I recently did a post over at 4Ever Fitness about a brilliant range of free apps that are available on the Bupa website. I’d like to discuss a few more with you now and they’re very relevant to my up and coming charity Christmas challenge.

1. Running Health Check

For those of you that don’t already know, I’m running 60 miles for Percy Hedley over Christmas. If you’re new to running or are aiming for a personal best, Bupa have a great little tool available called the Running Health Check. It only takes a few minutes of your time and three questions. These include things like your health background and goals and then you will be presented with your own programme. It’s a great little tool and a one that I highly recommend.

2. Injury Prevention and Recovery

Running for 12 days in a row will be tough on me as I’ve never done anything like this before. The most I’ve ran this year is 7.5 miles and my run on New Years Day is an estimated 9.5 miles. There’ll be some people reading this thinking an average of 5 miles a day is easy, well I’ll see you at 11:30pm on Christmas Eve then! Haha. I think with the extra addition of freezing cold weather and possibly snow, this challenge will be exactly that, a challenge.

My next door neighbour Bill has kindly offered to run 6 of the days with me, one day on and one day off. He’s currently recovering from a calf injury so I’ve said if he’s fit to run, we’ll take it easy. He had some wise words for me about injury too. Touch wood, I’ve never really had a serious injury, not one that’s kept me out of training for more than a few days anyway. Bupa have an excellent page available called Injury Prevention and Recovery. It’s full of great advice written by their sports medicine team to avoid running injury. Check it out!

3. Sensible Drinking

It’s something I’ve always battled with but it’s something I always win. I was just chatting with the Mrs about this website and how it’s going and where I see it in a few months. I may not have all the certificates in sports science but one thing I can hopefully offer on this site is motivation, inspiration and real life stories. This site is real. The photos you see are of me and my family and friends and I have taken part in these events. I’ve been training for a few years now, mostly injury free and I feel in great shape. Therefore I must be doing something right.

Everyone I know enjoys a drink, I certainly do. For me it’s a case of letting my hair down now and then and it also reminds me not to take my training too seriously. Sensible drinking is just an act of discipline but it can be done. My friend Stephen tweeted me again the other night to say the wine bottle was calling his name. I tweeted him back with some words of wisdom and I think it worked. For me, I have a firm rule. No drinking on a school night. This rule of course can be broken and I do so myself sometimes but make sure it’s only sometimes. You should always allow your liver two full days to recover after having a drink of alcohol anyway. Bupa have a great page available for you all called Sensible Drinking and it explains how you can all enjoy alcohol sensibly as part of a healthy lifestyle. Good luck over this festive period!

The best things in life really are free. This was my first dance song on my wedding night. Looking after yourself really doesn’t have to cost the earth. Eat sensibly and exercise using your own body weight or use a cheap set of dumbbells. A healthy person is a happy person so what are you waiting for?

Thanks again for reading,