Well it truly was a remarkable day.
I headed off for my 5 kms hike - which according to the geocaching site was a wheelchair accessible 5 kms (wasn't sure if this was 5 kms return or each way) with a rise of approx 100 m.
Great I thought - I'll have a go at running it. 100m's over 5 kms isn't very steep.
My first problem was - which trail to take. My GPS shows you the direction to the cache as the crow flies, and the trails are all quite windy. So I headed off on what I thought was my best bet, but after 600m the trail turned and I was pretty sure I was going in the opposite direction. So I headed back. The only trail left that seemed to be going in the right direction was the Summit Hike. Now I've done this before - its 6 kms straight up, for advanced walkers. Not really sure that I wanted to tackle this on my own, but I thought, well - maybe the cache is just part of the way up - so I forged ahead.
It seemed to be going in the right direction, and I was getting closer, but not quickly enough. For every km I walked I only seemed to be getting about 500 m closer. And wheelchair accessible track my foot! This is one of the steepest climbs I have ever done, and the track is only about 75 cms wide, very rocky and uneven, and then falls away down the cliffside! So running was out of the question, I had to concentrate on my footing.
I kept going. I ran the sections where I could be sure of my footing. Maybe it was up the top.
I got to the top to find that the cache was still 4 kms away! But the direction that my GPS pointed also showed another trail. This time a wide one that a vehicle could drive on. Aggh - don't tell me I was meant to come up on this different track.. Oh well - I walk down on this one - its probably gentler!
Wrong
I walk/ran this track for quite some time. I was getting closer and closer to the geocache, so I pushed on. but it was far from gentle - it was actually very steep - so steep that in places they had place reinforcing mesh over the path to provide the vehicles with better traction. The hours passed. Every time I thought I was starting my descent another hill would loom, taking me right back up to the top. I got within 1 km of the cache only to find the trail was now taking me further away, and from the direction of the cache - it seemed to be across an impassible ravine! Agghhh. I started to worry about the time and how many daylight hours I had left. I had now been walking for 2.5 hours, and still high in the mountain. I had no idea if this trail would actually take me down to the town, or keep traversing across the ridge of the mountain range. It was 2.30 in the afternoon and I had to make a decision. I knew I could get back down if I turned around and retraced my steps, but it would mean another 2.5 hours of hiking. If I kept going - I might get down quicker, but I might not at all - the mountain range was quite extensive - I had no idea how far the fire track would go. If I turned around, I could be guaranteed of getting back to my car by 5.00pm and in daylight. So I made the hard choice, and turned back. Reclimbing those very steep hills after travelling 14 kms was really hard work. I was also very worried about daylight hours and getting back home in time to take my daughter to dance practice, that I made myself run everything that was flat or downhill, provided it wasn't too steep. Once I "re-reached" the top of the summit, I was overjoyed to think that I was close to getting back. Only 6 kms to go of a somewhat treacherous descent. But it would at least now be all downhill. It was fairly slow going as some of the passes are just loose rock, so I really had to concentrate. I finally hit the last two kms of the path, which for the most part turns into a soft dirt trail (although still narrow and on the edge of the mountain), so at the 20 km mark of my journey I ran the last 2 kms.
I have never been so happy to see my car come into view! So after 4 3/4 hours, 22kms, an ascent of 1961 meters (according to my GPS and associated software), AND 2500 calories, I completed my battle - although cacheless - and exhausted.
My main focus at the end was hydration - straight to the shop for a powerade. Because when I headed out - I thought I may have been going for a walk/run somewhere between 1/2 hr and 2 hours absolute max, so I had only taken about 500mls in water. No where near enough for my marathon effort! I also hadn't eaten in 5 hours. Had only had my porridge in the morning, and a banana as I headed off. So I grabbed some soft lollies also for energy.
After a 45 minute drive back home, I had time for 10mins in the spa, and then had to take my youngest to dance lesson in the nearby town. This meant having to hang around for an hour whilst her lesson was on, and that I wouldn't be returning home until about 8.30 at night. I decided it would be too tiring to start cooking at this time, so decided to treat my self to some take away - after burning all those calories, I don't think it would matter what I ate. So I had crumbed prawns from Barnacle Bills - and threw out the chips.
So there's my battle for the day - oh and did I mention that before I headed out in the morning I had run for 45 minutes on the treadmill!!!!
