I'm a believer

Yesterday marked the first phase of my diet. Stop eating junk, restricting myself to a regular three meals per day. Today I got phase 2 under way, namely dragging my sorry self kicking and screaming into exercise. Since completing the Royal Parks Half Marathon back in October, I've only been out for a run once. The overeating I described yesterday has inevitably impacted on my fitness levels and it was fair to say I was not expecting much from myself.

During the second half of 2013, I was a regular at the Black Park parkrun. Last year, it fell from my weekend routine and I think that contributed to my malaise. With that in mind I treated myself to an annual parking permit yesterday so that I've no excuses not to get myself out of the house on a Saturday morning.

When I was woken this morning, there was quite a downpour going on outside. With both boys sleeping uncharacteristically beyond 7.30, I could have been forgiven for keeping snug in my bed. However, I knew that going for a run this morning was important, perhaps more so for my psychology than my physicality. Rain or no rain, I was doing this.

First #parkrun for some time beckons. Not going to wimp out despite the heavy downpour
— Graham Kaye-Taylor (@bigfatrebel) January 3, 2015

After driving through the puddles of South Bucks and parking up, I did have to question my sanity at being there.

Definitely one of those mornings where I ask myself why? #parkrun pic.twitter.com/GcdOjCMju6
— Graham Kaye-Taylor (@bigfatrebel) January 3, 2015

Fortunately I had an old friend to point out the obvious.

@bigfatrebel black park looks er um #wet
— Stephen Hale (@Wisey999) January 3, 2015

Meanwhile others were more supportive

@bigfatrebel because you'll feel great afterwards!
— Laura White (@sugarfloat) January 3, 2015

@bigfatrebel these are the mornings that make the difference :)
— Steve Gaffney (@sdgaffney) January 3, 2015

I couldn't agree more with the last point. It did make a difference. The sense of achievement from making it round the course is palpable. My body and mind felt lifted, and though a couple of hours later I'm feeling somewhat weary, doing this today has set me on a good course for the coming weeks.

I'm hot, sweaty, smelly pretty darn unpleasant but for the first time in months I feel alive #parkrun
— Graham Kaye-Taylor (@bigfatrebel) January 3, 2015

My time was not important today. I barely dipped inside 30 minutes and was my second slowest finish over the distance. But I didn't care. Today was about waking my body from it's slumber and surviving. The time will improve as my waistline contracts and my fitness levels recover. I'm not convinced I'll be getting back to sub-24 minutes 5Ks any time soon, but that isn't my motivation right now. You have to learn to crawl before you run after all.

What I have now is a mental baseline. I know that I can do this. I know that on a wet and miserable January morning I can go for a run. Come Wednesday and the first proper weigh-in of the year, I will know that I can get my weight back under control. Self-belief is incredibly important to achieve successful weightloss. I know it is only 3rd January, but I'm a believer once again.

Saturday Struggle

Following my tongue biting exploits of a couple of days ago, today represented a chance to get things back to normal. Saturday morning means parkrun, and having missed out last week I was raring to go this morning. The overnight rainfall meant the ground was always going to be soft under foot, but it wasn't particularly chilly so I was anticipating a good run.

What I had was a struggle. It became self evident early on that my lungs may have been up for plodding around the estate on Thursday night, but they were not going to play ball at parkrun pace. I could hear me gasping before I reached the 1k marker. Before reaching the 2k, my parkrun acquaintance caught me up, wished me a good morning and I could barely muster words back to him. On reaching 3k I did something I've not done for some time and took a breather slowing to walking pace. 

I absolutely thought I was done. Like a broken steam train I was coughing and spluttering. A fellow runner asked me if I was ok and I assured him I was, but didn't really feel that was the case. I was staring at my first DNF and concerned about the psychological repercussions that may have for the challenges ahead. So I got myself moving again, and decided to make the best of the situation. If I wasn't feeling physically strong, why not turn this into a training session to replicate the latter stages of the half marathon, when I know I will find the going gets tough.

At the 4k post I found myself taking a breather again. The incline at this point on the Black Park course is nothing like as severe as Bradford's teeny tiny hill, but when I've already mentally given in earlier in the race, it stands to reason that I will also slow down for the most difficult part of the circuit. Into the last stretch and I found it difficult to keep pace with a junior female runner. I know when I'm running that I'm not in competition with anybody else, but it isn't great for confidence when overtaken by a little girl.

