Fitness Is Relative

Ironically this was mostly written when I was Reasonably Fit. Currently I'm Reasonably Fat but attempting to reverse the tide!


Questions

These are meant to be very un-specific questions

How do you consider yourself to be compared to your friends?
How fit do you consider yourself to be compared to the general population?


Self Deprecating Fitness

I'm not Very Fit. Reasonably Fit perhaps, but not Very Fit. Really Fit is another country and getting a passport involves a lot of hard work. Mr/Mrs Really Fit does an Ironman triathlon in under 12 hours.

Some of this is typical British self-deprecation where blowing ones own trumpet is considered crass and generally bad manners. Any American style self promotion is generally viewed to be in "poor taste" and may be subject to a raised eyebrow or eye roll.

Exhibit A: Excerpt from a chat with a colleague who is a Cat 2 cyclist and races cyclocross, regularly placing well in the Three Peaks CX race. He is Very Fit.

him: "You'll be getting good at the cycling then?"
me: "Well I'm getting better but I'm not as fit as you."
him: "Me? I'm not that fit."
me: "Yes you are."
him: "Yeah but there are lots of people fitter than me."

[This is all part of the deal. I know him to be fitter than me and through this exchange we establish this order informally, using the playing down of our own abilities as acknowledgement of each others skills as an exchange of friendship. Anthropologists and psychologists have probably written many papers on such things. I'm neither so we'll leave it there.]

The last line is key, "...there are lots of people fitter than me." Fitness is relative.


It's everyone else's fault I'm so unfit

At the risk of violating the above principle of self-deprecation, taking the population of the UK as a reference, I'm most likely of above average fitness. I average about 5 hours of exercise a week with the cycle commute, general bike riding and a spot of fell jogging (not really running - self deprecation again). I've completed the Fellsman, a couple of 45 mile walks, a 6h 30m on the Yorkshire 3 peaks, occasional adventure racing, a triathlon, mountain marathons, etc. But I still don't think of myself as being Very Fit.

A big part of this is the company we keep. I have a lot of friends and acquaintances through running and climbing and cycling. If I was to judge my own fitness against theirs, I'd have to say I was average. Maybe I should start hanging out down at the local McDonalds to feel fitter?


There's more to it than just running up hills

What about the mental side of fitness? The part that keeps us pushing on when we'd much rather call it a day and sit down next to the fire with a slice of cake and a pint of tea?

Endurance events seem to have more than their fair share of people in the V40 and above category. There could be a number of explanations to this, but it still remains that you can still cut it, indeed get better, as you get older. I'm certainly hoping that this is the case as it means I haven't hit my prime yet!

I've certainly found myself to be more determined of mindset as I've got older. Some things that used to be important aren't as much and I am much more confident in myself and self reliant. I have a better appreciation of the signals that my body sends me and what they mean, where my limits are and the experience to know that a short bad spell will be over in a bit and then it will be business as usual.

Life toughens you up?

As we get older we are more aware of the finite time we have and, hopefully, we are encouraged more to enjoy it to the full. Are our forties the magic decade? Our children are less reliant on us, our careers are generally more settled, do we have less pressure than before?

I'm not there yet but I'll let you know what it's like when I do. I'd be interested to hear from my friends who are there about what they think.

My physio has, stencilled on the wall in their reception area, the motto "Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever". Set against the scale of our lives, a little suffering during a fell race is a mere blip.

This is helped by the human brain's incapacity for remembering time. We can remember discrete events in a run for example, a rock, sweat, a view, out of breath, a good bit of trail but we can't relive the whole thing in real time when we remember it. It's a safety mechanism to enable us to actually function and not be stuck in loops of memories and remembering memories ad inifnitum in real time.

Similarly we can't remember pain. We can remember being in pain but we can't bring back that specific sensation. Bloody good job! Add some rose tinted spectacles and even the most horrific, Type 3 suffer fest has good memories associated with it. We can fool ourselves that it was actually fun!

Pull Up Bar

My opportunities for climbing these days are a bit restricted by time and other activities. After a good winter climbing trip I'm planning to get out for more trad climbing this summer as I'm finding that I miss it. So as to not be utterly rubbish when I do get out I'm going to need to work on my upper body strength at home.

To this effect I've installed a pull-up bar in the garage. The idea is that when I arrive back from my cycle home I can do a full set of pull ups before I enter the house and find that motivation has deserted me. Five sets of pull up exercises a week should see some progression.

This was a slight technical challenge as the roof beams are a bit flimsy to have 85 or so kilos of Yorkshireman dangle from them and the headroom in the garage is a bit limited so I'm going to have to lift my legs up to get the requisite clearance! After a bit of thinking I ended up coming up with the below design.

