Day Three - The magic triangle

5km run, 1 hour cycling, 1 set sit ups

So today I increased my mileage by 25% - yes! Instead of running 4km, I ran 5. All I have to do now is increase it by a little over 800% and I’m at the end of the marathon finish line…

Obviously, it’s going to need some magic formula to enable me to train for and run a full marathon in just 15 weeks, when a run of 5km is my starting point. And indeed I have one.

It’s a simple and highly effective triangle of exercise, improved diet and weight loss. If I can reference Lance Armstrong (a hero of mine), he said;

"Cycling and fitness in general is all about decreasing weight and increasing power."

How? Simple - eat well and exercise regularly. (So easy to write this stuff on day 3 - the tests of willpower are still to come...)

My enemies are crap food and alcohol – both of which I love. Alcohol is simply a killer – half a dozen 330ml cans of beer contain around 800 calories – one third of a daily need for calories! A bottle of red wine holds a mere 500 calories in store for you.

Then if you have any penchant for Mickey D’s or the like, next time you sit down for a big Mac check the packaging – they have the nutritional values on the wrapper now (at least in Holland.)

My favourite is a Big Tasty with Bacon – which provides a massive 885 calories to burn up! Eat that with a medium portion of fries (330cal) and a medium milkshake (420cal) and it comes to over 1600 calories – more than half a day’s recommended intake! And I’ve been eating that late at night after a bucket of beer at the pub… If you want to find out the "nutritional value" (they really are the masters of irony) of your golden M fetish, check their website.

So what am I going to replace the junk with? That’s for the next posting… And by the way, there is one really secret ingredient to changing food and drink habits... and that's for a later posting too...