Yes, I run like a girl

At the finish line came a sense of relief. Things will get easier as my chest and lungs clear up, and I get back into the running groove. I wasn't particularly interested in my finish time but when the text came through I was rather surprised at it's respectability. 24.29 is by no means a poor effort (my PB is 23.46) so with two breathers and some lingering germs factored in, this was a good run. It just really didn't feel like it at the time!

If the chance permits, I'll get out again on Sunday for a more leisurely if longer run to build up stamina and put distance back into my legs. I felt no ill effect from my Thursday night plod around the estate so something at a similar pace should do no harm. 

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In Praise of ParkRun

The first day of the 2014 version of the diet came and passed without too much difficulty. After the pretty horrible weather that saw out December and welcomed in January, I probably should have taken advantage of a dry evening and pulled on my running gear, but I listened to my body and decided otherwise. It is one thing going from the festive excess to a much more measured intake of calories, but it would be quite another to pound the streets in the dark. My body is going to be confused enough as it is without additional exercise on top.

So the half marathon training has been put on hold, at least for a couple of days while I settle back into diet mode, but Saturday will bring around my favourite time of the week. Long gone are the days of lie-ins or watching Soccer AM over a fried breakfast. Since July my venue of choice for a Saturday morning has been down at my local parkrun participating with several hundred others in a free timed 5 kilometre run. I've been doing this most weekends since July last year, and is probably no coincidence that my weight loss really took off from then onwards.

parkrun logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you've not heard of parkrun, the premise is pretty simple. Register once online, take your personalised barcode to any of their hundreds of events, and run. It is completely free to participate and you get your results by email or text later in the day. You can even chart your progress by going online to view all of your parkrun results and there are all sorts of statistics on there to get excited about if you're so inclined.

I was put onto parkrun by a twitter follower who had noticed I was blogging about running on a treadmill last spring. At his suggestion, I went along to see what all the fuss was about and I'd have to say that recommendation was spot on. I've met a terrific bunch of people who volunteer their time to put on the event every Saturday morning, without whom parkrun would not exist. Any reservations I may have had about turning up to one of these events as a complete novice were very quickly cast aside. Sure there are some serious runners who race off into the distance never to be seen again until the following weekend, but there is no stereotype that adequately describes a parkrunner. There are men and women well into their senior years, parents running with children or even pushing babies along in strollers. People like me looking to get fit and others making their way round in a more leisurely fashion, enjoying a bit of exercise on a Saturday morning.

I usually attend the Black Park event but because there are so many of these dotted around the country, you can indulge in a little parkrun tourism. I've been to the Bradford run on a couple of occasions whilst visiting family and the welcome you get there is phenomenal, with great support from the stewards, not least when you tackle the fabled 'Teeny Tiny Hill'

Having had parkrun recommended to me, I'm more than happy to encourage others to get involved. I've had a couple of colleagues join me from work before, my brother-in-law, a friend from the football club has come along with his sons and from a brief interaction on Facebook earlier today it looks like an old school friend will be joining me on Saturday morning.

If you are looking for something to get you more active in 2014, don't be afraid to give this a go. It doesn't matter if you're not Mo Farah, as you are only racing against yourself rather than the other participants. Who knows, you like me might find an inner runner inside of you that you never knew existed.

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This is the End?

News of my intention to allow this blog to lapse met with something of a negative reaction from my loyal readership. It doesn't have a wide circulation but clearly my friends and acquaintances on Facebook who have suffered a bombardment of links to this site over the past 12 months have not yet had enough and want YearOfTheDiet to continue.

Taking note of the feedback, and quoting The Jam, 'the public gets what the public wants', though I'll add I have no intention for Going Underground or to be Down In The Tube Station at Midnight Therefore, for the foreseeable future at least, I'll keep blogging. I can't promise to be as prolific as I have been over the last year (117 posts and counting, nearly 1 every 3 days) but if there is a market, no matter how small, for a bloke to write about his weight and conversion to running, it might as well be me who meets that demand.

It is probably a good job too. Since writing the last article on Wednesday, I've effectively drifted into eating mode without yet getting to Christmas week. It is one thing putting on the pounds when enjoying the festivities (and I certainly plan to do so) but it is quite another when you are just eating for the sake of it. That is a bad habit which I can't afford to allow to creep back in if I want to maintain my sleeker self. A good run tomorrow morning should help with that, though given the rain this week and the overnight frost, I have a feeling Black Park could be a little sludgy come Saturday.

