Gone are the days when that term, social media, meant handing
somebody a copy of the paper you’d just finished reading on the train and when
you arranged to meet somebody you made sure you made it, as there was no means
by which to send a message with some lame excuse because you couldn’t be bothered.
Having said that, one or two incidents of waiting several hours for people who
didn’t turn up could have been easily avoided. But I digress.
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| Original social media |
Frankly the digital revolution couldn’t have come sooner as
far as I’m concerned. As a consumer and purveyor of information at the rate
that would make me obese if it was food (some parallel there methinks), it is a
truly exciting time. And when, in years to come, our kids ask ‘what did you
make of this amazing transformation in society which changed forever the way we
work, live and experience life’, I for one do not want to sit there and say, “It
was a load of bollocks really, all that internet crap, I preferred to actually
talk to people”. You know how people wear that level of ignorance like a badge
of pride as if they somehow elevate themselves above this foolish pursuit of
ever increasing technology like it’s the emperor’s new clothes. And in any case
they never actually talk to people anyway because they’ve got no friends. They would
have probably been against the development of the written word several thousand
years ago.
Anyway, the point is, I have realised that I am using a lot
more technology in my training at the moment, most of it based on my iPhone. Whether
it’s the iTunes to keep me motivated (Eye of the Tiger still inspires) or the
several apps to track my progress.
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| In my head, this is me on training run |
I was introduced to an app called My Fitness Pal by a friend
at work and it’s basically a calorie counter, but for the first time probably
ever, it has enabled me to get to grips properly with portion control.
My weight gain has not always tended to be because I eat a
lot of rubbish, it’s simply because I eat a lot. I always cook dinner at home
and enjoy cooking as a social activity. The problem has been that I would
always fill my plate to over brimming and probably be eating enough for two.
Not in the pregnant sense of course. I have the same issue with booze to be
fair, so bingeing on both of those will inevitably lead down the road to
fatness.
Now, this will not come as a revelation to anybody remotely
sensible, but I have now discovered that if I stick to the daily recommended
calorie allowance (2050 in my case), and do more exercise, the weight starts to
come off. I know this is obvious, eat less and move more is the mantra. I had
always thought I would just be hungry all the time if I ate less, however, lo
and behold, it’s not the case. So I’m now a bit of a slave to the calorie
counter, always filling it in after every meal and it could do with a little more male-focussed content, but it’s definitely working as I’ve lost
9lbs since Christmas and feel on my way to hitting weight loss targets.
In conjunction with this app I am also using Run Keeper on
my phone to chart my distance and calories burned on my training runs.
Long gone are the days of pulling on the trainers and
heading out with a quick glance at the kitchen clock to gauge how long I’ve
been out. Nowadays every step and heart beat is recorded and analysed with interactive
maps of where I’ve been, average minutes per mile and all sorts of telemetry.
I think it’s an age thing. Being a couple of years older I
feel I need to know more about my progress than when I was a spritely
31-year-old with much springier legs. But it does work and despite feeling like
Roborunner (although if I was a robot I probably wouldn’t need to run anywhere
on account of not being capable of gaining weight, saying that R2D2 is basically
short and round) being able to chart the progress means I can keep to the
training plan for the Edinburgh Marathon with any luck.
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| Fat robot: R2D2 |
I think Nike do something similar which is embedded in their
training shoes, which would be good. But I have actually done quite a lot of
running down the years (you may find that hard to believe) and the best
trainers I’ve ever had are my Asics Gel Nimbus. They are totally amazing and
have carried me through several half marathons and the London Marathon in 2010,
with not a single injury or even blister. If they did something similar to Nike
I’d definitely be interested in trying that out. If only there was some way to alert the Asics
PR machine to this, I could perhaps shamelessly endorse their TOTALLY AMAZINGASICS running shoes for instance. It wouldn’t be dishonest, I already use them.
Let’s see what happens.......No, nothing yet. Maybe the SEO will do its thing
and they’ll pick up on it. As I was saying, ASICS ASICS ASICS ASICS........
Enough of that. I’m off to roast a chicken, mash some
potatoes and make real gravy for dinner to give us fuel for a long run tomorrow
along the banks of the Avon. In my Asics.
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| My amazing Asics. Which are much more knackered now. |
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