Has the Lockdowns made you fatter or fitter?

[Voyager EMH]

5ft 11ins and 11st 4lb. I have gained 4lbs in 40 years. Its all about diet for me.

Brother was diagnosed type 1 diabetic at 12 when I was 9. I grew up with the same diet and food knowledge.

Don't feel the need to run about anymore. Golf and gardening is enough exercise. Brother still runs at 64yrs.

 

[virtuocity]

Lockdown and working from home (long hours) put me at my heaviest and least fit. Needed to do something about it so attempted Couch to 5k. Now on week 8 and obsessed by running to the point I don’t currently care if I play golf again. Now starting to address my diet more seriously and the lbs are starting to drop off. Just a case of checking with my wife what the plans for dinner at night are and that tells me whether I can have a lunch or not. Aiming to complete my running programme over the next week and a half and will likely find myself booking up for Parkruns instead of the Saturday medal.

Need a good programme to push from 5k to 10k. I know there’s the bridge to 10k but I’ll really miss the interactive NHS couch to 5k app with the celebrity voiceovers- it is fantastic.

 

[chico]

I've lost a lot of weight, around 4st. Lock down meant a change of job for me, taxi driver to parcel delivery. So I've went from a job that I hardly moved to running(poetic licence) up and down stairs and what a difference this has made to my fitness as well.
I gave up carrying my bag a few years ago because I was knackered by the 14th. But carried my bag a couple of weeks ago and genuinely felt I could have went round another 18.

 

[chrisd]

Now a stone lighter than at times in lockdown when too much home made lemon drizzle cake and sausage rolls took their toll, but lighter than before the first lockdown

 

[fundy]

Now a stone lighter than at times in lockdown when too much home made lemon drizzle cake and sausage rolls took their toll, but lighter than before the first lockdown

opposite here, was fine when we came out of the last lockdown (had lost a fair bit), seem to have been piling on the pounds since back on the diet when we move again!

 

[Rooter]

Need a good programme to push from 5k to 10k. I know there’s the bridge to 10k but I’ll really miss the interactive NHS couch to 5k app with the celebrity voiceovers- it is fantastic.

You have smashed it mate and same as me, I haven't played a round for a long time! Takes too long!

Anyway, there are some couch to 10k apps, but personally, I find having a target is needed, I always need to have a race booked to train toward, so when I was where you are now, I booked a local 10k race that was 6 months away, thinking how the hell can I run 10k!!! But just by adding no more than 10/15% a week on your long run, you will be there in no time!

For me when I was just in run mode (i am now more triathlon, so need to fit being bang average at another 2 sports!) but my week would look roughly like this:

Mon - Rest (rest is massively underrated, most important day of the week!)
Tue - Easy run. up to an hour ish (Plus some core strength work)
Wed - Speed session, so Intervals, hill repeats, fartlek, or a tempo effort 5k for example.
Thu - easy run (maybe chuck in some weights after)
Fri - Cross train - swim, bike, something to give your joints a break
Sat - Parkrun
Sun - Long run (Slow, increase this by max 1km a week, every 4/5 weeks, drop it back a few km)

Now, slow actually means really slow!!! I run on heart rate, so my slow runs, I run to a max HR of 142BPM, if I meet a steep hill, I have to walk it! Have a google of 80/20 training, meaning 80% of your training is easy and the other 20% is hard. It works. So if my 10k pace per km for a race is around 4:20 per km, my slow run will be at least 5:30 per km, sometimes average over 6 minutes if its hilly. dont get caught up in bravado of strava etc! Never compare your self to anyone either!

But Right now i am in marathon training for manchester, running 4/5 days a week, but i am having to keep my eye on triathlon still as i just entered ironman uk for 22, so am biking twice, swimming twice and doing 5 hiit sessions a week to try and get down to race weight! LOL, so safe to say, i am knackered. But another 4kg to go and i am at my known fastest weight and can really push on my training for Manc

my big takeaway? you cant out-train a bad diet.

 

[virtuocity]

my big takeaway? you cant out-train a bad diet.

That sounds like a rubbish takeaway. I prefer a curry with all the trimmings…but perhaps that’s your point.

Brilliant advice in there. 👍👍👍

Daft question- does being able to run 10K pretty much make you a faster 5k runner?

 

[Rooter]

Daft question- does being able to run 10K pretty much make you a faster 5k runner?

most likely it will to start with, but then you would need to work on whichever distance you focussed on for further improvements.

 

[Orikoru]

Anyway, there are some couch to 10k apps, but personally, I find having a target is needed, I always need to have a race booked to train toward, so when I was where you are now, I booked a local 10k race that was 6 months away, thinking how the hell can I run 10k!!! But just by adding no more than 10/15% a week on your long run, you will be there in no time!

