Week 1 of Training Plan

Weight 61.1
Waist 75.5
Exercise - Read on...

Well the training has not gone according to schedule. This week I have suffered from fatigue, shin pain, hamstring pain, nausea and this weekend - back pain.

Monday's Combat class was fine, and I had done my weights in the morning, and then followed the class with hill climbs as our weight loss team has a pact to burn 1000 cals per day. Mission accomplished Day 1

Tuesday however - I had a tempo run planned for the evening - but I really struggled and had to put some breaks in. I was feeling sick and exhausted, I had left shin pain that wouldn't ease, and my right hamstring felt swollen, and eventually left the gym thinking I would have to rest and then do some more after tea. But I didn't really recover enough - so let myself have a night off, both exercise and nutrition wise. I didn't overeat , but I had some BBQ chicken, pasta salad and peanut M&M's. I actually felt better for it, and the weight was still good in the morning

Wed morning I got up and did my weights - no probs there, and my Combat class in the evening, but after that I struggled to do too much more - the leg pain was getting to me

Thursday I decided I needed to have a low impact day to rest my legs. The speedwork session I had planned would have to wait. Have you ever tried to contemplate how you can burn 1000 cals on all low impact exercise? The night before I had cycled on the recumbent bike to increase my total - cycled for about 15 mins to see that I had burnt 30 cals! Thursday night seemed like a daunting night of training. I did some hill climbs for half an hour, and then rowed a Km (cal total so far - 200cals) and then hit on the idea of doing Cardiocoach on the elliptical. I have all 7 cardiocoach workouts on my ipod - and just go through them in turn. Unfortunately for me, I was up to Workout #6 - which is quite hard and goes for an hour (For those who don't know cardiocoach it is basically interval training). So I killed the elliptical for 60 mins with high resistance sprints, and by the time I got off I felt quite ill. I stumbled off to my daughters drama performance, and grabbed a banana on the way.

Friday was a scheduled rest day which I readily embraced. I also got my new sandshoes off layby to see if this would reduce the shin pain. (although I did walk for an hour in the morning -that's not really exercise - right?)

But Friday night when I got home from work, as I got out the car i noticed a sharp pain down the left side of my back and radiating into my leg. I don't know what I have done, but I have been in quite acute back pain ever since. It seems to be nerve related, and so I have avoided any exercise this weekend, as I am worried about exacerbating it. This has meant ditching my weight session, and Sunday's long run.

So I have done no real exercise for three days. I've focussed on making sure I eat well, as I don't want to let the team down. There is only 4 weeks left in the challenge, and we are in there with a chance to win 1st prize - which is I think a trip to Queensland! Of course I'm not exactly their star weight loser -only averaging about 500gms a week - but I need to at least do that to support them!

The legs are feeling much better, and my energy may be returning. I'm wondering if I may be a little overtrained, and the rest with the back might not be a bad thing. But what I really want is to see the scales move downwards again - I keep seeing low 61's and no dipping below this. For the weight loss challenge, I have committed to the team to be in the 50's by the end, but if I don't see some movement on the scale soon I might not make it!