10k PB

Well I am not quite sure how that happened but I smashed my 10k PB. Based off recent form I was expecting to beat my PB of 39:30 but to have set the time I did was amazing and if not for my parkrun last week would have been a complete surprise.

The event was the Newhaven 10k. My taper this week had gone quite well and training so far this year I was feeling great. I had mostly been plodding with some good up tempo runs at parkrun and I have been the most consistent I have ever been with strength training. 

Pre race I had my usual prep of no food, the joys of low carb :-) The event was actually really poorly organise with some painted markings for start and finish lines, no chip timing and a lack of marshals on the route. We started 15 minutes late so despite the very fresh conditions I was in a vest for 20 minutes before we started running. 

I set off at a strong pace, clearly too strong but I quickly settled into a rhythm and other than that first km I ran a very consistent race. I went through halfway in 19:07 despite getting sent slightly the wrong way and came back in 18:52 to finish in 37:59 (still pending official results but I always stop my watch early, finish it late and I got sent the wrong way so I am claiming it whatever). 

Mr suffering towards the finish line straining (though not aware of my time). 

This time last year my PB was 42:30 and I was not even in shape to do much more than run a sub 20 parkrun so safe to say that I have had a great year, really started after getting back into it after my back infection in March last year. 

Yearly Targets: 

Ahead of my stretch targets for miles, on 161 and need around 150. 

parkrun, still doing well but my local was cancelled due to ice this week so missed out on both the run and volunteer but still ended up doing results for juniors so at least got that. 

A great run

So far the year has gone really well, I have felt that my fitness is improving and my mileage has been higher than required, even for my super push target. I will admit that today I am taking a day off running, my legs felt tired and this afternoon I even closed my eyes on the sofa, so I clearly needed a break. So far this year, and we are on the 15th, with today being a rest day, I have run 119 miles! To be on target for 2000 / 2200 / 2500 I need to be on 82 / 90 / 102, however I only see myself doing around 40 miles this week as I am tapering for a 10k but even that would see me stay ahead of my push target assuming I can recover well from the 10k on Sunday. 

My strength training is also consistent and I have even started with my Airofit again and the odd session of meditation. I have also been sleeping great which always helps, using my massage gun and balls and compression gear when I feel it will help. Of course debatable whether these things help but in my head they do which means they do help. I am also doing great with my target of lots of parkrun runs and volunteers with 3/3 runs and 5/5 volunteers. 

I am going into the 10k on Sunday full of confidence after my latest run at parkrun. Conditions were awful, last week the were over 300 runners and this week only 150, it was raining with winds of 20mph and gusts of 50mph with all the local prom parkruns getting cancelled. 

I started in the front line and soon settled into 6th, just behind someone I know is about 30 seconds quicker than me but I felt comfortable. Around 800m one of the faster runners dropped back, think he was just running the start with a friend as it was cross country the next day. Turning onto the back straight, in theory with the wind behind us, the 2 of us caught the guy in 3rd and cruised past (he ended up over a minute behind us). Myself and the other runner stuck together, each taking time in the wind, not that he let me stay in front for long. He put in a burst around halfway but didn't get more than a few metres ahead. 

I know that my strong point is not kicking so around 3k I made a move to pass him into 3rd place and it stuck and I put some air between us, judging by his footsteps it got up to around 10m by 4k but I could always hear his trainers splashing behind me. I kicked on in the last 500m but could hear him reeling me in but I managed to stay ahead for my first podium (well it is a run not a race but still) since October and my 2nd fastest ever time, only 12 seconds off my PB. *** Note the guy who got his PB hasn't run at this parkrun in a while and has been running 30 seconds quicker on an arguably slower course in recent weeks. 

Looking at everyone's results and chatting to people the conditions were probably worth 30 seconds which puts me in sub 18 shape on a perfect day. Even at a result not taking into account the conditions it puts me in 38:30 shape for the 10k. But then that also doesn't fact in the 115 miles in the preceding 2 weeks with no taper, so hopefully with an easy week and good conditions I will get a 10k PB on 22nd and at least break 39 and maybe get near that 38:30. 

2023 training goals

As a runner I like to run fast, sure it may not be as evolutionary appropriate as the slow training and barefoot, low carb stuff but it is fun. I wanted to track my progress against my 2023 goals somewhere and whilst I would love to break my 5k, 10k and half marathon PBs (18:17, 39:20 and 90:10, the last from 2016) I am not too bothered about the times. I had a great year last year, knocking a minute off my 5k PB in the span of a couple of months over the summer and going from a 42:30 10km PB to running 2 sub 40  10kms, one on a relatively tough route. 

