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richmckeating-blog · 5 years ago

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Can I run 80 miles in one go?

Just two weeks to go until I attempt an 80-mile run across the Yorkshire Wolds Way in under 24 hrs - an arduous route which gradually ascends 2400 metres, in potentially very wet and muddy conditions.

This is my first Ultra run, but it’s by no means my first Rodeo. I’m excited (which is apparently a better word to reframe ‘nervous’) to take part and give this my best shot. From the training I’ve done, I already know I’m going to be pushed hard on this. My body will ache, I’ll be bored, I’ll consider quitting, but the sheer opportunity of escaping any news about Brexit and the festive general election, if even for just a short while, will be enough to spur me on.

I’m still a little short of my fundraising target, and I’ve been a little quiet on the info front recently, so I wanted to update you on how things are going and beg for more generosity towards the two amazing charities I’m running for.

Click here if you’d like to donate

First, a quick point on those charities, and why I’m doing this.

Royal Marine Association (R.M.A)

Every year on Remembrance Sunday I have more and more people to think about during the two-minute silence.

This isn’t just because of the friends I’ve lost to war, but because of the many friends who are being lost after the war through suicide. For all those left behind, still fighting their own war, the RMA is on hand to offer support.

Last year, the charity dispersed over two million pounds to help serving and veteran Marines, through:

Giving mental health support for those who are brave enough to reach out. Former Bootnecks can now get fast-tracked for private mental health treatment.

Providing additional funding towards the charity Rock 2 recovery, a charity which supports all veterans from the armed forces.

In 2018, they helped 1404 families, 445 veterans and 100 serving personal.

94% of funds raised go directly towards the beneficiaries.

They also provide further training and job support for those leaving the corps.

I’ve decided not to name the close friends I’ve lost; I decided their families didn’t need to see more reminders on the internet about their loss.

These were people with whom I shared a bond only a veteran can understand.

I’ll be thinking of these people whilst I run. No matter how much I suffer, my dead friends will remind me that even suffering is one of the great things about being alive. What they would give to be able to experience suffering again.

Humber Rescue

Every week, Humber Rescue is called out, at all times of day and night, to help people in trouble on the water.

Humber Rescue is staffed entirely by volunteers, meaning 100% of donations go to the charity, to pay for the upkeep of the boathouse, our robust dry suits which protect us on the water, our boats, the petrol they consume, and our life-saving equipment.

We have people from all walks of life giving up their time for free. Currently we have a mechanic, paramedic, school teacher, handsome personal trainer 😊, gas engineer, university researcher, retired policeman and more.

All these people respond to an alarm, dropping whatever they are doing and get to the boathouse within 15 minutes to get changed, launch a rescue boat and attend often very serious incidents in all manner of weather conditions.

Not all heroes wear capes, and it’s an honour to be involved with these guys. I should state that I am not able to attend as many incidents as my colleagues; they are regularly attaining heroic standards.

Training Update

I’ve been working away at this for the last seven months, but rather than bore you with my full training plan to date I’ll only cover the thirteen weeks leading up to the event.

Week 13

ran the following

15 miles at 8:20 pace

12 miles at 7:30 pace

8 miles at 7:30 pace

15 miles at 7:55 pace

Total Weekly distance 50 miles

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Relatively decent week, happy with the pace, only ran for four days as struggling to fit training time in. Did a few early morning runs but still a hassle to find a couple of hours in the day to run.

Week 12

ran the following

11 miles at 7:42 pace

10 miles at 6:36 pace

9 miles at 7:35 pace

17 miles at 6:55 pace

5 miles at 8:03

Total Weekly distance 52 miles

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Pace is picking up nicely. On race day, I’ll be happy with a 10:30 minute mile pace. In case any of you think this is slow, you should understand that in ultra-running, things are a little different. It isn’t just the distance that results in a slower pace, there are lot of hills to climb, lots of check points to pass, and various challenges with weather to contend with.

As an example, the guy who got the fastest time on this event last year ran at a 9:17 pace.

Week 11

ran the following

14 miles at 8:06 pace

10 miles at 8:13 pace

10 miles at 7:46 pace

22 miles at 7:58 pace

8 miles at 8:07

Total Weekly distance 64 miles

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Happy to be picking up weekly mileage. I still need to ramp this up further to get my body prepared for 80 miles, pace still good, hips are aching most of the time now I’m increasing mileage volume. Have noticed that my hips start to click a little when I’m not running, this is perhaps due to the lack of resistance training, so my joints are becoming a little less stable.

Week 10

ran the following

10 miles at 7:58 pace

10 miles at 7:52 pace

10 miles at 7:59 pace

8 miles at 8:06 pace

4 miles using sprint drills

Total Weekly distance 42 miles

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Feel rubbish this week, got a bit of a cough, struggling and decided to cut back on volume so I can still get some mileage in.

Week 9

ran the following

4 miles at 8:27 pace

10 miles at 8:26 pace

8 miles at 7:41 pace

Total Weekly distance 22 miles

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Eughhh!

Bit of a cough has now turned into a chest infection for which I need antibiotics. Feel like absolute rubbish, must take a break from running.

Week 8

Still feel like crap :( fuck my life.

Week 7

Still not better, is this some kind of foreign chemical warfare?

Week 6

Managed a 7-mile run at an 8:32 pace.

Also an 8 mile run at 7:38 pace, which I was quite pleased with.

Slowly getting better, have had a long time off from running which has happened during some of the most important weeks of training, I’m massively pissed off about this but just have to try and accept it and move on.

