Week 28 Update

I should probably start by apologising for the lack of updates. This blog was supposed to track my progress as I attempted to transform myself into an athlete of some sort…

Life has been slightly hectic over the last three months. I had just taken up karate at the time of the last entry, and since then I’ve been going twice a week, and attended my first, 9th Kyu grading. So, I’m now a red belt.

A large part of November was taken up by studying for my professional qualification exam, an associated assignment, and taking part in NaNoWriMo, a contest where participants attempt to draft a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. This didn’t leave a great deal of time to get to the gym, unfortunately.

In my last post, I’d also mentioned I’d booked an appointment with a sports physio to get a second opinion on my troublesome knee. I’ve now had four sessions with Shona, and I think there’s been definite progression. Structurally, she thinks the knee is more or less okay for what I need it for, although she suspects there may be some damage to my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

However, Shona’s happy f0r (and actively encourages me) to continue building up the strength in my knee in the gym, cycling and going to karate. At our last session, last Sunday, we broached the subject of me starting to run again.

While I’d been feeling comfortable enough playing football, it just so happened that the Tuesday night game that had been a fixture of my week for five years seems to have reached a natural end; most of the other players appear to be old and injured as well! I did have the opportunity to play in a couple of other games, but Shona suggested it might be worthwhile to take a bit of a break while I worked on strengthening my quadriceps and hamstrings.

I downloaded an app a while ago, Get Running, that is designed to build you slowly up to running a 5k; I’ve been using it on the elliptical machine since I couldn’t run. Shona thinks it would be worthwhile giving it a go. So I paid a visit to the specialist running supplies shop and had my gait analysed, then tried on some different brands of shoe before we settled on the pair that were the most comfortable and offered the most support.

I didn’t buy them, mainly because they were £100. And I’m a little unsure about what to do, because I don’t want to start running if I’m not wearing the right shoes. I might just make things worse, and end up back at square one. So that’s something I have to mull over during the festive period.

Food will also weight heavily on my mind (and my hips) over the next four weeks. The knee rehab and running is only part of this blog; alongside my attempts to get fit, I’ve also been attempting to lose weight.

In my last entry, I declared I’d slimmed down from a peak of 110kg (over 17 stone) in June to 92kg (14st 7lbs) in September. This wasn’t quite accurate; a run-in with my sister’s Wii Fit led me to realise I was using my scales on carpet, they were therefore returning a false reading, and I was around a stone heavier than I thought I was.

However, as of yesterday, I’m now around 91.4kg (14st 5lbs), with a BMI of 25.86, very nearly normal. My body fat’s down to ~24%, and I’m the lithest I’ve been since I was in my mid 20s. I sill aim to lose maybe another stone, but I might leave that until January; I have at least four Christmas and one New Year’s meals ahead of me, so I appreciate my weight loss may slow slightly, but I’m okay with that as I feel much more comfortable in my skin.

Ideally I’ll be getting back to the gym and karate next week, but I’m more or less going into hibernation for the rest of the month. I’ll update again in January, full of hope and as-yet-unbroken resolutions.

Week 14 Update

So, it’s been 14 weeks, or 3 months, or 100 days since I bought my new scales, so it’s as good a time as any for a quick review of what (if anything I’ve managed to achieve).

But first, a quick update. I managed to drop my smartphone and crack its screen the day after my last post. I pretty much run my life using my phone’s various apps, including the meal diary one, so for a while after I sent it away to be mended I had to adapt to watching my calorie intake manually…at least until I remembered I could just update using the website. But it’s back now, good as new.

I’ve been maintaining a fairly high level of physical activity (for a desk jockey), so I thought it was time to change my Basal Harris-Benedict activity level from ‘sedentary’ to ‘lightly active’. This did mean that I would have to eat more calories per day, which I was worried about, but thankfully my reinvigorated metabolism appears to be up to the task.

I’ve started college again on Wednesday evenings, which has meant amending the timetable a little, to the following; Monday – Weights, Tuesday – 5-a-side, Wednesday – rest, Thursday – Spin, Friday – rest, Saturday – Weights, Pilates, Sunday – rest or a cycle.  I need to do a little research into how many activities I can fit in before it become counter-productive, although last Thursday I did fulfil something of a lifelong ambition by attending my first karate class.  While I realise that taking up a martial art may be hard work, I think the benefits I’ll get in regards to my balance and flexibility will be worth it.

However, I did have something of a setback regarding my knee. While the exercises and stretches I’ve been doing have by-and-large helped, I still think there may be some issue outwith what the physio diagnosed. I played 8-a-side last Friday night (against the Shadow Cabinet Secretary of Defence no less), and my knee became uncomfortably swollen for the rest of the week. As such, I’ve booked an appointment with a local running-specific physiotherapist for next Sunday, if only to get a second opinion.