Not surprisingly, the scales are smiling sweetly at me this morning......
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
The War - Day One
This was a highly successful day with almost all of my goals achieved.
I ate extremely well, although the Points Tracker recorded 22 points (I'm only allowed 18). However I had at least 8 points in exercise, and with the 4 points I'm allowed to convert to food, I still came in on target. Never used to use my exercise points for food before, but I think I have to train my body to eat more. According to Calorie King, it was an exceptional day with a total enery input of 219 calories! Of course I ate far more than this - I actually ate 1460, but in Calorie King it subtracts your calories burnt through exercise - and yes, I burnt 1242 calories in exercise!
What did I do? Just the treadmill blast, and then went on a 12km run/walk/hike! Tackled the nearby hills, but because I am still nursing a hamstring injury, I have to be careful with my running and not do too much. I also went hiding a geocache - have I talked about this before? Geocaching is a world wide "treasure hunt" where people hide and find secret stashes of goodies (usually just cheap trinkets), and locate them with the use of GPS devices. More information can be found here. I of course have a GPS on my Garmin for running, being the technonerd that I am, and so get to go running and treasure hunting at the same time. So after walk/running 5 kms of hills, I went hiking up through a reserve, got to the top, hid my geocache, and then came back down, and walk/ran another 5 kms of hills home. All in all, it took me 2 hours, 20 mins (can you tell I couldn't run much!) But it was an absolutely glorious day, and I loved every second of it. Today I am going to find a geocache in Melrose - I am going to try an run a 5km fire trail up Mount Remarkable, locate the cache, and run back down. My hamstring may tell me I need to walk, but either way I will tackle the 10 kms, regardless of how long it takes. And the forecast is for 21 degrees - absolutely perfect!
'
So the scales this morning said.........well thats a secret, but lets just say I saw the result of all my hard work!
I ate extremely well, although the Points Tracker recorded 22 points (I'm only allowed 18). However I had at least 8 points in exercise, and with the 4 points I'm allowed to convert to food, I still came in on target. Never used to use my exercise points for food before, but I think I have to train my body to eat more. According to Calorie King, it was an exceptional day with a total enery input of 219 calories! Of course I ate far more than this - I actually ate 1460, but in Calorie King it subtracts your calories burnt through exercise - and yes, I burnt 1242 calories in exercise!
What did I do? Just the treadmill blast, and then went on a 12km run/walk/hike! Tackled the nearby hills, but because I am still nursing a hamstring injury, I have to be careful with my running and not do too much. I also went hiding a geocache - have I talked about this before? Geocaching is a world wide "treasure hunt" where people hide and find secret stashes of goodies (usually just cheap trinkets), and locate them with the use of GPS devices. More information can be found here. I of course have a GPS on my Garmin for running, being the technonerd that I am, and so get to go running and treasure hunting at the same time. So after walk/running 5 kms of hills, I went hiking up through a reserve, got to the top, hid my geocache, and then came back down, and walk/ran another 5 kms of hills home. All in all, it took me 2 hours, 20 mins (can you tell I couldn't run much!) But it was an absolutely glorious day, and I loved every second of it. Today I am going to find a geocache in Melrose - I am going to try an run a 5km fire trail up Mount Remarkable, locate the cache, and run back down. My hamstring may tell me I need to walk, but either way I will tackle the 10 kms, regardless of how long it takes. And the forecast is for 21 degrees - absolutely perfect!
'
So the scales this morning said.........well thats a secret, but lets just say I saw the result of all my hard work!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The War is On!
Guess how much weight I lost this week?
Zip.
Nil
Nada.
If anything, I actually put on weight as I was a little generous with my starting weight.