The good news is that all the rest from running has meant my hips have gone back to feeling normal, which should hopefully happen again two weeks prior to the event when I dial back the training volume.

Week 5

Interesting week, I had the opportunity to spend four days with Humberside Fire and Rescue, training for what they are calling a resilience force, extra people to help out whenever the fire service are short on personnel.

I decided to give this a go because I’ve always been curious about trying out for the Fire Service. The the work itself is exciting and challenging and reminiscent of the kind of stuff I did in the Marines, but this time instead of taking lives I’d be saving them!

Plus, I could still carry on being a Personal Trainer and helping people achieve great health.

So anyway, the whole week was spent in heavy Fire Service rig, running out long lines of hosepipes and rolling them back, learning how to work a fire engine pump, connecting external water sources from hydrants and open water and working at heights.

I absolutely loved it. It was really hard work, but enjoyable and I loved being part of a team again. Whilst everyone else was having lunch I went to the gym to get some mileage on the treadmill. Everyone thought I was mad. I never managed to get a long distance in but the whole daily activity would be sufficient to help with training towards my challenge.

So all in all a good week’s training and good to be back on track.

Week 4

Another challenging week for training, this time I was on holiday in Whitby for half-term. I still managed to work in some runs each day, averaging about 8 miles, still quite short of what was required at this stage in training but again I was spending most of the day on my feet and being active, total steps for the week was over 180,000 which was similar to when I managed a week with 60 miles of running.

Week 3

This was the last week I had to smash it as two weeks prior to the event I need to taper down volume and aim to be as fresh as possible for the big day. So, no excuses, back from holidays but had a few clients away which gave me some spare hours each day to go and crack some mileage.

ran the following

20 miles at 8:18 pace

20 miles at 8:34 pace

23 miles at 8:07 pace

8 miles at 8:06 pace

21 miles at 8:37

Total Weekly distance 91 miles

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So a good week for mileage and catching up, hopefully this should put my body in good stead for the big day. I was surprised by how well I was able to run on the last day, I could certainly feel the effect on my body, my feet really hurt, kind of feels like I have some stress fractures in the bones, similar to a time I broke one of my feet in the Marines, hips where also really hurting, bear in mind I did all of this whilst carrying a rucksack with spare water, food, and changes of clothing, a similar weight to that I’ll need to carry on the day.

Running in the rainy weather wasn’t much fun ☹

Week 2

So the standard formula here is to back off and try to get the body fresh as possible for the big day (so lots of rest) whilst still doing some training so that you can run well (so lots of runs, but shorter)

Usually it’s suggested people half their training volume, and then half it again, so in my case we would go from 90 miles per week, to 45, to 22.5 and then the big event.

The problem is 90 miles per week hasn’t been my usual mileage, and it’s taken a fair bit out on my body, I started this week with a sprint session, and I seem to have some new aches and pains I haven’t had before, along with joint clicks that’s shouldn’t be happening.

I’ve decided to back off and just do lots of walking, with the occasional jog, and some sorely missed resistance work, which should allow me to work around these injuries and help me prepare best.

This might change on a day to day bases, but I’m ok with being flexible on that.

Diet

I haven’t followed a specific diet plan to date, except for keeping a loose eye on calories some days (tracking most of my food to get me in the right ballpark for where I know I should be)

Leading into this event, I’ll now be keeping calories slightly lower as I back down from training, and then spiking them up again a few days before in order to load up on glycogen.

Each day I aim to get at least four servings of good quality protein, usually one serving from a shake, and then three servings from either meat, fish, eggs or dairy.

Have really been enjoying Greek yoghurts with bananas, raisons and a crushed biscuit each night, the bolus serving of casein helps with prevention of muscle breakdown whilst sleeping (casein is absorbed at a slower rate that most proteins).

On training days I’ve really had to increase my carb intake, most of this I get from oats, rice, pasta, potatoes however whilst running I’ll also use high 5 gels and powder which gives me an optimal ration of 2:1 glucose to fructose which in research has been shown to help the most with absorption, the most I can take onboard is about 90g per hr, so far I’ve been OK with this however I don’t know how I’ll react over a longer distance, at some point I may need to eat other food stuff and there could be some digestion issues.

As far as fats go, I’m having very little, mostly just eggs, a little butter or olive oil to cook meat in, otherwise with calories set at reasonable level most of my intake comes from carbs and protein.

As usual my diet includes lots of veggies, fruits and mostly healthy stuff. I need a higher than usual amount of vitamins and minerals so this has been important to maintain.

On the weekends I still enjoy a few beers, and I’ll still have a takeaway and some chocolate too.

Live your best life 😊

I’m not trying to break any records or do this for a living, so I don’t need to go overboard with my prep here.

One last thing I’ll mention is that in the next week I’ll experiment with carb and fat timing, using a recover low strategy after a training run to help my body get used to running on fat as a fuel and make sure it’s better at breaking down carbs when I introduce them back in.

I may explain more about this technique in a future article, it’s quite long winded, but has some good research behind it.

Current supplement regime

At the moment I take the following to assist my training and diet (note that these two things need to taken care of first)

Click on each supplement to see which brand I use.

Vitamin D- 2500 iu

so these grim days with lots of raining and overcast sky’s are one of the reasons we get so much seasonal affective disorder (SAD), of course it isn’t the only reason ( financial pressures of upcoming Christmas, loneliness, not the lack of vitamin D itself but the dullness of the sky and grimness of each overcast wet day)

Anyhow, supplementing with Vitamin D can not only improve mood and mental health, but with all of the training I’ve been doing lately Vitamin D is helping to support my immune system (which gets negatively affected by overtraining) and supporting my bone health and recovery.

