Park Run completed

Well I thought I should do a follow up post from the running one I did yesterday. 

Park run went really well. I set off right at the front and took at steady whilst everything settled down and let the 21 minute pacer go past me (I was aiming for the 22 minute pacer) but to my surprise I found myself keeping up with the 21 minute pacer. Well I was stuck about 10 meters behind the group with the pacer. Ideal place for me as (having not run in groups for the past 2 years) I am used to running by myself.

I pretty much forgot to look at my watch but knew I was well under 7 minutes and it turns out it was 6:53. I actually remember being a bit surprised as I knew that sub 21 was faster than this. Sure enough it felt like the pacer picked up the pace a bit and several runners that were near me were dropped as we did the next mile in around 6:30. 

I then felt that the pace slowed a little and as we went into the last 800m I kicked past the 21 minute pacer and tried to stick with a couple of others who were pushing for home. I personally think that I went off a little bit too early as my pace dropped and then I kicked again heading into the finished. I looked down and I was past 3.1 miles before 21 minutes ticked over but didn't cross the finish line until 21:10. 

Sure enough my official park run time is 21:10 but according to my watch I ran 3.16 miles and ran 5k in 20:49. A huge boost to my confidence and shows what you can do on a low carb diet. I actually felt quite good at the end and feel I can go faster given another month of training and the correct tapering. 

Overall I am very happy with that result. To think 3 years ago I couldn't walk without being in extreme pain because of my Ledderhose disease and a year ago I weighed nearly 19 stone and couldn't run sub-30 minutes for 5k. In fact I have only run park run under 30 minutes once before.

My next goal is to make it so that the first digit is a 1. A 19 minute something 5k will be a huge achievement and I am very happy that I can do that this year. 

Going back to Park Run

Tomorrow I will go back to Park Run for the first time since 2013. Katie has done this Park Run twice and set amazing PBs on both occasions, fingers crossed she gets under 30 minutes soon as this will be an amazing achievement for her. 

I am going into this with a park run PB of 29:29, there is no doubt that unless something goes seriously wrong this is going to drop significantly. It is actually pacer week at Park run and to some extent I am torn as to what to do as there is going to be a sub 21 and sub 22 minute pacer. My current PB is 23:04 however I have a 1 mile PB of 6:26 and that was run at the end of a two mile build up of an 8:20 mile and 7:20 mile. I feel like I am in a good enough place in my head to target the sub 21 minute 5k but I don't think that my body is quite ready. 

I have previously run 2.2 miles in just over 15 minutes and for the first mile I ran 6:45 and for the second I ran 7 minutes. I am certainly in a much better place than I was then than I am now and 6:45 pace is fast enough to go sub 21 minutes... On the 2.2 mile run there were hills and these caused the slow down. I think at the moment 6:45 mile might be too close to the limit and I am better off going for a nice sub 22 minuets and hopefully have a kick at the end rather than blowing up and not getting a PB. If I finish with confidence then I can go back next time when I know the course and try and blow my new park run PB out of the water. I am tempted to some extent to just run my own race and ignore the pacers, I feel confident I can run 3 consecutive sub 7 minute miles and it is just a case if I can go faster or not. My ever changing plan at the moment is stick with the sub 22 minute pacer who will probably be running around 7 minutes per mile and then go for it shortly after entering the last mile to see if I can get in a sub 21:30 5k. It might depend on there being someone to follow and how my legs feel on the day as I don't do much morning speed-work. 

Pre run nutrition is typically carbs for most people and a lot of people rely on gels to get them through their long runs. On long runs I am yet to hit the wall so haven't had to tackle nutrition on long runs. On short runs however you don't want a feeling of an empty stomach. To be honest what I do this time depends on how I and my daughter sleep. If we both sleep in I might only be having butter loaded stock for breakfast, if we wake up around 7 or before then I will be having bacon and cheese for breakfast. Either way I will take on at least a pint of water in the morning and for a 5k that should see me through without needing to dispose of it too soon. 

