Rob Woollen Personal Training Manchester

Those of you who know me will be aware that I was hoping to knock an hour or so off last year's Ironman time. Last year I had an injury which prevented me from fulfilling my potential in the marathon so I was ready to get to work this time around.

Unfortunately it was not to be. I was on target to knock an hour off until the 13 mile point in the run. At that stage my legs just gave in and I was forced to drop my pace significantly to the point where I finally came in 10 mins slower than last year!

So what can we learn from this? Was I just not up to the job, or is there something I can take away for future use?

There was nothing extrinsic that affected my performance (ie there are no excuses!). On reflection I think I may have messed up on the following two areas: -

1. Nutrition. Last year I ate steadily throughout the bike ride. This time around I realsied about half way in that I had not been eating anywhere near as much. This may have left me short of much needed fuel later on

2. Salts. I realised too late at registration that I had lent my salt tablets to somebody and had to buy some more. However they did not have my brand, so I picked up the only ones I could get. I think I just failed to prepare properly and did not really know how or when to use them. In the last 4 miles of the race, after I had been steadily taking the tablets my performance improved and I picked up a little time.

So the moral of the story is - fuel efficiently and prepare properly by trying out your salt tablets in trianing and using the same system on race day. In the end the race became about survival for me - and I managed that!

Wow! This was truly the hardest race I have ever entered. Only half the distance of Ironman, but so much harder!

After a fairly standard 1.9km swim in Ullswater we set off for the 56mile Bike route. Those familiar with the Lake District may know the Kirkstone Pass (including the top bit called - The Struggle. With a top speed of 41.2mph, and a lowest speed of about 4mph, I made it round with an average of just over 16mph.Thanks to all my clients I pushed on to stay on the bike for the whole course. There were two occasions on which it nearly beat me, and I was seriously considering getting off and pushing. I just felt that there was nothing left in my legs. But I thought of all the times that I have asked you, "Do you really need to stop?" and realised that my words would ring hollow unless I applied the same rule to myself.

In fact it was on the big hills that I learned a great lesson which I would like to pass on. This was my first proper test of my new bike - and I had gone for a triple chainset (3 rings on the front) for the first time ever as this allows easier gears for the bigger hills. But I learned that sometimes you can overuse the low gears, and actually get more tired by riding in the lowest gear than by riding with slower leg speed in a higher gear with a bit more "bite".

I fully intended to run the entire run section, and passed a number of walking athletes on the first mountain. Then I saw the second mountain -Fusedale - and the reason why only one person ran the entire course (all but 25m). I did manage to run the whole 13 mile course with the exception of Fusedale and came home on the hottest day of the year in a time I am happy with.

Cartmel in the Lake District is a lovely venue for a trail run. This was 17km of fairly challenging terrain - and we got a Sticky Toffee Pudding for our trouble!

The question I decided to answer for you this time around is one that I am often asked. What do you think about when you are running for two hours. I decided to really give that question some thought during the run.

If you have asked me that question before, I have probably said that I use the run as a sort of meditation, sorting out my thoughts and getting my head straight. And that is certainly true for a nice relaxing trainign run around Styal Woods or along the Mersey. But what about on race day? Do I still let my thoughts drift off, or do I think about the run at all?

It turns out that I spend almost every minute of the race thinking about the race itself. How is my time? Am I going too fast or too slow? Can I put a little more effort in without blowing up? Who is around me? Am I gaining or losing places? Am I using my arms properly? Am I using my legs properly? Am I on target for my finish goal?

So the answer is that I spend the vast majority of the time thinking about the run, my technique and my time.

Please read the results in combination with the comments on Diet Chef below. We did not achieve this simply by following their plan - we had to make significant adjustments. Here is how we stacked up over the 4 weeks.

Rob Woollen

Overall weight loss - 7.2lb

Fat loss -4.6lb

Lean tissue loss -2.6lb

Starting BMI -22

Final BMI - 21

Starting body fat - 13.6%

Finish body fat - 11.2%

Female friend - mid 30s

Overall weight loss - 8.3lb

Fat loss -5.5lb

Lean tissue loss -2.9lb

Starting BMI -26.3

Final BMI - 25.1

Starting body fat - 33.2%

Finish body fat - 31.6%

As you can see we have both lost a similar amount of weight and of body fat, so it goes to show anybody can do it -from a fairly sedentary worker to a personal trainer - and anyone in between.

Ideal BMi is 20-25 for most people so in just 4 weeks my friend has reduced her risk of metabolic disorders (such as diabetes), many cancers and heart/lung/blood vessel disorders considerably!

We lost almost twice the amount of fat as we did lean tissue. This is important as we are not aiming to lose to much lean. However a little associated loss is almost inevitable on a fairly quick weight loss programme.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The DietChef plan is flawed in that the calorie content of their packs is significantly lower than that stated. It is imperative that if you decide to use the plan you are aware of this and take steps to address it - otherwise you will end up losing only lean mass and hardly touching the body fat you really want to lose.

We realised that the packs come in at around 500 calories less than they are supposed to. So we made adjustments to ensure that we still got enough to eat. And the proof is there - it worked and we lost body fat. My final and overall recommendation is in favour of using Diet Chef as it does all the hard work for you. However it is vital that you measure the results weekly so that you can adjust as necessary.

