Killer Welsh Hills and Testing Times

Early October and it was time for me to go over and see Simon at Total Cycling Performance for my mid training programme assessment. When I say "mid" it was actually about three weeks late due to me having been on holiday and deciding that I was going to re-complete the the two weeks of my programme that I had missed and the week immediately prior to me going on holiday as I wasn't happy with the levels of training I had completed in those weeks. An overview of the training I managed to complete whilst on holiday can be found here "August training update"

In addition to completing the assessment to see if my performance and fitness were improving, Simon and I decided we should try and complete a ride utilising some of the hills that are right on his doorstep on the same day (this was a ride that we had arranged previously and cancelled due to bad weather and had subsequently been unable to re-arrange)

When I arrived on the day it was at worst a "a little on the damp side" with a bit of mist and drizzle in evidence, not enough to abort the ride and with both of us keen to get out on the road we wasted no time in putting my bike together and setting off.

Simon informed me that we would probably only be going about 30 miles, however he had planned in some nice hills to see how my climbing ability was progressing.

The killer Welsh hills waiting for the Pixie  

If you ever go for a ride with Simon and you start from his premises, be warned, there is no warm up in the ride before you start climbing - its basically uphill as soon as you clip into your pedals! Within 0.4 miles we were on a gentle 7.5% incline as we made our way to the start of the ride proper.
I have to say that at this point I was a little apprehensive as my heart rate was merrily skipping along at around 155 beats per minute and I was already having to ease my pace up to manage it in the way Simon had taught me to in order to avoid "blowing up" early in the ride.

At around 2.5 miles we arrived at the bottom of the first serious climb of the day, the "Maerdy Road" Simon had warned me that parts of this climb were over 14% and that it was a longish climb of around 2.75-3 miles of varying degrees of difficulty with some "alpine" hairpin bends thrown in for good measure. It was at this point that the weather changed and it went from being "a little on the damp side" to "very, very wet" It's safe to say that as we climbed up this hill I was glad that I had left my 12-30 rear cassette on and hadn't changed it out for the new 12-27 I had sitting on the workbench at home!

Maerdy road hairpin bends - very steep on the inside! 



The picture above shows one of the hairpin bends on the Maerdy road with Aberdare in the background, and its a whole lot harder riding up this hill than it is riding up the hill in a bus! According to my Strava data the elevation gain on this hill was around 759 feet.

As this was the first real climb of the day I found it encouraging that I was able to maintain a good average speed and most importantly have enough power in reserve to be able to manage my pace and therefore my heart rate to keep it below my lactic threshold. It's true you know, hills are much easier to climb in a low gear with a high cadence rate - Again it seems that Simon knows what he is talking about! - No more gear grinding for the Pixie.
   

The Maerdy road from about halfway up



Once up on top of the hill, the rain was properly "lashing down" and the sky was a nice shade of dark grey, however that didn't detract from the fast descent down into Maerdy which highlighted how woefully inadequate the Tektro brake calipers on the Secteur are and how much a bike moves around (even in a straight line) when the road is basically awash with water - All excellent and exciting stuff! 

Our ride continued for a further five miles until I found myself turning onto an ominously steep looking road, we had arrived at the bottom of the Penrhys Road. My Strava data from the ride tells me that this hill starts out at around 12% increases to 14% and reduces back down to around 11.5% (its always nice when a hills steepness reduces towards the end of the climb!)

Of course "what goes up, must come down" and the reward for toiling up one side was a glorious descent down into Treorchy. Again this descent showed me that if I was going to ride the hills through the winter, I would need to do something about my brakes which were largely ineffective in this amount of rain.

A brisk ride through Treorchy brought us to the bottom of the Rhigos, which heralded the start of a steady 4 mile climb to the top with an elevation gain of circa 1011 feet. The climb to the top of the Rhigos from Treorchy is best described as a steady "grind" at its steepest its around 13% but on the whole its generally between 5 and 7.5% and the hardest part of the climb is the fact that you can see it stretching out for miles in front of you.
     

The Rhigos from Treorchy 

                
I had originally planned to ride the Rhigos with Simon in July so in a weird kind of way I was actually quite looking forward to riding this particular hill and having driven up and down it with Simon earlier in the year I sort of knew what to expect. Due to the nature of the climb I didn't find it necessary to resort to my lowest gears for much of the climb and found that I was able to keep my heart rate around 140-145 beats per minute for the majority of the climb, which I was quite pleased with. Chatting to Simon on the way up the climb revealed that their was little difference in our respective heart rates when travelling at the same speed on the climb, which again I was quite pleased with.

