Week 2 Training for 1/2 Marathon

Well - I've finished week 2 of the training (skipped week one as there isn't enough time B4 the race, and I can run it comfortably any way)
Week 2 required me to do 2 x 5 kms runs and 1 x 8.5 km long run.
Forget the 8.5 km one - I ran 12kms instead! Why? I guess because I can, and I can't see any point in starting off with a lower mileage than I'm used to.

I changed my long run day from Sat to Friday as I had the opportunity to run down at Glenelg on Friday as I was down there for work. I ran to Brighton and back, and then worked out how many more kms i had to run towards West Beach to clock up the 8.5 kms on returning back to Glenelg. Did this - but as I reached Glenelg I thought I should probably run a bit more and round it up to 10 kms - as I have run this quite comfortably in recent weeks. So I ran on again towards Brighton, using my Garmin again to guide me as to how far to go/when to turn around to end up back at Glenelg with a 10km distance. But as you know, I can't help but challenge myself - as I approached the home base again, I thought - Why stop at 10kms, I know I can do that, this training is meant to be about extending yourself - so you guessed it - I kept going for another 2 kms to round it up to 12kms

Time - 1hr 16 - a PB for me, but potentially it was even better than this, as in the last km my Garmy lost satellite reception and stopped recording. looking at my 1 km splits afterwards showed a steady 6:10 ish pace, with a 7 something pace recorded on the last one - I'm slow, but never that slow! It even told me that my maximum speed during that last km was 894 km/hr mmm - just call me speedy! Anyway - I've never run 12kms continuously before - even when I ran the City to Bay I had scheduled but small walk breaks, so this is a great achievement for me.

Of course I then followed this up with a Masterclass at the gym the next day 3 tracks from each of Body Combat, Body Pump, Body Attack and Body Balance - as a demonstration of all the new releases. It was long (1.5 hours) and high intensity, and I LOVED IT! At long last Body Attack has come to our gym, and classes start in a week - YEAHHHH - it is very me - I love the high energy aerobics stuff. Can't wait. But as a consequence of this I can barely walk today!
Have had to swap my run days around again (I'm always doing this) to give me a rest today.

Here's how the week is shaping up for me:

Monday - AM 5 km run
PM Combat

Tuesday - AM5.6 km run
PM - Weights

Wednesday AM - Walk
PM - RPM

Thursday REST
PM weights

Friday - AM - 12km run

Saturday - AM - Walk
PM - Weights

Sunday - AM - Run 5.6 kms
PM - REST


I 've had to modify it already due to two trips to Adelaide - so we'll see how many more modifications I end up making!

From Low to High in One Week!

I've had a shocker of a week really with food and exercise.

Firstly - I've been trying to write my major assignment for my masters (6000 words) which has meant time off work (aka more time to eat badly) and a severe case of procrastination. The only way I managed to get some writing done was to bribe myself with chocolate and caffiene - for an intense sugar hit! Not good, although I know this is a rare occasion. So eating has not been great.

And exercise has been poor/depressing. My hubby was very supportive whilst I was losing weight with my hitting the gym every night (and weekends) and coming home late, and asked that when I got to goal, could I work out how my exercise could be more flexible so that I was home earlier some nights. Well - not an unreasonable request after 12 months of total support, and extra work with the family. So I have been trying to incorporate morning runs, weights at home, and just some classes at the gym. Unfortunately the gym hasn't been offering as many classes as usual either, so choices have been limited, and as a result of this, I feel like my exercise routine has gone to h*ll. Don't get me wrong, I did run a few times, did a combat class and my first ever RPM (spin) class (more about that later), but I haven't been consistent with my weights, and more often than not I didn't run when I was meant to - couldn't fit it in before work/it was too hot (its been 37+ here), its been too dark too early in the morning - you know the excuses. On top of that, I have been really depressed about running lately. I loved running in Adelaide when I was on holidays - running by the beach, surrounded by lots of other runners/walkers/cyclists etc - it was a great atmosphere. But since I've been back, I've felt like there is just no where decent to run, and absolutely no company in it at all. I'm a lonely runner! I've been reading other people's blogs about all their running activities, who they've run with during the week, all the running activities that the local clubs have organised etc, and it has just made me feel so bored and lonely with it all! I NEVER see anyone else out running, and am sick of having to hit dirt roads to create the distance - I really don't like running on them. I think I was almost at the point last night of thinking of giving up running altogether!

