John's Fitness and Running Log

[johnacc]

Hi All,

After spending weeks of reading this log and taking much inspiration from the likes of Dave, BUK and kmwest, I figured it was about time I started my own.

I'm 28 years old, 5ft 10" and live in the UK. I have been training for around 10 weeks and my weight has dropped from about 196lbs to 175lbs. My body fat % has reduced from 22.9% to 17.9% in this period and my lean body mass is currently around 66kg.

I have been running, swimming, lifting weights, playing football and have changed my diet for the better.

I like the idea of keeping a log as we could all do with the extra motivation and inspitation

I have kept a log of my running times and will share with you where I am currently at:

3 miles - Treadmill Hill programme level 5

11/10/2005 30mins 45secs
15/10/2005 29mins 01secs
22/10/2005 27mins 34secs

3 miles - Treadmill 0% incline

23/10/2005 23mins 54 secs

5 miles - Treadmill 0% incline

25/10/2005 41mins 45 secs

5k - Treadmill 0% incline

24/10/2005 24mins 53 secs

I also run on the road twice a week but up until now I have not clocked the time or distance but will start to do so.

My weights programme consists of the following twice a week: (Currently lifting)

Chest Press 2 x 8 reps 88lbs
Shoulder Press 2 x 8 reps 60lbs
Leg Ext 2 x 8 reps 71 lbs
Leg Curl 2 x 8 reps 99 lbs
Lat Pull 2 x 8 reps 88 lbs
Pek Deck 2 x 8 reps 66 lbs
Seated Leg Ext 2 x 8 reps 143lbs
Bicep Curl 2 x 8 reps 22lbs

I have a 10kg dumbell at home and I do an upper body workout once a week in my living room. I have no structure to this home workout so I need to give this some thought.

I swim twice a week but have not logged my times. I will be logging my times and distances from now on. My distances have usually been around 1/2 mile.

I play football once a week for 1 hour indoor. I treat this as my speed work as this really takes it out of me.

I have just bought a Polar F11 wrist watch so that I can keep track of my heart rate etc.. but didn't realise that it didn't monitor distance so I'm going to try and take it back and get a Polar S625X instead.

My diet is fairly clean at the moment and I am eating between 1700 - 1800 calories a day. I have calculated my maintenance level to be around 2500 calories per day.

Here are my goals:

1. To run a sub 20min 3 mile (6:40 pace)
2. To run a sub 37min 5 mile (7:30 pace)
3. To complete a 1/2 marathon by Mar 2006
3. To complete my local marathon in Sep 2006
4. To reduce body fat % to circa 12%
5. To increase lean body mass to 70kg

I realise I have a long way to go as my fitness programme prior to the last 10 weeks was non existant.

Tonight is gym night so I will do a 3 mile hill programme run on the treadmill and then my weights.

I will start my log from yesterday!

Calories eaten: 1750
Excercise: Rest Day - Went for a 45 minute gentle walk with my dog.

Comments:

The weather was glorious yesterday considering we are in late October and I live in the UK ! low 70's but won't last very long. I need to look at my nutritional intake as I am keeping to a low calorie diet but not monitoring how much protein etc I am taking in.

[gobbla]

Welcome to the training log forums.

I was wondering if you're from the UK or live there. I ask because it's pretty uncommon to see someone outside the US want to work on their mile times, and which "football" you're referring to!

[johnacc]

Hi Gobbla,

I was born in the UK and have lived here all my life.

I was talking about soccer!

When I was going through school we still looked at imperial measurements and it was only as I was leaving that we converted to the metric system. At my gym all the weights are in kg's but I figured it would be easier to convert them to lbs for this log.

I find it easier to deal with mile times rather than kilometre times and thankfully the runners at the gym have the option of both.

[gobbla]

fantastic. you'll deffinately get more response to questions reffering to miles and lbs vs kilometers and kg.

part of the ugly american culture...we tend to buck the metric system pretty hard!

looking forward to following your proggress. welcome again.

[Buk]

Awesome, welcome aboard John. It is always nice to have new member join us. It looks like you have been making great progress so for, here is hoping that it continues for you!

[BamaDave]

Hi John, congratulations on your progress. The hardest part is getting started! Also smart that you have taken this step at a younger age, unlike many of us who turned into blobs wallowing through our 30's or later. It looks like you have some solid running goals -- I look forward to reading about your achievement of them!

How much more weight do you intend to lose?? You may want to consider slowing down your weightloss rate, because you can't be too far from a reasonable goal weight. At this point, about one pound per week is probably enough, especially with all of the activities you are doing. This will help you retain as much muscle as possible.

[Marykaa]

Welcome on the forum and nice reading your log! Swimming, soccer, training, diet.. ouf!! you'll be in top shape in no time!

[johnacc]

Thanx for the comments guys. Dave, I intend to drop down to around 165lbs before I start ramping up my calorie intake and pushing the weights harder. I will probably start to up my calorie intake over the next few weeks by circa 100 per week until I am up to around 3,000 calories per day which should enable me to gain some muscle mass.

Friday 28 Oct

Gym

5 min warm up on cross trainer

Chest Press 2 x 8 reps 88lbs
Shoulder Press 2 x 8 reps 66lbs
Leg Ext 2 x 8 reps 66 lbs
Leg Curl 2 x 8 reps 99 lbs
Lat Pull 2 x 8 reps 88 lbs
Pek Deck 2 x 8 reps 66 lbs
Bicep Curls 2 x 8 reps 22lbs
Ab Crunches 50 reps

3 Mile Treadmill Hill Prog Level 5

Time = 26mins 09Secs

Todays calories: 1786

Comments

Even though I felt the run there is certainly an opportunity to trim my time down further. I am not doing any weights to failure yet as I am still eating around 1,800 calories per day and don't think I would re-build the muscle tissue effectively on this amount of calories.

