Wednesday 8th December.

Finally got home a couple of days ago, although not much walking to be done with over a foot of compacted snow covering the city. Still, got two good hours of Cardio and upper body work done and was left feeling aches in the back and shoulder muscles after shovelling a foot thick ice off the paths around the house and up to the garage. An hour's race walk practise on the treadmill, (had it a couple of years now, got it second hand off ebay - seems to be the popular option!) and lots of stretching, been a good day. The treadmill is opposite the telly which makes it popular with the wife and girls. It does get a lot of use but only walking which doesn't impact on the machinery so it'll last so much longer. The race walking seems to be getting more comfortable now, although keeping the treadmill to 6mph for the moment. My coach said it's all about muscle memory, a bit like a golf swing. It's unnatural but after enough practise it becomes second nature, although I hope I have more success with my race walking than my golf swing!
Just got a couple of months supply of C.L.A in the mail. C.L.A, or Conjugated Linoleic Acid, is a natural amino acid normally found in beef and lamb fed from grass rather than feed, and in trace amounts in other foods. It is the main natural amino acid that burns fat to convert to the right energy to increase muscle mass although the body only has enough for a moderately active life. It works best in an exercise, balanced diet regime and is becoming popular amongst sportsmen. It does mean that during longer training sessions more fat is burned and stays off, and muscle mass is increased. (density and core rather than bulk amongst runners and walkers.) All good, and all healthy, although not a good idea for athletes with low body fat count. I'm not one of these, I only have to walk past a chippy to put a couple of pounds on!
Going for a swim and gym session tomorrow, need to do a lot more cross training this year, although I don't run... at all. I don't find it comfortably bouncing along, too high impact, so I don't bother. Maybe I'll have a go in the spring, but as I said earlier in the blog, only do it if you enjoy doing it. If I have to force myself to go out running it'll be defeating the object.

Hull's drive to get people walking. Pretty posters. Does it work?