But how quickly things change! This morning (Sat) I made myself run at 6 am as the forecast was for 40, and it was then or never, and I've used the too hot excuse too often this week, AND I hadn't done any exercise for TWO WHOLE DAYS! Anyway - I took heed of my last run in hot weather, and made sure I wore a waist belt with a bottle of water so there would be no excuses. It wasn't a big run - only 6kms, and I was determined to take it slowly due to the heat, but I decided to skip the dirt road section and take a shorter route that might be more enjoyable. The first 2- 3 kms hurt a little - as they always seem to do until my muscles warm up properly and I hit a comfortable rhythm, but after that it was smooth sailing. As I headed back up the road to my house, I checked the distance - 4.8 kms - not really very far, so decided to keep going to bring it up to 5km, and then 6kms. I really could have kept going for a good 10 km run, but decided to be sensible due to the heat and stopped it there. It wasn't an amazing run, it wasn't any great distance, but afterwards I just felt so good for having done it (as per usual), that I wished I could bottle the feeling and sell it to myself a little better.

Anyway - what was so exciting was that I decided to take control of my exercise schedule again, and set some goals. So I bought myself a whiteboard, and drew up a program that I can modify weekly as work schedules etc change. And then I sat down and looked at some marathon training schedules. I've decided that aiming for a triathlon might be a bit much this year as I need to do so much work on both my cycling and swimming, and the swimming season is about to finish, so how about I concentrate on my distance running this year.

I had been contemplating the Adelaide Festival City Marathon at the end of August. So I pulled out Hal Higdon's 18 week training schedule for this. To be honest - some of the mileage looked rather scary - and it would be a very, very big stretch for me. So how about a half marathon I thought. Checked out this training schedule - and this time - it actually looked a little too easy. Not that the kms wouldn't be hard, but its only a 12 week schedule, which I think I do the first few weeks of already as a part of my regular running and the 1/2 marathon doesn't run till the end of August - so that would be a lot of time spent hanging about waiting to start it, or very slow progress over a long time. But then I hit on a solution. On scanning the Adelaide Road Runners website for this race, I came across the Adelaide Greenbelt Half Marathon in May. It goes from Athelstone Primary School, and (I think) follows the Torrens River down to War Memorial Drive and the city centre. It would be a very pretty run, and I think with a tendancy to run downhill more than uphill. Sounds perfect. And there are just 11 weeks until its on, and when I reviewed the training schedule again - I think , with a bit of effort, its quite manageable for me! So I'm going to run it, and then, depending on how I find it, if I still want to train for the full marathon in August I can, or I could do the 1/2 again and try and better my time. I'M SO EXCITED! I CAN'T WAIT TO GET OUT THERE AND START TRAINING!

Weird how things can change so quickly hey!

My RPM experience - for those who are interested. I am a gym junkie and have done every class there is, tried every piece of equipment, and lifted/pushed/pulled every weight. But I have spent 12 months avoiding RPM and the bikes! Why? At first I avoided RPM due to worries about being fit enough to do it, but this issue disappeared long ago. Since then it has been about avoiding the pain of sitting on those damned bike seats! At 5 foot nothing, and a small build, I think I have a smaller than average pelvis - which causes me great pain when sitting on a bike. But after my cycling experience on my holidays and my interest in triathlon's a felt I needed to give it a "whirl". So armed with my padded bike seat cover, I nervously set up the bike and attempted the class - with interesting results:

• I don't think I really got my heart rate up very high. No, not because I 'm superfit, but because the legs were doing something new, and "failed" before I could really push myself aerobically.


• I sweated buckets (it was VERY hot) and I have found this interesting lately that the muscles can work hard, cause you to sweat, but the heart rate remains low????? ( I think my heart rate remained low because the breathing was relatively comfortable)


• I found it pretty boring. There's not much variety - unlike a Combat class where you work all different muscle groups in all different ways. Its all just leg work either sitting or standing (surprise surprise)


• It was harder cycling sittiing, than standing. When I was standing it was easy - but sitting I had no body weight to help my push, and there's nothing in my exercise schedule that simulates this.


• the spinning required the legs to turn over really fast - and I think this might help with my running speed!