So with performance goals not really a factor this year I have gone for process goals, primarily running distance and total reps of strength training. So my hopes for the year are: 

• 2000 miles / 2200 miles and at a real push 2500 miles 
• Various numbers of push ups / pull ups / squats / crunches / planks, around 7000-10,000 of each. 
• Stick to carnivore and keep my weight under 11 stone. 
• Have fun and put family first. 
• Achieve at least 100 parkrun events i.e. 40 runs and 60 volunteers

Hopefully at some point in the next few weeks and months I will get round to publishing some dashboards or something with the information for tracking this. 

First 8 days done and so far I have stuck to my strength training goals, had lots of fun and am up on even my push target for miles with nearly 60 miles in the bag already! The parkrun target is also going well with 3 volunteers and 2 runs in the bag over the first 8 days of 2023. 

I am hoping to add a few extra things as the year progresses, so long as things go well, such as 5 minute meditation each day. But see how things go. First things first I have a 10k coming on 22nd January. Hopefully will do another post on that. 

Carnivore

Over the last 6-8 months I have really struggled to maintain my weight loss through fasting, in fact I was pretty much back to my default high weight when being low carb and this is much higher than I want to be. I have also been suffering from a few other symptoms that I won't go into but safe to say I was not happy with where I was. 

Before I tried fasting last year I tried carnivore but at the time I decided to go the route of fasting as it seemed to be the easier option. The problem I have is that my body loves the carbs a bit too much and I can't deal with it, I thought that as I was fasting I could eat a bit more fruit with cream and over the winter the ADF shifted to IF and that was not enough to deal with the volume of carbs and calories I was eating. 

I came across the book the carnivore code and as I started it I decided to start the carnivore lifestyle, meat (including organs), a touch of salt, good quality butter for frying and water. I am not 5 weeks into this way of living, a way that I am hoping will last for a very long time, sure I might integrate some local seasonal fruit in the summer but if I have learnt anything it is that I am even more carb sensitive than I thought. 

My journey with carnivore has been great so far. Within 2 days I noticed my mood was much more stable as well as a few other things. In the 5 weeks I have now lost the best part of 20lbs and feel really good, I have started doing regular press ups and weight training along with running where I did an 8 mile run this morning which was one of my longest in a while. 

I have decided to make this blog much more just about me and my stuff rather than being too specific, is anyone going to read it? Probably not but then my Ledderhose blog now has over half a million views and I thought nobody would look at that. 

Legoland, fasting and the heat

 An update on things and why I stopped posting so much.

I have not been posting much, well at all over the last few months. I have had an interview at work for a promotion of sorts and this took priority of pretty much any spare time I had and that doesn’t take into account spending time with my family.

I have kept on running and at least maintained OMAD even though the alternate day fasting has taken a step back in the heat and with trips to Legoland meant that staying healthy whilst spending all day in 40 degree heat. I think one of the top considerations when performing fasting is to not be too strict but at the same time don’t flake out too easy.

I think I heard that you should try and stick to things 100% of the time but if you manage 80-90% of the time then that is a success. So mentally I am not beating myself up over not sticking to alternate day fasting, my weight has crept up a little but it is the summer and I am eating fruit, so I am hoping worst case that my urges for this will shift to lower carb alternatives as the weather starts to cool. At the same time one of the things I am enjoying with Keto IF over Keto is that I am not so strict with the Keto, in fact it is more Paleo than Keto.

I am hoping to get back to posting once or twice a month, hopefully with some more details on running style and analysis of gait from myself on the treadmill in different shoes. This should tie in nicely with my club where we might be looking to give better access to this kind of training.

Another week of fasting, running and weight loss

Another week of alternate day fasting and running and I am starting to get my mojo back. Things have not been great over the past 2 weeks, my weight has not really moved much and my 5k time trial did not go as hoped. At the same time I have made some good progress with my running motivation and am back into the swing of it. My goals have changed from doing the 5k training plan to building my base.

I mean really building my base should always have been my aim but I really wanted to speed up, then again building you base can speed you up. I am back to 2lbs away from being a healthy BMI as well and longer slower running should help with this. 

Wow this post is all over the place. Anyway my primary reason for shifting back to longer slower running is the heat but also that fast running doesn't work great with fasting (at this point). If you run hard before you eat you are feeling quite depleted and the act of running fast makes you deplete glycogen stores and then it is harder to stay fasted as this increased your hunger. 

Overall I am further ahead of where I was in 2015 in terms of weight loss and on a par with my fast running pace. I am currently on a run steak of 6 days running at least 20 minutes, though with 2 10 mile runs in there as well I feel it was a productive week. 

