Property Investments, Landlording, CrossFit, Nutrition & Safety

It was bound to happen eventually, and it did in September: I stopped losing weight!

For the last few months on the zone diet, my fat loss / weight loss has diminished to 1% body fat per month.  In September it stopped completely and I am still 18% body fat percentage and 13st 10 (192 lbs / 87kg) with a waist of 37″ (at the widest point).  This is completely my own fault as I’ve cheated horendously again.

The irony is it’s the fact that the Zone Diet is soooo effective, that has caused my weightloss to stall.  Because if it wasn’t so easy to stay on, and so easy to lose weight on, I wouldn’t have been complacent enough to cheat so much!  However, I’m determined to get back on track, and like all well intentioned dieters, it starts tomorrow…. well the day after actually, but that’s another story.

Starting 3rd Oct I’m back to the more strict regime of counting blocks properly.  That means weighing and measuring all ingredients and noting their zone diet block numbers, and making sure I’m balanced.  I know that breakfast and lunch are normally ok, although I have had a lot of pre-bought smoothies for breakfast, and the Glycemic Index of these is not what it could be, so they will have to be scaled back.

No, it’s the evenings that are my downfall, still too much wine, chocolate and ice cream to regularly of an evening.  That’s what’s got to stop.  However, I am still on track for my ultimate goal: to reach 15% body fat by Feb 2008, so 4 months and 3% to lose.  And now I’ve been convinced to try the Fish Oil Supplements, things should move along even faster.

It’s not every day you come across the last talk of a dying man. Ok, we’re all dying right, but 47 year old Randy Pausch knows he’s only got a few months to live, and so does the 500 strong audience at Caregie Mellon university at which he’s a professor.

In this, his final lecture, he talks about his incredible life and imparts invaluable pearls of wisdom about he achieved all his childhood dreams, which included things like designing Disney theme park rides! It’s a rare thing indeed to get 47 years of practical knowledge about how to really live your life, and reach your goals, from a intelligent, articulate and funny man, who is at the very top of his game, all packed into a single video.

Watching this video has really made me sit back and think about what’s important to me, and whether I could stand up at 47 and say that I have achieved all my childhood dreams? Could you? If not, watch the video and learn how.

Thank you Randy Pausch.

I did a Crossfit Total today, that’s 3 single lifts each of:

• Back Squat
• Shoulder (Military) Press
• Deadlift

Then you add up the weight of the best lift you did in each.

However for some reason, I managed to do an odd thing today: I lifted more on the Back Squat, than I did on the Deadlift! In kilograms my lifts were:

• Back Squat: 140 – 150(Fail) – 145(=Personal Best)
• Shoulder Press: 50 – 52.5 – 55(PB)
• Deadlift: 140 – 150(F) – 150(F)

In pounds my lifts were:

• Back Squat: 308 – 330(Fail) – 319(=Personal Best)
• Shoulder Press: 110 – 115.5 – 121(PB)
• Deadlift: 308 – 330(F) – 330(F)

Giving me a Crossfit Total of 340 kg or 748 lbs. That’s a respectable days lifting I think, but backsquatting more than the deadlift, what’s all that about? My deadlift PB is 160 kg (352 lbs) and I got nowhere near it today.

Just tired I guess? 😕

It was a very grown up stag do: we were all 30-40 something and spent the day at Mountain Mayhem, doing Hover Crafting and Tomcar Off Roading. The hovercraft were awesome fun, very highly recommended, and the off road driving was unlike anything I’ve ever done before. Checkout some of the pictures.

There’s just something about, being strapped into a Tomcar (what can only be described as a roll cage on wheels), and driving it down a clearly too steep slope, into a flowing stream. Several things happen in quick succession when you do this. First, as you shoot over the lip of the bank, you think WTF am I doing, I’m about to die!?! Then as the front of the “vehicle” smashes into the water, you get thrown forward due to the rapid deceleration and the safety harness seems to physically hold you in just the perfect position to receive the full force of the wave of filthy water that’s coming over the front to meet you head on. Straight in the face and down your front, the frigid water gives you an instant soaking

Of course this is the critical bit, full throttle is required if you want any hope of getting out further down the stream and not being left stranded in 2 feet of water. And as the stream ejects your Tomcar at high velocity, you lose all visibility other than the colour of the sky, with only a vague memory of where the course goes once you crest the top of the bank, and you once again feel the illusion of control given by having all 4 wheels back on dry land.

One of the scariest bits however, initially sounds pretty tame: it’s just a ditch they cut in the field which you drive down one end, along the bottom, and up and out the far end. Easy right?