AND THE VERDICT: I'm going to keep doing it once a week for variety in my routine, to develop new knee/thigh muscles, to see if it helps me with running speed, and as cycling training for eventually doing a triathlon. But next time I'm going to wear a HRM to see what's really going on with the old ticker.

POST SCRIPT: and yes the butt has hurt all week - but not nearly as intensely as I imagined to be, and it hasn't stopped me from doing anything else - which is what I was worried about!

Until later - CIAOU

I failed twice (or did I?)

I failed twice yesterday - and it wasn't even in things that I plan to fail - like muscle failure in weight training.

Failure #1

There is a really big hill near me (about 4 kms long) that I decided to tackle the other day. Thought I'd walk up it to see how hard it would be - then follow it around to Bowmans Park (Wildlife Reserve) and then run back (downhill). Went ok - round trip about 12 kms. So then I thought - wouldn't it be great to run to Bowman's Park the back way (dirt roads, all hills approx 4 kms), then continue on the bitumen road retracing the path I had walked/run the other day (all hills again). Estimated it would be about 10kms (and should I say again - ALL HILLS!)

Anyway - I thought I might try this as my long slow run for the week.

Set out at 6.00 am (weather forecast - 41C), ran the first 5 kms and then conked out! I made myself reach the top of a humungus hill before I stopped - but I have NEVER let myself stop on a run before. The problem was that I hadn't taken any water with me (dont normally need it for 10 kms) but the combination of the heat and the extra effort for the hills meant that my mouth/throat were so dry that I was unable to swallow. When I stopped and walked - I realised that I also felt light headed/headachey. I guess you really do need to listen to your body sometimes. So I walked then next 2 kms, and then ran the last 3 (mainly all downhill).

So I did do 10 kms over 1 hour 20 -- but I didn't run it all. FAIL FAIL FAIL

Here's where I ran - sorry the picture's a bit smaller than I thought

And here's a graph of my pace/speed, and elevation of my run (green line). And you can clearly see the section where I walked!

Failure #2

Went swimming. Yes swimming - something I can't do but want to be able to so that I can do a triathlon. Found a great website called Tri Swim Coach, with an e-book designed to help you achieve the swim leg of the triathlon. Got quite enthused about some of the drills and advice about breathing - so went to try it all out. FAILED - still cant swim a lap of the pool

OK I might be being a bit hard on myself - well I know I am - but I think its a good thing to not achieve your goals sometimes so that you really have something hard to aim for.

With the running thing - I will keep trying - hopefully each weekend - and with the help of Garmy I will be able to track my progress. My aim is that if I can run 10kms of hills in about 60 mins, I should be able to run the 12km C2B this year in 60 mins. We shall see.

Swimming - not really surprising that I haven't improved my swimming by reading a book - well after all - it takes PRACTICE not READING! When I think back to learning to run, I couldn't run for 60 secs without being out of breath - so the swimming dilemna is no different. I am going to have to endure the pain of regular practice of something that seems to hard in order to conquer it. Today I had another go and managed one full lap of the pool. Of course I was gasping for air at the end, but I managed to concentrate on relaxing my breathing (I tend to take a huge breath at the beginning and panic) and keeping my head well down. The drills were a little better - so maybe I'm making progress.

And by the way - I may not have achieved my goals - but at least I was out there trying - didn't see anyone out there giving it a go! Perserverence will win the day!

Addit - Photos now posted

Have now managed to get the photos to load in the post below
But now I have problems with my sidebar - if anyone can figure out what I've done wrong - its still there but right down the end. I know others have had problems with this in the past - any insights/solutions??

Back from Hols and Into the Swing of It!

• Well - I'm back from two glorious weeks at the beach - feeling tanned, relaxed and energetic. Thought I'd better post something or you might think now I've reached goal I've disappeared off the face of the earth - not so - in fact I haven't weighed myself in a couple of weeks - so might not even be at goal anymore - but I don't really care. I've had a very active holiday - my clothes all still fit and I'm happy with my weight/size so it doesn't really matter.
  
  Some updates:
• I relaxed my eating whilst on holidays - I decided that life would be a bit sad if I could never eat take away and other treats again - and that as I only have 4 weeks a year of hols - to let myself off on those times would be ok. So I ate what ever I wanted (within reason) with the understanding that I would return to my clean, high protein, low fat, low cal diet when I returned home - as this is part of who I am now - a lifestyle diet forever.

