Latest F&M News
July 2010: F&M client Tom Crandon gets nearer to his ‘7 stone’ fat loss goal! Not everyone I’m sure is like me when overweight but only now that I have lost weight and gained a moderate level of fitness do I realise how unhappy I was before. Friends and colleagues alike are now asking me questions like how much weight more weight do I want to lose and how long will I keep up the personal training sessions. My reply has changed since the start. When I started it was ‘until I’m thin’. Now it’s a more realistic ‘ I don’t think I’ll ever stop the sessions because it makes me feel good about myself, gives me a sense of direction and a sense of control over how I feel’. I have achieved I’m sure what would be interpreted as great things over the years both professionally and personally. The achievement of a great weight loss far outweighs all that I have achieved in the past. I have never felt this good about myself and my current situation before, and I know it’s a consequence of good fitness and nutrition. Both of which I never would have appreciated without Mark. By going to Mark for PT sessions I have gained a great personal trainer, a confidante and above all a good friend. August 2009 - Inspirational F&M Clients Dave Lovell and Jamie Mahoney complete first ever competive race! The Brecon 10, was a gruelling 10 mile race, which was the first for two of our clients Dave Lovell and Jamie Mahoney who have both lost over 2 stone in 3 months!!! Dave and Jamie joined Mark in a race where the competition was tough. Mark came home in 1hr 9min whilst Dave and Jamie came home in 1hr 22 min and 1hr 24 min repsectively – what an effort! Even better though, the guy raised almost £1000 pound for a selected charity - well done lads!
  David and Jamie - May 2009 Inspirational ; Dave Lovell (22) and Jamie Mahoney (25). Two Work colleagues Dave and Jamie who started training with me in May 2009 have achieved such greatness i wanted everyone to see, and im sure they wont mind me showing your their truly inspirational achievements. Both guys have lost way over 2 stone in just 3 months of training with me 5 x per week. These 2 guys totally listened to the Nutritional advice i gave them at the start and have adhered to everything set out for them. In just over 12 weeks they have cut out alcohol (apart from one day out at the Ashes where they got drunk and then beat themselves up for days about it!!), all takeways and fried food, fizzy drinks, bread, heavy starch carbs, chocolate and crisps. In has come loads of water, eggs, chicken, tuna, protein and meal replacement shakes, salad, protein bars, fruit and vegetables. Jamie has even managed to quit smoking also. 
Dave and Jamie - August 2009
Training Now:
It makes me proud to see how far the guys have come and their dedication, attitude and discipline to training and a new healthy eating programme and way of life is the absolute finest.
“So, things went really well. I’m glad I was in Hamburg almost a week in advance, that way I had enough time to try out the cycle route and swimming in a wetsuit and in open water. Also, there was time to get my bike fixed, which was slightly damaged in transit. I had a good rest the 2 days leading up to the race and made sure I got up early the day before and spent all day cheering on the sprint distance age groupers and elite women, so that I was nicely knackered in the evening and actually managed to sleep well. I had to get up at 5.30am, but that was fine. I had a big slice of wholegrain bread with almost a jar of Nutella on it for breakfast – that was going to be a good source of energy ;-) All I really had to do was grab my stuff and leave the house, as I’d prepared everything in the evening. I picked up my mom on the way to the race and went straight to check in my bike and running gear. There were 4000 athletes racing that day, so each person only had a tiny bit of space for their gear in transition, but somehow I managed to remember my spot well and didn’t have any trouble later in transition. Next up, we watched the first few waves start their swims and then it was time to get into my wetsuit. I just about fit into it, but I really should have lost a bit more weight pre-race…my mom asked whether mine was made of different material or why the others weren’t struggling so much…embarrassment ;-) Before I knew it, it was 7.40am and my wave got called to the pre-start – yippee, almost there! 10min before our wave started we were allowed into the water and I paddled about a little bit to get comfortable – all going well. And then, finally, with loud music and applause from the other athletes and spectators my wave started into the race! I had what felt like a really good start: all felt comfortable and I went straight into a good pace…well, for me ;-) Then I don’t actually know what happened (this is the funny thing about triathlon, you seem to suffer extreme cognitive impairment during the race ;-)). In any case, I swallowed a good bit of water and was coughing about for some time and just couldn’t do anything else than doggy-paddle. Strangely enough I took it quite easy and just went with it. Probably, the fact that others were happily breast stroking about even slower than me helped some. In any case, somehow I got back into it and from then on the swim was AMAZING!!! I would never have thought I’d enjoy it this much. I’m actually going to buy a book about the nicest open water swims in the UK, because I want to do more of it. So, once I got going it all went well and I got out of the water really happy. Next there was a 200m run to get to transition. I thought I’d be able to go faster, but strangely enough my legs felt like bricks, so I just jogged. The wet suit came off more easily than during practice, I’d organized my transition well and so after pushing my bike another 500m through transition I jumped onto it happily, cheered on by mom.
