We are now well into the New Year, and with that comes all the promises that many of us make to lose weight and eat more healthily. The main problem though – as we all know too well – is that often, these plans to shed the pounds and turn our bodies into temples, die – usually the first time we eat out, or they simply fizzle away by the end of January. I challenged myself to come up with a good plan of action – which I’m variously calling Operation Trident or The Trident Plan – to lower body fat and reduce weight, without totally ditching some of those yummy things we all like. Payback comes in the form of extra exercise though, so this isn’t going to be a ‘cream cake diet’ where you get to stuff your face with anything you like and sit watching the TV all day long!

How My Body Fat Measurement Changed During Injury

In 2011, I started training in February (once the snow had gone!) and gradually built my way up to 15km runs in the summer. I had to suffer very early on, as my running shoes felt a bit dodgy and left me with hip pain. So a new pair was required and the lad in the shop who did my gait analysis told me my hips didn’t move when I ran – that’ll teach me to go shopping for new running shoes wearing tight jeans! Anyway, I promised myself that I would change my form and get the hips more involved, leading to my evolution to, well, Evolution running as developed by triathlon and cycling coach Ken Mierke.

My presumption is that over the months up to June, I would have lost a fair amount of body fat, as I lost the best part of 28 pounds in weight during those months. Unfortunately, my evolution running must have gradually devolved into some weird lazy variant where most of my forward propulsion was initiated solely from the calf muscles. This meant I was destined to break down and get injured eventually, and this is exactly what happened in June, with a strained popliteus muscle in my left knee. This never fixed itself, but became bearable for running after a couple of months, at which time I promptly strained my right calf in the soleus muscle.

So what’s this got to do with my percentage body fat? Well, I was resting up for periods of 2-3 weeks at a time, followed by trying running again. Usually, at the 2-3km mark, my calf would scream for me to stop, rather painfully, leaving me back in ‘resting mode’ for another couple of weeks. This went on for a few months, and at that point I got myself a body fat analyzer and measured my lard-content at 27%.

I have been seeing my physio for a few months now, and the original prescription was to stop trying to run altogether, and then to build up extremely slowly while all the knots and kinks are worked out of my legs. This, combined with a hefty dose of comfort eating took my measured body fat to 34%. This is extremely high, but it is noteworthy that I am also an extremely ‘damp’ person. I can sweat just by thinking too hard, and the result is that I am consistently measured as being dehydrated (usually my %body water reading is 47-48%; for my age group it should be about 55%); it makes no difference how much water I consume.

The TriDENT Plan – How To Lose Body Fat And Excess Weight

With a notional body fat percent of 34%, my plan over the Christmas holidays was to try and design a plan that would quickly and effectively allow me to reduce my fat content and weight, in a healthy and sustainable way. So many people sentence themselves to strict and often ludicrous diet regimes in the New Year, and frankly they are all destined to fail at some point. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with calorie counting per se, except you can become an extremely boring person and irritate all your loved ones by being picky and whining about feeling hungry despite having had all your calories for the day.

Even worse, a lot of people think the diet alone will make them lose a ton of weight. It won’t. If you starve yourself calorificaly, your basal metabolic rate (BMR) slows down almost exactly calorie for calorie. This is extremely bad news. It means you’ll practically be starving yourself and not losing any weight (except for the loss of precious fat-burning lean muscle!), and then you’ll inevitably wind up quitting and having a binge-eating session. Thing is, with your BMR now lower than before, and with less lean muscle mass to burn off excess calories, you will sadly probably end up fatter than you were to start with! And that’s what a yo-yo diet is.