• I've done lots of exercise! Last week I covered approx 83 kms! I loved being able to run by the beach, so most days I alternated between walking or running to Glenelg and back (7 kms) and as the weeks progressed I kept running - and the last few times ran 10 kms (West Beach - Glenelg, then back again, then 1/2 way to Henley Beach and back) and then after that when I returned the family would decide to walk to Glenelg for breakfast - so I'd do it all over again. One day we followed this up with an 18 km bike ride, and then I did my weights session (Yep - that was about 5 hours of exercise that day)
  
  
  
• I've kept up my more intensive weight training (body sculpting) even whilst living in a caravan for two weeks. Took dumbells, medicine ball, exertube, and trained alternate days in the annexe! My favorite exercises at the moment are wide leg squats with 20 kg weights, and a dumbell incline extension for the back (done on a lazy boy - had to be very creative whilst away!). I'm really happy with how this is going and have included some photo's of my muscle development - yep muscles - I'm just proud to have some!

• The running is going well - I've found that when I concentrate on going slow - I'm now running at my "fast" pace (ie I've improved) and I love my new Garmin Forerunner 305 which I got for Christmas. It tells me how fast I'm running, how far I've gone, my heart rate etc, and then I just plug it into the computer when I get home and it downloads all the details, along with producing a satellite picture of my run. I ran a few times on the beach and it actuallys shows my path on white sand!

• I haven't actually missed the gym! When they were closed so much over Christmas, I set up my home gym better, now have a secondhand combo gym - you know the ones with leg extensions, pec flye, lat pull downs and high and low cables, plus bought a 20 kg dumbell set. Along with the treadmill for days I can't get out I'm pretty well set. Combining this with running, walking and some DVD's - I've managed to cover all bases. I will still go back though as I love the classes for variety.

• I've re-discovered walking! Yes, I'd given this the big flick as I couldn't get my heart rate up. But I seemed to have forgotten that it still burns calories - in fact covering a certain number of KM's burns the same amount of calories whether you walk or run - its just that running is faster and has fitness benefits. So on the days when I don't run (to prevent injury) I just fast walk it instead. And somehow I can now walk at 7 kms an hour - I remember the days when I first started out and thought 6 kms/hour was the ultimate goal that I would never achieve. Not bad for a shorty!

• I know that my body can cope with lots of kms if I don't run them all. Powerwalking also builds muscle, and I think that supplementing my running with lots of extra kms walked will help with my running endurance in the long run (excuse the pun), without increasing my risk of injury. As I said earlier - I covered about 83 kms last week - half run, half walked - but I think they all count.

• I can see myself improving just by doing more for longer! The 10 kms runs at the beach had no adverse affects stiffness wise, and today I set out to walk 8 - 10 kms, but ended up covering 12kms of big hills (really big - one hill is 4 kms long) - half walked half ran - and it took me 1.5 hours. Not bad consider I ran 12kms in the City to Bay and it took me 83 mins -no hills. And no significant after effects - yeah!

• I have finally ceased my online subscription to Weight Watchers. I think I will still be able to participate in the forums, but its a part of letting go on the weight loss issues, and focussing on being fit and healthy. I no longer count points, but am tracking my calories through Calorie King - which I am really enjoying. Whilst I don't think one system is any better than the other, I just feel that calorie counting is more in line with an athletes behaviour, and "points" ties me to weight loss behaviour. I think I've just outgrown it and need to move on.

Ok - I think this is a long enough post. BTW, my daughter is going in a Deb Ball in April and I have been looking on Ebay at evening gowns (for me that is) There are soooo many cheap, gorgeous dresses around (like $20) for small sizes. Its unbelievable - I may buy several just for the hell of it. So if you haven't reached your goal weight yet - can I encourage you to keep going - the shopping is sooo worth it!

G Day is here!!!!!!

Finally - I've done it - weight this morning - 57.8 !!!! whoooo hoooo - I have to admit - in my wildest dreams I never really thought I would see the day!
Its a very surreal feeling - the weight has come off so slowly that in many ways I haven't really noticed the changes - and now that I've "arrived" it kinda feels like "what now". Dont get me wrong I have plenty of plans to continue on with my journey to health and fitness, but even last night I was reading about some of the weight loss challenges coming up - including one you can register and pay for - with a financial incentive - and realised that I can't really join in on them any more. Yes I may still want to lose up to another 5 kgs, but its really not enought to make these sort of challenges worthwhile - and there is a sense of loss here - how totally weird is that - and on second thoughts - how incredibly stupid!
I HAVE REACHED GOAL! I HAVE REACHED GOAL!

