1+3=2

Weight - 62.7
Exercise - 12 kms on the steady tready last night, and combat tonight
Calories - too many of the wrong kind

It is soo true that weight loss is not an exact science - eat x, exercise y does not equal exactly z the next day. I had a shitty weekend nutritionally - not that I ever really binge because I only eat small quantities- but I was far from clean eating, I enjoyed some of the no-no foods and I'm sure above my calories on both days. But this morning - a loss, after probably a week or so. Of course there have also been some hormonal influences in there, and the fact that I exercised late in the evening and had eaten nothing since then in morning, but still....

Anyway- back to the clean eating again today. Whilst running at infinitum on the treadmill last night (only because Sat and Sun attempts at a long run outside were thwarted by rain), I was thinking about the fact that I have now maintained my weight loss for about 15 - 18 months - and how most people regain most of their loss within a year. I feel very lucky to have managed to do this, and I was thinking about what keeps me motivated. Without a doubt the exercise is an essential component. I struggle so much with the eating, that I think that if I didn't exercise, I would forget all about wanting to be fit and fall back into old habits. But the other thing that really helps, is reading everyone's blogs every night. This has an enormous impact on me, and reminds me of what I want to achieve, and keeps me focussed on health and fitness. So I want to say a really big thanks to all of you that put the effort into their blogs and provide me with the privilege of having an insight into your worlds. It's making an enormous difference to at least one person!

Anyway - I'm off to Sydney and country NSW for a few days for work, and will be catching up with the lovely TD and KatieP tomorrow night! Yeah! Cant wait.

Don't know what internet access I will have so may not be blogging again till Saturday. Can I keep up the clean eating for the next 5 days with no access to a kitchen or even a fridge during the day? Time will tell.....

1001 Books

Well you can't exercise all the time (shame - because I would really enjoy it) and so to ensure I have balance in my life, I like to have quiet times reading. I have set myself a (lifelong) goal to read all of these books that are listed as the 1001 books you must read (NB the book of the list is 1000 pages in itself!) In fact, I would eventually like to own them all - maybe set up in a bookshelf (or 2!) that could be handed on to future generations. So today I started Ebay searching and have bought a couple. Some of these books look a little heavy going - but I guess its like setting fitness goals - they can be hard and daunting at the time, but at the end you have gained something unachievable without the effort.

Team training yesterday at the gym went well, and we all went out for coffee afterwards. It was quite a lot of fun. Would like to do it again next weekend, but I will be driving the new car back from Adelaide (Damn) and Sunday is an 11km fun run which we are all doing anyway.

Was meant to do a long run today- headed out but then got caught in the rain and turned around and came back. Weak I know, but I might have soldiered on for a 1/2 hr run, but when I was facing 1 1/2 hrs and a fair distance from home in the middle of nowhere, with no shelter in sight, it was enough to put me off. So tomorrow I will have to get up extra early to fit it in before 9.00 am church, and if its raining again - I will have to do it on the treadmill. BORING!

I Cant Be Grumpy Anymore....

Yesterdays Weight - 63.3kgs
Waist - 78
Food - under calorie allowance

I can't be grumpy anymore.......


Because - guess what we bought yesterday......










All bar the last photo, are photos of our actual car. Probably not the most practical decision we have ever made, but life shouldn't always be about practicalities. After 20 odd years of always making the practical choices with a young family, its time to be a little rash! We don't get to pick it up though until next weekend so it will be a long wait..

This morning I am introducing my weight loss team to Cardio Coach. We are having a team training session at the gym, and I have loaded up 4 Ipods with cardio coach, looked up/worked out all of their HR training zones (blue, green, orange etc) and hope to secure 4 treadys in a row so we can all press the start button together. I like the idea of this because even though we are all at different fitness levels, we can do the same workout - individuals just adjust their speed/resistance to match the required HR zone. It should be fun.

Saving Time

Weight - 63.9
Waist - 78cm
Food - not tracked in CK - but around my budget according to my calcs
Exercise tonight - Combat and a few kms of running either side of the class.

I'm not sure why my weight has spiked - but since I think I've kept to my targets I'm going to ignore it. I did discover however that my non nutritionally sound choices of food led to a significant drop in energy. I had enough to train - but couldn't get out of bed in the morning to prepare my healthy food which has led to a catch 22 situation. So I forced myself to break this, and hopefully I'm back on track.

I'm a bit grumpy about the "love" situation (aka the new car I want). My husband looked at the car I'm interested in tonight, and then spoke to a friend of a friend who has one, who said there is a fault in this particular model and not to buy one. Not happy. What does one person know anyway?

And whilst I'm grumpy - who is designing these Combat classes to be easier and easier every new release? This latest one only really pushes me in Moo Thai (I have no idea how to spell this) - and even then not to my limits. AND I take all the highest options and then add my own in to keep my HR up. Mind you - my polar told me tonight that I hit 100% of my max HR and I wasn't even puffing - what the ### - oh, and then it promptly died on me (I guess that explains the odd readings!) Oh and did I mention my current car also died today - thankfully right in front of a crash repairer, and within walking distance of work. Mention #2 - I need a new car (hmm - and it must be an MG/convertible)

Well grumpiness aside (im not really a very moody person) thought I might post some interesting fitness info - from Matt Fitzgerald's Complete Triathlon Book on Time Savers - The benefits of good gear in an Olympic Distance Triathlon(1.5km s, 40 km b, 10 km r):

The Swim
Upgrade Time Savings
No Wetsuit to Wetsuit - 1:30

The Bike
Upgrade Time Savings
No aerobar to aerobar 3:24 - 4:36
Standard wheels to aerowheels 0:40 - 0:55
Shaving 2 kgs 0.05 - 1:12

The Run
Upgrade Time Savings
Training shoes to racing flats 0:30

So go get your gear!
(PS: Simlin if you are reading this, my memory is clearly faulty)

I'm In Love...

Weight: 63.6


Food - haven't tracked over the last few days - have been away


Exercise - Sat - Interval Training, Sun, long run 1.5hrs, Mon - Combat

Shame about the quality of the photo - taken on my MIL's phone and then beamed from phone to phone to PC! (aint technology grand!) but anyway - my hubby's birthday on the weekend. We went out to dinner at a lovely german/swiss restaurant. It was a little pricey - and the meals were small - but it was so worth it! Perfect sizing for me really - couldn't have eaten any more and beautiful vegetables. I'd rather pay the extra for quality any day. MIL had brought a white chocolate mud cake for desert and mentioned I might like to order something else (they are so used to my healthy eating) but I thought - nah - I night off - I'm just going to have a piece and enjoy it. And I did.

Now I might have fooled you with the title and the photo- but noooo - I'm not referring to my husband. I have fallen head over heels in a most unexpected way.

I've fallen in love with a car. And not just any car. A small red sporty convertible - it is just HOT!

