I love running, I love it not...

I seem to have a love/hate relationship with running. Ever since the half marathon I have really enjoyed NOT running regularly. I am obviously not one of these people who are addicted to running - I'm more addicted to exercise in general - I love the pumped feeling of pushing yourself to the limits, but I love variety. I still enjoy running but I enjoy not having it as my sole focus.

Lately I have been doing all the cardiocoach tracks in the mornings - mainly on the elliptical because it doesn't stress my hamstrings at all, and they seem to be perpetually injured (from running!). I've really enjoyed it, but have to be careful not to do too much as it really is a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout, and if I do it in the mornings, and then do Combat/Attack in the evenings, that's really two HIIT workouts a day - and its too much for the body to cope with day in/day out. Anyway - its been great, I've really enjoyed it all, and I've had no hamstring pain.

So Monday/Tuesday I was down in Adelaide and staying with my parents. I was unable to exercise Monday due to an early bus ride, and evening commitments - so I knew I needed to do something Tuesday. With no vehicle for transport, I thought a run would be in order. So I decided to stick with the cardio coach program and use it on an outdoor run.

I think my hamstrings became sore overnight in anticipation of the work (they have been fine for weeks, but felt sore when I got up - go figure!). Nevertheless I headed off - walking for the first 10 mins, and then did slow jogs for the interval work up a really steep hill. It hurt a bit, but it was OK. I've kind of decided to just ignore my hamstrings - I'm just so fed up with them not healing. Any, the cardio coach programs seem to be graduated in length and in intensity - and just my luck, the one I was up to was #5 out of 7. The wonderful Sean O'Malley told me that it was 60 min session with a series of short sprints. Ah well- why not. I could do at least one couldn't I. So I went for it. And it felt fantastic. In fact I ended up doing 6 x 1 minute sprints, with 30 secs rest, and then 6 x 30 sec sprints with 90 secs in between. Apparently in the first set of sprints I was meant to keep my HR below 85% and not hit the anaerobic state - ooops - kinda ran them all at 90% - 95%! I loved the feeling and got lots of strange looks as I practically bowled people over on the footpaths as a ran like a madwoman - or at least someone who was being chased by the boogie man!

But it all came at a price. I could feel the pain in the hamstrings, but I ignored it- I was having too good a time! Eventually when the pain became very sharp - I had to stop and skip the last two sprints. And of course today - I am in agony- not just the pain in the hamstrings, but every other muscle in my thighs is stiff and aches - because I really kicked butt! (Did I mention on one of the sprints I hit 15km/hr!!!!)

So it was an elated feeling, followed by frustration. I guess I really am going to have to see someone about this injury - (but as a health professional I hate to admit that I can't solve my own problems!) Whilst I don't want to have to run all the time just to keep fit (that seems like a chore) - I do love the feeling of really "going for it" every now and then. Once a week would be fine with me - but I can't keep putting myself through this injury. I would really like to be able to push myself to my limits without being limited by pain.

Maybe after Christmas when I have a bit more money....

By the way - only 6 more sleeps! I'm so excited - I have really spoilt the kids and I can't wait to see their faces!

One more "by the way". The reason I was in Adelaide was for my graduation ceremony - I have finally graduated with a Masters in Primary Health Care.

Day 14 report

Well, I'm not perfect.

And I didn't achieve perfection.

But I didn't do too badly.

I have been doing a lot of heavy cardio (up to 2 hrs a day - 1 hr in the morning, one hr in the evening) and its been quite exhausting. So much so that I had to have a rest day on Thursday or I wouldn't have been able to move- every muscle in my body ached.

I've been doing Cardiocoach in the mornings, and have now done all 7 of tracks, and have even done Cardio Pump this afternoon. I've been alternating doing it on my new elliptical/cross trainer (Chrissie present) and the treadmill. Good thing too as when I run I like to "let it rip" which it does, and there goes my hamstring again. But it doesn't hurt at all on the elliptical, but I have to work harder (ramp up the resistance) to get my heart rate up as it is low impact. On one hand I hope I don't get too much fitter or I will run out of resistance settings!

Food wise - I've been pretty good - not perfect, but within my calorie allowance except for my cheat meal - which I really enjoyed

I've done no weights this week - except for pump just now - too exhausted.

Results wise - not much change on the measurements except I have dropped 1 cm around the waist - bringing me back down to 80cm. Yay, because 80 cm is the limit for a healthy weight/low risk category.

Body fat wise - my skin calipers measured me up a bit to 18% body fat??? Not sure what this means - daily variation/variation in the way I measure it/or even does it suggest that cardio is good for dropping weight but I am losing muscle mass - can I lose 1% in a week? Who knows, more time will tell, although I will try and put some weights back in this week as my body adjusts to the extra cardio (plus I had two days in Adelaide for work which made it hard)

Finally - if my 17 y.o. daughter is ever home long enough for me to see her - I might get her to take some photos of me showing the muscle definition - its hard to do this yourself - and she loves taking photos.

Bye for now

PS - to all of those who welcome me back after long gaps between posts - I should tell you that I haven't been anywhere - I read all of your posts just about daily - but run out of time to comment or post myself! Your lives are much more interesting!!!

Day 21 (yes I'm counting backwards)

Achievement - 100%
Exercise - 911 cals - 42 mins Cardio Coach on the X trainer in the am, 60 mins Combat - pm

Food
M1 - Protein shake
M2 - Saladas and vegemite
M3 - Tuna salad
M4 - Yoghurt (with protein powder), apple
M5 - Protein shake (no time to eat real food)
Cals - 1390

Water - 2 litres

Net Cals for the day - 479
.

Day 21 of "Perfection" (am also calling this 21 days of perfection)
1 down - 20 to go

21 Days of Christmas

Before I talk of my Christmas plan - a bit of an update. Since my "exciting news" I have actually been quite depressed. Despite being at 17% body fat- and officially in the "lean" category - I am anything but lean. Whilst I am very happy with my upper body - it IS lean and mean - nice muscle definition - and I love wearing strappy tops to show it off, my stomach is a disaster.

With a waist of 81 cm and most of it "hanging" below this, it rolls around with a life of its own. I could never post bikini photos (or wear a bikini, or even anything tight fitting around the abdomen) because it looks so awful. The skin is wrinkled and puckered - and I reckon I could probably pick it up and weigh it on the scales all on its own. What is really depressing is that I have come to the realisation that my goal of a flat 6 pack stomach is completely unachievable without surgery. I have done everything possible to achieve this, and its just not going to happen. I read other peoples stories and see their amazing transformations, (to flat stomach's no less) and get upset that the transformation isn't there for me, despite all my hard work. If I didn't work so damn hard on it, I guess I wouldnt feel so bad, but the fact that when I read what all the body blitz/body for life champs have done to achieve such success, and I do this all the time, its quite deflating.

My husband doesn't understand this, because he just sees all the achievements, but when you've worked towards something for 2 years, and come to the realisation that you will never achieve it...... Anyway - I am trying to move on from my self absorbed wallowing. I have made an appointment to see a plastic surgeon -and although I can't get in until Feb, I guess its a start. I'm just not sure how I will go convincing my husband to spend bucket loads of money that we don't have, on something he doesn't want me to do......

