So as of this morning, I am officially registered to do the Spartan Race Super in South London. And today, which was day one of Spartan training, I endeavoured to: DESTROY MY COMFORT ZONES....   (read more)

"Ultranumb", is to my mind one of best, most powerful, and most thrilling rock songs ever recorded. It is also - and I say this after a decade-long career of collecting thousands of tracks to power my workouts and runs - THE SINGLE BEST WORKOUT SONG OF ALL TIME....   (read more)

Renaissance marketing guru Tim Ferriss' new book is about hacking the human body. Amidst the wackier bits, I think there are some real gems in here for health, nutrition, and fitness. So, in about four minutes, here's what I got out of this book that I'm actually using ("Fuches Take-Aways")....   (read more)

Well, since I realised yesterday's post was nothing more than • 34.5% blatant vegetarian agit-prop; and • 65.5% unbridled and horrifying vanity... it's occurred to me to try and atone by posting a couple of personal favourite health and fitness tidbits (which might actually be of use to some of you out there)....   (read more)

Cancer is on the verge of overtaking heart disease as our number one killer. Cancer is also primarily an environmental disease - with 80-95% of cases due to environmental factors which can be controlled....   (read more)

Yeah - you know the January people: The young, pumped guys - grunting, picking up way too much weight, then letting it crash to the mat like a construction site disaster... The middle-aged disco queens trotting in and out of 'Legs, Bums, and Tums' in fresh-from-the-packaging lycra......   (read more)

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So today marks the launch of this new thing I've been fiddling with on and off for a couple of months now. It's a music site - tailored totally for runners, cyclists, weightlifters, aerobicizers, gym rats, and all others who rely totally on their workout MP3 playlists to get themselves moving....   (read more)

So today I ran with the sun on my face. This was my first run in, oh, probably three months. Which is the longest I've gone without running in, oh, probably about 15 years. ...   (read more)

I told him that really a Tube Strike is pretty much like the weather - no one can do anything about it, so everyone just works around it, and I like running, anyway. Well, by the end of yesterday, I've changed my position. My position now is: Frack TFL....   (read more)

Another year in London, another fracking Tube strike....   (read more)

So it seems an awful lot like this song makes me cry. It certainly did on my run today....   (read more)

It will not have passed the notice of regular readers that I have taken up boxing. I've mentioned that the weekday sessions are fairly light-hearted (if not painless); but that the Saturday sparring sessions can be pretty brutal. Here are some results from my latest sparring session....   (read more)

Regular Dispatch readers may recall previously reading about me getting handed my ass. Well, lately I've switched to getting my block knocked off. That is to say, I've taken up "the Noble Art" - of boxing....   (read more)

Well, it's that time of year. I'd say the gardeners of Hyde Park must have planted the bulbs, the special bulbs, around March. You know the ones I mean. The ones that sprout blooming flowers on these warm days. Young, shapely, beautiful, nearly completely naked women - wearing only the equivalent of string underpants - lying on their stomachs, all over the grass fields of the park....   (read more)

Q: Just how much Graham Greene do you intend to read, anyway? A: Every word he wrote....   (read more)

Woke up, for some reason, at half-six; couldn't get back to sleep. Put on my black armband and wore it all day. (This is the one I keep for September 11th every year, and which it now appears will be getting use twice a year.)...   (read more)

So I've recently picked up a new activity: the martial art of Krav Maga. Simply translating as "close combat" in Hebrew, this form was developed specifically for, and is still taught by, the Israel Defense Forces. And this morning, I can tell you, I feel precisely as if a squad of Israeli commandoes has been beating me with lead menorahs - while I ran a half-marathon through the Negev. Jesus....   (read more)

realised in a flash that I could conceivably take the narcissism, self-absorption, and exhibitionism that are so startlingly inherent in vanity web sites in general, and blogs in particular, to great new uncharted depths . . . a brave new nadir of self-promotion and life minutiae documentation. I realised I could photo- (and/or video-)document virtually every moment of an average day of my life....   (read more)

"'Just the place to bury a crock of gold,' said Sebastian. 'I should like to bury something precious in every place where I've been happy and then, when I was old and ugly and miserable, I could come back and dig it up and remember.'"...   (read more)

"The effortful shepherding of one's confusion and faint nausea, which I assumed was the basic existential package, turns out to have been a temporary condition." - Martin Amis...   (read more)

The sunlight on the garden / Hardens and grows cold, / We cannot cage the minute / Within its nets of gold,...   (read more)

Heart is so full, and evening is mostly clear, and so I head out toward Chelsea, laptop on back - preparing to "kick it old school". That is to say, I'm going to find a congenial pub, treat myself to a pint (and possibly a half), and dispatch with great abandon....   (read more)

Lake Malawi is the 3rd largest in Africa (behind Tanganyika (Burton's discovery) and Victoria), and the 9th largest in the world. It is 580km long, and believed to be 750m at its deepest point. Moreover, due to it's waves, winds, tides, and unpredictable weather, it is officially classified as "the sea."...   (read more)

This is it. I've got my last, my very last bit of gear - down to a collapsing travel toothbrush. In the spirit of my first big trip, here it all is (well, except for a few missing items, like the camera for instance)....   (read more)