the gym, pool or on the bike. All my training has been for my three goals, but each one was building for this: 100km cycle (leg and core strength, cardio endurance and fitness), City2Surf (legs, breathing an nutrition planning) and then the marathon!

Race Day

How I put it to my friends and family: "I'm gonna finish, but I wanna be under 4:30 hrs"......

How I thought it: "I hope I finish it, If I do I wanna be back under 4:00 hrs"....

How it went: "crap I'm running too fast, JFDI, hang on I just passed 30km...crap look at that - Pyrmont Bridge....gulp....my legs are not gonna like that...." 

How I pushed through: "I'm gonna sprint finish...what's the worst that can happen...crap there's people who know me, run faster, faster keep pushing don't give up...."

Cue the Rocky soundtrack....

Finished. Jump up and down...hang on, legs can't jump. 

Here's the stats...

Distance: 42.2km

Time: 03:55:55

Average Pace: 05:35min/km

Calories Burnt: 3004 Calories

Average Speed: 10.7km/h

Max Speed: 61.1km/h

Average Heart Rate: 158bpm (85% of Max)

Max Heart Rate: 181bpm (98% of Max)

Link to a couple videos: Click Here :) and enter my Bib Number 13762 or Garry Bateman 

and watch the three short videos of my run! Im the beardie dude in turquoise singlet and 2XU Tights! 

Don't Stop Believing....(or training).

Well, Hello there! 

It's been a while.... 

...Since my last post, but rest assured I'm well and truly on my way to fit (and working hard to avoid the fat). Since my last post I've been overseas on my honeymoon with the wifey, joined my new ship (based in Sydney at last) and I've been preparing for the first milestone run of my running season - The Sydney City2Surf (C2S). In 2 weeks time, I'll be running alongside the wifey, hopefully in my new ship's team colours.

Preparation....

The key element for any event is the preparation. I've been working on endurance and distance, clocking up the kilometres for most of this year, so recently I've been working on speeding things up. I've been gradually pushing my 3km running time down and just yesterday I pushed it down to 13 minutes. I'm not sprinting the 3km, I'm striding it out running at around 4:20 min/km. I'm doing this to increase my running power. 

I've also been doing quicker 10km runs (its 10k from my house to my ship), which demonstrates how the speed training is helping too. I've incorporated more legs into my compound gym routines. Until recently I've been unable to train everyday, or even regularly in the weights room, so starting this week I'm applying the pressure (on myself) to finish work a little closer to a normal time, hit the gym and either run or cycle home...in fact I'll probably alternate between the rides and the runs... My gym workouts are more intensive, but i'm not 'building' at the moment, I'm burning the fat, tuning my muscles up for the running and having fun with my workouts...I'll keep you posted. For example, yesterday I managed a shoulder burnout and a good chest workout, with some abdominals weaved in too! I wanna try and keep my workouts during the week under 60 minutes - the plan is to keep moving all day, work my muscles in the gym for an hour then run (another hour) or cycle (around 30 minutes) home, this is intended to given my body a feeling of working at different levels for extended periods, so come long run days and marathon event day my body doesn't burn out too soon. I am trying to train smart, not just running and burning up all the muscle mass. I'm trying to strengthen with gym and diverse sports activities, create muscle memory and strength through a variety of runs to have more muscle control and endurance to go the distance at BSM. 42km is a long time to keep running, and I want to be prepared.

This also means learning to fuel myself before, during and post activities to allow my body's output to remain consistent for the duration. I'm still sampling liquid/gooey gels, and solid gel blocks for during, I still supplement with protein and glutamine post training, but I've been avoiding pre-workouts since I left Cerberus. Now, I just try to eat better and stay hydrated - I'm working on balancing electrolytes and loading with healthy carbs (quinoa, corn cous cous, rice and GF pastas), which is really helping!

My new ship has lots of stairs, and is a very large vessel (approx 200m long). I reckon that I'm ascending and descending the 12 deck levels, and covering literally tens of kilometres just walking around the ship! My quads and hammies are getting a really good workout and stretch, which is helping to add the 'hill climb' element to my training - albeit by means of walking intervals.  

My current daily activity

Planning....

I'm using the C2S as a training event for the Blackmore's Sydney Marathon (BSM) in September, and I'll be ramping up the distance, adding hills, speed and timed intervals to prepare for the marathon. It's T minus 8 weeks until race day, thats 56 days. I'm hoping to set up a link to get some sponsorship (for a charity I'll nominate soon), so look out for that.