Fingers crossed that it is going to be a good race. I have not really done a run with a group of people since that last park run and I am tempted to switch a few of my time trial runs to park runs before the 10k race to get used to running with people again. Nothing worse than having people slow you down other than having people slow you down when you don't know how to deal with it mentally. 

Anyway wish me luck on a good nights sleep and a fast time. My goal for this year is sub 21 minute 5k, then see where that takes me, I would love to get sub 19 minutes as I feel that is possible without training way too much but would also be a great time. 

Being a weight loss mentor?

I got asked again this morning about my weight loss by someone who doesn't really know me and wants to lose herself. She asked me about my experience with this diet and I again went through the details of what I have basically been eating and exercise and the key points of not feeling hungry and being motivated enough to keep going so you know you are going to have the will power. As I have said before I think that knowledge is key, going through the first few weeks of this life-style choice is not easy and knowing that you don’t want to do that again really keeps you on track.

She jokingly? Asked me to be her mentor, I am happy to help anyone that wants to lose weight and who knows if I can get a reputation for it perhaps (as people at work have been suggesting) I can add it to my badminton as a self-employed thing I do. Who knows it worked well for me and the Manley Diet has a ring to it? Perhaps my wife and I should write our weight loss story into a book and go from there. We have both had different experiences in terms of gaining the weight and the ease with which we have lost the weight and stuck to the diet. She is a home baker after all.

Of course time would be a major factor and we wouldn't want people to think we are doctors, we are not and we are purely writing our experience, if others decide to follow our advice then that is their choice. It has worked for us and it has worked quickly and as such others are noticing and asking how we have done it. When we explain people are amazed and want more details. The details are out there but to get everything together that I have read into one place would be fantastic. Thinking about time though it was always our aim to get do this in a year, therefore we still have half a year of working hard at this and perfecting it. So if we start taking notes and build things up I see no harm done, worst case it will make some awesome blog posts.

Hopefully we stay on course to meet out goals, both weight loss and exercise and perhaps others will see what we have done and we will of course be happy to help.

My Ledderhose Experience

Can also do a post on weight loss and running improvement but then intend to do this for my break down of non-technique things any way:

 I think that this is relevant to this blog for the reason that I am now low-carb and I am now running and I am doing both with this condition, for a lack of a better word, in remission.

Where to start my journey, I guess in 2009. I was, at age 22, then starting to play club badminton and using running as a way to increase my fitness as I really needed to lose weight. I remember running out on a trail and feeling a slight twinge in my foot. That put me off running for a bit but I went on with badminton. I honestly can’t say that the twinge was a fibroma as it could easily have been fasciitis. Nevertheless I spotted a lump and thought it was best to head to the doctors. At this point I will add that I was working on a PhD in Cancer Research so I had actively looked up as much as I could and done a self-diagnosis of plantar fibromatosis or Ledderhose disease. I may not have always been a healthy weight but I have always been fairly fit.

The self-diagnosis was confirmed by the doctor who didn’t know anything about the condition and I think I can even remember them looking it up. My research had told me to avoid surgery and that physiotherapy and steroid injections are not really great options. Still my GP referred me to an NHS physio. I can’t actually remember how bad the pain was at that point other than I gave up playing badminton, a sport I love and I am now a fully qualified coach, so it must have been getting quite painful. The wait for the physio was so lengthy that my parents paid for me to see a private physio. The physio (with 30 years+) experience had only seen the condition once before and they couldn’t help and basically said they couldn’t help me, so I had to wait for the NHS physio to tell me the same thing to get me further down the chain.

At this point I was referred to see a foot specialist (read surgeon) on the NHS. They couldn’t really offer me great advice so sent me for a steroid injection. At the time I decided it was worth the risk, so I went for it. It was ultra-sound guided so they at least got some pictures of it and the injection was not that painful… to start with anyway. Once the local wore off I couldn’t walk properly for several days. Credit where it is due though the injection did help to calm the condition and I even went for the odd run (at the time I was only able to get around in running trainers with everything else not supportive enough).