Now you might think this is not that unusual, but just days ago I was explaining to my co-worker about how crazy men are about cars (he is male) and I don't really care - I just want something practical to get me from A to B . I even said my fave car was a Smart Car (very small, economical 2 door European car). Then whilst waiting for our dinner the other night - hubby takes me over to the car yard. Says maybe I need a new car. No, I say, I don't need a new car, walking around the lot, no - waste of money I......"OMG get me that car!!!!!!!!" I had spotted a red Renault Megaine Capri Cabriolet (convertible), and within our price range. It is gorgeous - kinda more like a fashion accessory than a car. Next thing you know, I'm ringing him at work wanting to test drive it, and on the weekend we looked at similar cars in Adelaide. Now if I just work on him a bit more.......I might end up with a sports car. Will keep you posted!

On the exercise front - ran for 1.5 hours down at Glenelg Sunday morning. This week ran 10 minute intervals with 2 minute walk breaks - cutting them down by 1 minute from last week. Covered 12 kms - earned a few more blisters, but woke this morning with no residual stiffness/soreness. I've also learned that Ibobrufren works a treat after long runs, I'm now just taking it routinely after the long ones, and the aching legs disappear. I'm a bit frustrated that 90 mins for 12 kms is just sooo slow, (remember I ran 12kms for the C2B in 73mins, and want to run it in 65 this year) but I guess I have to remember that I've really only been back running some distances for a few weeks, have pushed out the distance very quickly to have me ready for an 11km race in 2 weeks, and I actually haven't been doing any other running during the week apart from speed work and intervals! I contemplated pulling out of the 11km race because I'm so slow at the moment - and then realised that would be ridiculous - just run the damn race girl - forget about the time. So next week I'll run the 12 kms again - with 1 min walk breaks and then if needed will put them into the race as well. Its a fun raiser for Make A Wish, so I'm sure the main aim is to support them, not run a PB!

Work and Food

Today's Weight - 63.1

Tues food
You have used 1220 out of your net daily budget of 1350 calories and have 130 calories remaining. 29% of the calories are from fat, 25% from protein, 46% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.
Exercise - 35 mins running speedwork - approx 400cals

Wed's food
You have used 1273 out of your net daily budget of 1350 calories and have 77 calories remaining. 44% of the calories are from fat, 20% from protein, 36% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.
Exercise - Nil (day in Adelaide with 5 hrs travel)

For the last 6 weeks or so I have been doing a different job. We have a very large initiative on our hands - a 12 million dollar project, and a new centre to build over the next 5 years. I've been taken off line to scope it, ramp it up and get it started. So rather than being a busy director of 120 staff, I've been in a project role with no staff. And its been bliss. And its been quiet, and with much reduced meeting times and people demanding things of me. But the person who's been relieving for me had to take two weeks leave. So I'm back doing my old job for a while - and what an impact its had on my eating!

I'd forgotten that when I lost all my weight before, how much the job (which was new then) had helped. I simply dont have time to eat. I rush from one meeting to the next (actually if I was moving around I could probably grab something in between, but as they come to me, they just pile in one after another), and before I know it the mornings gone and my mid morning meals have been lost in the rush. Its budget time and I'm under extra pressure so food just doesn't rate. I know this is bad. I know that this is probably what is causing me weight maintenance problems now - that I didn't eat enough when I lost it the first time and its played havoc with my metabolism. And to make matters worse - I eat so few calories that everyday I've been able to afford my favourite treat: a Giant Twin icecream, at the end of the day. (Yes I know, its my choice) But I'm still under my calorie allowance. And this is certainly not clean eating!
I have had three very long days with evening meetings, breakfast meetings and long travel at each end, which as made being prepared very difficult as I've just fallen into bed each night and got up early to leave again. Hopefully the next few days will be a bit saner.

On a more positive front, whilst we are talking about food, I have finally managed to develop a liking for cottage cheese. I've only been trying on and off for the last 2 years, and on the weekend I tried Premium biscuits with cottage cheese and grapes - and loved them. They are my new favourite snack - despite my family ribbing me about the sliced grapes on top! I also made two recipes from Tosca's Clean Eating mag - which I loved- especially the Strawberry and spinach salad. So there area some wins on the food front as well as losses.

By the way - You'll notice that there's no weight training in my logs. I have finished Jillian Michaels Making the Cut program, and whilst trying to shake my weight plateau, I decided to give myself a week off of the weights and just focus on cardio. I'm now trying to decide what to do next - I could:

• Redo - Jillian's program - but instead of doing 1 set of all the circuits - do 2
• Have another go at the Ultra Fit program by Cindy ??? which has a lot of plyometrics - possibly more than Jillians. I tried this once before but found it too hard - maybe I'm better prepared for it now?
• Or do another 3 month block of straight weight training (ie low reps, high weights).

I wouldn't mind doing the last option, but I'm conscious of the fact that I'm in a weight loss challenge, so building muscle at the moment might not be my best choice - maybe I should keep more of a plyometric focus as it has the cardio benefits for fat loss?

What do you think?

I can run fast!

Weight 63.3
You have used 1324 out of your net daily budget of 1350 calories and have 26 calories remaining. 25% of the calories are from fat, 23% from protein, 52% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.
Exercise - 60 mins Combat, bench press et al!

Re my exercise - After Combat I still seemed to have plenty of energy, so whilst at home I decided to test myself out a bit. I have a few small goals, well, call them challenges that I would like to achieve. One day, I would like to be able to:

• do a chin up,
• a one handed push up,
• bench press much heavier weights
• And to perform the speed work necessary to run a 65 min 12 k.

So last night I decided to give them all a go, as I do on a regular basis.

The chin up - don't know what it is about this exercise, but I simply can't do it. I try and try with no results. I regularly walk past my chin up bar and have another go - but no luck. If anyone knows any good prep/build up exercises for this, please fill me in.