14 Days until C2S, and 56 Days until BSM. There plenty more time to prepare, but time is certainly flying by. I've not been posting because I'm trying to maintain focus, and keep my training moving. In terms of preparation and training, I actually have less than 56 training days left, so its more like 40 training days, incorporating 2 rest days per week. Time to knuckle down then...

This kinda sums up winter run training....

Day 93 - Core Blimey!

Core Strength

Why do we all work so hard on 'core strength'. Core strength and Abdominal Strength, two very different things...I intend to get to the bottom of this.

Abdominal workouts, do exactly as prescribed - they work your abdominal muscles. These are not to be confused with core strength. Core strength does way more for your body.

Core work incorporates literally dozens of muscles, and improves strength and flexibility in your hips, pelvis, lower back, and abdominals. There are many reasons why a developed core is better than just developed abdominals. Such as:

Agility

Core muscles allow you to react faster, with greater strength. Core strength also lets your body distribute stress evenly, absorbs shock more effectively and contribute to your balance, coordination, flexibility and self awareness.

Power

Believe it or not, performing Squats and Dead Lifts with proper technique will develop your core, increasing your power but most importantly it will stabilise and protect your lower back. This type of conditioning develops your muscles, via your core, to allow your body to develop a good foundation for heavier weights and prevents injuries.

Posture

A good core workout will centre your spine and this will enable you to stand and sit with better, more erect posture. I've noticed huge development for my own posture in the past 90-odd days. The main thing here, is if you want a 6 pack or good looking abs, then posture development strengthen the lower back. You even appear taller / slimmer!

Weight Loss

Strong core equals less fatigue and reduced effort in performing daily activity. This reduced effort and fatigue directly translates to more available energy to put into gym time, running, cycling etc. You'll also be at a reduced risk of injury when you're carrying less weight, and reduced risk of exhaustion because you have the additional energy to sustain you!

Way More than a 6 Pack

I've realised from the women in my life, that strong cores as a foundation mean gym work is made far easier. I didn't realise that such a large portion of the male population don't even consider core training, and solely focus on muscle development. This often means the obliques, lower back, hips get less of a workout (if at all) and often just get pounded with heavy weights! It is the recommendation of most fitness professionals to develop core strength FIRST, to gain strength and stability to allow you to do the muscle building activity later.

But Why?

When is Core Strength useful to me, and why haven't I been doing it...Well, I actually have been. I was bashing away in the gym, decided at about 10 weeks (if I recall correctly), that my workouts would include more endurance (abs between weights), and that my weights workout since week 8 (I think) have been predominantly compound instead of isolated. Endurance training and working in the abdominals intensified and added some spice to my weights regime. Compound training added the base core work, required me to drop to smaller weights and develop better technique. I stuck with it, and now I feel particularly strong, in comparison to this time a year ago. I feel fitter today, than ever before. Good reason to kick start your routine into adding more core and compound training? I think so! 

Core strength is integral in my marathon and triathlon goals. It is pivotal in my overall development since I need to maintain a strong core so I can pound my body over 42km. I need to load my muscles with memories of endurance, strength training and the kilometres in my legs. All of this contributes, and as my core has developed (slowly), I've noticed that my running technique has improved. I was omnipresent this evening as I straightened my posture, well noticed that it was more erect as I put a swift 5km on the treadmill.

WOD

My Workout Of the Day, as created by me, was to replicate this core strengthening, and keep my legs from taking a break.

I started with 30 minutes of abdominal weights training, focusing on core alignment, and not just the abdominal workout. I then proceeded to do a 30 minute core crushing kettle bell circuit. I transitioned between medium and heavy bells, and worked different parts of my core. I also included a swift 5km treadmill run, which had me running at around 5min/km, for 25 minutes. My heart rate peaked at 143bpm and I focused on twisting my core muscles and keeping a straight posture as I ran. It felt good!

My WOD - Part 1 Abdominals: (3x15reps)

1. Standing Weighted Cable Pulldown Crunch
2. Kneeling Weighted Cable Pulldown Crunch
3. Palof Press
4. Landmine 180's
5. Plate Twists
6. Plate Side Bends
7. Kettle Bell Figure 8 Crunches

Part 2 Kettle Bell Circuit: (30second intervals x 3reps) - Odd Numbers Heavy, Evens Medium Weight

1. Goblet Squat
2. Around Body
3. Bent Over Row
4. Figure 8 (in bent over position)
5. Single Leg Dead Lifts
6. Windmills
7. Shoulder Press
8. Half Get Ups
9. Step Ups
10. Squat Swings

Treadmill Run: 5km, 5min/km, 25 minutes

Stretches, Side Plank Pulses, V-Sits, Figure 4 Abs & Thigh Crunches to finish me off.

Day 86 - Faster, Faster!