About 6 to 9 months later it came back worse and another 6 months or so later I finally got back to see the specialist on the NHS. This appointment resulted in several different outcomes 1) Orthotics 2) MRI 3) Surgery being my only option. I was pretty unhappy at this point and my foot was deteriorating to the point I had to start using a walking stick at the age of 24 and eventually this led to me having to stop the PhD. The orthotics didn’t work, the MRI showed it was Ledderhose and surgery was not an option, although one I was starting to get temped by. My wife found out about radiotherapy and after researching we decided that this was easily the best option and looked into the choices. We decided that I was going to go and see Dr Richard Shaffer in Guildford.

I know it probably sounds dramatic but I still remember the morning that my Mum, Wife and I headed up to Guildford. At that point I was desperate for some hope and I knew that we would find the money somehow to get radiotherapy as it was only available privately. Dr Shaffer was very approachable, knowledgeable and checked my hands and feet for lumps and nodules. Luckily it was just the one nodule in the one foot and I was a good candidate for radiotherapy. I was ecstatic and couldn’t believe I could start in a couple of months’ time.

The process of radiotherapy is painless, quick and easy. The typical protocol is 5 days of 3gys each day, 8 (ish) week break and then another 5 days. After the first week I did get a sharp increase in pain and I really struggled. I spoke to Dr Shaffer and he assured me that this does happen in some patients but to expect to see some improvement by the start of the second week of radiotherapy. Sure enough by the second week of radiotherapy I was starting to see an improvement. The only side effects that I had were dry feet and that initial surge in pain. Gradually over the coming months my foot started to get better and I started to try and walk without the stick, by the end of the year (radiotherapy finished in July) I was able to put the stick away for good and had played a game of badminton.

In 2013 I didn’t use the stick and actually started running, this was sparked at least in some part due to the impending birth of my daughter and wanting to be able to run around with her. In fact within 6 months of not using the stick I was able to run 5k and I ran a 10k race (slowly) by the end of 2013. 2014 Was a very stressful year and not a lot really happened with my foot, there was still post exercise ache but the pain had mostly gone. My exercise levels did drop. I didn’t really have any additional side effects after the radiotherapy and to this day I am still amazed at how brilliant the results were. At the end of 2014 my weight, which initially ballooned while my foot left me incapacitated, was up to the best part of 19 stone, which was massively unhealthy. At this point my wife and I agreed that something needed to be done and so we started a low carbohydrate diet.

The diet is relevant to this condition as almost as soon as we started the diet the remaining aches and pains from my foot diminished and of course weight fell off. In fact I have now lost 6 ½ stone on this diet and it has had a huge impact on my running and health in general. Last year (2014) I had a really nasty chest infection that had me signed off work for 2 weeks and in part this was so bad because of my weight. This year I have had the odd cough or sore throat but it has not progressed past that, in fact I haven’t really been ill since starting the diet (touch wood). My 5k time has come down from around 33 minutes at the start of the year, and a PB set in 2013 of 29:29 to around 23 minutes. That is 10 minutes a time that is less than 70% of my time at the start of the year, this actually roughly correlates with the amount of weight that I have lost so if I get down to 5 stone I should be able to set world records….

Low carb diets have also been shown to have a potentially beneficial impact on tumours, something I am sure I will go into in time. 

I think that Ledderhose disease is important for me for motivation. In terms of the diet the last real issue remaining from having the condition was the amount of weight that I was carrying and this is turned probably made the condition worse. In terms of running I feel that I have a point to prove, that patients that have had this condition and had it badly are able to get better and are able to do something amazing, well I certainly consider running a half marathon and hopefully in time a full one as something amazing. For many years this condition was something I was passionate about for both selfish and charitable reasons, now I am passionate about patient care and treatment. The treatment option I had is not widely available and hope is not something that I had an abundance of when I was at my lowest, hopefully my running and my progress can help others see that there can be a way through and you can even be better physically than you were before the condition start. 

