Tone up

Right, this is my fifth attempt at writing this particular blog post.

For some reason, the ability to write about my toning challenge has completely evaded me over the last couple of weeks.

Maybe the part of my brain that is linked to writing witty and verbose copy has turned to muscle....

Anyway, let's see how I go writing this tonight (I'm missing the Walking Dead for this #FFS!)

I'm going to write using the medium of bullet points.

Imagine all these bullet points set to The Eye of the Tiger (here's the link so you can listen at the same time)

There, now picture me in lyric doing some lunges......

* Possibly the vainest challenge on my #40before40 list
* Never about a six pack (yeah, yeah - it was really)
* Improving overall fitness
* Strengthen core
* Improve posture (he says slouched over his laptop)
* Never had an issue with legs (running and football)
* Upper body strength a bit rubbish
* Always carried weight around my tummy
* Spent most of September to December 2013 with a football-related groin injury
* Mrs P got me personal training sessions for my 39th birthday with Felicia Sheingold (visit her website and get down and give me 10 burpees now!)
* Did lots of squats, reverse lunges, press ups, crunches, weight work and burpees (I love burpees!) from January to May
* Attempted to eat more protein and less carbs and sugar
* Carried on doing reps at home (often with one of my daughters acting as a makeshift weight)
* Groin injury sorted
* More defintion (thumbs up from Mrs P)
* Still got more work to do (I blame cake)
* Better core strength
* Finished 277th out of 1880 in the Rock Solid Race in Exeter
* Played six football games in 18 days at the end of the 2013/14 season
* Knocked 11 minutes 56 seconds off my Classic Quarter time
* Finished 18th out of 200+ runners in the Rok 5k
* Did my first fell run
* Got down to under 13st (12st 13lbs) for the first time in 15, possibly 20, years.

There, great work people. Take a drink of water, and check out some of the action shots below!

Rock Solid Race, Exeter

About to start my leg of the Classic Quarter

Grrr fell running

Post fell run mince pie

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Run Forrest Run

Number 4 on my #40before40 was to run 850 miles in 2014.

Flashback a decade and setting this target would have seemed like a dream, rather than a potential reality.

Growing up I'd always I enjoyed watching and taking part in sport: football, tennis, cricket, swimming, hockey, basketball and rugby. 

Although running was one of the sports at school I didn't really take to. I think that point was bought crashing home when I stumbled across the line to finish last in the 800m at school sports day when I was about 15. 

It was a bad performance, although not as bad as when I was entered for the javelin, even though I'd never shown any particular skill in this area.

I was number 13 to throw and as I ran up on a grey, drizzly summer's day, my less than grippy trainers gave way below me and I slipped over. Cue mass howls of laughter from the sidelines as the javelin went about 30 cms over the white line and I landed on my arse.

I somehow kept my feet behind the line and avoided a foul throw, meaning that my misery was compounded and the throw was measured. 

As I entered my 20s, I became less active and, for a number of reasons, developed a pretty poor lifestyle. I was unhealthy and overweight.

When I moved to our old flat to Falmouth when I was 29 I decided that one of my challenges I wanted to achieve before I was 30 (in 2005) was to lose weight and get fit.

So, I started to run.

To begin with I could barely get round Pendennis Point, which is just a couple of miles, but I kept going. I kept setting myself targets and kept, literally, plodding away.

I got to the position where I could run round Pendents Point in one go without walking, so I pushed it a bit further, and then a bit further.

By 2008 I'd run my first half marathon (Truro) and my first marathon (New York). I'd also taken part in two triathlons (Perranporth and Helston).

And like Forrest, I just kept running (also, we don't have a shed, so to get some space from the girls and to clear my head instead of going to the shed, I go running).

At some point in late-ish 2012 I downloaded the Log Your Run app to my phone. I wanted to keep a record of how much running I'd done.

On New Year's Eve 2013 I checked the app and it said I'd run around 800 miles.

"Wow!" I thought to myself. That was great, but I think I can beat that. 

So I set a target of 850 miles, which I thought would be achievable, but also push me a little bit.

Now, on checking the Log Your Run website, I discovered that on New Year's Eve 2013 I'd misread the data on the app. It had showed me the amount of running I'd done since I downloaded the app, not since January 1, 2013.

In fact I'd 'only' done 664.1 miles during 2013.

