Fitness for Glastonbury 2023

[paulshane]

literally years since I last posted in this thread I think, but I have been doing stuff in the background.

 

I'm heavier than I want to be, so as a new year 'resolution' I decided to move 10km a day , either on foot or on my bike, as checking my google fit and strava data from 2022,  I averaged 5km a day, which is poor.

 

It started slow as the dark evenings and shitty weather dont help, but with nicer weather on the way, I'm currently averaging 21km a day of moving.

Some days are better than others, Friday, I did seven km, and that was walking to a pub and back, but yesterday (saturday) I did a slow but satisfying 60km bike ride , so my average is creeping up 🙂

 

weight wise, lost a bit, not as much as i'd hoped, but I do feel a lot fitter, I cycled for about three hours yesterday in one ride, in January I would have fainted 🙂

 

I'm at 2425km so far this year, mostly cycling, but some walking/hiking too (and a single painful 5km run)

 

I'm much nearer 50 than I am 40, so I want to be party fit for this years festival 🙂

Edited April 23, 2023 by paulshane

[philipsteak]

9 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Wow

Great effort

 

9 hours ago, Pipine said:

Amazing effort! 

I’m working on coming back from 5 weeks off any exercise feb/March when I had a cold virus thing.  Back at the 5km runs and cycling to work.. need to step it up a bit if I want to cope with glasto distances.

 

8 hours ago, danssol said:

Wow

 

Thanks all.

I genuinely don't want to do myself down, false modesty, or belittle other people's efforts, but in an odd sort of way it hasn't been that hard. It's not been easy, not at all, but not as hard as I expected. Which is oddly frustrating. Because I could, and should, have done this years ago. I mean really I should never have got into the situation of being so overweight in the first place but having done so I just kept putting off doing something about it because I thought I wasn't bothered, and it looked like really hard work. A serious medical diagnosis really does help focus the mind though (I wouldn't recommend waiting until you get one of those for your motivation though!)

Don't get me wrong, I am really happy at what I've achieved and I try not to dwell too much on past mistakes, but I also know I've missed out on stuff in the past because of my fitness and weight.

And I do very much appreciate that everyone's circumstances are different. I could just focus on myself and what I was doing, not having to worry about kids, money, job (I do work, I just don't really care about my job!), not having any injuries or illness that would prevent me doing what I did (beyond the wear and tear of being a fat 46 year old) and living in a National Park probably helps too. It's easier to want to get outside and move when the rewards are the views I get to see.

I recently seem to have bumped in to a fair few people I haven't seen in a while and it's been a real shock for them to see me. They've all been lovely and really happy for me. In a few cases it's taken a second for them to recognise me. Some even a bit cautious about being too happy before they know it's OK to be happy for me. We've also taken on a load of new seasonal staff and of course they never knew fat me, they've only known "normal sized" me. One, who is running her first marathon today just asked during a conversation about her training if I was a runner. A few months ago that would have been a ridiculous question. Now, perfectly reasonable I suppose just looking at me. 

[philipsteak]

.

Edited April 23, 2023 by philipsteak
double post

[moogster]

22 hours ago, philipsteak said:

 

Some even a bit cautious about being too happy before they know it's OK to be happy for me. 

Which is very good. Imagine the blunder if not...

Update on my "lose a stone for Glasto": I am about 2 kilos away, so technically as I've been losing 2 kilos a month so far, this means I'm on track. Longest run now is 40 mn. I have  45 mn on my schedule today but oh-no-what-a-shame it's pissing rain 😛 

[philipsteak]

22 minutes ago, moogster said:

Which is very good. Imagine the blunder if not...

Update on my "lose a stone for Glasto": I am about 2 kilos away, so technically as I've been losing 2 kilos a month so far, this means I'm on track. Longest run now is 40 mn. I have  45 mn on my schedule today but oh-no-what-a-shame it's pissing rain 😛 

Indeed. And I have to fight the urge to put on a serious face and respond "well, its...". I'm a bad person for thinking it but not bad enough to actually do it. Yet.

And well done. You've really gone for it with the running. I'm still at the over thinking and making excuses stage. Although I am getting over a quite bad cold (another excuse...)

[gooner1990]

9lbs down since mid-Feb...was hoping for a bit more - will have to try harder in the gym!

[ahoykatie]

Walked the second half of the west Highland Way this week - starting at Tyndrum!

It was really hard I won't lie but I'm glad I did it!

Although I cant see me wanting to walk that far ever again haha 

[philipsteak]

35 minutes ago, ahoykatie said:

Walked the second half of the west Highland Way this week - starting at Tyndrum!

It was really hard I won't lie but I'm glad I did it!

Although I cant see me wanting to walk that far ever again haha 

Good effort!

I've never done a multi day hike in this country. Did a couple in New Zealand when I lived there, they are so we'll set up for it there with the DOC huts. Its a definite aim to do one here though.

