Last Sunday I decided to begin my 'get leaner' routine that I've followed for the last couple of years.
The goal being to drop bodyfat whilst keeping hold of as much muscle mass as possible, and end up in the best shape possible around the time of my birthday.
I managed 7% (great) and then 6.3% (after I added an extra months training. This was too lean as I lost too much muscle along the way) in 2008, and 9.5% in 2009 (not quite as lean as I wanted).
There's a castle around 15 minutes drive from where I live. I've walked there and back from my home a few times (17 miles or so). It's a annual summer pilgrimage for Mum and I.
Info on it can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadleigh_Castle
There's a nice, steep hill leading up to the castle, and Mum and I have often talked of running up it. Last weekend the talking stopped and became doing.
We drove to Leigh-on-Sea station, strolled to the beginning of the path that located in a field below the castle and set off.
As it was my first run since October 2009 (I'd stopped all cardio and focused purely on getting the most out of the Max Strength routine I'd been following), my goal was to run most of the distance at a steady, comfortable pace and then use the tougher parts of it the route for sprinting i.e. the hill that leads to the castle.
The plan worked well and when I reached the hill I felt quite 'fresh' as I sprinted up it.
I stole a glance at my stop-watch as I started the hill run. It read 10min and 30s.
By the time I got halfway up the hill, a minute had passed and my legs were feeling rather heavy. I just kept telling myself to 'keep going'. I didn't care how long it took me to get up the hill as long as I did it without stopping.
The fact that there were quite a few people strolling around was extra motivation as I didn't want to stop and look exhausted in front of them. The ego comes in handy sometimes.
I reached the castle itself and checked my watch again 12min, 30s. It had taken me 2 minutes to make it up the hill.
Those 2 minutes weren't the toughest of my life (I think that doing 20-rep breathing squats with as much weight as I can handle takes that honour), though it was certainly in the top 5.
It took me 17 minutes to run from the start of the path to the Salvation Army land at the back of the castle, and I was well pleased with that.
Once Mum had caught me up, she bought some tomato plants from the Salvation Army shop and we strolled back.
I took some pics of the scenery on the way down. Taking them on the way up wasn't an option.
Pic 1 shows the start of the path leading to Hadleigh Castle.
Pic 2 shows the start of the hill leading to the castle.
Pic 3 shows the castle summit:
Pic 4,5 and 6 show the view from the summit.
Pic 7 shows the view from the Salvation Army Cafe and Shop. You can see the castle in the foreground.
It was a lovely start to my running for 2010.
Stay well and happy.
Cris (El Baron)
Glad to see the running has started Cris. Keep it up!
Posted by: Brett Sanders | June 01, 2010 at 09:59 AM