As I woke this morning I could tell that my body was in need of a little rest or a slower pace today. Today's leadership classes were fairly sedate and that provided the well needed recharge. As the day proceeded, I realised that I was gearing up to do my first proper speed session after work.

Speed Sesh...

My Speed Session, can be reviewed in detail on this link: Speed Session: 3 x 1km and there you'll see I ran off the beaten track (well its a gravel path around the back of the Creswell gym, and what you can't see is the gradient of  the slow climb I was running on. This was an added element into the session that wasn't necessary, but a challenge regardless.

I planned, and executed 3 sets of 1km fast runs. By fast, this is my slightly faster than race pace, which really got me going. The distance, although low, is actually far enough to give me a good workout.

Overall, with warm up and cool down I covered a mere 3.46km in 20:10, which yields an average pace of 5:50min/km, but if you look more closely the average included the warm up and cool down! A true test of how hard I was working was my heart rate. I was working with a training effect of 3.2 (improving category), which meant an average heart rate of 149bpm (81% of max), and a peak heart rate of 170bpm (92% of max) - which is pretty good. Lap times were:

Lap 1 - 4:39:80

Lap 2 - 4:15:00

Lap 3 - 4:32:60

On completion of this training session I felt smashed, yet exhilarated for completing the running exercise. I had a good cardio and run training session, that had me out of my comfort zone for a few moments of each set - the hill that leads up to the main gangway (main gate).

After I had quickly recovered from the running, I started a new element to my training, Kettle Bell workouts, done my way.

I covered pushups, goblet squats, military shoulder press, one leg dead lift, kettle bell swing, Floor chest press, pirate ships (kettle bell's version of landline 180s), floor pectoral fly, and some abdominal work. My abs are still so sore from the caving yesterday.

Today I learned that rest, planning and a new routine does help keep you motivated, challenged and interested in what you're doing.

Oh and go the Blues...NSW finally win Origin!

Day 84 - Week 13 Commences.

Moving Forwards...

I love this quote.

I know, of late, I've not been as active with regard to my gym usage and blog uploads but in actual fact my training in coming into quite an important phase - Strength Training for the Marathon. 

My decision to participate in a marathon has been something I initially set as a goal, but something that has the potential to facilitate my long term health and fitness goals. I love fitness and being healthy, and I really want to keep this passion by means of gym work, yoga, running, cycling, swimming (and scuba of course). I signed up for the marathon as my main goal for 2014, and I want to be ready from a physical and emotional sense. I want my muscles and joints to be prepared. To that end I've been spending a lot of my free time reading and researching different methodologies (old techniques and new).

I've read that combining, equally, running with weights is the best way to prepare your body. I've read that developing a strong core is not all you need. You also need to develop strong glute muscles, good hip extension strength are important too. The definition of Core Strength is how well you can stabilise your upper body on your lower body; in other words how much rotation you've got whilst keeping your trunk stable. Maintaining a strong, stable core will stop you from leaning forwards, arching your back, and in therefore will stop your hip activity from being inhibited. I read that if you inhibit your hips, you end up inhibiting the muscles inside you shins and feet too. I've learnt that this is all down to posture. So, in the gym, out on runs, and basically all other times I need to be working on keeping a good posture to allow my muscles to work as they're meant to.

According to one paper I read, runners need four important things:

1. Postural Alignment
2. Specific Stabilisation
3. High Strength
4. The ability to produce strength quickly  (High Power)

Another reason to incorporate weight training into my regimen for running a marathon is that I want to maintain lean muscle mass, and if I don't train the endurance will eat away at the muscle I've worked so hard to build.

I'm learning, now more than ever to not over exert and to take more rest, including rest days from both gym and run. Since recovery will determine how the preparation builds and how strong overall I become. If I never give my body time to recover, I'll never develop. It also means not doing gym and long runs on the same day, over exertion will just sap my body's resources and leave me feeling wasted all the time. Prior Preparation and Planning, to Prevent Poor Performance!

The Run Element

The plan with the running is not to run 100's of kilometres per week, in fat its quite the opposite. I'm going to employ a variety of cardio components in conjunction with long runs to build my muscle strength and endurance plus condition my soft muscle tissue to the long endurance of a marathon. I'll be doing short quick runs (tempo runs), middle distances at a conversational pace, and intervals (including hills). I will build to around 35km then taper back as race day approaches.

