I have known about Parkrun for many years but have only had the Parkrun bug for the past year or so. I have friends who regularly attended Parkrun but the 40 minute drive for me to join them seemed a bit far when Saturday morning came around. Unsurprisingly I never made it there. There were probably Parkrun events much closer to home but I didn’t bother to look and maybe my fondness for beer and late nights also had something to do with it.

Parkrun is a totally free 5km walk or run event held every Saturday morning at 8am in Australia (a bit later in other countries) and run by volunteers. All you need to do is register once before your first Parkrun to get your barcode that you will use at any Parkrun worldwide. Parkrun was started by Paul Sinton-Hewitt at Bushy Park in London (UK) and is now so popular in the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa that, if you live in those countries, you will most likely find a Parkrun event near you. Parkrun is also held in major centres in a lot of other countries including the USA, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Austria, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Poland which makes it a great travel activity when you are visiting another city. Some adventurous folk even travel to other citys and other countries simply to add another Parkrun location to their list.

The internet is awash with countless stories of how Parkrun has transformed peoples lives helping them to overcome illness, addiction and low self-esteem simply by becoming more active, committing to the weekly activity and being spurred on by the inspiring demonstration of determination and grit of other Parkrun participants. I don’t know of another place where you will find such a diverse selection of the community exercising together. There will be keen runners at the front with their bright running kit and uber expensive Nike Alphafly running shoes vying for the fastest time, but overwhelmingly Parkrun participants are everyday folk simply challenging themselves to be healthier and more active. One of the most inspiring aspects of Parkrun for me is seeing older people, sometimes in their 70s, 80s and 90s staying active, pushing themselves and proving that age is no barrier to exercise. I have seen Parkrun participants using walking sticks (not the kind you buy from a hiking store) and my local Parkrun has a regular vision impaired participant who speeds around the course with the help of a volunteer guide. 

You may be thinking, “what has this got to do with the pub?”. Well, for a long while my life revolved around work and social drinking. A wind-down beer or five with work colleagues on a Friday night often dragged into Saturday morning and the rest of the weekend was spent recovering from my “wind-down”. I wasn’t the most popular person in my younger years, probably a bit of a nerd and not at all sporty but I began to feel connected with my friends and alcohol gave me the confidence to be interesting and social. If I’m honest I also just love the taste of beer and what started off as a weekend thing then also became a mid-week thing. This is not an unusual story in Australia and I expect it is also common in many other parts of this amazing planet. Whether its wine, beer or something even stronger, Aussies love to drink. When I hit 40 the beer, pizza, curry and lack of sleep started to catch up with me. I was overweight, tired and starting to get aches and pains that I wasn’t expecting at least until my mid 60s. I’m no medical expert but it was pretty clear to me that my lifestyle was not working well for me and things needed to change. So I changed. Whilst it was not my intention to kick the alcohol completely it turns out that I now only drink alcohol once every couple of months and this makes me a pretty boring drinking buddy. Over time friends move on and life changes. I thought that all the cool kids were at the pub and I thought I had found my social place in the world. I loved going from place to place on a Friday night meeting up with friends, eating and drinking too much and having too good a time, but after cleaning up my act the fast lane just wasn’t for me anymore.

Now that I have re-discovered Saturday mornings this is where Parkrun comes in. While I’m sure there are some Parkrun participants with sore heads from a few too many the night before, I would wager that most Parkrun participants have not been on the turps the night before and maybe they even got a good nights sleep.

During an overseas trip I decided to give Parkrun a go in Scotland and I am very glad that I did. I had run many times before up to half-marathon distance so I knew 5km would not be an issue for me. It was great to be out running in the Scottish winter but what I found truly inspiring was being with hundreds of everyday people at all levels of fitness early on a Saturday morning walking, jogging and running. I finished 106th out of 148 participants in my first Parkrun and from the moment I finished I felt refreshed and was looking forward to improving on my time at the next one. Fortunate to be travelling at the time I instantly became Parkrun tourist attending Parkruns in Glasgow, London, The Hague, Berlin, Vienna and Boston before returnign home to Adelaide where my Parkrun journey continues. Parkrun is a timed event but it is definitely not a competion. Just turning up and being as active as your body permits is definitely the aim of the game. Parkrun has become my new weekly ritual and keeping my Friday nights low-key definitely helps.

