fitness

October 2024 Stats

| Richard Morris

October 2024 found me ‘head down, arse up’ working like a Trojan with three Expert Reports to finish and issue!

It’s still important to keep on top of my fitness – especially when doing a couple of all-nighters – so I tried to make sure I kept to some sort of routine.

Over on FulGaz, I started their Around the World in 80 Days challenge as well as doing some more of John Hallas’ Weekly Challenges and a couple of Ironman Sprint Series rides. Plus I tried some more (painful) treadmill runs with JRNY as well. Phew!

Anyway, here are October’s stats:

October 2024 Stats

October 2024 Stats

Activities: 30 Distance: 448.11 km Time: 18:47:15 Calories:  16,242

Turning to my weight, at the end of September I weighed 87.1kg and at the end of October I weighed 86.7kg, which is down slightly at -0.4kg.  Still eating too many sweets and dried pineapple of an evening with the cats!

September 2024 Stats

| Richard

September 2024 saw the end of the holiday theme starting with a few days in Prague and ending with a weird week in Corralejo. Weird? Well the last time we were there it was as residents moving back to the UK full time and this time we were back as bloody tourists staying once more at Bahiazul.

The complex contains the ‘main’ Bahiazul operated villas but also others we’ve used before: Villas Veaco and KATIS Villas. The upside of booking with Bahiazul is two-fold:

  • Breakfast in their restaurant is included so that sets you up nicely for the day; and
  • You have access to the gym which is relatively good, though not as good as our Pain Cave.

As far as I was concerned, I could simply run or walk but my knees and post-crash issues make that uncomfortable to say the least, plus I wanted to ride a bike anyway.  This meant hiring a mountain bike from Easy Riders which was a painless experience and recommended.  As I knew I’d be heading out on the roads past the dunes, I needed to wear a bike helmet and didn’t fancy hiring one, so I bought an alpinestars Vector Pro Atom helmet and some needlessly flash Galibier Campionissimo Luxury gloves. Both were excellent.

The hire bike – a Trek Marlin 7 – had two issues for me:

  1. The gearing was great for climbs and no doubt spot-on for off-road riding, but on the road I was unable to pedal quicker than 31km/h due to the low gearing (104rpm cadence).  My fault for choosing an MTB but the road surfaces can be a tad iffy out there.
  2. The seat post kept descending due to my weight and the bumps, so I was needing to stop to heave it back up again because I didn’t have the necessary Allen key.

Lesson learned and next time I may hire a road bike or choose one with a larger front sprocket.

Anyway, here are September’s stats:

September 2024 Stats

September 2024 Stats

Activities: 41 Distance: 406.47 km Time: 31:12:40 Calories:  20,118

Turning to my weight, at the end of August I weighed 85.4kg and at the end of August I weighed 87.1kg, which is up 1.7kg.  Too many good breakfasts and restaurant dinners!

August 2024 Stats

| Richard

August 2024 continued the holiday theme following my son, Jack’s wedding before heading off to Venice for a few days at the Hilton Molino Stucky and ending with a few days in Prague at probably the best hotel we’ve ever stayed at, the Mandarin Oriental.

Hitting the gym at these luxury hotels was difficult so we also went walkabout a lot – Alison is going to compete in 2025 in the Masters’ Bikini Class, so needs to bang in many thousands of steps every day along with her workouts.

So here are August’s stats:

August 2024 Stats

August 2024 Stats

Activities: 22 Distance: 288.87 km Time: 21:34:09 Calories:  14,161

Turning to my weight, at the end of July I weighed 84.7kg and at the end of August I weighed 85.4kg, which is up 0.7kg.

July 2024 Stats

| Richard Morris

July 2024 saw another 10 days’ holiday and trying to cram in some of FulGaz’s challenge over the course of the year, the FulGaz Ironman Sprint Series which I had started a few months ago.

The holiday was our second long distance trip on the BMW R 1250 RT  starting in Northern Spain and heading across the Pyrenees into France before heading north through Switzerland to Luxembourg before heading back to the UK via Belgium and France.

Most of the luxury hotels we stayed in put rest and relaxation above exercise so trying to hit the gym was difficult plus we were travelling for many hours each day.

Anyway, here are July’s stats:

July 2024 Statistics

July 2024 Statistics

Activities: 29 Distance: 342.23 km Time: 14:15:47 Calories:  12,836

Turning to my weight, at the end of June I weighed 81.9kg and at the end of July I weighed 84.7kg, which is up a massive 2.8kg.  Most of which was gained by eating, drinking and being merry in some fabulous hotels and restaurants…

June 2024 Stats

| Richard

June 2024 was interesting with a week’s holiday and a continuation of FulGaz’s challenge over the course of the year, the FulGaz Ironman Sprint Series which I had started a couple of months ago.