The Strength Training Element

This will be a core stabilising and strengthening combined workout, incorporating compound exercises, the endurance work I've been doing and will be made up of light (ish) weights, high reps and no more than 2-3 sets per exercise. I test ran a workout like this tonight, and it took exactly 1 hour, so that was also a bonus. In sequence, tonight's workout trial consisted of:

• Barbell Chest Press
• Rest: Bottoms Up Abdominal raises 
• Barbell Bent Over Rows (reverse grip)
• Rest: Plank Holds
• Barbell Shoulder Press
• Rest: Side Plate Bends
• Smith Machine Squats
• Rest: Bicycling Abdominal Crunches
• Smith Machine Lunges
• Rest: Leg Raise Holds
• (Heavy) Barbell Dead Lifts
• Assisted Chin Ups
• Rest: Retractors
• Push-ups suspended on Kettle Bells 
• Kettle Bell Swing Twists

The Nutrition Element

Vital to my endurance, health and well being is what I actually put into my mouth. So, I've been going good so far, eating clearer, reduced my gluten intake to almost zero (you can never tell what sneaky companies use thickeners, and I'd be lying if I said it was 100% gluten free - not sure its even possible)...Reduced alcohol consumption to almost zero and good supplementation to back up a healthy diet.

I need to improve the balance of my carbohydrates, proteins and fat intake. I've read that it needs to shift to 60% Carbohydrates, 20% Proteins, and 20% Unsaturated Fats, and I've been working to 50% Carb, 30% Protein and 20% Fat. Carbohydrate loading in food will be a challenge for me, so I'll keep you all posted on how I get there with that one!

The New Training Program

The Marathon is actually 14 weeks away, but my honeymoon is a 2 week period where I will likely be resting more than running, although I'll be working on core, strength and stability wherever I can. So, I have 2 weeks, a 2 week demi-rest, then 10 weeks to bring me over the line. A major milestone in that time frame is that 8 weeks from now I will be running the City2Surf with Winnie. This is a good time to ensure my training is going good - essentially its midway between here and the main event. I can check all the elements are working as they should and I can make sure my mind and body are set up for this.

Rest Days: 1-2 per week

Gym: Combined Weights Workouts / Circuits: 3 per week upto an hour

Non-Run Cardio:  Swim / Spin / Cycle / Football or sports activity: 2-3 per week

Running: 5-6 per week

1. Speed Sessions (multiple short, sharp runs out of comfort zone)
2. Medium Distance Runs (10-20km build up)
3. Easy Runs (5-10km for recovery)
4. Tempo Runs (fast pace)
5. Fartlek Runs (speed-play workout) 
6. Long Run (Slower pace, 13-35km build up, then taper back)

Days 81-83 - Weekend Fun

Home at last. Friday afternoon was spent driving back up to Sydney. Friday night I relaxed, enjoyed my rest with Winnie and prepared for a big weekend of sport, fun and training.

World Cup Football 1

Saturday I planned to get up early, watch Australia vs Chile in the World Cup, then study, then train in the gym (a quick 30 minute session) with Winnie on her lunch break, since she was working all weekend.

I did all as planned. I'm liking sticking to my plans, it lets me see how organised I am plus I feel satisfied that I achieved all I set out to do.

Micro Circuit

30 minutes in the gym is not long to get a good workout, but never the less we gave it our best. It seemed logical to get a few pre-loaded barbels and head to the circuit/cross-fit area of the gym. There we proceeded to run 2 minute intervals of bicep curls, shoulder press, overhead tricep dips, push ups, sit ups, v-sits, lunges, squats, track-starts. After, noting the time we did 4 sets of the big rope, making waves with it for 2 minute intervals with 20 second rests between. After we raced the sled things - mine had a 25kg plate on it, Winnie was using an empty one. We were pushing, not pulling, the sleds up and down the astro-turf area. This was how we finished.

A micro circuit, I need to work on making the best use of time, but it got a sweat on us both and we got to spend some time together...which is what it is all about!

Roosters vs Knights

Saturday evening Winnie and I went to see the Sydney Roosters play against the Newcastle Knights. This was a pretty good NRL game. Sydney were losing, then in the second half they stomped all over the Knights. The Roosters ended up winning 29-12 in a really good game. The weather was pretty chilly, which meant lots of cuddles for the wife - again another reason to go to Friday night NRL with Winnie! Plus its pretty good entertainment....

World Cup Football 2

This morning I woke up extra early to set myself up to watch the Three Lions take on Italy in their opening game of the world cup. At the same time, my sister called me on FaceTime - we were then able to watch the game together. Is it me or is technology making the world seem a lot smaller - AWESOME! A devastating first game in terms of the result for England, but a few good lesson learnt. I look forward to the next game!

A Little Run

This morning, post football, I headed out into the wind and rain to run another long distance training run. I was aiming for 25km. I planned to run from my house to La Perouse, around past Bare Island, and then up Anzac Parade to Maroubra....and back the way I came.

