You really don't want to lose weight

Weight is a horrible, horrible indicator of your fitness. I weigh more now than I ever have but that's because I've put on muscle. If I just looked at the scales as an indicator of my health I would be depressed and quit exercising and watching what I eat. Why bother training and dieting if there's no change? If weight is my only guide then I wouldn't be happy.

If you decide to lose weight and begin to exercise what do think is going to happen? You are going to burn fat. That's good. Congratulations. Burning the fat means that you will lose weight. But guess what else is going to happen? All those muscles you are exercising are going to toughen up, get bigger and stronger and you know what that means? It means you are going to put on weight. When you get on the scales and see that the weight hasn't changed how are you going to feel? Horrible, right?

Weight is a horrible indicator. It has it's place but, as a sole indicator, it is not helpful. A better measure is your fat content. If your fat content is going down and your weight is staying the same then you are putting on lean mass - that's a good thing. If your fat content is going up and your weight is staying the same then you are losing lean mass - that's not a good thing. Measuring your fat is a healthier measure than weight alone.

So how do you do it?

Let me suggest two ways of measuring your fat content. In both cases you will get a reasonable gauge of your fat content as a percentage of your total weight. For me, I like mini goals and quick feedback so I will measure myself once a week to see that I'm making gains toward my goals.

Currently I am currently using Accu-Measure Calipers. They give a quick and accurate measure of my fat percentage. They are very easy to use and aren't very expensive. You can purchase them online (here in India). They come with a chart that quickly lets you know where you are within 2%.

The second method is the US Navy Calculator. This is what I used when I first started measuring my fat content. All you need is a tape measure. An online calculator can be found here, here and here. There are two formulas running around the internet, an older one and a new one. One formula for working it out yourself is:

Men in inches: %Fat = 86.010*LOG(abdomen - neck) - 70.041*LOG(height) + 36.76
Men in cms: %Fat = 86.010*LOG(abdomen - neck) - 70.041*LOG(height) + 30.30

Women in inches:%Fat = 163.205*LOG(abdomen + hip - neck) - 97.684*LOG(height) - 78.387
Women in cms: %Fat = 163.205*LOG(abdomen + hip - neck) - 97.684*LOG(height) - 104.912

At some point in your journey toward fitness your body fat won't matter. What will matter is how you feel about yourself. Do you like the person you see in the mirror. When you get to that stage the measuring tape will no longer be your friend - get rid of it.

Be as lazy as you can to be fit and healthy

There are lots of diets and exercise programs out there and most of them work - for a while. You try the watermelon diet and you will lose 5kg, 10kg and then a year later you put it all back on with 20% interest. This cycle of lose-gain-lose-gain results in a billion dollar weight loss and fitness industry and a generation of obesity. The secret to being fit and healthy all year round is to be lazy.

Lazy is an unwillingness to work or use energy and that's the key to being fit all the time. You must be unwilling to work, unwilling to do any more than you need to in order to achieve your goal. You must do the absolute minimum to get there. If you can get to your weight loss goal or your fitness goal with the least amount of work then you have a much better chance of sustaining it.

If you want to be thin then there are lots of unsustainable methods. If you want to be thin all the time you need to make lifestyle changes. Often those changes are just small tweaks that build up over time that make your goals a reality. The same goes for fitness or health or strength.

Of course, if your goal is to be an athlete then your level of lazy will be higher than someone who wants to attain an average level of fitness. The point I'm making here is that the less you can do to achieve your goal the more likely you are to maintain it. If it's a lot of work and effort to achieve your goal then you are less likely to maintain what you have achieved.

For me, right now, I'm trying to lose about 4kg of fat. I'm doing 2 things to achieve that. I'm following a diet that isn't difficult that is 500 calories less than what I would normally eat. That amounts to about 20% less food per meal. That's doable. And I'm exercising 4 times a week for about 30 mins. That's 2 hours per week. That's doable too. It should take me about 12-20 weeks. That's realistic. When I get to the goal I get to eat a little bit more and the exercise is still only 2 hours per week. That's lazy fitness.

Are you doing too much to achieve your goals? What's the absolute minimum you need to achieve your fitness and health goals? What could you achieve between now and the end of the year? Leave a comment and let me know.

I'm too old for this...maybe

There is always an excuse for not improving, for not trying, for backing off and taking things that bit easier. An excuse is a reason wrapped around a lie. A excuse sounds good; it sounds reasonable but at it's core there is a lie.

There will always be reasons for quitting, real, genuine reasons. Recently I tried my hand at Calligraphy. I wanted to try out the techniques from the first 20 hours so I choose to learn Calligraphy. My goal for this project wasn't to master Calligraphy, only to learn one script that I could use on certificates and cards. At the end of 20 hours I had achieved my goal. I am happy with my progress and have achieved what I set out to do. It's time to quit developing those techniques.

But then there are the excuses that keep us stuck. They sound good to our ears but they hold us back from being all that we are created to be. They hold us back from achieving what our hearts yearn for. One of my heroes who changed his life and didn't let excuses get in the way is Fauja Singh.

In 1992 Fauja Singh was 81 years old and still farming his land in India when his wife passed away. In the same years one of his daughters also died giving birth to his third grandchild. He fell into depression. To deal with the depression he began to run as a way to deal with it. And then in 1994 a farming accident decapitated his son right before his eyes. All alone in India he decided to migrate to England to be with his other children.

At 89 years of age he took up running seriously and in 2000 Fauja Singh ran his first marathon. He has now run 8 marathons! In 2011, at the age of 100 he ran the Toronto marathon. Age is no excuse for this man.