When I was in those really bad months I often used to dwell on the things I could no longer do rather than the positive things and the things that I could still do. Well not I have lost weight and I am running and these are thing that I can do and I want to make the most of it.

Put the Cookie Monster back in the jar - Decrease your Hunger for successful weight loss

When I did a post recently on the reasons not to cheat on this diet I mentioned lack of hunger, this is one of the many benefits of a low carb diet. If you try a low carb diet you are almost guaranteed to noticed that your hunger levels drip.

Think about the diets you have done in the past and see if the following sounds familiar.

You start the diet full of enthusiasm thinking that this time you are going to stick with it you are going to lose the weight and you just know that it is going to work. You get off to a great start, sure you feel a little hungry having that small salad for lunch and an apple as a snack but you see results on the scales and are happy that things are going in the right direction. Yippe.

After a month things have gone great you have lost a stone or perhaps even two and you think to yourself that it might be nice to have a slice of cake today, after all you have been so good the rest of the week. The next day you have a tony biscuit, after all it was just a mouthful. The end of the week comes and you have still lost weight so you think fantastic I am still losing weight. The next week comes round and having broken your diet once you see no harm in doing that again and you have a little but more to eat and from there you go to a party and end up eating a slice of pizza or a sausage roll, or five. From there things start to spiral out of control because you get fed up with being hungry, this has happened to me on almost every diet I have ever been on. Your body does NOT LIKE BEING HUNGRY.

So what happens on a low carb diet? Well your body is burning fat as the main energy source so you more or less have a constant supply of energy and as a result your hunger levels are greatly diminished. On a typical diet you are still eating carbs or just not eating enough so your sugar levels vary and you never end up settled, I think basically you are fluctuating being starving and eating carbs so you end up with constant Keto-Flu? Perhaps.

Anyway on a low carb diet you don’t have the same cravings as you don’t rely on carbs for energy, your body doesn’t have that constant up and down swing as your insulin and carb levels go through every changing peaks and  troughs.

Here is are a few examples, some regular some not so that I have experiences so far:

If I have bacon and egg for breakfast I won’t need to eat anything else until 2pm (SEVEN HOUR GAP) and if I exercise in the hour before 2pm I am often not even hungry then and I eat because I know it is good for recovery and because I will need to eat before dinner.

On several occasions when I have been really busy at work I have actually gone from having breakfast at 7am through to leaving work at 5:30pm without having lunch and the thing here is that I wasn't starving myself, really I wasn't, I just didn't’ get hungry and forgot to eat my lunch. I didn't find I lost any extra weight doing this but hey it was easy.

Waking up and not feeling hungry. This is great for me. I used to wake up and feel low on energy and really hungry but there are times when work and commitments mean that I have to go for an early morning run (thinking 5:30am) and I don’t want to get up any earlier than that in order to eat. Using this diet I can get up and go for a run and then eat my breakfast and not be hungry or feel drained during the run.

So think about what I have covered in some recent posts, 1 if you cheat you put yourself back and potentially have to go through the transition process and keto flu again. This reminds that you mind find yourself getting hungry in the first couple of weeks, for that see below. And 2) if you stick with the diet you are not likely to be hungry. So now imagine that cake comes across your desk, amazing chocolate cake from a bakery, smells really good and loaded with butter and flavour, do you take it? Where I work and live I have to ask myself that daily and you know what I have not eaten cake, chocolate, sweets, pastries etc in 2015, none. Have I been tempted, to be honest yes but have I ever come close, nope.