I had managed a reconnaissance ride the day before so I was feeling more relaxed than if I was racing blind. However, my main concern was that not having ridden in an event in a few years that my rusty bike handling skills may not keep me upright throughout the race. There was a large parking section allocated for the race event and getting to the start line was pain free. Whilst all new to me, Anstey Hill is very popular for walkers and the general public and understandably so as its extremely green and lush in winter and very hilly. There seemed to be quite a good turn out of race participants and as is always the case with mountain bike events, everyone is relaxed and friendly. I think if you’re going to turn up to any sporting event as a total newby, have a go at a mountain bike event and you won’t feel too out of place. There will be others there in the same boat. There were participants older than me who were both faster and slower. Possibly thanks to the hugely successful Tour Down Under, road cycling is extremely popular in Adelaide but I’ve often considered mountain biking to be the poor cousin in terms of popularity. Hopefully this is changing and this event was a good sign.

As I take off from the start line without enough of a warm up I’m reminded of the adrenaline fueled high heart rate which can really impact on ones ability to ride hard for the full duration of the race. My average heart rate for the race was 172bpm peaking at 190bpm. There is a reason the pros are spinning on a trainer before the race kicks off. A younger first timer told me at the start line that he had squeezed in a full lap a shortly before race start which made sense as he sped off ahead of me subsequently passing the finish line first in Mens D grade. As I alluded to in my previous post, I haven’t had a positive experience with the XCO race format in the past but a few minutes into this race and I was pleasantly surprised that the rest of my grade weren’t hounding me impatiently close behind through the single track. I think I was placed somewhere in the middle of D grade from the start and for the most part I held my position. It wasn’t long before I was being lapped by A Grade riders but it wasn’t too stressful and everyone was courteous. I took the first lap fairly steady and didn’t try to push too hard and I was relieved that, as the race organisers said, there was nothing too gnarly. My trusty 26″ hardtail even coped ok with the rocky section.

Each lap was about 5 and a half km and took me somewhere between 20-25 minutes per lap. Whilst I think I was riding fairly hard at my level of fitness I wasn’t pushing to the limit. I do want to see how far I can go with my fitness and racing performance but I don’t want to lose my mind and crash out or suffer a heart attack. The experience was overwhelmingly positive, all the competitors on the track were courteous, it was a well-organised event and I definitely now have something to work towards. My goal for the three scheduled XCO races is to finish 3rd or better in D Grade so I’ll be back for round 2.

Mountain bike racing has finally resumed with the Adelaide Mountain Bike Club scheduling the XCO series due to kick off at Anstey Hill in the north east of Adelaide on June 28. Many years ago I attended a couple of races at Prospect Hill, a couple at Fox Creek (Cudlee Creek), one race at Craigburn Farm near Blackwood, one race at Mount Torrens and a few races at my least favourite location, Eagle Mountain near Crafers. I’ve never ridden at Anstey Hill so it will be all new and exciting for me. The XCO series is not my favourite event, being a little too intense and sharing the track with pros, semi pros and very serious enthusiasts can be quite nerve wracking. I have found that the enduro 4 and 6 hour events attract a much more mellow and relaxed crowd. If my ageing 26er is up to it its going to be great to put my new healthy lifestyle to the test with a new competitive edge. As I’ve said previously, I’m not a competitive person but my new goal is to see what this 40 something body is actually capable of. What better way to do it that organised bike racing. I’ve checked out some previous race results for Anstey Hill and it looks like the D Grade Mens (3 laps) will be around 1 hour of racing. Judging from my last XCO event all those years ago where I don’t recall finishing and regularly pulling over for serious bikers, I think D grade will suit me well. My aim is to ride as hard as I can for an hour and not finish last.

Getting the bike ready

after cleaning up my trusty 26 inch hardtail and checking the chain wear for the first time (quite a few years late), I discovered that the drivetrain was well past it and in need of either a replacement cassette and chain or an upgrade. I have enjoyed my full XTR groupset and I think it was well worth forking out the extra dollars for ease of use. My gears have always just worked as they are supposed to and I don’t recall ever needing to make adjustments. I did, however, fail to keep up with the maintenance and also didn’t prepare for the future by purchasing extra chains and cassettes. Unfortunately parts for 10speed XTR are no longer available so an upgrade is in order if at all possible. With a little encouragement from my friend Stefan who’s more knowledgeable than I and who knows I’m partial to going a little overboard with gear, the 1×11 groupset challenge was set. So I promptly headed to BMCR to see what master bike mechanic, Pete, had to say about the matter. As it turns out 1×11 is no longer available so Pete suggested some 1×12 options which included some fancy Shimano XTR parts – I think I’ll hold off on full XTR at this stage to see if I stick with the trusty 26 inch or are tempted to upgrade the wheel size with a totally new bike. Anyway, whilst I wait for parts to arrive I’ll be grinding away at my worn out groupset for the first and possibly even the second XCO race. I’m now eagerly awaiting a new 12 speed XTR derailleur, XTR 12 speed shifter, DT Swiss Rotor kit, XT 10-51 cassette and Wolf Tooth chainring to extend the life of my old bike for a couple more years.