Less of this please Graham

So there you have it folks. This site is not done yet and neither am I. Just when I thought I was out........

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Still in the chase

In mid-October, my weekly ParkRun newsletter informed me of a competition they were running in conjunction with Lucozade Sport, one of their sponsors. #ChaseThePlace has a pretty simple premise; run or volunteer at 8 ParkRun events during a defined 8 week period and you will get your name thrown into the hat for a place in the London Marathon, competing in the Lucozade Sport team.

When I first read the email, I barely battered an eyelid. There are hundreds of these events taking place every Saturday morning, with thousands upon thousands participating. After the first weekend of #ChaseThePlace there were over 35,000 people in the competition. You don't have to be much of a betting guru to realise the odds are not exactly in your favour at this point, so I just nodded, not really paying this competition another thought.

After three weeks, the number of runners had drastically reduced, with just over 10,000 still in with a chance. And then a big carrot was dangled in front of me. To spice up the competition, the sponsors could pick a week to reward runners for recording a personal best, by giving a second entry to the final ballot assuming all 8 races were completed. Partly motivated by this, and with Week 4 selected by the Lucozade people, I smashed my PB, knocking a massive 44 seconds off the previous mark.

What a way to spend a Saturday morning - Photo by George Mardall

Week 5 came and went and now I'm told there are 5,747 ParkRunners still in the competition. Three more Saturday mornings to go and with the numbers likely to suffer a bit more attrition, the odds are starting to come a little more in my favour.

Should the unthinkable happen and I were to win the competition, it would be an interesting dilemma. I've never run beyond 10k, so to suddenly be elevated into a marathon would be challenging in the extreme. Would I be up to the task or be able to dedicate time in the early months of 2014 to get myself race ready? Who knows. The fact is before the start of July, the notion of me getting up on a Saturday morning was implausible. Now I look forward to pulling on the running gear throughout the week and bracing the cold autumnal temperatures that Saturday morning in Black Park offers. If offered the chance, it would be pretty rude not to accept.

Of course, while this competition provides me with a nice distraction, it is just a bit of fun. Turning up to run 8 successive weeks is a walk in the park compared to the commitment I've demonstrated to losing weight this year. I wouldn't be physically able to do this now, had I not put in the hard graft to shed the pounds and become more active.

#YearOfTheDiet has been a yearlong marathon. #ChaseThePlace would be the cherry on top.

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Reasons to be cheerful

It is a Bank Holiday weekend, and while the weather for the most part has been pretty miserable, I've found plenty of reasons to be cheerful.

Yesterday morning I got back into the running groove and brought up a new personal best for the 5k, clocking 26:20, beating my course record by 31 seconds and taking 15 seconds from my overall PB that I ran in Bradford two weeks ago. Armed with a new set of clip-on headphones, this was the first time I've run with music in my ears and it helped with the trudge around the damp Black Park. Also for the first time I adorned a running vest which wasn't incredibly flattering. I think I'll have to find myself some biceps from somewhere if I'm going to wear it more often.

Headphones good, vest displaying untoned flabby arms bad

Later in the morning I attended my eldest son's graduation ceremony. He's not some child genius, but his nursery like many others run a nice little event to mark the end of his time there before the transition to school. With my boy dressed smartly for the occasion I had to peer into my wardrobe to find something decent to wear (the vest was a definite non-starter!) To my great surprise, I found myself comfortably getting into my jeans and so smugly wore those along with a M-sized short sleeve shirt. Happy days! The graduation was very sweet and all the kids looked fab in their gowns. Regrettably I missed most of it as the little one was a bit on the grumpy side, but there was a nice little family picnic afterwards, admittedly sheltered from the rain.

One man and his boy - can't quite believe he starts school in a few days time

Saturday evening I had a rare night away from the boys and went to visit my best man and his baby daughter. I purposefully drove to avoid making it a boozy trip and ate beforehand despite the knowledge that my pal would be ordering himself a curry. I was pretty proud of myself at declining leftovers, despite the veggie samosa looking so good. When I got home I didn't have a drink either, so rare brownie points for me on a Saturday night.