Back to the goal orientated me. Since this episode I have really struggled to identify a goal. If its not about the weight - then no use using this as a goal. If my body fat is already in the lean category but doesn't give me what I want in a figure - not sure how to set this one. How low do I aim for? I think even 0% wont give me what I want. But I do want a smaller waist. Believe it or not since dropping the body fat, my measurements have increased all over - including my waist by 3 cm. (Which makes me doubt the body fat measurements, but it doesn't seem to matter how many times I do them I still come up with the same result). In previous readings and posts I have alluded to the fact that I don't think you can gain muscle and lose weight at the same time, and I am aware of some fitness models who cycle their diet to lose weight for a few weeks, and then alter their diet to gain muscle for a few weeks. So I have decided to spend the next 21 days leading up to Christmas to focus on losing weight overall - not in terms of kgs, but in terms of measurements - particularly my waist.

Here's my plan

• Stick to my clean eating plan with 5 small meals per day - but change my focus to coming in within the calorie limits rather than achieving the protein requirements. I'm going to drop my calories slightly to 1450 per day with two cheat meals per week (because of all the Christmas parties).
• Be firm about no starchy carbs after meal 3. I have been quite flexible about this up until now (ie having pasta for dinner if everyone else was having it, but just keeping my serving really small) but for the next 21 days - I will not eat any starchy carbs in meals 4 and 5
• Get a cardio hit every morning and night, 6 days per week, at the expense of weight training if necessary. I have been using cardio coach (HITT) in the mornings on the elliptical (my Christmas present) and it has been great - real leg burn when I turn up the resistance which I don't get from running. I firmly believe in weight training as an essential element of my exercise routine, but this is ONLY for 21 days. As long as I continue to weight train regularly - a few missed sessions shouldn't affect maintaining my muscle mass.
• Drink 2 litres water/day

Achieve 100% on each of my goals for each and every one of my 21 day challenge.

I will measure my effort as follows:

• Keep within 1450 cals each day, or 1200 on my cheat meal days (and not count the calories in the cheat meal) - value - 20 %
• Drink 2 litres water - value 20%
• Cardio in the morning - 20%
• Cardio in the evening - 20%
• No starchy carbs in meals 4 & 5 - 20%

To measure my results - I will do full body measurements 1/week, and I will weigh myself at the beginning at the end. - No more often than that and purely out of interest - the results I am looking for are a drop in body size - specifically my waist

To achieve 100% every day for 21 days will require an enormous commitment, but my motivation will be that I have done absolutely everything possible to be in my best shape for Christmas. Saving surgery, there is nothing else I can do.

The challenge starts tomorrow!

Exciting News

Well - what sort of results have I been getting for all my hard work this year?

In January 2007, (when I was within a kg or so of goal weight) I had a skin fold test done at the gym - and it showed that I had 30% body fat. This was much better than what my body fat scales were telling me - they showed 42%. So my aim was to drop fat/build muscle this year.

I've complained all year about how I seem to gain weight so easily - despite eating really well most of the time, and exercising hard - 1 - 2 hrs/day. I've blamed it on a poor metabolism - and not one to just whinge - I've worked hard at fixing that too.

The scales however continue to show 42 % body fat - they're not budging. I've been a bit suspicious of this - I thought that even though they are higher than the results from the skin fold test - it wouldn't matter - I could just use them to see changes.

Well today - I decided I needed to do another skin fold test and really see whats going on. I am now the proud owner of Fat Track - which is an electronic skin caliper - just take 3 measurements and it calculates the body fat for you.

So I did.

Three times in fact to make sure

And there is no doubt about it - my body fat is:













17 % wooooooohoooooooo!!!!!

I even pulled out my results from January and compared the individual skin fold readings, and even allowing for user error - they are significantly different.

So since January, I have:

Gained 3 kgs in weight
Lost 10 kgs of fat
Gained 13 kgs of muscle
And my body fat results put me in the lean category!!!!

Who cares about a 3kg gain in light of this!!!!! I am stoked - I feel like someone has given me a gift from heaven. Even though my image in the mirror is no different to when I thought my body fat was higher - it has changed my whole attitude. It means that I have not worked hard all year for nothing. It means that what I have been doing has worked and I have achieved what I was after. Actually my original goal was to achieve 22% body fat - well I've smashed this! All my whinging was misinformed. I was gaining because I was gaining muscle - not fat.

I still have a soft belly - I don't think I will ever be able to change this without surgery because I have so much excess skin that hangs around my hips at the front like a belt - and I think this is what has stuffed up the % on the scales. It is not fat (using the calipers on this area actually scores a very low reading), it is just skin surplus to my needs as a result of losing so much weight. - but if I disregard this - the rest of me really is quite muscly and toned. I want a more ripped look, but at least I know I'm on the way to this. I'm going to keep at it, and measure weekly (not weigh) and see how long it takes me to hit 16%! (and then.... and then....)


Its so exciting!

Long Time Between Posts!

Last week a truck took out our phone lines and we have been without a phone or internet for an entire week! In celebration of having the internet again (life's been hell without it!), 'I thought I would let you know what's been happening lately....

About 4 to 6 weeks ago I read "Feed the muscle, burn the fat" by Tom Venuto. It provided very detailed information about how to build muscle and burn fat - and was just what I needed to hear - as it really focussed on revving up your metabolism - which you would know is where I have been focussing my energies lately. In summary - I'm frustrated that as soon as I eat a semi normal diet - I gain weight - despite exercising 1 - 2hrs day - and it all relates to long term calorie deprivation slowing my metabolism.

Tom's info has helped me to fine tune the strategies I already had in place - and they go like this:

Eat every 2 - 3 hours - I was already doing this, but I learnt that this is really critical PLUS it must be evenly balanced calories - not main meals at B, L and D with snacks in between.

ACTION: I now eat 5 small meals a day at roughly 7, 10, 1, 4 and7 pm. AND they are approx 300 cals each, and consist of about 25gms protein, and starchy/fibrous carbohydrates - depending on the time of day (avoiding starchy carbs late in the day)

Don't lower your calorie intake by more than30% of maintenance calories, PLUS, Zig Zag your calorie intake so that your body doesn't get used to a low intake all the time

ACTION: I eat no less that1540 cals/day, and every 4th day up this to 1900 cals. This allows me 2 cheat meals/weak out of my 35.

Maintain a calorie deficit at all times, (as above) but increase the deficit through exercise not diet - as this has a positive effect on metabolism.

ACTION: - Didn't need to change anything here except the mindset (don't eat less and less to lose weight - just exercise more)

Find a balance between protein, carbs and fat that works for you, through continually evaluation of results, but you should be aiming for high protein, mod carbs and lowish fat.

ACTION: I'm trialling 55% carbs, 30% protein, 15 % fat. I also learnt that whilst low carb will result in weight loss, and body building competitors will do this in the 6 weeks or so leading up to the comp, once refeeding commences the body increases weight dramatically and the loss is not sustainable.

Whilst starchy carbs such as sweet potato, rice etc are important, having them in first part of the day, and not at night increases fat burning whilst sleeping

ACTION: Starchy carbs for meals 1, 2 and 3, and fibrous carbs (ie vegies) for meals 4 and5 only

Need a combo of weights/cardio - must train to fail to gain muscle bulk and have sufficient rest between training - already doing that

IMPORTANT LEARNING: You can either lose a little fat and gain muscle, OR lose a lot of fat and gain little muscle - you can't do both at the same time. Tom strongly recommends that you don't lose more than 500gms/week - otherwise you are losing fat AND muscle - and this is counterproductive to gaining a lean ripped body!