I don't think I will be running at 100 - I don't think I will be alive at 100. But Fauja Singh inspires me today. There is a fine line between an excuse and a reason and only when I am honest with myself can I tell the difference.  For now, I'm not too old to exercise. I'm not too old to be fit and healthy. I'm not too old to look forward to next year's marathon.

 

I failed

The title says it all - I failed to achieve a PB.

I was well prepared, the carbo loading went well, I was well hydrated. The event was very well organised by Runner for Life. At the 20km mark I was on time and doing well. In fact I thought I should and could pick up the pace but I kept myself back as I didn't want to burn myself out - I was right on track to getting a PB and feeling fine. And then around 25 km it all fell apart.

My lower was causing me a little discomfort at the half was mark; nothing serious and nothing I wasn't used to. Years ago when I first took up running I couldn't run more than 20 km without my knees being in sever pain that evening. A trip to the podiatrist showed that I had a slight foot problem that caused my hips to turn which caused my knees to turn. At 13 I had a car accident that broke my right leg, stretching some of the supporting ligaments which means that the hip/knee twisting causing excruciating pain.  The podiatrist made some very solid foot inserts for my shoes to stop the foot from causing all that twisting. It worked beautifully. I was able to run with minimal knee pain and my lower back pain virtually disappeared. I have used those inserts for running until 3 years ago. About 3 years ago I experimented with minimalist shoes that uses a more natural, bare foot, style of running. These were great and allowed me to get rid of the inserts for running. I have been using these for the marathon preparation without any problems until yesterday.

Around 23 km into the marathon my lower back was very sore. The trail was tough. The path isn't smooth and cemented. It's dirt with stones and rocks. It's regarded as one of the toughest marathons in India because of the trail component. It was causing me legs to naturally twist and my lower back was starting to scream at me. This I could handle. Suck in the stomach, remember all the core training I did, "keep the back strong" I told myself. And then after 2 km of sucking it up my right knee said hello, very loudly. It felt like someone put a knife into my right knee. It was immediate, it was painful and I knew instantly that I was in trouble.

I tried to run on it at least 6 times as I sought to finish the marathon. The best I managed was the second attempt with a whole 45 seconds of running. By the 30 km mark I knew it wasn't going to get better. I knew the PB was gone. I hoped that this wouldn't be my worst time ever. It was. But I wasn't going to quit. If I was going to finish then I would need to walk it. Walking was ok. Any kind of running wasn't. So I walked. I walked as fast as I possibly could. Every few kms I would stop and stretch and then take off and walk, again, as fast as I could. I had 2 people pass me from 30 km to the finish. I passed 6.

The bottom line, mechanically I fell apart. The lungs were fine the leg muscles were fine the pace was fine. Mechanically I broke down and the goal was lost.

And so, the experiment draws to a close. My weight and body fat is the same as when I started. I feel like I have lost some bulk up top but not a significant amount. The PB was not achieved. The conclusion from this marathon is: Yes, preparing for a marathon affected my body building.

Perhaps next time it will be different.

To Runners for Life, thanks guys. You did a great job before, during and after the marathon. It was a great experience, albeit a painful one, and I hope to return again next year.

To all of you who have been following me along this journey, thank you. I have appreciated the encouragement you have all given to me throughout these passed months. When I had to walk and the PB was lost I wanted to quit trying and just stroll home. Your encouragement kept me trying my best in the face of defeat. I feel much better about myself for having given my best until the very end and your support was the key factor.

Thank you.

42 days of recovery to go.

The experiment is nearly over

In two days time this experiment will be over. The race would have been run and either I accomplished my goal time or I didn't. My goal for this experiment is to achieve a PB on the Kaveri Trail Marathon without losing any lean weight. Other than the race time the other results from this experiment can be measured now.

The result is simple: the marathon training has impacted the body building. My weight has remained steady as has my lean body mass. That's been a positive outcome but my body building has been affected. While I don't think the running itself has impacted the body building there are two clear affects preparing for the marathon has had on me.

Firstly, my clothes are hanging on me a bit more which suggests I have lost some mass. That could be nothing more than a lose of muscle pump you get from doing a weights session. The clothes aren't hanging really lose, only enough for me to know that I have lost some mass. Secondly, and more significantly, I have lost some strength. The reason for both of these outcomes is simple, I haven't been able to do strength training like I thought I would.

Throughout the last few months adding in 2-3 runs a week has pushed out my strength training sessions. I thought my schedule could fit in the extra runs without sacrificing my 3-4 strength training days. I was wrong. Life has been busier than I expected and adding the runs into my routine meant something had to go and since running has been the priority the strength training has progressively moved to the back of my priorities.

I tried to change my strength routines to full body workouts and that worked for a while but the closer I have come to the marathon the more time I have been giving myself to fully recover from the running. This has been especially true over these two final weeks . I am so conscious of getting injured that I am under strength training to ensure I don't hurt myself. The hip problem I had (have) put some fear into me and made me cautious.

It appears, to me at least, that the greatest impact preparing for the marathon has had on my strength training is that I was not able to balance both training routines at the same time. This is something I can learn from and seek to improve and plan for. This is just round one of the experiment after all - there's always next year.

2 sleeps to go.

It's time to eat, drink and hope for the merry

In 10 days it will all be over. The experiment would have come to an end and I will, no doubt, have mixed emotions. Some things have gone well while other things haven't but these will be judged by the results. But judgment is for next week.