Fish oil - 1800mg per day-

All this training is causing lots of inflammation in my joints, a high dose of fish oil is helping to manage that inflammation and improve recovery. It also helps with brain health, joint health and heart health.

Pro-biotics

having a bad stomach is quite common with ultra-running. This year the Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc (UTMB) Courtney Dauwalter found herself throwing up for a few minutes with miles to go till the finish line. She went on to win the event.

To help my body deal with this I’ll be avoiding any medications such as aspirin or ibuprofen, and I’ve regularly been taking pro biotics.

Cherry active

When I train heavy, or when I back off too quick, I find my legs going into uncomfortable spasm at night time, this can really affect my sleep.

Cherry active helps with my sleep and has also been shown to help reduce next day soreness.

Challenges

There are going to be numerous challenges I may have to face during the Hardwolds 80, such as..

Navigation

So it’s kind of embarrassing to admit this, but whilst out on some training runs across the Wolds Way, I got lost! The first time it happened was when a sign that was supposed to tell me to turn left onto a field had been broken off, so I ran straight past it and about three miles down the road realised I hadn’t see any Wolds Way signs. After an about turn, and a look on the map I eventually got back on course with just a six mile diversion I didn’t need to take!

The 2nd and 3rd time where at certain points on the Wolds way where the route splits into two, I hadn’t realised this and it’s only because of lazy map checking that on both those occasions I went down the wrong path, in each situation I had about eight miles of unnecessary diversions to get back on course.

I’m not looking to set any records with this, but at the same time I do want to try and run as much of the route as I can, so stopping for a few minutes to check position on a map every time I’m uncertain could add on a lot of time.

The thought of running 80 miles is challenging enough, if I make these same mistakes on the day I could find myself adding a lot more mileage onto this event. To help prevent me from doing so I’ve spent some time familiarising myself more with the maps and investing in a GPS watch with some navigation capabilities.

The weather

I never used to mind the weather when I was in the Marines. When it was wet, my enemy had lower morale - this motivated me. On exercise, we would spend hours getting soaked to the bone, crossing rivers, yomping across moors in the dark and heavy rain. We spent weeks like this, I can honestly say it never bothered me that much.

But then I left the Marines and became a civvie, and for all the times I fondly look back and yearn for those military days, I do enjoy waking up in the morning and having a nice coffee whilst looking at the rain outside and thinking “I’m so glad I don’t have to be out in that anymore”

Training in the summer was fine, I sweated buckets and had a bitching tan, but now the rain is here and my feet are getting soaked and covered in mud, I have to keep stopping and changing my clothing to remover a rain coat or soaked running hat. To be out in this running for hours on end is an extra level of challenge!

It isn’t just how much it drains morale either, running down wet muddy hills with tired legs and a backpack is a tripping hazard, and with each fall there is the risk of injury.

Soreness

These two weeks rest before the event should help get rid of any soreness, my wife is a trained massage therapist and after an amazing treatment at the weekend my body feels new again and I’m ready to go, but I know for sure that once I’ve been running for twenty miles or so my body starts to notice little aches and niggles.

The stress fractures in my feet play up, my hips ache, my knees go swollen and I can’t fully lock out my legs. With this I get sharp shooting pains up my back.

This is going to be fun for sure 😊 to some extent, most of this is just mental pain, the body is reacting to the minds uncertainty and over sensitivity to a new exposure.

I’ll just have to make do as best I can. The problem with taking any anti-inflammatories at this point is that they will almost certainly lead to stomach upset whilst running long distance.

Going forward

So last few days of prep, making sure I have all the kit I need. I’m looking forward to getting this done and out of the way, but most of all I think I should take the advice of the guy who sold me my amazing Altra running shoes from Simply Running in Hull (I have quite wide feet and these bad boys have felt really comfortable during my longer runs on mixed terrains)

“just enjoy it”

The Wolds Way has some amazing views. Taking part in challenges like this allows me to discover more about myself and come in close contact with my own mindset. These things present a good opportunity for personal growth and most of all. I’m doing all of this for two amazing charities which are both close to my heart, so please donate generously. I’ll be writing up how it goes after the event. I’m looking forward to not having to do so much running anymore and finally lifting some weights again!

To donate, please click here

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richmckeating-blog · 5 years ago

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Mckeating Ultra

My latest adventure started a few months ago when I texted my client who had just completed the London Marathon.

How did you get on? I asked hoping to simultaneously offer my congratulations whilst secretly re affirming my ego with the knowledge that my Marathon time was better.

Then they hit me with it, 3:41. They had beaten my time by ten minutes!

I have only ever completed one marathon, the New York, back in 2003 just a few months after getting back from Iraq I needed something to sink my teeth into and to help me get some normality back into my life.

To be honest, I know I didn’t really get an awesome time, like many people I was just happy to have completed the event, I think I even walked parts of it, but now I’m at a stage in my life where I’m wondering what my potential might be if I really applied myself and as I’m 38 years old, I feel as though it’s now or never.

So, I decided to come out of retirement and try to beat my last time, not for any ego driven vanity purpose of beating my client you understand, but solely to impart some life wisdom and help everybody realise that I’m the best 😊

I went to work searching the internet for Marathon events, the London Marathon can be hard to get into, and doing an event in my hometown of Hull didn’t excite me much, I searched and searched and that’s when I came across it.