So why did I call my hare-brained scheme The TriDENT Plan? Or Operation TriDENT? It was originally because I was going to document it here on my triathlon and fitness site, but actually I’ve built three parts into it – you know ‘Tri’ meaning ‘three’. Then the other bit, the ‘DENT’, apart from the fact we all want to make a serious dent in our body weight and fat, spells out the three requirements:

• Diet – eating the right foods is extremely important, and this can include calorie-counting if needed, in order to control portion sizes. It’s important to eat the right types of food as well though.
• Exercise – people are increasingly catching on that exercise needs to go alongside diet if lasting and effective weight loss is to be achieved. Exercise makes us feel better, and reduces appetite, mainly because those feel-good brain chemicals that are released after a good session stop any need for emotional eating (the kind of almost unconscious eating some people do when actually they do not feel hungry!)
• Nutrient Timing – this is a component of body fat loss that is generally completely lost on most people, and often is the domain of elite and serious athletes. It is a fact that people who skip breakfast are normally the ones who have weight problems at some point in their lives. But it is also important to eat at the right times throughout the day, especially in relation to your exercise routines. Eating within an hour or so of a good workout helps to shepherd those calories into useful areas, such as replenishing muscle and liver glycogen stores, and helping strengthen and build muscles – rather than filling up those pesky fat cells!

So that’s my TriDENT Plan – a three-pronged approach to Diet, Exercise and Nutrient Timing. I am now my own guinea pig, as I test out some of these ideas on myself, and I’ll report the results here on this blog from time to time, as well as any problems, or recipes or whatever else crops up while I get back to fitness after my injuries and bloatedness!

As an aside, for the last two weeks (finishing in two days time as I write this article) I – and a bunch of other runners – have been trying out a 2-week plan to practically ditch carbohydrates to see how shunning all that processed white garbage (white bread, pastry, rice, pasta etc) can positively affect our well-being. This little study was started by Steve (Wild Runner) on the Runners Forum website. For me it’s been a struggle, as I had already mainly ditched a lot of that stuff, but used legumes, lentils and beans etc to get high quality carbs into my diet – and of course they were all banned during the experiment.

I should say though that I lost a reasonable portion of body fat and 4 pounds in weight during week 1. I’ll report a final set of results here after the trial is complete. Then after that, it’s back into my proper TriDENT Plan, where I can get my beans and lentils back, and also have a cheat day (like in Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Body Diet).

I’m really looking forward to seeing my running and my times improve as I abandon my blubber. Feel free to follow along with this yourself, but of course, check with your own doctor that it’s right for you before starting!

For those of you who didn’t know – maybe you live elsewhere than the UK – every year the BBC runs a competition called the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. It started out in 1954 and has seen winners from a wide variety of sports. On the whole, men dominate this award ceremony, but in general the shortlist includes a good proportion of Britain’s best female sports stars, and on the odd occasion the ladies even win it. But despite their usual fair representation at the awards, it has not been since 1962 that the women won the top three places – the only time that has been achieved – whereas having three men at the top is a pretty common occurrence. So this week saw the unveiling of the whittled down shortlist of the ten candidates for this prestigious and well-promoted televsion event for 2011. It seemed odd immediately that all ten of the challengers this year are men. And given some of the borderline miraculous achievements of the ladies in sport, it begs the question: where did all the female sports personalities go?

The Ten Candidates For BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2011

Here’s a quick run down of the named candidates, as voted for by sports journalists from a whole range of sports and other publications:

• Mark Cavendish (Cycling)
• Darren Clarke (Golf)
• Alistair Cook (Cricket)
• Luke Donald (Golf)
• Mo Farah (Athletics)
• Dai Greene (Athletics)
• Amir Khan (Boxing)
• Rory McIlroy (Golf)
• Andy Murray (Tennis)
• Andrew Strauss (Cricket)

I’ve listed them in alphabetical order (even though I’d be fairly amazed, not to mention disappointed, if Cav didn’t win it after his successes this year!).

It is worth pointing out that the not-so-tiny matter of the exclusion of all Britain’s female talent has not gone unnoticed. The press has been all over it, and some of the ladies are pretty miffed to say the least – and rightly so!

My Sports Personality of the Year Shortlist for 2011

I should say that this is not a simple case of political correctness gone mad; however, I might still dare to say: “Women! Know your place!”

