“Same again?”
“Actually, I’ll have a Jack Daniels and Diet Coke please.”

Jack isn’t the type of bloke that will ridicule me for my girly drink choice, but he does question it. So when I explain that my New Year’s resolution is to quit beer until I’ve crossed the finish line at the London Marathon, he is supportive. And then he orders himself and the guys a hefty round of beers, and I immediately regret my decision.

Cut to April 26th. I’ve just finished the marathon and I’m in a bar on Long Acre. Funnily enough, Jack is the one who is buying me my first pint. That’s it on the right. I get as far down as the dotted line and can’t drink anymore. Admittedly, it’s not the best choice of recovery drink, but after four months without beer I thought I’d have no trouble finishing a pint.

The simple fact was that I hadn’t missed beer all that much.

So what were my reasons for quitting? Truthfully, they were purely narcissistic. I was 25 and had a beer belly. And when the rest of your body is skinny, with no real definition, that belly is all the more obvious. So much so that I was uncomfortable wearing t-shirts and had mastered the art of sucking-in (a practice that required Zen-like concentration to maintain for more than an hour).

I think most people are aware that alcohol is fattening. But I’m not sure that everyone is aware as to the extent. A standard pint of bitter contains around 180 calories. According to an article in Men’s Health, you’d have to exercise for the equivalent of a 14-minute run to burn off those calories! Ergo, to burn off a boozy Friday night (coupled with a sneaky kebab), you’d have to run a half-marathon!

This, coupled with the fact that alcohol calories are completely useless, containing no nutrients at all (alcohol is actually a toxin), means that every single one of those calories is stored as fat. That’s roughly two thirds of the calories in every pint. Plus the rate at which these calories can be consumed is increased as they are in liquid form (especially when playing drinking games).

But how does drinking beer affect me as a runner?

Well, as alcohol is a diuretic, it depletes the electrolytes in your system. Electrolytes (like potassium and calcium) help with the transmission of nerve impulses and muscle contraction. Without them runners are more susceptible to cramping and muscle spasm. We lose enough of these electrolytes through sweating alone when we run, hence the invention of sports drinks, so a hangover is seriously going to hinder performance. Another unpleasant side-effect of diuretics is dehydration.

There are, however, some advantages of beer consumption. A recent article in Triathlete’s World says that beer is a source of silicon, which helps to build bones and prevent osteoporosis (pale ales contains the most). Professor Manuel Garzon, of Granada University claims that beer after sport can be good for the body; the carb content of beer can help replace lost calories.

Here are the facts. In the four months without beer…

1. I had lost a stone and a half in weight.
2. My training significantly improved.
3. I knocked 25 minutes off last year’s marathon time.
4. My belly was noticeably flatter.

The truth is that it wasn’t that difficult to stop drinking beer. I just needed to break the habit. I still went out and socialised, still attended parties, still had the occasional tipple after work.  But, while drinking less fattening drinks like whisky, wine and vodka, I was distinctly more coherent, I remembered much more the next day and my running suffered much less as a result. I will confess that I did drink a pint and a half at one point during my abstinence. But this was a sincere accident; I simply forgot (routine got the better of me after a weekly game of football and I was half-way through my second before I realised what I was doing!).

I am now drinking beer again. I all-to-easily slipped back into my old drinking habits a month after the marathon. My belly is starting to return, I am noticeably more lary when drunk and remember almost nothing of the previous night when I wake up the following day. So bad is my memory loss that I actually (sometimes gingerly) have to ask my girlfriend if I embarrassed myself the night before. My running has also suffered. Admittedly, I have been running much less. But I feel twice as sluggish, heavy and sometimes uncomfortable.

So here it is, my big announcement. I have decided to stop drinking beer.

The health reasons are obvious. I’m diabetic, so I really shouldn’t be drinking the level of beer I do anyway. But how long will it be before the piss-taking from my beer-swilling buddies stops? How long before I crack under the (peer) pressure? Will my switch to wine or spirits make me less of a man? Is beer consumption directly related to testosterone levels?

Bottums up!

A chap called Jon, who also runs a blog called My Big Fat Geek Running, emailed me just before the launch of the BMF iPhone app, My Fitness Instructor. His blog is a cross between losing weight and promoting the iPhone app, which launched on Friday 26th March. Jon kindly offered me a chance to review it.

My Fitness Instructor is a premium application that allows you to fit your own little BMF instructor right in your pocket. Instead of paying the price of a gym membership every month, you can splash out £5.99 and choose when and where you do your own workouts.

Step 1. Set the duration of the workout (maximum of 2 hours – yeah right!)

Step 2. Set the intensity (low, medium or high)

Step 3. Choose the focus of your workout (cardio, muscular or both)

…and that’s it! The little Australian instructor (Jim Preece) will start giving you instructions on what to do through your headphones. And I have to say that the exercises are very well described. You’ll be taken through a warm up, making sure that the body goes through the full range of movement, and then guided through the exercises. If you don’t quite understand the instructions you can view little exercise demonstrations as you progress. These little videos are very important as the app claims to have 5,000,000 combinations of workouts at its arsenal, so you never know what exercise you’ll end up doing.

