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Training towards a goal - must it hurt?
I'm coming to the conclusion that if you're training toward a goal, whether that's building running mileage towards a marathon, lifting heavier to change body composition or adding HIIT to your cycling to increase your speed, after at least one session a week it's inevitable that it will hurt. This makes sense as you…
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Any Galloway run/walk marathoners here?
I was wondering if anyone here has had success using Jeff Galloway's run/walk method over a marathon or half marathon, and what run/walk ratio you use? I have been taking walk breaks, but thinking I know better than the expert (duh!) I've been doing run 4/walk 1, just because that's the ratio my running friends have had…
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It's not the years, it's the mileage - more running lessons
From today's blog, more lessons learned from the worst runner you'll ever (virtually) meet: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/BerryH/view/it-s-not-the-years-it-s-the-mileage-218012 Now Indiana Jones wasn’t talking about Marathon training when he said that, but he may as well have been. At this stage in Marathon training…
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How to avoid running injuries - Guardian article
Great advice from a physio, athletes, a coach, a podiatrist, a nutritionist, a doctor and a gait specialist. Probably about £2,000 worth of consultation fees right here :laugh: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/19/how-to-avoid-running-injuries I'm going to be doing a lot of one-legged squats from now on!…
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My MFP one year anniversary photos
Just 28lbs difference but a world apart!
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Scary girl muscles - Olympic edition!
Meet Zoe Smith, Team GB's 17-year old Olympic weightlifting hopeful. Zoe currently lifts in the 63kg category but has her sights set on 58kg - like many of us she's hoping to shed body fat while not losing muscle, but for her it's a little more important! Her top weight for the snatch is 86kg (190lbs) and for the…
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Aiming for the big 3-oh on my MFP anniversary
From a starting point of 14 stone (196lbs) on 21 February 2011, I hit my lowest MFP weight of 12 stone and a total loss of 28lbs at the end of November. However, since then I've yo-yoed and, well, Christmased, back up to 12 stone 5 (173) as of today. When I get to my anniversary in just over five weeks, it would rock my…
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Suspected foot stress fracture - what to do?
It's been nagging at me for a while, a sharp pain in the ball of my foot just under the second and third toes almost like something's digging into it. It gets worse through the day, gets better when I run then hurts more after I've stopped running. Could be all sorts of things from tendinitis to standing a lot in bad…
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Runners - do as I say, not as I do!
From today's blog: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/BerryH/view/do-as-i-say-not-as-i-do-211578 I've a nasty habit of doling out a lot of running advice. I wish I'd listen to it once in a while! Two days after my 13 miler, my longest run to date in my Marathon training, and I'm in agony. My calf muscles are throbbing like…
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If I had my MFP time over again...
If you could go back in time and to when you started with MFP and give yourself the benefit of what you've learned since being here, what would you tell yourself? I wished I'd tracked a week of "normal" eating and exercising, to get a better idea of exactly where I was going wrong and to see how I got fat in the first…
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Recommend one exercise DVD, one movie
OK, I feel in need of a treat. Recommend me one exercise DVD I can break up my running training with and one film or TV DVD to relax with (or pedal my exercise bike to!). Ideally they'd be around the £5 range, so not the latest releases. I have already have the usual exercise suspects, 30DS and Zumba. I won't tell you my…
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Anyone else excited about the London 2012 Olympics?
In just two weeks I'm going to a "London Prepares" event at the Olympic velodrome - the opening day of the World Track Cycling Championships. For the games themselves, I only managed to get tickets for the artistic gymnastics, but that's a great event to get! I may even take the afternoon off to see the torch come though…
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Am I too old to be trendy?
I just inwardly sneered at a chubby bald bloke with Dr Dre Beats headphones and funky, chunky purple trainers with side laces. Then I realised he'd probably the same age (if not younger!) and relative size as me. I work in journalism, which is a very young profession with a casual dress code. Try as I might to "dress my…
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What would your generic forum post be?
If there was an app on MFP to do a "quick answer" to forum threads, what would yours be? Mine would be along the lines of: "Eat all the calories MFP tells you to lose 1lb a week, in real food, eat most of your exercise calories, only run if you like it but if you do, do it at your own pace."
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What are you buying on pay day?
