The Optimise Health Blog

I am less than 3 weeks away from my first sprint Triathlon. As you may see from the blog I intended to do a Triathlon last year to prove to myself I had fully recovered from Malignant Melanoma. This goal was thwarted last year by a slipped a disc and 5 months of standing up with sciatica. Undeterred I have entered the Castle Howard Triathlon on 21st July. Before commencing training this year I lost 6 Kg over 4 months through diet changes, mainly reducing processed carbs, cooking from fresh and reducing portions.  My weight has come down to a steady 87 Kg with benefits seen in my knees and running/swimming/cycling times. I have been training with a buddy who did the Castle Howard Triathlon last year and is fitter than me in all events - a good person to chase! I certainly have felt benefit in company and the motivation to continue training when we are tired or needing to push it to the max in cardio training. Barriers have included injury - an ankle sprained slipping on...

Copyright Castle Howard I went to see my friends complete the Castle Howard Triathlon on Sunday morning. When I got the all clear I vowed to myself to complete this challenge to give myself a goal to work towards and prove to myself that I was better. So after 4 months of recuperation after surgery and complications of scar burst, infection and then a lumbar disc prolapse I am starting to plan my year of training to complete the Triathlon. As a sprint distance it involves a 400m swim then a 23km cycle followed by a 5km run.  I have been able to achieve each of these individually in the past, but to achieve a reasonable time and the fitness level to do all three at full pace will require a gradual build up in endurance, a change in my usual diet, fitness activity and a focus on endurance training which may (hopefully) change my body shape and composition in the process! After 4 months of relative inactivity my weight and fat levels are not good so this is the ideal time ...

Athletes have practised mindfulness for some time now in preparation for successful performance in the field. When I started running,  I happened to chat to a friend who had been a top class track athlete. I had been talking about running for some time and had longed to be free to take exercise whenever and wherever I wanted; but had not actually started running yet.  He asked me how much time I had spent thinking about running; I answered that I was not sure; but I had really only spent time practically preparing for it (new trainers, shorts etc). Funny then that one day when I was driving to the gym after this conversation I stopped the car and like Forrest Gump "I just started running"!  I had been looking at a map of our area. I knew that near my route was a moor that gave onto a racecourse with woods where I could run to my hearts content - away from the roads and in natural setting within the citty limits. I had been imagining running the...