It's bleak at the top of the Rhigos on a "dark and brooding" day

By the time we arrived at the top of the Rhigos the weather had improved and it had stopped raining just in time for the the fast descent down into Hirwaun. The descent down the other side of the Rhigos culminates in a mile long long straight piece of road which is graded at around 5-6% that allows the rider to build up some speed and recover from the climb that has just been completed - Again exciting and exhilarating stuff! 

You can go very fast going down this part of the Rhigos! 



Our ride finished off with a brisk paced 3 mile run back to Simon's premises, most of which was either flat or slightly downhill and very welcome after the rain soaked climbs completed earlier in the day.

Strava Profile Data For Complete Ride

 

Simon is planning to run either a guided "VIP" ride or Sportive next year of around 100-120 mile duration using these and many other hills in the area as part of the course and if you are in training for a major European or UK sportive that takes in hilly terrain I would recommend joining Simon on his ride as it really will be an excellent training opportunity.  

Once we got back to Simon's and had changed into dry clothes it was time to get on with the business of testing whether all the training I had been completing had improved my strength and cycling performance, compared to the results that had been attained during my intitial assessment in July (details of my intial assessment can be found here )   

The following is a snap shot of the results achieved during the reassessment. I think it's fair to say that both Simon and I were happy with the improvements given that immediately prior to completing the tests I had just ridden 30 miles across undulating terrain, in very wet and windy conditions. 

• 110kg increase in leg press strength
• Power to weight ratio of legs now 4.30
• Total of 17 pounds in weight lost
• 5.6 pounds of muscle gained
• Net weight loss 12 pounds
• 10mph increase in sustainable road speed
• Post ride blood lactate level 4Mmol (indicating ability to hold increased speed at an aerobic level) 

 

As always, I had a thoroughly enjoyable and informative day with Simon and as I write this I am well into the second eight week block of my plan. Will I be going back for more "Welsh hill action"? - Absolutely, I need to be riding more and more on hills like the ones I rode with Simon if I am to ride l'etape in a credible manner and I will be making regular visits to the area over the next few months.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read the Pixies ramblings and I hope you are able to come back again in the near future.

Dha weles diwettha

VP 

   

September Training Update and Losing Six Stones

I think I may be just a little quicker publishing Septembers training update than I was publishing Augusts in September, only a bit quicker, but a bit quicker nonetheless.

September proved to be a pretty good month weather wise and I was able to get out on the roads pretty frequently and gradually push the length of my rides out a bit further with weekend rides on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays regularly being of 50 mile plus duration. What a change from when I started cycling back in May, when to be honest I was struggling to complete a ride of 15 miles.      

Following Augusts disrupted training month, I was fairly determined to put in a good months work during September to try and catch up the two weeks of my Total Cycling Performance training programme I had missed whilst on holiday. During September I made a conscious effort to really push myself when I was in the gym doing strength and cardio training and I am sure that this has had a very positive effect on my performances out on the road, in respect of climbing ability and increased average speed over the duration of a journey.

During September we also took delivery of the Watt Bike that I am hiring over the winter. Watt Bikes are used by Team Sky and Team GB cycling teams as an indoor training tool and if they are good enough for Mr Brailsford, Wiggo, Froome dog and Miss Trott, I'm sure the Watt Bike will be just fine for me!



One of the features of the Watt Bike is the facility to measure peak power in Watts (hence the name) both as an average during any session and also the peak power attained during the session. Lets compare a random figure achieved by me during one of my early Watt Bike sessions with the figure achieved by Mark Cavendish whilst sprinting during a race. I achieved an average power output of around 160 watts with a peak power output of just over 400 watts. Mark Cavendish reputedly pushes out 1400 watts when sprinting for the line. So I think its fair to say Cav' hasn't got to worry about the Pixie catching him up just yet! 



Having the Watt bike available at home has definitely added a real focus to sessions that would have previously been completed on the Turbo due to being able to monitor performance in real time via the bikes "on board" computer. It's surprising how much of an incentive it is to keep pushing harder when you can see your average power output going up or you can see that you have averaged 35 kph over an hour's session. Another useful function that the bike has is the ability to monitor pedalling efficiency in real time, to help achieve a more efficient and powerful pedalling action. This is a copy of one of my early pedalling efficiency print outs.