The more I read, the more excited I got, and scared at the same time just at the thought of it, whether to enter or not went back and forth through my mind like some kind of decision ping pong game for a couple of days, before I decided to just go ahead and enter.

And that’s why I’m now training for my first ever ultra.

I’m still a newbie to this world so let me share what I’ve learned so far, an ultra-run is anything longer than a traditional marathon, there are Ultra’s across the UK and around the World of varying distance from 40 miles to upwards of a hundred which take place in varied environments under a wide range of conditions.

The Ultra I’ve entered is the Hardwolds 80, an eighty mile route across the Yorkshire Wolds way starting at the Humber Bridge and ending in Filey.

The event takes place on the morning of Saturday the 23rd November and I’ll have 24 hours to complete the whole route from start to finish.

I’ll be running this event to help raise funds for two charities very close and dear to my heart.

Royal Marines Charity

The corps family is in constant need of looking after, since I left in 2004 many of my good friends have either been killed in action or have chosen to end their lives, I’ll go further into this at some point in a future article but for now I just want to acknowledge thanks that there is an organization who can help support my band of brothers with mental health services and provide help to the families of those who have served.

They provide rehab to those injured, financial assistance to those in need and are constantly there for any serving or non-serving member of the corps.

Once a Marine, always a Marine.

Humber Rescue

I have been a volunteer at Humber Rescue for just over a year now, we are an independent lifeboat station staffed entirely by volunteers and we respond to call outs 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

The crew at Humber Rescue give up work, family and leisure time to be available to those in trouble at sea, in the short time I have been there I’ve seen crew members called out at three in the morning to literally save the life of someone in the water, only to go home and get ready for work in a few hours.

Not all heroes wear capes, it’s a pleasure to work alongside these guys.

Please Donate!

This is my donation page

I’ve set the fundraising bar quite low to start with, soon as I smash this target (hopefully soon) I’ll raise it again and shall endeavour to raise as much money as I can for these two worthwhile causes.

In exchange for donations I’m going to regularly blog with details of my journey as an amateur runner preparing for my first ultra-run, I’ll go into research and methods on mindset, nutrition and training and will provide valuable content for anybody interested in running and wanting to up their game or just anybody who wants to gaze into the working process of the kind of masochism one has to resort to in order to get to this level.

I’ll start briefly here in this article, and in future content I’ll cover these in more depth as I work through these tasks and begin to learn more and understand further.

Ultra-Mindset

Aside from running itself, I have two competing mental models regarding the Hardwolds 80 which I’m having to work with and overcome.

The first is just fear.

Fear that I’ll not be fit enough, that I’ll fail to complete it and look like an idiot after having spent months training for it and blogging about it and trying to raise money for good causes.

Fear of injury, fear of the pain, fear of getting lost on the route (that would be so me) and fear of not having enough mentally to cope with this and just quitting.

The second mindset I’m having to work against is unrealistic ambition, the guy who won last year ran the event in twelve hours and twenty-three minutes, the next competitor came in at thirteen hours and seven minutes.

I’ve worked out the mile splits, read the blogs of some people who took part (seem like really nice guys) and although this is the first ever ultra I’m going to run part of my brain is imagining me winning the thing and getting first place in a course breaking time.

Yeh, that’s really going on inside my mind.

So staying grounded for a moment, between my fears of just being able to complete the thing and my ambition to smash it and achieve fame, I believe a more realistic ambition should be to work with the goal of just completing this thing, most ultra-runners, especially beginners, go out the blocks too quick, tire out and finish way out of their expected times because they misjudged pacing.

Then of course there is the mindset needed whilst running, to mentally go out and do a ½ marathon on your lunchbreak because you know you need to clock up some millage volume for that week.

Every run I come face to face with my own insecurities.

Hello darkness my old friend.

Why not slow down Rich? Why not just run a few miles less today, your so busy and you have so much to do, you can always run further tomorrow to make up for it.

The conversations start in the mind, with perfectly justifiable sweet honey excuses being drip fed into my ear lobes.

Each run I must work against this, to acknowledge the thoughts, but to ignore them and carry on pushing it anyway.

When you run away from pain you’ll just get more pain, when you run towards it things seem to get easier.

In future articles I’ll expand on this in a lot more detail, because mindset is probably the biggest limiting factor to success and without mastering this aspect all the hard work around training and diet is wasted.

Ultra-Training

At the time of writing I have twenty weeks until the event, I’m now ready to start with some serious training, for the last six weeks I’ve been working on the basics.

This is just getting miles in, I’ve tried to clock in at least thirty miles a week, building up to 40 miles per week, and now I’m on 50 miles a week, some short five to six-mile runs, some fifteen milers when I’ve had time.

Each run will usually have one of the following purposes

Hills

The Wolds way has a fair number of hills along the route, many ultra- runners choose to walk the hills and run everything else, I’m not sure where I sit with this yet but for now I want to build up some tolerance to the hills and get my legs as best prepared as I can. Fortunately for me there are some big hills near my little private training studio in North Ferriby, so I’ve had plenty of opportunity to run up steep hills in the middle of a hot July afternoon like a madman.

Endurance

On many of my runs I’ve simply tried to get used to running for time, sometimes this has involved running twice a day, and on the few occasions where I’ve had a few hours spare this has just meant plodding along to get miles under the feet without pushing myself too hard.