I have been tempted to post a few times since my November 18 cut off post - but I resisted but have saved up the stories to fill you in. After posting on the 18th, I was 600gms from goal. The very next morning I weighed in at 58.0gms - just 100 gms off of my target. Wow - I thought - I wont be keeping anyone is suspense for long - I'll probably have to post again tomorrow thatI 've reached goal. Must have jinxed it right there and then. The next day my weight inexplicably went up by a whole kg! Aggh - I was devasted - but then remembered that this is how it goes, don't get discouraged - it had dropped down before quite quickly- my weight will stabilise and then drop again.
However Friday morning I had an early phone call to say that my mum had been admitted to hospital and was having surgery in the afternoon. It was minor surgery - but my mum has MS and is physically totally dependent on other people. She also has a fear of hospitals - so I rushed down to Adelaide to sit with her. Whilst the surgery went well - they told her that she would need to remain in hospital for some time - so I took a week off work to stay with her. (She needs someone there as she doesn't even have enough control to push the button for the nurse if she needs something.) what this meant though was that I spent a week without access to normal food or home cooking - and also relaxed my eating (had a couple of pieces of cheesecake - ate out quite a bit). I did keep up my exercise visiting a gym and running, but this was really all. On my return home - my weight was up another kg - to 60kgs. Aggh - now I was further away than ever from my goal. I wanted to post and let you know - "stop checking - I'm going in the wrong direction" but I held off thinking that this might just be a temporary glitch, and thankfully it was. My theory is that when you eat more than usual, your body may temporarily hold on to the extra calories as fat, but if you return to normal healthy eating fairly quickly (back to the consistent nutritionally sound intake) it will drop back down - in an effort to maintain status quo. And it did happen - on my return I had a few Christmas parties - still stayed fairly relaxed - but in between ate very well, and when I stepped on the scales a week ago - I was back down to 58.7. So for the last week I worked very hard on the perfect diet/exercise schedule and I made it!

So what is the perfect diet you ask?
I know we all have a lot of ideas about this - mainly influenced by Weight Watchers, but as you know I have become very focussed on fitness over the last 6 months or so - and I read all the fitness mags - Oxygen, Women's Health and Fitness, Fit Australia - you name it, I read it. I think I've said before that I prefer these magazines to slimming ones because the people in them are fit and healthy with well toned, well defined muscles/body shape, rather than just being thin. But in reading all of these, a couple of things have become really clear:

1. Fitness models consistently say that achieving their look comes 80% from diet, 20% from exercise
2. A "Clean Diet" is the way to eat properly to fuel your body, cut fat and increase muscle.

I have been fascinated by their diets (and exercise routines) and recently bought Tosca Reno's The Butt Book, and (can't remember the author) Sculpting Her Body Perfect.
Tosca Reno is a 46 yo fitness competitor who used to be overweight and has a body to die for. In her book - she gives a one week sample of a 'clean diet". Essentially this entails 6 small meals a day (you must eat every 2 - 3 hours) - and each meal consists of a palm size serve of protein (eg chicken, fish, eggwhites) and some complex carbohydrates (usually salad vegetables). I've had a good look at it and think it is sound nutritionally - except for two things - there isn't enough dairy - so I 've replaced one aspect of one meal with dairy, and it is high in protein (about 100 - 130 gms protein/day). I don't actually have a problem with this though. It is above the Australian guidelines, but it is consistent with the CSIRO diet - so not so bad. It is also specifically designed to build muscle. To build muscle you need to consume 1 1/2 - 2 times your body weight in grams of protein - which means I need about 100gms/day, and this is a much healthier way than relying on protein supplements. So I've been following this for the last two weeks and it has worked really well. I've also still tracked my eating with points and kept within my allowance - it certainly means eating a lot - and eating a chicken salad at 10.30 in the morning takes some getting used to - but I'm sure this is the healthiest I have ever eaten. I have NEVER eaten so many vegetables in all my life - and the protein does of course keep you full.
So this year I plan to focus on sculpting MY body perfect and dropping my body fat down to 22% (its currently at a whopping 32%). So my goals won't relate to weight, but I estimate that I will probably have to drop another 5 kgs or so to get there.