  

So how did September look in numbers?

27 training sessions completed during the month

Total training time was a little under 41 hours (so around 1 hour 20 minutes per day on average)

Average heart rate during all training sessions was 121 beats per minute

Average maximum heart during all sessions was 159 beats per minute

15,363 calories burnt as a direct result of training sessions (so just over 4 pounds lost due to exercise completed)

Total weight loss 7.7 pounds

627 miles of riding completed

Average speed this month over all rides 19.04 mph (Average speed in May/June was 13mph)

All in all September has proven to be a good training month and is probably the month where I have made the most significant progress so far in respect of my performance on the bike and with my fitness levels more generally. I think it is fair to say that if I wasn't working with Simon Vincent over at Total Cycling Performance and working to his "Smarter Not Longer" training methodologies, the levels of performance increases I am achieving would not have been possible. As I have said before, maybe, just maybe, the boy knows what he is talking about?! Check out Simons web site here

For those people who are interested in my weight loss progress, I am now just a fraction under 11 stone 7 pounds. Total weight loss since January is now 85 pounds or just a little over 6 stone. I am fairly sure that my weight will now remain fairly static and changes in relation to weight and fat loss are most likely to manifest themeselves as a reduction in overall % of body fat rather than outright weight.

So what does the loss of 6 stones look like in the real world? The jacket I am wearing in the following photograph is a jacket that I was regulalrly wearing for work up until mid January and it was a pretty snug fit.

  

Yes that jacket really was on the tight side and it is fair to say both Mrs Pixie and I were quite shocked when I tried it on recently.

In other news relating to Septembers activities I have taken part in my first Cycling Sportive event, but that story deserves it's own blog post.......

As always, thanks for taking the time to read the Pixies ramblings and hopefully you will be able to find the time to visit the blog again in the future.

Dha weles diwettha

VP

Pixies not afraid of this hill anymore! - Thanks Simon



        

       

July Training Update

Well July is over, although it felt like October at times due to rain and the cooler temperatures we got during the month, and as I am off on holiday in a couple of weeks I thought I'd try and get July's training update done before the end of August.

I guess one of the highlights of this months progress is the fact that I reached the personal weight loss goal that I set myself in January. As of the last week in July I had lost 5 stone and 2 pounds since the middle of January 2012 and now weigh a little under 12 stone. Yes, I'm actually quite pleased with that result - Its surprising what little things reinforce the change this has had on me, such as finding that I now need to check that a large size shirt isn't actually to big for me (I was a "snug" XXL in January)      

If you have read other posts on the blog you will know that I am working with Simon from Total Cycling Performance in respect of my training programme and that first impressions are that Simon's "Smarter Not Longer" philosophy in respect of the amount of time spent training is paying dividends. I can safely say since I have been working to to the training programme that Simon developed for me that I am stronger and have more endurance on the bike. Climbing is easier, average speed is going up and stamina is definitely improving.



Towards the end of the month I changed my working hours to facilitate being able to utilise Monday mornings solely for training and specifically longer rides on the bike. This in combination with the other changes to my training programme has seen me going up to 3-4 hours in the saddle, with only quick "water the flowers" stops and this type of time in the saddle is now fairly comfortable.      

The introduction of High Intensity Interval training into the programme has been both amusing and excruciatingly sickening. This element of my training programme is probably the one that I look forward to completing each week, quick fire sessions at maximum possible performance, followed by short "recovery periods" (trust me this phrase is an outright misrepresentation of what happens - "contemplation period" would be more accurate as all I seem to be doing is thinking about the next maximum performance session) completed over a 20 minute period can only be described as being hell on earth.

Why are the interval sessions amusing? without fail I always find it amusing that as a 50 year old man with a fairly responsible job, capable of making my own choices in life, that I choose to do this to myself at least twice a week. It's also amusing for the neighbours, because I always have the garage door open with the bike facing onto the drive and twice a week the neighbours can stand on the road or in their front rooms and watch a pixie on a bike torture himself to within 30 seconds of falling off in a heap of vomit and sweat.



So what was the month like in numbers?