For now it's about the final preparation. I have my final speed workout today which involves doing a few laps at faster than marathon pace. Then it's just another couple of easy runs throughout the week to stay relaxed. The two big changes this week will be my sleep schedule and my eating plan.

The marathon starts at 6 am. I need to leave home about 45 mins before that. Before I leave home I need to hydrate and clear out the bowels (the last thing I want in the middle of a marathon is to need a toilet for a number 2!) So that means I'm up about 4:30 am. To avoid being groggy and tired I will be adjusting my sleeping routine this week so that my body clock is used to getting up at 4:30 am. That should leave me feeling fresh and ready on race day. The discipline involved in succeeding in this is not getting up at 4:30 am but getting to bed early enough so that I've had enough sleep to get up at 4:30 am.

And then there's the eating plan. I need to eat lots of carbs and drink lots of water. I want my body to store lots of energy so that my legs have lots to draw on during the run so I'll be eating lots of carbs. Hydrating my body is also crucial, especially for me. I sweat a lot - and I mean a lot. I did a hydration test in Australia and I lose 1.1 litres per hour. In India I can lose that much in half an hour so I need my body to well hydrated long before the race.

Hopefully, I will finish the next few days feeling fantastic. As I continue to taper the aches and pains should completely disappear, I should feel energised and mentally excited. The hip pain has subsided nicely (although there is still some lower back pain on that side of the body) and the legs are feeling good. For now, it's time to eat, drink and sleep, for in 10 days I run.

10 days to go. 

The most difficult exercise in the final two weeks

In training for an event, any event, the closer I get to the starting line the more nervous I becomes. All the failures of training begin to haunt my mind. Doubts of achieving my goals become bigger and scarier. The desire to catch up on training grows. In the final two weeks of marathon preparation there is one exercise that is critical to me doing well. Rest.

With two weeks to go any endurance that has been gained is there. Any increases in speed have been gained. If I haven't developed the endurance and speed I wanted then it's too late. Now is the time to make the physical effort to back off from training and rest.

In the last 2 weeks if I try to compensate for missed training runs by running too fast or too long hard then there is the genuine risk that I will exhaust my body and not recover in time for the marathon. If my body is exhausted there is the risk I will catch some bug and get sick. I've run a marathon sick before and it's not pretty.

This phase of marathon preparation is called the taper. The amount of running one does significantly drops. Muscles recover. The immune system gets stronger. I still need to do some running, especially some short runs at marathon pace but no more than half of the weekly distances that I have been doing. I've been teaching my body to run for a while now so it is difficult to now tell it rest. But rest I must.

We live in a world that is already sleep deprived. We stay up late. The alarm gets us up early. Our bodies are so tired we think this is normal. Rest feels awkward and foreign. A luxury our lifestyle doesn't permit. That's what makes the exercise, the physical effort, of getting to bed early, of holding back from running, of sleeping well, so hard. That's what makes this so difficult an exercise but it's also the most important.

In your preparation for an event, physical or otherwise, do you taper? Do you allow yourself time to recover so that you are at 100% health before the event or do you train and keep trying right up to the starting line?

2 weeks to go.

When good plans backfire

I have a hip injury that is stopping me from getting some long runs in leading up to the marathon. I only needed on more long run to make sure my body would know what to expect on race day. So, my plan was to do lots of cross training, in particular, cycling. At least, so I thought, my legs would be getting a good workout. A few short runs and a few long rides was working well, until...the good plan.

The plan was to join a group of young guys heading out for a long ride, exhaust my legs, and then on Friday go for a moderate run. This way my legs would get the feel of the final 10kms but without all the pounding I would need to put my legs through with a long run. So goeth the plan.

On Thursday a number of us headed out for a 100km ride. Two of us were doing a round trip while the rest of the group was going to stay over night and head back the next day. The key mistake was in the positive assertion that we could get water along the way. We could get water, just not purified water. If I was going to drink enough water not to dehydrate I would need to drink village water. This can be hit and miss. Sometimes it's just fine. Other times your body doesn't respond well to it and you get sick - really, really sick. That's the backfire.

Friday was spent in bed with fever, body pain and diarrhea. Saturday was spent fatigued and exhausted. Today is stomach cramps and headaches. It sounded like a good plan when I headed out.

With three weeks to go the training now has to wind back. Whatever speed I have I have. Whatever endurance I have attained I have attained. Very little improvement will come from the final 3 weeks. The most important thing now is not to get sick. Getting sick is far more dangerous to starting and finishing the marathon than any progress that can be made at this late state. Ambition is great at the start but at this stage reality must govern the training. Too much and I'll hurt or exhaust myself and perhaps catch something. Too little is better at this stage.

Hopefully I can get in a 20km run and few 10-15km runs but the most important thing is to stay healthy.

3 weeks to go.

Apparently, this may kill me sooner than later

I was watching a Youtube Tedx video entitled "Run for your life! At a comfortable pace, and not too far: James O'Keefe". The gist of the talk is that running more than 20 miles (36km) per week is not too good for you and could in fact undo all the benefits of runners. While this talk has brought out some critics such as this article from Runners World,  there are some take home applications which both Alex Hutchinson and James O'Keefe do agree on. And Ill finish with my thoughts on the matter.

Firstly, yes, running too much is detrimental to your health. Nobody disputes that. The question of course is how much is too much. Where that line is nobody really knows and while James O'Keefe, a research cardiologist, has some opinions at this stage the evidence is unclear and unconfirmed. What Dr. James does suggest is that we all should get out there and do something; exercise a bit each day and you will be significantly healthier and live longer than if you do nothing. So the first take home application is that we should exercise, at least a little bit.