The Food

I rated the food highly. Given that they are ready meals, cooked in 3 minutes in the microwave, I thought the standard was consistently high. The Italian Tortellini is a disappointment-  it is a bit like Heinz spaghetti hoops. The chicken curry was delicious as was the beef in velvet porter. My friend enjoyed the meatballs (both pork and beef). Other dishes of note were the stroganoff and the chicken fricassee.

The soups are great. I do not like thin watery soups, so the chicken and thyme was a disappointment - however some people would prefer this to the thick stew-like consistency of the chorizo and bean and butterbean and carrot (both of which I Ioved!). For those looking for an in between - mushroom, parsnip and chilli or butternut squash might suit you best.

Breakfasts were very nice, granola is going to find its way onto both of regular menus! Snacks also were spot on, with a good mix of biscuits, bars, and crisp-type oatcakes. My friend remarked that she still felt able to have a treat due to these.

I am not a big fan of milkshakes with added vitamins as meal replacements, and think this is a bit of a cop-out as it is the only difference between the 1200 and 1500 plan. (This proves a point actually as the milkshakes contain 225 calories - surely you need 300 to make 1200 into 1500?)

The plan

I am still disappointed by Diet Chefs uneducated response to my issue with the calorie intake, but in general the plan has taken into account the need for calcium, fresh produce and sufficient calories to allow healthy weight loss. They need to get over trying to sell 4lb in a week weight loss as on their case studies and "success stories". The science behind this goes a little like this: --

4lb of body fat (remember that is the only weight we really want to lose) = 14000 calories. So to lose this in a week would require a calorie deficit of 2000 per day. Given that most people need around 2200-2800 per day, the only way to achieve this would be to only provide about 200-800 calories per day. This is just not right and will give rise to serious health issues. Diet Chef would do better to give people the amount of calories their plan says they do. I wonder how the "1200 calorie plan" is viewed under the trade descriptions act when it contains around 750.

The way forward

This plan is safe and very effective as long as you take in enough calories per day. Use the dietchef website to find out how many you should be having and make up the deficit in the grossly understocked packs by adding things like: -brown rice; wholemeal bread, wholemeal cous-cous, low-fat yoghurt.

If you want more details of exactly how to do this feel free to email rob@rwpt.co.uk

Well it is now the end of the trial.

I will give the results in this section - the next post will contain the science, and my final summary of the plan and its merits and issues.

This week I have had a hard week. There was one day when i was at the NEC when I could not stick to the plan. Whe I got to my hotel in Coventry at 9:30pm they had stopped doing food. I went to 3 pubs, but nobody would serve food. In the end I had to eat chips. Having been away from food like that for a while, they made me feel sick that night. The next 2 days at the show I was able to eat pretty well as I was able to prepare.

My friend has doen well this week, with food and exercise going all to plan.

My results. This week I have dropped my weight by 0.4 (0.9lb) kg. However my fat loss has been 1.3kg (2.9lb). I have been doing a little less exercise this week so perhaps what weights I have done have had a chance to add a little lean mass.

My friend has lost 1.2kg in weight (2.6lb) of which 0.9kg (2lb) is pure fat loss. Another great week for her! So it seems that the plan we put in place after week 2 -including the exercise - was just right for her.

Week 3 results now in.

We have both had a good week. My friend has kicked ass on the exercise front and her new eating plan is not too hard on her. We have both realised that it is quite normal to feel hungry from time to time - we do it whatever eating plan we follow (even no plan!). This is certainly no worse than "normality".

This week I have dropped my weight by 0.8kg (1.8lb) but in fact my body fat has not changed at all. I am not too concerned about this as I am a hard subject due to the volume and variance in my activity levels. Losing a kg of lean tissue is no cause for massive concern. I will jsut have to look next week at how I can fuel up correctly before each session I participate in.

My friend has lost 0.9kg of weight whilst gaining slightly on lean mass. Her fat loss this week is an impressive 1.3kg (2.9lb) which just goes to show what a difference the regular exercise makes. Her body responds to this by going into fat burning mode most of the time. Added to the drop in intake she has had a great week.

Interms of the food, we are still finding that there are no major issues with hunger. The food itself is still pretty good, althoughmy friend is starting to get a little bored with meals that are tomato based as she thinks they are all very similar. I personally have no problem with them. In any case there is enough variety to stop repeating yourself.

Ok I got my friends results.

At the end of week 2 she had lost a further 1kg in weight. However this was all lean tissue.

Factors which may have affected this include: -

• The fact that she had not done all the exercise planned for this week (in fact less than half of it)
• We may have increased her intake slightly too much. A 1kg drop with no accompanying fat loss could be a simple matter of water content in her body.

We decided that next week she would rigorously follow her exercise programme which requires her to do 30 mins on five days of the week. The type of exercise is not hugely important when following a calorie deficit plan, although there are some tweaks we can make with conditioned clients to help with this. The body knows if it is "active" or "inactive" based on the regularity of exercise - this is far more important that the type. I may sound like I am underselling my services here, but there are many other factors for which personal training is hugeley beneficial. But 2 sessions a week of perfect fat burning exercise will always be trumped by 5 sessions of regular exercise even if the type is not as good.

We also decided to tweak her intake so that she now has (in addition to the food package): -

-2 slices of bread with lunch

-2 yoghurts

-2 slices of bread with evening meal

-2 portions of veg

-2 portions of fruit

-half a pint of milk