Introduction:

My name is Steve Cuviello, I'm 41 this month and I am a Personal fitness trainer based in Wymondham, Norfolk. I set up in business in October 08 following a career change to follow a healthier lifestyle. I still have to work hard at my own fitness and have many personal challenges and goals I wish to aim for. I have had struggles in the past with my own health & fitness including being several stones overweight, so I try to put into practice what I advocate for my own clients. It is not always easy! So this leads me on to my no.1 fitness goal for 2010 which is exactly the same one as for 2009! I want to run a marathon in under 4 hours. Why? For me I think this would be a respectable time and I am confident it is within my capabilities! Again I have chosen to run the Edinburgh Marathon in May and aim to put to my experience in Edinburgh in 2009 firmly to rest!

Edinburgh 09 - The aftermath

Only 8 minutes and 30 seconds!! In fact 4 hours 8 minutes and 30 seconds. Although this was a personal best (PB) by over an hour (being my 3rd marathon... 1st 2 were in my heavier days of 16 stone plus) I was pretty disappointed not to have come in under 4 hours!

My 16 weeks training had gone well, my weight was ok at 13 stone 7lb (I'm 6.1) and I had ran a 20 mile race 8 weeks earlier in a pro rata marathon time of approximately 3 hours 48 minutes. With this in mind I felt really confident of running my sub 4 hour target time when I set off on that sunny Edinburgh morning.

So what went wrong?....2 things went against me that day. The first was a challenge for all 20,000 runners and the second was 100% of my own doing!

May 31st 2009 in Edinburgh was an unnaturally HOT day and not only for Scotland in May. It was about 27 degrees after an hour of the race and by the mile 20 mark I was finished! The heat had well and truly finished me off. I continued by walking, jogging and eventually limping with cramp; the last 6.2 miles feeling bloody awful! My only saving grace was that I was not the only one. People were keeling over left, right and centre. However, there were still many thousands of runners who no doubt ran well and ran PBs and I reckon at least 99% of them would have been lighter than my 13 stone 7 lbs! The bottom line for me was that at this weight I was in fact too heavy and too heavy on that day in particular to run a Sub 4 hour marathon. I am fit at this weight but not for marathon running and therefore I have some work to do in the next 20 weeks.

I have just weighed in a Post indulgent Christmas @ 14 stones and 3 lbs (17.6% body fat) and I am a personal fitness trainer!!

20 Week training blog

Each week I will give an honest 'warts and all' account of my weeks training. I hope the accounts can be of interest to anyone who is thinking of running a marathon or in fitness in general, especially if they are coming from a lower fitness base! (If I can do it, they can too!)

Goals

1. To run the Edinburgh marathon in under 4 hours (in whatever weather!)
2. To weigh 12 stones 7lbs or less and Body fat % to be under 12% (24lbs!)

The Plan - What will be different this time? (Injury free and illness free permitting)

20 week running plan in place commenced 4th January- Estimated mileage over 20 weeks approx. = 600 averaging 30 miles per week. This is 4 weeks extra marathon training and an extra 120 miles! This is a 5 run per week schedule including long easy runs, shorter tempo runs, hill runs and speed work. I am a member (one of the slower ones) of Wymondham Athletic club and Monday night is club night where I can learn off the other members and keep the motivation up with fellow runners. I have also scheduled in 2-3 weight/circuit sessions per week and one rest day per week. This training is to be fitted around my home (married with 2 young children) and work life. There will be lots of early morning cold runs to look forward to! Runners Essentials - The Training Log

20 week nutrition plan

• 5-6 small meals per day, every 2-3 hours
• Diet to consist of mainly natural, unprocessed foods;
  • Fruit
  • Vegetables
  • Lean meat
  • Fish
  • Eggs
  • Oats
  • Rye
  • Quinoa
  • Nuts
  • Seeds
  • Olive oil
  • Avocados
• Protein supplement to boost training intensity and muscle recovery... (I haven't tried this before so want to test out if it works for me)
• Supplementing also with;
  • Vitamin C (immune system)
  • Echinacea (Immune system)
  • Vitamin B complex (energy and mood)
  • Glucosamine (joint health)
  • Omega 3 fish oil (brain and heart health)
  • Magnesium (energy and bones)

More challenging will be my list of NO’s;

• No Alcohol
• No Bread or wheat products
• No Cheese
• No Chocolate
• No Processed foods
• No Biscuits
• No Pastries, Cakes
• No Coffee (week commencing 11th Jan!)
• No Second helpings
• No Third helpings
• No Eating kids left overs
• No Late night snacking!

My reward

Have a boozy couple of days in Edinburgh to celebrate...ONLY if I come in under 4 hours

This plan will I hope deliver the fat loss I need to get down to approx. 12 stones 7 lbs. The nutrition plan will definitely be the hard part as I enjoy the training! Easy to write down but the next 20 weeks will show me if I have it in me! Do I want this badly enough? Sitting here on 5th January writing this I can say YES I DO.

Time will tell.

Cheers, Steve

P.S. If you see me, do not offer me cake, beer or chocolates! THANKS

Week 1 >

Author: Steve Cuviello from Cuviello Personal health and fitness http://www.cuviellopersonalfitness.co.uk