And for some women, their place is on top of the podium as taekwondo world champion; or as four times women’s ironman world champion; or as number one in the triathlon World Championship Series. So, here’s my list of ten, split down the middle with five men and five women, and of course…ladies first (in no particular order with respect to who I think should win the award):

Sarah Stevenson – Three Times Taekwondo World Champion

A woman with all the martial skill to achieve her ambitions of becoming taekwondo world champion and qualifying for the London Olympics, but also with the mental steel and determination of a British lioness to do so while both her parents battled with terminal cancer. Tragically, both lost their battles and left her to fight in 2012 spurred on by their memory. Surely a truly worthy candidate for Sports Personality of the Year, in this of all years. For a recent interview with Sarah by Donald McRae of the Guardian newspaper, click here. (Sarah Stevenson’s Official Website)

Chrissie Wellington – Four Times Ironman World Champion and Record-Holder

Chrissie Wellington (photo by Mariano Kamp; reproduced under CC2.0 License)

A simply unbelievable athlete, winning the women’s Ironman World Championship for three consecutive years from 2007 to 2009, and then winning it again this year, after illness last year prevented her from clocking up five consecutive years of endurance racing dominance. She also holds a number of – actually she holds ALL – world and championship records for the Ironman distance, including the world record, the Ironman World Championship course record, and the record for Ironman branded triathlons over the ironman distance. And what’s more, she is the only triathlete – man or woman – to have won the World Championship in her first year as a pro. Really, unbelievable! And I guess “unbelievable” is exactly what Chrissie thinks of the idea of there being not a single girl in the running for this year’s BBC Sports award, as she has decided to boycott the event. (Chrissie Wellington’s Official Website)

Helen Jenkins – Two Times ITU Triathlon World Champion

Okay, this is notionally a triathlon site, although I’m much more of a runner than anything else, so I’m biased, and Helen Jenkins is another awesome multiple triathlon world champion, winning the ITU World Championships in 2008 and then again this year, over the Olympic distance. She finished top of the pile in the ITU World Championships Series rankings for 2011, and so is this yet another female athlete not even worthy of consideration? Really? (Helen Jenkins’ Official Website)

Keri-Anne Payne – Two Times Open Swimming 10K World Champion

Really?! Here’s another strong candidate, Keri-Anne Payne, a long-distance pool and open water swimmer, and twice world champion at the open water 10K discipline, winning in 2009 and then again in Shanghai this year. This amazing endurance athlete – even Ironman triathletes ‘only’ swim 3.9km – became the first Brit to confirm her qualification in the 2012 London Olympics with this year’s World Championship achievement. Incidentally, Keri-Anne also notched up a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics, so maybe she will be a serious contender for gold in London – and finally, perhaps, get that nomination for Sports Personality of the Year next year! In a show of pure class and dignity, she said on Twitter: “We don’t need awards just the support from the Great British public!” (Keri-Anne Payne’s Official Website)

Katherine Grainger – Six Times Rowing World Champion

A seasoned rowing veteran, Katherine Grainger has competed in several formats but alongside ever-changing team line-ups has managed to stack up six world champions titles, mainly in Women’s Quad and Double Sculls races, and has been awarded silver medals in three consecutive Olympic Games, rowing in the Quadruple Sculls or Coxless Pair events. She defended last year’s world championship title this year despite being plagued by injury, demonstrating her mental and physical toughness. (Kath Grainger’s Official Website)

And for the men, I chose four out of the published top ten shortlist, and added Ali Brownlee, who together with his brother Jonny completely dominated the 2011 triathlon circuit, coming out number one in the ITU World Championship rankings. Here’s the list of five I have chosen:

Mark Cavendish – Road Cycling World Champion & Tour de France Green Jersey Winner

The Manx Missile really tore up the roads this year, with another five Tour de France stage wins to take his overall stage win tally to 20. He also won the points classification, becoming the first British cyclist ever to win the coveted Maillot Vert (Green Jersey). To put icing on the cake, Mark then went on to win the 2011 UCI Road World Championships in Copenhagen, to become the first British winner of the title since Tom Simpson in 1965. A really fantastic year, culminating in him being awarded an MBE, bestowed just this week; and of course the prospect of him becoming a daddy, an achievement Mark cherishes above everything else.