32 training sessions completed during the month

Total training time was a little under 32 hours (so a little over an hour a day   on average)

Average heart rate during all training sessions was 129 beats per minute

Average maximum heart during all sessions was 154 beats per minute

13,300 calories burnt as a direct result of training sessions (so just under 4 pounds lost due to exercise completed)

Total weight loss 6.8 pounds

425 miles covered on the bike

As predicted in Junes training update, the amount of weight lost is now slowing up as my nutritional focus switches to a more carbohydrate focused diet to provide much needed energy for training. The bulk of this months weight loss was actually achieved early in July and it took most of the month to lose the last 2 pounds to sneak in under the 12 stone target.

What is interesting is that my body shape is continuing to change and whilst my weight is stabilising at around the 166-167 pound mark I am continuing to inches off of my waist and chest, Simon predicted this would happen - Maybe he knows what he is talking about! :) 

What am I looking forward to this month? Most of all I am looking forward to sitting in an airline seat and not feeling as though somebody allocated me a child's seat.

As always thanks for taking the time to read the Pixies ramblings and hopefully you will be able to find the time to visit the blog again in the future.

Dha weles diwettha

VP 

(Didn't think you were going to learn some Cornish today did you! - it says "see you later" )





      

Speed increasing, climbing getting easier!

Just a mini post this one...........

Over the last few weeks I have noticed that since I took Simon's (Total Cycling Performance) advice to change my training regime and just as importantly the composition of my nutritional intake, I have seen a very real increase in on the road cycling performance.

To recap on previous posts my training programme is now much more structured and is focusing on developing muscle strength, core strength, cycling stamina and developing my lactate threshold through very focused training sessions that are regulated by heart rate rather than "how I feel"
It's early days as yet but after the first couple of weeks I noticed that on my regular training routes my average speed increased by 2 mph and that not only had the average speed increased but I didn't feel like I was working as hard as I used to. Riding using my heart rate monitor has undoubtedly help with the feeling of not working so hard, as I am largely staying within my optimum heart rate band and avoiding allowing my heart rate to go above my lactate threshold.

Whilst I was pleased with the 2 mph increase in average speed that I had been consistently achieving, last Sunday I didn't feel like going out for a long ride so I set out on a straight forward out and back run of a little under 25 miles. The added dimension to this run was that it was early morning, the roads were empty and I wanted to see just how fast I could average over the distance.

By the time I arrived back at home, I had increased my average speed by a further 3 mph over the 2 mph increase I had achieved previously. To say I was pleased with a total increase of 5 mph in average speed over a two to three week period would be an understatement. I have even wondered whether I could have a go at Vets Time Trialing, such was the joy which that 25 mile ride brought!   

The other thing I have noticed is that hills that i have previously found to be hard work are actually getting easier and again through making the effort to manage my heart rate I'm not "blowing up" on hills or wasting energy early in the ride.

Stamina is definitely improving and where as a novice cyclist of a little over two months, previously anything more than two straight hours in the saddle was a real struggle, two hours is now a breeze and three to four hours is comfortable with a couple of short breaks to throw some peanuts in my mouth and get out of the saddle.

As a novice cyclist, who until two months ago hadn't been on a bike in around thirty plus years, I'm quite pleased with the progress I'm making and feel more confident now that I will achieve my goal of completing a hundred mile ride before the end of October.

It's still early days with getting the nutrition consistently right every day, some days I just don't eat foods that are high in volume of the right type of carbs. Largely this will be due to me not planning what I am going to eat when I am away from the office or when I find myself at a meeting where a buffet lunch has been provided (these could be called "beige lunch") The effect this has on energy reserves is quite pronounced if I it happens two or three days in a row. When I do get it right, the positive effect on energy levels is really quite pronounced.      

I'm sure there will be days in the coming weeks where my average speed isn't quite as consistently high and maybe the rate of progress will slow up a bit, but all the signs are there to indicate that my on the bike performance is moving in the right direction. 

As always, thanks for taking the time to visit the blog and read the random thoughts of the Pixie, hope you can find the time to visit again in the future.

VP 

Total Cycling Performance: Test session update

Well I think I have just about recovered from my day spent with Simon at Total Cycling Performance over in South Wales last Friday (29/06/12) The first thing that struck me when I arrived in the area that Simon is based in was the stunning countryside that Simon has on his doorstep, there are some seriously hilly cycling routes available which I will be exploring with Simon in the near future.

     

Upon arrival at Simon's I was pleased to find that the first item on the days agenda was a cup of coffee and a chat whilst Simon completed some medical questionnaires and checked that I didn't have any pre existing medical conditions which might make the days activities dangerous for me to undertake.