Now my plan to to keep my run streak of at least 20 minutes a day going for as long as I am healthy to do so but with the aim of increase my miles. Next week I will aim for 3 10 mile runs, which will be helped by England Athletics advising that running clubs can start again. So hopefully next week I can do 3 x 10 miles runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (always helps with the Saturday morning weight in) and then do at least 20 minutes on the other days. Will aim to build this up to more and more days a week, with lots of recovery chucked in of course and hopefully by the time I am back in the office I will have done my highest ever mileage week. 

Thursday Update

Not really had much to post about this week, I am tapering for a solo time trial against myself at the weekend. Weight continues to vary massively as I fast, this week I have varied by as much as 3lbs, I know I shouldn't weigh myself so much but the temptation is too great. This week I have seen my lowest weight but I had a similar experience last week and then put on lbs between my mid-week and Saturday. 

My wife has also taken up some fasting (she is already a runner). She took up the fasting to support me and then found herself losing weight that she didn't think she could lose. Both really looking forward to see how the next few months go and if we can exceed where we got to in 2015, both with weight and running. 

Sunday long run

Just got back from my Sunday long run, the freedom of not worrying about distance and just running for time is amazing. I ran for the best part of 2 hours, would guess I "only" did around 10 miles or so but I don't care. I was out there and enjoying my run. Given the fasting I am doing at the moment it is not surprise that I am finding the easy runs better than the hard runs. I can go and run for 2 hours, enjoy it and feel great but 5 x 3minute hills reps as part of a shorter run is a real killer. 

I honestly have no clue what to expect next week when I do my first 2020 vs 2015 challenge. In 2015 I ran around the 23 minute mark. In my head this is a time I should easily beat now, just 6 months ago I ran a full 2 minute quicker and wasn't much lighter than I am now. At the same time the faster stuff is a struggle, I am hoping that the sort of taper week I have next week will give me a good shot, the last 2 weeks have probably be the hardest, in terms of speed-work, in a long time. 

I am now looking into some interesting topics that resonated with me from a book I am listening to at the moment. A thing called anatomy in motion / Neurokinetic Therapy was mentioned and I feel this can help me to strengthen the area's that make me weaker than I would like. 

I think that my history of Ledderhose Disease / Plantar Fibromatosis is something my body has never fully recovered from and so in the past it is my right side (above was on the left) that I have had the niggles on and honestly when I am running now I don't feel like I am running the same with both sides. 

I will do some more research and check back in, also work on some home python projects and whatever else takes my fancy whilst on lock-down. 

Ahead of 2015 me

Another week and another great result for weight loss, 2.4lbs down this week which takes me ahead of 2015 me by a whooping 0.2lbs. Given the challenges at the moment I am really happy that the weight is still coming off nicely. 

Fasting this week was tough, I tried to go for my longest ever fast and did just about manage it. Having hoped to go from Monday to Saturday fasting I ended up having a 2 hours eating window on Thursday because I was feeling very lightheaded. 

This week I have also had a look at some photos of myself, not ready to post them yet, but I am happy with the change I have been able to see since the photo I took at the end of week 1. At the moment my typical week looks something like. 

At the moment I feel like this is a sustainable effort to achieve my weight loss target at which point I can introduce some more running and some more eating! 

Weight not moving

So I am sticking really closely to my keto fasting plan and in the last week (Thursday to Wednesday) I am net up 1lb. This is slightly annoying as I have been running and fasting. I have had some issues with finding myself eating more than I should on my feeding days, mainly because I have been eating nuts and having lost 20lbs in 5 week feel I deserve the odd semi-treat. 

The other reason I am not too bothered is because of what I just said above, I have lost 20lbs in 5 weeks, I am also not finding fasting hard. This week I had to change my plan as it was my daughters birthday and we all wanted to eat together. 

So to now, I am currently over 50 hours into what will be my longest fast. Honestly I am feeling really good at the moment so who knows how long I will last, the dream is to feel good running and last until the weekend. If I last until the weekend it will take me past the 100 hours mark for the first time, I would probably have to be careful when I start eating again as I don't want to eat too much too fast and may even eat Saturday and Sunday. 

Breakthrough and boredom

I have had a bit of a mixed bag this week, I started at 178.6, went down to 176 but ended the week on 177lbs, this means I have fallen further behind where I was in 2015 but have continued to lose a steady amount of weight. 

This week my running has gone really well, it started with my longest run since my marathon attempt in December and continued through the week with me starting the plan (still a work in progress) below. I think the extra running effort has contributed to increased hunger and therefore on my non-fasting days I have eaten more and although still low carb and non-processed they were a bit more inflated in carbs. 

The Training Plan: