Archive for the ‘training’ Category

That Was The Year That Was

Posted: January 1, 2021 in 2020 Challenge, Another Cruise, Cruising, Cycling, Diet, Hadrian's Wall, LeJog, My Virtual Mission, P&O, Podge, training, Travel, Uncategorized
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Well, 2020 wasn’t the kind of year anybody had been expecting was it. Just like most people, Me and Mrs Me, had so many plans for 2020. Just like most people, hardly any of the plans came to fruition: I particular the two cruises we had booked, one in March, from the Caribbean back to the UK (a repeat of the March 2019 cruise) and one in August to the Fiords. We also had another cruise in March 2021, from the Caribbean back to the UK. One by one, the cruises were cancelled due to Covid. Hopefully, we’ll get back normal in 2021 / 2022.

There was however somewhat of an upside to this new way of ‘life under Covid’ whereby Me and Mrs Me discovered a website for virtual walks and rides. Using this facility (myvirtualmission.com) we were able to complete two virtual walks, Hadrian’s Wall and the Inca Trail, without travelling outside of the boundaries of Sleepy Hungerford. In addition, I (His Podgeness) was able to cycle, again in a virtual world, Lands End to John O’Groats and The great Ocean Road. In total, Me and Mrs Me walked 142 miles and His Podgeness cycled 1,255 miles. Having now been bitten by the virtual bug we now plan to [virtually] walk The Ring of Kerry walking 124 miles through the mystical Iveragh Peninsula in Ireland followed by The Mount Fuji Virtual Challenge of just 46 miles after which, we’ll see what we can do next. For my part, I plan to [virtually] cycle Route 66 (2280 miles across the USA) and St Francis Way (312 miles from Florence to the Vatican). Why virtual you may ask! well, Podge’s COPD is now rated as severe with overlapping Chronic Asthma with a lung effectiveness of just 44%: Even walking round Hungerford can be a struggle and the virtual rides on a static bike mean I can stop whenever I want / need to. Poor Podge.

I, His Podgeness, also planned to escape Obesity during 2020. Well, I’m here to tell you that [despite all the exercise] Podge did no such thing. Despite walking 142 miles and cycling 1255 miles, and not going on any cruises, Podge is still Podge. Poor Podge. Podge really needs to get Podgeless.

Podge v COPD Week 6

Posted: June 1, 2020 in COPD, COPD - Codgers Old Puffing Disease, Cycling, Diet, general, Hadrian's Wall, Health, LeJog, OaP, Podge, Rome-2-Home, training, Travel
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On the 18th May, Podge reported that he’d lost 4 packs of lard: Yay, go Podge Go. On the 25th May, Podge reported that he’d put back on 4 packs of lard: Poor Podge had to go and sit on the Naughty Step 😢. Podge went into meltdown and took drastic measures including the Toal ban on Jammy Dodgers: The ban did also include Anti-Viral Medications (AVMs) but that ban was quickly rescinded. This week, Podge is happy to say that in the past week, he has lost two packs of lard (that’s a loss of 50% in 1-week, of that lost in the first 4-weeks). I therefore conclude from this that Jammy Dodgers clearly encourage Lard and AVMs make little or no difference, 😂🤪 and Podge is sticking by that.

In edition to losing the lard, my BMI has dropped to 30.3 and Body Fat has also dropped to 44.6 while Body Water has gone up to 39.7. The changes are small but, they are all in the right direction: Despite all being, currently, the wrong side of the trend line, all is good in Podge’s world.

Anyway, back to the job in hand. Over the past week, Podge has cycled a total of 74.45 miles and walked a total of 9.4 miles (not bad for COPD St3).

This means that some serious progress has been made on the challenges currently underway (Lands End to John O’Groats [LeJog] and 2020 in respect of cycling and Hadrian’s Wall and the Inca Trail in respect of walking).

I’ve added the Inca Trail purely to encourage Mrs Me to join me on my walks but I don’t report on it. The progress report on Rome-2-Home has been dropped as it is running alongside LeJog and I don’t actually like the route; cycling along major highways just isn’t realistic. For 2021 however I will remap Rome-to-Home to follow the route I would have done if I’d done it for real; as originally planned for at the beginning of the millennium. That route will be sooooo much longer, but prettier.

All rides on Bkool and reported through Strava. All walks measured using my Apple device.

All virtual challenges are tracked through  ‘My Virtual Mission‘ and challenges entered through The ‘Conqueror Virtual Challenge‘ site.

All rides are done in my garage (walks done elsewhere 😋) as my GP has banged me up for a minimum of 12 weeks (reset to start from the 11th May ) due to having Codgers Old Puffing Disease (COPD Stage 3). 😭

Wish me luck – I surely need it.
Go Podge, Go. 

Podge must stop eating

Podge v COPD Week 3

Posted: May 11, 2020 in COPD, COPD - Codgers Old Puffing Disease, Cycling, general, Health, Rome-2-Home, training
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This past week has seen somewhat improvement in miles covered though not as great an improvement as I would have preferred as I did feel more than a little lethargic towards the end of the week, or was I just feeling lazy 🙄? That said however, I am still making good progress towards my virtual goals as the graphs below indicate.

The target for completing the three biggest challenges is by the end of the year though obviously if I can complete them earlier I will. The shortest challenge is only 149 miles with only 35 miles left to complete so that will be checked off during the coming week after which I’ll add another shorter trip. The idea of the shorter challenges is that they give me quick results alongside the longer ones and as such maintain motivation. Well, that’s what my mind tells me. 😋

On the physical attributes front, this week my weight has dropped back down to just below my starting weight of 93.4 kg: It’s moving in the right direction but a long way from my target of 83.5 but, I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. Body fat is going down, water composition is going up so hopefully, I’m doing something right: I’m guessing the reduction in anti-viral medication consumption is helping a little 😂.

Yesterday, I managed 27 miles so things are getting better. Earlier in the year I struggled to a 3 mile ride. So, my new weekly mileage target is 70 miles a week, up from 30.

All rides on Bkool and reported through Strava.

All virtual challenges are tracked through  ‘My Virtual Mission‘ and challenges entered through The Conqueror Virtual Challenge site.

All rides are done my garage as my GP has banged me up for a minimum of 12 weeks due to me having Codgers Old Puffing Disease 😢

Wish me luck.
Go Podge, Go. 🚴‍♂️

Podge v COPD Week 2

Posted: May 4, 2020 in COPD, COPD - Codgers Old Puffing Disease, Cycling, general, Health, Rome-2-Home, training
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The end of week 2 of my Rome-2-Home virtual cycling challenge (week-4 of my 12 week isolation) I have managed to cover just 121 of 1198 miles. This virtual ride is being undertaken using MyVirtualChallenge and tracking a total of 4-challenges, these being: Lands End to John O’Groats, Rome-2-Home, Great Ocean Road and 2020 miles in a year. The image is a bit blurry so for next week I’ll try to create my own version.

I am rather pleased to report that last weeks mileage is an increase on the previous weeks and hopefully this will be the trend moving forward. Considering poor Podges lungs are less than 50% effective plus an arthritic hip and A-Fib, I may not be quite the athlete but I reckon I aint doing so bad 😋

I did promise that as part of my parallel campaign to lose weight, I would also include some additional stats below. Unfortunately, this week hasn’t been so rewarding (in weight loss) as I would have hoped as, despite cycling 67+ miles I seem ti have put on weight. Poor Podge is so sad. 😦 

  • Weight: 93.8 Kg (+0.4kg 😞 )
    • Goal: 83.5 
  • BMI: 30..7 (+0.3 😞 )
    • Goal: 24 
  • Body Fat: 45.3% (+0.5 😞 )
    • Goal: 34% 
  • Body Water: 39.4% (-0.1 😞 )
    • Goal: 55% 

Having reviewed last weeks performance, I can only conclude that my weight gain is attributable to the antiviral medication 😷 that I’m taking; That’s wine, beer and gin but not all at once of course 😋. So, moving forward, both Podge and Tubbs (aka Mrs Me) will only drink every other day thus reducing our intake by 50% and stop eating (nearly) all the stuff we like.

Podge is not only sad but be he’s also such a bad lad.

All rides are completed using Bkool and reported through Strava

Go Podge, Go.

Podge v COPD Week 1

Posted: April 27, 2020 in COPD, COPD - Codgers Old Puffing Disease, Cycling, Health, OaP, Rome-2-Home, training
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Many moons ago (actually, 17 years ago), His Podgeness (that’s me) was going to ride from Rome to Home (in the UK) along with two other guys. It was to be a story about 3 guys (all over 50) cycling through three counties on three wheels (yes, we had trikes made just for the occasion) but, life changes happened.

Now, here I am banged up for 12 weeks due to me being deemed considerably vulnerable to Covid-19 as I have #COPD (with an FEV1 of 44% that puts me at stage 3/severe 😞) coupled with A_Fib. I miss my cycling and walking but needs must. Then, I saw ‘My Virtual Mission‘ and recognised a chance for me to still complete my original challenge albeit from within my garage, riding on my trainer in a virtual world.

So, Podge the Puffer (if you’d seen me cycling up hills, you’d understand the Puffer bit) is a cyclist reborn: And who knows, the name Podge may [still] become ironic if I lose enough weight.

So, at the end of week 1 of my Rome-2-Home virtual cycling challenge (week-3 of my 12 week isolation) I have managed to cover just 53.3 of 1198 miles taking 3-hours and 1-minute over 3-rides with each ride longer than the previous. 

To help fight COPD, I do recognise I [still] need to lose weight so I’l also be publishing some stats here which I hope to improve on over time. Well, that’s the plan anyway 🙂 So, here goes: 

  • Weight: 93.4 Kg 
    • Goal: 83.5 
  • BMI: 30.4 (obese 😞)
    • Goal: 24 
  • Body Fat: 44.8% (lardy 😞)
    • Goal: 34% 
  • Body Water: 39.5% (dehydrated 😞)
    • Goal: 55% 

All rides on Bkool and reported through Strava
Wish me luck.
Go Podge, Go.

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