More than this - Roxy Music - Day 5

SUNDAY - I thought this blog could build as the week unfolds. It’ll be interesting to see where it takes me. I know Bracknell and Bromsgrove are on my work itinerary with plenty of adventure – plus whatever else happens in between – that’s the beauty of my job, as it makes every day, different.

You see I’m always amazed when people say they ‘do the same old things’ yet talk about wanting more out of life’. I’m not sure I can get much more out of mine. Talk about getting ‘Value for Money’ eh. Anyway, it got me thinking and that’s why I chose ‘More than this’.

And it’s a long time since I’ve used a Roxy Music Track to highlight my thoughts but this 1982 single (reached #6 in the UK Charts) and has some great lyrics. As with all Roxy music, it’s perfectly recorded and mastered and sounds as fresh as it did when I first bought ‘Avalon’ all those years ago – only better now it’s been digitally remastered and not on scratchy vinyl.

I could feel at the time there was no way of knowing
Fallen leaves in the night who can say where they're blowing…

Thirty-six years on – more than a lifetime for some, I really had no way of knowing what lay ahead – Sure the leaves have fallen, re-grown and fallen many times over with a relentless frequency. Life has flashed by but I've never worried as I love the thought of not knowing what lies ahead. I mean, no-one truly knows where they are heading – that’s the beauty of this wonderful life we are all living out and what I find exciting.

The world's a different place to 1982 - our use of plastic has come and gone in that time. We've wrecked the planet  and now it's biting back... 

The power of nature – the wind and the ocean underlines just how fragile our world and our existence are. How we manage to get to any age considering the ‘Russian Roulette’ we play just living out life every day, amazes me. As a young boy, I remember being a regular at my local hospital’s A&E department with a whole spectrum of accident damage, mostly to my head (answers a lot). 

Might be worth thinking about your journey into work today… It's something I'm going to concentrate on this week too...

As free as the wind and hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide has no way of turning…

MONDAY - Makes you wonder if we ever do learn, especially this Monday evening after a day’s hard labour with a pneumatic drill. You see us chaps, however old we get, still believe we’re eighteen. I know I’m probably fitter than I was back then and I’m certainly more healthy than I’ve ever been but as for being S-T-R-O-N-G, well I’m not. My arms are killing as I’m typing, mostly my forearms and shoulders as they are plainly just not used to prolonged hard work. 

Typing just doesn’t build endurance and strength - fact.

This got me thinking about all the people stuck in offices that must be simply wasting away - through a lack of conditioning. Your average builder, no matter how many sugars he might have in his tea and what his hip-to-waist-ratio is, has better conditioning than an office-based Triathlete. I’m not sure whether there’s enough hours in the day to reverse the corrosion of being desk-based and sedentary for a large proportion of the day.

My six hours in the car tomorrow won’t help my cause that much either. Good news though is that I clocked up 21,000 steps today mostly carrying a heavy drill and so no further training is required – I’m going to think on about putting more conditioning into my schedule. It’s gotta help…

We’ll see eh? And I’ll add more to my weeklong Blog tomorrow if I can raise my arms and have a great Tuesday – and think on about how S-T-R-O-N-G you really are…

More than this, there is nothing
More than this, tell me one thing…

TUESDAY - Tales of ULTRAdiet success and woe fill my inbox on a Tuesday morning and as usual there were plenty of ‘Losers’ – Rarely do I see a ‘Gainer’ but this week there were more ‘Stay-the-Samers’ than usual. Most came with a pretty limp excuse if I’m being honest, but after some research I might have found the ‘Common Denominator’ of their failure .

‘Meal-Times’

Yes, ‘Meal-Times’ – the modern day waistline Kryptonite. It’s simple, folk just don’t know whento eat. Grabbing food during a busy day leads to two breakfasts, three lunches and at least two suppers. Sprinkle in a couple of Starbucks and an odd bottle of wine and it’s ‘Diet Anarchy’ – keeping an eye on one’s food intake is simply impossible.