Did a fairly epic hike for me yesterday. For those who know the north Lakes, Honister up over Grey Knott and Brandreth to Green Gable then down to Haystack, down to Buttermere then back up to the car at Honister. We were supposed to go summit Great Gable to but it was so windy on Green Gable (which is 100 metres lower and less exposed) we had to abandon that idea which was very frustrating. Aside from the difficulty it would have been massively irresponsible. Was properly dangerous. I've never experienced winds like it. We were crawling and sliding down Green Gable. Didn't expect my arms to get a workout too! As we were going down there was a woman on her own going up. Went to check she was ok and she was crying and just said "I'm really frightened". Wasn't much I could do to help, we could barely hear each other. We weren't too far from the summit though and it was a bit more sheltered the other side so waited until she'd got to the top. I also know there were 3 blokes following us who could help her. Still very annoying not getting to the top of Great Gable, would have been by far the highest fell I'd been up in the lakes. As it is Green Gable is the highest anyway.

Then had a nightmare when we got to the car. Completely dead battery, nothing, nada. No signal for any network. And the Slate mine shop was closed by this point and the hostel isn't manned anymore. Found a lovely couple who drove us down to the hostel in Buttermere, and luckily two people I know were working (although I'm sure if it was people I don't know they would have helped) so used their phone to call the AA. The problem then was we were supposed to back get to the car ourselves . Back up to the top of Honister. Tried explaining why this wasn't happening (we were fucked and once back up there they wouldn't be able to contact us) but the driver wasn't allowed to pick us up because they wouldn't be insured. Anyway, we found some guests in the hostel who agreed to drive us up if needed once we were told they were on the way. Other hostellers were trying to feed us which was very sweet of them. And as it happened, our job got assigned to a local garage rather than an AA patrol so as soon as he called he just said he'd pick us up without us even asking. The advantage of local knowledge of the situation. So, even though we had a bit of a mission at the end of an already epic day, we met some absolutely lovely people as a result of it. Missed out on dinner on Keswick though. (Protein bar and some nuts whole we waited not quite the same)

Anyway, the point of all this long winded story is I wouldn't even have attempted a hike like that a few months ago. I mean I used to I hike but nothing like that. I couldn't have done it yesterday with an extra 30 kgs in my backpack. Mad to think I was carrying all that extra weight around. Will be interesting to see what my mates Strava says about the elevation we climbed. Think the distance was about 12 miles.

Edited May 5, 2023 by philipsteak

[philipsteak]

34 minutes ago, ahoykatie said:

Walked the second half of the west Highland Way this week - starting at Tyndrum!

It was really hard I won't lie but I'm glad I did it!

Although I cant see me wanting to walk that far ever again haha 

Oh and photos? To inspire me to do it in the future 

[sfroml]

Leeds Marathon for me next week, all inspired by getting 'fitter for Glastonbury'!

[ahoykatie]

1 hour ago, philipsteak said:

Oh and photos? To inspire me to do it in the future 

Oh yeah!! A few attached the Highlands are beautiful and we did get lucky with the weather mostly!!

 

[Skip997]

1 hour ago, ahoykatie said:

Walked the second half of the west Highland Way this week - starting at Tyndrum!

It was really hard I won't lie but I'm glad I did it!

Although I cant see me wanting to walk that far ever again haha 

Did the whole thing when I was younger.

[faymondo]

I was on a challenge of exercise everyday until Glastonbury. Got to day 60/112 (Saturday) when last Wednesday something started playing up in my knee with it eventually packing up on Saturday night playing table tennis of all things. Got up to half marathon mileage running wise as wel.

Resting has been hard as I am very active normally. The knee is slowly getting better. But still nowhere near running yet and having to swerve a 10k race I signed up for this Sunday. 

Fingers crossed I can cross train and bike in the gym next week to keep something in my legs. 

[The Clearest Blue]

Did my last run of my taper yesterday in prep for the Birmingham half marathon on Sunday. Weather isn’t looking ideal but still feeling semi confident of a PB 🤓

[philipsteak]

15 minutes ago, faymondo said:

I was on a challenge of exercise everyday until Glastonbury. Got to day 60/112 (Saturday) when last Wednesday something started playing up in my knee with it eventually packing up on Saturday night playing table tennis of all things. Got up to half marathon mileage running wise as wel.

Resting has been hard as I am very active normally. The knee is slowly getting better. But still nowhere near running yet and having to swerve a 10k race I signed up for this Sunday. 

Fingers crossed I can cross train and bike in the gym next week to keep something in my legs. 

I know what you mean. I mean I'm not half marathon levels of active but way more than I was a few months ago. Was ill with a bad cold a couple of weeks ago, and I felt properly grotty. Partly from the cold but miss so from not doing anything.