My Fitness Instructor also has a built-in fitness test setting. Remember the bleep tests you did at school? Running between two markers 20 metres apart before the bleep sounds until you can no longer keep up? Well this is included, which I think is a fantastic little feature. Doing one of these each week as you are training for a race will give you a great idea of your stamina. Plus, it is incredibly satisfying to be able to see your improvements each week. The results of the bleep tests can be stored in the app.

Not a bad little tool for the price of a couple of beers (which you’ll work off after one session with this thing).

The downsides:

• You can’t preview the exercises.
  If you’re a beginner like me, you’ll know none of the exercises that the instructor is explaining to you (apart from the obvious ones like press ups). As the exercises become more complicated, you’ll have to stop to watch a video. This can be annoying as you normally won’t want to break your stride. Being able to learn the exercises by previewing a video before hand would have been nice (which you can’t do).
  .
• You can’t invert the videos.
  This sounds like a small point and one hell of a nag (which it is really). But the videos will only show in one direction, which means that you have to wear your iPod/iPhone on your right arm. I’ve always worn my mp3 player on the left arm so it felt uncomfortable. I know, boo hoo for me.
  .
• You can’t be self-conscious.
  Let’s face it. You’re running around a park, jumping up and down like a madman possessed. When you’re with lots of other people it’s easier to feel less self-conscious. But on your own at night, swinging your arms around in huge circles as fast as you can, or doing imaginary breast-stokes through the air, you might feel a little silly. But Jon begs to differ…

After some warm up stuff, we got stuck in. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel that self-conscious jogging and leaping around in the park on my own.
Jon, Big Fat Geek Running

My girlfriend has just signed up to the BMF classes so we’ll have a competition. Whoever has the best looking abs after a month will be the winner. The real thing versus the virtual… thing. You can buy My Fitness Instructor from the app store here.

Sir Win A Lot

The man himself has kindly offered to give away a copy of the My Fitness Instructor app to three lucky Sir Jog A Lot readers. To win your copy either click this link to tweet about the competition or leave me a comment below!

Again, I will, in no way, look upon entries more favourably if they also leave a £2 donation to my London Marathon charity, the Lymphoma Association. ;-)

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED

*Winners will be contacted either by email or Twitter and announced on 13th April. Your email address will in no way be distributed to third parties. Entry to UK residents only.

It’s the same story for anyone with a gym membership. You have the tools around you to get fitter but if you workout on your own are you really going to push yourself that little bit further? You know you’d achieve much better results if you had a personal trainer, but after a little research you find that your bank balance will be the only thing getting a workout!

This weekend I attended a class that poses a possible solution to the problem. Each Saturday (or most Saturdays) when I begin my early morning run in Greenwich Park, I’ll pass a bunch of people wearing coloured bibs, usually led by a burly bloke in camouflaged trousers shouting and screaming. These are the British Military Fitness classes.

The British Military Fitness (BMF) classes are the UK’s leading outdoor fitness provider. They are led by a qualified instructor (all of whom have a military background) and each class consists of a one-hour session of exercises that will push you to your absolute limits.

When I turned up at 9am to start the class on Saturday morning I had a chat with one of the instructors about my basic level of fitness. I explained that I’d run the marathon back in April and that I was a regular gym goer. This turned out to be an error as he threw me straight into the intermediate class. The classes are broken up into the groups; beginner (blue bibs), intermediate (red bibs) and advanced (green bibs).

Donning my red bib, we immediately started off with a 10-minute warm up and jogged off into Greenwich park. This was focused on getting the heart rate up and consisted of plenty of running exercises (short sharp bursts of speed with rapid changes in direction) and a lot of movement (designed to get the muscles adequately stretched). Because the group was so large (roughly 40 people) we were split up into two. I later found out that the instructors had decided the groups based on what they had seen from you in the warm-ups and tiered them slightly. Apparently I was lower-tier material, which was probably about right.

Our group was led off further around the park, stopping at different points to perform a batch of exercises before moving on. These exercises are largely based on building your core muscle groups. All the instructors have to work with is the park and your body. There are no weights or special tools so the exercises use your own body-weight against you. There were plenty of press-ups, sit-ups and squat exercises during the course of the hour.

One of the best elements of the class is the camaraderie between those attending. Most people (especially the new starters like myself) were initially quite quiet and timid. This really didn’t last long as you’re thrown into exercises with partners. Everyone there was fantastic. I had 5 or 6 different partners throughout the course of the hour and each one of the them was vigorous and encouraging. Considering they were strangers this was incredibly refreshing, especially in a city where the only words you’ll utter to someone you don’t know are “2 pints of lager please”.

They do try to pair you off with someone of similar size and weight. During one exercise we were required to push against one another in an effort to force your opponent over an imaginary line between you. The chap I was paired off with gave me a little wink, said “I’m a rugby player”, dug his heels in and launched me backwards! I reckon I’ll ‘av him after a few more classes.