I’ve discovered training programs in Zwift and I must say I am impressed with how well structured the training can be with ERG mode and there have only been a couple of glitches. I have been running Zwift from my iPhone which has a tendency to freeze/crash and I have also lost a few training rides due to my laziness. They eventually expire if you don’t use them in time. I now realise that I am struggling to stay motivated to train without having any events to prepare for and the monotony is getting a bit much. Anyway, I’m not giving up that easily. Thankfully event restrictions are easing in South Australia so bike racing can’t be that far away. I’m assuming that opening pubs will also mean bike racing can resume also. Oh and I almost forgot to mention how good the trainer is now that the gear changing has been professionally set-up by Pete at BMCR. Awesome job as usual from BMCR.

Digging out the old MTB

In preparation for mountain bike racing which I will need to practice for, I have spent half the day reviving my old 26″ mtb which hasn’t been used since its last Cape to Cape bike race in WA a couple of years ago. I’m not a competitive type but bike races are great motivators for getting out the house and active. Not only am I not competitive but the thought of bike training without a bike race/ride to prepare for is just something I’ve not previously been able to manage. Its for this reason…… and the social aspect of riding with good friends….. that I sign-up for the Tour Down Under Challenge Tour every year. However, year on year it hasn’t managed to motivate me to ride more or to improve my fitness on the bike. Anyway…. this has now changed and I’m eager to improve my speed and endurance. I’m not sure yet what my focus will be…. it could be 6hr endurance mountain bike events, road racing, cyclocross or track cycling. I am yet to find out.

Sleep

We’d all like to to get more sleep right? I’ve always considered myself to be a light sleeper often waking up multiple times during the night and looking at my phone for hours after waking at 4am. After stumbling across the Whoop band and the concept of sleep monitoring I thought that this was another area where I could improve my health. I thought the idea of monitoring sleep and recovery had merit but there was no way I was signing up to another subscription which seems to be the Whoop business model so I spoke to my friend Stefan about sleep monitoring with the Apple Watch which he has been doing for a while now. With my new Series 3 Apple Watch ($369) and an app called AutoSleep which was only about the price of a coffee and not a subscription, I have confirmed what I guess I already knew, booze keeps me awake all night. More specifically, alcohol significantly reduces my deep sleep. Thats assuming the watch is monitoring my sleep accurately. I’m not talking a lot of booze neither. After going WFPB I am now much more sensitive to alcohol and after one or two cans of pale ale (or 1-2 glasses of red) I’m done. Having previously been partial to binge drinking and murdering at least a couple of imperial pints in the first 30min, I am pleasantly surprised that I no longer want to finish off a whole six-pack of Coopers in one sitting. However, instead of suffering a hangover the day after drinking a few gallons of beer I now suffer a hangover immediately after two small cans of beer. I think the moral of the story is that alcohol is bad but I think I knew that already. The other surprise I learned is that I can actually sleep well for over 8 hours and get 2.5hrs of deep sleep. It remains to be seen if this translates to overall increased ability to train harder.

If you have any experience with sleep monitoring I’d be very keen to hear from you. Please comment below or send me an email using the contact form on my site.

Disclaimer: I am not a nutrition expert and I am not offering diet advice to anyone. This is simply my experience and my journey which is subject to change at any moment.

I have found it quite easy to ignore my health for most of my adult life. I have had short periods of improved health when I have returned to regular exercise, returned to commuting by bike, returned to running etc. but I have been unable to sustain these activities and lifestyle changes long-term. I am sure this is a fairly familiar story. Even when I think I believe in a concept, putting it into practice is a whole different challenge. I am a slow learner. We all know that no matter how much we exercise, if we eat shit food our bodies will suffer. But that doesn’t stop us from having that extra pint of ale and upsizing the pizza on a Friday night after a tough week at work. I shouldn’t have the slice of cake for Fred’s birthday but It’ll be ok. I’m going for a long ride tomorrow…. “what the hell! yeah I’ll have another piece, thanks”.

My key motivation for a lifestyle change was a strong fear of developing lifestyle related disease and wanting to reduce my blood cholesterol levels. I probably needed to lose a few kilos but that wasn’t my reason for going WFPB. There is a wealth of information about the whole food plant based philosophy from Dr Greger, Dr Esselstyn, Dr Barnard and for those with Netflix, the Forks Over Knives documentary, so I’m not going to bore you with the details of the diet itself. The key points for me have been eat more carbs (sweet potatoes/brown rice), more fibre, no dairy, no animal products, no added oil with a focus on whole foods. If I feel that I want or need something, eat the whole food. 