While going through some paperwork earlier, I found a printout from one of those electronic height/weight/BMI scales you find in high street pharmacies. Dated the 30th August 2011, it noted my vital statistics as 189cm tall, 105.7kg heavy, and with a resultant BMI of 29.6. According to the NHS, that’s bordering on obese.

I weighed about the same (maybe slightly heavier) in May this year, before I started watching what I ate. I think I was slightly in denial about how overweight I actually was, perhaps because I was still able to disguise my paunch.

Three months of sensible eating and more exercise later, I find myself now weighing 92.2kg, or 14 st 7lbs, having lost about 2.5 stones. I’m feeling trimmer and more toned, and my self-confidence has improved somewhat. Even a wart I had on my hand has disappeared. I think both physically and mentally I’m in a much healthier place than I’ve been for the last seven years, but I need to keep it up. Ideally, I’d like to get down to a fighting weight of between 12.5 and 13 stones, but I’m aware I need to develop my knowledge of nutrition a little further.

Last week saw the running of the Paisley 10k, and the Great Scottish Run was today. Unfortunately it seems I’m still quite a long way from my goal of attempting a 10k, but all I can do is keep working towards it.

Week 10 Update

Three weeks on from my last post, I don’t have much to say. My ear infection has all but completely cleared up now, so I may be able to add swimming to my exercise regime in the near future.

During my third year at university, I used to train with a fellow student who aspired to join the Royal Marines. One weekend during the summer of 2003 I recall, we went interval training in the park. He worked me so hard I was nearly sick, but my fitness improved no end. Bearing this in mind, I decided to head down to the park last Sunday to do something similar, and maybe work in some knee exercises at the same time.

There are numerous trees in the park, planted roughly equal distances apart, making them ideal for what I had in mind. I was going to do some quick turns the way the physio had showed me, shuttling between two of the trees, hopefully building the strength back up in my knee. After a rest, I alternately sprinted and jogged between the same trees, and I repeated this arrangement a couple of times.

It seemed to have the desired effect, because on the cycle home I had to stop due to feeling nauseated, and at Tuesday night football I had the best game I’ve had in a while.

I didn’t go to the gym on Wednesday evening, being at The Dark Knight Rises at the IMAX instead, but the next day I attended my first spin class, which I plumped for rather than the awful Thursday afternoon 5-a-side game. I was a little apprehensive, but while it was hard work, it was not unbearable and I definitely felt the benefit.

After having indulged in a little too much food on Friday night, I was back at the gym on Saturday morning, and Pilates in the afternoon. I’m beginning to feel a lot more healthy, but as always with me, the question is how long can I keep this up? I’m starting to miss a few foods I don’t appear to have the calorific budget for anymore. Weight wise, I’m hovering around the 95kg mark (meaning my total loss is around 15kg), and I think I’m looking better for it. This appeals to my vanity, which I think may be the driving force in all this.

I mentioned the word ‘regime’ earlier, and I’m just trying to keep this one going. Currently I’m playing football on Tuesday, going to the gym on Wednesday, spin on Thursday, and gym and Pilates on Saturday. I think this is the perfect blend of intensities and rest days, but I still think I can work something in on Sundays.

The Olympics has inspired me to try a sport I’ve never tried before (I really fancy archery) or having another bash at one (golf, snowboarding, basketball), but I think it’s important I don’t get distracted from the goal that is the primary focus of the blog is to get to the stage where I can run a 10k. I think there’s a bit of work to be done yet.

Week 7 Update

This blog, like every other blog I’ve had in recent times, has gotten away from me somewhat the last four weeks. This has been due to a combination of completing a college assignment, and over the last week in particular, an outer ear infection that’s rendered me incapable of little more than howling at the moon.

Fitness wise, I’ve reached something of a plateau. 5-a-side football has barely been on over the last month because of players being away on holiday. I’ve visited the gym only twice (because of the assignment mentioned above) and I haven’t cycled at all. In terms of weight loss, after initially dropping from 106kg (16st 7lbs) to 98kg (15st 4lbs) over the course of four weeks, I appear to have bottomed out at around the 100kg mark, having put on a little. I suspect my diet requires further analysis and modification, and that’s something I plan to look at, as soon as my ear relinquishes control of my life back to me. A documentary aired last night on BBC1, suggesting that Sports drinks, such as the one I’ve favoured over the last two months, may not be as beneficial to your health as the manufacturers claim. This is certainly something else I need to consider, as well as deciding whether spending £26 on protein shake powder is worthwhile.