Speed

I have two speed type sessions I’ve been working on, the first is pure hell, it’s literally the worst training I’ve done since leaving he marines, to the point where I feel nauseous and start regretting my life choices.

Hill Sprints, 5 x 3 minutes

I find a big hill, and I sprint hard up at it for three whole minutes, about 30 seconds in the pain really kicks in, I then have to keep pushing and tolerating that pain for the remaining duration, it’s hellish and at the same time kind of Euphoric, every part of my body hurts, my need for oxygen begins to vastly outweigh my ability to breath and I find my face contorted in agony trying to suck in big gulps of air.

Then I walk down the hill to recover and repeat the process again until I’ve done five total sprints. It’s hell, I hate it, but damn it makes me faster on my other runs.

Short sprints 15 x 15 seconds

This is a much more pleasant session, I find a nice flat field, warm up with lots of drills around running, plenty of hopping, moving the body around in various ways to help the individual joints react best to ground contact, and then when I’m ready it’s a 15 second sprint full out, followed by 45 seconds rest, and repeat. It’s short and sharp but effective and being able to access those gears helps me enormously when I’m trying to find a pace I can reasonably keep up for miles upon miles.

This is the kind of pace I have going on right now, current goal is to get a half marathon in under 90 minutes, hoping to achieve this in the next few weeks.

Ultra-Nutrition

Starting weight was 87kg, which means I’m currently carrying a few kgs too many to get my best times out, so diet’s had to play a significant part in my training not just to get the most out of my running but to help lose a few lbs at the same time.

Initially I just tried some simple calorie lowering techniques, big salad before dinner, pint glass of water with meals to help fill the stomach etc.

Guess what? Didn’t work ☹

Turns out I just have a massive greedy appetite, I just like food, lots of it, and I’ll keep eating past the point of being full.

For some people eating with moderate calorie tricks like the ones above can work wonders, but it just doesn’t do it for me.

After weeks of expending thousands more calories per week through the sheer number of additional steps I’ve been carrying out I still weighed the same.

So I’ve had to count calories, which sucks, but on the plus side I have lost 3.5kg (1/2 stone) and I still get to enjoy chocolate and a few beers without having to feel too restrictive. For me it’s important to lose weight at a steady pace, if I cut calories too low my performance will suffer on my runs and I won’t have enough resources to recover properly.

My nutrition for running is another matter entirely, now the basic training phase is over I’ve started turning my attention to carbohydrate periodization, where I alter the amount of carbs I consume based on the amount of training I’m doing that day. There is some cool science around this subject which I’ll go into in future articles.

My weight goal is to get under 80kg at least, that’s still heavy for an ulta-runner, but it’ll be a significant improvement on the extra weight I’ve been lugging about during these runs!

Summary

So this is the start of my journey, I’ll hope you’ll join me for future articles where I explore different aspects of running and ultra- running, and try to give more tips that I hope readers may find useful.

This started out as an intention to try and beat my previous Marathon time ( and my clients), however it’s took on a new form now, It’s turned into a challenge to bite my arse from a training slumber and get me working hard at achieving my best at something I’ve never done before.

once again, this is my donation please, if you find this article useful, please spare what you can, it is as always much appreciated.

This is my donation page

In future articles I’ll be delving much deeper into running training, nutrition for performance and the importance of getting the right mindset, including how I came to know the Hill Wizzard and Old man wolds (they’re both horrible)

BTW- The client who beat my time?

None other than Neil Hudgell, chairman of Super League Rugby Club Hull Kingston Rovers. He works hard in the gym with me three times a week and outside of the gym runs regularly and keeps challenging himself to do better. Years ago Neil got me back into running, since then we’ve ran a few half marathons together and to be fair, this guy can really put in some pace!

If you’d like to receive regular updates to my articles and get subscriber only content including videos, recipes, extras etc then sign up on the link below.

http://eepurl.com/ds_ygj

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richmckeating-blog · 6 years ago

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Willing to work his ass off

Will’s transformation story

On the 31st October 2017, I met Will, he had got in touch through my website and this was our first consultation to discuss how I might be able to help him. One thing confused me though, Will had just the weekend before completed a marathon, over the years he’d done a lot of working out and had done various routines, so what did he need my help for?

The answer became clear once we dove a little deeper, although Will was in great shape with his fitness, he didn’t have the aesthetics he wanted, in other words, if Will was stood by the pool in his trunks, you wouldn’t be able to guess from looking at him whether or not he worked out.

This is his first pic when he started with me.

I could tell straight away that Will was a very driven guy, and that when he set his sights on something he would go for it all guns blazing, a goal that was anything less than ambitious just wouldn’t have motivated him enough, and so I suggest a photoshoot challenge, pull out all the stops and try to get in the absolute possible best shape of his life giving it everything he has.

This really appealed to Will, so we set the date for June the following year, I decided to join him and also roped another one of my clients into it (read his story here, I’ll go through my own story at a later date)

Over the next few months I helped Will to put on quite a few lbs as I didn’t think his weight was too heavy for his size, nearer the shoot we used a more restrictive approach giving us enough time to hit the deadline in peak condition.

I couldn’t have been more impressed with Will’s results, his photos show exactly what can be achieved with hard work and dedication and he now has these photos to look back on throughout his life to consider what he achieved, as a side note I should add that Will is still in great shape, still working out regularly and still able to stand by a pool in his trunks and have it be obvious that he works out.