Without consciously reducing portion sizes and without any intention to lose weight I have lost roughly 8-10kg over the past 5 months since going WFPB. I seemed to plateau at about 70kg but since riding my bike more this has now dropped down steadily to 67-68kg. Some staple foods have become, porridge/oats, roasted sweet potato, green smoothies with fresh kale, lentil soup, broccoli and home made hummus. In the weeks soon after deciding to make this major diet change Christmas was upon us. I had to be able to survive all the Christmas lunches so I decided to do this by making sure I had plenty of hummus, guacamole and carrot to eat at the shared lunches. The hummus and guacamole had no added oil or salt and I would also eat before going to these food focused social events. On the odd occasion when I would eat at a restaurant or bar such as my work Christmas function or a Birthday celebration I would stick to a vegan burger or vegan pizza with one or two beers.

Contrary to some of the comments from athletes in The Game Changers, I haven’t yet noticed any improvement in my performance on the bike. However, it is possible that one cannot feel improvements in fitness and that it will always hurt. I guess I will find out. My thoughts at the moment are on building my body’s ability to fight infection/virus’, especially during this COVID-19 crisis, getting better sleep and improving my recovery and building strength. Or more to the point, increasing my Functional Threshold Power (FTP).

Anyway, I’m off for a bike ride……….. 

As you may have guessed by my previous post, cycling, is a theme of this challenge. Although, is it really a challenge if there is no end date? Anyway, not being content with some weight loss and a general feeling of improved health and wellbeing, I want to test my new healthier lifestyle by monitoring my cycling performance, hoping for major improvements in this area. Some of you may have seen The Game Changers which really promoted the sport performance improvements of a plant based diet. I guess I am trying to take this a step further focusing on the whole food plant based concept but in any case I’m keen to discover if I can be mildly competitive on a bicycle now that I’m not punishing my body with masses of toxic food.

I haven’t really been much of a cyclist but it has been a constant in my life since I was a teenager. Nowadays I’m committed to riding the Tour Down Under Challenge Tour each year with friends from interstate but up until now that’s been about it. I must admit I find cycling alone quite boring and being a very time poor social worker I have just struggled to get into it. This is now changing a bit and my new toy, a Wahoo Kickr18, is helping. I can train for an hour from home whilst listening to a podcast and this is a game changer for me. It’s been quite an expensive investment though.

Wahoo Kickr18 

A friend first mentioned the concept of a turbo trainer as he thought it might work for him having previously landed in hospital after road training in the Barossa Valley. I initially didn’t know anything about turbo/smart trainers so this started some intense research and discovery over about a month or so. It also just so happened that we are in the midst of a worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 – massively increasing the popularity of indoor smart trainers. After agonising over whether to get a Tacx Neo 2T or Wahoo Kickr18 I finally decided on the Kickr as did my friend. It appeared to me that the Kickr was a more solidly built unit and it looked to be more widespread in commercial settings – although this could simply be due to sponsorship or an aggressive marketing program from Wahoo. I run an Ultegra groupset with a 10 speed cassette and the bikeshop told me the dimensions of a 10 speed 105 cassette are the same as Ultegra with weight and material being the only difference. The 105 cassette was included with the Kickr (swapped from the original 11 speed cassette by the shop) and fitted for no extra cost by the very helpful shop mechanic. Having now completed 188km  (10 slices of Zwift pizza) indoors its early stages yet but the gear changing isn’t as smooth as I would like. Maybe the spacing of the cassette is not perfect so I will continue to explore this minor issue. Anyway I’m impressed so far and the biggest bonus for me is being able to train from home. My motivation to train has now greatly improved.

As I’m sure you all agree, with the exception of aches and pains and the failure of our bodies, we are all young at heart. Growing in experiences, failures and new beginnings but remaining our 20 year old self forever. I often worry about developing illnesses of one type or another but these thoughts come and go like all of our thoughts. However, more recently I’ve discovered my body ageing at an alarming rate. I’m developing all kinds of minor aches and masses of fat in various places. I’ve struggled more with lower back pain and struggled to get out of bed. Its fair to say that I’ve had enough of ageing and after falling into vegetarianism, in and out of veganism and enduring the odd long distance bike ride without any training, I’m ready to take on my body and heal. For quite some time now I’ve been aware of the theory that given the right environment the human body can heal from almost anything. I’ve finally, after 40 years of self-inflicted abuse and neglect, decided to actually give it a go see if I can stomach a whole food plant based lifestyle. After almost 40 years I’m finally ready and whilst I write this I’m a few months in I want to record some of my journey and discuss some of my goals and challenges. As I had not planned to document my return to health, I’m not prepared with before and after shots so I’ll have to make do with some random photos I collect along the way.