So let me first explain that you’ve just come shooting down the hill, definitely the fastest part of the track, and you’ve had to make a 90 degree right hand turn at full speed in order to line up with the ditch, trying desperately to control the back end as you can feel it skipping out on the wet grass. You note at this point that you can’t actually see the bottom of the ditch, as it’s 6 foot deep, with high unyielding sides and full of water. You remember the warning of the instructor, that if you don’t line up perfectly, you’ll hit the sides and roll the Tomcar for sure, ending up upside-down in the ditch, and most likely, underwater.

The brakes of course are useless on this surface and so you leave your success or failure to fate, and as you career off the edge and descend into the abyss below, you remember one last detail: they call this obstacle: “The Grave!”

This is one of the best adverts I’ve seen is a long time. A combination of loads of preparation and some CGI:

And just to balance it with another extremely clever and artistic advert, this one is “The Wind”:

Last night the wife went to the Gym for the 7-8pm session, leaving me home with the kid. My daughter hadn’t been feeling well, and I decided to give her a slightly earlier bed time.

So at 7:30 I was upstairs reading my daughter a bed time story, when I heard an odd noise. I couldn’t quite place it, but it sounded close to the house, too close in fact. I paused, listened, but heard only silence. I’m sure it was the neighbour’s car door or something. I continued reading.

A minute later I heard another noise, louder this time. Again I couldn’t quite place what the noise was; I felt the hairs on the back of my neck raise and tingle. I froze, listening intently. This time my daughter asked what was up and I explained I heard a noise and was listening for it.

“Someone’s downstairs.” she said, quite matter of factly and a smile on her face.

“There can’t be.” I replied. “Mum’s down the gym and won’t be back till after 8.”

“It’s the floor boards.” she giggled, “I recognise the noise. Someone’s downstairs.” At 6 years old, this was a great game for her.

Now I was quite alarmed though. She was right, the noise had been too close to be the neighbour’s car door. There was definitely something moving downstairs. I figured the cats had probably brought in a kill or something and were re-enacting the death scene in the hallway, which is where they normally do it. I told my daughter to wait in bed, “I’ll just go check…”.

I walked out of her room and into the hall, I stopped to pull her bedroom door shut behind me. I paused to listen. The landing light was on, and hall light at the bottom of the stairs was not, just as I’d left it. Quietly I slipped down the stairs. I noticed that I had goose bumps on my arms.

At the bottom of the stairs I could see that there were no cats about, and I couldn’t hear any further noises. All seemed calm and normal, but now I had a choice to make: turn right into the hall way, or left into the study. The study door was ajar, and I could see the light was off. The chances of there being an intruder in there was slim I thought, but to check was risky for 2 reasons: they would see the door open and I’d have to stick my head round to peer behind the door; also I’d expose my back to the hallway, in the direction of which any intruder was far more likely to be, as that way lead to the front door, living room, kitchen, dining room and back door.

Finally I decided I didn’t want to leave any room unchecked between me and my daughter, so I took a chance and quickly poked my head round the study door. The room is small, and even in the half light I could see that there was no one there.

Of course there wasn’t! I was being silly. There was no one in the house, that only happens in the movies. It’s those pesky cats, I was sure. With renewed purpose I strode down the hallway and marched towards the kitchen. I’d do a quick sweep: the kitchen and it’s open plan dining room, then living room, and be back upstairs in 30 seconds and back to the book. I could see the kitchen light was on and I push the door open as I strode in briskly.

I can tell you with complete certainty what happened in the next few seconds, because slow motion took over and every detail is completely clear to me:

The door to the kitchen opened to the right, revealing the kitchen and sink, piled high with dirty pots and pans from cooking tea. I could see there was no one in the kitchen before I’d crossed the threshold. As the door swung fully open, and I passed the handle, I could look to my right through into the unlit dining room, in which the lights from the kitchen were casting long shadows. It was then that I saw him…

There was an intruder IN my house!

He was stood in the dining room, turned half away from me so I could see his right side. Silhouetted in the street lights from the window behind him, he was wearing grey tracksuit bottoms, white trainers and a black hoodie, which was up, concealing his head completely from me. He had his head bowed and I could see his attention was fixed on my wife’s handbag. She often leaves it on the dining room table, along with her purse and mobile phone. His hands were in the hand bag, rifling through her belongings. If he hadn’t already, I felt sure he’d find her purse in a matter of moments.

He wasn’t a tall man, but to be honest that was quite irrelevant, a million years of evolutionary Fight or Flight instinct had already started to kick in. I’m honestly getting choked just re-living it now! Almost before my consciousness had taken it all in, my subconscious mind had already sent the alarm signal to my adrenal gland, which promptly dumped its load into my blood stream. The effect was virtually instantaneous.