So I have been following all this advice, preparing my food every night and have finally found a protein powder that I really like - Lean Dessert - I have it in Banana Cream, and Choc Fudge and it is really yummy! So finally I am getting enough protein.

And the results ? Well over the last 4 weeks I have lost 4 cm around the waist and increased my bust (some may think this is good (aka husband) but its a problem because I don't fit into my shirts. And I have lost....maybe 500gms - not much - could it be muscle gain????

By the way I have been developing my gym at home- have some piccies here for you, and I am getting an eliptical (X trainer) for Christmas (actually it is coming next week!)

Here's my gym in the shed. Its set up with old toys stored around it - hence the colourful backgrounds. These are my dumbells - its taken me a while to purchase three sets - but really helpful not having to change the weights all the time between sets. I've thrown away the 2kg ones - the lightest I now use is 4kgs and only for lateral shoulder raises. Then its 8 kgs for bicep curls and similar single arm exercises, and 10kg for two arm overhead exercises like back pullovers

Here is my latest acquisition - my very own bench press -currently pressing 22kgs

It also inclines for preacher curls and incline curls, and has an area for hamstring curls/leg extensions (and there is an ezy curl bar on the floor - use this for 21's and nosebreakers)

In front of the messy background is my treadmill which is frequently in use, and to the right of it my Ab King Pro - one of my earlier pieces. Don't actually use it for abs work any more - but it makes a great bench for weights etc

Very important piece of equipment here - TV/DVD player - can watch TV and movies whilst working out -and in front of this - I have my very own step if I feel inclined to do a DVD
I have a fit ball, and just sneaking in the photo to the right is my yoga mat for floor exercises

Here's one of my favourite pieces that I still can't use properly - the chin up bar!

I use this blackboard to keep track of what weights I have on each dumbell - as they're all odd numbers, and the posts to the dumbells weigh different amounts - it was always brain drain trying to remember how much each one was - much easier now!
And lastly - if you figure ground perception is good enough - you should be able to make out my home gym - it has upper and lower cables, (add attachments for lat pull down, triceps push downs, bicep curls, shoulder rows etc, plus pec flye, leg extensions etc

And that's it!

City To Bay 2007

Pre- Race Ramble
Well, after an uncertain week leading up to the race, due to a calf injury, I managed to run the race according to plan. I experienced strong calf pain on Tuesday night after a pace run, and had to stop all exercise for the 4 days leading up to the race. Right up until the morning of the race, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to run, as I will still experiencing pain just walking. I had convinced myself that I may have to walk it, but would just wait and see.


Race Report
Race morning I got up at 5am and went for a morning stroll - to check out the race preparations (was staying right by the finish line). Drank a powerade, and then a diet coke at about 6.15 - following Jeff Galloway's advice re caffiene assisting with reducing muscle cramps/stiffness at the beginning and assisting with performance. We headed off for the bus at 6.30 am (all the family were running, plus 1 friend and 1 cousin - a party of 7 in total!)



Since we were early, there was plenty of room on the bus, and it dropped us off right by the start line. A quick trip to the toilet (followed by about 4 more later on!) and we went for a slow run around the Torrens area. Wasn't sure whether I should run to warm up or not - what if my calf only had 12 good kms in it - and the warm up would prove to be too much???? Well, decided this logic wasn't too sound, so gave it a go. Calf felt ok, so I was encouraged. Took some panadol for a bit more courage to run on it, and lined up for the race.



Bit disappointed there were no time markers for the line up this year- as it put everyone in together and I had no idea whether I was with people of similar running pace or not.

Any way, the gun went off, and about 10 mins later I crossed the starting line!



Had set the Garmin pacer for running the 12 kms in 72 mins, and was armed with the mantra "just stay ahead of the pacer, and you'll come in on time" The conditions were cool and overcast, quite perfect for running, and apart from weaving through the crowds, it is a relatively easy race - all being slightly downhill apart from the first 100m or so.



I stuck to my guns and ignored everyone sprinting off through the crowd, or those who were walking within the first 500 m or so ( and there were a lot of them!). Ran a good first few kms, not experiencing any stiffness or calf pain. At about the 3 km mark, someone tapped me on my shoulder, and it was my youngest daughter Tessa (11 years) and my nephew Luka (also 11). Its amazing how easily the young ones find this - I couldn't believe they had kept up with me (they had said something about running one km/walking one km) and then they sprinted off in front of me. Well, I guess I might just have to face the facts that I might be beaten by 11 year olds who hadn't even trained! But they stopped just up ahead for a drink, and I didn't see them again until the end.



In retrospect the first 8 kms were pretty perfect, I was slightly ahead of the pacer and doing quite well. But after that, I started to tire. Not surprisingly really, as I had set my pace at what I really considered my 5 kms race pace, and I knew a 72 minute finish was going to be a very big ask. But this was really the first race that I had planned to run as a real race.... all the others had been about pacing myself to make sure I could manage the distance. But this one, I knew the distance wasn't the issue, this time it was about how much could I push myself on the day to achieve a PB, rather than holding back to make sure I had enough to get to the end. So it was all about how long could I hold out on the pace, and could I push myself hard enough to just keep going. I was about 100 ms ahead of the pacer, and finally gave in to a brief walk. But I was astonished to see how quickly my 100m lead disappeared (about 10 - 15 secs I reckon), so as it approached a zero lead - I started running again. But from here on in, it was really hard work. I just kept picturing how much I would love to achieve it in 72mins, and how the pain would be so short lived, just hang in there and keep going. I started to feel the calf ( I think - or was this phychosomatic speak for an excuse to stop??), and I realised that I couldn't keep up the pace. The choice was to either stop and walk, or drop the speed. So I dropped the speed and stopped focussing on the pacer time, as I started to fall behind my goal. My main focus became just keeping running to achieve a reasonable time. I stopped once more for a brief 10 sec walk, and at the 2 km to go mark, tried to pick up the speed and regain my lost time. But I just didn't have it in me, as hard as I pushed myself, I wasn't making any gains, so I dropped my speed again, with the aim of a reasonable run to the end, and to look strong when I ran past my husband - who would have finished ahead of me and be watching me come in (Appearances are very important!)

Didn't watch the watch any more until I crossed the finish line, starting to feel a little nauseaus, and very glad to have finished.



And the unofficial finishing time:......



73.10



Very happy with that. I may have even scraped into the 72 min time as I didn't press the stop button hard enough when I finised, and had to stop it again a few seconds later, and I may have actually started it just before the start line - so I will wait and see.



In my head my goals had been:

72 mins - ultimate goal

75 mins and under - happy to achieve

less than 83 mins (last years time) - essential



My learnings from this year:

• The 4 days of forced rest were actually very beneficial. Usually when I start running I experience some minor discomfort in my legs, until they warm up and relax. I didn't experience any of this - this is was either due to the caffiene ( I'm not convinced about this) or the complete rest. I think I am normally experiencing some levels of fatigue from whatever exercise I have been doing over the previous few days - so I think I may repeat this sort of taper in future.

• My heart rate is always higher in races. Here's some interesting readings. My resting heart rate is generally around 42 bpm (have even seen it as low as 38). On the bus into the city, my HR was 78 and I was sitting down. Standing in the line waiting to start, my HR was 108 - and I was doing nothing! And over the 12kms - (and I didn't look at this until after the race) my HR averaged at about 178bpm (about 95%). and no, that's not normal for me. I guess it shows how much race anxiety or even just the adrenaline rush makes a difference. This is what caught me out in the half marathon, so I made sure I didn't look at it during the race. But it does also tell me that I was working as hard as I could expect to, and that a faster time than what I achieved was probably not in me.

• If I hydrate well the few days before and the morning of the race, I don't need to stop at the drink stations for a drink on a relatively short race such as this (at least when the weather is cool)

• Running a near 5km PB (29:30) is really not advisable in a 12km race, and probably should have told me that I was running too fast. One day I might perfect the art of negative splits! or set more realistic times.

• Training pays off (duh!) My husband finished in 64 mins - improving his time from last year by 2 mins. His training consisted of going to a few football practices and a couple of runs beforehand. But he did learn from last years race to pace himself better - probably led to the 2 min improvement. But I improved my time by 10 - 11 mins, and I'm closing the gap between our results. Last year we finished 17 mins apart, this year 9 mins apart. If I keep improving my fitness - maybe I'll beat him one year after all!

By the way - the rest of the family did as follows

Tessa and Luka - the young ones - about 90 mins - WOW

Tara (my eldest - 20 yrs) 100 mins ( has done very little exercise this year, but wanted to give it a good go, and did)

Kaelia (my 17 y.old) and friend from school - about 2 hours something - apparently they gave up at the 3 km mark ( I originally thought she meant at the 3 kms to go mark, but no - she meant near the beginning) and decided to walk it all.



Regardless of their times, I am really proud of them all for just giving it a go - I love having the family all involved.


Post Race Ramble
For my active recovery, I got up early this morning for a walk. Tried running a few times but the legs really just weren't ready for it. But as I walked around geocaching, with no time restraints, didn't realise that I ended up doing 13kms over 3hours (see I kept it nice and slow!). Not sure how the distance will affect my recovery though!



Any way - that's it for this year's C2B. To finish off, here are my C2B times over the last 4 years:



2003: 2:20 (trained to be able to walk this for 6 months, was terrified I wouldn't make the distance, and originally thought it would take me 3 hours as 4kms/hr was my top speed!)



2004: 1:57 (trained hard again to walk it, thought I was a lot fitter. 6 kms/hr was my dream speed that I aimed for, and my goal was sub 2hrs. Achieved this, but my HR was over 100% for the entire race, and I had to lie down for an hour afterwards before my HR returned to normal)



2005: Did not compete - was in Europe



2006: 1:23 (my first race as a runner. Followed a 12 week training program to the letter, and was in awe of the distance -would I ever make it?)



2007: 1:13 (maybe I 'm a real runner now? hope to scrape into the top 1000 female runners (about the top third))

And yes Jessie, there is another plan...

The City 2 Bay may not be done and dusted yet, but OF COURSE I've set my sights on a new challenge!

I've been wanting to do the Oxfam Trailwalker for some time but a) its interstate (costs too much) and b) I don't know three other weird people who would team up with me to do it. (Actually I don't know even one other person who would)

But the other day as I was looking up something on the South Australian Road Runners Club site, I came across something along the same lines - the Adelaide Trailblazer! Its held at the end of October, and in teams of 2 or 4 you can sign up to 18kms/34kms/50kms/100kms. And I've started trying to convince my hubby that we could pair up and do the 34 kms. 18kms - well I know I can do since doing the 1/2 marathon - but 50 would just be too much too soon - so 34 sounds just about right - and you can walk the whole thing if you want - so sounds quite achievable with moderate training. Now I just have to get him to sign on the bottom line... perhaps I'll cover the page with football piccies and he'll never know.....


Anyway - the other news of late is that I've been experimenting with the virtual trainer on my Garmy. What this does it that you tell it how far you want to run and in what time, and as you run it puts up a split screen on the watch showing how you are running compared to the "pacer man" (stick figure pictures) and at the bottom it tells you how many metres ahead or behind you are of the required pace to meet your goal. I've only used this once before with disastrous results. This was in a 5 km fun/run at Victor Harbour, and because I had never used it before, when it told me in the first km that I was 60 odd metres ahead of the pacer, I didnt realise how significant this was, and how fast that meant I was running. Subsequently I had gone out too fast and nearly didn't manage to finish because I was exhausted. (It did still provide me with a 5km PB - but it was one of the hardest runs of my life!)

Anyway - figured if I could get used to using it, it may be good for the C2B. So tried it out on Tuesday - and told it I wanted to run 5kms in 30mins - which is my planned C2B pace. What I found though was that although it worked well, because I was determined to stay ahead of the pacer man, I still ran the 5kms slightly too fast, averaging about a 5:45/5:50 pace instead of a 6:oo pace. And it was hard. And I'm sure I couldn't have kept it up for 12 kms - actually felt a slight twinge of nausea at the end of the 5kms -nothing too much , but a sign that it wouldn't be manageable over a longer distance. Why didn't you just go slower when you were too far ahead I hear you say? A very good idea, but one I didn't manage to achieve. I kept telling myself "slow down", and consciously tried to "slow down", and then checked my watch and found myself yet another 10 metres ahead! I don't know what my problem was - but I just didn't seem to be able to do it!

Came in for the 5kms about 80 metres in front of Mr Pacer, and in 29:28. That may not sound much faster than a planned 30 mins, but if you multiplied that out for a 12 km run, that would see me finishing in 70. something minutes, when I'm aiming for a PB of 72 minutes. That's actually quite a lot. So I'm thinking I might try it again but set the speed at slightly below 10kms/hr (say 9.9) and then if I aim to stay just ahead - I should be about right. Or I could keep the speed the same, and if I'm too far ahead insert walk breaks to make it more manageable. Don't know - will try out a few of these strategies over the next week leading up to the race.....

By for now - oh and by the way - if you've noticed I've been absent from posting comments on your blog - I'm having problems with my computer. Whenever I go to post a comment, the computer keeps asking me if I want to display the "non-secure" items. I keep saying yes, and it keeps asking me, repeatedly! and so fast that I can't even type a word before it interrupts me again. I'm very frustrated. If anyone knows what setting I need to change, please let me know. I've tried out a few - but nothing seems to work!

The "7 km Mistake"

Well - whilst in Adelaide last week - took the opportunity to do some running along the beach front, and on Saturday - a "long run" partly in training for the City Bay on 16th (12 kms)

Adelaide has a "linear park" - it is a path/trail that follows the River Torrens from the hills, through Adelaide and on to the ocean inlet at West Beach. I've run a fair bit of it from Athelstone in the foot hills to Adelaide (about 20kms for the 1/2 marathon) but never the stretch from Adelaide to the sea.

So this was the plan for Saturday. According to Mapmyrun, its about a 10 km stretch, and I was keen to see it all. Set out at 6.15 am - drove into the city and parked the car - and headed off for the run, a little unsure of exactly how far I would go and how much I could fit into the morning, as I had promised my parents I would be back by 10 am. Headed off with thoughts of running 5 or 6 kms, then turning around and heading back, but as I went along - I realised that I really would be quite disappointed if I didn't get to follow the path all the way to beach, and "see it all".