I’m planning on taking a few guys through photoshoot training again this year for a shoot at the end of June, you don’t need any experience, just a willingness to work hard and give it everything you’ve got to get in the best shape of your life, this will be an online program at a small cost per month, if you’d like to know more please sign up here to show your interested. BONUS- I want everyone who takes part in this to be able to enjoy a few beers each week and still get in great shape for the shoot.

Once you’ve looked through Wills end pics, take a moment to read his story, it’s an incredible journey he’s been on.

Below our Will’s own words on his journey, I’ve decided not to edit them as they sum everything up succinctly.

I'd been overweight since the age of 7. I grew up as a freaky eater. I survived on a diet of chips, bread, coco pops, crisps, chocolate spread, and marmite. I wouldn't consider eating any other food. I hid this weird phobia from all my friends. This lasted up until the age of 17, when I was pressured into a school trip to Italy and I had to extend my diet to pasta, bolognaise sauce, and beef mince. With that came fast food, burgers, pizzas, cheese and so on. My weight ballooned until I reached 15 stones, which is pretty heavy for someone 5 foot 7. I was 19.

Somehow, I had managed to bag a girlfriend who was way more attractive than me. But eventually she left me for someone slimmer and broke my heart. I decided to sort myself out and visited a nutritionist. She put me on a high protein low fat diet, which I followed successfully for a year and lost 3 stone. This helped me start to eat almost normally, as I introduced vegetables and healthy meats into my daily diet.

Over the next 15 + years, my weight went up and down. I tried many diets over the and became quite the armchair nutrition expert. Slowly but surely the weight fell off me. I tried an extreme version of the Atkins Diet, and eliminated all carbs for 6 months. I've been on the Keto Diet twice, and it's the most depressing thing I've tried. I took up fasting as a hobby, and regularly fasted 3 days in a row and skipped breakfast every day. Then I'd binge and put most of the weight back on. Binge, diet, binge, diet. I'd eat healthily for 3 days, then shove 4000kcal in my face on a Friday night. The long-term trend in weight loss was positive, but it wasn't optimal.

The physical result was someone who was flabby and skinny. Despite working out regularly, I had little muscle on me. I still had a bit of flab on my chest, belly, and back. It was not pretty. It made me feel insecure. This despite having reasonable fitness from hiking, backpacking, and running.

I set myself the challenge of getting a 6 pack. I knew I'd need some help for this. I need someone to be accountable to. Someone to watch me as I work out. If I work out alone, I don't put quite as much effort in. So, I contacted Rich, and we came up with the ambitious plan of getting a 6 pack and doing a photoshoot in 8 months. He said I first need to put on some muscle, and then burn off the remaining fat. The result would look much better in front of the camera.

So, between October and February I put on 1 and 1/2 stone of muscle and fat. I ate more than I'd ever eaten and trained harder than before. From March onwards I dieted. Gradually at first, and then more extremely in the last 10 days. In the middle, I squeezed in a holiday, and managed to eat a little more freely. I continued to work out regularly, to maintain the muscle I'd gained. I jogged almost every day. The weight fell off quickly.

The result at the photoshoot is that I was nearly half a stone lighter than when I had started, despite being much more muscular. I'd always been insecure about my weight. I'd been teased and bullied a lot at school, and it stays with you. Now I can walk about and feel slim and athletic. The nagging worry of "feeling fat" has left me. It literally is a weight off my shoulders.

The preparation for the photoshoot was tremendous fun. I removed the hair from most of my body with some cream and shaved the remnants off. I got a spray tan. I never thought I would do anything like that. The day of the shoot we ate sweets all afternoon and kept doing press-ups and other exercises to get "pumped up". We did everything we possibly could do to get a great result. We treated it as if it was a Mr Olympia competition.

I didn't look like Mr Olympia in the slightest. I didn't even have a full 6 pack, just a very reasonable 4 pack. But I looked unrecognisable to my friends, one of whom is convinced the photos are fake. More importantly, I've set a new standard as to what I should look like. I now need to hold myself to that standard. At the age of 38, I'm fitter and healthier than I've ever been.

I've learnt that achieving a 6 pack in 8 months was probably unrealistic for me. But it's amazing what you can achieve if you set yourself a completely unrealistic target and do your best to achieve it anyway. I've achieved more in 9 months with Rich than I have achieved in 18 years of working out and dieting all by myself. I've also learnt that this whole process has not cured me of my addiction to starchy and fatty foods. I still enjoy pizza and chips just as much as before. Unfortunately, the food demons will probably always be with me. But continuing to work with Rich is helping me win each battle, day by day.

Afterthoughts…

Each client teaches me something different, and with each year I learn more and upon reflection try to improve to be the best trainer and nutritionist I can be.

Though the results Will got are amazing, I think I potentially went overkill on the weight gain muscle up phase, and in retrospect, a longer more gradual approach with an emphasis on dieting on the highest calories possible would have helped improve the overall results, nothing is every completely beyond improvement for me, and with evolving knowledge and experience I like to help get the best possible results for all of my clients whatever their goals are.

If you’d like to join me on the next photoshoot challenge starting in June then let me know soon by signing up here, I want all who take part to get in shape just like Will and still be able to have an ice cream or a few beers every week.

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richmckeating-blog · 6 years ago

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Awesome transformation (for an old man!!)

Nailing a lifelong weight fluctuation is no easy task, currently the odds are stacked against people trying to get to grips with health. There are a number of reasons for this.

It’s not just that the whole of society seems geared up to create an assembly line of obesity, from the sedentary need of modern living through driving, working at a desk and chillin with Netflix, or the cheap abundance of sugary laden goods and fried tasty morsels available readily throughout the day in most of our lives.

