Welcome to another edition of my newsletter.

Me and Rinat published our latest podcast episode on Bitcoin Halving which we recorded in March. Hope you enjoy this episode. Rinat used Descript to edit the video, add background music, and a lot more with just one single tool. We also used Squadcast to record our podcasts on the cloud. Really good experience and after interviewing loads of people for producing our podcast we found this tool to be the best bang for our buck.

I also ran the Berlin Half Marathon in my new Hoka shoes and it was one of the best running experiences of my life. For more details please read the newsletter below.

I completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge in 10 hrs 28 mins with a friend. And we have now registered to do the UK National Three Peaks Challenge in August 2024.

I am also taking part in the Mizuno Half Marathon, part of the Midnight Sun Marathon (MSM) event, at Tromsø in Norway. I’m excited about this run as it’s inside the Arctic Circle during the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and also a day after my 40th birthday.

Rinat and I also went to the F1 Arcade experience in London and racing each other in a simulator was fun. It had different levels of driver assists available right from full assist to zero assist and boy it was hard. Following the racing line and controlling your speed at the same time is very challenging.

I tried Taekwondo with Aquila Taekwondo as I want to learn some form of martial arts this year. And I already knew their instructors, Master Kuzey and Georgina, from our local Parkrun so it was easy to start with. But unfortunately, I can’t find the time in my current schedule to fit it. Hopefully, I can join them sometime in the future. Loved all the kicking.

I swam 40 laps of breaststroke at the London Aquatics Centre, the most technologically advanced and stunning swimming facility in the world. It was also the official venue for all swimming events of the London Olympics in 2012. I wanted to swim 40 laps in one go to celebrate turning 40 this year.

I ran at the Bushy Parkrun where the 1st ever Parkrun event occurred 20 years ago on 2 October 2004. This was like a pilgrimage for me and for many people who run at Parkrun events. The event worked precisely by the clock, with the run starting on time and the results being published before 10:30 AM for 1590 finishers.

Also, I breached the 1200 rating on LiChess in the 10-minute Rapid-style chess.

And we are, as a family, riding in the Ford RideLondon FreeCycle event on the 26 May 2024. This is the ultimate ride for cyclists of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. Set on a traffic-free 10 km route, the event is a unique opportunity to explore central London by bike and it's completely free to take part!

In this edition

• 🏃🏻 Generali Berlin Half Marathon 2024

  • DAY 1

  • DAY 2

  • DAY 3

• 🚶 Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge 2024

  • DAY 1

  • DAY 2

  • DAY 3

• 🏋🏼 Fat Free at 43

  • TRACK

  • TRAIN

  • TRANSFORM

• ❤️ Things I enjoyed

🏃🏻 Generali Berlin Half Marathon 2024

My 2nd Half Marathon was one amazing event. The crowd, the atmosphere, and the route were all amazing. Cherry on top was the presence of my family which felt amazing. Sharing such moments with your family is the best feeling.

We went there for the weekend and did lots of sightseeing and ate lots of vegan/vegetarian food and of course, the best part was the Generali Berlin Half Marathon. With over 30,000 participants it is one of the best organized events in the world.

DAY 1

We arrived in Berlin on 05-Apr-2024 and checked into our hotel about:Berlin after taking public transport which was very efficient and convenient. The most unusual thing we noticed in Berlin was that there were no entry or exit gates at any of the stations. This meant that sometimes we forgot to buy tickets as you can walk straight to the train without a single gate to stop you.

Our first agenda was to meet my wife’s cousin for brunch at Avocado Club followed by coffee at Ben Rahim. He is working in Germany and came to visit us.

After coffee, we walked around a bit before joining a guided walk. This was Welcome to Berlin! by Walkative!. It was quite a pleasant walk with lots to see around central Berlin covering history, politics, geography and World War. My most favourite site was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It is a must-visit site in Berlin.

We then went to pick up my racing pack from the Tempelhof airport. It’s a massive place which used to be an airport but now hosts different events.

We retired for the night after a dosa special dinner at Saravanaa Bhavan.

