Benchmarking against the tests and metrics I chose in the previous post was quite a humbling experience! Here are the tests/metrics and my initial test scores: Resting heart rate. Angelique measured my pulse on my wrist. The Mayo Clinic article suggests counting the beats in 15 secs and converting this to the beats per minute. Mine is 16 beats in 15 secs, so 64 in a minute. Fastest time to run 1.5 miles (2.4km) This is a key test I think as it measures aerobic fitness. Here’s a screenshot from the Mayo Clinic article that shows what different times mean: And from the Men’s Health article on the same test: The Scorecard: 12 minutes or more: Slow Between 10 and 12 minutes: Ordinary 10 minutes or less: Endurance excellence https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19534622/fitness-level-tests/ I did my initial measurement on the treadmill and I scored 13:00 mins flat. Which is slow! Number of press-ups …[Read More]
Body
How fit can I get in a month? (Part 1)
It’s time for another challenge and life experiment. They always seem to come back to fitness. I’ve been running about 15 miles a week for a few months now but not really seeing a difference to the belly, so I started to think about trying a different approach. I was thinking about how fit is it possible to get in one month? What do we mean by ‘fit’? A Google search led me to a few interesting articles. This post will feature three of these articles and pick out the tests and metrics I’ll focus on: How fit are you? See how you measure up (Mayo Clinic) 10 Standards to Assess Your Fitness Level: Before you stamp yourself “in shape,” make sure you can pass these fitness tests (Men’s Health) Six Ways To Test Your Overall Fitness (Coach Mag) Mayo Clinic Here’s the one from the Mayo Clinic: How fit …[Read More]
21 days of veganism – am I iron and B12 deficient?
I woke up the other morning and I felt knackered. I just wanted to stay in bed. I didn’t know why I felt like this as in the previous few weeks, I’d had quite a lot of energy. Enough to do a half-marathon. Was it something to do with veganism. I checked Rich Roll’s book and yes he does mention that vegans can be iron deficient and vitamin B12 deficient if not monitored. Doh! I quickly did some more research: Iron deficiency From this article by the Mayo Clinic: Initially, iron deficiency anemia can be so mild that it goes unnoticed. But as the body becomes more deficient in iron and anemia worsens, the signs and symptoms intensify. Iron deficiency anemia signs and symptoms may include: Extreme fatigue Weakness Pale skin Chest pain, fast heartbeat or shortness of breath Headache, dizziness or lightheadedness Cold hands and feet Inflammation or soreness …[Read More]
How to go from couch potato to half-marathon in 52 days
Between Zach being born at the end of December 2019 and the end of April 2020, I did zero cardio. I went to the gym once or twice before lockdown but that was just to do some weights. I caught Covid in March, and, throughout April, I did zero exercise. Come the 1st of May, I decided to get running again. Little runs, regularly, with a few longer runs rolled in. 52 days later, I did a half-marathon (13.1 miles), admittedly not very quickly at all (2hrs 26min) but still a half-mara. If you haven’t run in ages, here’s how you can do the same. You can do it! Get the Strava app Strava is free with a paid-for premium option. The free option is good enough for most people and you simply use it to track your runs. Lace up, hit record on the app, and get moving. Don’t …[Read More]
Rich Roll’s book Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World’s Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself
Rich Roll is an ultra endurance athlete who also has a very popular podcast. He’s an advocate of a vegan, plant-based diet and healthy living and known as one of the fittest men on the planet, with a host of endurance accomplishments. It wasn’t always this way. In Finding Ultra, Roll is searingly honest and tells us his life story from shy high school swim star to being a swim star at Stanford. At Stanford, he discovered alcohol and how it could help him with his shyness, and from there it was a steady decline into addiction. He tells of one of his lowest points, where he was drunk during his graduation from law school and in his drunken haze, he decided to collect his degree on stage in bare feet, much to his parents’ horror. With the help of AA and rehab, Roll gets sober but is eating horrendous …[Read More]