On one hand I'm not surprised - I didn't eat well over the weekend, and had pizza for tea Sunday night - my weight always goes up after this - I think its because its salty - and my body retains the fluid. However for the rest of the week I ate exceptionally well, and exercised every day. I am convinced that I eat better than most people, less than most people, and exercise more than most people - yet whilst everyone around me's weight remains stable (eg hubby, children), my weight keeps creeping up. I've spent ages soul searching re this, and reading about why this is happening. I have a few theories:
1. Yo yo dieting/weight gains and losses over the years have taken their toll on my metabolism. I don't think my metabolism works the same way as people who have maintained a stable weight over a long time. Because my eating is still somewhat erratic (sometimes I eat the absolutely ultimate clean/healthy/elite athlete type diet and then some times crash and burn and - I wont say binge - but I eat a series of unhealthy choices - akin to what others consider a normal diet (!) ) I may confuse my body - low calories one day, then an abundance of calories the next - body thinks - "must hold on to these - don't know when I will see them next"
2. Winter is impacting on my metabolism. I've read lots about how winter affects people's metabolism, and I've noticed on lots of other blogs about people struggling with weight gains at the moment. Because it is so cold, the body sends out more "hungry" messages because it is diverting its energy into maintaining body temperature. And like most people who lose large amounts of weight - we really feel the cold. So it may be making me more hungry, and it certainly impacts on my motivation to exercise. Whilst I'm still exercising regularly, the intensity, duration and frequency have definitely dropped - because its so damned cold and dark all the time - all I want to do is curl up in bed with a good book
3. I'm probably dehydrated. I know I don't drink enough, and being winter I'm drinking even less. I might drink a 600ml Powerade light, a low fat Feel Good Iced Coffee (non SA's wont know what a great high calcium, low fat, high protein drink this is!) and maybe a few glasses of diet coke) So volume wise I might get close to 1800 mls, but the bulk of this is caffeinated which is dehydrating. I try and drink the water, but really only managing this if I'm exercising. I love the Powerade Light, and can drink 600 mls of this in a flash, but it does contain calories - although only 60.
3. My metabolism in general - I think because I have been eating so little for so long now (nearly 2 years), lots of information out there suggests that my body will have slowed my basic metabolic rate to cope with this. this would explain why I eat less, eat better food, exercise more than most, yet still struggle with my weight. I can impact on this (ie raise my basic metabolic rate) in several ways. One is eating more often due to the thermagenic impact of eating (warms you up), and secondly by gaining more muscle mass. Apparently and extra 1 kg in muscle mass can equate to your body needing an extra 400 - 500 calories a day! I've been a bit slack on the old weight training lately - so maybe this is somewhere to start. To me BMR seems to be the key, I really want to raise my BMR so that I can eat semi normally for the rest of my life and not gain weight!
I officially start two weeks of holidays as of today - so I have decided to start and assault on my body. THE WAR IS ON, and I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!!!!!
I will try and post my achievements daily over the next two weeks to keep me accountable. After all - I'm on holidays - I've got nothing but time to devote to this!
Here's the treadmill blast program that I quite enjoy in the mornings if I have time. Its short and succinct but gets the HR up.
Warm Up
1 min walk, 1 min jog over 10 mins
Working Harder
1 min side shuffle x2 (once with each leg leading), walk 1 min @ 3% incline, run 1 min @ 3% incline
1 min side shuffle x 2, walk 1 min @ 6% incline, run 1 min @6 % incline
1 min side shuffle x 2
Working Harder again
1 min running slow @ 6% incline, 1 min running fast @ 6% incline over 10 mins
Cool Down - repeat warm up
OK - that's it for now. The question is - how much weight do you think I can lose in two weeks???
Zip.
Nil
Nada.
If anything, I actually put on weight as I was a little generous with my starting weight.
On one hand I'm not surprised - I didn't eat well over the weekend, and had pizza for tea Sunday night - my weight always goes up after this - I think its because its salty - and my body retains the fluid. However for the rest of the week I ate exceptionally well, and exercised every day. I am convinced that I eat better than most people, less than most people, and exercise more than most people - yet whilst everyone around me's weight remains stable (eg hubby, children), my weight keeps creeping up. I've spent ages soul searching re this, and reading about why this is happening. I have a few theories:
1. Yo yo dieting/weight gains and losses over the years have taken their toll on my metabolism. I don't think my metabolism works the same way as people who have maintained a stable weight over a long time. Because my eating is still somewhat erratic (sometimes I eat the absolutely ultimate clean/healthy/elite athlete type diet and then some times crash and burn and - I wont say binge - but I eat a series of unhealthy choices - akin to what others consider a normal diet (!) ) I may confuse my body - low calories one day, then an abundance of calories the next - body thinks - "must hold on to these - don't know when I will see them next"
2. Winter is impacting on my metabolism. I've read lots about how winter affects people's metabolism, and I've noticed on lots of other blogs about people struggling with weight gains at the moment. Because it is so cold, the body sends out more "hungry" messages because it is diverting its energy into maintaining body temperature. And like most people who lose large amounts of weight - we really feel the cold. So it may be making me more hungry, and it certainly impacts on my motivation to exercise. Whilst I'm still exercising regularly, the intensity, duration and frequency have definitely dropped - because its so damned cold and dark all the time - all I want to do is curl up in bed with a good book
3. I'm probably dehydrated. I know I don't drink enough, and being winter I'm drinking even less. I might drink a 600ml Powerade light, a low fat Feel Good Iced Coffee (non SA's wont know what a great high calcium, low fat, high protein drink this is!) and maybe a few glasses of diet coke) So volume wise I might get close to 1800 mls, but the bulk of this is caffeinated which is dehydrating. I try and drink the water, but really only managing this if I'm exercising. I love the Powerade Light, and can drink 600 mls of this in a flash, but it does contain calories - although only 60.