I drove an 8 mile route after the gym which I will attempt at some point over the next few days. I have never ran this far in my life so it's a daunting prospect!

I thought to myself on the treadmill tonight that I love my wife and kids and that the small things don't matter. Life is good !

[Craig]

John,
Great work.
May I suggest you use the power of bodyweight to get a great strength workout as well? one that will be more beneficial to your athletic pursuits. Watch Christine's and Tracy's logs for ideas. Ask them for suggestions.

keep up the great work,
CB

[K-Court]

fantastic. you'll deffinately get more response to questions reffering to miles and lbs vs kilometers and kg.

Ahem. Except from the Canadians, Aussies and Europeans on the board.

Look forward to following your log, John. That's a pretty active fitness lifestyle you lead. Nice.

[johnacc]

Sat 29th October

Rest Day

Calories = 3,000

Comments

I didn't get to work out today because we had a family day out and saw the illuminations at our local park on the night. We usually have a treat on a saturday night so the pizza took me to 3,000 calories for the day.

I also bought a GPS forerunner 301 from ebay which will hopefully be delivered on Mon / Tue. It cost me £145 ($260) which I thought was quite reasonable as it is new.

I tried to squeeze some workouts into the day so had to manage with the following:

1. Ran 1.7 mile with my dog at 10pm in ~13mins. This is about as quick as this will get because my dog tends to stop quite a few times!

2. Carried my 35lb daughter 0.4 miles back to the car after seeing the lights. She was tired!

3. I was playing in the ballpark with my daughter which was a but like an obstacle course. I think 3 mins was the quickest we got round!

Looking forward to having a proper workout on Sunday.

[johnacc]

Sun 30 Oct 2005

Todays Workout

10 rounds of 10 Push ups, 10 Squats, 10 Sit ups. Here are my times:

1. 45.32 Secs
2. 52.11 Secs
3. 51.15 Secs
4. 50.31 Secs
5. 52.87 Secs
6. 47.42 Secs
7. 49.78 Secs
8. 49.89 Secs
9. 48.56 Secs
10. 47.88 Secs

Gym Work

Chest Press 2 x 8 reps 94lbs
Shoulder Press 2 x 8 reps 72lbs
Leg Ext 2 x 8 reps 72 lbs
Leg Curl 2 x 8 reps 110 lbs
Seated Leg Extension 2 x 8 reps 165lbs
Lat Pull 2 x 8 reps 88 lbs
Bicep Curls 2 x 8 reps 22lbs
Supermans 2 x 8 reps

Swimming

1k (0.625 Miles) 38 mins

I alternated each length with front crawl and breast stroke.

Running

~ 2.8 Miles 25 Mins

Calories = 1790

Comments

Thanks to Craig I added some own body weight work into my routine and quite enjoyed it even though I paid for it through the day!

I really felt this workout today and I'm aching already. I think I will really ache in the morning!

I need to start upping my calorie intake otherwise I will start to lose muscle instead of fat.

My run time was fairly slow because a) I was shattered by this point b) I had the dog with me who continues to want to stop and sniff everything in sight!

[Marykaa]

Originally posted by Marykaa:
Swimming, soccer, training, diet.. ouf!! you'll be in top shape in no time!

PFFF ! what was I saying??? you're already in pretty good shape LOL

Nice going!

I remember when I went swimming before a fencing evenings.. it was h*ll ! swimming really takes alot out of us. Congrats for even going running after that : )

ahh and while I'm at it.. in Québec we also use the metric system.. so I'm glad to see some of it around in this forum ; )

[Buk]

Nice work on Sunday! That is quite a bit for a day. What kind of rest intervals did you use on the bodyweight exercises, or was it a continuously running clock? I am not sure where you got your gym workout routine, but have you considered replacing the leg isolation exercises with squats and deadlifts? Unless you have a good reason for excluding them, I think they would be more effective choices.

[johnacc]

Hi Buk,

I used 30 second rest intervals after each set.

I suffer from Lower back pain (which was one of the reasons that I started my fitness quest) and as such I have to be very careful when using free weights.

It is easier for me to maintain proper form using the gym equipment (back straight etc..). I would be happy to do deadlifts and squats but I need to be extra careful that my form is spot on. Will have to do some web research.

Hi Mary,

Swimming does take it out of you. I really feel it in my shoulders after a swim and even though I am not lifting heavy weights at present it still adds to the aching feeling!

[gobbla]

That's not a bad time on your run. Good job on the rest of your excersises too!

I have a really hard time doing standard squats. I have extremely poor flexibility and the weight sits really hard on my back. BUT front squats are ok.

If you take your time and deadlift really pretty, it'll probibly actually help your back pain (depending on the why you have it). Form, form, form, form.

Keep up the good work!

[johnacc]

Mon 31 October 2005

3 Mile Run - Treadmill 0% Incline

23:18 secs

Calories = 1900

Comments

My gym time was cut short tonight so I just did a 3 mile run on the treadmill. This was the fastest time I have clocked on the treadmill so that was quite satisying.

I have increased my calories to between 1900 and 2000 calories per day which hopefully will stop me from losing muscle mass.

[johnacc]

Tue 1 November 2005

5 Mile Run - Treadmill 0% Incline

39:45 secs

Calories = 2300

Comments

Again this was the fastest I have ran 5 miles albeit on a treadmill. I guess I will continue to see big gains on my times for a few more weeks until it peters out.

I was due to lift some weights tonight but have decided against it as I am still very sore from Sunday's workout.

I have decided to up my calories to between 2300 and 2400 per day. Does anyone know if I will still be able to lose weight (fat) by eating this many calories ?