If Dr. O'Keefe is right, then long endurance based exercise over 25 years will shorten your life by about 6 years, the same amount if you did no exercise. My second point would be this - who cares? I don't know anyone who is out there doing long endurance based exercises because they must. Anybody who is exercising because they have to don't get into endurance based events and maintain that for 25 years. If you do something you love for 25 years and die 6 years earlier then that seems like a good trade. I'm a twin. Do you know how many twins live past 100? I know of one set of twins. Genetically, I'm wired to die early. I intend to live well with the years I have and if you love exercising for long periods then enjoy it. And remember, nobody really knows for sure if Dr. O'Keefe is right yet so he may be wrong.


Lastly, it turns out that diet is really important - who knew? You can be fit and thin and really unhealthy. You may be fit and still get a heart attack. What we eat impacts us on the inside even if the muscles are big and the girth is narrow.  What we eat affects our arteries and if we put junk in then no amount of exercise, either strength training or endurance training, can help us. Of course, if you are sedentary then junk food will impact you more and cause more problems but just because you look great and can run a marathon doesn't mean that you can eat whatever you want. Your choice of food matters.

So what's my take home perspective on all of this? I'm not over training by anybody's standard either O'Keefe's or Hutchinson's so I'm fine. I'm going to die early anyway so the best I can do is be healthy until the end. And lastly, my diet is fine. I'm going to do my strength training and stay strong and I'm going to do my fair share of endurance exercise to keep the heart healthy.

Actually, one more point. If you don't exercise or if your diet is horrible, please, do something about it. Extreme exercise may be a problem but even if it does kill you earlier, it's compared to those who do nothing. Do you hear that? If you aren't doing something you will die 6 years earlier and it's not a healthy six years. It's six years of pills and pain.

So tell me, what are you going to do this week to get off the couch and bring health to yourself?

4 weeks to go.

Admit it so you can move on

I had my first significant setback this week. Bursitis of the hip. Bursitis is inflammation of the joint due to overuse - turns out I've tried to do too much too soon. It's not serious as I can still run on it but the problem isn't going away and it's not going to go away unless I stop and treat it properly.

The good news is that with proper treatment this problem should disappear within a week or so. So, I've skipped my long run for the week, got the noninflammatory lotions working and taken it easy. Thankfully, after only 2 days the pain has subsided significantly.

Mentally I'm fine. Yes, this pain has stopped me from running for the moment but it's just a setback. Setbacks are not the end. Setbacks are obstacles that need to be worked around and resolved. If I don't listen to the setback but push ahead regardless then there is the real risk that the setback will turn into something more permanent.

Listening to setbacks is difficult though. They appear permanent. They appear to stop one's goal from being realised. Objective thinking is hard when you want something and something else is standing in the way. To stop running in order to heal also means I'm not progressing in my running since I'm not running. Until I can admit to myself that a break from running will lead to better running I'll continue to run despite the pain. Denial delays acceptance of the setback.

When I finally accepted my pain was real and was not going away (which took three weeks) finding a solution and building hope didn't take long. A quick search on Google for "running hip pain" immediately led to several articles and a short video on hip problems and remedies. Fifteen minutes later I knew what the problem was, what the remedy was and knowing that I have 6 weeks to go allows me time to recover and finish my preparation. Did you notice the biggest problem I had with this setback? Admitting I had a problem.

Most setbacks in running, body building or life can be solved so long as they are identified before they cause permanent damage. Admitting there is a problem is the toughest part in working around a setback. Without the admission nothing changes. Actually, there are changes. Bad changes. Changes that make and will continue to make your life miserable. With admission comes healthy change.

What's hampering your progress? If something could change right now that would make you better what would that be? What's stopping it from happening?

6 weeks to go.

1 starting line, 3 finishing lines.

There's only one starting line for the marathon but there are three finishing lines.

The starting line is race day. Every one is standing around with all their doubts and questions. Have I trained enough? Am I going to get a PB? Will I win this thing? (Personally I don't think I'll ever be asking that question before a marathon, but the top 3-5 runners are.) Have I forgotten anything? Do I have time to go to the bathroom? Questions abound. But there's an excitement around the starting line. It's also the first finish line.

Many people want to run a marathon. Most never will. It's a huge goal to pursue and one which you can be proud of even if you come last, after all, you still beat the guy lying on the couch. But even for those who want to and set out many still don't make it. I can't remember which marathon it was, whether it was my second or third, but 8 of us said that we would run it. For various reasons 5 didn't make it to the starting line. Some just got busy with life, others had to pull out due to injury. Only 3 made it to the starting line. Starting a marathon isn't running one. I guess anybody can show up - but usually the only people who do are those intending to finish it. The first finishing line is the starting line. You finished your training, you finished you preparation, you finished the first race which is to the starting line.

Then comes the second finish line. This line varies for people but it kicks in around the 32km mark. There's two reasons for this. Firstly, around 27km you start to run out of easy energy, that is, the energy that your body needs to run as easy sources and difficult sources. It takes more effort to convert the difficult sources into the energy your body needs to keep running strong. By 32km you're exhausted and now it's up to how much you want it. The second reason is that most people only train till 32km so once you get there it's new territory for your body. Any new experiences in the body are met with internal suspicion and the body will ask you to stop if it's all too hard - and of course it's hard, you don't have any easy energy left! While I would be reluctant to say that the first 32km is easy I would say that the last 10km is as difficult as the first 32km. However much you have suffered emotionally and physically for the first 32km you will suffer it all again over the next 10km. The comfort of the marathon ends at around 32km - the second finish line.

And then there's the final finish line. That last 10km is a mix of pain and excitement. Pain because you're exhausted, the feet are perhaps blistering, if you didn't prepare well your nipples are bleeding, your toenails are black and your legs are chaffing. Excitement because you have run 10kms lots of time, it's kinda familiar. And the last 200m that's just a laugh. At 42km you have 200m to go and it's hilarious - at least for me. I can sprint 200m and mentally I'm able to do it but the body can't. So, I start the final spring at the 42km mark. Within about 20m the legs fail and I'm back to plodding. But then excitement kicks in again closer to the finish and once again I sprint. Of course, that's not what it looks like. What I call sprinting at that stage is barely faster than a walk but I'm running fast than Bolt in my mind.

Each finish line has it's own hurdles to overcome. But that's the glory of the marathon - it turns you into a finisher. And that's something you can be proud of.

7 weeks to go.

Face the brutal facts

I've been lying to myself for the past few weeks. I want to be out running a minimum of 3 times per week. My key indicators have been my long run of 3 hours and my yassos. My yassos have been less than 4:30 min for 800 m with a 4:00 min rest. That's cool since my goal is to run a 4:30 hr marathon my yassos are ok. Today I did 10 of them at 4:20. That's a good indicator.

My other indicator has been my 3 hour run. I've done a couple of them and they are getting easier, not easy, but easier. Unfortunately my gps from years back is broken so I haven't really know what speed I've been doing. Since the yassos have been ok and the long run feels good I've convinced myself that the long run time is just fine. I could have used the gps on my phone but it the battery doesn't last for 3 hours using the gps so I haven't bothered.

Because these two indicators have been good I've been slack, lazy. I haven't trained as hard as I know I need to. I've given myself the excuse that I'm saving my muscle by only getting in 2 runs per week. Lies, especially lies to oneself, are so easy to believe when it makes life easier. And these lies have caused me to drift from my plan. Facing the brutal facts means seeing with fresh eyes what is blatantly obvious to anyone who has any ounce of concern. I didn't choose to face the facts, they jumped out at me.

As I was heading out for a one hour run I thought I would use the phone's gps as the battery was full and it was only going to be for one hour. I'm slow. Way, way too slow. Embarrassingly slow. The yassos are on track which means I have the speed but I'm not able to maintain it over the distance - even for one hour. With each passing 5 minutes my phone would tell me the distance. The first time it spoke I thought the gps was still getting a lock so the timing was out. By the third timing I was sure that the problem was me. By the 50 minute mark I was facing the brutal facts and I didn't like it.

There really are only two options when the facts brutally scream reality into your soul - deny them or change. Denial is easy but it comes with a price. In running a marathon the piper must be paid. I either pay the price now in order to run a good run leaving me satisfied and fulfilled or I pay the price of defeat - not of the marathon but of myself. Not running a marathon in the desired time is sad but if you give your best you stand tall knowing that you could have done nothing else. But to try halfheartedly under the pretense of giving one's best is to lie to oneself and that's defeat of the soul. Denial is too hard, too costly.

And so I have been shocked into reality. My conviction to run 3 times per week is now strong and sure and no longer clouded by lies. The path ahead will still be difficult but the prospect of satisfaction is more sure.

8 weeks to go.

Poor Man's Therapy

Therapy is expensive but if you need it then it's worth every cent you spend. Long distance running is poor man's therapy.

In long distance running, the 2-3 hour range, there's a lot of time to think. Lots of time to think and to think and to think. The time is great for working through ideas and concepts and all the good and bad stuff that's going on in your life. But there's something that happens, at least to me, at about the 2 hour mark that turns thinking into therapy.

Around 2 hours into the run I get exhausted. Really exhausted. Each step I take just adds to the exhaustion. Physical exhaustion becomes emotional exhaustion. The emotional walls that keep out the bad thoughts, the pains of yesterday, the thoughts of hurt and anger - those walls come down and I have to face them. I can keep running but I can't run away from myself. Unresolved stuff stares me in the face. They become my running partner. And they don't shut up. They want to talk. They want me to talk. They want to find peace and they don't care if I don't - at least in that moment.

And so I keep running and I keep thinking and the walls keep tumbling down and the conversation continues. And I'm too tired to keep them quiet and I'm too tired to put up a fight and so I listen to what they say to me. They don't shut because they are the ghosts of yesterday and they long to find their peace so they can move onto to another realm. And if I work with them, if I listen, and if I hear where they are coming from they will lead me to parts of my soul that I cannot go on my own. And once there I see the pain and the hurt and without all the distractions and denials I embrace the pain for what it is, for what it was, so that I can keep going forward, so that I can keep running.

Running is as much an emotional game as a physical one. Work with it and the emotional benefits will be as great as the physical ones.

9 weeks of therapy left.

Embrace the pain.

I worked with Peter years ago. He ran lots of sub 3 hour marathons. He inspired me. Peter gave me some advice about marathons that I have always remember. He said, "If you are going to run a marathon then you had better get used to pain." Marathons are painful.

Getting out of bed 3 hours earlier to fit in the long run is painful. Changing diets to stay healthy is painful. Having to increase the discipline of my bed time routine is painful. Running when I am exhausted is painful. Running out of energy 7kms from home is painful. Getting blisters on my feet half way through the training run is painful. Dealing with my emotional baggage that turns up mid run is painful. Having my shirt rub my nipples raw is painful. Falling short of my goal that I spent months and months preparing for is painful. If you are going to run a marathon you will need to embrace pain.

If you are a body builder than you know this. You understand hitting failure. You understand DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). You understand the need to push your body beyond comfortable in order to make it stronger. The same applies to running a marathon - only the pain is different. In body building the effort is intense and short. In running marathons the effort is sustained and, obviously, long. But you get the principle - pain is not the enemy; pain is the evidence of your progress. You know the cliches and slogans.

For those of you who are inactive who are reading this please note that I am not talking about acute pain. Acute pain is not good. This week my lower back was so sore it hurt to walk. That's acute pain. I missed two running sessions because I had to rest my back. The back is healing well so I could run my yassos today. Yassos are a tough run. Interval training is tough. It needs to be because I'm training myself to run faster. If I run comfortably then I won't improve so I must run at an uncomfortable pace so that my legs get stronger and faster. This is the pain that I must embrace. In body building if I want to get stronger I must lift heavy weights. Lifting light weights is comfortable but it won't make me stronger. To improve I must embrace the pain of discomfort.

Yes, you will suffer as you prepare for your marathon. But it's worth it. You become a finisher. You become one of those people that can start with a big goal and break it down into little goals. You become one of those people who understand consistency and progress and set backs and effort. You become a better person. A stronger person. You become a finisher. And that's worth suffering for.

What pain have your endured in order to achieve your goal? Was it worth it? For those of you who have run long races what pain did you endure in your training? What pain did you endure on race day? Leave a comment below as an encouragement to those who are starting out.

10 weeks to go.

Conflicting Diets

Different diets produce different results.

Depending on what your goals are you need to find a diet (an eating plan) that matches your goals. My challenge is that body building and marathon running have two very different diets. The body building diet is high in protein because muscles need lots of protein to repair and grow. Protein doesn't make a good fuel source which is needed for running long distances. Protein is great as a building source but horrible as a fuel source.

Fuel well

For fuel the body requires carbohydrates. Before a strength training I take carbs to give myself the fuel to have an intense workout. But once the workout is done I don't need a lot of carbs for my lifestyle but I do need protein to repair and build the muscles. While protein is important for running a high carb diet is the norm. Strength training burns some calories but running burns a lot of calories. Today, for example, I burned over 2,000 calories during my long run. 2,000 calories is what I would normally eat for the entire day! That's a lot of fuel I'm burning. Having just a high protein diet won't help. A high carb diet is crucial to running a marathon.

So I have a conflicted diet. On one hand I need high protein for building muscle and for marathon prep I need high carbs. In order to balance both requirements I'm following a body building diet for most of the week but increasing my carbs on the running days. On the days I'm running, and therefore burning lots and lots of calories, I'm eating my normal amount of protein (and fat) and then eating a very healthy size of carbs to compensate.

This is what it looks like in practice. Before my run (which I do in the morning) I take some protein powder as my pre-run drink. I don't eat anything else. I want to run without a stomach full of carbs because I'm training my body to use fat as a secondary fuel source so I don't want carbs in the stomach - protein is fine. Today was a three hour run. I drink lots of water during and after the run. After the run I'll eat a really good meal full of protein, fat and carbs for recovery. My current calorie intact on a normal day is 2,000 calories. Adding what I've lost to running for 3 hours means I need to eat 4,000 calories today - that's not going to happen. I feel sick if I try and eat that many calories. So, today, I make sure that my protein and fat requirements are met and then I eat whatever I feel like in carbs knowing that I won't even come close to 4,000 calories.

On non-running days when I'm lifting I stick to my usual calorie intact.

In the midst of all of this I continue to monitor my body fat. If that's going down too much then I'm out of balance. If it's going up then I'm eating too much and I need to scale it back. As I'm increasing my running I need to be increasing what I eat on those days and monitoring my energy levels the other days.

How about you? Are you following any kind of diet to produce best results? Does your diet match your bodies requirements? I still feel like a novice in understanding what's best for fuel and dieting. Any pointers are greatly appreciated.

11 weeks to go.

Run Long, Run Yasso

You can't run fast what you can't run slow. In preparing for a marathon it is important to have some long runs under your belt. By long run I'm talking about 30+kms. I'm not fast so that's a big time investment. However, you either invest the time and do the long runs or you hit failure 15kms short of the finish line. That's a long walk home.

The purpose of the long run is to prepare the body for the distance. When I started strength training I couldn't do a one arm push up. My body didn't know how to do it and it wasn't strong enough. I had to develop and teach my body what to do. Same for the marathon. You can't skip the long runs. But, and here is an important but, the long run doesn't prepare you to finish fast, it only teaches you to finish.

Our bodies, like our minds, do what we have taught them to do. If I practice running long and slow guess what will happen on marathon day? I'll run long and slow. That's fine if my goal is to finish. But it's not. My goal is to finish with a better time than last time (without losing any lean body mass). Getting in enough long runs is essential to finishing but to finish in a better time I need to add speed.

I could simply run the long run at marathon pace but in practice that isn't a good idea. The marathon puts enormous strain on the body and training at that pace would lead to injuries and burn out. A different workout is required to help develop speed. Please welcome Mr Yasso.

I was introduced to the idea of running Yassos, and the story of Bart Yasso, reading The Runner's World "Complete book of running." You can read the same information online here and here. Essentially, you run and rest in minutes what you expect to run in hours, over 800m. When you can do 10 of these then you are in good shape to run the marathon in that time. Practically it looks like this: since I want to train for a 4 hr marathon I would run 800m in 4 mins, rest (slow jog) for 4 mins and then repeat 10 times. If I can do all 10 then I'm good to go. Assuming of course that I've been doing my long runs as well.