Today has been a pretty quiet affair, with my lovely wife letting me catch up on lost sleep by sending me back to bed mid-morning. It is always good to recharge the batteries once in a while and I very much appreciate the opportunity. When I woke up, news filtered through on the phone that my friend James had done really rather well in his Triathlon, completing the course in under three hours. A few weeks back he was trying to encourage me to do one with him, though as I pointed out, I'm still learning the ropes with running, and felt trying to cope with three disciplines would be a bit much. Still, I'm full of admiration for him, not least as he opted to raise money for the Shine Charity who were such a great help to my family. So may I very publicly say well done mate, and thanks to everybody who sponsored you.

Looking at the clock, in five weeks time, all being well I will have completed my first 10k race. It is coming around quickly now so will have to up my game in my preparation. I know my colleagues are doing the same and collectively we're looking forward to it, albeit with a touch of apprehension. Please support us if you can as we bid to raise money for the Lynda Jackson Macmillan Centre http://www.justgiving.com/teampcc

And if I needed further reason to be cheerful, there is no work on Monday because of the bank holiday. In fact, with time creeping forward to the end of August, I won't be facing Monday Morning Blues again until November, as I'm due to start my period of Additional Paternity Leave. It will be a shame to lose the gym as a result, but I'm very much looking forward to spending quality time with my little one and getting his big brother settled into the school routine.

Whatever you're up to for the rest of the long weekend, enjoy!

Forward Progress

parkrun logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don't know what specifically it is about Saturday mornings that makes me feel so rough. There was a time when it would have been half a dozen pints and a dirty kebab that accounted for it, but it has been some years since that was a regular occurrence. To be honest, the newer slimmer (older) me would probably struggle to consume on a night out as I managed in days gone by, not that the opportunity comes about too often now I'm the proud dad of two beautiful boys.

This morning, just as last Saturday, I didn't feel my best. The sore neck that was was impairing me has improved a lot after finding a better pillow combination and managing to get some sleep with the weather cooling down. And yet after polishing off my branflakes, all I really wanted to do was crawl back into bed rather than head off to Black Park for my weekly ParkRun.

However, head off I did. I've no excuse not to now, after my other half bought an annual parking permit meaning I don't have to scrounge together £2.50 to park my car to do the run. If I don't use it, I'll be in trouble, so looks like my Saturday mornings for the foreseeable future will be spent killing myself in a pair of running shoes.

It is funny running outdoors. I'm used to hitting a treadmill at the gym, where I have the choice of music or Sky Go on my phone to keep me amused, or failing that Millionnaire Matchmaker or Emerdale on ITV2 to laugh at while going along at a steady 12kph. But when I'm running outdoors, I leave the phone at home and just focus on the course. Except my mind never lets me just focus on running. Today it was telling me there was no point in entering the 10k in September because I'll just embarass myself. It was trying to convince my body that I'd have to give up when I hit the 2k marker, which in due course I managed to miss and suddenly found myself at the 3k marker instead. It had me believing I'd run slower than last week and possibly slower than my previous runs too.

And yet when the result came through earlier this afternoon, another PB had been notched up. 23 seconds off last week's time, finishing a respectable 28:02. Link to my ParkRun times True it isn't quite as swish as my brother-in-law who recorded a sub 25 minute run today up in Bradford, though he politely informed me that circuit is a lot easier than mine!

Given I've not engaged in any meaningful cardio exercise since the run last Saturday morning, I was delighted to have topped my PB. It felt like a struggle throughout, but I'll happily feel dreadful every week if it keeps knocking 23 seconds off the time. I'd like to think that at some point I will find it gets easier, though I somehow doubt that. Still, an obvious target for next week is to dip below 28 minutes and if I do that I'll be ecstatic.

So tonight, I'm going to enjoy my now traditional Saturday night bottle or two. I think they're merited after giving up an hour of kids TV this morning to go and run myself into the ground. Weightloss in the week followed by a PB at the weekend. Things are progressing nicely.

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When Saturday Comes

We Brits love to moan about the Great British Weather. When it rains, we tut and scoff. On the couple of days a year it snows we scream blue murder. When the sun finally comes out to play like it has during July, we all rush down to Argos to buy desk fans and complain about it being too hot. No wonder the Australians call us the whinging poms (how's the Ashes looking down under right now???!!)