Hopefully you'll be back on it very soon

Edited May 5, 2023 by philipsteak

[faymondo]

59 minutes ago, The Clearest Blue said:

Did my last run of my taper yesterday in prep for the Birmingham half marathon on Sunday. Weather isn’t looking ideal but still feeling semi confident of a PB 🤓

Good luck.

[faymondo]

50 minutes ago, philipsteak said:

I know what you mean. I mean I'm not half marathon levels of active but way more than I was a few months ago. Was ill with a bad cold a couple of weeks ago, and I felt properly grotty. Partly from the cold but miss so from not doing anything.

Hopefully you'll be back on it very soon

Yeah hoping its not too long. I am an all or nothing person so I am either on it fitness wise or on it food and booze wise. 

What I have noticed is that exercise is good for my sanity. Even if its just a decent walk to clear my head.

Too much booze, become lazy, have a bevvy. Its a easy circle to go down.

My "fat" shorts are currently stashed away. Hoping it doesn't come to that 🥴

Glastonbury is a nice target now and I love a good target.

 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by faymondo

[philipsteak]

47 minutes ago, faymondo said:

Yeah hoping its not too long. I am an all or nothing person so I am either on it fitness wise or on it food and booze wise. 

What I have noticed is that exercise is good for my sanity. Even if its just a decent walk to clear my head.

Too much booze, become lazy, have a bevvy. Its a easy circle to go down.

My "fat" shorts are currently stashed away. Hoping it doesn't come to that 🥴

Glastonbury is a nice target now and I love a good target.

 

 

Absobliminlutely.

I gave all my fat clothes away when I lost weight. Apart from my Glastonbury t-shirts. I want to do something with those. Cushion covers maybe?

 

[faymondo]

2 minutes ago, philipsteak said:

Absobliminlutely.

I gave all my fat clothes away when I lost weight. Apart from my Glastonbury t-shirts. I want to do something with those. Cushion covers maybe?

 

Sam Torrance the golfer had lost a load of weight. He was asked by the commentator the late great Peter Allis "Any tips on dieting Sam ?" 

Torrance answered in a Scottish droll "Always keep your fat pants" 

I have !

[philipsteak]

1 hour ago, faymondo said:

Sam Torrance the golfer had lost a load of weight. He was asked by the commentator the late great Peter Allis "Any tips on dieting Sam ?" 

Torrance answered in a Scottish droll "Always keep your fat pants" 

I have !

I've got the opposite thinking. Now I've got rid of my fat clothes I have to keep the weight off cos I don't want to have to buy new stuff (cost me a fortune to buy new stuff this time round)

[4AssedMonkey]

6 hours ago, faymondo said:

I was on a challenge of exercise everyday until Glastonbury. Got to day 60/112 (Saturday) when last Wednesday something started playing up in my knee with it eventually packing up on Saturday night playing table tennis of all things. Got up to half marathon mileage running wise as wel.

Resting has been hard as I am very active normally. The knee is slowly getting better. But still nowhere near running yet and having to swerve a 10k race I signed up for this Sunday. 

Fingers crossed I can cross train and bike in the gym next week to keep something in my legs. 

Gutting isn’t it? I’ve been steadily increasing my hiking and cycling distances (up to around 15km hikes and 50km on the bike) then 2 weeks ago I came across a closed footpath in the middle of nowhere. Had to divert along an old railway line and then drop onto another path that ran underneath it. About a 1.5m drop onto what looked like soft, wet dirt. Turns out a nicely hidden rock just under the mud was waiting and I landed on it with my heel. Luckily not broken (fat pad contusion apparently) but it really hurts and might take another 2-3 weeks to heal. So that’s the hiking on hold. Luckily, can still cycle, but I miss the big walks and so does Hollie the dog.

[philipsteak]

Another big hiking day yesterday. Got a mate visiting who's about the same fitness and experience level as me (she's maybe slightly fitter, which is what you want) so we knew there was going to be a lot of hiking. 11 and a bit miles over mountains on Thursday, then planned on taking it easier yesterday, maybe 5 or 6 but lower level. Ended up with another 11 miles (but very much easier terrain). About 30000 steps followed by 26000. Feeling it this morning. Def taking it easier today, I'm back in work tomorrow.

[philipsteak]

Oh, and forgot to say, after thinking I'd plateaued, I've got to the magic 70kgs! So that's me done for the weight loss, now maintenance and fitness are the priority. And remission from diabetes but I won't be able to officially confirm that for a few months.

[Neil]

to try and get a bit of rpain releif between my massages i've bought myself  a RENPHO Leg Massager for Circulation with Heat

waiting for it to arrive so i can give it a try.

 

[Crazyfool01]

36 minutes ago, Neil said:

to try and get a bit of rpain releif between my massages i've bought myself  a RENPHO Leg Massager for Circulation with Heat

waiting for it to arrive so i can give it a try.

 

Hope that works … looks like some kind of torture device to me 😀