Here is just a collection of endurance style events, I need to pick one to aim for:
The 2-Day Polaris Challenge - I’ve fancied this since I was a kid and saw photos of grimey women crawling knee deep in mud with their bikes.
MTB Orienteering or Trailquests
Popularity: 53% [?]
I am just teetering on the age of buying my new bike. That will be about the 6th bike purchase this year and leave me living with another bike in my shower for a while. Ah well - it is another beauty.
The bike in question is a Specialized Epic. Yes I have moved over to the other side - mountain biking! Well at least at the weekend, for the rest of the week I’ll be happy on my Sirrus Pro.
I’ve started collecting together a load of reviews on the Epic:
Bike Mag review
Bike Magic Review
MTBR user reviews
Here’s the marketing blurb:
For 2004, the 1/2lb (220g) lighter Epic chassis delivers the “Holy Grail” of uncompromised FSR suspension in the rough stuff and hardtail-firm efficiency on smooth terrain. Optimized for Brain shock and sporting serious processing throughout — M4 Alloy, ORE down and top tubes, every tube fully butted and manipulated, sealed cartridge bearings at every pivot. 90mm rear wheel travel.
Specialized Brain Adjust IQ shock (manufactured by Fox Racing Shox): air sprung with adjustable rebound, and spherical bearings that eliminate all shock side loads. Adjustable threshold setting dials-in Brain sensitivity.
Light, fast wheels—Stout hub with Skraxle up front, Shimano XT in the back; laced to Mavic 517 rims with DT Revolution spokes.
Rock Shox SID Team forks with 80mm travel, adjustable rebound, lockout, and alloy steerer.
Intelligent spec achieves lightweight and speed potential –XTR brake/shift levers, Avid CD Ti brakes, Roll-X tires, and on and on.
Popularity: 18% [?]
Whenever I go on a new fitness buzz, I like to look around for inspiration that will keep me motivated for just a bit longer. This almost inevitably means spending money on either books or assorted gadgets, and this time round has been no exception.
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So this time the book is called “Survival of the Fittest” by Mike Stroud who most famously ran with Sir Ranulph Fiennes on his 7 marathon runs, across 7 continents in 7 days. Flipping nuts!
I haven’t finished it yet but the most inspiring story so far is of a woman called Helen Klein. This woman is truly inspirational, she is a great grandmother, well into her 80’s and her motto is “I want to wear out, not rust out”. She started running when she was 55 having had a completely non sporting life. She is now a world record holding ultra distance runner.
I have taken the excerpt from a book called “Fitter after 50“, I don’t have a copy myself but I reckon its a must for anyone feeling a bit depressed about the advancing years. I provided the link if your interested.
“In 1982, at the age of 59, she entered the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon (the epic swim, bike, and run-a-marathon competition). In 1989, now a 66-year-old grandmother of 9, she completed the Grand Slam of 100-mile mountain-trail runs (the Vermont 100, the Wasatch 100, Colorado’s Leadville 100, and the Western States 100); plus one more to grow on, the Angeles Crest 100, all in just a 16-week time period. In 1995, in her prime at 72, she ran the Marathon Des Sables, a grueling 145-mile stage race across the Sahara Desert in Morocco; then just 2 weeks later (with hardly time to catch her breath), she competed in AND finished the first annual Eco Challenge, in Utah, a 370-mile multi-sport, multi-day, race (including horseback riding, canoeing, and rock climbing — 1200-foot vertical cliffs) in which over half the competitors (most just half her age) could not complete this rugged event.”
I’d really like to know more about this woman, she seems like a marvel. I’ve seen pages on the web confirm she is still running multiple marathons back to back at the age of 82!
Wow!
Popularity: 27% [?]
I was told this morning that I was arsey, something that I attributed to my restrictive diet but it’s got to lunch time and I am now on a high!
No, I haven’t gone on a major blowout and gorged myself on bangers and mash. Nope I have been to the gym.
I went on the treadmill, and after my usual 20 min run I decided to keep going. For the first time ever I managed to run 5 km non stop! Yeah, my first goal completed already. It has to be said, I only managed this, because my occassional gym buddy came to tea this morning, boasting that he had run 2.5 km in 15 mins. I am so god damn competitive I had to find someway to top it. Lets hope he doesn’t do 10 km tomorrow or I’ll be stuffed.
Anyway, I now have a yardstick to measure my progress by:
5 km treadmill run: 40 mins
Popularity: 22% [?]
As any casual reader of my site will realise - I am a terrible, gadget freak, come spendaholic. It is therefore no surprise that I have managed to find a purchasable product that will be absolutely invaluable /an absolute necessity in my latest project - the Body For Life challenge.
The product in question is a piece of software for my PDA device, called PocketBFL. [If I haven’t previously mentioned my PDA device, it’s a Dell Axim X51V, but the PocketBFL works on any PDA including the PALM variety.]
The program is by cellica, is sold as a companion product to the Body For Life challenge and enables you to plan your next days exercise and meal schedule. It acts as a reminder while at the gym and enables you to record body measurements and then displays charts of your performance. So far I have found it to be really intuitive, although there is a brief manual included. It is fairly easy to modify as well, so you can for example store details of your typical meals so that it can determine protein, carb and fat consumption etc. This is a real time saver, particularly as I seem to have a fairly short repertoire of acceptable meals at the moment.
It is early days but so far it is proving to be incredibly useful and I strongly recommend it to anyone on the program as it saves writing out your daily meal plans and updating stacks of excel spreadsheets.
Popularity: 24% [?]
Today is the official start of my latest fitness drive. Not content with the results I’m getting from cycling, jogging and kick boxing, I am now about to embark on Bill Phillips “Body For Life” regime.
The BodyforLife program is a 12 week challenge, which you can complete either privately or take it as part of a competition, requiring before and after photos and measurements. Some of the results seen by earlier challengers are truly inspirational.
The program consists an intense exercise program and a strict nutritional component. The exercise involves alternating your days with weight training and 20 mins of intense interval aerobic exercise. You can find out more on the Body for Life website.
The nutritional component requires you to eat 6 meals per day (whoa!), although they are relatively small, comprising only 1 portion of protein and 1 portion of carbohydrate per meal. It’s all about the portion control and for a self confessed carb addict, it is bloody hard to find enough protein to eat at every meal.
Given that there is only a 12 week slot to record my bodily transformation - enter the competition - and win loads of super prizes (PositiveMentalAttitude), I have taken a few weeks to prepare or to practice living with the regime. I have been trying out all of the weight training exercises and got myself sorted out with dumbells and a gym membership. I just didn’t want to waste time when the program had actually started and find that I didn’t know what weights I could shift to reach a maximum effort.
Also the food aspect is really novel to me, so it helped to practice here too. I’ve got a few recipes sorted out, things like protein smoothies for breakfast and tried out egg white omelletes. So today I can start out with a well stocked fridge and a clear idea of my weekly dietary routine. At least half of the key to success is ensuring that you plan well in advance.
Wish me luck!
Popularity: 21% [?]
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!! What a ride!