Being Christmas - I don't have a lot of time to for complicated posts - but next time I will post final pictures and stats from this phase of my journey - as well as my goals for the coming year.

Have a great Christmas everyone - I've already received the best Christmas present ever!
G DAY!

Lisa

The Countdown Is On

Well - as of this morning I have only 600gms to get to goal! Yep - its finally getting close.
I should explain that when I set my goal weight, my aim was to to be within a healthy weight range. For my height this is between 46 and 58 kgs, so I set my goal weight to be 57 kgs. But I meant 57 point ANYTHING, anything that was below 58 kgs and would give me a healthy BMI. I've since learnt that according to Weight Watchers, 57 means 57 point zero. I've ummed and ahhed over this for the last 12 months, but have decided that I'm doing this for me, not for WW, and I should stick to my understanding of my goal. So weighing in at 58.5 this am puts me very close!
For those who read my last post - yes I was around this weight a few weeks ago, but I knew that my low weight then was a result of gastro the day before and that it would go right up again the next day, and it did.
What is interesting is that since then, I haven't weighed myself, and have relaxed my eating a bit. Still staying very healthy, but have allowed extra snacks (nuts, dried fruit etc), and just focussed on exercise. I was really worried about stepping on the scales again, felt that maybe I'd let myself go and I'd be back up in the 60's again. But surprise, surprise - I was at 59.1 - practically my lowest weight ever! Just goes to show that if you eat healthily and exercise well the weight can look after itself.
So I'm feeling VERY, VERY motivated now that I'm soooo close and have seen movement on the scales. Lets face it, if I'm really good - I could knock off 600gms in a few days - so I'm going to try and bust a gut exercise wise and be very careful with my eating.....

My next post wont be until D Day, or should I say G(oal) Day - so check back soon!

One year ago today!

Today is my one year anniversary of my weight loss journey. Yes, November 1st, 2005 I decided that I was going to change my life and lose all my extra weight. Which I have decided many times, but this time I've actually done it.
So I thought I should mark the occasion with anniversary comparison photos. Of course since I was quite camera shy before, I couldn't find any photos of me Nov 1 last year, but I had just come back from a 2 month trip overseas - so I knew I would find some from late October. So here is the progress one year on:





My daughter took the top photos, and she insisted on "posing" me, hence the middle shot with my face side on - but I included here because it shows that I do indeed have a jaw line again, instead of a double chin - and this is a big achievement! (Click on the photos to enlarge). My youngest daughter looked at the photos tonight and said - gee mum, I don't remember you looking that big, but if that's how you looked in the photo then, imagine how you must look now! Yes, I was puzzled by that for a moment too, but I think what she meant was that the photo made me look bigger than I really was, and hence i must actually look a bit thinner that the "after" photo now. (clear as mud hey!)

Anyway - the scales this morning said 58.4 - 1 kg from goal, and 30 kgs lighter than 1 year ago (and 40 kgs lighter than my heaviest). Of course this weight is a temporary one I suspect as I suffered from a bout of gastro yesterday -so tomorrow it will probably be up again. But nevertheless, for whatever reason that was the reading 12 months on from starting and I've got to be happy with that. Now if I can just keep control of my eating - maybe I can hang on to some of that temporary loss and shift my plateau...... Gotta get something out of gastro!

Well, finally received my photo of crossing the finish line - so I have digiscrapped it and here it is for you to see. Its not a very glamorous or flattering photo, but I like it for a couple of reasons. If you can enlarge it you will see that I have muscle definition in not only my arms, but also my legs, and I'm very proud of that. Didn't know I had so much "boob movement", and the ear growths are attractive (headphones) but ahh well - who cares, at least it shows me being athletic and achieving - and I'm happy with that! I will have to post a photo soon showing a much more glamorous side of my new bod - to balance this one out! BTW I bought a slinky red evening dress the other day - I have absolutely nowhere to wear it - but it was size 10, fitted beautifully and only $35! To me it was symbolic of what I have achieved, so I bought it. It will be there ready for any occasion that might arise, rather than panicking when being invited out somewhere formal that I have nothing to wear! I also thought I might surprise my husband with it. Perhaps when I reach goal we can go out for a romantic evening for two, and I can don the dress then.