The holiday was our first long distance trip on the BMW R 1250 RT taking it back to its birthplace at the Berlin factory (and a couple of nights binging at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski.  Sadly the main gym was being refurbished so the temporary one was less than brilliant; all a matter of timing.

Then home to celebrate Fathers’ Day … and two weeks of diarrhoea (and counting) thanks to some food poisoning ? the Ball & Wicket (hence the full week gap whilst I was unable to do anything much at all).

Anyway, here are June’s stats:

June 2024 Stats

June 2024 Stats

Activities: 25 Distance: 301.38 km Time: 16:33:55 Calories:  12,432

Turning to my weight, at the end of May I weighed 83.4kg and at the end of June I weighed 81.9kg, which is down 1.5kg.  During That Week, I managed to lose 3.1kg and spent a lot of time on the toilet…

May 2024 Stats

| Richard

So, May 2024 was a continuation of FulGaz’s challenge over the course of the year, the FulGaz Ironman Sprint Series which I had started last month.

There was also a quick work trip to Madrid working long days, but with the chance of hitting our boutique hotel’s gym … which was utterly shite with only a prehistoric treadmill to use.  This had the potentially lethal feature of speeding up and slowing down randomly, coupled with a worn surface which made it like running on ice … and then there was the abrupt emergency full stop shortly after I’d started going full tilt. Nice…

So, here are May’s stats:

May 2024 Stats

May 2024 Stats

Activities: 33 Distance: 425.73 km Time: 19:32:24 Calories:  17,398

Turning to my weight, at the end of April I weighed 85.0kg and at the end of May I weighed 83.4kg, which is down 1.6kg.  Today, I’m down again to 83.2kg.

April 2024 Stats

| Richard

April 2024 was a continuation of March’s heavy workload, but there was also my birthday as well as a new challenge over the course of the year, the FulGaz Ironman Sprint Series which I signed up to. Looking at the stats, I did work out longer and harder, which is a good thing.

So, here are April’s stats:

April 2024 Stats

April 2024 Stats

Activities: 31 Distance: 505.79 km Time: 22:02:43 Calories:  20,205

Turning to my weight, at the end of March I was 84.3kg (the same as this morning, 1 May), and at the end of April I weighed 85.0kg, so up 0.7kg.  I’m not too concerned, given today I’m back at 84.3kg and my weight has been up and down like a whore’s drawers!

You can also see a new feature in the stats which is that a blood pressure reading has been taken. This is because our blood pressure monitors have only allowed to take manual readings which we can then manually add to Apple Health, but there’s no way to automatically import them into Connect. And then I got a promotional email from Garmin about their Index BPM Smart Blood Pressure Monitor and it was a no-brainer to get it ordered.

March 2024 Stats

| Richard Morris

March 2024 was a slower month than usual, with real life and work getting in the way: some shows and weekends away, plus a week in Riyadh with a ‘tired’ gym, 12 hour working days and a team dinner meaning I didn’t get much gym time.

I’m not entirely sure what those “naps” recorded last month were, unless I’m totally relaxed whilst ‘making good progress’ in the Abarth…

Anyway, here are March’s stats:

March 2024 Stats

March 2024 Stats

 

Activities: 25 Distance: 380.45 kmTime: 17:23:27 Calories:  15,297

Turning to my weight, at the end of February I was 84.4kg, and at the end of March I weighed 84.3kg, so down 0.1kg, which means I’m maintaining rather than gaining or losing weight.  I still have a very loose target of 80kg in mind.

February 2024 Stats

| Richard

Well February 2024 turned out to be quite the month for events and exercise.

I did a couple of runs on the treadmill, a few outdoor walks up around Virginia Water, but mainly it was more time attached to the Schwinn and FulGaz, first with the completion of their “FulGaz Grand Tour” which started on January 1st.  21 stages in Italy, France and Spain over 6 weeks.

I completed that in mid-February finishing in 12th place overall in 1108 hrs, 27 mins having covered 487.94km.

We then went off for a weekend in Tenerife and La Gomera riding motorcycles with the Bike Shed and Canary Ride.

The following weekend I had planned my next mad event: to take part in the Death Ride Challenge running during February:

“The Death Ride, also known as the Tour of the California Alps, is the toughest ride on FulGaz. It covers 163 kilometres and 3992 metres of ascent, with six epic climbs over Monitor Pass, Ebbetts Pass, and Carson Pass.”

I did that in under 6½ hours, finishing the challenge in 5th place overall.  I’ve very chuffed with that!

Anyway, here are February’s stats:

February 2024 Stats

February 2024 Stats

Activities: 34 Distance: 594.25 kmTime: 30:50:26 Calories: 24,222

Turning to my weight, at the end of January I was 85.9kg, and at the end of February I weighed 84.4kg, so down 1.5kg, which I’m pleased with.