I've tried my best to keep positive about the weather over the last few weeks but it has been difficult. With the long hot evenings, the temptation to open a nice cold can or two has been strong. BBQs aren't exactly weightloss friendly and any resemblance of sleeping pattern has gone the way of the Australian top order. Simply put, in sticky conditions, sleep has been at a premium. I'm not somebody who relies on a good night's sleep, but when it because an ongoing problem, life becomes more difficult. 

For the last week I've been nursing a very sore neck brought about by sleeping awkwardly. When I feel crap, I don't feel like exercising. When I'm tired, I feel like stuffing my face with sugar. That I've managed to maintain three trips to the gym a week and stay clear of the bad stuff has come as a surprise, though I've rather made up for that with weekend consumption.

On Saturday morning, apathy kicked in big style. I'd had my bowl of bran flakes. My eldest was watching Spiderman. My youngest had his bottle of milk prepared for when he woke from his slumber. It was 8.25am my neck was in pieces following another sleep deprived night. Whoever owns a cockerel on my estate will be getting a visit from Colonel Sanders when I find out who the culprit is. I had virtually talked myself out of pulling on the trainers and heading off to my local ParkRun, but somehow found the resolve to do it. Five minutes later and I was in the car.

My third attempt at the Saturday morning 5k felt like a struggle from the word go. I went off a little more quickly than I was comfortable with meaning by the 2k marker I was gasping for whatever air I could get into my pathetic lungs. On my two previous runs I'd spent a good minute walking to recover my breathing on more than one occasion. Even though I was struggling I didn't let myself repeat this, instead slowing for 10-15 seconds before setting off again. This became frustratingly repetitive as I never really got back to a comfortable rhythm. In the last kilometre I found myself giving an Andy Murray pep-talk as I got more and more annoyed, and muttering Come On Graham seemed to help. 

When I crossed the finish line, I was somewhat surprised to see I'd finished 166th. My two previous positions were 247 and 206. There was a noticeably smaller field at Black Park, presumably because of the 10k taking place a few miles down the road at the Dorney rowing centre. I felt somewhat downbeat when I got my time recorded as I thought it was probably my slowest time to date. I didn't have a running buddy to keep me motivated this week and that combined with numerous but shorter slower phases meant I wasn't expecting an improvement on my last run.

Imagine my surprise then when mid Saturday afternoon, whilst flaking out on my bed trying to get my neck comfy, I got my time come through by text. 28 minutes 25 seconds. A full 58 second improvement on my previous best. I went online to check the results as I didn't quite believe it at first, but there it was in black and white. My PB not just bettered, but smashed. Best of all, I know there is still plenty of room for improvement.

So the next time I feel a bit crap and demotivated, I only need to look to yesterday for inspiration. From being perilously close to giving it a miss, to running faster than this overweight unfit bloke has run before. The take away and ciders that followed last night won't have done any good for my weightloss aspirations, but felt just reward for getting off my backside.

It can be very easy to give in to that little negative voice that makes you believe you can't do something. At 8.25 Saturday morning I was convinced I couldn't run that morning. By 9.30 I'd completed the course and demonstrated to myself that I'm capable of doing things that I think are beyond me. When Saturday Comes is a phrase more associated with football (and terrible acting from Sean Bean), but right now I can't wait for next Saturday and hit the course again.

Rio 2016 here I come

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Under starters orders

Today was my last training run before I tackle my first 5k on Saturday morning. A lunchtime in an air conditioned gym is a bit different to what I can expect on Saturday in Black Park, on what is meant to be a glorious summer's day, but I'm pretty happy with how I've progressed since getting on the treadmill for the first time in a long while back on 16 May.

For the first time today I managed to run 4k without slowing, and had it not been for the fact that I did not want to push myself too much before Saturday I think I could have managed the full 5k. I had plenty of energy in reserve and even managed 4 x 1 minutes sprints during my warm down. When I see that finish line on Saturday, I'll be looking to end the run as quickly as possible!

So I've got my running shoes. My Parkrun barcode has been printed and laminated. I've got a mate coming along to do the run with me (love you Shaney!) and I've got some change ready for the car park. All that remains to be seen now is can I convert my treadmill running to an outdoor timed event? I'm feeling confident, and will post results on here on Saturday.

Lunchtime activity 4 July - gobbles up breakfast and lunch calories

Slower beginnings back on 16 May

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