Overall these classes are an excellent way of staying in shape. Coupled with a running schedule, the BMF would be an ideal way of training for an upcoming race and, based on how I’m feeling today (three days after the class), I’d imagine you’d shed some serious pounds. For the price of a gym membership you can attend these classes as many times a week as you’d like. I’d honestly recommend these classes to anyone. Everyone is incredibly friendly (a few members took me out for a coffee afterwards) and I was in no way made to feel intimidated. Your first class is free and there’s no obligation to sign up if it’s not for you.

The only negative feedback I can report from the day is the lack of water breaks. It was pretty warm on the weekend and we only stopped twice for a quick gulp of water. Considering the intensity of the workout, I didn’t feel that this was enough. Also, I’m not sure I’d have enjoyed the session if the weather hadn’t been so good. Winter is only around the corner…

Sir Win A Lot

Like what you’ve heard? Well the team at British Military Fitness are kindly giving away one month’s free membership to the BMF classes to 5 lucky SJAL readers! The courses are based all over the UK and, if you’re a winner*, you can select any BMF venue you’d like to attend.

You can enter in one of two ways. Either…

1. Post a message on Twitter by clicking this link or…
2. Answer the following question:

Which BMF class was I put in during my introductory session?

A. Beginner

B. Intermediate

C. Advanced

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED

*Winners will be contacted either by email or Twitter and announced on 1st September. Your email address will in no way be distributed to third parties.

This year, Justgiving have a competition to create a video that promotes your fundraising efforts for the London Marathon. The prize is a £100 donation to your Justgiving page. Last year Gwan Yips won £500 with this effort (obviously the credit crunch has hit Justgiving as they’ve cut their prize by £400). With my fundraising target still in the distance and sponsorship drying up I thought it couldn’t hurt to sacrifice one Sunday to create an entry for this competition…

…and here it is:

Possibly the most embarrassing Sunday of my life (parading around London like a lunatic and getting filmed doing it) but I console myself with the thought that it’s all for charity. Anyone can do this and I encourage you to give it a go. I made this with a digital camera and Windows Movie Maker and it’s a fantastic way to drive traffic to your sponsorship page.

However, if you are going to do a video then wait until after Friday (as that’s when the competition closes)!

If you’re interested, the backing track is from a song called ‘Mr Munchies’ that myself and a couple of  old school friends, Paul Child and Thom Hawkins, wrote when we were 16. It comes with lyrics too and if you want a copy then let me know. Be warned: The lyrics are very childish, rude and resemble any song by Afro-Man.

During Christmas 2008 I stuffed myself. I’d been up North for the festive season and just before I returned to London for the new year I weighed myself. 13 stone; the most I’ve ever weighed. I was gobbling down roast dinners like they were canapés and even after I’d had my fill and the gravy was seeping through my pores, I’d still find the room to stuff down a tube of Pringles.

Knowing full well that come January I’d be on the highway to health, I assumed that a little overindulgence would do me no harm. My first week of training alone would cover 4 hours and 5 minutes of running time so I felt confident that, if I stuck to the plan, the pounds would fall off. During the second week of training I dusted off my IKEA scales in the bathroom and had a peek at the oscillating numbers in front of me.

Not to worry. My clothes and the change in my pocket could account for that. Plus, these scales were different to the ones I’d used back home. But, this morning (week 4) I weighed myself on the scales again (this time, straight from the shower)…

I’ve gained half a stone in one month. What the hell?! I was supposed to be losing weight, not putting on the equivalent of a new born baby! After turning to the net for comfort (no, not like that) I soon calmed down. Apparently there are two reasons to account for this:

1. Muscle mass is denser than fat
   Hopefully, during marathon training your legs accumulate muscle mass. Muscle tissue will weigh 18% more than the same volume of fat. I wonder if Rick Waller used that excuse with his agent, just before he left Celebrity Fit Club. “I haven’t been eating more, I’ve just been working out too much!”
2. You’re eating more
   Running is one of the fastest way to burn calories. But, by running your energy levels will deplete and hunger will set in, hard. Before long, breakfast alone isn’t going to get you through until lunch and you start to snack.

I think both of those apply to me. My legs look and feel more toned but I do have a bit of a pot belly. Although my metabolism is normally high I have been getting hungry by 11:30am (hungry is an understatement. I’d eat the pencil shavings on my desk if I could). Snacking can’t be avoided so see this page for tips on healthy snacks for runners. Just to clarify, I am not personally recommending peanut butter spread on apple slices.

For me, weight loss is not the reason I am running the London Marathon (you’d know this full well if you’ve ever spotted me inhaling a big bag of Kettle Chips) but for those of you who are taking up running to utilise a few more belt loops then you can follow these steps to avoid hunger.

Well done to About.com for featuring 3 times in this post. I should get paid for these plugs. I accept cash, cheques or chips…