Day 208: Danny's Goal

Christmas Challenge Day 12

Couldn't decide what to do today so thought I'd borrow someone else's goal to start with, hope you don't mind Danny!

So one of Danny's many goals is to run 1.5 miles (2.4 kms) in 8m 55s. Now that is very tough, sub 6 minute miles. I knew there was no way I was going to get that time so the goal was to see how close I could get. Also please note this is on a running machine so outdoor times would certainly differ.

I thought I would do a few minutes light running to warm up for this one as it was basically going to be a sprint. Took a short breather and then set-up up the treadmill and pushed the speed up to 14.5 kph, IPOD on teeth gritted, this was gonna be a hard one especially after that incline work yesterday.

Once I hit the 1 mile (1.6km) mark I knew I was going to make it so as soon as I hit 2km I pushed the speed to 15kph and then again when I hit 2.2km I pushed it up to 16kph for the last 200 metres. I missed out on 10 minutes by 1 second, I was gutted, I really wanted to bring it in under 10 minutes, but with that said 10m 01s for my first attempt I was pretty pleased.

Just as a comparison, in order to get inside Danny's goal time I would need to run at about 16.1 kph for the whole 8m 55s, 16kph would bring a 6 minute mile.

I really enjoyed it so I will definitely try that one again in the future. I then went on and did a 2000m row but it was slow compared to my normal ones but my legs from the incline yesterday then the 1.5 miler were getting pretty shot by now. I followed that with 10 minutes on the cross trainer just to completely destroy my legs and finished with a gruelling abs routine.

I have to admit I am wiped out from this weeks training now. So that completes my first 2 weeks and true to my words not one of the workouts has been a complete duplication of another. They have all been tweaked so that they are unique and hence hopefully my body does not get used to any one particular thing.

Rest day tomorrow and boy do I need it.

Until tomorrow...

Day 207: HIIT with a Difference

Christmas Challenge Day 11

Back to an old routine for me but possibly a new one if you are reading this. I call this one my HIIT incline session.

20 minutes on the treadmill all run at 10kph.

Minute 1 at 1% incline
Minute 2 at 3% incline
Minute 3 at 6% incline
Minute 4 at 9% incline

You then repeat this cycle another 4 times. As usual that killer 21st minute is added on the end and today I managed that final minute at 10% incline for the whole minute.

All in all I was pretty pleased with that as it is a long time since I have run this. It is a real killer on the quads and calf muscles.

Then I did 10 minutes on the bike, 10 minutes on the handbike and 5 minutes on the cross trainer, the same details as for last weeks session. The incline HIIT is a huge calorie burner, 350+ calories in 21 minutes.

Until tomorrow...

Day 206: Keeping That Motivation

Christmas Challenge Day 10

I foolishly stepped on the scales today only 2 days after doing my stats and have put on weight since Monday. Or I should say I weighed more than I did Monday. I haven't started eating differently and I am still training hard. I should know better as I know your body fluctuates during the week and I also don't know whether this was fat or muscle as I did no BF measurement. Regardless I should have known better.

That said though it can still knock the confidence by not keeping on that downward trend. How do you stay motivated? It would have been really easy to say today well all this effort I am putting in isn't working so why bother? Needless to say I didn't I had a great weights session and added in an extra ab exercise today also. There are always going to be ups and downs and I know that in the long run or in this case over the 8 weeks that week on week I will see the results, just not continually during the week.

Until tomorrow...

Day 205: Great Run

Christmas Challenge Day 9

The weather today was great, a fairly stiff breeze but blue sky and sun and surprisingly warm for this time of year. For this reason I opted out of the cardio session in the gym to go for an outdoor 8k run. I did say that I would try not to duplicate an exercise workout over a 2 week period and this far no 2 sessions have been identical.

Admittedly some of the weight exercises have been the same but the overall session has been different in some way. For example I used the fit ball yesterday for the dumbbell flys which by the way I can really feel working today especially as I dropped the weight so that I could keep balance. What a difference a very small change made!!