Once the paperwork was completed we moved onto the actual testing which took place in Simon's self contained fitness testing and training building. Simon eased me into the day with the tests that related to ascertaining what my body composition is, including body fat analysis, muscle analysis, hydration analysis and BMR (which works out how much energy, or how many calories, my body uses in a 24 hour period whilst simply resting) The highlight of these tests was the news that I have less body fat than I thought I had and my hydration levels are good. 

We then moved onto the piece of work which prompted my contacting Simon in the first place, the "bike fit" session. I won't bore you with details but it is safe to say that the set up on my bike was a country mile away from where it should be for optimum performance and comfort. Simon checked the bike using lasers and made all of the required adjustments to both the bike and the pedal cleats on my shoes. The bike was so far away from where it should have been that we suspect that now that it has been corrected, a niggling pain in my left knee may now go away. 

The new settings from my bike were then transferred onto the "Watt bike" so that the first batch of the cycling performance tests could be conducted. Simon would normally do an initial test using the original settings from the clients bike to establish a base line to work from, however my set up was so bad we decided it would be a waste of time and elected to use the new settings for the first run on the Watt bike. A number of tests were conducted in this session (details of the tests can be found in my last blog post or on Simon's web site  http://www.totalcyclingperformance.co.uk ) however the test that grabbed most of my attention was the pedalling efficiency test. As the name suggests this is a test that analyses the efficiency of the cyclists actual pedalling technique. The picture below is a copy of the results of my first run on the Watt bike which resulted in an uncorrected or coached pedalling efficiency of 51.9%

    

My first run on the Watt bike was followed by a second run where Simon provided some tuition to correct some faults in my pedalling technique and to say I was pleased with the results I achieved on the second run would be an understatement! The following picture shows the results of the second run which were an average efficiency of 86.7% and a peak efficiency of 91.6%

                  

More information on pedalling efficiency and how its possible to change a peanut into a sausage can be found on Simons web site at http://www.totalcyclingperformance.co.uk/the-importance-of-pedalling-efficiency.php 

All of the information that I have learnt as a result of spending the day with Simon is really useful and the next steps are to put this information into use by changing the way I train. An example of this would be the application of my "maximum aerobic efficiency hear rate" which I now know is between 139-145 beats per minute. By focusing my riding so that the majority of work is completed within this heart beat range, I will be looking to increase my anaerobic threshold and increase aerobic efficiency. This together with a rounded training programme that is designed to improve both pedalling strength and endurance should provide an end result that is an all round increase in cycling speed.

We did a number of tests on the day to assess my core strength and overall strength for cycling. It's fair to say that the results were a bit of a mixed bag and as I suspected prior to commencing the testing, my core strength is an area that I really need to focus on. I don't know how many articles in books and magazines I have read over the last few months advocating that core strength is key to cycling performance, what I do know is that whilst I have accepted the validity of this advice, I haven't actually done anything about it. Cyclists, it's true, if you want to go further and faster, spend some time developing your core strength!

    

The results of the body composition and nutrition analysis make for an interesting read and in a lot of respects have confirmed my suspicions that the time is now right to move my nutritional focus away from simply losing weight. 

The headline figures from the body composition analysis are as follows;

• Total weight 78.8kg
• Lean weight 64kg
• Body fat % 18.8%
• Hydration 61%
• Basil Metabolic Rate (BMR 1685kcal) 

When I reflect on where I was at the beginning of the year in terms of weight and probable % body fat (I don't know what the figure was but at 17 stone and being 5 foot 8 inches tall it was going to be a high %) the above figures are quite pleasing and probably validate that what I see in the mirror every morning is not a mirage - Yes I think I might finally accept that I may be a bit skinnier than I was in January!

It's not all good news though, the analysis of my current nutritional intake has revealed that I'm not really eating enough food (specifically carbohydrates) for somebody who is training as a potential endurance athlete. Failing to eat sufficient carbs is almost certainly holding back my progress in consistently being able to stretch out the distance I cover on the bike by simply not allowing the body to create sufficient energy stores to fuel my exercise programme. 