One handed push up. When I first tried this out, I remember asking my husband to look at what I was doing wrong. Did I have my hand in the wrong position? I asked, because I don't seem to be able to bend my elbow. He kinda laughed, and said, right position, your simply not strong enough! A little while back in combat I had a sore shoulder - so when it came to pushups, I did them one handed in a box press position, and realised this would be a good training method. But last night - I managed several mini ones - ie - my elbow did bend, but just not very much. Still, its a start

Bench press. I've never really done much of this, but a while back bought my own bench press. Keep meaning to workout on it and never really doing a lot consistently. I've been bench pressing 22kgs every now and then. And then I've been noticing a few people benching much more than me, yet I'm using heavier dumbells for curls etc. (usually 8 - 9 kgs). So - I decided that maybe I could press a lot more, I just wasn't trying. So I loaded another 10kgs onto the bar (no baby steps for me) - had a feel for it, lifted it up .....lowered it down.....and there it stayed! I couldn't lift it back up, and I was trapped! I know, I know - silly to do it without a spotter. Eventually I managed to roll it down to my abs, and twist and lower it to the ground. Took off the extra, add 3kgs this time bringing it up to 25kgs and managed 2 sets of 3. Well - its a start

Running. Now you have to understand that I'm a slow runner. Most of my running up till now has been focussed on running longer and pacing myself to make the distance. Last year I ran the C2B (12kms) in 72 mins - a PB for me. This year I've been dreaming about increasing my pace from 6min kms to 5.5 min kms (about 11km/hr) and running it in 65 mins. To do this, my running schedules tell me I need to be able to do speed work at a pace of 11.5 km/hr. I'm not planning on starting my real prep for this until June, but I thought - I wonder if I can actually do it? So I tried out 400 m at this pace and passed with flying colours. I've actually decided that I prefer to run fast. When I ran 12 kms two weeks ago, even though it was a long run, and the emphasis is meant to be on running slow and long, I started throwing in some accelerations, and I really loved the feeling. Last Saturday I talked about running pyramids in my long run, and i really enjoyed it. And over the last few months whilst I've restricted my running due to my hamstring injuries, I've been running in Cardio Coach, and doing very short sprint intervals, which I've loved. So today for cardio, I decided to try week one of the speedwork for the C2B - 6 x 400m sprints at 11.5km/hr, separated by 200m of walking. And I did it! It was hard work, and my calves are rather sore now, but I didn't give in to the tiredness, I pushed on and I did it. I'm so excited - I feel like I can actually run fast. It may not be fast for most, but its superfast for me, and I'm stoked.

Addit - For those interested in body composition - Muscle weight vs Fat weight

For those who are interested:
In my previous post about the Hydroxycut girl who was the same weight and height as me, but wearing size 16's (and I wear 10 - 12's) I wondered about my body image. I know I dont look as good as she does in her "after" photos, but I didn't think I looked as big as her "before".
I've since found her before and after measurements:

Waist - before - 35 inches
after - 25 inches
mine - 30 inches

Hips - before - 41 inches
after - 33 inches
mine - 38 inches

What does this mean?
Looking at these measurements it would appear that my shape is somewhere in between her before and afters, just like I thought.
Same weight and height - but clearly NOT the same body. The only explanation I can come for how the 65 kgs is distributed differently over the same sized frame is muscle mass. I must have a greater and hence more compact muscle mass. We always talk about muscle weighing more than fat - here's a good example. We have basically identicle BMI's, but based on these body measurements, I suspect we are not equally overweight.

My Body IS Changing

Weight - 63.7
You have used 269 out of your net daily budget of 1350 calories and have 1081 calories remaining. 34% of the calories are from fat, 18% from protein, 48% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.
Exercise - long run - 100mins (running intervals of 10 mins/3mins) Ave HR - 137

I guess I should have started posting my weight earlier so that you could have shared my joy at finally seeing the scales move in the right direction! Now before you panic too much about the calories - I actually ate over 1000 but because I used over 700 in exercise - Calorie King has adjusted the totals. Cant seem to work out a way of including my exercise and not having a report of the net cals. If anyone knows a way - let me know.

Long run on the treadmill yesterday- I planned to run outside but my garmin was dead - which meant I wouldn't be able to track my speed/distance etc - so resorted to the tready - and watched a movie at the same time!. I think I finally have my running legs back again - after a long lay - off with hamstring injuries. Ran 12 kms last weekend, and again this weekend, with no lasting effects, but I have been using run/walk intervals to ease me back into distances. Last week 6 mins/3 mins, this week 10 mins/3 mins and I found it relatively easy - so on the last 10 mins I kept going and ran a straight 20 mins. The next race I want to run is an 11km in a couple of weeks - I should be fine - will drop the intervals to 10:1 next time and I think I will feel ok. I have discovered however that what is causing me grief on the distance runs is not the HR, its not leg tiredness - I get bored! So this time I used running pyramids in my 10 min blocks to keep me on my toes - upping the speed by 0.5km/hr every min to the 5 min mark, then dropping it back down again the same way. Well - what can I say - it helped to pass the time!

Its good to see the weight drop today, but I should point out that I know my body has been changing regardless of the lack of change on the scales. Over the last 6 weeks my waist measurement has dropped 7cm, and is back to size it was when I was at goal weight - which was 6 kgs lighter! My thighs still remain stubbornly the same, but if my weight hasn't changed much, and my waist measurement is shrinking - and I'm fitting back into my goal weight clothes, I must have been gaining muscle I guess. Or at least I'm reducing abdominal bloat through good eating - eitherway , things are improving and my body is changing shape.

Time To Be Regular

No, I'm not talking about eating more fibre, I'm talking about posting more regularly.

I dont post very often these days, but I read everyone else's blog's diligently on a daily basis. And I get a lot from them, so I've been thinking that maybe I should be returning the favour by sharing more regularly. I've really been enjoying KatieP's daily Calorie King/weight updates, and whilst I dont want to copycat, since I have got so much out of it, I thought I might do the same for a while, so at least Katiep is returned the favour!

So here's mine from yesterday

Weight - 64.0

You have used 1378 out of your net daily budget of 1350 calories and have -28 calories remaining. 47% of the calories are from fat, 17% from protein, 37% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.

As you can see, yesterday was a bad day nutritionally (check out my fat/protein ratios)

Here's the reason why:

I am on a weight loss challenge with some friends at work - I am a part of a team of 4. I lost 1.9kgs in the first week - mainly due to my conscious water loading on the weekend prior, and since then have struggled to lose anything. In reality, my weight has stagnated around 64.3 kgs for about the last 6 weeks (except for my weight gain spike in the middle of this when the challenge started). I have eaten relatively well on a consistent basis, and exercised (cardio and weights) as I should. But regardless of what happens (walking marathons etc) it will not budge. This week out of desperation - I tried to shake things up. On Wed, I hit myself with a double header of an exercise session - RPM (spin) followed by Combat. Over these two hours I kept my HR at and average of 85% - no result. The next day - I thought I try and eat a whole range of different foods - things my body's not used to - same weight next morning, despite throwing in an extra hour of walking late at night on the treadmill. Yesterday - I thought I'd take a leaf out of Katiep's book and try a paleo day. This was so hard that I ended up over my calorie allowance - I kept eating more because I was so hungry! And no change on the weight. Yesterday, I was due for a long run in the morning, but I got up feeling tired and achey, and just didn't want to go. A quick recount of my exercise days and I realised I hadn't had a rest day for 8 days. So I deferred my long run to the next day. And kinda let down the front on the nutrition side as well out of crankiness over my plateau. I ate chocolate, potato chips and my favourite icecream - a Giant Twin. Of course I only ate the chocolate and chips in small quantities (a 20g mini pack and a couple of small Easter eggs), hence I stayed close to my calorie allowance.