I felt the adrenalin shoot down my arms and legs. Oxygen and glucose levels spiked, making my muscles strong and my brain alert. My body was instantly in full emergency mode. I know I’m a strong man, due to 6 months of Crossfit I’m in the best physical shape I’ve ever been in, but that was also irrelevant, the adrenalin had seen to that, I could feel the power coursing through my blood. This intruder was in my house. MY HOUSE! I was alone with my daughter upstairs in her pyjamas in bed, the defence of me and mine fell completely on my shoulders, and boy was I ready!

I had no idea who he was, or what he wanted, or what he was going to do, or whether he was armed, with a knife or even a gun. But in my mind I had already defenestrated this guy (thrown him through the window). He was leaving, by the fastest possible route. It was going to be easy: he was 5 metres away, from a standing start, at full acceleration I could close the gap between us in less than 2 seconds. The involuntary roar of my charge would startle him long enough for me to reach him before he could react. I knew in all honesty, that I couldn’t have kept it in. Already I could feel the guttural shout building in my stomach as my legs, reaching their full power, started to tense for the off.

I knew what I had to do, in the split second that had passed I’d visualised the entire encounter already. Once I reached him he was going to get grabbed.; left hand round his neck, right hand on his trousers. I wouldn’t stop, my momentum would help him break through the double glazing of the window he was standing in front of. He was a few metres away from it, and I’d need the time for 2 strides I’d get in, to bodily pick him off the floor and line him up horizontally with the window. Seriously, at no point did it occur to me that I couldn’t summon enough strength to force this guy through the two layers of reinforced glass!

I found myself starting to move, this was it, my daughter’s life could depend on what happen in the next 5 seconds! My life and my health didn’t matter, but whatever happened, this guy was going to be in no fit state to harm her. In a few moments he’d seriously regret picking this house.

He must have heard me, heard my intake of breath, or grunt, or move, or the kitchen door open, I don’t know, but as I started my first step towards him, he turned and I got to see the face of my adversary for the first time…. It was the wife!

OMG, the waves confusion and relief physically shook me, as I came thumping down from my high. “Oh, it’s you.” was all I could fumble to say, which didn’t do justice to how I was feeling right then.

“Why do you look so angry?” she asked. I would be in no fit state to answer that question for some time. “Eh? It’s nothing.” I said and turned and made my way back upstairs to finish the kid’s story. My body ached and complained. Some small matter of what to do with all this adrenalin that was still in my veins without its expected physical outlet, and the odd realisation that I’d been seconds away from throwing my wife out through the window.

In a strange coincidence, I had a 2nd similar adrenalin filled adventure that very night, when the kid’s hamster escaped at 4am, snuck into our bedroom, and startled the cat that was sleeping at the bottom of the bed. The ensuing bedlam taught me how my adrenal gland is also useful as an excellent alarm clock! But that’s another story.

Last week I posted that I got a 1:29.1 for a 500m Concept2 Row at Crossfit Manchester.

Friday I beat it: 1:27.5 !! 😀

I don’t think I could move for about 10 minutes afterwards mind, my legs were killing me and I had an instant headache, but I am well chuffed with that. I put the difference down to that weird slider thing on the side of the Concept2’s: the damper setting. Always it’s set to 4, simple because it’s always set to 4! However, in theory (if I understand the theory correctly) a higher setting should suit me, as I have more strength than stamina, if you see what I mean.

So I experimented, and set it to 7. Well it seems to have worked, taking 1.6 seconds off my time is a significant step I think. And checking the Concept2 world wide rankings again, I’ve moved from the top 15% to the top 10%. Or looking at it the other way round as the Concept2 site does, I’m exactly on the 90th percentile for times in the 2008 season for my age group (*cough* 30-39 *cough*).

As before, I trailed off badly in the last quarter. Splits went something like this: 0-350m I bobbled around 1:23 – 1:24 pace. It all started to feel very hard about 370m, and I had dropped to 1:29 ish by 400m. By 450m I was struggling to do better than 1:32 and it was a desperate attempt at just hanging on in there till the end.

To be honest, my technique needs some work as I managed to nearly stand up over the starting 100m, and kept launching myself off the seat. (Note to Concept2: install seat belts!) The chain was flapping about rather too much, and I noticed I was ending the strokes on tip toes too. All brawn and no brain I guess, lol. Interestingly, whilst that 1:25 Athletics Skill Level 4 time is suddenly looking achievable, to get it would you would rank 13th out of 276 on the Concept2 fastest times this year, (or 29th out of 719 for last year) that’s pretty Elite!

Pssst, Davie, wadya think about that then? 😉

I thought I’d post up yesterdays Zone Diet food intake, just for fun and your criticism. It’s never a bad idea to get people to critique you once is a while, so feel free to point out any mistakes you think I’m making. I’m on 17 blocks per day.