Not everyone thinks these are the best indicator or the best workout leading up to a marathon. Coach Jeff thinks that a fast finish long run is better than doing Yassos. Personally, I've never done the fast finish long run training but I do hope to include at least one of these going into this marathon. I have, however, used Yassos in the past and I find that they are a great workout and a great indicator, so I intend to stick with them.

To finish you need to train your body to go the distance. Do the long run.
To finish fast you need to train your body to run comfortably at a faster pace. Do Yassos.

12 weeks to go.

The right plan for the right goal

A good goal needs a good plan. If I want to get stronger in the chest then it doesn't matter how many kms I run nothing is going to happen to my chest. And if I want to get faster in my running then it doesn't matter how many push ups I can do. The right goal needs the right plan.

Post race swim at the end of the Kaveri Marathon

With one goal its often very simple to find a good plan. But life is way more complicated than that. Often there are competing goals in our lives and these goals require different plans - often these plans compete with each other. That's my situation here. I want to run a marathon while I keep doing my body building but these two goals don't match up. Here's why.

In order to build muscle you need to be eating more than your body is using. Our bodies use this excess energy to build muscle (and fat). Strength training tells the body to use the excess for building extra muscle. However, running burns a lot of calories - A LOT. In a 20km training run I burn up an entire day's worth of food. Putting on muscle and training for a marathon don't really go together. Goals need to be realistic so this isn't my goal. My goal is to maintain my lean body mass, that is, to keep all the muscle I have spent the last couple of years building. I need a plan that gets me to the finish line and achieve a PB over this course - hopefully a PB for all the marathons I have run. Two great runners have guided my planning.

Geoff Galloway, an Olympic runner, notes that "Research has shown that you need at least three days running per week for sustained improvement."  Galloway actually suggests the best option is to run 4-5 days per week. While 4-5 days would be better for my running it would cause havoc for  maintaining my muscle; I would simply burn too much energy. Also, I need time to do my strength training. Without the continued upper body strength training I'll definitely lose muscle. So I need to work around 3 days running per week.

Amby Burfoot, a winner of the Boston marathon in 1968, suggests the simplest running schedule I have ever seen:  "I do a Yasso workout in the middle of the week, a long run at the weekend and fill in the rest  of my training as best I can." The long run prepares me to run 42 km. The Yassos (I'll talk about these next week) help me run faster. These two runs form the backbone of my running. The long run gets me to the finish line while the Yassos get me there sooner than later.

This is my training plan. I believe this, along with my diet plan (to be discussed later) will get me a PB over the course and, perhaps, a PB overall. Do you have a goal you are working on? What's your plan for improvement? Does your plan and your goals match?

13 weeks to go.

The most important piece of equipment for making gains

Strength training doesn't require a lot of equipment. I started with Mark Lauren's book, You are your own gym which uses your own body weight. But even in his book there is some equipment that one needs for some of the exercises. With running you really only need a good pair of shoes (and shorts in most countries). There is the whole barefoot running movement, but even with this movement they still encourage some foot protection, the most popular being VibramFive Fingers. But shoes and weights aren't the most important piece of equipment for making gains - the humble notepad is.

The humble notepad, and her friend the pen, are the most important pieces of equipment for making gains.

With a fresh approach to exercise, whether it be cardio or strength, the gains are rapid. You run 1km in the first week - awesome. The second week you manage 2km - 100% gains. By the end of the 4th week you are running 5km - how good is this!! At some point, around the 2-3 month mark things begin to slow down. Progress becomes difficult. Your 5km time isn't getting any faster. The 10km feels too far. With a drop in progress so goes the motivation. Progress often equals motivation. That's where the humble notepad comes in.

The humble notepad doesn't lie. She just reports the facts. If you haven't put in the work she will tell you. If you have put in the work and you are making gains, she'll tell you that too. She tells the truth and tells it you straight. And when you are making gains, however small, she'll keep you motivated.

In strength training I record every exercise, every set, every single rep. It's not hard. I do a set, I write it down. In a single session I may do 4 exercises with 3 sets each. That's 12 numbers I need to write down. After each set I write down what I did. The next week when I redo the same routine I make sure I increase even if it's just 1 rep. Small gains are progress. One extra rep per week means that after 3 months it's time to add more weight - more weight means I'm getting stronger. Without the notepad I'm left to my memory of what I did the previous week - that's not going to be accurate. The notepad won't lie to me but my memory will.

As I prepare for the marathon I want to take the same approach. What type of run am I doing (Slow, HIIT, Yassos, Long, FastFinish)? How did it go? If I'm running Yassos then I want to record the number of intervals and the speed. If I'm doing more Yassos or doing them faster then I'm making gains. If my long run is getting longer then I'm making gains. The notepad won't lie - she will show me if I'm making gains or if I'm stalled.

Motivation in the beginning is easy because the gains come quickly. After the easy-phase progress slows down and motivation with it, unless I see gains, however small. How about you? Do you use a notepad? Do you prefer paper or electronic? How are you measuring your progress with the goals you have set for yourself? What difference do you think a notepad would make to your motivation and progress?  

Do what you can until you can do what you can't

When I first started body weight exercises for strength training I saw how push ups would move toward push ups with feet elevated to one handed push ups to one handed push ups with feet elevated. I had always wanted to do a one handed push up and I thought that perhaps, maybe, one day I would be able to accomplish a one arm push up - just one!

Fast forward 3 years. Yesterday I was doing my Push routine which includes push ups. I am current doing three sets of one handed push ups with my feet elevated. This means that I have far surpassed what I thought I would ever be able to accomplish. I was able to achieve this through small (very small) but consistent progress.

Whenever I do strength training I always write down what I am doing so I can see my progress but also so that the next time I do that routine I try to increase by one rep; just one rep. Once I get to three sets of 12 reps I up the exercise or weight so that I can only do three sets of eight reps. This means that every three months I'm adding weight or making the exercise more difficult. That's how I got to do one arm push ups. I did what I could and eventually I came to do what I couldn't do when I first started.

He did what he could until he could do what he couldn't
And then he ran the race and finished it - well done.

When I started push ups there was no way through sheer effort that I could do a one arm push up. Through consistent progress I am able to do them. This goes for other areas of strength too. I applying this same strategy to my running in preparation for the marathon.

There was a time when a 20 km run was a good start - no longer. For the past five years running has been almost non-existent. My 5 km run this week left me exhausted and discourage. This morning was my long run. My plan for my long run is to start off walking for 2 hours and build in running, moving to 3 hours and doing the same. 2 weeks ago I walked for 2 hours and was exhausted at the end of it. I felt discouraged, weak and disappointed. The idea of running and finishing a marathon with a PB wasn't happening.

I missed last weeks run because of this crippling thought but I was determined to give it a try this morning. Due to scheduling problems I could only get out for 1 1/2 hours. The thought of walking for an hour was ok but the thought of running for 30 mins wasn't helpful. But I could run for a minute and then walk for a minute. That I could do. It would be just like a strength workout - go hard for a minute then rest. Only I wouldn't go all intense, just run. And that's what I did.

It was awesome. For the first time in years I felt the joy of running. My body loved the run and loved the breaks. At the half way mark my mind was positively thinking about the marathon. For sure, there is still a long way to go but I made solid progress today and mind embraced it. My mind could see that progress will happen, that progress will get me to the starting line, and most importantly, I can enjoy the journey.

There are many tasks that appear beyond what we can imagine. From where we stand today they are not possible, not even remotely possible. If, however, we can begin the journey and make progress, however slow, step by step what was once impossible will slowly come within our sphere of possible. That happened for me today. What task is out of reach for you, a task you want to accomplish but seems impossible? What's one step you could take in that direction? What can you do right now that will extend yourself so that one day you can do what you can't right now?

On the journey

Back into the Run

I started running marathons many years ago to reclaim the fitness I once had. When I had completed my 2nd Dan Black Belt Karate grading I was fit - very, very fit. The grading was an intense 3.5 hours. A few years later, I'm married, new job, and a little out of shape. I was working with a guy who had run a marathon in 3:35 hours. I thought to myself, "If I could do that then surely I would be fit again." And so the pursuit of 3:35 for a marathon began.

I have not been overly consistent with actually running marathons. For various reasons I have been kept from participating in races. My best race to date is 4:09 in Perth, Australia. That was a long time ago. About 3 years ago I ran the local marathon here in Mysore, India. I was ill prepared and hadn't run well since moving to India 5 years ago. I ran it in just under 5 hours.

Just after this marathon I changed my approach to fitness. Rather than just basing it on my marathon time (and karate) I started to diversify my fitness. I decided to drop my body fat from about 25.5 percent to 18 percent. I achieved this in 12 weeks through diet. About the same time I came across Mark Lauren's book, 'You are your own gym'. I added this to my new fitness approach. I was astounded with how weak I was, especially in the back, and I was equally asto
unded in how quickly I improved. I got hooked on strength training. For the past 2 years I have been making steady gains putting on about 6kg of lean mass.

The desire for running marathons remains and I want to run this years Kaveri Trail Marathon here in Mysore. Preparing for a marathon is very different from strength training. The approach is different. The exercises are different. The diet is different.

In marathon prep it's about going the distance, lasting, not quitting, pacing myself so that I still have fuel in the tank to finish. In strength training it's about hitting failure, intense effort for a short period of time, giving it everything you have for 40 secs and then resting - lots of resting. The approaches are opposite.

Throughout this coming marathon I want to train for a good time without losing my muscle gains. This means 4:30 on the clock. This isn't a fast time but it will be PB over the course. I say 4:30 but what I really mean is 4:08, a new marathon PB. I'll train for a sub-4hr marathon knowing that if it's tougher on the day then I have a good 30 min buffer.

My approach is going to involve 3 runs per week - perhaps not enough but I shall see how I progress and adjust accordingly. For the first month I am going to build 2 of the runs from 5k to 10k. On the third day I'm going to base it on time and build running into the run. For the first month it will be 2 hours and from then on it will be 3 hours. Typically, a marathon program will have a long run and each week one would add kms and therefore more time. I have used this approach and it works well, however, I think time will be a better approach. This means that I'll walk for 2 hours the first time. The second time I'll walk for 1.5 hours and run for 30 mins. I'll continue this until I get to 2 hours and then I'll move to 3 hours and start off with walking for 1.5 hours and build up. I'll also include yassos for speed.

For now I'm in a cutting phase which is not conducive to marathon prep. What I'm trying to juggle here is to disrupt the strength training as little as possible while preparing for a marathon. These are my stats:

Male, 45 years old.
Weight: 78.9 kg
Body fat Caliper reading of 9, approx. 14% body fat.
Lean weight: 67.8kg

Goal: achieve a PB on the Kaveri Trail Marathon without losing any lean weight.