Please, lets keep the lights off this time...

Ok, its not quite come to that, but....after 5 months of couch potato life, I realised that if I keep this up not doing an ounce of sport, that day of being so fat WILL finally come.

So finally, tonight, I decided to slowly get back on that Ultra-marathon saddle, and it feels great !

Pizzas, chinese, fish and chips, Indian, you name it (especially pot Noodles) I think i can wangle keeping this up, but maybe throw in a few nuts, some spinach, bananas and blueberry's and raw carrots here and there. At least they taste good too. 

Glencoe - West Highland way - A Perfect Place to break an ankle in minus 6 degrees

The main aim is to, in 2 years run the Idatarod Invitational, and be the first Scot to do so. But since tonight i was wheezing round 5km, there's a long road ahead. It'll hopefully end up with the 'training run' of Susitna 100 race in February, a 100miler in Alaska which you can also bike or ski (if you are metrosexual, that is)

First thing, and anyone in the neighbourhood is welcome to join me, is a little bit of winter running - on the 100mile West Highland Way. Wait a few weeks though, I need to buy some cold weather equipment and so on, and get to some semblance of fitness. But the idea of trying to run it in 3 days, sleeping rough, and living on lovely pot noodles and mars bars - just to imagine the beautiful feeling of solitude halfway up a soaking blizzardy mountain in the middle of nowhere in December, with only....em...sheep for company...ok ok i'm no salesman, but at least i'll be free of the incessant white noise of FArsebook or email or telephone for 3 days (or more probably 5, plus the time in hospital)

Chi - Running - It's Not All About Looking Like an Idiot

Some Poor Buggers Feet (taken from googling 'Marathon Des Sable Feet')

 I had a 'Chi-Running' lesson last week in Edinburgh. If you want to see me prancing around like a fat turkey on amphetamines, with tights on, you can watch the video, ill put it up when i work out how to.

Dont watch it if you have a crush on me girls, you'll change your mind, really....

Plagiarised from my trainer Nick Constantines website -

'ChiRunning combines the inner focus and flow of T'ai Chi with the power and energy of running to create a revolutionary running form and philosophy that takes the pounding, pain, and potential damage out of the sport of running. The ChiRunning program increases mental clarity and focus, enhances the joy of running, and turns running into a safe and effective lifelong program for health, fitness, and well-being.'

Despite seeming a bit like a Chinese Eckhart Tolle, the main principles are sound -

1. It's all about biomechanics. You dont see gazelles getting sore knees. Or even cats for that matter. Thats because they move efficiently. In the west, people run like clunky robots, with terrible technique, which is why they end up with niggling injuries that keep with them all their running lives, or keeps people saying total crap like 'yeah i cant run, i get sore knees/back/shins...' doh!  Chi-running aims to allow you to run smoothly and without injuring yourself for long distances.

2. To run ludicrously long distances without getting injured, you need to sort out the basic technique perfectly first. The whole intelligence here is to tweak your technique and improve it so you both speed up dont die.

The Videos (thanks to and another free plug for Nick Constantine from soul in motion ) were extremely helpful. Not only did they show me that actually i'm not all that good looking after all, Nick was kind enough to put me through a structured programme where i could see where I was making small errors in technique, so I could fix them, followed by a powerpoint focussing on where I can improve (In my case i needed to relax my ankles, and watch my footstrike, and increase my cadence towards 175 per minute)

And stop eating pot noodles.

Anyway I recommend the lessons, i'm looking forward to using the remainder of this month (in an extremely cold and icy Baltic Estonia) to run indoors with my pack, get my technique right, and build up to some decent mileage. And to try not to drink more than 3 nights a week. Bring on the Marathon Des Sables!