Breakfast – 5 blocks

• 5oz Cold Roast Turkey Breast (5 Protein blocks)
• 75g Light Philadelphia Cream Cheese (7.5g of fat = 5 Fat blocks)
• 200ml Innocent Fruit Smoothie (30g of carbs = roughly 3 Carb blocks)
• 1 apple (2 Carb blocks)

Morning Snack – 1 block

• 1oz Cheddar Cheese (1P and I count 1 Fat block here too, as it’s full fat cheese)
• 1 Satsuma (1C)

Lunch – 5 blocks

• 200g Smoked Mackerel (5P)
• 1 1/2 cups grapes (3C)
• 1 Satsuma (1C)
• 1 Nectarine (1C)
• 15 Cashew Nuts (5F)

Tea – 5 blocks

This was not a normal tea we had, I decided to do something as close as I could to what I would have considered “normal food” before the Zone, so it was Bangers and Mash with gravy! Only I zoned it of course, and one interesting twist: it wasn’t mash potato, but mashed cauliflower. I’ve found mashed cauliflower to be an excellent mashed potato substitute.

• 400g of good quality, 97% Pork Sausages (10P)
• 1 Large cauliflower 4 cups worth (2C)
• 1 9inch Parsnip (3C)
• 2/3 cup Onion (1C)
• Bisto Beef Gravy, about 35g dry weight (4C)
• 4 tsp Light Mayonnaise (4F)
• 2 tsp Butter (6F)

The Mash was made by steaming the cauliflower, parsnip and onion for 20 mins, then blending them together with a hand blender, with the Mayo, butter and some wholegrain mustard.

The observant amongst you will notice that this meal adds up to a balanced 10 blocker, however I ate exactly half this.

Evening Snack – 1 block

• 1 cup natural yoghurt (1P and 1C)
• 9 Pistachio nuts (1F)

Actually, I’m not sure that 9 Pistachio nuts are 1 block of fat. But 3 Cashews are, and to my eye a Cashew is about 3 times the size of a Pistachio, so that’s how I got to 9 = 1 block. Do you know better, please comment.

So how’s that, any problems or improvements you can see, let me know.

My current job at Intrinsic Marketing, is to promote other peoples websites. This is a multi faceted role that covers many aspects of how to improve website Return on Investment (ROI). From on-site factors like layout, keyword density, titles, shopping cart process, customer experience etc., through to off-site promotion techniques like Pay Per Click advertising (Google AdWords for example) and general Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) which contrary to popular belief, is mostly about what happens off your site and revolves around getting external links to your website.

Well one of the clients sites I work on is a review site for UK Business Opportunities. In fact I’ve been working on promoting this site for about 6 months now and have see it steadily rise up the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) over that time. Yesterday I came to check on how the site was doing, and look what I found (click to enlarge the image):

For the unquoted term business opportunity, the site is #1 in Google.co.uk (it’s a UK site) even though I selected to search all the web, which is great news in itself and I was pleased about that. But then I looked more closely and saw how many competing sites Google had returned.

Out of 264,000 websites, and my clients’ site is number 1 !!!

I knew that “business opportunity” is a very competitive term, but it had never occurred to me just how big that number is, or how significant that result is until now. In fact it’s easier to say 1/4 of a Billion, and I don’t know about you, but I struggle to comprehend even how big a number 1 million really is, let along a billion..

Whilst I was pleased, I thought I’d let my client know before Google decided to change the algorithm and mess up my hard work. This was his immediate reply:

“firkin hell ! how did you pull that off !”

Lol! Of course exactly how, will remain a secret that I keep, but that actually raises an interesting point. Having achieved the impossible, can I now rest on my laurels? Can my client now say, “Thanks Colin, I’ll take it from here.”? No, clearly not. In some respects, now it becomes harder, because when you’re at the top you become a target for the guys below you. And if they have and SEO expert worth their salt on their side, he will be busy trying to reverse engineer what I did and find out exactly how I’ve achieved this success for my client.

Fortunately for me, it’s not a trivial exercise: Google obfuscate their algorithm by hiding some back links, and deliberately showing some that don’t count. MSN (or Live as it’s now called) have disabled their backlinks function. And steps have been taken to ensure that Yahoo’s Site Explorer links function is full of noise and hard to trace through, besides, it only shows 1,000 back links anyway.

Despite this story, there is one important thing that as a responsible Website Promotion Consultant it’s vital not to lose sight of: are we ranking for the correct term, and hence does that ranking equate to traffic that converts into customers? That I’m afraid, is a confidential conversation between me and my client, but I wouldn’t have spent 6 months working on it now otherwise would I?

Of course the next question is, how do you know a search term will bring converting traffic before you spend 6 months optimising for that search term? The answer to that is also a trade secret, one that I only share with my paying customers… 😉