In the immortal words of Aragorn. A day may come when this sort of thing doesn't tilt me, but it is not this day.

Dude you should be delighted he only had 28bb! This is a brag not a beat!

Keep trucking buddy.

To be fair I wasn't really tilting. Rolled me eyes, laughed, posted that and then headed to work.

I still roll my eyes in amazement though that someone with 28BB cold calls a 3bet with 62s, lol.

How's the running going @thetallpaul ? I've really started getting back in to the past few months. Bought another new pair of runners last night.

Sick that he had your 5c out dead!

Got out for my longest run in a year and second longest run ever on Sunday. 22.37kms in pretty much 2 hours flat. Body starting to feel a bit stronger after the past month or two. Got out for another 9km before work this morning too and although the legs felt a little heavy after Sunday's run, they still felt pretty good overall.




So I've now done 452kms and now only 171kms behind the year to date target of 623kms so continuing to slowly close the gap.

Pretty much 165-170km months now for both April and May.

Planning on doing a 20km Mountain Trail run late July in preparation for my August trail event and perhaps doing a twilight/night GLOW Half Marathon in November. Beyond that no events entered but still preparing as if I might do the Melbourne Marathon in October, even though I haven't committed to it yet.

Poker

Nothing to report. I've gone from playing short sessions and losing interest to not even logging on at the moment. In a way I see this as a positive that I'm not forcing it or playing when I don't feel like it. It's barely even crossing my mind at the moment and when it is I quickly realise I'm not up for it anyway. I'm sure it will come back at some stage, it always does, but nothing to report for now.

Running

Quite the opposite here. Bought 2 new pairs of runners recently and a whole swag of accessories..... shirts, beanies, caps, tights and even a headlamp for night running. After a slow start to the year I'm now 1/3 of the way towards my 1,500km goal for the year and getting in between 40-60km per week currently. I've just completed my best week of running where things all started to click at the same time.....pace, distance and body feel all at their strongest point this year and improving all the time.

Obviously have my 20km trail run in August and another trail run warm up about 3 weeks prior to that. However I'm starting to warm to the idea of the Melbourne Marathon in October. I'm 42 now (43 by time Marathon comes around) and with a few months training feel like I should be strong enough to get it done. I don't want to leave it too late and then think back that I should have done a Marathon. I've made a pact with a running friend who's keen to do it that I'll make a decision at the end of this month. This month involves me putting in some real discipline in other aspects of my life on top of the actual running. I'd like to strip a little extra weight and see how my body feels and whether the knees, groins etc can then handle those longer runs with less issues. So I'm planning on June being a big month distance wise (hopefully crack 200km for the first time) but I'm also giving up the KFC and other associated shit food, having no booze and also trying to get in to better sleeping habits.

So far my last drink was May 29th. I have a 6 pack of beer I bought and placed in the fridge as a test of will power. I want to see it still there come June 30th. I haven't had any KFC and I'm also keeping a food diary and trying to keep at least a rough estimate of kilojoules in and out. I weighed in at 93kg at the start of the month and was 92.5kg at yesterday's weigh in so a little weight lost but although the loss wasn't huge, I can't definitely notice it already by look and feel. The sleeping is taking a while as I've never been a great sleeper and find myself tossing and turning for long stretches during the night still but I'm hoping with regularity that it will improve.




So pro-rata YTD kilometres are 643 and I'm now on 498kms run so have closed the gap to 145kms now. Hopefully by end of July I can have my actual kms close to the YTD target and then starting pushing ahead.

The new wheels and group running singlet in action at Saturday's Parkrun.

Yeh I'm deffs a weirdo when it comes to sneaks as I literally saw the image and it was the first place I looked.....you been bulking this summer bro? Your arms look jackeeeeeeeeeeeeed son!

Haha, nah mate no bulking. That's just me.

Just naturally have arms like the hulk?

Lol, mate. Not sure what you're seeing but I don't see it. Fairly normal arms. No huge bulk there.

Think we need to call in our resident body appreciator @Harvie to decide if your jacked or just a normal man

Still very little poker being played and when I do it's one step forward and one and a half steps back. Basically treading water for now.

The running however is coming on in leaps and bounds. Longer runs, faster runs, lots of group runs and starting to incorporate some interval sessions.

Have maintained my eating/drinking diary and have come in under the KJ target most days so far. Did have a mate over to watch the football last Friday night so as a good host I shared the 6 pack of beer with him but haven't replenished that and continue to avoid the grog and drink heaps of water. As of the start of this week I had dropped 1kg so far and now come in at 92kg. Fairly hard work for 1kg but hopefully by the end of June I can manage at least 1kg more and perhaps 2 with a little discipline.

As at June 14th I have run 109km for the month and am on target for my first ever 200+km month. As can be seen by this little graphic I have picked the mileage up over the past few months and look ready to have my biggest month ever in June.




As for the year, I am now on 558km and only 122km behind the pro-rata ytd target of 680km. With a short run planned tonight, a longer one tomorrow and a big weekend planned, I should close within 100km of the ytd target fairly soon. In fact it's possible I may even hit the 1,000km mark earlier than I did last year (end August) despite having a more solid start to the year in 2015.




The likelihood of me entering the Melbourne Marathon is getting more realistic now. If the body feels it is handling the longer distances and faster pace in another 3-4 weeks I will make a decision.

Ever been a fan of cycling?

Got a mountain bike but not a road bike. Often thought about getting a road bike to supplement the running. Looks like I've stumbled on to a free stationery exercise bike though which I'll pick up in the next week or so. Close to brand new and quite a decent one. Another one of Dad's attempted fitness kicks he can't be assed with anymore

SO on those nights I can't be bothered running or when the legs are a bit sore, I can always get some exercise bike kms in while watching some TV.

Poker

Gone from playing very little to basically not playing at all. Not a deliberate decision to avoid the game, I just haven't felt like it. I'm doing and enjoying that much running (often in a group environment), supplemented by eating well, not drinking and getting more sleep, that I find I'm happy and healthy and never feeling like just plonking in front of the PC and loading up some tables.

Whereas when I am getting a lot of poker in I tend to stay up late, drink quite a bit more, go to work feeling tired and lethargic and generally overall don't feel as good.

The thing is I do enjoy playing the game. I'll need to find a balance when I fire up again so I'm not over doing and still enjoying the healthier lifestyle habits.

Running

So the running is going great. The body is feeling pretty good for the most part and I'm starting to think registration for the Melbourne Marathon is a real possibility. Dropped down to 91.5kg now, the pace and the distance of the runs are really improving. Can't emphasise enough how having a supporting running group (even if you still run solo a lot) makes a difference to your motivation and enjoyment of the sport.

Have now run 174km for June as at the 21st which puts me on target for my biggest month ever by the time I do tomorrow's run and on the verge of my first ever 200+km month. Did a group half marathon on Sunday just gone which is the second time in the past 3-4 weeks I've covered that distance.

Total kms for the year now stands at 620km which is now only 89km behind the YTD pro rata target of 709km. It shouldn't be too long in to July when I get actual kilometres run ahead of target.

The second graph here really shows the step up in distances over the past few months and with a noticeable increase in pace also this month I'm really starting to feel good.

Running

So June has come to an end and despite the odd snack and occassional glass of wine I maintained a fairly disciplined approach to my eating and drinking, having stuck with the food diary all month in an attempt to keep a rough eye on kilojoules in and out.

The final result, with the aid of a shit load of running, is that I have weighed in this morning at 90.5kg after starting June at 93kg. Pretty hard work for all the miles I've run and how well I've eaten - thought I might have dropped a bit more to be honest. Still, not a bad result and will continue to monitor my habits for another month at least and perhaps look to drop a few more kgs.

I will also discuss with my wife (and running buddy) about finally taking the plunge and entering a full Marathon in October. In terms of the wife, it's about the time commitment for preparing etc and ensuring it won't be too large a burden on family. In terms of running buddy (he isn't local - more of long distance support) it's about whether we both enter and try to tackle the event together.

Last Saturday I managed my fastest 5km run at parkrun in nearly a year. Only about 13 seconds off my best and within 26 seconds of that 20 minute barrier. Hopefully in the next few months a sub 20 minute 5km is another goal I can tick off.




So as it stands now I've done 681km at the half way point of the year which is now only 69kms behind the half way point target of 750km. If I have another month as big as June I shoule be ahead of target by the end of July.




As can be seen by this graph, June's total of 232kms is clearly the biggets month I've ever put in.

Had a great trail run yesterday with a couple of other guys. Nice coastal run only 10 minutes from home with some great views. Plenty of hills, sand and wind to compete with which should be a nice training run for my event in August.







Not only that, I rounded out my day of sadism by finally registering for the Melbourne Marathon. Never ran further than 23km before but in about 13 or 14 weeks I'll be tackling the full 42.

Stunning mate!

So when you run with people I assume there is no conversation as such? More just motivation and sharing the moment of it all together?

Sure there are! Simple rule for LSD (long, slow distance) is that if you can't talk normally, your HR is too high and you need to slow down.