A kick up the backside [3 Peaks]

In the office today we had a meeting about the upcoming Three Peaks Challenge. With only 9 weeks to go until the big day, the organisers laid down how they thought everyone's level of preparedness was shaping up.

The prognosis was not good.

Essentially, we as a group aren't training hard enough, and it made me realise that I've done bugger all since tackling Snowdon in March. That's a full month of sitting down, playing Minecraft and eating bad food. This isn't acceptable.

I'm heading back home to the Valleys for the weekend, so I plan on taking advantage of the inclines and get some serious walking done. I'm also hoping to climb Pen Y Fan again on Sunday.

From there, I have to be more strict with myself, both in what I eat and the frequency / type of exercise that I do. Some of you might have noticed that I've not been that active recently, and it goes hand in hand with my lack of exercise and general fitness awareness.

This Three Peaks meeting was the kick up the backside I needed to spur me into action - here's hoping the momentum lasts ...

Thanks to everyone who's supported me so far throughout this. It's been a great help knowing you've got my back. And it's not all doom and gloom either - this morning I was able to fit comfortably into a T shirt from my 'fat pile' that was skin tight last year. Whoo!

[Kick me source]

Geek's Guide to Fitness [infographic]

As this blog shows, I'm all about making fitness fun, enjoyable and worthwhile (hence the zombies). It was quite nice to read this Geek's Guide to Fitness from Best Health Degrees that shows the best ways for us geeks to lose a few pounds. Whilst it's mostly tongue in cheek, it's pretty cute (plus I want everything that cartoon dude is wearing. Anyone want to donate me some fitness gadgets, I'm all ears).

A retrospective look at #ShopCardiff week

An entire week of shopping in nowhere but local, independant shops. How hard could it be? I tried the #ShopCardiff challenge, and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had expected.

Groceries

I'd stocked up on groceries from the Riverside Market on the Sunday in preparation. I grabbed a rustic loaf, some organic eggs, mince, quiche, porridge oats, fancy sounding sausages and a load of apple juice (and a cheeky cappuccino from The Caffeine Kid - it was bitterly cold in Cardiff that day, so it was a welcome treat). It all came to about £20, which wasn't as much as I'd expected (but as you'd expect, more than you'd pay at a supermarket).

I get all of my vegetables from my local greengrocer anyways, so this wasn't difficult. On Wednesday I made vegetable soup from scratch using onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots and celery, using some of the rustic bread from the market and some horseradish cheese I picked up from Madame Fromage in the Cardiff Arcades.

(Sidenote: if anyone can recommend good herbs / spices or something to complement this kind of soup, I'm all ears. I love making it but I'd like something to keep it different, you know?)

Eating Out

I'm a frugal man at heart, so I kept my ear to the ground for any local shops who were doing any special offers for #ShopCardiff. The one I went for was Fusion Cafe Bar, which did an awesome Welsh Tapas menu with an extra 20% off. Me and my fiancée split 10 dishes and 2 drinks between us, and it came to less than £30 (and I was left feeling pretty damn full). The cheese and leek cakes were so good, and the lamb and mint skewers were full of flavour. Loved it, and the service there is fantastic too.

Non-Food

It's not all about the food, though. I've a fondness for board games, as you might have read on my other blog. For #ShopCardiff, I did a feature on Cardiff's independent gaming shop, Rules of Play, which has been feeding my gaming addiction for the past year. I spend more money than I should there, but so far every game the staff have recommended to me has been a winner.

Final thoughts on #ShopCardiff

I loved it, and I can't wait to do it again. It was great finding all these nooks and crannies to the city, finding other businesses and buying good quality items. Okay, they were a tad more expensive (nothing a bit of savvy shopping and forward planning won't fix), but other than that, I'd say it was a success.

The only thing I will say is that, whenever I mentioned #ShopCardiff to a shop owner, they assumed that I was another businessman rather than a keen customer. This might have been because, despite a pretty strong Twitter following, I didn't see much in the way of people actively taking part.

It seemed that the most of #ShopCardiff's momentum came during the week itself, when radio and TV got involved to showcase the project and give it a boost. If it can get that kind of publicity again, but before the event starts, who knows how far it will go?