So decided I would run the full 10kms, and then catch a taxi back. Didn't have any money on me, but I had money in the car, and could pay the taxi driver when I got there.

The running was fine, and just when I was wondering how much further it would be, I turned the corner and saw a magnificent site of river disappearing into the sea, in the distance. Ahh - nearly there. Spurred on by this, ran for another km or so and reached the ocean. Checked my Garmin - only 10kms as predicted - well 12 will be a much nicer number - after all, the C2B is 12kms - perhaps I'll head north along the beach down to Henley Beach square - lots of taxis there in this eatery/restaurant hub. So I did. Reached HB Square - a little more running required to bring up the 12 kms - so ran along the jetty and back. Perfect. 12 kms. Hit the stop button on the Garmin - very proud of myself - and headed off to the taxi stand.

Well - this is where things went a little pear shaped.

What taxi.

Yes, there have always been plenty of taxis when I've been there before IN THE EVENING. Not 8.00 in the morning!

There was no taxi to be found. I would have been quite happy to walk the 12 kms back to my car, but based on my promised 10 am return, the clock was now ticking.

I really had no choice now but to head back, and start running again, whilst looking for a taxi.

2kms back along the esplanade - and still no taxi. I was now at the point where I had to make a decision about heading back via the linear park, or head towards Glenelg where the big hotels would guarantee a taxi. But how far away was Glenelg I wondered? 6, 7 kms maybe? It was only 10 kms back along linear park, and if I ran the 7 kms to Glenelg, I still had to find a taxi, and pay for the trip - to save me maybe 3 kms of running????

So I decided that I could probably run the linear park in an hour, and meet my 10 am deadline so I headed off. It was hard going though, and I was tired. Although I have run further than this before, I have run this sort of distance in a quite a few months and it really showed. A few kms later, I crossed a major road, and had a thought. If this was the road I thought it was - then if I headed right - I would reach the airport - and there is no shortage of taxis there. So made the decision, headed off, and a few more kms later, managed to flag down a taxi on the airport road.

I'm not sure what the taxi driver thought. I wasn't really your typical frequent flyer in business suit with luggage, instead a sweaty, red faced girl in exercise gear. I briefly explained my situation as he listened in amazement as to where I had been, and when he returned me to my car he said - So you started your run from here???? and shook his head.

Well I returned to parents right on 10 am, but the search for the taxi had taken an extra 7kms and brought my long run distance up to 19kms - A little further than planned for the day!

Just as expected..

Yep - just as expected - a good loss this week - 1.4 kgs!

And I say "just as expected" as this is part of my trial of being good to my body - no wild swings in how much I eat/exercise - just regular good eating, within my calorie allowance, plenty of water and regular exercise, to see if it will provide regular reliable results, and improve my metabolism. So so far, so good, it did just as expected, and in this week I ate Chinese one night, and had a meat pie for lunch one day. All within the calories, and everything else was good stuff. The interesting thing is that since I had an head cold last week - I did no high impact cardio - no gym, no running. But I did walk on the tready every day for 1 - 2 hours, plus weights every second day.

So this weeks challenge? not to lose my mojo whilst I'm away.

Soon to be gone

Well - I wont be around much over the next week - am off to Adelaide for some training - and where i'm staying there is NO INTERNET ACCESS! I have no idea how I'm going to survive without this - as I am online all the time! Any way I have worked hard to pack my food for an entire week so that I don't have to rely on the catering for food and can stick to my clean eating.

I'm sharing a unit with two guys from work and they are going to pay me out something huge when they see how much stuff I have brought with me. On top of a large suitcase for all my clothes (and its been a bit warmer the last few days so I have had to pack warm clothes, spring clothes, going out clothes and casual clothes!) I have a big esky with all my food, a separate bag for all my exercise gear, a bag just for my shoes! (cause the big suitcase was full) a bag with my Geocaching gear (to collect whilst I'm running) and a bag with stuff for my mums birthday (going there Monday night). Oh and a box of Powerade Light cause I can't seem to find them in Adelaide! Eeek! Anyway, I don't care, it means I will be well prepared to maintain my healthy living and thats the most important thing. .....Am still deciding whether I might pack the scales...

My official weigh in day at the moment is Monday - so I am hoping to do a quick post early tomorrow morning before I leave (pre 6 am!) Am expecting a good loss, and want to be able to update my ticker!

Have a good week.

Question for CalorieKing Users

Hi all
Just trying to work out if Calorie King adjust exercise calories according to your weight, like Weight Watchers do.

At 62.0 kgs - Outdoor Walking 5.5kms/hr for 60 mins - CK suggests I burn 223 calories.

If there is anyone who DOES NOT weigh 62 kgs and uses CalorieKing - could they look up this exercise and tell me how many calories it estimates for you?

Thanks

The Winter War Theory is True!

Just found in the latest edition of Oxygen:

"Its not uncommon for anyone to gain up to five kilos during winter. As a matter of fact, eating more food in winter is the body's natural response to find the means of generating body heat, and increased caloric intake is one of them."

I knew it! I could see lots of people struggling with their weight over winter, and have been wondering if its a "normal" thing. When I look at normal, I ask my husband questions - as he is someone who never watches what he eats, and never gains weight.... or does he? One of my theories is that maybe naturally thin people do vary in their weight, but because they're not obsessing over it, they dont notice daily and seasonal variations. So he weighed himself - and he is about 3 kilos heavier than normal - interesting huh? So what I want to know is, if you consistently eat healthily - will the weight drop off as the weather warms up? After all, thin people can't just gain kilos every winter and stay thin!

I'm quite fascinated at the moment with normal eating habits, normal body responses etc, as I try to learn to maintain my lower body weight. I think my metabolism is quite stuffed from bad eating habits in the past and am trying to address this, as mentioned in an earlier post, because my body doesn't react the same way to food and exercise as my hubby's does. And I was interested to read in Jen's blog that she was managing the maintenance quite well, but recently she's been on holidays and gained 4 kgs (hope you don't mind me sharing this here, Jen). But I wonder - is this normal for regular people who don't struggle with their weight? I can't imagine that Jen binged for whole time she was away, more likely that she just relaxed her eating, and ate what people normally eat on holidays - does every regular thin person gain 4 kgs like this - or do they gain it, and then because their body is so used to being at a standard "set" point weight, that the pull is so strong to maintain it that it naturally returns when routine is restored? Thats what I want - a stable weight that will self regulate.