For those of us paid at the end of the month it's been a long one. Many of us got paid early in December before the Christmas close, spent it all on said holiday, then the sales. It seems like FOREVER since I had any money! I'm on a budget but I plan to put £20 aside for an Amazon treat. I reckon with that I can get a…
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That 3,500 calories = 1lb of fat thing
MFP works on the well-established principle that if you eat 500 calories less a day you should lose 1lb a week, because 1lb of fat has 3,500 calories. Plateaus and wobbles aside, it works for me and many other people on here. But what about that other well-established fact, that we don't only lose fat but also a proportion…
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Runners - cheap supplement/drink/gel substitutes please
Hi lovely running chums. I'm training for the London Marathon and I'm getting to the point on my long runs where I need to fuel on the go, and to look into joint supplements, as I'm prone to aches and pains due to not having much cartilage. Back in the day its would have been isotonic drinks, gels and specialist joint…
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Where do you keep your training plan?
Despite all the devices out there that will alert you on your smart phone or text you or adjust your daily workout according to your progress, I'm a firm believer in the fridge magnet training plan. Stuck to my fridge door I have a marathon training spreadsheet that I personalised from a Hal Higdon plan with a countdown to…
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No need to go to the gym - exercise pill on its way!
Obviously not true, but that's bound to be the headline the tabloids pick up on! Fascinating research into a hormone that turns white fat into metabolically active brown fat. http://www.gizmag.com/hormone-mimics-exercise/21150/
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Things I never thought were possible...
...before I started getting fit. Yesterday I was out with my running group and I realised I was gossiping with friends as we went. Once upon a time I though such as thing as an "easy run" was a myth and even the slowest trot would have me puffing! I swear everyone thought I was antisocial as I never spoke a work. I…
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New Garmin HR strap, Cardiotrainer or new HRM?
I gave up using an HRM years ago because one more thing to remember just stopped me getting out of the door! I've since been relying on Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE). I think I need to start using one again as I've started getting exercise-induced migraines and want to stay within my limits for Marathon training. I have…
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Microwave meal ideas please!
Due to an epic "muck"-up (thank you rude word filter) with the delivery and installation of a new cooker, I am without conventional cooking facilities for 12 days. Can you share your microwave meal ideas, please, preferably cooking from scratch rather than reheating stuff. My partner's a chef and I think he feels like his…
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Top three foods in each category
When you go to add stuff in each of your food categories, what are the three most used in each? I suspect mine might reveal something about my diet! Breakfast: Tea with semi-skimmed milk Butter - salted (the bread varies, the butter remains the same) Semi-skimmed milk (likewise, the cereal varies, the milk remains the…
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Weekend long run vs. club runs
I'm training for the London Marathon and I've rejoined my running club to give me a boost. The club meets every Sunday morning for 1.5 hours and focusses on speed and quality, such as hill sprints, mile repeats, a steady 5K, improving on your own time over a loop and racing with people of a similar ability, etc. I love the…
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Lord Byron's inadvisable celebrity diet
Just to show there's nothing new in the world of fad celebrity diets! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16351761
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Will this laptop adequately replace my desktop?
I currently have a gaming spec Dell PC in a tower the size of a small house. Having once been state of the art, it's getting weary and unreliable. Despite my best efforts with Norton Utilities, it takes forever to boot up. If I attempt to use it before it's ready (a good 10 minutes!) it crashes. If I flip between…
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What days do you work over the Chritmas period?
Our office is shut next week, so I'm "working" a half day from home tomorrow (AKA buying spuds and Brussels sprouts from the market) then I'm finished until 3 January 2012. How about you? Edit: Wow, I really wish I hadn't misspelled Christmas in the title, I'm going to Hell for that!
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Make or break week - motivation tips please!
Like many people on MFP, I've successfully lost weight in the past, but it gradually crept back on when I stopped tracking my food ans exercise. I'm very aware at the moment that I'm letting a few things slip here and there - not tracking a calorific meal here, skipping the gym for a pub trip there etc. I don't want this…
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The MFP Secret Santa from your desk challenge
Your office announces a Secret Santa drawing in two minutes' time. You have to give something from your desk wrapped in something else from your desk. What is it? The clock's ticking! I'm giving a combined USB data stick/bottle opener I got at a conference wrapped in a page of a 2011 "earth from above" calendar from a…
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No upper and lower abdominals, so how come they move indepen
Modern resistance training reminds us that the main abdominal muscle that gives the lucky few with low body fat a 6- or 8-pack is a single sheet of muscle, the rectus abdominis, which gets its segmented appearance from tendons that cross the muscle. It is the rectus abdominis alongside the transverse abdominals and the…