Bring on #ShopCardiff 2014. In fact, don't make me wait that long. Let's do it again soon. I'm already much more keen to shop local now I know how easy it is.

I'm supporting the #ShopCardiff, and you should shop local too

One of the things that we won't get after the zombie apocalypse is the convenience of supermarkets. Once it all hits the fan, civilization isn't going to be as global and as mass-produced as it is now.

We're going to go back to a system of bartering, home grown crops, home made food and locally sourced goods.

Well, why wait for the zombie apocalypse when you can get all that already?

From March 25th - April 1st 2013, a bunch of independent shops have launched the #ShopCardiff challenge. For this week, people are encouraged to do all of their shopping at local independent businesses.

No supermarkets. No franchises. No chain stores.

Just good old fashioned local shops and markets to get your groceries for a week. With the whole hose meat scandal in the UK, people are naturally opting to shop at their local butchers anyway, so it's not a difficult switch to make.

I'm a big fan of this idea, so I'll be doing my best to stick to it as much as possible. I plan on making a note of my purchases throughout the week so you guys know I'm not cheating too.

What I love about this most of all is that the local businesses are even putting on special offers for people who pop in and mention the #ShopCardiff challenge. It's going to be a fun (yet challenging) week, and it doesn't have to be limited to Cardiff, either.

Wherever you are, try going the entire week without shopping at the big brand stores. Find your local farmer's market and stock up on local produce, or shop in your local butchers. Let me know how you get on!

How often do you support local and independent shops in your area?

How to get rid of stitches when running

This post first appeared on the fitness blog Bloggers Go Skinny, but the site has since shut down. Rather than consign my words to oblivion, I've reposted it here for posterity.

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When I was a kid I was just as unfit as I am now, so every time I went into for a run or a swim I ended up giving myself a stich. This took me out of action for the next couple of hours and I just sat in the corner feeling sorry for myself. 

Fast forward fifteen years and I’ve started getting stitches again. This caught be by surprise as I’ve not had one in a long time (to be fair, I’ve not done much exercise in over a decade) but it made me wonder why my arch-nemesis had come back to haunt me. It’s not a pleasant thing and it can seriously knock your motivation to get fit, so here are some tips on how to beat them. 

What causes a stitch

A side stitch is a muscle cramp caused by a spasm in the diaphragm (think “exercise hiccups”). There’s some debate about the exact reasons why this cramp happens, but the one that sounds most plausible is a bad combination of running stride and breathing.

Some people fall into a particular pattern when running where they exhale as their right foot hits the ground. Breathing out tightens the diaphragm and pulls it up, while stepping on your right foot pulls it back down. What you get is your diaphragm being pulled in both directions, causing that familiar yet horrible sharp, stabbing pain. 

How to stop a stitch

If you’re unfortunate enough to be a stitch victim, the first thing you want to do is stop running. Even though you want to, don’t do it if you can help it. If you stop, the stitch may go away, but you’ll be much less inclined to start running again (and if you do, it’s highly likely that the stitch will come back straight away). Instead, slow your pace to give your muscles chance to regroup, but keep running through it.

Take long, deep breaths; the kind of breath where your belly expands as well as your chest. This ‘belly breathing’ works with your diaphragm and puts it back in sync with the rest of your body. If you focus on breathing out when your left foot hits the floor, you’ll give your diaphragm chance to recover on the right side and lessen the stitch.

Preventing a stitch in the first place 

Of course, prevention is better than cure, so it’s best to make sure it doesn’t happen at all. The key is in the warm-up. I’ll be the first to admit that I tend not to warm up that much on my runs, and that’s my biggest downfall. Plenty of stretching and increasing your pace gradually will make sure that your body is ready for the hell you’re about to put it through. Warming up is key; don’t forget that.

Since stitches occur with the abdominal muscles, it’s also a good idea to tighten your ‘core’ through abs exercises. This will give you greater control of your diaphragm and improve your breathing when running. Better breathing decreases the chances of you getting any diaphragmatic spasms.

With any luck I won’t get another stitch when I do a run, and at least if I do, I’ll know how to handle it. If I had known when I was ten what I know now, I might not have been so adverse to this whole exercise thing.

Do you get side stitches often when running? How do you stop them?

[top image source | bottom image source]