I'm working really hard at fixing my metabolism. Here's what I'm doing

• Regular, frequent eating - no starving myself, no excessive eating, and consistently healthy
• Increasing the consistency of my weight training - I read that something like increasing 1kg of muscle will result in burning an extra 500 cals a day to maintain it - that's huge and I want it.
• Increasing my fluids - this is my worst area - I just don't drink enough and dehydration slows the metabolism. So, as I'm hopeless at drinking water (just don't like it unless its iced - and its too cold for this in winter) I'm trialling drinking more powerade light - 65 cals/600 mls. Its a trade = spend 200 cals on powerade a day - but know that I'm well dehydrated - which will have a more positive impact on my weight I wonder. So far this week - the powerade seems worth it
• Maintaining my cardio exercise regularly - the easy bit
• getting my thyroid function checked out - since I have now been off work for 4 days - have to go to the docs for a med cert. So thought I'd make it worth my while and ask for a blood test - the main reason for this is that I am sooo cold allll the time. I have far more body fat than my husband to keep me warm - but I am ten times colder. In fact i am colder than anyone else I know, including skinny people! (Hence I think my winter weight troubles - fighting to stay warm)

By the way - I also read in Oxygen that when you are sick, provided your symptoms are "above the shoulders, and you have no fever/body aches, you are well enough to maintain a modified workout. And I am very proud of myself that I have done just that. I've done no running, no combat, no going to the gym and spreading my germs, BUT I have walked slowly on the treadmill every night and continued with my weights. So the routine has been maintained - which is what I am aiming for - teaching my body to expect consistency of nutritional intake and regular exercise - even if there is variety within this.

And the Mule fell....

Yes, today, I've finally seen 62 62.2 to be exact - that's 800gms down from yesterday.

It has reminded me of how I've always believed that the secret to weight loss was consistency, and eventually the scales will follow suit. This was the truce I drew up on my war - forgot to mention this part - the agreement I made was that I would treat my body consistently well with nutrition and exercise - no extremes (both positive and negative ones) so that my body could rely on always being supplied well nutritionally for the tasks at hand, and in return by not having to guess at what I would ask of it next - it would start to provide more consistent and reliable results on the scales. An 800gm drop may not seem like a steady one, but I think that this is where I deserve to be based on my eating and exercise schedule over the last few weeks. It has just taken a consistent approach to get the scales to finally give in and agree with me.

I think I've rediscovered my mojo. I've found myself returning to some old weight loss habits:

Making food decisions based on what weight I want to see on the scales in the morning. You see this is where I think the "weigh once a week practice" falls down. Last night when I was hungry and thinking of eating something I shouldn't, I was motivated by my old mainstay question - do you want the chocolate - or do you want to see 62 kgs in the morning? I put the chocolate away, because I really want to see the scales move. If you only weigh once a week - can you only use that tactic once a week? It would be too far away for me to make a difference. And I have two responses to the morning weigh in. If its higher than what I wanted: "Damn you scales I will beat you" - and it spurs me on to reevaluate my food choices, and work even harder during the day or "Yes, I did it - what's my next goal!"

Visualising where I want to be. I find visualisation techniques really powerful for both weight loss and running. When I train, I visualise crossing the finish time of the race I'm training for, and what it will feel like having achieved a certain time, or other goal. For weight loss - I visualise myself with a certain body shape, or in a certain outfit that I really want to look good in. Right now I'm visualising myself 10kgs lighter looking extremely slender but muscular/toned - and there are a few pieces of clothing I want to get back into - so I'm picturing them to. Well I still fit into them, but I currently don't like the way they look.

So - not surprisingly - my next goal is to see a weight in the 61's and I really want to be under 60kgs for the City to Bay - which is 4 weeks away. I'm sure I can do this!


By the way - s big thank you to CalorieKing. I'm feeling a little stupid - but I've been using the Nutrition and Exercise Manager for about a year now, really enjoying it but frustrated with the American database of foods. Yesterday I discovered that they have an Australian site, with an Australian Database - and the appropriate software. I emailed them and they have agreed to refund my money on the American one so that I can buy the Australian one! This was really good customer service - and it now makes their software heaps better than the weight watchers one. It is sooo easy to enter the foods (that I normally had to enter manually), and I really like the way it gives you your breakdowns into cal/fat/protein and the way it adjusts your calories based on your exercise. Its just fab now to have it "Australianised"

And yes, I'm still home, sick, hence all the posts. Last night I was meant to be running - but not good for a sick bod -so I walked on the tready again. Did you know that my treadmill doesn't record more than 99 mins and 99 seconds? I do now - have found this out over the last two nights!

The Stubborn Mule

That's an apt description of my scales.

I desperately want to see 62 again on the scales, so yesterday even though I was sick, I replaced the high impact aerobics with low impact, slow walking. Walked for an hour on the tready, did 45 minutes of weights, felt ok and was still watching TV so walked for another hour. That's three hours of exercise and the scales this morning ......

....consistently remaining at 63.0 - they will not budge!

(can you tell by all the posts that I'm home sick and bored!)

You've got to work up a sweat

Interesting new article below:

The era of gentle exercise is over. It's official: you've got to work up a sweat
Polly Curtis, health correspondentFriday August 17, 2007

GuardianOfficial advice that 30 minutes of gentle exercise a day is enough to improve your health has been revised by the scientists who first developed the international fitness guidelines.
Until now, government recommendations have suggested that people can achieve a minimum level of fitness through their normal daily routines. But amid fears that the lightest of activities such as dusting and the stroll to the car are being counted as exercise, a new study by the public health experts behind the formula concludes adults need to add jogging and twice-weekly weight training sessions if they want to cut their risk of heart disease and obesity.
The scientists, world-leaders in public health and exercise advice, say they want to clarify the fitness guidelines for healthy adults which were adopted by the World Health Organisation and later used as a template for healthy living by the UK government. Some people have misunderstood the original message and are doing too little exercise, they argue. But they go even further saying explicitly that people should do vigorous as well as moderate aerobic exercise because of the "substantial science base" that it is good for you.
The paper published in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, includes authors who are influential members of the American College of Sports Medicine. They write: "There are people who have not accepted, and others who have misinterpreted, the original recommendation. Some people continue to believe that only vigorous intensity activity will improve health while others believe that the light activities of their daily lives are sufficient to promote health."
The new guidelines say:
· 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day is still the minimum, but vigorous as opposed to moderate activity should be "explicitly" recommended
· Combining days of moderate exercise with other days of vigorous exercise is better for you
· Moderate exercise should be in addition to daily activities such as casual walking, shopping or taking out the rubbish
· People should do two weight-training sessions a week
· Adults over 65 or those who are infirm during their 50s and early 60s should also do balancing exercises if they are at risk of falling and draw up appropriate exercise plans with their doctors.
"Many adults, including those who wish to improve their personal fitness or further reduce their risk of premature chronic health conditions and mortality related to physical inactivity, should exceed the minimum recommended amounts of physical activity," it says.
But their apparent change of heart exposes the dilemma facing health officials of how to encourage an increasingly overweight population to exercise without deterring them with over-ambitious programmes. Anti-obesity experts suggested that advising people to do weight-training was unrealistic.
David Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum, said: "If you suggested everyone here should do weight-training twice a week they wouldn't do it. They don't have the time or money for the gym, it would be an unrealistic guideline. I'd rather see healthy habits built into daily life - gyms aren't a sustainable habit."
Paul Gately, professor of exercise and obesity at Leeds Metropolitan University, said: "Scientists keep changing the goalposts but this advice is trying to provide more specific information for specific groups of people to encourage them to do appropriate exercise.
"It's the age-old problem of one-size-fits-all public health advice versus tailored programmes. People who are very overweight would have to do an hour of exercise a day just to maintain their weight if they aren't going to change their diets."
The authors include several experts who are on a high-level committee in the US which next year will announce America's new physical activity guidelines. Their revisions this month are widely expected to be adopted as official advice there. Their original recommendations in 1995 were quickly adopted by the WHO and by the UK government in 1996.
In 2004 the chief medical officer for England and Wales, Sir Liam Donaldson, republished the recommendations in his attempt to underscore the importance of more rigorous exercise and show that people could achieve the total through smaller 10-minute chunks. It was revealed then that up to two-thirds of men and three-quarters of women were failing to meet the 30-minute goal. Scotland's advice is similar to that in England and Wales.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said it was watching developments in the evidence about how much exercise was optimum but there were no plans at the moment to change the advice.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

PT's - are they the Bees Knees?

