I have lots of ultra races to do this year. I need to be lighter on my feet. I’ve added a few pounds during the colder months, so I now need to get back to race weight.
To get a bit more motivation, and to maybe help others, I will put up my journey here, along with anything food, exercise related.
I am tracking my weight by using my Withings Wifi Scales. They are marvellous. I step on in the morning and in the evening. The weight automatically appears on my smartphone – and on the internet. I can even set it up to share with others. I prefer to have a bit of control over that – so I have disabled that feature.
Tracking my food – I have started last week using myfitnesspal for tracking my food and drink consumption. Maybe it will show that I am overeating – which would be great – because it would make it easy for me to change.
Tracking my running – I am using Runkeeper on my MotoG smartphone. I also have a Garmin 305 GPS watch. The reason why I use both is because the Garmin takes too long to get satellite fix in London – that’s where I do alot of my running (I runcommute).
Core Exercise – I have always found it hard to do stomach crunches, and press-ups. They are a real challenge. I have been using Runtastic Sit-Up and Press-Up apps to help me train. I did 72 sit-ups today. Which is amazing for me. It was just hard enough. Press-ups I still have to complete for today – 25 since you ask.
Blood Pressure and heart rate. I am using an Omron tester. It was pretty cheap from Amazon (less than £20). I would love to have the withings one that would auto record the measurements – but this one works well (though I have to record the scores myself). I take three measurements – and take the “lowest”.
I am also trying to be more active. Ok – I run alot. About an hour a day… and I walk around a little bit when I am at work – in an office. My intention is to cut down the amount of time I am sat around. I am using my Pebble smartwatch for tracking my activity. I am using On11 app for collecting and summarising the data. I will share the results tomorrow.
Progress so far – A pound or so lost so far since 1 January. I am often amazed at how difficult I find it to lose weight given the running miles that I put in, and the exercise at home I do (crunches, press-ups). I don’t eat excessive, or drink too much. Or maybe I do. Maybe my body is also used to the exercise… I run alot…. I am on 70 miles already for January – and we are only 10 days in.
Summary for Today
Running Mileage – 0 miles (70 so far this month)
Stomach Crunches – 72
Press–ups – 25
Weight – 197 lbs
Fat Mass – 15.74%
Blood Pressure – 143/71
Heart Rate – 40
The Untraining Ultrarunner 