Simplified view of the mounting method

Since its only in the garage I don't have to worry too much about it's appearance so the frame is made from rough sawn timber. A couple of lengths of 2400 x 100 x 50mm for the reinforcing beams from B+Q and the rest is made up of similar cross section lengths from an old pallet that I ripped apart. Recycling!

The pull up bar hooks into the arms for easy removal. I should have used a coping saw to cut the rounded ends but I confess I was too lazy so carved them out with a chisel. The hook base is reinforced with a few screws.

The arms swing up into the roof space for added headroom.

The M10 x 150mm coach bolts hold the arms tightly enough and the surface is rough enough to hold it in place. Penny washers spread the load and double nuts (I didn't have any M10 Nyloc) prevent loosening.

The bar is a 25mm galvanised steel conduit that was getting thrown out of work a while back that I saved. More recycling! I can always add some self amalgamating tape for extra grip if necessary.

Not exactly fine craftsmanship, but rough, ready and ultimately practical.

I've got this picture stuck up on the reinforcing beam that I look at when I've completed a pull up. Just a little something to keep me motivated!

Himmelswillen, VS 4c, Wharncliffe; Louise; Point Five Gully, V 5, Ben Nevis, the nippers.

There's some good suggestions for training routines on that internet and I'm intending to do the following for the first week to see how I get on. I'm starting from pretty much nothing, I can probably do one or two pullups unassisted. So I'll probably start with my feet on a chair and progress from there.

Week 1, daily routine

• Standard pull ups, palm away from face, 5 reps
• Straight arm hang, leg raises, 90º knee bend, 5 reps (working core)
• Lock off and slow controlled descent to straight arm over a few seconds, 5 reps
• Push ups, 5 reps

I'll probably still suck at climbing!

Eating and excercise

Hitting the Wall

"I do like James," said Ron, my father-out-law-soon-to-be-in-law, "but I've never met anyone who eats as much as he does!".

I'm not sure if I have a fast metabolism. Maybe I burn off more calories than I estimate. Perhaps pretending to be clever at work takes more energy than I think. Whatever. Nevertheless, there have been several occasions where I've wanted to go for a run after coming home from work but I've just been too tired. Then I've proceeded to eat half of the house. Thinking about it, on these tired days I've generally not eaten enough. Yesterday was a good example that got me thinking about this.

• Breakfast: muesli, no banana (fell out of my bag on way to work!)
• Lunch: small sandwich, sausage roll. Forgot other fruit :(
• Emergency wobbly legs late afternoon snack: Mars bar from Max's tuck shop
• Made it home with no energy. Not going for a run. Can just about say "whrrrrrrttttt"
• Tea: inhaled a large bowl of mushroom + pesto pasta
• Followed by Hula Hoops, two chocolate brioche rolls I'd been saving for running snacks, a bit of dark chocolate and two crumpets with Marmite.

Felt much better!


Energy Out vs Energy In

Every day I ride to work and back which, according to various estimates, burns around 200-350 calories each way. This means 400-700 calories on commuting a day. Not bad. However the body isn't an infinite store of energy (who knew?!) so I've got to put it in too!

So today was an experiment to consciously eat plenty.

• Breakfast 1: Crumpet and butter
• Cycle to work (247 Strava calories estimate)
• Breakfast 2: Muesli and banana large portion
• Lunch: Egg sandwich on brown seeded bread, tiny bit of mayo, cup of Heinz mushroom soup and a steak pasty from the butty shop
• PM snack: Another egg sandwich as above, orange, apple
• Cycle home (215 Strava calories estimate)
• Tea 1: Chicken sandwich, marmalade sandwich, crumpet with Marmite
• Running club 4.5 miles, 846 calories
• Tea 2: Pint of ale, toad in the hole (4 sausages)

And I feel great! Turned in a good day at work, good concentration levels, plenty of energy for running and such.


So?

I think I need to look at my diet a bit to make sure I'm eating enough but also make sure it's good stuff. I do tend to eat lots of carbs (bread!) and perhaps not enough lean protein. However I generally get my five a day. I'm not fat by any stretch of the imagination, so I know I can eat this much and exercise it off.

Now, where's my pie?

Musings on city running, art, the big and the small...

Just back from a long weekend in London with some friends which involved lots of catching up, lazing around, eating brilliant food (loads of sushi, Ian's courgetty spaghetti, my homemade focaccia), going to loads of museums and being a complete tourist. The British Museum was a particular highlight for me; seeing the Lewis Chessmen and the Rosetta Stone was well worthwhile. I've no idea how we managed to fit in as much as we did and the days flew past.