Hi all
I'm looking for some information here.
Everyone talks about personal training and I've never tried it.
What do you get out of it?
How much does it cost? From what I've heard its seems fairly expensive -do you pay gym membership on top of this?

Do you go for the motivation (I seem to have plenty of this), the knowledge base? (I'm a google expert), training plans...... What?

Post me some comments - I'd love to find out what I'm missing out on!

Weekly Weigh In 20/8/07

Ok - I'm going to try and make myself more accountable by posting my weekly weigh ins. This week, a loss of 0.2 bringing me to 63.0. I really wanted to hit 62 this week to feel like I was making progress downwards, but a loss is a loss and I will have to accept this. This week - no way I can't hit 62. I am disappointed though as I eat so well early in the week, and then weekends are my downfall with snacking. This week I spent a couple of days in Adelaide - and had dinner with my daughter. She always likes to eat chinese as her partner doesn't like this, and I enjoy doing something special with her. So I relaxed my eating and enjoyed it, with the thinking that if I can't indulge occasionally - what's the point, and if it slows the weight loss - what the heck, as long as it doesn't go up! That was Thursday, and then Friday as I travelled home, I thought I would really like to try Nando's as I've never had it before - so I did. It came with a huge plate of fries - I ate some but not all.

So I guess overall I can't complain- I still registered a loss. Will aim for a really good eating week this week - as next week I'm spending the week in Adelaide for work. This is going to be a challenge as there will be a number of us, and they will all plan to go out for tea everynight. I won't be able to use the "occasional indulgence" rule here. I will have to choose healthy alternatives, moderate the portions and OMG - how much food am I going to have to take with me for healthy eating options during the days! I better start preparing now!

Its Official - I am the Queen of Running!

Oh yes I am. I'm so excited I have to share it with you.

Firstly - if you haven't read it before - read my "I failed twice" post in February, and then listen to this:

I ran the Hills from Hell again a few weeks back with my hubby - I was recovering from a cold, and didn't do very well. We basically ran a hill, walked a hill.

Well today, I tackled it again - and guess how much of it I ran - the whole fricken lot! That's 10 kms of nothing but hills, no flat bits just up and down, and half of it is a rocky dirt track. And time wise - I did it in 1.01 to my door - but as that was only 9.6 km I ran around the block bringing up my 10 kms in 1.04. I'm aiming for my C2B race pace to be 10kms/hr - and I came pretty close to that even with the hills - yayyyyyy.

Bring on the C2B! If I can run 10 kms of hills, I'm sure I can run 12kms downhill!

Some positive amongst the negative

I might not like my weight at the moment, but I have recently noticed some really positive changes in relation to weight training and fitness.



Weight training:

I do most of my weight training at home, and record my exercises/weights on an excel spreadsheet. Last weekend due to some computer reshuffling, I had to reload my spreadsheet onto a different PC. Went to do my workout, opened the spreadsheet, looked up the exercises and weights for biceps - and it said 4.5 kgs... What the... "I cant be looking at the most recent sheet?" Checked again - it definitely said 4.5 kgs. "Who am I to argue with the computer - maybe I have no decent memory of my weight training...." So I went and picked up 4.5 kgs, threw it around my head a few times, and in disgust, reset the dumbell to 8 kgs and did my reps. "Maybe the different versions of excel are reading the data differently - some sort of "blip" in the system (unlikely). Came to triceps - the PC said 3.6 kgs - the jaw dropped again - "Whaaat" I thought for a minute - 3.6kgs is the weight of the medicine ball I got for Christmas - havent used it in a while - ah well - I'll give it a whirl - it did seem hard last time I used it.....Wrong - Gave it a go and I could have played netball with the ball this weight, or at least 100 overhead reps with this one without breaking a sweat. Changed the sheet and went on with 10kgs overhead extensions



So what was going on? I relooked at the sheet, and realised that I had copied across an old version of the spreadsheet. These were the weights I was doing in January! Not bad hey - I hadn't really been conscious that I had upped them so much in that period of time. I knew that every so often I do a little more, but I'd never really bothered to quantify it.



A few days later I was at the gym, talking to a friend whilst she used the Nautilus system weight circuit. I haven't used this since December - moved on to free weights, and it occured to me to try the triceps machine. I used to HATE this one. For those of you who are familiar with weight machines, there is usually a base weight applied at all times, and then you move the pin to increase the weights in increments of 5 pounds. Well on this machine I could never get beyond base weight. I kept try a few reps 5 pounds heavier but just couldn't do it and it frustrated the hell out of me. The evil eye in me was active, thinking, if my triceps have improved so much - maybe I can beat this machine at last! So I tried it out. Woo hooo - base weight was a walk in the park - it was like there was NO WEIGHT on it at all! Added 5 pounds, easy, another 5 pounds - still manageable - probably would use it now 15 pounds above base weight YEAH!



I've also decided that I don't want to build up my biceps any more than I have now. I was standing in front of the mirror in a singlet top the other day, applying my makeup, as my right armed reached across to put blush on my left side - I noticed this bulging bicep appear - WOW where did that come from! But its big enough - I already have problems with my arms fitting into some clothes - so I 'm going to make sure I don't increase the weight any further, just aim to maintain - now if I could just lose the body fat my arms will have plenty of definition!

Also decided to check out the backs of my arms after Donna's effort - especially since I seem to have SUPER TRICEPS now. Couldn't get a photo, but I could definitely see the definition - particularly where the muscle comes into the elbow BUT there is this distinct flabby bit! Probably made worse by the fact that the rest of the arm looks quite toned and compact. WHAT's THIS? Spent quite a while trying to work out which muscle I have undertrained - but have finally come to the conclusion that it might just be loose skin ARGGHH. Did some more reading, and have decided I will concentrate my triceps efforts on the long head to try and improve this - but I don't know if I will ever conquer it without surgery. Of course, losing those extra winter kilos will help too.



Fitness:

As I mentioned in my last post - Andrew and I ran a 9 km fun run last weekend. I pulled up fine afterwards - in fact didn't affect me at all, plus we did a little bit of hiking afterwards, and then I did a core strength workout that night, and about 20 mins of walking on the tready cause the TV program hadn't finished!

How much training did I do for the 9 km run? None.

Achievement = have achieved an ongoing level of fitness that allows me to do things like this without specific training. I remember last year how hard I trained to run the 12 km city to bay, and how terrified I was that if I missed a scheduled training run that I wouldn't manage it. Now I think I have developed a base fitness that will allow me to do specific things like this, should I choose to put myself through it! Yay for me again!

On the weight front, the scales are still resistant, but I will persevere. I AM a healthy person, I eat extremely healthily 80% of the time , and the scales will eventually respond to their master - ME!