This was a tough run, the wind was sapping my energy, the rain made me feel heavy. Then there were the long hills, short steep hills and half way I realised I had only had a smoothie for breakfast! Lucky I stocked up on electrolyte gel products this weekend.

This run I was trialling a new product, called Clif Shot Bloks. There's 6 in a pack, thats the equivalent gel of 2 liquid gel sachets. I used 3 bloks during the run, staggered over the 158 minutes of running. I did as recommended and sucked the yummy black cherry flavour gel blocks and chewed little slivers as I ran. This reduced the workload on my gut as I ran.

Post-run I smashed a protein shake with added L-Glutamine, and chased it with an electrolyte gel. This was another new product, made by Torq Nutrition. This gel was recommended to me over the weekend, so I gave it a try. It was wicked, great tasting, easy to swallow, less thick than any of the gels I've tried thus far. The real benefit was the less-artificial tasting flavour, which was Rhubarb and Custard. I was very impressed, and my stomach has had no signs of being affected by this or the Bloks.

 My stats for the run were interesting.  Average Heart rate was 148 bpm, the average pace being 6:04 minutes per km and the time, 02:38:58. My speed / pace was a lot slower than normal, but there could be many reasons why and I'm not too bothered. I burned something close to 2500 calories, and needed to eat a fair amount before I felt satisfied tonight!

Days 73-78: Crazy Busy!

OH MY GOSH!

I have been so crazy busy this past week or so. Last wednesday was my last post, and I'm sorry I dropped off the radar. Moving interstate was a very time consuming endeavour, which meant training was put on hold. I dabbled to stay in the game, but nothing substantial until today!

I also had the opportunity to spend an entire weekend at home, between location changes, with my lovely wifey. So, being the try hard hubby that I am, I made sure that the whole weekend was devoted to all things concerning my better half. This also took its toll on me and my regimen.

Sometimes, life gets in the way, and we can't do jack about it. We just have to acknowledge it, accept our situation and create the next opportunity to get back into the rhythm as soon as we can.

Last night, I moved to my latest destination, for a new training course which will take me to my honeymoon and then my subsequent posting to a sea going ship will follow that. Mr Peds will be my companion as we move forwards, he will join ship sooner. My new location, at least is in the same state (NSW), although technically Jervis Bay falls under the ACT...so we're not...but it is only 2-3 hours drive from home...easy.

So, day 77 was spent packing, driving, unpacking and settling into my new cabin. I managed a quick 500m swim in the pool here at HMAS Creswell. It's a smaller 25m pool, so times will be quicker and it'll take a little more to fatigue me!

Run Swiftly

Today, Day 78, was quite fun. I woke early, at 0500h, and got my lazy bum out of bed. I decided last night that I would use mapmyrun to plan an early run. I planned to knock it over before class. I planned everything except the rain.

I launched into my run. From my accommodation I ran down to the medical centre and past the NEOC accommodation, then down to and around the post office, a loop around the quarter deck passing behind the clock tower, then around the 2.4km route and past the front of the clock tower. From there I ran past the wardroom, then out into the darkness, down past the Captain's house, and the waterfront and back up the hill. At the top I past the NEOC accommodation, turned right and ran up to the gate. I returned and repeated the 5km loop.

At 7km, as I looped the quarter deck, the rain started - gently at first, teasing me. I ran past some New Officer Trainees doing their fitness test 2.4km runs, and thought "at least I'm here by choice, they have to be here..." As I said this to myself the rain tease turned into a heavy drizzle. As I looped behind the Captain's house again, the rain got heavier, and heavier until as I ran up the hill from the waterfront I was starting to feel like a drowning rat...reminiscent of my NEOC 49 days, I power on through. Rain still getting harder, bigger drops, more sideways - right in the face, actually.

By the time I was at the gate I was ignoring the rain, the reduced visibility and enjoying the freedom I was feeling. I was soaked through, and still determined to make it back to complete the 10km. As I reached my destination I realised I was at 9.83km (not quite 10km). I can live with that. 54:29:10, so my pace average was around 6:02 min/km, and average heart rate was 147bpm.

Lesson in Leadership using Volleyball

I had never played volleyball, until today. Our course instructor (I'm on a leadership course) decided he wanted to teach us using the medium of volleyball....awesome! First a game of rally-point and then a game of penalty-volleyball. Basically, the crux of it was teach us that the first game participants were not as committed, or accountable to their teammates that game two. Game two, rules were simple. If you messed up and the team lost a point, you sat out and did push-ups, sit-up or something to that effect. The only way to get back on was for your team to score a point without you. Objective of the game is simple - reduce the opposing team's players to zero. It surprising how much more competitive, and how much more you'll try for your teammates when there are consequences, and that was the lesson. I have to say, this was an awesome way to get us out of the classroom, bond with our new classmates, and teach some valuable skills. Thanks LEUT Johno.