DAY 2

My wife and her cousin woke up early to run the Hasenheide parkrun while me and my son enjoyed breakfast at The Visit Coffee & Eatery. We went for lunch at Miss Pho after my wife and her cousin returned and got fresh.

They then headed out for another guided walk while me and my son had some rest in the hotel. I wanted to rest my legs before the big event the next day. We met them later in the evening just as they finished their walk.

The highlight of the evening was the East Side Gallery which is street art drawn over a part of the Berlin Wall. We saw some thought-provoking art. And the other highlight was the dinner at Dervish a restaurant serving vegan food from Central Asia. We sat on cushions on the floor and ate traditionally.

DAY 3

My wife’s cousin had to leave early morning as it was a long journey back to his place before he started work the next day. So after bidding him goodbye, we started getting ready for the race.

My strategy was the same as the last run at Lisbon -

• take 4 gels during the run,

• try to cover at least 11 kms in the first hour,

• and finish the Half Marathon in under 2 hours.

I think my strategy was good but my pace was affected by the heat. It was 19°C when the race started and by the time I finished, it was 22°C. The water stations every 5 kms also didn’t help as I frequently got thirsty after the first 5 km. In Lisbon, the water stations were there every 2.5 kms after the 10th km which helped a lot in the heat.

My pace dropped as I progressed through the race but I aimed to finish before the 2 hr pacer crossed the finish line which I did by just 22 seconds.

I think after the run I was relieved and eagerly wanted to hug my wife and son. It was a while before I managed to find them since the mobile network in the area was very choppy.

After the run, we went back to Miss Pho for lunch. Got fresh, checked out of the hotel, and my wife paid a €60 fine on the train for not having a ticket, a direct consequence of us forgetting to buy a ticket because there were no gates at the station. I had free travel because of participating in the race but my wife, unfortunately, didn’t have such luck. We finished our day by having dinner at Amrit before we headed to the airport.

🚶 Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge 2024

The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge is a 24-mile (38.6km) round trip route and includes 1585m (5200ft) of ascent.

It takes on the peaks of Ingleborough (723 metres), Pen-y-Ghent (694 metres) and Whernside (736 metres) in under 12 hours.

These hills form part of the Pennine range, and encircle the head of the valley of the River Ribble, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

I always wanted to do this challenge ever since I heard about it and finally got an opportunity to do it this year with another friend from our Parkrun.

DAY 1

We drove in my car for close to 7 hours, including two breaks, to reach YHA Ingleton, our stay for the event.

The check-in was smooth and we headed out for dinner at Peaks & Troughs after shopping at Morrisons for some groceries.

After dinner, we prepared our kit and sandwiches and showered to prepare for the long day ahead.

DAY 2

It was an early morning start and we needed to reach the starting point by 0530 hrs to start before 0600 hrs. We got ready and had a quick breakfast before heading out in the freezing 1°C.

The start was before 0600 hrs and it was a beautiful day to do the challenge.

We finished the first two peaks in 4.5 hrs.

But the walk to the third summit took 5 hrs. I felt the challenge was less about the summits and more about walking the distance between each summit. There were two water stops, one of which was also a lunch break. But apart from that it was constant walking which felt very tiring. Overall, the weather was good, the company was great, our guide was excellent and we finished the challenge in well under 12 hours.

Without the support and our guide, this would have been quite a difficult challenge to do on your own. I drank close to 5 litres of water, plus protein bars, gels, sandwiches and a lot more. The toughest part would be to carry all the water with you.

DAY 3

After having a good breakfast, dropping our keys and filling the fuel in our car, we drove back to London and this time it was quite fast. I think we reached in around 4.5 hours.

Overall, it is a great challenge to do on a sunny day but not on a cold wet day 😀.

🏋🏼 Fat Free at 43

I have followed Ankur Warikoo since 2022 now and have been a fan of what he talks about personal finance. But recently he released a video where he showed how he transformed himself at 43. This was an amazing transformation to watch.

He calls it the 3T (Track, Train and Transform) framework to lose weight.

TRACK

You can’t improve till you know where you are. So measuring everything is very important.