I plan on submitting the final draft of my assignment this evening, and that hopefully means I can get back to my healthy eating and exercise regime over the weekend. The right knee itself is holding up okay; I had a final appointment with the physio last week, and he thinks the improvement is enough that he doesn’t need to see me again. The main problem with the knee, apparently, was that five years of sitting at a desk all day had resulted in my hamstrings weakening. At the same time, my quadriceps had retained their strength, but had become tight. This imbalance was the root cause of the pain I was suffering whenever I climbed stairs.

I do feel a morsel of pride that the knee’s almost back to 100%, because I followed the physio’s advice and worked at strengthening the joint again. I’ve exercised (using the leg lifting machines at the gym), stretched, cycled, and I’ve even gone back to climbing the stairs at work, mostly from the lower ground floor to the second. I’d avoided the stairs, and started taking the lift, because the knee was so painful. This appears to have just made it weaker.

So for the latter part of the year, I need to look at new goals. I wish to lose a little more weight (the current target is 90kg, or just over 14st) which I hope will reduce stress on my joints and bones when running, and reduce my body fat. I want to get my knee back to 100% effectiveness, or as near as damnit. But my main goal is to try and get to the bottom of my shin splints-type pain. That’s the main obstacle standing between me and taking up running seriously.

Week 2 Update

I must confess I’ve not been working as hard at the exercises given to me by the physio as I perhaps should have been. I am on annual leave, and I’ve been finding it difficult to muster the enthusiasm to do anything if I don’t want to do it. Like college work. Or renewing my car insurance. Or exercising.

Since I last updated, I’ve been to the physio twice and played three games of five a side football. I’ve done virtually no stretching or core work, something that I’m annoyed with myself with. My excuse is that I’ve been busy watching Euro 2012, writing my JuNoWriMo entry and trying desperately to unwind while I’m off work, but I suspect that doesn’t carry much water.

At our session last week, the physio suggested my quadriceps are stronger than my hamstrings, but my hamstrings are less tight than my quadriceps. What I know about the human musculoskeletal system could be written on one of my finger tips, so when a health care professional suggests my hamstring and quads could be causing my knee problems, I have to take his word for it.

He also noted my discomfort in bending and straightening my right knee, and gave me an exercise for that as well, observing that the pain would get worse before it would get better. It’s another exercise I haven’t really been doing, but hopefully I will develop more of a regime when I return to work properly on the 25th of the month.

I have been studiously recording my calorie intake however, using the Livestrong website and app. Since I started observing how much and I eat and my weight, I’ve apparently lost 5lbs. I would ideally like to get down around 210lbs, or 95kg; that’s 27lbs/12.5kg away. Again, because I’m off work, and because of my knee, I’m not doing a huge amount of exercise right now, but that will hopefully change next month.

Finally, I hope to have reached an understanding with my bicycle over its continual mangling of inner tubes. I’ve bought a new, Kevlar-laced, puncture resistant tyre (£25), and at some point in the next few days I’ll put the wheel back on the bike. And then sometime after that I might actually ride it.

I may not update again until the 30th of June; by then I may have fallen back into some semblance of routine.

Week 1 Update

In my last post, I wrote about how much I’d like to take up running again but was being frustrated in my aim by a series of small, ongoing injuries. This entry will be the first of a series of entries as I hopefully track my journey back to being a reasonably fit human being, footballer and athlete.

It’s been a busy week. On Wednesday morning I had my second physiotherapy session, where I had, for the first time in my life, acupuncture. The physio seems to think it will help my knees and shins, but I’m not convinced by it; maybe for that reason it won’t work for me. We also continued to work on stretches for my quads, hamstrings and calves and we touched on core work and cycling. I’m due back next Wednesday when we will look at my apparently awful balance.

Aside from the physiotherapy, I’ve invested in a pedometer and have been tracking my steps, distance and calories daily. I wasn’t sure what the significance of how many calories I had burned was, and I did some reading. This has led to an interesting and potentially significant discovery; in recent times I may have been under-eating, which may in turn have slowed my metabolism. Fortunately for me, my work colleague Ian is also a fitness instructor, and he’s been able to give me advice on exercise in the past, so it was to him I took my queries on nutrition.

As far as I understand it (and please correct me if I’m wrong), your average human being requires 2-3,000 calories a day just to function, for your heart to keep beating and your brain firing and your other organs doing what they do. That’s if you lie in bed all day. If you exercise, you can add another 500 calories on top of that. For instance, on Tuesdays, I play football for an hour in the evening. That can apparently burn 800 kcal on top of the ~2700kcal I need to consume anyway. As I’ve mentioned, I have become concerned about my weight, so I may have been tempted to eat less. Or, if I have eaten a lot, it’s been sugary/fatty gunk. According to my research, under-eating can actually be detrimental to weight-loss as when your body thinks it’s not getting enough nutrients it slows your metabolism to protect its stores of fats.