No, all of the above things are partly what I believe makes this a great time to be alive, the issue I which I believe compounds this whole situation is that the very solution that people need to find a way to properly manage modern living is blurred by charlattans pushing snake oil or at best well meaning but poorly informed social media stars.

The challenge to get in shape and stay in shape only becomes harder with age as muscles begin a slow decline (sarcopenia) and the regular stresses of life takes its toll further.

So I hope Adrian’s story might offer hope to some, at forty two years old he’s managed to get himself into exceptional shape and has managed to maintain it now for over a year without extreme dieting or ridiculous exercise regimes.

We begin with our first meet.

January is always a busy time for Personal Trainers, most of the people who come to see me had the same kind of Christmas as I did, in so much as they ate too much, drank way too much, and moved too little.

For me the festive weight gain is an annual tradition I’ve come to thrive on knowing full well that as soon as my ass hits the gym in the New year my belt can go back to its usual notch and my workouts can resume with vigour after a decent rest.

Helping other people adopt this mindset has been a somewhat rewarding part of my job for a while now, so much so that during the holidays I’ll often raise several glasses of beer in their honour and then soak it all up with several mince pies and what ever else is left of the buffet.

In the mad rush of January 2017, I began working with Adrian, who’s festive indulgences had merely added to his still expanding waist and rising weight and along with it the feelings of poor health and body confidence which up until then had been a regular feature of his life.

At forty years old his story was not too dissimilar to many other guys I’ve worked with over the years, he’d been a little chubby as a kid, however he’d taken up Rugby as a teenager which tackled the portliness up until his twenties, when the change of starting a family and building up a business meant less time for activity and more food eaten on the go.

The compounding effects of stress from work and family commitments had led to poor food choices and with more time sat at a desk those calories began to settle on the waistline.

Over the years he attempted various slimming groups and diet plans and had even managed to get to the gym a few times with Personal Trainers, but any success he achieved was short lived and the weight would not only come back, but often rebound into further excess gain.

I didn’t think he needed to do anything drastic, so we started on a straight forward exercise routine, covering basic movements and trying to ensure his joints where able to handle the load by making gradual progressions and playing the long game.

Nutritional interventions where quite minimal, I didn’t tell him to stop drinking or ordering take always, mostly because he wasn’t doing this to any further an extent than myself, and I try not to be a hypocrite.

we mostly just focussed on ensuring he had sufficient protein intake to cover his recovery needs from exercise and that he included plenty of veggies and a little fruit.

Long story cut short it worked! He went from a dumbbell bench of 12.5kg for 10 reps to 35kg for 10 reps in his first year along with an ability to do chin ups, treble the amount of press ups and now he could lift some serious iron, most notably he managed to lose 9.3kg and whilst there where some niggles along the way ( there always is) we managed to work around them and not let them disrupt training.

So then I wondered if he’d be willing to go full out and see what he could achieve, I had a few clients wanting to do the same thing with the end goal being a photoshoot to capture the hard work and progress, after which point they’d all be able to retire to the Caribbean and spend the rest of their days growing fat and reminiscing whilst they get drunk by the pool.

Adrian was up for the challenge, and so we began!

Each person going through the program would be going through a similar process but with a few nuances that would be individualized to them.

For example, Adrian struggles with deep squats and certain lifting techniques, I could spend several sessions trying to get him to a decent enough quality movement whilst banging my head against a wall, but instead I just chose movements that he could confidently do which still overloaded his muscle through a decent range.

He also developed an elbow injury, this meant we had to play around with a number of exercises to find movements that didn’t aggravate it, it turned out a wider grip bench press felt better than a narrow grip bench, hammer curls where out but alternate dumbbell curls felt fine, and whenever something felt uncomfortable we’d try a few alternatives until we figured out a way to train that suited him best.

The Training itself was quite straight forward, we used the following split

Month one / 3 Day split/ back and biceps/ chest and triceps/ legs and abs

Month Two/ 4 day program/ Total Body A/ Total body B each program consisting mostly of big compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, military press etc with smaller more accessory movements to finish.

Month Three/ 3 day total body split with emphasis on “Mirror muscles” and 2 short cardio workouts ( this varied for each person, from bodyweight circuits to light jogs to simply getting more steps in, it really depended on the persons preferences)

Nutrition was a calorie-controlled plan, month one was a gradual reduction with some leniency for alcohol/ pizza etc, month two things tightened up a bit and month three we kept things tight in the build up to the day of the shoot.

From my perspective, I think Adrian achieved an awesome result, and I’m glad he’s got he pics for momentum keepsakes, following on from the shoot he hasn’t really put much weight on and has maintained a decent physique following many of the same principles we implemented during this process.

If you too would like to get in great shape just like Adrian then I have good news! I’ll soon be releasing my flexible diet template to help people get into great shape whilst still being able to enjoy doughnuts, beer etc. If you’d like to be part of the first group I take through this then sign up below, places will be limited, cost to be confirmed although most likely reduced price as this is still a beta Trial.

Trimdulgence flexible diet plan only (with regular coaching on social media platform)

Trimdulgence with workouts (on mobile phone platform)

I’ll let Adrian have the last words

“PHOTOSHOOT - This was something I can easily say I would never have considered, but I am someone who likes a target and this looked like an opportunity. Working with Rich previously I knew this would be a well thought out strategy from start to finish and it was. Each participant had an individualised workout program and nutrition plan, easy eh ? In theory yes but there was definitely a 'No Pain, No Gain' element, to risk an old cliche.