Running total for 2013

And instead of getting up to 850 miles, I'd recorded 522 miles in 2014.

Running total for 2014

There are a couple of reasons for the drop in miles: I played a lot of football in April and May, which meant I was unable to get out running; and I started having session with a personal trainer, so I often did sets of reps instead of going for a run.

Despite being down on my targets, I'm chuffed with the total for 2014. 

There were some great runs and events thrown in, such as the Classic Quarter (where I beat my 2013 time), Rock Solid (where I came 271st out of 1880 entrants) and the Rok 5k.

I'll just have to see if I can increase the miles to 800 + in 2015!

Classic Quarter

Number 3 on my #40before40 list was to beat the time that I recorded on last year's Classic Quarter second leg.

For those that don't know, the Classic Quarter is a 44 mile ultramarathon in Cornwall that starts at Lizard Point and finishes at Land's End.

You can either run the whole race as a solo entry, or take part in a relay - two or four people.

For the second year running I took part in a four person team and tackled the second leg, which starts at Gunwalloe Church Cove and ends at Perranuthanoe. 

The leg is just under 13 miles and takes in some amazing coastline and some incredibly steep parts, especially around Rinsey Head.

Richard Wadman from Francis Clark, who ran the whole marathon last year, was in charge of getting the team together.

In fact, three of last year's team remained in place: Simon Choak, Kirsti Ashworth and myself. 

The only change was Richard coming in for Jez Mancer, who decided to take on the whole 44 miles this time.

After a 4.30am alarm call on Saturday 7th June, which didn't go down too well with Mrs P, Richard picked me up in Truro at 5.15am and we headed down to the Lizard Point.

12 months earlier Simon and I found ourselves driving down to the start in torrential rain, lightening and thunder. 

The weather was much more favourable this year, although we did have thunder, lightening and rain the night before.

Richard and I registered, picked up our race numbers and listened to the briefing before the first leg runners set off around 7am.

My race number

Richard Wadman and myself at Lizard Point. Richard ran the first leg, which started at 7am

I then hopped into Richard's car and drove round to Gunwalloe Church Cove and got ready.

Having a cup of green tea selfie in the car park at Gunwalloe while waiting for Richard

The checkpoint at Gunwalloe Church Cove

Richard arrived at the first checkpoint around 8.25am after making good progress on the first leg.

I set off at a steady pace determined to beat last year's time.

The big thing for me last year was that I found I ate too much before the start and felt sick for the first part, but then ran out of energy.

As well as fitness sessions with Felicia Sheingold, I have also been getting some nutrition tips.

I had leftover frittata around 6.30am followed by porridge around 7am - Felicia suggested I avoid the porridge and go for more protein, before having some other carbs.

Porridge has become a bit of a pre-event staple for me - I even have it before midweek football matches - so I felt slightly unsure about changing before such a big event.

What made me feel sick last year was following the porridge with two peanut butter and jam wraps.

This year I swapped the wraps for two rice cakes and made a peanut butter and jam rice cake sandwich.

It was much better on the stomach.

Last year's run had been tough and the rain before the start made the path tricky and very slippy, especially the hilly parts.

Without that, I found the course to be much better to run on.

Although mainly on the coastpath, we ran across the beach at Loe Bar, as well as on the road around Porthleven harbour.

The first half to Porthleven is a nice run. It's the next part that takes in Rinsey which is tough.

There are some incredibly steep hill climbs and descents where it is only possible to walk, although I'm sure there were a few participants who enjoyed running up and down those sections.

Last year I found the mental battle the hardest part of the race, although it was physically tiring, simply because there are no mile / km markers that you'd find in a normal road race.

At the time it felt like it would never end.

This year was slightly easier mentally as I knew the course and had an idea of how much further I had to go.

Physically I found it tough. I guess that as well as the nature of the course, a lot of that was done to the fact that I had less time to train for the event as the end of the football season took up a huge chuck of time (six games in 18 days in early May).

For the last couple of miles I had really bad cramp in both carves, thighs and my left groin. Getting over the granite and wooden styles, or rock parts of the path, became more challenging. At one point I found myself frozen halfway over a style as both legs cramped up.

One of Felicia's suggestions to help my energy was to take walnuts inside dates. I put six in my pocket and found they really helped as fatigue set it.

I struggle to eat when I'm running as I find I get uncomfortable, but as soon as I had the first one I could feel my body craving more.

