Up bright an early this morning for another easy half hour down the gym.

R: 3 * (9min @ 10kmh, 1min @ 6kmh) HR:145 Dist: 4.77km

YTD: R: 32.1km, S: 5000m, B: 9km

Easy day at the gym last night. Decided to try and do many sessions, but not much in each session. Not very time effective, but once I get used to it, and have established a routine, it will be easy to up the volume by just doing an extra 5-10mins each session.

Cross-Trainer: Level 7 ‘Fat-Burner’. 30mins, 450 cals.

Had a bit of a twinge in my knee, so decided not to run on it.

Well, did a proper weigh-in yesterday. I have a set of scales which tell me my body fat , so I read up on how that’s calculated, and it turns out that being dehydrated results in an overestimation of body fat. Now, I usually weigh myself in the morning and I’m always somewhat dehydrated, so I decided to do a weigh-in after work, and to make sure I was fully hydrated. So, the verdict is in and I’m 90.1kg with 19.6 fat. That gives me a lean body mass (bone, muscle etc.) of 72.5kg which means that I have to lose 2kg in order to get into the non fat b*stard category. Two to three weeks of training should sort that out. After that, it’s another 4kg to get into the ‘Athlete’ category. I like the sound of that ;-)

Got up early this morning to watch the USA Grand Prix. Turned out to be a waste of time. Montoya endured every piece of bad luck that could possibly have happened, leaving him 6th at the finish, and out of the world championship. Schumacher looks like he’s going to take his 6th title, only needing one point from the last race in Japan.

It turns out that I need approximately 150g of protein per day, which is almost two 300g steaks. I’m not eating anything near that amount of meat, so today I went out and got some protein powder. It comes in a 1.5kg tin with loads of sciency stuff on the back. Even just having it in the house makes me feel like I’m on ‘roids or something! It’s quite funny.

No gym work today or yesterday. I can feel a cold coming on again! This really pisses me off. Just when I’m getting back into the gym, I start getting run down again. I figured that I must not be eating properly, so I took a look at The Triathlete’s Training Bible to see what it had to say about nutrition, and it is highly likely that I’m not getting enough protein. I’ll have to start eating more meat, and beans. I’m sure the lads will love that ;-)

Joe Friel’s Triathlete’s Training Bible covers everything a triathlete needs to know about training. Now, I’m no triathlete, but I did want to find out how to go about training, information on V02Max, heart rate training bands and the like. This book covers all of that and much more. It sets out to give the reader all the information he/she will need to design their own annual training program, including macro- and micro-cycles. There’s nutrition information, technique information on running, swimming and cycling and so much more. In short, if you’re thinking of training yourself, or would just like to understand more about why your coach has you do certain things in training, this book is for you.

R: 4 * (9min @ 10.1kmh, 1min @ 6kmh) = 6.42km

S: 300 easy, 6 * 50m on 1:00 (avg: 38), 200 easy

Run felt quite good. I’ve been working on technique and seem to have eliminated the shin splints problem I normally had. Hope to go 5*(9/1) at the weekend.

YTD: R: 27.33km, S: 5000m, B: 9km

Excellent article by John Pilger on the current state of play in Afghanistan, and how it fits into the U.S’s strategic ambitions.

Updated the New Zealand photos with a couple of my own, now that I remembered to bring the USB cable to work.