Anyway - despite the high fat and no exercise my weight this morning is on the brink of dropping below 64. Normally this sort of stubborn weight issue wouldn't bother me so much, but because of the weight challenge I feel like I'm letting the side down. I'm determined not to weigh in again at the gym until I have something to show for it!

Lastly - this ad in Oxygen is doing my head in.

Its an ad for hydroxycut - no big deal - but its the girls weight/size that is confusing me. She is the same height as me - and in her before photo - essentially the same weight. In the article they talk about her getting up to a whopping 65kgs and a size 16 (or words to that effect), suggesting that she is grossly overweight. My issue is that at the same height and weight, I am definitely not a size 16 - I wear between a 10 - 12 - and its only the chest that puts me into a size 12. What the **** - How can this be - do I just wear my clothes too tight? Am I grossly overweight and cant see it? I don't think I look as thin as she is at 45 kgs, but I also don't think I'm as big as she looks at 65. Aggh - I have so many body image issues, I'm not sure what's accurate any more. I know I'm not within a healthy weight range - but people ridicule me when I say I plan to lose more weight. Body fat measurements are all over the place - with skin fold calipers telling me I'm at 17 - 18% and my scales telling me I'm at 42% (I know my scales are wrong - the scales at the gym put me under 30%). So who knows? I also think I probably have a kg or two of excess skin around the middle which I think causes havoc with body fat calcs on the scales. Others tell me my weight is higher due to my muscle mass....

I know in the end it doesn't matter - I just have to make a decision for me, based on what I see in the mirror. And I know I am fit and healthy - with the blood pressure of a teenager, a resting heart rate in the low 40's. I really should just get over myself!

Can you read this?

Yep - you read it correctly - I came runner up at the Half Marathon that I WALKED. And those little numbers above are my time - 3hrs and 6 mins - not so damn bad if I say so myself. I averaged 7 kms/hr for 3 hours. I had no idea I was capable of this - being a little shorty (152cm/5ft zilch). I've walked this fast before but only for very short periods of time - I never thought I could sustain it for so long. Think of it this way. Ok - I know us runners have a tendency to scoff at walking - but think of it this way - 7kms/hr is my absolute sprint pace for walking and I kept it up the whole time - no reduced pace for an endurance event for me! And boy do I feel it.

Interestingly I had a go at training last night, and whilst walking was painful - running wasn't - they both use different muscles I guess. So I enjoyed a lovely HIIT workout with cardio coach - using running sprints for high intensity, and then followed this up with an upper body weights session. - So I managed to keep on training despite the severe DOMS.

On another note, a fellow blogger recently posted about external motivation. I've been reflecting on what a difference this has made to me. With the recent signing up to a team weight loss challenge - this has had a big impact. I've always done my weight loss on my own, and been accountable only to me. Now I have weekly weigh ins, which is quite publicly accountable, AND I have a team who are relying on me to lose weight each week. This has made a huge difference, as every time I consider eating something I shouldn't - I get worried about letting the team down. The night before my first weigh in, I got an sms from another team member saying he had lost 5.5kgs! Holy Sh**t (and yes my team mates are all 6 ft males). This pushed me out the door for another evening cardio session, in a last bid to hold up my end of the bargain. My loss for the week was 1.9kgs - but remember that this is not all real as I promoted some water retention prior to the first weigh in - and this has inflated (excuse the pun) my result! Anyway - I'm really hoping this will help me to relose the last few kilos back to a weight that I'm really comfortable with and will help me to run faster etc.

Time will tell of course. Week 2 weigh in coming up......

I know I said I like variety but...

I know I said I like variety but... last nights resistance session practically required a librarians degree. I had to look up about every second exercise I was scheduled to do - there were so many new ones! And how many versions of the plank/pushup can one come up with?
Have a look for yourself at what I did last night:

Circuit One
Body Ball Push Ups - 10
Pushups - to muscle failure
Cable Leg extensions 10 on each leg
Step Plyos - 1 minute

Circuit Two
Dumbell Press on Body Ball - 10 on each arm
Half Crow Push Ups - 5 on each leg
Harpies - 20 reps
Jump Squats - 10
Warrior Pose with Tricep Press - 30 secs on each leg

Circuit Three
Tricep Dips - to muscle failure
Hanging Abs = 15
Static Lunges with Lateral Shoulder Raise - 10 on each leg
Side Step Plyos - 1 minute

Circuit Four
Pike Push Ups - 10 reps
Squat and Military Shoulder Press - 10
Dropsies - 16
Jump rope for 1 min

Circuit Five
Bench Dips with feet on Body Ball - 20
Bicycle crunches - 30
Plank Twists - 20 on each side
Boat Pose - for 30 secs.

So in this routine I did push ups, body ball push ups, pike push ups, half crow push ups and plank twists. In previous workouts I've also done side planks, side planks with leg raises, reverse planks, jump planks etc. They just keep coming!

Whilst I'm enjoying this circuit routine, it doesn't have the same feeling as doing mulitple sets on the same muscle group to failure. The cardio aspect is much higher, and whilst I can see, say in the chest area - I really did do a number of sets, just in different exercises, I'm not sure whether it has the same effect. I guess time will tell. And its only a 30 day program - its always good to challenge your body to new things.

On the nutritional side - I had a cheat day yesterday. Can you have a cheat day if it wasn't planned and you don't really have any in your programme? Well, that's what I'm calling it anyway. The family were all over for Easter Sunday, and I spent the day cooking - chocolate brownies, almond and pear pie, and a big roast pork with vegies. There was crackling and I ate some and I'm not going to feel guilty about it. Whilst I turn up my nose at heaps of high fat things, I really do love crackling for some bizarre reason. So I had some. And some of the brownies, and 2 hot cross buns (counted that as lunch). We had a fairly active morning though - as I did the usual easter egg hunt around the house, and then sent them on a GPS chocolate hunt around the neighbourhood. Borrowed some bikes so we could all bike around to find everything, and this was a lot of fun. A bit of frolicking in the pool in the arvo, and then my weights session in the evening. So I'm not going to let one day get me down. Back to it today!

I love variety!

I really do love variety in my training. I know I probably don't need to do as much cardio as I do for weight loss/muscle building, but I love to be fit. And I love to be fit to give me the ability to do whatever I want.
To be able to go hiking and see a hill and say - heck - lets run it.
To be able to hop of the bike and go for broke and cycle for as long as I want
To be able to take on any challenge that i want - knowing I have a reasonable chance of success.