Mo Farah – 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m World and European Champion

Somalia-born Brit Mo Farah is a worthy contender for the Sports Personality award, having won both European and World Championship titles over several years in various long-distance running events, notably the 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m. This year’s World Championships saw him beaten into silver medal place in the 10K by the narrowest of margins. He made up for it by scoring an emphatic victory in the 5K event at the same race meeting. (As a runner over the same distances, it makes me wince that Mo’s personal bests are twice as fast as mine!)

Alistair Brownlee – Two Times Triathlon World and European Champion

Omitted from the shortlist this year, nevertheless Ali Brownlee had a storming season in 2011, culminating in him winning the ITU World Championships for a second time (he won his first world title in 2009). He also became the European Champion for the second time this year, defending his title which he first won in 2010. He’s one of those guys who just never looks like he’s going to lose, when I’ve seen him race.

Dai Greene – 400m Hurdles European, Commonwealth & World Champion

Okay, another one who is on the current shortlist, and rightly so. His career has blossomed over the last two years, with European and Commonwealth titles last year, and culminating this year in his elevation to World Champion at Daegu.

Rory McIlroy – Golf US Open Winner and Record Holder

Also on the real list, Rory McIlroy won the 2011 US Open, his first major, by eight shots, and managed to collect numerous records along the way. His aggregate score of 268 – 16-under par – was a new record for the US Open, beating some of the greats, such a Jack Niklaus and Tiger Woods. This particular competition received a lot of media interest as it was Rory’s first major tournament win, and because he did it with such class.

So What Went Wrong This Year?

It’s hard to say what went wrong with this year’s nominations – apart from the fact there’s no women in the shortlist, obviously. Some of the nominations from the various publications had no women, whereas many others did include female sports stars. Among the ones nominated but failing to get to the shortlist were Rebecca Adlington (swimming), Victoria Pendleton (cycling), Jessica Ennis (heptathlon) and several of the ones also on my personal shortlist above.

Victoria Pendleton (photo by Stuart Webster, modified by Baldborris99); Jessica Ennis (photo by Adam Kerfoot-Roberts); Rebecca Adlington (photo by Michiel Jelijs, modified by Jonas Kam). All photos reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0 License.

For the most part, it seems that sports which get a lot of exposure on TV produce names which get onto the list. Cycling has made a huge comeback in recent years and is now more popular than it has been for years in the UK. Triathlon on the other hand is not something which is routinely aired on television, although I have seen a little more in the run up to London 2012. Long distance swimming, on the other hand, or taekwondo, are pretty non-existent for much of the population, and Sarah Stevenson has received more local exposure where I am in Yorkshire because of her triumphs despite horrendous tragedies in her personal life.

Who knows, maybe next year we’ll get an all female line-up for the BBC’s flagship sports awards show, but I seriously wouldn’t hold my breath. Was that a pig flying by? Oh, no, it was a journalist; looks like they caught up with him.

What do you think of my shortlist? Spot on or spot off? Who have I missed out who should be on the list instead? Have your say in the comments below.

Photo Credits:
1. Chrissie Wellington by Mariano Kamp.
2. Victoria Pendleton by Stuart Webster. Derivative work: cropped by Baldborris99.
3. Jessica Ennis by Adam Kerfoot-Roberts.
4. Rebecca Adlington by Michiel Jelijs. Derivative work: cropped by Jonas Kam.

All photos reproduced with permission under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution and/or Share Alike Licenses.

One of the most polarising debates in the world of running – apart from whether to change running form or stick with heel-striking – is when you should do your stretching. The old guard say you should always warm up and stretch before your run and then again more thoroughly afterwards. A new school of thought has appeared in recent years, which maintains that stretching is exclusively for after running, but that more dynamic, functional stretches should be done prior to hitting the trail. The arguments seem mainly to focus on performance rather than injury, but I am now of the mindset that a pre-run stretching session is important.

I have tried full-on warm up and stretch routines before my workouts (and afterwards), and tried doing just a short warm up on the exercise bike followed by a slow jog before easing into my running. The result – for me – of doing the latter was injury. I’m sure the absence of a pre-training stretch was not the only contributing factor. However, my style of running involves many of the aspects preached by the various schools of natural running (eg Evolution, POSE, Chi, etc) and in these cases, there should be very little propulsive force from lower leg muscles, namely the calves. My problem was that I ignored this aspect. But many of the proponents of running without stretching first claim that the stretch simply relaxes muscle groups which need to be ready like coiled springs to enhance acceleration and performance, and that doing these pre-stretches will have an adverse affect. In other words, if you stretch first, your floppy muscles will not have the explosive power required for high performance.