3. My metabolism in general - I think because I have been eating so little for so long now (nearly 2 years), lots of information out there suggests that my body will have slowed my basic metabolic rate to cope with this. this would explain why I eat less, eat better food, exercise more than most, yet still struggle with my weight. I can impact on this (ie raise my basic metabolic rate) in several ways. One is eating more often due to the thermagenic impact of eating (warms you up), and secondly by gaining more muscle mass. Apparently and extra 1 kg in muscle mass can equate to your body needing an extra 400 - 500 calories a day! I've been a bit slack on the old weight training lately - so maybe this is somewhere to start. To me BMR seems to be the key, I really want to raise my BMR so that I can eat semi normally for the rest of my life and not gain weight!
I officially start two weeks of holidays as of today - so I have decided to start and assault on my body. THE WAR IS ON, and I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!!!!!
- I will knock my body into shape, and teach it to behave properly if it kills me! There are no time excuses over the next two weeks not to fit everything in, exercise lots, eat really well. So this is my plan:
- Drink more - I will drink 3 x 600mls of either water or Powerade Light, and accept the calories that go with this if needed
- Exercise at least twice/day - Morning and night. Will do the treadmill blast in the morning (have detailed this below) and run/walk in the evenings, plus weights on alternate days, and core work inbetween. (that should shake things up). will also look for other exercise opportunities during the day for hikes, long walks, bike rides etc. Nothing high in intensity - just volume
- Eating - will follow Vanessa Wiltons Winter eating plan. This will be interesting, it is a clean eating plan of 6 small meals per day - but it looks like sooo much food. I will also track in on the WW E-tools (points system) and Calorie King. I'm very keen to see how the two tools match up.
- I will take Fat Blaster tablets 3 x day. Now this is an interesting point. I don't think you need these to lose weight, but they are meant to impact on your metabolism (which I'm aiming for) and they are an appetite suppressant -which I shouldn't need if I'm eating well - but this is an all out war - and I want to see what the maximum results are that I can achieve - so we will see.
I will try and post my achievements daily over the next two weeks to keep me accountable. After all - I'm on holidays - I've got nothing but time to devote to this!
Here's the treadmill blast program that I quite enjoy in the mornings if I have time. Its short and succinct but gets the HR up.
Warm Up
1 min walk, 1 min jog over 10 mins
Working Harder
1 min side shuffle x2 (once with each leg leading), walk 1 min @ 3% incline, run 1 min @ 3% incline
1 min side shuffle x 2, walk 1 min @ 6% incline, run 1 min @6 % incline
1 min side shuffle x 2
Working Harder again
1 min running slow @ 6% incline, 1 min running fast @ 6% incline over 10 mins
Cool Down - repeat warm up
OK - that's it for now. The question is - how much weight do you think I can lose in two weeks???
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
It Ain't All Good
Well - I'ts been two months since my last post - and it hasn't been all that good. On a positive note, I have finally finished my study after 3 1/2 years - I now have a Masters in Primary Health Care. Its a huge relief to have finished as I was finding it the time commitment very demanding on top of full time work, a family, and all that exercise! On the downside, the final assignment was a huge amount of work, and fell at the same time as some huge work deadlines, leading me to work around the clock and get by on about 4 hours sleep a night for about a month. During this time I made a conscious decision to not try and fit exercise in, and relax my diet, but now I have to pay the consequences.