This week I've had some nice variety. I work trip to Adelaide meant that I was able to do a 6km run around the lake at West Lakes, followed by a lovely spa in the hotel (had the whole complex to myself -wish I'd had more time to do a workout there as well)
Friday I hopped on the bike and rode around the town scouting locations for a high tech GPS Easter Egg hunt.
Saturday I got up early and headed off for a 14km walk as my last prep for WALKING a half marathon next weekend.
Planning on swimming this arvo
And during the week I've also been doing Jillian Michael's weights/plyometrics workout. This started out as being quite challenging but I've noticed lately that I've been finding it a bit easier. Either the first couple of days were designed to be killer workouts to put you off, or I've adapted to them (or worst case scenario - I'm no longer doing them properly)
Anyway - its a circuit workout which I'm finding doesn't seem to challenge the muscles as much as straight sets with the same muscle group - but its good to push your body through change. At the end of each circuit (there are five in each workout) there is a cardio element. More often than not, this says - 60secs run at incline of 12 at 9km/hr. Now I've been thinking that an incline of 12 must be a typo - or maybe in USA they have different measurements of incline - because on my treadmill this is as high as it goes. So to be honest, I've only been doing an incline of 6. But on Thursday I decided to give it a go. And it certainly is possible. The first 30 secs were fine, but by the last 15secs it was a major push. I really was gasping - to the point when you feel the oxygen burn in the throat afterwards -you know the feeling? I've realised that whilst I get my heart rate up in interval training - I don't push it this hard. This was really pushing me to a new level - and I'm sure this will really help to challenge my fitness. Yeah!

Anyway - as I keep trying all sorts of new and wonderful exercises, I thought I might post some every now and then.
So here's my exercise for the day. I've noticed that this one seems to work a different aspect of my abs and back to other exercises and I can see an improvement in my form every time I do it.

Pike crunches:
From a kneeling position, place your abdomen on a body ball and roll the body along the ball until your nkles rest on the top of the ball. Your shoulders should be aligned directly over your hands. Contracting your abdominal muscles, exhale and pull the ball forward using yoru legs. As your glutes rise, keep your upper body stable so that your shoulders stay aligned with your hands. In the finished position, your toes should be resting on the. Return to the starting position. Repeat.

The Perfect Physique

I've found the perfect physique! Introducing Beth Horn. She has the physique that I want. Not everyone wants the same body shape, nor can achieve the same body shape - as it is partly determined by genetics. But this is what I want. Not too skinny, strong, sculpted and lean. And I think it matches my "inbuilt" shape. My legs will never be stick thin, aka "straight up and down" because they are not built that way. They are shapely and defined - well from mid thigh down anyway! Above that, they may be packed full of muscle but they are wrapped in a thick layer of fat. When I wear shorts - I usually say "here come the thunder thighs"! But I have the same quads bulge above the knee, and if you look on the photo below, I have the same hamstring definition at the back of the thigh. I think my legs will always be solid, but if I can get them looking like Beth's, I will be ecstatic. Whilst my tummy is nowhere near flat like hers, do you notice that it isn't a tiny waist? Mine will never be either, my shape is more straight up and down, than a naturally tiny waist. But I also have the broader shoulders like she does - they just need more work!

So this is what I am aiming for - I consider this perfection!

The exercises she does are very similar to the Jillian Michaels one's - lots of plyometrics - so I'll keep going with this!

Oh - and eventually - I want to be able to eat like her. Read this:

Mmm - might not be legible. Anyway what she says is that off-season she eats very clean during the week, and then Friday and Saturday nights has whatever she wants, with dessert on one of these nights, and pancakes for breakfast Sunday morning. I really want to be able to live like that. I'm more than happy to be strict with my eating during the week - I find that quite easy - but I also want to be able to relax and enjoy some normal meals and indulgences on a regular basis. So if she can manage it - it must be possible. I just have to build all that muscle!

Getting to know your body

Well, I did something earlier this week that could be considered either foolish or wise.

On Monday I started a 3 month weight loss challenge through the gym, with a group of friends through work. I thought that having to be weighed weekly by someone else, and working as a part of the team that it would keep me more accountable, and I wouldn't want to be letting the team down.

I have been doing Jillian Michaels "Making the Cut" program (well, mainly the exercise, don't really like her foods but have followed the principles and just used clean eating). Anyway - one of the things that she makes a point about, which I haven't really paid too much attention to in the past is salt.

Apparently sodium slows your metabolism and excess sodium is deposited just below your skin where it attracts water. And when the water is retained in your cells it impedes the fat burning process and slows your metabolism again. She later talks about water retention, saying that there are three factors influencing this - water consumption, sodium intake and carbohydrate consumption. Even if you are slightly dehydrated, your body holds on to its water supplies, causing the scales to inch upwards. And that sodium holds 50 times its weight in water. The perspective she provides is that if you ate ate a pickle one day, the next day you could be holding another pound of water weight (american examples I know). She recommends on her 30 day program to try and keep sodium to about 1000 mg/day. ( I think the normal guidelines are 2000mg).

So I've been watching this through calorie king every day. And I've never been one to add salt to anything, but I've discovered some new traps. AND I've seen what a higher salt day does to my weight the next day. I've noticed previously that if I eat a food like pizza (this is the family Sunday night treat dinner), I immediately gain weight, no matter how calorie controlled I am about it. So its been good to learn about.

But here's the dicey thing I did.
Before the first weigh in for the weight challenge - I decided to put my theories to the test and water load.
That weekend I ate pizza, potato chips (I said I'd been bad that week) and chinese food. And I intentionally gave myself the ok to do so - with the aim of upping my weight on the Monday, and then reducing my salt intake and increasing my water intake to produce a more dramatic weight loss. I did this partly because I'm never going to lose big numbers on this challenge - I don't really have enough to lose, and secondly to see how strong the theory is with my body. Crazy - maybe. Risky - sure

And here are the results.

I hadn't weighed myself for a few days prior - but I thought when I stood on the scales on Monday - I had possibly gained 1.5 - 2kgs.
Two days later, my weight had dropped by 1.3kgs. Four days later (this morning), down by 2.2kgs. I have continued to eat clean this week and aimed for restricted calories for weight loss, so this will contribute to my weight loss anyway, but 1.3 kgs loss in two days? This is good proof of the vastness of the impact of water retention. And with regards to the 2 kg gain I experienced? If 7000 calories =1 kg, there is NO WAY POSSIBLE that I ate 14,000 calories in excess of what I needed to gain 2kgs in a few days. I don't think that even if I set my mind to it that I could eat that many calories.

So the moral of the story is - when the scales give you unexpected results, that are way off what they should be, think sodium and water retention, they have a big impact. And personally, I think my body is particularly susceptible and will be watching my sodium/fluid intake so much more closely in future.

A week off

Well, since the triathlon I seem to have been having a wee week off nutritionally. Just when I thought all thoughts of "bad" foods had disappeared, and was strongly in the clean eating mode - wham - something happened and I've been enjoying all my favourite forbiddens!



