Today I’m happy to say I’m half way to my first running goal:

It’s too early to see any improvement in heart rate, recovery rate, weight etc. But it is encouraging when I finished my run today, clicked ’stop’ on the iPod, and then I heard Lance Armstrong say:

Hi, I’m Lance Armstrong. Congratulations - you’ve just completed your longest workout yet!

Clever old Nike/Apple

My resolution at New Year was to get fitter - particularly by cycling more and taking up running. With time off work ill that’s hardly happened. Taking advice from runners, I decided to invest in some new equipment to give me a boost to get started. As I’ve long had my eye on the Nike+ Sport Kit, that allows runners to have their iPod measure their runs and progress, this seemed like the obvious answer. So yesterday I bought a pair of Nike road running shoes suitable for my kind of gait, and went for a 20 minute run this morning. All pretty good, except that 20 minutes after I finished the run, my heart-rate was still over 120 bpm. Shows that I need the exercise! (Though not of the mind: I do a few Sudoku or Ken Ken puzzles a week to keep mentally alert )

The food at the Mayflower last night was good - Set Menu D worked well between the 4 of us. The conversation - at least about health - was more challenging than expected. In particular I learned that

• in any meal only the first 20g of protein can be absorbed by the body - ie, less than an ounce of a steak or of chicken is going to help us; the rest is going to wasted
• 4 cups of green tea a day is supposed to be the equivalent of losing 200 calories - and good at clearing out some toxins
• most obvious forms of gym exercise (weights, treadmill) or even at home (sit ups, press ups) are very specific to just a few muscles, and often more exterior ones. It’s more important to get the ‘core muscles’ sorted out, and the rest follow. Less rigorous stretches are what you need for that. So, the Chinese workers who gather for gentle exercises before work starts, seem to be onto a good thing

I think I need to do some exercise and find some green tea …