The White Flags Went Up, and a Line was Drawn

Well - so much for blogging daily during the battle (er hem - holidays) Unlike Tiny Donna, I am definitely NOT addicted to blogging - I never seeem to find the time!
The war didn' t last long - I seemed to keep myself so busy, that I couldn't JUST focus on my weight. i continued to get plenty of exercise - finally did find the cache in Mt Remarkable, after several trips - and did manage to run the 6kms each way on the "easy fire track" ( nothing like the mountains I had been climbing!) Also did a 14 km (estimate from the time it took me - Garmy was flat) run from Brighton to Glenelg and back with a 10 min break in between to look at the shops.

I have declared a truce on my body - no, I'm not giving up on my weight loss at all, but instead I've decided I have to stop being so up and down in my approach and aim for consistency that I can maintain for ever. The exercise is the easy part, but I need to moderate my diet. Its not that I eat really badly, but I think I try so hard to eat perfectly, that when I fail, I really fail. I love "eating clean" - ie fresh whole foods, avoiding processed stuff, and bread etc, basically eating protein with frut/veg five times a day, BUT it takes a lot of time to prepare it all - and this where I fall down. It is very hard to pick up this sort of food on the run, or from fast food outlets (including deli's etc). So I have decided to compromise, and eat clean where I can, but to consider it quite ok to choose foods purely on their calorie content if there aren't other options. This means I can have a sandwich if I need to buy my lunch, or can snack on Salada's if I need to etc. Maybe this way I can maintain it and be satisfied. So far it is working well, I had a good week at work with my diet and I feel back in control.

On a more upbeat note, Andrew and I ran a 9 km fun run this morning from Jamestown to Bundaleer Forest, and then went for a leisurely stroll through the forest to pick up a geocache. Andrew ran it in 48 mins, me in 58 mins - I'm relatively happy with that. Its a bit slow, but given my hamstring problems I can't expect much more. Plus it was a dirt road run with a gradual incline - so this will always be slower. We ran it as a test to see if we will manage the City to Bay - both felt we could have run another 3 kms - so we will be fine. I think all my training for my 1/2 marathon has slowed my running, so I might spend the next few weeks doing a few short road runs focussing on changing my "normal" running speed back up to 10kms/hr. I was running this at the beginning of the year, slowed down so I could increase my distance, but need to readjust my body back to thinking this is normal.

Finally - I've settled into a new routine for my exercise. Nothing too extreme - focussing on consistency and manageability (is that a word!) I will do:

Monday: Combat and weights (2 hrs)
Tuesday: Run (1 hr)
Wednesday : Combat and weights (2 hrs)
Thursday: Run (1 hr)
Friday: Weights - and cardio of my choosing (walk, DVD etc) (1.5 hrs)
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Long run, Core strength session (2 hrs)

And I can do all of this with the exception of Combat and the long run, at home in front of the TV in my gym if I wish! Yeah - cause this never seems like hard work!

Have been thinking of Em H this morning on her big run - can't wait to see her post run "Post"

Ciao

The Battle of Mt Remarkable

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......

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!

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 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???

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!)

Adelaide Greenbelt 1/2 Marathon 2007

Well here it is, the start of the 2007 Adelaide Greenbelt 1/2 Marathon. Of course you can't see me here - as I'm somewhere at the back of the back. Don't want to get in the way of the real runners! The conditions were good, my fears of rain allayed, and I'd had a reasonable nights sleep.

Here I am starting off (the one in the centre).....

....and here's me from behind - laden up with water bottles and "gu+" for energy along the way. Whilst many of the better runners don't need to worry too much about energy supplements at this distance - I do because I'm slower and have to run for so much longer! So the good runners are only looking at about a 1 1/2 hr run - I'm facing up to 2 1/2 hrs! (Plus I'm a gadget queen and have to have all the latest)

Here I am taking a drink at about the 10km mark. I don't look too bad considering I was having an awful time! I don't know what was going on, but for some reason from about the 2nd km my heart rate was way up and my speed way down. My HR monitor was telling me that my HR was between 160 - 170 bpm. Now for any exercise enthusiasts you would know that with my Max HR set at about 178 bpm this is not good news and certainly not sustainable over two + hours. It was worrying me enormously, and there was no point me slowing down as my GPS was telling me I was only running at about 8 km/hr! (I aim to average just under 10 km/hr). This was far from normal for me - usually I run at about 140 - 150 bpm and I just couldn't work out what was going on. The options I came up with were a) nerves b)the result of some mild cold symptoms I had experienced in the morning. Either way it wasn't good and I thought of phoning hubby to come and pick me up. (he tells me afterwards that he doubts that he would have - said that I had trained too long and hard to give up and not finish!). So after even the first 2kms I had to stop and walk briefly to try and drop the HR, but it didn't seem to help much.

In the end - around the time of this photo, I decided to ignore the HR/GPS watch, put my head down and focus on just running. And so I did. I picked a line on the path, focussed my eyes on it, and just ran. And I'm pleased to say - it worked. My records show that the second half of the race my speed picked up, my HR dropped, and I coped much better.

As you can see from the photo above, it really was a beautiful run - I don't know what my excuse was for such a lot of whingeing. Unfortunately the HR issues I had put to bed all my plans of running 5kms/ walk briefly to rehydrate and then continue. Although I had practised this religiously in training, I found I had to stop far more often (I usually walked up the short steep hills at the bridges as this would send my HR flying) but not for as long. And I have to say that all the volunteers along the way, like this one were so encouraging. Most of them clapped and cheered as I went past, and you have no idea how helpful this was when all you wanted to do was go home! Once I hit the city however with 6 kms to go I was in good spirits. This was the part I had been waiting for. The realisation that I'd run from some distance in the suburbs, hit the city and then had the pleasure of running past the Adelaide Festival Centre, people feeding the ducks, people out on paddle boats etc. It was a great feeling. It's also a bit cruel as you are running on one side of the river and actually run past the finish line - which is on the other side - and there's still 5 kms to go! and believe me, they seemed to go on and on. You run along the river with the knowledge that at some point you turn a loop and run back along the same path before you cross the river and finish. So I was watching all the runners ahead of me passing me on their way back, and I kept thinking "how much further can this loop be..." and it was further and further and I never seemed to get there. Well I did of course, and turned around and headed for the finish line. Over the last 5 kms I passed a lot of people - which was quite interesting - I don't know how as I had "had it", legs no longer possessed individual movement - they were stuck in one position and I just swung them from the hips, and I was still walking every so often. But I did pass many, and when I turned a corner and could see the crowd at the end, I still managed to pick up the pace and sprint to the end. Only problem was I couldnt see the finish line - as you can kinda see from the photo below. I crossed over and was looking around thinking "is this it - can I stop now?" Whilst the announcer was still announcing everyone crossing over, the presentations were on - and most people were focused on this. Ah well, not to mind - I DID finish, and I was FAR from last, and it was an experience I will never forget.

I finished the race in approx 2 hrs 20 mins, slower than my goal of 2 hrs 15mins, but then again the race was longer than I expected! My GPS clocked up 21.5kms - which would explain the extra 5 mins 0r so, and combined with my earlier problems - I'm pretty pleased.

A very big thank you to my husband who spent a lot of time supporting me leading up to this event and then running around meeting me at different points and taking all the photos. These will certainly help me to treasure the memories.