Of course on Monday, I start a 3 month "biggest loser" type challenge through the gym -so I think part of me is saying, relax, eat now, and then back into it on Monday. And I've actually convinced myself that eating lots of really salty foods this weekend (like Chinese on Friday night, and pizza tonight) will help me in a water loading sense to give me a falsely high weight when I weigh in on Monday (Maybe not so false I'm thinking)



I had done well the week before with Jillian Michaels program, and lost 1.4 kgs, but I shudder to think what the scales would say now! But I will start again tomorrow, and this challenge will keep me honest, as I am a member of a 4 person team - all of whom want to win - so I will have to work very hard to keep up with the weight loss of 3 x 6ft males who have a bit more to lose than I do!



Despite the races on Sunday - I have still managed a reasonable week of exercise, although it ended up having to be light due to an excessive gym session on Tuesday. Monday I spent the day at an adventure park, not real exercise, more like active recovery after my two races - which seemed appropriate. Lots of water slides, paddle boats, running throught the maze, mini golf and archery! Tuesday was a new release session at the gym for the Les Mills classes. These days they do supersessions - so at 5.30 I headed off to the class, without giving it much thought. Although I wasn't sore from the triathlon - I was feeling slightly fatigued. (And it is still 40 degrees here, every day. I think we are up to about 15 days straight). The super session turned out to be 4 tracks of Pump, 4 from Attack, 4 from Combat and then 4 from Balance. I haven't done Pump in about 12 months - and the squat track was a killer (I also haven't been doing squats with weights at home). By the time we got to Attack, my legs were shaking with fatigue. Managed to get through it ok, but the next day DOMS set in. By Wednesday night - I could hardly move if it required quads activity. Nevertheless - I know the best thing for stiffness is active recovery - so I went for a quick walk Wednesday morning, and TRIED to run Wednesday evening at the gym. I was called away unexpectedly after about a 15min warmup and 10 mins run, but couldn't convince myself to go back afterwards and finish up. I was just in too much pain. Thursday morning I had to head to Adelaide, but I got up extra early and walked for an hour. Friday - I had to be in Port Augusta (100 kms in the opposite direction from my home base), but due to the need to car pool with my boss - i had 2 hours to spare - so once again walked off the soreness.



Saturday I felt back to normal, and had a long walk/run scheduled - 18kms in preparation for the half marathon at the end of March. I think my weight loss team are all going to walk it, so this means I really should walk it with them. Thinking about walking 21kms (rather than walk/running it) made me realise that this would be a very long session - much longer than when you run - could be something like 3.5 hours. And I'm not used to such long sessions - even if they are just walking. And don't forget I'm going to be walking with 6 ft long legged males - it wont be a slow pace for me! So I decided that I really should walk all of the 18kms as training, and to build up some strength endurance. So i did. Forecast again for 40 degs, I set off at 7.30am and the first half was quite comfortable. It then started to heat up and I really felt it. I had sweat pouring down my face and I swear my HR wouldnt have been above 50%! The whole walk took me 3.15 and I can't believe how much it took out of me! I collapsed into the recliner when I got home, and poured liquids down my throat for about the next 1 hr. Eventually I managed to return to the land of the living and headed off to do the food shopping.



Back to cardiocoach this morning for a HIIT workout - gotta love that - although the heat does take it out of you. (Oh and I went for a little bit of lap swimming later on)



On my walk with plenty of time to think, I have set myself a few lofty running goals. Last year I ran the City to Bay at a pace of 6.00 (10km/hr), this year, if I give myself plenty of time to train for it, I would like to see if its possible for me to run it at a pace of 5.5 (10.9 km/hr). This might not sound like a big increase if you are not into running, but believe me, increasing your speed by 1 km/hr over a 12 km/hr race is a big jump. So it may not even be possible. But I've looked at the training schedule and speed work I would need to do for this and think I will give it a go. I've I can't manage the speed work outs I will know early on that I need to lower my goals, and that will be ok. But it has also encouraged me to lose some more weight. I read in one of the triathlon books that "losing 2kgs" can translate into a 30 sec improvement in time in the race, and there is no doubt that if I lost 10kgs to put my in the middle of my healthy weight range, this would definitely help. So the weight loss challenge over the next three months could be very instrumental in achieving this goal.



You may have noticed no weight training being mentioned here.... I've been slack. Back to it this week to build all that muscle I need! I'm going to use the next 3 months as base training (fat loss, muscle gain, base running) before starting a formal training programe in June/July for the September race.



Last but not least - A Clean Eating Mag has been published by Tosca Reno's hubby - I just need to convince my hubby to let me subscribe!

The results are in...

The results of my race have just been posted, and I placed 5th in my age category - I'm pretty happy with that!
Ok, I have to admit there were only 11 people in my age category, but still that places me in the first half, AND, given that I didn't try that hard on the run - I might aim for a place in the next season!

I am a Triathlete!

Well, it might have only been the short course, but I have now completed my first triathlon - Yeahhhhh!

Distance - 160m swim, 8 km cycle, 1.5 km run

Time - unofficial - about 40 mins

Placing - no idea - need to wait for the results (well I guess I can say I didn't win!)

Satisfaction - v. happy - its exactly the time I planned for, and all went (mostly) according to plan.

Here's the low down on the event for those who are interested.

Prep phase

We arrived the day before (it was held at Victor Harbour - seaside location about 4.0 hr drive from our place) and drove around the cycle course and run course. All looked good, no real hills to worry about. Then to the beach to have a look and try out the water. I knew then that I wouldn't like the swim, as the water was incredibly salty - and I hate beach swimming for this reason. What it did tell me was though how much my nose runs after swimming in salt water, so I decided to make sure I had tissues waiting in the transition area, and would definitely need a drink to get rid of the salty taste. We registered and then went back to the caravan park for a clean eating meal of spaghetti and meatballs from Tosca Reno's cookbook that I had prepared that morning. (more to save money than to eat well!).

Given that I'm not all that confident on the bike, and I've really only ridden it about 5 or 6 times since we bought it at the end of January, I decided to go for a quick ride to check out some tight turns and reassure myself that I can do them! You have to remember that 12 months ago I couldn't even ride our mountain bikes, fear of falling off prevented me from giving this a go. Any way - when I hopped on I was reassured that I felt quite comfortable on the bike and could indeed navigate the tight turns. I know this sounds odd for someone about to do a triathlon - but the reality is that the rides I have done leading up to it have been quite straightforward. I've found that I'm quite strong and manage long distances quite easily, but having never ridden a bike with gears before, and having never ridden a road bike before, the technical aspects are a little daunting, and I lack confidence more than actual ability. Kind of a mind over matter thing.

Anyway - the good news was that I felt fine about the bike ride, but the bad news was that I discovered I had a very sore right quad - I hadn't realised it was still sore from weight training on Thursday night. I guess my two day taper wasn't really sufficient! Never mind - I did a full set of stretches and went to bed, trying for an early night. Unfortunately the nerves got the better of me and I had difficulty falling asleep, and then when I did, had trouble sleeping as I was cold - despite the fact that we are in the middle of a heat wave! Victor is known for being much cooler, and we hadn't put a blanket on the bed thinking we wouldnt need it, but we were wrong.

Up at 6.30 and after getting ready, walked the bikes down to the race area to rack the bikes and set up for transition. Race briefing at 8.00 and everything sounded as I had expected. Was a little confused about where to run into and out of the transition area, but knew from other running races that we would be well directed.

The Swim

This leg was probably the least enjoyable and surprisingly the easiest.

It was a very nerve wracking start to the race, with wave starts, and waiting for your start to be called. The 30 secs before when you are knee deep into the water and told you are in the "starters hands" especially so. All the thoughts then of "why am I doing this" cross your mind.

The gun went off and I jumped in the water, along with about 40 other people. This is where the chaos started. I swam about 4 stroke of freestyle and promptly gave up on it. We were packed in like sardines with no room to move. I couldn't afford to have my head in the water as I couldn't see where to place my hands/feet/other body parts to have any hope of moving! I tried to swim freestyle with my head out of the water like most around me seemed to be doing -and was rewarded with heaps of extra water to drink. I got to the first bouy and decided this was ridiculous. I was going nowhere fast and decided to try another tack. I positioned myself on the inside of the pack and flipped onto my side, facing away from everyone, and started side stroke. This worked. Suddenly I had a clear view, unobstructed from splashing water, and I was able to do full powerful strokes, and did indeed power ahead. My sidestroke was much faster than all the pseudo freestyle around me. I also discovered that every type of stroke was being done, including someone doing backstroke in front of me! Nevertheless, things were much better now, and I powered on and around the second buoy and headed for home. When I got closer to shore I changed to breast stroke so that I had a full view of the beach and would know when to stand up and start running.

All in all, Im glad that at some point in my training I decided to give up on trying to achieve perfect freestyle for the full distance, and instead practiced a variety of strokes and relied on the fact that I would make the distance one way or another. There was no opportunity to use the slow, carefully controlled rhythmical freestyle that I had practiced. I guess the short distance and the generally lower level of skills in the competitors meant that the pack never really thinned out, like it did when I watched the Olympic distance event. I reached the shore easily, with no thoughts of "will I make the distance" which I had been worried about - in fact I probably could have swam further.

T1 - First transition

This year (I watched the event last year) due to building works in the area, they had to move the transition area further away from the swim. This meant a run up the beach, up a step, along a cobble stone path, and then along the road for about 100m before turning in to the transition area. Then you run down the full lenght of the bike racks, turn around and come back up your lane to your bike. I felt good coming out of the water, some people were walking, some slow jogging, but I put a little bit of fire into the legs and overtook a few on the way. I'd never run in (wet) bare feet before, but it was fine, but when I got to my bike my feet were covered in mud. Dried them off with a towel, and slipped my sandshoes on minus the socks (apparently this is the norm in tri's). Race bib on with the waist belt, sunglasses and then helmet, and then lifted the bike off the rack. I was glad we had bought road bikes, as if we had been racing with mountain bikes which are much heavier, I think this would have been difficult. And remembered to press the right buttons on the garmin to try and time my transitions and legs. (They don't time your splits in the short course). Then a quick run with the bike to the start line.

The Cycle

Mounted my bike just past the start line as had been suggested to avoid conjestion and headed off. I felt good and the 8kms passed by in no time. Only one person overtook me and I was overtaking people on a regular basis. My general fitness really helps on the bike. I have good strong quads that power me along quite easily. One of the funniest things was though that about 2/3rds of the way through the race, heading up a slight incline I decided that my legs were tiring, and perhaps I would drop the gear down. Clicked the lever a few times but nothing happened. "What - I'm in the easiest gear already?" and then realised that I was probably in the hardest gear and I was usually the wrong gear change lever. Do you think I could remember where the other one was????? I told you I'm not very confident with the technical aspects of the bike!!! I couldn't work it out - my hand instinctly kept reaching for the brake - but no - this the brake - not the gear lever! Eventually it dawned on my that I was right, but to change down gears you flick the brake handle to the left, rather than pulling it in, and proceeded to do so. Of course I had done this many times before but it was just a race day mind blank! What it also told me is that I had ridden most of the race in the hardest gear without noticing it. Not really smart I guess, but fast.

Total time was between 18 - 20 mins (my garmin and the software are telling me different things) but overall I averaged about 25 kms/hr, which I'm really happy with.

T2 – Second Transition

Headed into the transition area and it was a little heavy going as I had to push the bike through some sand/dirt, but all went ok. Managed to lift my bike up onto the rack, and the requirements here were pretty brief, just drop of the bike and helmet and head off again. I took the time to take a few swigs of the drink as my mouth was still uncomfortably salty, and also to unstrap the garmin from the bike handle bars. Was willing to sacrifice time here so that I have records to analyse later! Strapped the garmin to my wrist as I ran to the start line.

The Run

Well, despite the run supposedly being my strong suit – this was undoubtedly the hardest. The burn in the legs wasn’t too bad, as I had followed some advice and stood up and stretched my legs in the last 200 metres of the bike leg, and it really seemed to help. But my legs were really, really tired. I let myself walk a couple of times (lots of people were doing this), mainly because I had decided at the outset that I wanted to just enjoy my first triathlon and not set too higher goals, my times were spot on according to my plans, and saw no need to kill myself over it. I know, I know - how could I need to walk during a 1.5 km run? But the reality is that the effect of the bike and the swim beforehand is cumulative, and from bike to run is quite a unique challenge in itself. Sprinted to the finish line, and was pretty happy overall.

Reflections

· Its really hard to know how to pace yourself in an event like this. Because the demands of each leg are all so different, its hard to tell how much to “save up”. In retrospect, maybe I cycled too fast, and should have left more for the run, but as I said earlier, the cycle felt easy. I guess the only way to pace your self is through experience in races such as this. As a result of this – I need to do far more brick workouts – moving from cycling to running to understand the way my body responds to this.

· I will keep working on my freestyle, but will make sure that I do lots of other strokes as well, particularly whilst I stay doing short courses, as freestyle is just not necessary/useful. But if I keep up the practice, I should be prepared for when I want to move up to the sprint distance.

· Its quite a technical race – lots to remember to do, and lots of rules. Like don’t take your bike off the rack unless your helmet is on/ don’t draft behind another bike/if you are within 6 metres of another bike you must overtake within 15 secs/remember the order of everything you need to take off/put on etc. But well worthwhile doing a “practice one” to help you consolidate all of this. Now that I have sense of knowing what I am doing, next season I can train far more specifically with time goals etc.

· I had no stiffness/soreness the next day – which says that I really could have pushed myself harder in the race (oh and did I mention I also ran the 5 km fun run 3 hrs later?). But I’m ok with this, because I had decided that I didn’t want to push myself – just soak it all up, enjoy and learn. Next time though…

· And lastly, the hair. This is for you Katiep. I found the perfect hairdo – see photo below. Pigtail braids! Haven’t worn them since high school but they were soooo good. They survived a latex swimming cap being ripped off, replaced with a helmet, then this coming off, followed by a run. And then the 5 km run at midday in 40 deg. heat, running through lots of water, and still in good enough condition to go to the pub for dinner. Now that’s some hairstyle – would thoroughly recommend it!

Obsessed with losing weight?

I wasn't going to post until tomorrow after weigh in, but something happened today that I need your thoughts on.

I was out at lunch with a couple of colleagues who are good friends. One has lost about 30 kgs over a short period of time on the Cohens diet and is at goal weight, and the other is male and has lost about 15 kgs, but has managed this by just eating a little healthier and walking to work (men!).
We ordered salads at Cafe Primo as we usually do, and there was a free garlic bread that came with it, and as one of them ordered for me, I didn't get a chance to say no. I ignored it when it arrived, and after a while they asked if I was going to eat it. I replied no - I had started the Jillian Michaels 30 day program - and no cheat meals for me. One of them looked at me and then asked - "do you think there will be some point in your life when you will return to normal relaxed eating - after all - how long have you being doing this stuff for now?" I replied about how I hoped that one day I would, but at the moment every time I relax my eating I gain weight - and I probably need to change my fat/muscle ratio to help with this, but I know that they both think I am obsessed with losing weight. I then went on to say that it wasn't really about losing weight - but that I want to be fit and healthy, and my friend nodded in agreement and the conversation went on to other things. But I know what they were thinking, and it makes me feel a bit freakish. I thought some more about it and I realise that I didnt really say what it is really about for me.

The reality is , I plan to always eat healthily, like an athlete.
I want to put good food in my body, with just the occasional treat. So no, there probably wont be a time when I stop being fussy and particular.

I want an athletes body.
I want an athletes ability.
I want to continually challenge my body and achieve new things.
I want to compete in events and have a body that allows me to do this, both in ability and shape and form.

This means fuelling it with clean healthy food. Yes, at the moment I have gained a few kilos, and I want to get back to where I was at goal, but that is just a temporary objective - I have long term goals that will always see me saying no to some foods and alcohol. Am I wrong to want this? Am I obsessed?

What's been going on in my life????

Well, its been a couple of months since a decent post - I guess I should fill people in.

I haven't fallen off the wagon or anything - just always seem to be too busy reading everyone else's blogs to have time to write in mine. Everyone else is much more interesting! The problem with not blogging very often is that when you do - there is so much to say that there is never enough time to write it all! I've had to write this over several days.

Well, I relaxed my eating over the holidays and gained a few kilos, despite maintaining a reasonable level of exercise. So now that I'm back at work, I'm back to relosing these, plus a few more.

I've set myself a few competing goals, which currently have me so sore I can barely walk!

Saturday, I walk/ran 16kms of hills. I've scheduled in one long walk/run each weekend until the end of March as I would like to compete in a local half marathon. I've been concentrating so much lately on HIIT workouts that I haven't done any distance running - so running the whole thing is out of the question. But I could certainly walk it, and run some. So I need to get some "distance" into my legs, so one long one for me each weekend.

Saturday evening I started the first of Jillian Michaels "Making the Cut" weight training sessions - which are fairly intensive circuits FILLED with plyometrics (jumping lunges/squats etc with weights). I've decided to trial her 30 day program to lose the holiday weight, and regain some muscle (haven't done any weights since December) . So March is the month, and I am following her diet/exercise program to the letter. (Well - close enough - don't like some of her recipes so am exchanging some of them for Tosca Reno's from her Clean Eating Cookbook)

Oh and between the 16kms and the weights that day- there was no rest for me - I spent the intervening hours preparing for my 12 yo daughters birthday party, and supervising/cleaning up after her 7 friends who spent the night.

Sunday morning I woke feeling rather tired and sorry for myself, but its the triathlon next weekend, and whilst I would have preferred a rest day (I think I was on 8 days stright) , I knew I needed to try out my gear in the pool before the big day. I have had great dramas over what to wear for this - I'm NOT riding a bike/running in my bathers, so I have finally bought some 2xu tri nix - which are basically like padded bike shorts which are designed to be swam in. This means they don't absorb too much water so that you don't feel like you are running with a nappy between your legs. Any way - I have the tri- nix, and bought a tri top from the 3 Sports store in Sydney when I visited there last week. So time to try swimming in these shorts, top and my sports bra.

Rode my bike to my friend's pool, jumped in and swam about 250 metres. The short course triathlon is very short - it only requires a 160 m swim - but for a hopeless swimmer like me, this is a lot. I have basically given up on the idea of being able to swim it all freestyle - the breathing is just too exhausting. So I will start with freestyle, then switch to breaststroke/sidestroke/whatever to get me to the end. I was just about to leave when I heard a "swoosh" come up the drive. It was hubby on his bike - he had decided that perhaps he needed to do one last swim too. So I waited for him to swim his laps (it only takes about 5 mins!) so we could ride home together - but at the driveway he turned in the other direction. Turns out he thought he'd ride a few kms out to the highway before heading home. Mmmmm - guess I'd better too - even though my legs were barely functional from yesterday. So headed off behind him and we rode a quick 4kms and then back home. As we got closer to home I thought - heck I've done the swim, done the ride - might as well finish it off with a run. So dropped off the bike and headed out for a quick short run. So for my "rest" day - I ended up doing a "mini" version of the "mini" triathlon for next Sunday. Limped back inside afterwards. Clothes were fine for all three sports, although I will have to apply antichafe stuff on the arms - a little bit of rubbing against a wet top!

Oh and did I tell you that after talking my Hb into us buying two of them (one for him, one for me) he's told me I'm not allowed to spend anything else on health and fitness for the rest of the year! (Man, that's one superchallenge!)

But remembering this is Day 2 of the Jillian Michaels challenge - I still had to do another intensive weight circuit that night - can't throw in the towel at day 2! So by Monday morning moving around was rather difficult. Decided that I will give the morning HIITT workouts a miss this week as somehow I have to keep up the JM stuff, do some minor triathlon training, and fit in a taper before the event. And, because of the need to rest for a good 3 days prior, it means I had to reshuffle the rest days on Jillian's workouts. Monday was meant to be a rest, but I moved all the workouts forward, so that I could legitimately have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. That translates into "ouch for now, worth it later!"

It has taken me so long to write this post, that its now Thursday. I might leave it here and pick up again after my weigh in on Saturday. The scales are looking quite good - and I can fill you in on the results for week 1, and the JM nutrition program and how its affecting me. Then after that, it will be time to let you know how my first tri went!