Another side effect of lack of hunger or really I should say reduced hunger, is that you cut out snacking and so many extra calories. As I said typically if I have bacon and egg for breakfast I don’t need to eat until 7 hours. That means I can have a relatively small lunch of a chicken drumstick and small salad with cheese and easily make it through until I have dinner at around 7pm. At no point in there am I really hungry and this allows you to fairly easily stick to the diet, but you do need to do just that otherwise it doesn't work. The first few weeks can be a bit harder and it is in this time that it is good to have a bit extra, just make sure that it is fat or protein. So we had egg with breakfast and now just have bacon, used to have 2 pieces of chicken and other bits for lunch and we have now decreased our portions for dinner. In the first few weeks you will likely lose weight through water lose so it is a great time to eat a bit more as your body adjust to the new diet you are giving it. You will notice over time that actually you are not eating a huge number of calories, a post is soon to come on this.

Don’t get me wrong it does take willpower you still have to say no to the comfort food on the bad days. You need to be able to say no to those foods and need to be able to keep going. Just look at the scales.

So there you go, a low carb diet is fairly easy to stick to because if you cheat you lose out massively and if you stick to it you don’t feel hungry. In my eyes a diet that makes you starve yourself is asking for trouble, you are more likely to fail and your metabolism is going to slow to the point that you are going to stop losing weight at a stage before you are happy and so you give up.

Don’t give up, give it a go.

(Sorry if I covered anything twice, I ended up writing this post twice and merging them together due to IT problems when commuting on trains in 2 different countries!)

Cheating on Low Carb - Doesn't work

I have tried to explain in the another post about cheating on a low carb diet and now I want to write why I think this doesn't work and the only evidence that I have to prove this. 

Switching to a low carbohydrate diet or fat burning diet takes time, it takes a while for the full effects to kick in, sure you will lose a lot in the first week because of a decrease in water retention from switching to a diet. However once this has gone you will have a steady decrease as your body burns the fat, this is because your body is in ketosis - ketones are the energy source when the body is burning fat as its primary energy source.

Your body will only stay in a fat burning state when you are not eating carbohydrates so when you do eat carbs your body switches back to burning them and it will take you a couple of weeks to adjust again. A very basic state of ketosis is reached overnight and you break it every time you have breakfast, sure you don't enter a heightened state of ketosis and nor do you start to get keto-flu but you see how simple it is to switch back to burning carbs and not burning fat. 

Below is the only real record of this that I have, after a week of being on this diet and losing a LOT of weight it was Christmas and despite thinking I would be good I am ashamed to say that I caved in and had carbs, sweets, chocolates and potatoes, all very naughty. 

 Hopefully what the above graph shows is that in the first week I lost loads in the less as I caved towards the end of that week and in the 3rd week I lost nothing as I was entering back into ketosis and then my body got back into it and my weight loss then increased through the week and it was steady as I didn't eat carbs. 

This is the best example I have of my body kicking back out of ketosis and and then entering back into it. 

The best thing you can do is read the upcoming post I have on the cheats to eat when you are craving something different or naughty. 

A staple Breakfast - Bacon, bacon and more bacon

I guess you can imagine the looks I get when I tell people I have lost 6 stone in 6 months and Katie has lost 4 stone, imagine it when I tell them that our staple breakfast is bacon. I am lucky as I love bacon and really enjoy this as my standard breakfast, we sometimes mix it up with one of the following cheese, chorizo, sausages, egg or if I feel like it a sprinkling of herbs or spices. 

Don't think I need to explain how to cook this other than to say put it into oil and fry it for a while. You are welcome to have lots of butter on it as well, yes butter. Butter is full of fat and not carbs, in one of the books I read they are quite happy to have a block of butter with each meal. 

If you want to do this on a budget then I recommend the following product from Tesco, it is not the nicest bacon but as long as you are happy to eat the fat and don't mind some bits being thicker. 80p for a weeks worth of bacon.

Admittedly this is not the most imaginative breakfast but it is fairly quick, fairly simple and tastes good most mornings. Hopefully as we near the slowing down phase and maintenance phase of this diet we will be able to be a bit more creative. Still after 6 months for breakfast we have... 

The above image is from the Tesco website and they own it and all branding, I am just using this to promote their product