Again a solid day nutrition wise which is good.

Until tomorrow...

Day 204: Results are in for Start of Week 2

Christmas Challenge Day 8

Firstly congratulations to all the shredders who completed the 14 day group shred. I participated in the first one and I know what a difference they can make. Also to Adam who without him many of us would not be on this journey, congratulations on completing M5, your great 6 pack, your 2 years of blogging, your upcoming life story documentary (the list will stop soon) and the upcoming release of your RTP Workout System.

Congratulation's to you all...

So the start of a new week and with a new week comes the stats from the previous week. No based on previous experience I was expecting this week to be pretty good stats wise so I will hold out on the excitement until next weeks come in. I should imagine that a fair proportion of the weight from the past week was excess fluids.

Anyhow weight it weight but fat is fat and I am measuring that too. So here goes:

86kgs to 84.2kgs
21.5% BF to 20.6% BF

So that's a loss of 1.8kgs and 0.9% BF. For those doing the calcs it is around 1.1 kgs of fat but also around 0.7kgs of muscle. That said I know it can vary immensely when doing BF as to the time of day your hydration levels etc so I am not going to get too wrapped up in the figure each week. I am more concerned in keeping a relatively good downwards line as it were so that I reach my goal in 7 weeks.

So in relation to my goals, the standard goal is 82kgs and 17.5% BF so I have another 2.2kgs and another 3.1% BF.

The stretch is 80kgs and 16% BF which is another 4.2 kgs and 4.6% BF in 7 weeks. So the standard goal now looks very achievable but I know from the past that body will try it's best to maintain equilibrium so a good loss one week may mean little or none the next so as I said I am not celebrating just yet.

I plan to continue with the hard training and more importantly be consistent with my nutrition.

Had a great weights session today. Took the dumbbell flys down onto the fit ball today to mix it up today just to keep it a bit different. A great bas session also.

Until tomorrow...

Day 203: Christmas Challenge Week 1

Christmas Challenge Day 7

The end of the first week and a pretty good week too. Nutrition has been great. Not a single crisp has passed my lips not even over the weekend. For lunch today I had my cheat meal which for the most part was not too unhealthy. A traditional English roast, however it was pork and there was crackling!! I did ask for a smaller slice of chocolate torte for pudding though, and had a small bit of ice cream with it. It was my cheat meal and no snaks nor cakes have been touched this week. I did not really want any but decided to have it so as to keep my wife happy. If I get too dedicated she starts getting on her high horse about how unhealthy I am being eating all this healthy food!!!!!

Went swimming with the boys after my brother and his wife left and managed to get in a few lengths when they were playing with there friends. As soon as I got back I got changed and went out for a run. It was already almost dark by that stage and very windy.

Wanted to get halfway round quickly as there are no street lights on the beach or the mud track that takes me back up to the main road. My trainers are now quite black from the mud as I could not really see the puddles or mud!!! It was a really strange run though, haven't run in the dark for ages and it has been chilly and very windy all day but it was actually quite warm.

It was dark by the time that I got home. Reasonable time just over 27 mins. It was really windy on the home stretch and I have to admit my quads are suffering a bit from the leg raises and squats I did on Friday.

Only this evening to go and I have made it 7 days without a drink. Now don't get me wrong I am not a heavy drinker even when I drink and I never drink in the week but I do love a couple of pints at the weekend so not drinking anything over the weekend is a big thing for me. I have no concerns about tonight though and feel fitter and healthier for a clean week.

Although I do not want to get too hung up on the stats I am hoping for some great results tomorrow when I weigh myself and do my BF% but I am not going to get too overjoyed if it's great or too down if it's not. I will keep going no matter what for the next 7 weeks.

Until tomorrow...

Day 202: Rest Day

Christmas challenge Day 6

A rest day today but was still spot on nutrition wise. Great swim with the boys and my brother. Challenge for Sunday is when to get a workout in!!

Until tomorrow...