This is the theory anyway. I’ve downloaded the Livestrong Calorie tracker app, and for the past three days I’ve been conscientiously logging what I eat and how much I exercise. Inputting your personal details, such as height, weight, age, gender and weight loss target, the app will tell you how many calories you should consume each day, and after each meal, how many are left. It also notes the nutritional content of each food you eat, and provides a daily pie chart (pardon the pun) breakdown of your carbs, protein and fat intake. There appear to be several schools of thought as to what that ratio should be, but I’m currently using what appears to be the most popular; 60% carbs, 20% protein, 20% fat.

It’s probably still a little early for me to tell if eating a lot more per day than I’ve been used to is having a positive effect, but I’m certainly feeling no worse. Time will tell I suppose.

And the knee? It’s not great. I played football twice last week, and it’s swollen up quite badly. The shins on the other hand felt slightly better after the litany of stretches, exercises and massages I was given by the physio. The back has been ok, thankfully, the best it’s been in a long time. The planks appear to be helping, and to further strengthen my core, I’m going to a Pilates class in a couple of hours. Wish me luck!

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker

I set this blog up three years ago as somewhere I could publish my more sensible, more rational, less emotional writing. Truthfully, I’ve struggled to find topics to write about, being a not entirely sensible human being. But I think I’ve got something I can get my teeth into on a regular basis now.

I started work at my current place of employment five years ago. Within a week I had managed to ensconce myself in the Tuesday lunchtime 5-a-side game, a fixture that has survived dozens of players leaving over the years, but it’s been touch-and-go at times. It’s also now played on Thursday, but more on that later.

I’ve been playing football since I was nine, the age I discovered the game. I don’t proclaim to be particularly talented, but I have practised and observed and learned enough over the years to hold my own at a reasonable level (one substitute appearance for my school team, a dozen or so over two years for my uni’s 6th XI). Okay, reasonable level might be pushing it, but apart from four years between the ages of 16 and 20, I’ve spent most of my life running and kicking a ball.

So, it was somewhat frustrating when in the summer/winter of 2007 I began to develop severe pains in my shins when playing. A number of departures from the office had led to the suggestion of an evening game on Tuesday in addition to the lunchtime game, which would be shifted to Thursday. After a while of playing twice a week, by the end of the second game, my legs felt heavy, painful and unresponsive.

Five years later, I’m still suffering from the shin pain. The more I run, the more it hurts and so I’m limited to two games of football a week at most. I’ve had x-rays, an MRI scan, I’ve had orthopaedic surgeons and physios look at my legs. No-one seems able to decide if the problem is shin splints, compartment syndrome, or something else entirely. As such, no suggestion of how to make it go away has been forthcoming.

I’m not someone that is overly fond of physical exercise, so not being able to run as much as I could hasn’t hit me very hard. However, I do like eating, and as I reach middle age, I’m beginning to spread. Exercising becomes a necessity because I don’t enjoy being out of condition (it also means I get frustrated on the football pitch when I can’t do the things I want to do).

Two weeks ago, I had a physiotherapy session about a knee complaint I’ve had for the last nine months. It was a fairly successful session, and I was given some stretches to loosen my quadriceps muscles and build my core. I wondered if I followed a sensible ramping-up running regime, could I ease myself back into being able to run regularly?

As an experiment, I downloaded an iPhone app that had been recommended by Charlie Brooker of all people, called ‘Get Running’. Starting off with eight blocks of running for sixty seconds interspersed with 90 seconds of walking, the app aims to assist runners complete a 5k run by the end of 12 weeks. The first time I tried it was fine; the app was easy to use, and I felt excellent by the end of  my work out.

However, I played two games of football that week on top of my run, and by Thursday the old familiar pains had returned. This was a disappointing development, and had quickly put my ridiculous notion of competing in a novice triathlon to the sword.

However, as a work colleague is fond of putting it, I shall attempt to improvise, adapt and overcome. I do not appear to be able to run, but I can walk. I have purchased a pedometer, and after seeking counsel from some friends that have taken up step-based exercise regimes, I am working on a programme.

I also have my bike (the seed of the triathlon silliness), and should I manage to get the tires repaired and running without constant punctures I intend to use my forthcoming annual leave to get some miles on the clock. I’ve been doing more planks recently to help my core, and I think they’ve actually helped my lower back pain, and continuing on that theme, I’ve booked a place on a Pilates class on Saturday.

This gym-work, cross-training, walking, swimming and core work may be a fad. It has been in the past, but until that proves to be the case I will update my progress here, if only for my own benefit. I have a physio appointment tomorrow to see how the quadriceps stretches have helped my knee, so I may post tomorrow. Hopefully sometime in the future I’ll be posting my time in my latest 10k, or even a marathon. It’s good to have a goal.