It doesn’t matter what diet you follow or what food you eat. Losing weight is all based on simple mathematics. Consume less food to burn more fat.

Maintenance calories - These are the calories needed to maintain your existing weight. If you eat more calories than this, then you will gain weight. If you eat less calories than this, then you will lose weight. Once you reach your target weight, eat the amount of calories needed to maintain that weight.

My maintenance calorie is 2623 kcal/day at 74.7 kgs (current weight) compared to 2516 kcal/day at 68 kgs (target weight). One needs to burn around 7000 to 7500 kcal to lose 1 kg of body weight. So if I go into a calorie deficit and reach my target weight of 68 kgs, then my new maintenance calorie would be 2516 kcal/day.

Counting calories - Using apps like MyFitnessPal, he was keeping track of all the calories he was consuming.

Calorie deficit - By spending more calories and consuming fewer calories one can go into a calorie deficit. A 500-calorie deficit every day would result in around 1 kg of weight loss every two weeks. He controlled this by doing intermittent fasting, reducing his meal portions and consuming more healthy foods than junk foods.

Increasing protein intake - He recommends the following diet composition to shred fat and gain muscles. This is important to help replace the fat by building muscles. Your body weight is composed of

1. Bone weight

2. Muscles mass

3. Fat mass

4. Water mass

We want to increase muscle mass while keeping fat mass low.

TRAIN

Building muscles comes by lifting weights (and increasing protein intake) so that you don’t become skinny while you are losing fat.

Ankur Warikoo also did cardio in the form of playing tennis. But one can do anything to increase their overall cardiovascular health (how fit are your heart and lungs?). Cardio exercises help in losing weight. But if you eat excess calories then it won’t matter. In the end, it’s all about counting calories. No wonder getting a ripped body in six months to a year has now been narrowed down to an exact science.

Napping, sleeping, and meditation were three things he mentioned to help with our mental well-being as well. Sleeping helps in faster recovery and faster weight loss.

In a separate video, he outlines all the exercises one can do at home to increase one’s fitness. These exercises target shoulders, chest, biceps, triceps, legs, core, back and calf muscles.

I designed a simple workout that can be done in 15 mins max.

1. 10 x Pushups on fist

2. 10 x Squats

3. 10 x Bicep curls | 10kg DB* /hand

4. 10 x Tricep bench dip

5. 30 secs Plank

6. 20 x Leg flutter kicks

7. 30 secs Static hold - 20kg KB*

8. 20 x Calf raises

9. 20 x Toe curls

10. 10 x Overhead press - 10kg DB*/hand

*DB - Dumb Bell, KB - Kettle Bell

TRANSFORM

Tracking daily measurements like body measurements, taking photos, and measuring weight is important to see the progress one is making. He gives us this sheet to track our progress and see our transformation.

Note - The image on the second video seems to be AI-generated with his face swapped to it.

Remember there is no good food or bad food and humans are incredible at consuming almost anything. It’s all about the calories in the end.

❤️ Things I enjoyed

This section has been inspired by Ali Abdaal’s wonderful newsletter.

🎬 Video - Photos I took in the midnight sun 😵‍💫 is a video to remind me how beautiful Tromsø would be in June. Simply mesmerizing.

📝 Article - The Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps is an interesting list of all the latest consumer apps used across various categories.

📱 App - Termius is an SSH client and terminal you can use to connect with one click from any mobile.

🎙️ Podcast - The Complete History & Strategy of Microsoft is the best podcast I have heard in a long time summarising the journey of Microsoft and how pivotal its role has been in shaping the computer industry.

🎞️ Movie - I watched two thought-provoking films recently - Civil War and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. The first film focussed on the civil war in the USA and what it meant for the whole country. The second film focussed on humanity’s effort to regain the position of the most dominant species on Earth.

🌐 Website - #ShowYourStripes is an amazing site illustrating the rise in average temperatures in London and all global locations around the world.

Thank you so much once again for reading my newsletter this week. Please feel free to Buy me a coffee if you are enjoying what I am sharing.

If you want to follow me around the internet, then please do so here.

Until we meet again next week, be positive, train more, be cardio-fit and lift weights.