The conclusion has to be that it depends on what style of runner you are. If you aim to run naturally, in the barefoot or minimalist style, your forward propulsion is generally controlled by forward lean, rather than pushing off with the toes and powering through with the calf muscles. In this scenario, a good stretch can only be good for relaxing the legs and increasing cadence – and helping to further reduce the chances of injury.

On the other hand, if you are a sprinter or a ‘power’ runner, then you’ll be using pure muscle strength to propel yourself forward, and might not want those muscles to be nice and relaxed before your run. In my painful experience, this way is the road to propulsive group injuries, mine being a combination of left popliteus and right gastroc (or soleus).

I am paying good money to a professional physical therapist to fix my legs, and one who happens to be a far better runner than me, as well as being a triathlete, and if he tells me that I must warm up, then stretch, then run, then stretch some more before cooling down, I’ve got no intention of ignoring that advice.

Leg Stretching Exercises For Runners

Whatever your own personal view about whether to do it before or not, here are four easy stretching exercises which I am doing now. They were shown to me by my physio, and I do them every day, two or three times. I am, of course, doing them before my short rehabilitation runs, and then again afterwards. If you disagree with pre-stretching, then try them out as post-exercise stretches if you are not already doing them. They work on the hamstrings, IT band, gastroc and soleus muscles.

Warning: If you are new to exercise, always consult your physician before starting a new program. These exercises are the ones I do myself and are for information only. If you try them out, always make sure you are warmed up thoroughly before doing so. The one simple way to injure yourself is to do stretches without warming up your muscles properly.

Hamstring Stretches

There are tons of ways of doing the hamstring stretching exercise, but at the moment I am doing them lying on a pilates mat. So, you need to lie flat on your back, with your legs out flat. Then lift one leg – keeping it straight – vertically and reach with both hands to hold onto the calf. Gently pull your straight leg towards your chest. Go as far as you feel comfortable but aim for a nice good stretch. Keep relaxed and hold the position for 30 seconds. Then lower your leg back to the ground.

Repeat the exercise with your other leg, and do three stretches per leg, holding each for 30 seconds. Here’s a clip showing you a good way of performing the hamstring stretch:

Iliotibial Band Stretches

As with the previous exercise, there are several ways to do IT band stretches. The one I am working on is the ‘figure 4′ stretch. So from a seated position with both legs bent at the knee and in front of you, cross one foot over the other leg above the knee. Gently push down on the knee, and lean forward maintaining a straight back as you do so. The version I do involves cupping the hands under the crossed-over knee and the ankle of the same leg, and lifting the leg towards the chest, while maintaing the basic figure-4 shape. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat 3 times on each leg. Here’s the simple figure 4 IT band stretch:

Gastrocnemius Stretch

Most people do this particular gastroc stretch, although there are probably variants of it. You should stand in front of a wall and place your hands on it at shoulder height. The foot of the non-stretching leg should be about 12 inches away from the wall, and the other leg is then placed further back, as far away as you can. Lean into the wall and let your hips lean in until you feel the stretch in the calf muscle and hold for 30 seconds. For a good stretch, you can lift up the toes on the rear foot (keeping the heel flat). Once again, do the exercise 3 times on each leg, and here’s how the gastroc muscle stretch should look:

Soleus Stretch

The soleus muscle stretch is similar to that for the gastrocnemius, except that the rear leg is slightly bent, to isolate the soleus from the gastroc. So stand facing the wall with your hands against it at shoulder height. Place your front foot near to the wall – or you can lift your front foot and actually lift the toes and rest them against the wall. Slightly bend the rear leg this time and feel the stretch in your calf. To get a deeper stretch, gently move your front knee closer to the wall by bending it. Again, 3 reps on each leg, each one lasting 30 seconds is ideal for this exercise. Here is a clip of how to perform the soleus stretch: