The English weather turned nippy last night with a sharp frost. Snow is forecast across the country tomorrow.

Despite his tough talking in a lecture a couple of weeks ago, 1970 Commonwealth marathon champion Ron Hill said cold weather is no time for heroics. He insists you should always make sure you are comfortable. And if the temperature is below 10 degrees celsius, that means wearing legwear. If it is below zero, he doubles up with two pairs. The reason being that knees are very vulnerable to the cold.

This is even more true when cycling, where windchill can reduce the temperature of the cartilage still further. Lacking flexibility, it is more likely to injure. It’s noteworthy that even footballers are now choosing tights in certain conditions. The point about being comfortable is not that it makes you soft, but that it protects you. To coin a term from business, and so much sport is now, this kind of injury avoidance technique is risk management.

It was freezing when I went out for a very gentle 5k this evening, and for the first time I did just that. Ironically, the two pairs of leggings that I wore were both made by the company Ron Hill founded. One pair must be 15 years old. As hard-wearing as the man himself, but then he does have a PhD in textile chemistry from Manchester University.

Resting Heart Rate 50

Weight 72 kg

Mood

Total exercise energy consumed 602 kcal (5k run, 10 mins bike)

What if you could turn the clock back and find that you had what it takes to be an Olympic athlete? Peter Keen, the UK’s head of high performance at UK Sport, the funding body, recently said that armchair athletes in their twenties today are not too late to consider participating in the London Olympics in 2012, assuming they have the latent ability, and are prepared to put in the work. However, they would have to choose an endurance event like marathon or cycling.

The Maximal Test I took last Friday is recommended by Bath University Human Peformance Centre before any potential athlete embarks on an extensive and demanding training programme. It presupposes the individual will use a heart rate monitor. (You can acquire a basic model for around £50). The test will tell you all sorts of vital statistics about your current strength, and highlight any deficiencies. Above all, it could reveal a hidden talent concealed within your genetic make-up.

When I first took one a couple of years ago, I nearly fell out of my chair. Although not quite good enough for elite competition, my endurance ability, as measured by my so-called VO2 Max was 61. When I repeated the test last Friday, it had edged up marginally. Professional marathoners tend to produce a number from 70 upwards. With training and some loss of weight my VO2 Max might still go up. It may well have been higher when I was younger.

If you are in your twenties now, lurking within you might be a professional athlete waiting to get out. There are plenty of good examples too of athletes who found themselves later in life. See later posts for some notable winners.

What does a Maximal Test do?

The sports laboratory, while measuring your heart rate at different running paces, also analyses how effectively your body converts oxygen by capturing your exhaled breath and running it through a computer to ascertain that VO2 Max number. With a few regular pin-pricks in your fingers, the scientists will also tell you how much lactic acid you produce at different speeds. This helps determine how you need to train to improve. When our muscles ache, that’s lactic acid doing its worst. The more we work, the more we produce. Ironically, my test showed I need to run at slower speeds and longer distances to improve my running economy. I was a bit better at higher speeds, possibly because I run too fast in training.

They also test your iron levels. Mine were fine for this type of activity.

Resting Heart Rate 51

Weight 72 kg

Mood

No exercise

Sleep disturbed, felt viral during night. Long day working in the City. Chose not to run despite programme.