Tuesday Night Football

As if I'd not had enough cardio for one day, I played 60 minutes of indoor football. Players and location have changed a little, but the game was just as hard with some very silky skills. In fact, Nerdy-Norm turned out to be a dark horse. First match, and he scores the first 4 goals, and has some very dazzling skills....another part-dutchie I think...

Time for bed now. Tomorrow I'll be hitting the gym proper. I will need to work out a new schedule to suit earlier class starts. I looks like no morning session, unless I run early, and a bigger evening session.....Sorry for being so lazy... But, I'm back now.

Day 71 - Week 11 in Full Swing

Week 11...

As my last week at HMAS Cerberus starts to close in on me, I have just realised something really interesting. It's been 11 weeks of hard slog in the gym, but thats really helped my focus on my studies too. It was dragging on really slowly, then as I progressed with my training, getting into the blogosphere and seeing small results, the time has literally flown by. Awesome.

So, I thought it would be good to update you all on my progress. So, with week 11 in full swing,  here we go...only 3 sleeps until I go home to Sydney, and my beautiful wifey, Winnie :)

Wake Up Run

I decided, that if my schedule was going to get a little messed up this week, that I would mix up my routine too. As my alarm roused me this morning at 0500h I felt torn - I wanted to get up and go for a short run, but I really really wanted to stay in bed...the justification began and it took around 15 minutes before I pushed past it, and started to sluggishly get dressed. I even checked the weather! So, even though I wanted to run, something was making me resist, but too be honest that was just me being somewhat lazy I'd say.

I had a quick stretch, and set off on my way. As my Garmin 910XT beeped to inform me that I'd ran my 1st kilometre, the rain set in. It was fairly hard going, but a worthy run. I ran at my usual distance pace of 6min/km, and started to enjoy the rain.

I know I only ran 5.12km, and it took me 31:48 to complete, but I feel about a million times better  for actually doing something this morning.

6-A-Side Footie 

90 minutes of indoor football, running around, keeping goal and sweating like a beast. That's the nature of it. Dutchie always organises a game, twice a week without fail. Football fever really is setting in again! I let 2 goals in tonight (as keeper), and scored 1...not bad.

For me, I enjoy playing indoor footie because its a really good team exercise, all working together to try and win. Tackles, rebounds, headers and all the skills (more some that others). I particularly enjoy the level of fitness that it needs, really quickly improves your sprint / explosive power. I can go on.

Just Because...

Training on Fatigue

SO, post footie I headed directly to the gym to get my burn on. I pushed through a 75 minute shoulders and abdominals workout, with the burn and ache of fatigue as I progressed. I made through the workout, knowing that I turned a corner (and hit a wall) with my endurance training. Today I have truly tested my boundaries. You see, I've also increased the number of reps from 8 to 10, and still train 4 sets. I've only reduced the weight a little to allow for the extra work, but I could feel the need for fuel etc kicking in as the fatigue wormed its way into my workout.

I've had a positive day for training, but it hasn't been easy. Today, I struggled to start and as I gained momentum I trained with great energy. I will probably rest tomorrow morning, and train late in the day so I give my body time to get over it.

Day 63 - Raising The Bar

Another Typical Monday

Just another typical monday morning, back at Cerberus. Frosty, well chilly mist, but still at 0545h before sunrise, its not the most appetising wake up. Sluggishly I crawled out of bed, rubbed my eyes and with a yawn started to walk around / drift around the room trying to locate my gym clothes in the dark - the thought of bright fluorescent lights furiously beaming at me was not very appealing. I threw on my clothes, downed a pre-workout and headed out into the dark.... As I walked I continued to review my plan for my morning's workout...desperately hoping to get my gears shifted into high....slowly I started to warm up and get into my normal head state - perhaps the chilly mist was waking me up?

On arrival at the gym I was still not in high gear, but I was warming up to it...I worked through my new back and abdominal endurance workout, with lower weights than last week but higher intensity. I felt really good about the work I had done after 90 minutes... and my muscles were feeling that good burn I love so much! Abdominals were feeling tight, and as my walk back to my room progressed I felt like today, I'd see if I could push myself a little further.

After lunch I decided to go for a swim. I knocked over a pretty pleasing 1.5km swim in 40 minutes, and pushed through the shoulder and abdominal burn I was experiencing. After a good stretch, and about an hour to relax after my swim I intended to relax for the rest of the day...but that didn't last long. I ended up training on the squash court, solo for about 15 minutes of techniques I was taught in days gone by (when I was back in the UK) by an old collection of friends Mr Lewis, The Meredith's, The McQ's and regular on court tantrums playing against Mr Mouldie and co.... So after 15 minutes of nostalgic forehand and backhand training (in the box for 20), behind the line for 20, 20 lobs, 20 drops...etc... I was asked if I wanted to play squash (in a match) with a sailor. I courteously agreed - who wouldn't want to actually play squash on a squash court!! It was a good game, I emerged victorious after 3 games, each played well by both players. I started remembering the old days where the golden ladies of squash would play lots of airy balls,  lobbing opponents and taking the power right out. I started to play with a few mixed shots and I held my own on the 'T' for most of the match. Feeling pleased with my efforts, post game, I rewarded myself in true squash style... a cool cider, a glass of red wine and cognac enjoyed fireside in the wardroom.

Raising My Bar

So, as you may have read yesterday, I'm thinking of entering a few events to test my preparation, keep my focused on my training goals and prepare me for next summer's triathlon events (if I'm not posted to sea). Well, further to that, my awesome wifey-dearest, Winnie, registered me for the City2Surf in August, and my original 2014 goal of running the Sydney Marathon. I've never done 42km straight, but I know in my heart that I can pull it off - besides I remember saying that if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. Well, this will be my biggest challenge of 2014. I will achieve it. I will finish. Thats what's important about goal setting; set the goal, and ensure you get there... I'm gonna need help, and I'm gonna need a lot of support to pull this off. So, if you can, your support would be appreciated.

Just to raise the bar a little higher, I'm going to make sure I do it and I'm going to raise money for a charity that's close to my heart, and I'll keep you posted, just waiting on some information first.

Well, there we have it. Monday, done and dusted, with a hint of nostalgia, hope and promise thrown into the mix!

Days 60-62: A Well Earned Rest...

Home. Where My Heart Is....

This weekend, seemed to take forever to arrive but I guess that's the way it goes when you're waiting for something awesome to happen. For me, this weekend was about going home to see my wife, and spending quality time with her. Being a serving ADF member means that home time really needs to be all about the quality, since the duration is never all that long....Devoted to my wife, and making every moment count, I planned to spend every second having fun, and that's why I've been quiet all weekend!

We did the usual, visited various yummy restaurants and ate (carefully in my case) delicious meals. A regular haunt of our is Ayam 99, which is the best Indonesian food in Sydney...in my humble opinion! We also, got to try some new places too. Winnie is bound to blog about them on our other blog Eat.Travel.Dive, so I'll not steal her thunder!

The best part, not including the amazing time spent with my wifey, and also with family too. We hung out with IronRay, Queen Filsie, and Winnie's parents. More amazing than that, however was the various amazing, yummy raw/vegan/suger free/dairy free treats that the Winster prepared for me.... now that is awesome! For recipes check out our other blog... 

There were Chocolate Fudge Bites, Healthy Snickers and Blueberry and Orange Zest Cheesecake.... Did I say these are all healthy! OMG I know, right? AMAZING!

Who could resist this?

Time to Train Together

Winnie and I actually like to train together. We bounce off of each other, we keep it fun and we always share the "pain". Saturday afternoon was no different, since quality time also means that we train, or go to yoga...We chose the gym before dinner.

Shoulders and Abdominal Smash - so I run my darling wifey through an endurance workout, and after 90 minutes of hard work, she rated it an 8/10 overall. I'm happy with that. The workout however, did get a bonus mark too. You see, Winnie has decided she wants to build her upper body strength and core strength to enable her to do hand stands. We ended our workout with 3 sets of against the wall type. Winnie was very anxious about doing this, so I assisted her in getting up then guided her through it. We're a pretty awesome team, I know this because she reciprocated in ensuring I didn't knock the wall down on my turn. I can get into the position, just have to throw myself in!!! My third set was what Winnie called "hollow back" which is apparently an achievement...

Shoulder press up (mid push up)

Hollowback?

Anyways, time for bed. I have a big week ahead - hopefully culminating in graduation from this course I've been on since January..Plus, another week of endurance training.

Oh, and I'm thinking of signing up for the following fitness events, if you wanna join in let me know...I'm sure training and doing will be fun.

1. Sydney City 2 Surf (14km Run) - 10Aug14
2. Sydney Marathon (42km Run - but there are other distances) - 21Sep14
3. Husky Olympic Tri (Swim 1.5km, Bike 40km, Run 10km, Sea Posting Permitting) - 02Nov14
4. The Cole Classic (2km Ocean Swim, Sea Posting Permitting) - 01Feb15
5. Husky Half Iron Man (Swim 2km, Bike 83km, Run 20km, Sea Posting Permitting) - 22Feb15
6. Port Mac Iron Man.... or Melbourne.... ??

Well, thats the plan....am I crazy?

Day 50 - My Half Century!

And here we are.... 50 days into regime to build functional strength and endurance, and to see if I could travel from Fat to Fit. Time is ticking along, and I am moving steadily from unhealthy to healthy - which I guess is the first stepping stone.

Today, not too dissimilar to most early mornings, I was out of bed after a very therapeutic sleep, at 0515h. I was at the gym by 0600h and was stuck into my workout really promptly.

That's me.

Shoulders

Super Strong Shoulders, train them hard and turn them into boulders! Well, that's the plan anyway!  Following on with endurance strength training, I decided to start with shoulder press (military style) using the barbell. With a slightly gingerly taken start, owing to slightly sore shoulders from last nights swim. I did a quick warm up with 10kg loaded on the 20kg bar, 12 reps. I then added an additional 20kg to the bar, and knocked out 8 more reps. I continued to add in 5kg increments over another 3 sets (total weight including bar was 55kg). The last set was only 4 reps, but at this point I dropped to 20kg on the bar and pumped out 8 more reps. After this, I worked back in 5kg drops each 8 reps until I was on an empty bar!

I then warmed up my trapezius, by conducting 12 straight up (to my chin) rows. I then added 5kg to the bar and did 4 more sets of 8. Nice!

I moved to dumbbells to work the front and side raises. I worked with a set weight (12.5kg per dumbbell) for front raises and knocked out 3 sets of 8 reps. After, I felt my shoulders starting to burn (endurance training is so much harder than low rep training) and dropped to 10kg dumbbells to to 4 sets of 8 reps of side raises...well, on the last set I needed to drop to 6kg weights to maintain technique, but thats most important so as to avoid injury!

My workout continued onto the cable cross-overs for a final isolated burnout. My shoulders were pretty much cooked after 60 minutes. I moved to abdominals, gave myself a good 15 minute burnout - the usual exercises. I think I'll be adding some new exercises soon.

PFT Training Circuit

So, as a serving member of the RAN, I am required to annually pass the Physical Fitness Test (PFT). That is 25 Push-Ups, 25 Sit-Ups and complete a timed cardio event (2.4km run, 500m swim, Beep Test are the usual methods). HMAS Cerberus has a really good team of trainers (PTIs) and they like to keep us ahead of the curve - so here we arrive at the PFT Training Session. Nobody likes this session, because its simple yet very effective maximal workout. Do as many push-ups, and sit-ups as possible. We were told that today PFT training would be "army style" - i.e. time based, not cadence for push-ups. So 2 minutes and off you go.... I knocked out 75 reps, which is a heck of a lot more than during NEOC (37 reps). For the sit-ups I did the full 100 reps (50 unassisted, 50 held - as ordered), then for the beep test, I got to level 9.4 or something like that...felt a little twinge in my hamstring and backed off...no sense in returning to step one again! So, at last, I listened to my body. Very happy with my performance.

Squish...

After catching my breathe, taking in some hydration and stretching, I asked Commanda Handa if he fancied a game of squash. Squash, is a fantastic sport, great for endurance, speed, agility and well breaking a sweat. Its not a game to 'get fit playing', but one that keeps you fit. I love it, and its been way too long between playing... Again, I reference my heyday in squash, playing box leagues, sunday evenings and just for fun, back in the UK. Well, today's game was a peach. I played from the 'T', used some lovely straight drives (backhand and forehand), added a few little, tight drop shots and a whole lotta aerial floaters! Commanda was not giving up easy, even though we were both tired. It went to 4 games, nearly a full 5 games! I won out in the end, but a good game around. Mr Peds and Crawf-dawg were playing in the next court, looked like a great match too...

Perhaps not this good....

Our game ended up 9-5, 7-9, 9-4,  9-7 - so as you can see, a pretty good game. Plus, it seemed to help stretch out my hammie, and glutes which meant no injury! Phew.

After a long morning of activity, I was actually really pumped, but looking forward to an easy class and a well earned relaxing evening. During class there were a whole heap of giveaway scones, with jam and cream, plus little cakes and treats...Clearly, I did NOT take any, and showed a new level of self-control... I did take photos, they can't hurt me! See You tomorrow....

In swoop the vultures!

Staring at me, eat me, eat me, eat me.... I didn't eat them.