Despite the cramp I managed to summon up the energy for a sprint finish, where I handed over the timing chip to Simon to run the third leg.

Unofficial finish time on iPhone

Richard then drove round to Lamorna Cove to wait for Simon, and then join Kristi to provide moral support in the last leg to Land's End.

After getting dressed very slowly due to more cramp I drove home to eat a big lunch.

My official time in 2013 was 2:35:48.

This year I did it in 2:23:52.

I managed to knock 11 minutes 56 seconds off my time.

When the results came through I did feel slightly disappointed as I'd aimed to knock 15 to 20 minutes off, but on reflection I am pretty pleased with that.

It also gives me a target to beat next year!

Jelly Babies at the end of the leg - they've never tasted so good

End of run feeling exhausted and hurting from cramp selfie

My finishers running T-shirt and medal to add to my collection

Rock Solid Race

The first big challenge on my 40 before 40 list has been done. 

Number 8 on my list was compete in a Tough Guy / Tough Mudder event. 

Yesterday I headed up to a very sunny Escot Park just outside Exeter with my support team (Rachel, Olivia and Bryher) to tackle the Rock Solid Race. 

The 10k obstacle race, which I heard several people say was actually 12k, took in mud, water, mud, water, more mud and some bonkers obstacles. 

After a warm up with a military fitness instructor, my wave set off at 1.20pm. 

The obstacles are now a bit of a blur, but we started with haybale hurdles (the big round ones), before heading off into the woods. 

At first I tried to avoid the mud and water, but after five minutes the only thing to do was to embrace it (my white running socks will never be white again ). 

Crawling on your stomach through muddy water and under barbed wire certainly got the adrenalin going, as did diving under a giant inflatable tube in a murky pond. I made the mistake of opening my eyes before surfacing, and can still feel grains of dirt under my eyelids as I type. 

The biggest challenge for me was the vertical cargo net. The height was okay, probably around 15 feet, it was the fear of falling that got me. 

I did it though, but the fear of falling off an obstacle wasn't helped by seeing a guy strapped into a stretcher waiting for an ambulance by one of the eight foot walls.

Tyres, more haybales, more water, wading through waist-deep mud, rope climbs, crawling through mud under a net, tunnels and more walls all were tackled, and enjoyed. 

I even took some strange enjoyment in diving into the skip full of iced water that resulted in the worst ice cream headache ever!

As I came into the final stretch I could see Bryher in the distance running around in her bright red all in one suit, before I saw Rach and Liv. 

This spurred me on for the final push where I jumped over fire, took on volunteers with Gladiator-style pugil sticks before, in true Rocky style, climbing haybale steps to cross the finish line. 

Having checked my time this afternoon I did the race in 1.50:08 and finished 271st out of 1880 finishers. I'm pretty chuffed with that for my first effort. 

I've also raised around £130 for CHICKS so far, which is the reason why I tackled this event. 

As well as my support team, I'd like to say a huge thank you to Felicia Sheingold, who has pushed me to my limits in my training sessions since January. The extra fitness made a huge difference. 

Bring on next year's race!

Post race burger in Exeter. 

 My race number, dog tag medals and Rock Solid T-shirt. 

Take part in a Tough Guy / Tough Mudder event

Number 8 on my 40 before 40 list is to 'Take part in a Tough Guy / Tough Mudder event'.

It was during a catch up meeting with one of our clients, the charity CHICKS (Country Holidays for Inner City Kids), that I noticed the Rock Solid obstacle race in Exeter on the charity's new event planner.

I had thought I would have a few months, to get in some training and prepare mentally for the event. 

Instead, I decided there and then to sign up and make sure I have no excuses for not doing an event like this over the next 12 months. 

So rather than a few months, I've now got just 13 days before I head to Escot Park just outside Exeter to tackle 10km of mud, barbed wire, mud, hay bale mountains, mud, fire, mud and running around with a sand bag. 

The running bit is fine, but I feel slightly nervous about the obstacles (my personal trainer has recommended that I head to my nearest DIY shop, buy a sandbag and walk / run with it for a few days to help with training!). 

It's good to know that there will be other CHICKS' runners on the day, so I'll look out for the yellow vests so we can support each other on the way round. 

Here's a video of the event, as well as some pics of my CHICKS' running best and some shots from today's off-road run.

Rock Solid obstacle race film