10th January 2010

            Feeling better today, so got out for a quick 6.5 mile lap, keeping above 5.2mph/11min 30secs per mile, heart rate steady at 135, so not too bad despite being well wrapped up and a layer of ice on the road. Working later on this evening so I'll have an hours session on the treadmill this afternoon for some cardio whilst catching up on recorded weekend telly. The treadmill only goes up to 15% incline so I've propped up the front with a piece of timber to give it more incline. This means that it still has an incline when it's level, but it's there for fitness so never mind.

         I see that some people have started Parish training, using sundays to put a decent couple of hours walking in. Make sure that you take enough drinks. It's recommended that you should weigh yourself naked, (we won't look, honest!) then put in an hours walk without taking any food or water, and (after towelling the sweat off) weigh yourself again. The more accurate the scales the better, if it goes down to fractions of kilo's then all well and good. The difference in weight is the amount of water you have lost. (1 kilo = 1 litre) This, in turn, is the amount of drinks you need per hour of walking to replace water lost. There isn't any real need to take expensive sports drinks, at about a pound apiece they are pretty much a waste of money. A good balanced diet will replace most vitamins and minerals lost through sweating. Get a drinks bottle, use 10% ribena (there are other fruit squash drinks on the market!) to 90% water, and this is perfectly good. If, after you've been training, you have that tell tale "tide mark" around the sweat on your training gear that shows you've been losing sodium (salt) then you can put a quarter level teaspoon of sea salt into the drink mix. Not table salt, which is iodized and refined so actually contains just salt but has all the beneficial minerals removed. Sea salt is rich in minerals including nitrates and potassium which are sweated out and are necessary minerals, and because of this contains less actual salt than table salt. Oh, and don't get your teaspoons and table spoons mixed up.
        Obviously more water is lost when you push harder during training, when it gets warmer outside, (soon, I hope!) and when you wear more clothing. Less water is lost when your fitness levels rise and your body uses less energy for the same results, so therefore you need to do the above weight/water loss test quite regularly. This will also give you an indication on your fitness levels. If you find you're losing less water, it shows that your body is using less energy to do the same work, i.e. your training is paying off!
        
Cheers!