The aim for the next 16 weeks is to shed a further 5-6kg of fat to bring the body fat % figure down to something close to 10% and to modify my nutritional intake to facilitate both the desired further drop in body fat and also to provide sufficient carbohydrate in the diet to fuel the training programme that Simon is writing for me. Taking the results of all of the days testing into account my overall nutritional targets for the next 16 weeks will look something like this;

•  Total calorie target 1800kcal per day, of which;
• 300g of carbohydrate (1200kcal)
• 60g of protein (240kcal)
• 40g of fat (360kcal)     

Just to put that further 5-6kg of fat that I want to lose  into context, 5.5kg of fat is equal to 22 of these;

   

As I'm sitting here writing this and looking at the report that Simon produced detailing the results achieved and related recommendations for each of the tests conducted on the day it has made me aware of exactly how much work was completed on the day. To document everything we did on the day would probably turn this blog post into cycling's version of War and Peace so I think I will let Simon's web site provide the details of the actual tests that were completed.

I had a really enjoyable (if it's possible to enjoy pushing your body to it's limits! :) ) and informative day at Total Cycling Performance and if you are a cyclist or athlete that is curious about understanding more about how to develop your performance, I would recommend talking to Simon about how he works and how he might be able to help you train "Smarter not Longer"  

If you are reading this and are interested in asking me something specific about the tests I undertook with Simon and how I got on with them on the day, please feel free to contact me either via this web site or via Twitter @velopixie  

Once again thanks for taking the time to visit and read the blog, hope you can come back again soon.

VP  

Cycling Performance Analysis

I appear to have been slacking a bit with keeping the blog up to date and didn't realise how long it had been since I last provided an update. So I expect updates will be like buses for a few days............

In an earlier update I mentioned that I was going to try and arrange a session to fit me to the bike to make sure that it was set up properly and to avoid any waste of energy through poor set up. Having done some more research into where such a session could be conducted and also some research into finding a cycling/sports coach and nutritionist I have managed to find somebody that can provide both services and who is only about an hour and a half away in the car - Happy Days :)

The person in question is Simon Vincent who runs Total Cycling Performance ( http://www.totalcyclingperformance.co.uk/ ) over in South Wales.



Having had a couple of conversations and exchanged e mails with Simon I was confident that Simon's outlook on training and nutrition was exactly what I was looking for and a date was agreed for me to go over for a day and take part in some performance testing.

The performance testing programme that Simon has agreed to undertake include the following elements;

Electronic body composition scan, nutrition intake analysis and weight management plan

• 7 day client food diary analysis in respect of macro and micronutrient intake
• Bodystat 1500™ Electronic Body Composition Metabolic Analysis Scan to ascertain body fat, muscle, hydration levels along with BMR (the amount of kcal your body uses during rest over 24 hours)
• Waste to hip ratio and body fat spot measurements
• Full consultation to dispel myths and evaluate goals
• Detailed nutrition plan and recommendations in line with clients goals                                                     

Laser line bike fit and detailed pedalling efficiency/power analysis – incorporating use of an official Wattbike™

• Bike fitting incorporating Wattbike**
• Pedalling efficiency/flat spot analysis across range of riding positions
• True maximum heart rate test/HR training zones    
• Maximum minute power output test
• Electronic Peak Lung Flow Capacity                              
• Functional Threshold Power Test (20 min)
• Tri-leve alatic power (sprint) test                                                                                       
• Optimum bike set up

Cycling specific strength and conditioning/power to weight ratio assessment

• Upper and lower body strength                                                 
• Upper and lower body endurance
• Coronal strength ratios                                                             
• Bilateral grip strength
• Core muscle strength and stability                                             
• Total flexibility and mobility
• Hip functionality                                                                                   
• Balance and proprioception                  
• Written report of results

This performance testing programme is normally undertaken over two days but Simon has kindly agreed to complete the programme in one day and that day is tomorrow 29th June. 

To be honest, I'm quite nervous about the prospect of undertaking a days testing as up until now I have been entirely in control of what fitness training and exercise I have undertaken. Doing what somebody else is telling me to do is something I haven't experienced in relation to sport for probably over ten years! 

The other thing I have been reflecting on over the last few days is that it was only six months ago that I was 17 stone in weight and could not have imagined that I would be contemplating commissioning somebody to act as my sports and nutrition coach with a view to coaching me to the completion of a bona fide sports endurance event. For the first time I have over the last few days allowed myself to feel ever so slightly proud of what I have achieved this year and do you know what? It feels good to be 12 stone something in weight and fit enough to commit to Simons performance testing programme. 



I will provide an update on how the day has gone in the next few days (once I have recovered!) 

Once again thanks for taking the time to visit and read my blog. 

Hope to see you back here soon

VP