Some lovely noms

After eating a not insignificant amount of cake, sourdough bread and goats cheese the day before I felt like I really needed to work off some of the calories so went for a longer than expected trot.

Run.

Following the route we walked on Saturday, I headed out of Blackheath, across the heath itself and past the London Marathon start line before heading past the Greenwich Royal Observatory to find a great view of the city.

From there a short downhill hurtle, startling sluggish squirrels and ponderous wood pigeons and through the streets to the Cutty Sark where I met Albert the Harris Hawk (complete with trained hi-viz arm) on his Monday morning pigeon scaring round.

The waterfront afforded a glimpse of the Millennium Dome (or whatever it is called these days) and the sweep of the river around the Isle of Dogs. The smell of the Thames area seemed slighty salty, rotten and muddy like one of the old wooden jettys that still punctuate bits of the shore. The sounds were the wind, the washing of the river on the bank, clanking of the various bits of industrial units or building sites and the grumbling of passing boats and water taxis. It made for an interesting and pleasant running atmosphere, for the novelty if nothing else.

Pleasingly I had the Thames path mostly to myself apart from the odd jogger coming the other way. Having heard anecdotally that runners in London don't do eye contact, nods or smiles, I can confirm that this is most certainly the case. People in the city, more so than elsewhere I find, seem to exist in a tunnel wherein it is them, their destination and nothing else. I suppose it is a defence mechanism to stop them from becoming overwhelmed by the sheer weight of people on the pavement, on the roads, on the tube or bus. London is so crammed in, so squeezed that even the streets feel hemmed in and enclosed, almost pushing you inside yourself. I guess I'm just calibrated for open spaces.

Art.

There are several bits of modern artwork and sculpture along the Thames as part of The Line. The abstract signpost above is mounted on the Greenwich Meridian, pointing due north with the number representing the number of miles necessary to travel around the globe to arrive back "here" at the starting point. I'm pleased to see they used the correct figure that accounts for the fact that the earth is an oblate spheroid and not a perfect sphere which goes to show you don't stop being an engineer just because you are on holiday. Put that number into perspective with the amount of miles that people drive, run, or cycle every year and it gives you a bit more of a sense of scale as to the size of the planet and perhaps how small we are in comparison.

"A slice of ship, Vicar? One lump or two?"

Proving that folk will nick anything that isn't nailed down, this poor artist has had most of his ship purloined leaving on bricks. He's not going to be able to sail it anywhere, least in the name of art.

Beneath the Emirates Air Line gondola sits Antony Gormley's "Quantum Cloud" which seemingly crackles like static on a untuned radio. You can make out the characteristic Gormley figure inside the cloud and the whole construction sits really well against the backdrop of the sky and the city. Thinking about the relative vastness of space between the elementary particles that make up matter and the cloud of electrons around the nucleus making you contemplate the small through the medium of the very big. If that last sentence doesn't get me in Private Eye's "Pseuds Corner" then I quit.

A bit further than I originally planned to run but I continued out along towards the Thames Barrier. I'd never seen it in the flesh but I remember it being in a book on buildings I read when I was younger so was quite keen to take a look. They could have chosen to dress up these flood gates however they wished but they chose almost pearlescent art deco teeth, appropriate for the mouth of the river. Sadly the vistors centre wasn't open, and even if it was I'm not sure a sweaty Yorkshireman would be first on the list to get in.

So instead of the usual fell top views and ups and downs I traded it all in for the life of a city runner for a day. Whilst it's great to see the sights of The Big Smoke on a run I wouldn't swap it for a blowy moorland shuffle any day.


Aftermath.

Having not run for this distance on hard surface for a long while, I can confirm that my legs were in agony for the next few days. I must meditate on my own advice once in a while!


Strava.

Adventure Bars

*sings*My flapjacks bring all the boys to the yardAnd they're like "I say these are jolly tasty!"

I'm pretty happy with my flapjack recipe. I'm not sure where I got the original recipe from but it's a cracker. I can make it without having to refer to the written recipe as the quantities are easy enough to remember. It's got a bit of flexibility as you can put in pretty much whatever you want.

Ingredients

2 x pints of oats (you could use a pint glass to measure this...)

1 x 340g jar of good honey

1 x 250g block of lightly salted butter

1 x handful of sultanas

1 x handful of other fruit. I like chopped apricots or cranberries

1 x handful of pumpkin seeds (chopped a bit) or perhaps use walnuts or pistachios

1 x handful of cashew nuts (chopped a bit)

2 x heaped tbsp dessicated coconut (optional)

1 x tbsp freeze dried raspberry powder (optional)

1 x handful of cornflakes for added crunch (optional)

Method

• Melt butter (cut into chunks for faster melting) and honey together in a pan
• Add everything and mix well
• Bake in a well greased or lined tin for about 180°C for 20~25 mins (until just going light brown on top)
• You can bake in deep muffin tins to skip the cutting up stage
• Take out and compress gently with the back of a spoon whilst hot to make sure they stick together well
• Leave to cool entirely before handling
• Eat whilst on adventures

Why?

• Fruit sugar for a more instant energy boost
• Honey has lower GI than refined sugar so steadier energy delivery
• High in starchy carbs for medium term energy
• Fats in cashews and pumpkin seeds for longer term energy
• Salt in butter replaces some of what you sweat out
• Not too sweet so you can eat them even when you feel a bit sick during endurance events
• Should be a good post workout recovery food too

The short run.

Regular short runs are the bread and butter of running. You can do fell races, ultra marathons, track sessions, etc. but just a quick lap around the block on a regular basis keeps everything oiled and in condition ready for the bigger faster stuff. Ian Holmes does it so I should bloody well do it!

I've been suffering a lack of motivation recently relating to running. Perhaps I've been a bit tired, perhaps I'm thinking about work too much, perhaps cycling to work and back every day is enough exercise, perhaps the DIY is presenting sufficient load in the evenings... suffice to say I'm not pounding the paths around my house as frequently as I have been.

I'm still psyched for the long runs and walks leading up to the Fellsman, it's just the short ones I''ve not been keeping up. Having had a lazy weekend with the kids I decided to use the evening's rain and the change in clocks to my advantage and try and reconnect with more day to day running.

The hardest bit about running is putting your shoes on and taking that first step out of the door. I managed and was soon squelching through some mud along a back path and heading up Bury Lane where this little chap was lurking by the fence. Lambs are a great reminder of the yearly arrival of life after the winter of hibernation.

Big ears!

I was't taking it quickly, just running at a steady pace up and down the hills, feeling a bit sluggish. After mile 2 my right piriformis was starting to pull tight. I had been to the see the physio about my left hip last week and it felt a lot looser after Candice had given my buttocks a good elbowing. Should have asked her to loosen up the right one as well.

Suffice to say I finished and was pleasantly surprised to have achieved a few Strava trophies for my troubles.

It strikes me that these shorter runs are just as important as the longer ones. These shorter runs keep the stabilising muscles and joints oiled and ticking over. Probably the reasons for my tight piriformis is the lack of rough terrain running that I incorporate into my regular training. In fact, I've got a real lack of regular running at all recently! This shall not do, so I'm making a promise to myself that I'm going to do three shortish runs a week between now and the Fellsman at the end of April just to keep things in shape. Let's see how this holds up.

On a side note, there have been some small incremental improvements to Strava. Firstly the app now has better access to segment leaderboards which means I don't have to fire up the PC version. Second the ability to attach photos to a ride is good without needing an Instagram account. Good work folks.

I'm pleasantly sleepy after tonight's trot, listening to Gong and doing the internet equivalent of pottering in the shed. Success.

Goals for 2015

The flipping of the calendar over from one year to the other has always been a good time to analyse the year that has been and look forward to the one coming. After a miserable end to 2009 I decided, on New Years Eve, to stop moping around and use the new year as a springboard to better things. Life has got progressively more marvellous since then.

After looking back at some of the events of 2014 I've been giving some thought to what lies ahead in 2015 and what I'd like to achieve. I'm not too keen on the term New Year's Resolution because of the stigma of eventual failure that inevitably follows! These are definitely goals to work towards not things to start doing then stop.

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> More winter climbing
By far and away my favourite pastime, winter mountaineering offers up a superb challenge; long days, tough conditions, technical climbing, solitude, a sense of the scale of nature and your relative insignificant place in it and the shared experience between friends.

The reward of reaching the top of a mountain via a difficult route is one of immense satisfaction. You haven't conquered the mountain; you don't conquer nature, you work within the limits it imposes. The mountain has tested you and let you pass.

This year, I'm without my usual winter partner Jonny due to work commitments. However we've got a week in Fort William booked in Feb with 8 people booked in. There's a range of experiences so we aren't going to be pushing the grades but there's scope for a lot of fun introducing people to the playground of the Scottish Highlands in their winter coat.

And the summit whisky!


> Sub 24-hour Fellsman
Ever since my good friend Tim told me about The Fellsman Hike in 2010 I've wanted to do it. He's helped run the Snaizeholme checkpoint about halfway round the 62 mile route for the last several years. I first entered it in 2012 getting 2/3rds of the way round to Cray in pretty poor weather conditions before the organisers (rightly) called the event off due to the number of people suffering from exposure. One chap in our overnight group of four lost his eyesight temporarily due to the cold and I had to walk him off the hill, hand in hand, for 3 miles!

You'd think after this I would be excused from trying it again. However at that 2/3rds point I was still going strong and was keen to finish so this was unfinished business. Overtraining in 2013 resulted in an ankle injury which ruled me out that year and a persistent knee injury put the damper on this year's entry.

I'm feeling confident that 2015 is going to be the year of achieving this long term race goal and am already considering the training plan which will be the subject of another post!


> Adventure Racing / Multisport Races
Race 1 and 2 in the Haglofs Open 5 series have whetted my appetite for more multisport races. I'll be partaking in the 4th and 5th races in the seriesas well as keeping my eye out for more adventure races. Maybe even the odd orienteering, duathlon or interesting triathlon will be considered!


> 2500 miles of cycling
Always good to set a mileage target. I missed this year's target of 2000 miles by 150 miles which isn't bad considering I wasn't cycling regularly for the first half of the year. I also want to do a 100 mile ride sometime, maybe even have a stab at Stage 1 of the 2014 TdF through the top of Yorkshire sometime in September?


> 500 miles of running
An average of 10 miles a week should be achievable and be enough to keep my running strength up to scratch.


> Mountain Marathon
Either the Saunders, OMM or LAMM is going to happen this year, partner permitting!


> Write more interesting blogs
I'm not sure if this is "more interesting" as in more of the same or that they should be "more interesting!". I'm enjoying blogging as a way of organising my thoughts and I've got a couple of longer posts I've been working on. Trying to write creatively is a fun challenge :)


> More camping and walking with the kids
Trying to indoctrinate the youth into believing the outdoors is fun! This year we are going to climb an actual mountain (not sure which one) and have lots of fun in tents.


> More Wainwrights!
I've only ticked 14% of them but every time I go to the Lakes I have a great time so any excuse to return regularly is fine by me!


> Learn to play the ukulele
Lastly, possibly the biggest challenge of 2015. Having never had any musical training or experience or any ability whatsoever I have decided to learn to play a musical instrument. After chatting to my Dad (a very musical chap) I've elected to learn the ukulele in 2015. I'm sure I can fit in regular but short practice sessions into my week just by cutting down on the number of times I check Facebook!

This is going to be difficult as I've got pretty much no idea how to read music/tabs, how to play chords or even where to blow into a ukulele*. I'll be twanging out some tunes before you know it and irritating L and the kids.

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So, come just after midnight, after I've mumbled my way through the bits of Auld Lang Syne that I know and hugged a few people, I shall sneak off to a quiet corner with a single malt to toast the year gone, the one to come and all my friends and family.

Then back into the party to hoover up what's left of the canapes. I'll burn it off later.

Make it a good one, yeah?

* I know, I know... you blow across the big hole right? ;)

No Bedlam. What About Insanity?

Unfortunately this year I'm missing out on the Bedlamite night race series because I've started taking my daughter to the KCAC juniors. She loves it as she gets to run round in circles with her friends and generally wear herself out. Patrick the coach is a good lad and they always seem to be having lots of fun.

I saw some mention of the "Insanity in East Morton" exercise class pop up on Facebook after some friends from running signed up. L used to do Boot Camp after work but the classes were cancelled due to lack of interest. So I thought this would fill the gap for her and give me some much needed core muscle workout and cross training. Plus we can do it together and it's just round the corner from JP Towers.

This is the first time I've been to an organised fitness class and I wasn't sure what to expect. All I had to go on were the usual stereotypes of loud music and people shouting at me telling me what to do. Thankfully it the music wasn't that load and both Clare and Sarah didn't shout too much.

The workout format seems to be a warm up, three blocks of three rounds of different exercises (making nine blocks in all) and then a cool down / stretch. Sounds easy eh?

I have never sweated as much doing a workout. Comedic amounts of perspiration overloaded my technical T-shirt leaving the floor slippery after I laid down during one routine. Some of the routines were easier than I thought (running and cycling muscles obviously helped here) but some were really really difficult and I couldn't do the full minute.

The instructors said to aim for 90% effort. My core muscles, well, I feel like I've certainly given it that and I'm still enjoying the endorphins as I write.

Same time next week? Assuming my muscles have recovered by then!