Now, the bike leg was just fantastic. I picked one person off after the other and felt strong throughout. I even had a bit of fun chatting to this guy who kept overtaking me…just for me to overtake him a few minutes later. We decided we should enter as a team next year ;-) Gudrun and Frank had told me they would position themselves along the route, but I wasn’t sure whether I’d spot them. What I hadn’t realized was that they’d bring a massive Welsh flag, so even with my eye sight it was no trouble at all picking them out. I cycled past them 4 times, which was just brilliant motivation! The last thing I remember, my new team partner overtook me, then a while later I went into T2, which again went smoothly: I got out of my bike shoes just before getting off my bike, once more mom cheered me on and, again, everything was in place in transition, so I was through quite fast. The run was a lot harder. Not really because it was physically harder, but just because I found it hard to pace myself. I did manage to set my stop watch when I started, so I could check every km how I was doing, but, really, once 1km is too slow it’s quite a lot of work to not only pick up the pace, but also make up for the lost time. I’d eaten my two snacks on the bike and had drunk my 2 bottles, but I was extremely glad that there were drinks stations every 2, or so, km! Brilliant organization – you could choose between water and energy drinks. By now Gudrun and Frank had made their way to the Alster and their cheering me on gave my running a little boost – thanks guys! Then, around half way mark, the guy from the bike leg overtook me – he must have had a massage in transition to have fallen this far behind ;-) All was still well…until I reached the half way mark. I don’t know what happened, but I slowed down stupidly over the next km. But, thank God, I was getting close to where Frank and Gudrun were waiting, so I managed to pick up the pace a little again. With 3km to go I started to feel a little happier and at 2km I picked up the pace again. Around 1km another treat was waiting for me: my friends Mario, Laura, Daniel and Kathi plus some of their friends had come to cheer me on! Thanks a million guys, especially to those of you who came all the way from Darmstadt that was just so cool! Somehow we also managed to find all of my friends in the chaos, so after I had had a shower we all headed to a restaurant together. I didn’t stop talking about the race and refused to take off my medal all day, and hope I’ve convinced some to race with me next year. All in all it was a brilliant first Olympic distance race – I totally enjoyed myself and I know what I want to work on next, so what more could I ask for?
F&M & ArcEnd - Improve your fitness, have a laugh and support charity - all at the same time!
Fitness & Motivation are delighted to be teaming up with a new sustainable clothing company called ArcEnd for a series of events designed to raise money for some local charities and also keep you focused on fitness in 2009/10. ArcEnd is based in Cardiff and sells 100% fair trade & sustainable clothing for extreme sports, outdoors and nice people. They have some awesome hoodies, tees, and more - so go to www.arcend.com and get some stuff! As some of you are aware, I've been training the MD of ArcEnd, Geraint Evans, for years now so we're really happy to be working together on this and doing something we love - training and having a laugh! How it's going to work We are planning to enter a team of athletes (YES YOU!) into a series of 12 events, starting in June this year. The events are going to test all parts of your fitness and determination, and will range from hiking and bog snorkelling to running against horses! Here is how it is going to work:
Initial Events The first three events will be as follows. You can go to each web link for more info: 13th June 2009 31st August Fri 03 July 2009 - Sun 05 JulyThree peaks challenge 2009 3 Peaks Challenge - Ben Nevis, Snowdon & Scarfell in 24 hours!http://www.carechallenge.org.uk/3peaksWHAT YOU DO NEXT We'll be setting up these events on F&M's facebook site for you to join in with. Please let us know if you are definitely going to do it with a 'yes' or a 'maybe' if you need more information! That's it for now, thanks for reading this and for your continued support of F&M and ArcEnd. Bethan Dursley spends a weeks work experience with F&M (June 9th - 13th 2008)
F&M helping to rehabilitate Car Accident victim.
F&M client Molly Melhuish completes 7 marathons in 7 days!! It is known as ‘The toughest footrace on Earth’ It covers 243km/151 miles run over 6 days (7 for some) - equivalent to 5 1/2 regular marathons. In addition to that, competitors have to carry everything they need for the duration (apart from a tent) on their backs in a rucksack (food, clothes, medical kit, sleeping bag etc). Mark worked with Pilates instructor Molly Melhuish 3 times a week for 4 months in the lead up to this gruelling event and we are pleased to say that Molly completed the race and is back training with us now – Well done Molly!!
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July 2009: F&M sponsor, super fit client Jen Klein, who competes in and completes the Hamburg Triathlon
So, then the last km I just went for it. The last 500m or so were quite strange to run. While there were loads of people all along the entire bike and run route, most people had congregated at the start/finish and so the applause was so loud, I couldn’t hear my breathing or my footsteps, which would usually give some indication of how fast I’m going – really weird…and wonderful! Mom was there at the finish line and made sure I ate, drank and stretched enough ;-)