During the 3 months I trained for the 1/2 marathon - I somehow managed to gain 2 kgs even though I still ate relatively healthily(go figure), and in the 4 weeks I took off, I managed to gain another 2 kgs or so. I'm now 5kgs above goal and not very happy about it! So yesterday I rejoined Weight Watchers (online - I'm not into meetings). My original goal weight was at the top of my healthy weight range, but this time when I signed up - the suggested goal was mid way at 53 kgs - and I thought - why not! If I'm going to go back to tracking every morsel into my mouth, I want to achieve something significant, not just relose the same weight. So I have now set a goal to lose 10 kgs, not 5!
Exercise wise - I'm still loving it although not necessarily spending so much time at the gym. I took a few weeks off running after the 1/2 marathon (contemplating never running again, I was so sick of it!) But re-introduced it into my exercise routine on the treadmill for my cardio -more like intervals and short runs just to get my heart rate up. Now I'm back training for the City 2 Bay in September (12kms) and concentrating on speed work. Last year you may remember that my goal was just to be able to cover the distance. This year I'm pretty confident about achieving that part, and for the first time ever am concentrating more on increasing my speed. Still doing weights, and mainly running on the treadmill due to lack of daylight hours to run, but I can do all of this at home - don't need the gym for it. I really just use the gym for the classes which I love, but with school holidays and being away alot for work it has been hard to fit them in. Finally - is anyone else struggling with motivation due to the cold???? Due to short daylight hours, I find that the only time I have to exercise is after tea (that doesn't quite make sense since I exercise inside I know) - but it is a really hard push to get me out there each night. And I reckon I'm a fairly highly motivated person - If I'm having trouble, I don't know how others are coping! The gym is very quiet at the moment too!
Any way - I've had two really good days of eating on my new Weight Watchers plan, and last week I added in lunchtime walk/runs to my schedule (my only chance to see daylight!) on top of my evening routines to boost my metabolism - lets hope it works. According to CalorieKing if I keep up this level of eating and exercise I should lose 5 kgs in a month - wouldn't that be fab! I'd be back to my old "new" body that I was very happy in. Lets see what happens!
Oorooo (Big Brother Travis talk!)
During the 3 months I trained for the 1/2 marathon - I somehow managed to gain 2 kgs even though I still ate relatively healthily(go figure), and in the 4 weeks I took off, I managed to gain another 2 kgs or so. I'm now 5kgs above goal and not very happy about it! So yesterday I rejoined Weight Watchers (online - I'm not into meetings). My original goal weight was at the top of my healthy weight range, but this time when I signed up - the suggested goal was mid way at 53 kgs - and I thought - why not! If I'm going to go back to tracking every morsel into my mouth, I want to achieve something significant, not just relose the same weight. So I have now set a goal to lose 10 kgs, not 5!
Exercise wise - I'm still loving it although not necessarily spending so much time at the gym. I took a few weeks off running after the 1/2 marathon (contemplating never running again, I was so sick of it!) But re-introduced it into my exercise routine on the treadmill for my cardio -more like intervals and short runs just to get my heart rate up. Now I'm back training for the City 2 Bay in September (12kms) and concentrating on speed work. Last year you may remember that my goal was just to be able to cover the distance. This year I'm pretty confident about achieving that part, and for the first time ever am concentrating more on increasing my speed. Still doing weights, and mainly running on the treadmill due to lack of daylight hours to run, but I can do all of this at home - don't need the gym for it. I really just use the gym for the classes which I love, but with school holidays and being away alot for work it has been hard to fit them in. Finally - is anyone else struggling with motivation due to the cold???? Due to short daylight hours, I find that the only time I have to exercise is after tea (that doesn't quite make sense since I exercise inside I know) - but it is a really hard push to get me out there each night. And I reckon I'm a fairly highly motivated person - If I'm having trouble, I don't know how others are coping! The gym is very quiet at the moment too!
Any way - I've had two really good days of eating on my new Weight Watchers plan, and last week I added in lunchtime walk/runs to my schedule (my only chance to see daylight!) on top of my evening routines to boost my metabolism - lets hope it works. According to CalorieKing if I keep up this level of eating and exercise I should lose 5 kgs in a month - wouldn't that be fab! I'd be back to my old "new" body that I was very happy in. Lets see what happens!
Oorooo (Big Brother Travis talk!)
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