GO TO WORK ON AN EGG...

"Limiting egg consumption has little effect on cholesterol levels," research has confirmed.
"There is cholesterol present in eggs but this does not usually make a great contribution to your level of blood cholesterol.
If you need to reduce your cholesterol level it is more important that you cut down on the amount of saturated fat in your diet from foods like fatty meat, full fat dairy products and cakes, biscuits and pastries."
Having been told recently that the cholesterol levels in my blood are slightly raised, this comes as welcome news, so I'm off to build myself a nice egg-heavy mushroom omelette!
Will someone please 'discover' that a wedge of full fat soft cheese is also ok!

For the full article see here.

IL FUME...

I have a client who is so pro-smoking I have long given up any futile attempts at 'encouraging' him to quit. My words not only fall on deaf ears, but seem to provoke a pavlovian response that makes him want to light up immediately. Once we were running past a riverside pub on a wintry day when he noticed it had those outdoor heaters. With no hint of irony he turned to me and announced 'I must come back here and smoke'! You know who you are...!!

Photo: Tony Linck
Runner smoking cigarette while running marathon. Montreal, Canada 1949

MASTER SHIPWRIGHTS HOUSE...

Did a job here last week on one of the sunniest days in ages. It's an incredible place, all faded grandeur as you can see here. The house is so evocative of times gone by and it's the only single residence on the south side of the Thames with a garden directly on the river.
It was built in 1708 for master shipwright Joseph Allin - the current owners are now conserving and restoring it, painstakingly researching the house and the surrounding dockyards.
Strangely, a number of us felt really tired all day - I was unusually lethargic, despite drinking gallons of coffee and was in bed, exhausted, by 9.30 that night. Simon had nightmares three times in a week.
I'm not one for ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night but I really think there may have been a few territorial spirits lurking about the place!
On a lighter note, don't you love the name of the park, opposite?

HERB AND PERCY...

Herbert ("Herb") James Elliott AC MBE (born 25 February 1938) is a former Australian athlete, one of the world's greatest middle distance runners. He never lost a race over 1500 metres or the mile, and during his career he broke the four-minute mile on 17 occasions.
At the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, Herb Elliott won the 1500 metres race by the largest margin that had been recorded in Olympic history.
Elliott credited his visionary and iconoclastic coach, Percy Cerutty, with inspiration to train harder and more naturally than anyone of his era. Cerutty was known to avoid the track, talk about role models outside athletics (like Da Vinci and Jesus!), and bring his athletes to the unspoiled seaside beauty of Portsea training camp south of Melbourne, where Elliott would sprint up sand dunes until he dropped. "Faster," said Cerutty, "it's only pain."
In 1938 Cerutty was 43, a Melbourne postal worker with a 60-a-day cigarette habit on the verge of a physical and mental breakdown. Bedridden after a collapse and given six months to live, Cerutty set out on what would become a quest for physical and mental perfection. He eschewed cooked food, and began reading philosophy and history. He exercised relentlessly, and by 1940 he was the Victorian marathon champion with a respectable personal best of two hours and 52 minutes.

HEAR HEAR...

NOT TODAY...

I've had a niggly cold for a couple of weeks now, one of those low-lying insidious ones that make you feel generally under-par and like crawling into a hole until all is better again. I thought it was on the way out, then yesterday morning I got a throbbing headache and started feeling a bit dizzy - the tube ride back from Stockwell was enough to tip me over the edge and I took to my bed for the rest of the afternoon.
Which brings me to the point of this post and the question 'should I run when I'm sick?'
Most runners' main concern is that they'll lose performance by having a few days off.
No, you won't. It takes an extended period of time for you to see a drop in your fitness, usually two to three weeks. In my experience, many runners are on the verge of over-training anyway, and a few duvet days may provide a well-deserved physical and mental break.
I tend to follow a few simple rules - if you’re sick from the neck up (cold, sore throat,) then you can probably still run. If you’re sick from the neck down (body aches, chesty coughs, fever,) then you absolutely should not run. Your immune system is working hard to get you well, and a workout will delay your recovery.
In particular, you should never run with a fever. The risk of damage to your heart is a real issue with possible life-long consequences.
Listen to your body on this one and begin again when you feel 80-90% back at your normal energy level.
Today my head aches and I have a chesty cough and it's raining outside. Bring on the duvet, tea on tap and M&S yum yums! (And Tomo, would you be a love and bring me The Wire Season 3 pleeease!)

NO FIT STATE...

My exercise routine is becoming just that - a routine. It needs a good old fashioned shake-up to re-awaken sleeping muscles that have lay dormant (and cold) for too long. And I really should know better.
It seemed like fate was playing a hand when I received an email inviting me to join a six week static trapeze course. The blurb said:
"Static trapeze originated as a circus art. The performer works with music to create a routine around the ropes and bar using tricks, drops, rolls, holds and linking moves whilst keeping the equipment still. This is a creative process and no two artists link standard moves in the same way".
The creative bit sounds appealing, I like exercising to music (only ever run with ipod) and I'm already envisaging myself looking like one of the stunning aerial performers I saw last year at the No Fit State Circus* in Hackney!
But this was the bit that really sold it to me:
"Learning trapeze develops confidence and self reliance and something really interesting to talk about at parties."
Can't argue with that!

Photo: No Fit State Circus
*Performing at the Roundhouse, 28 March - 19 April - go see, you won't be disappointed.
Trapeze courses at www.myaerialhome.vpweb.co.uk

PERFECT REDS...

Nars lipstick in Jungle Red
Chanel bag
Sadly defunct telephone box
London Underground sign

BALACLAVA CHIC...

Apparently there's a cold spell coming and I feel completely unprepared. However many layers of clothing I put on there are two parts of me that remain freezing whatever - all of my face and all of my fingers. And thumbs. Ok,that's more than two, but you get my drift.
When I'm riding my bike I wear His new super-duper Gore gloves even though they're massive on me, but who cares when they're like central heating for hands. And I received a gorgeous pair of black leather cashmere-lined gloves for xmas that make me feel like I've just stepped out of a Hitchcock film.
But the face thing is a problem. What can I wear ON MY FACE that doesn't make me look like an off-duty armed robber?
And then I came across this...

And I realised that in the face of abject coldness, practicality always wins!


Balaclava photo from www.outsapop.com

BEGINNING AGAIN...

I'm finding it unusually hard to kick-start my running. Saturday came and went, along with a succession of lame excuses, and Sunday was a complete non-starter for no other reason than it was cold - but really cold. (Is it my imagination or is this winter far, far colder and gloomier than last? This time last year I was merrily pounding the streets in training for the Bath half-marathon, today I'm struggling to drag myself out the door).
I think I must be in the 'contemplation' phase, certain that 'action' is just around the corner!
Like the girl in the picture, I'm having a rest. I need to be psychologically prepared as well as physically.
Or maybe I should just man up and get out there.

Runner Gunhild Larking relaxing at the Melbourne Olympics 1956
Photographer: George Silk

DRINK MORE COFFEE...

Almost everyone I know is detoxing. This is putting enormous pressure on me, being a fitness professional and all.
So this morning I thought about giving up coffee. For about a nanosecond.
Once I had decided this was one of those 'unrealistic' goals, I set about researching the benefits of drinking coffee, so I could feel ok about it!
The latest research has not only confirmed that moderate coffee consumption doesn't cause harm, it's also uncovered possible benefits. Coffee may reduce the risk of developing gallstones, discourage the development of colon cancer, improve cognitive function, reduce the risk of liver damage in people at high risk for liver disease, and reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease. Coffee has also been shown to improve endurance performance in long-duration physical activities, and it's extremely high in antioxidants, so counter-acts all those nasty free radicals.
It would be positively reckless of me to stop drinking coffee now, surely; if anything I ought to consider increasing my intake!
I would say there are a few golden rules to happy coffee drinking though.
1. Always freshly made - no instant granules. Never.
2. Any hint of bitterness - send it back. The old, used coffee has built up and not been brushed out properly.
3. Tell the barrista if you are particular (like me) and must have just the right amount of milk. This might provoke a sulk, but don't be deterred, especially if it's Starbucks..they're totally fleecing you anyway, so be awkward and feel like you're getting your money's worth.
4. And never drink coffee after 5pm if you value your 8 hours sleep.
Happy supping!!

QUIETLY DOES IT...

'May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions'. ~Joey Adams

I don't believe in new years resolutions. I never make them, or not publicly anyway. And if I decide to do something new, give something up, or change something about myself I'm not entirely happy with, it will remain my little secret until such time that I feel confident in its working, or at least continuing beyond February. At which point I might decide to share.
Do start exercising, pay more attention to what you eat (and drink!), and try something new... but perhaps do it quietly.
When you're up and running (forgive the pun) and feeling that amazing sense of accomplishment and well-being, you can begin the victory parade in the knowledge that yes, your 'resolutions' were not only (quietly) achievable, but hopefully, sustainable too.

(Photo of Rudolph Valentino Life )

PUSSY GALORE...

Stylist Steph and I were desperate to dispose of the last of our per diems on the flight back from Dubai - for me it was a toss-up between the Clarins Beauty Flash Balm (which she bought) and this gel eyeliner by Bobbi Brown. Much as I love the clarins, which can brighten the dullest of winter weather-beaten skin, I feel I have discovered a new staple for my make-up kit.
While easy to apply on a model, I rarely wear the cat-eye liner look myself, it being quite tricky to perfect.
But this gel liner comes with the perfect size brush and is just so easy to use...this look is definitely the way forward for anyone over 30 who's (hopefully) said goodbye to the glitter pot!

Trick: Never try to apply in one stroke. Slowly build up to get the perfect line.

A LITTLE OF WHAT WE LIKE...

I love this clip, especially the semi-naked lady puffing on a cheeky cigarette amidst Eadward Muybridge's beautiful take on the moving human form.
Before we decide to give up everything we enjoy, consider the familiar adage that a little of what we like can't hurt us. Can it? Opinions appear to be divided...