One step at a time

[jaymz]

So, I've been a reader for a long while, but have purposefully not started to post until now.

 

I'm James, 28, from London England.

 

I decided to get into shape when a good friend of mine decided to become a personal trainer late in 2011. I was a good 20lb overweight at that point (I'm 6ft tall and was hovering around 205lb) with a sedentary lifestyle thanks to constant travel with work. I had major confidence issues in general, and had recently mostly overcome a stammer which really didn't help matters.

 

Fast forward to today, and I'm still travelling a fair bit, but am in the gym 4-5 times a week when I'm home, and a change in jobs means I'm about to be home permanently. I've shifted most of the weight, and certainly look a lot better for it (Some muscle definition coming through in my upper body, a lot less fat everywhere), but really want to push on and get a nice flat stomach in time for a Florida vacation in November. The confidence issues are still there, but most people seem to have noticed a big change in my general demeanor, which should count for something I guess.

 

Last year, I challenged myself to run the British London 10k, which starts in little over 9 hours, and thanks to some absent mindedness on my part, I also signed up for the color run 5k later on in the day. I've already run a 5k in at around 25 minutes, so I'm not too concerned about the distance today, but it's going to be fun.

 

I've also signed up for a Spartan race next month and the Men's Health Survival of the Fittest in November, as these things look fun and are great to work towards.

 

So, a summary of my goals:

 

Cut the body fat down

Be an all round bad-ass and do obstacle races

Get my own house

 

I think that's me in a nutshell. The forums here seem a fantastic library and forum for help and support, and I hope to be able to pick the collective mind of thousands of geeks whilst trying to contribute. If anyone is running either race tomorrow, drop me a message!

[Laureleye]

I hope you did well in your runs.  I see you've already joined a guild.  I hope you'll be joining the next challenge as well. 

[jaymz]

I hope you did well in your runs.  I see you've already joined a guild.  I hope you'll be joining the next challenge as well. 

 

Thanks very much, the runs were great. The 10k took in some of the great sights of London, while the 5k was more about throwing paint at each other, but still good fun. Many lessons were learned about suitable attire and not doing stupid things like running in two events on the same day.

 

I'll be joining the next challenge as soon as I get back to my hotel. Spartan race is less than 6 weeks away and I'm away for over 3 of them, this is going to be a challenge.

[CircularVirus]

 

 

Cut the body fat down

Be an all round bad-ass and do obstacle races

 

 

I'm right there with you! 

 

I've done my fair share of 5ks and a couple of half marathons and have been wanting to sign up for either a Spartan race or a Tough Mudder, but need to work on upper body strength training before I commit. These obstacle races are quite the fad over here in the states, so there's quite a few to choose from.

 

Good luck with your goals!

[jaymz]

I'm right there with you! 

 

I've done my fair share of 5ks and a couple of half marathons and have been wanting to sign up for either a Spartan race or a Tough Mudder, but need to work on upper body strength training before I commit. These obstacle races are quite the fad over here in the states, so there's quite a few to choose from.

 

Good luck with your goals!

 

Thanks!

 

I found the one thing that worked for me was to find an event that looked fun and just sign up for it.

 

The 10k was entered around 9 months ahead of the race, and I had no choice but to train for it. I've been doing a lot of varied strength training with my trainer, so I guess I can judge how successful the training has been by the number of burpees I have to do!