Training with Giants
I’m approaching my mid-fifties, it’s an age where I’m thinking about my end of days, or at least my retirement days. We review our partner retirement planning spreadsheet on a 6 monthly basis, keen to make sure we’re on track and that I have enough set aside to fund my...
Year in Review - 2023
Sciatica was an overwhelming feature of 2023. For many months I was struggling to get about due to severe numbness down both legs - from buttocks to the soles of my feet. It wasn’t particularly painful but significant discomfort meant walking was severly impaired, sometimes managing only a few hundred...
Year in Review - 2022
I started the year on crutches so it feels somewhat of a success to reach the end of the year standing firmly on my own two feet. Apple Health confirms that my walking steadiness has indeed climbed throughout the year and I am now just OK. I thought I’d do...
Ankle Fracture Recovery Progress
I broke my ankle at the very end of November when two large dogs running at full pelt, collided with each other and the back of my leg. I pirouetted and crumpled with a crack to my knee followed by another to my ankle. I thought it might be interesting...
Experiment 5 - Increasing Grip Strength
Latest experiment to increase my resilience by training and improving my grip strength.
Grip Strength Monitoring Spreadsheet
Since I broke my ankle late last year, I have been relying on my wrists a lot more than usual to support my daily activities and I have come to see them as my latest achilles heel in my resilience journey. They just aren’t strong enough for a day of...
Experiment 4 - Knees Over Toes
A couple of years ago a surgeon told me I needed a knee replacement but he wasn’t prepared to operate until I’d lost a shed load of weight. I never really felt convinced that my knee did need to go, perhaps I was just running scared but accepted that the...
Stop Breathing to Run Faster
At 50m the air a scuba diver breathes, starts to slowly and painfully poison them. A single but very long breath can enable a freediver to sink a whopping 200 toxic metres. While freediving has its attractions, my extraordinarily buoyant body precludes me from this activity. This hasn’t stopped me...
Weightloss Update - DexaScan
2 years ago I was offered a free Dexascan to reveal what lies beneath. Since then I’ve been booking myself in for 6 monthly progress reports at BodyScanUK. Most of these scans revealed only micro improvements to my weight. However, having this scheduled check-in booked, seems to curb the worst...
Experiment - Operation Healthspan
My third experiment aligns with the start of the New year. A new year full of hope for global health and well being. This last year was truly an odd one. Where the world did its best to tackle the covid-19 pandemic, I managed to adopt a few healthy habits...