So I had an idea to rectify the problem - Try regulating your mealtimes to the following. Breakfast at 8.30am (post exercise) - Mid-morning Snack at 11am – Lunch at 1pm - Mid-Afternoon Snack at 4pm and Supper at 7pm and see how you get on – NEVER EATING THE NEXT MEAL BEFORE THE FIXED MEALTIME. And of course no picking allowed… 

It could be one of the greatest ‘Lifestyle Changes’ ever invented.

Post-War, Rationed Britain ate to their meal-times like a British Rail Timetable and even now the older generation that I know follow this eating pattern with great effect. It’s worth a try isn’t it? And if you are 69kgs and stuck in ‘The Diet Doldrums’ (you know who you are) it could be the push you need for 63kgs success.

I’ll let you know if this revelation makes anydifference to those that adapt to living on CMT (Coleman Meal Times). and I’ll soon know whether this is one of the better ideas I’ve had on the M4 – I mean what else do you do with six hours of FREETIME.

Let’s see what Wednesday brings, luckily based back in Cardiff…

It was fun for a while there was no way of knowing
Like dream in the night who can say where we're going…

Wednesday – TBH I’ve always been really proud about setting my Treadmill World Records and it was only in taking them down, that I noticed the date – 17-18^thOctober 1998. Twenty years’ ago today! A complete lifetime ago, and as I remember it was a weekend where everything went to plan and I beat the existing Guinness World Record by more than seven miles.

Setting a further four World Records during the same 24 hour period – well that was the icing on the cake. Not many people, let alone athletes have ever managed that.

Before I was ill, I thought there was always another World Record in me – but nine is enough for anyone and I’ll always have warm thoughts of knowing right from the start of the 24hrs that I was going to be the New 24hr Treadmill World Record Holder.

As if you are fit – you’re fit – and you just know…

No care in the world maybe I'm learning
Why the sea on the tide has no way of turning…

Thursday - I’ve been setting some new folk onto ULTRAdiet and it always sound really brutal when I’m going through the do’s and don’ts. So, rather than a ‘How-to-do-the-diet’ and ‘Why-you-should-do-the-diet’ Blog, I thought I’d share some feedback from another client battling his addiction to alcohol, rather than sugar. It has the same sentiment and he offers more than one way that I helped him beat his addiction but I’ve highlighted just one aspect of our work together.

‘I was desperate when I contacted Rory. I'd been drinking far too much for far too long. I really wanted to stop, but after numerous failed attempts knew I needed some extra help.  

Help, Rory certainly gave me and now almost two years later, I remain completely alcohol free. Reflecting on why this worked for me, and what Rory brought to this successful attempt had one main factor:

Accountability - This seemed brutal to begin with, but was absolutely the thing that kept me pushing on when things got tough. I knew that every evening, I had to report in to Rory on how things had gone. It just wasn’t worth the grief of having to explain that I had slipped up … and before I knew it I'd been alcohol free for a week, then a month, then three months etc’. 

For the record he’s still dry (and in this group) and sure it was tough. If it was easy, he wouldn’t have reached out for help but by sticking at it, one day at a time it soon built and once in the groove – he became the driver and became the person that didn’t want to break his winning streak.

He became a WINNER.

You can too – just stick with it ☺

Friday – At long last, or not really as the week’s just flown by and it’s been most rewarding all round. Today was a cracking day with a couple of highlights. This morning I coached the athlete with the most potential I’ve ever had. He literally destroyed the cooper test and was cracking out over 21kph at the end of the 12 minutes only to feel slightly cheesed off that he could have run further than the 3750m in 12 minutes. No names, as I’m keeping his name under wraps, but ‘Simply WOW!’

And ‘Simply WOW!’ too for Cat Savage as she’s now cracked off more than 4.17 stone since May 15^thand is firmly set on conquering Mountains, Deserts and whatever comes to mind next as she’s now living life to the full. I walked for a couple of hours with her today and her enthusiasm is infectious to say the least.

I admire them both for different reasons but then I admire anyone that makes a conscious lifestyle change. And the beauty is, everyone has the ability to be ‘More’ – I’ve witnessed it a lot this week and it’s been most refreshing and over-whelming to say the least

Amen

1025 Marathons, 248 ULTRAS, 9 Guinness World Records & 15 Marathon des Sables