But within that I learnt alot about myself, from self control to how I can work my body that little bit harder to get a result I didnt really think possible. I ended up at 11 stone and felt like a different person, the group I worked with motivated each other and Rich ensured we stuck to the plan. I am now trying to maintain at a level I feel happy with ( probably around 11 stone 3 pounds ) but this will be a whole new chapter.

Over the next few weeks I’ll go through some more transformation stories, I’ll also share with you my own, I hope you enjoyed reading this, please hit me back with any feedback by getting in touch through my website...

http://richmckeating.com/index.php

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richmckeating-blog · 7 years ago

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Top ten Healthy Christmas tips

1. Relax and enjoy yourself! Whilst it’s true that many people put weight on over Christmas, most people lose that weight quickly once they get back to their normal routine. The aim of these tips is just to help you limit weight gain to and ensure you get back on track quickly.

2. Out of sight, out of mind! This time of year, people often have treats out for visiting guest such as a tin of celebrations, a tray of mince pies etc. Whilst all this hospitality is important for social cohesion (an important factor in healthy aging) it can add up on the waistline! So ideally have the scrumptious food tucked away in the back of the cupboard. This way you don’t have to walk past temptation several times a day! We can all say no the first few times, but eventually willpower breaks down, especially when we have the stress of a million Christmas Chores to get on with.

3. Drink from a tall glass, the vertical vs horizontal optical illusion applies to our eating and drinking habits too, wide glasses have been shown to make people pour bigger portions, one study with experienced bar tenders trying to pour the same measure into a tall glass vs a small wide glass showed that the latter resulted in as much as 26% bigger servings. with a 100 ml serving of baileys this could result in an extra 90 calories per serving! (417 vs 327). Which of the lines below is bigger? Try measuring them for yourself to see.

4. Use time off to walk more, it’s probably the most underrated exercise we can do, walking isn’t going to get anybody a six pack soon, but it will help lower stress, increase calorie burn and give us time to think more clearly. Plus we get the added benefit of enjoying nature.

5. Fill up on lean protein, a chicken breast and a plain doughnut are both about 180 calories. You have 10 minutes to eat as many as you can, which one will you eat the most off? Personally, I could smash about five doughnuts at least! The protein in chicken breast is not only more filling, it also burns more calories when digested, and helps offset the natural muscle loss that occurs with aging from the age of 33 onwards, keeping this muscle helps our metabolisms burn more calories each day.

6. Skip meals, if you’ve had a big night out, ate more than a fair portion, then it’s OK to skip breakfast the next day, or even lunch! This isn’t quite fasting, but it’s borrowing some if it’s principles, namely in reducing calorie content simply by lowering the frequency of feeding. This is a simple strategy to play around with, but it doesn’t give you license to gorge on junk non-stop and avoid healthy food!

7. Alcohol management, personally I prefer beer and will mostly stick to that one drink, I like it because to me it taste nice, but also because it’s so gassy I tend to find a natural cut of point where I know I’ve had enough. Spirits on the other hand are not good for me, I’ll drink way more than I should, and things can get messy once the grenade pin is slowly pulled out with each shot. From a calorie point of view, a pint of beer is 250 calories (ish) compared to about 80 (ish) calories from a vodka and diet coke.

So, if that’s a tipple you can handle OK and your trying to watch the waistline then go right ahead, but looking at the bigger picture a few nights of drinking won’t do too much harm, however when it becomes too frequent you need to consider the affect on your health.

8. Sprouts! Some people love them, some hate them, either way there is no denying that they are good for you! They’re packed with vitamins, fibre and anti oxidants, and eating them (along with all your other veg) will most likely help fill you up more so your less likely to eat pudding, or at least have a smaller portion. Other tactics including drinking a big glass of water, putting your knife and fork down between meals, and starting with a small green salad before your main.

aslo check out this sprout game, it’s so much fun.

https://www.gamesloon.com/free-holiday-29/christmas-games-98/christmas-with-the-sproutifarts-9401.html

9. Sleep!- Use some time off to catch up on z’s if you can. Abnormal sleep patterns are a modern-day health crisis and not many people are aware of the impact sleep deprivation can cause. Psychologically people who don’t get enough kip will be less aware of their surrounds, more prone to depression and anxiety, and at greater risk of having an accident.

If that isn’t enough, then sleep deprivation can also be a big contributing factor for weight gain. Poor quality sleep will cause hunger hormones (specifically Ghrelin) to heighten whilst satiety hormones (Leptin) are lowered. So, your hungrier and it takes longer to get full, add in a decreased insulin resistance and you have the perfect storm for poorer health.

It’s tempting to stay up late and watch some of the great Christmas T.V, if you do that, then try to get a lie in the next day, or maybe even a nap in the afternoon, your body will thank you for it!

10. Plan for next year! Use the time off now to plan what you want to achieve next year, maybe you could have a go at a ½ marathon? Or even a full one, you could try a tough mudder, or just simply aim to reduce your waist size, be able to do a set amount of press ups or lower your blood pressure.

Set some time aside to write down what might make a big difference to your life and then plan out how you might achieve it, think of the obstacles you’ll have to overcome, the actions you will need to consistently take and affirm your commitment to stick at it no matter what. If you need any help then get in touch, I have a special pre Christmas offer on at the moment, check out the details here http://richmckeating.com/costs.php

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