I did the same thing 5 or 6 years ago, when I'd never done running for running's sake before. There was a 10k 'fun run' (although that phrase is an oxymoron to my mind) at the local hospital my friend works at, so me and him signed up for it. I started off running 3k I think, barely making it round. Intention was to steadily build up to the 10k, but I lost two weeks with a dodgy ankle, by the time it came round the longest I'd ran was 5k but I just had to wing it. Surprised myself by how well I did, just told myself if I can run 5k I just have to do that twice. It wasn't timed but I was roughly around the hour mark. My mate was 10 or 15 minutes behind me, because he elected to go out on the beers the night before for some reason. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed.

 

[Rooter]

But Right now i am in marathon training for manchester, running 4/5 days a week, but i am having to keep my eye on triathlon still as i just entered ironman uk for 22, so am biking twice, swimming twice and doing 5 hiit sessions a week to try and get down to race weight! LOL, so safe to say, i am knackered. But another 4kg to go and i am at my known fastest weight and can really push on my training for Manc

my big takeaway? you cant out-train a bad diet.

So I got down to 68kg pre-race and only beat my Marathon PB by 37 minutes!

3hrs 35 minutes in the glorious Manchester sunshine. Disappointed not to have gone quicker too, faded in the 2nd half too much which was down to not enough really long training runs with race nutrition. But really chuffed none the less!!

 

[pokerjoke]

So I got down to 68kg pre-race and only beat my Marathon PB by 37 minutes!

3hrs 35 minutes in the glorious Manchester sunshine. Disappointed not to have gone quicker too, faded in the 2nd half too much which was down to not enough really long training runs with race nutrition. But really chuffed none the less!!

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Well done great effort

 

[Slab]

Can't imagine how much effort it must've taken to get to @Rooter s achievement

I'm 9 months down the line to lose the gut and improve general fitness and all's gone pretty well.
Down to 69kg from 102 at new year. Dam near a third of my bodyweight has gone.
Lost 8in from the waistline & fit into 30" trousers since gawd knows how long, must be 25 years!
Can jog the 7 or 8 km circuits a few times a week with no ill effects and at last I see some kind of a useable golf swing coming back

 

[JT77]

Wow, some great efforts being applied here. I have lost motivation, i have been working from home since February, and it has its upsides for sure, but I was always active at work, now it’s up and down stairs a few times a day and that’s about all. mid I can’t get out to play golf, i don’t do a lot else, leading me to put a good stone and a half on, and at 5’8’’ it’s far too much, currently at 95kgs. Really want to get running again, but really need a boot up the bum!

 

[Orikoru]

Playing football twice a week, golf twice a week, occasionally tennis or badminton and I still can't shift any weight off. Seems to be getting more and more difficult.

 

[Bdill93]

Playing football twice a week, golf twice a week, occasionally tennis or badminton and I still can't shift any weight off. Seems to be getting more and more difficult.

Last year weight flew off me. This year I'm doing the same thing and its going nowhere

 

[bluewolf]

Lost over 2st just before the first lockdown (went from 16st 7 to 14st 7), then put it all back on during the time the gyms were closed and the Offy's open.

Just started training again with the aim of dropping from 16st down to about 13st before March next year. Have a few races planned, but the overall goal is an Ironman in 2023. Probably Hamburg as I have family there, but might look at Ironman Cork as it's a bit closer.

Trying to get the waist back down to 30" will be challenging. I'm at 34" now.

Putting it in writing here so that I can look back on it and use it for motivation...

 

[Aztecs27]

Yep. Fatter for sure. Been going the wrong way since I completed Ironman Copenhagen in August 2019 (still haven't cleaned my bike!). Started running again late last year, but stopped in May for no particular reason at all. Need to get back on it though as I tried my ski trousers on yesterday and they were a bit 'snug' to say the least Got 3 months until we're off to Austria for our annual trip, so could do with losing a few lbs!

 

[Rooter]

Have a few races planned, but the overall goal is an Ironman in 2023. Probably Hamburg as I have family there, but might look at Ironman Cork as it's a bit closer.

Get it booked! I am in for Bolton 2022!! I wanted to look at Copenhagen as I love the city, but didn't want any travel related stress. Look me up on Strava! I think I'm the only Scott Roots...

 

[Rooter]

I completed Ironman Copenhagen in August 2019 (still haven't cleaned my bike!).

 

[Aztecs27]

Get it booked! I am in for Bolton 2022!! I wanted to look at Copenhagen as I love the city, but didn't want any travel related stress. Look me up on Strava! I think I'm the only Scott Roots...

Can't recommend Copenhagen enough. It was relatively stress free travel-wise too. there's always the worry your bike will be lost, but once you're there and see it on the "oversize luggage" carousel, all is well

route is great (flat! hooray!), the swim is incredible and the support through the city is second to none.

Good luck with Bolton! Absolutely no chance I'd be doing that type of bike course. 140.6 miles is enough without 8000ft of climbing.