Speaking of weight - yes I am still losing but very slowly. About 300gms a week now. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly - despite teh fact that I exercise for 1 - 2 hrs/day, my lower weight and increased fitness mean that I burn much fewer calories - about 300/hr instead of 500 -600. Plus I have applied my low heart rate training to all areas of exercise, which has meant giving up higher level cardio (combat, step etc) and have replaced them with more Body Balance/yoga/pump (plus lower level cardio on the bike/rower). I am also really starting to focus on building muscle. I am obsessed with all the fitness mags, and am working towards a clean diet with heaps of protein, and am now taking protein supplements. The more I build muscle of course, the slower the weight loss.
I'm actually a bit perplexed by my current body fat status - getting different messages. My scales tell me I am still at 39% body fat - which puts me in the obese category! GRRHHH. I have cheap skin calipers at home - and they suggest body fat is around 30% - one of the gym instructors said he would guess at about 30% - but what I really need to do is go in and get it tested for real. Otherwise its really hard to see what improvement I am making.

Either way I definitely need to strip more fat - particularly around the tummy - cause guess what I can under the last layer of fat......the makings of a six pack! Yep - you heard it - a six pack. I have been doing abs exercises almost daily now for almost a year - so something should be happening there! I have been able to see the vertical definition of the rectus abdominus muscles for some time, but yesterday I proudly showed off to hubby that if I tense my abdominals - you can see two pairs of curved horizontal lines at the top of my abs! Of course you can't see them normally cause there's too much fat - but they are defintely there! I read that you need to get your body fat down to about 20% to be able to see them - so I am aiming for that.

Running is still happening and going ok - will fill you in more about that next time.

Cheers

Thin vs Fit

Well, I'm officially a Fifties girl now. I saw weights in the fifties all week, and on my official weigh in day I registered 59.7, not bad after a day off yesterday and eating Barnacle Bill's and cheescake for lunch for my Dad's birthday! It was a somewhat surprising 1.5 kg loss for the week. Last week's weigh in saw me at 61.2 and I thought I was lucky it wasn't more as I didn't eat particulary well in my week of holidays after the big race. But I had been hovering around this weight for a few weeks before this and eating well, and it just reinforced for me that consistency of diet wins at the end of the day. I've also decided that my job is very good for weight loss - I have no time to eat!!! NO temptations to snack on undesirable foods - I am way too busy and tied down in meetings so it just can't happen.

Thin vs fit - I've had some new insights regarding this. At a family dinner on Sunday night I found out that my sister-in-law and I weigh exactly the same - 59 kilos. But she is a bit taller than me (not hard!) I reckon about 8 - 10 cms. So in my head I was processing this and thought - well this means she must be thinner than me. But I looked at her, and then reviewed the picture of me I had in my head and thought - I could have sworn I looked thinner than her - but obviously I must be wrong. It is really hard to be objective about the way you look - so I asked my husband the same question on the way home. And guess what - he thought I looked slimmer too. But how can this be you ask? As I did myself? The only explanation I can come up with is "muscle". I have spent the last 10 months exercising intensely and have definitely built muscle: I can see it in the mirror, in the photos from the City/Bay - even the kids have commented on it, and we all know muscle weighs more than fat. So whilst we weigh the same, I think my body must be more compact from the muscle and showing a slimmer shape. How cool is that! But there was more that occured to me about this. I spent quite a while reading "Oxygen" (fitness mag for women), and what I realised was that I prefer these mags to slimming ones, because they show a fitter healthier looking body shape - one'es with rounded shaped shoulders and athletic looking thighs - and I love this look. I've always hated my saddle bag thighs and yearned for those sleek stick thin ones - at least I thought i did. But now I realsie I'd much prefer to have athletic looking solid thighs - and thats definitely achievable. I think I may just learn to love my thighs afterall! It just reiterated to me that I am no longer looking for slimmer and slimmer versions of myself - I want to look fit and athletic, toned and not fat - all quite different from skinny! I think the female stars of the world have got it all wrong. Instead of starving themselves to be thinner and look more glamorous in their evening gowns, they should be exercising more to accentuate a curvy toned body - now that would look fab - and what guy doesn't love curves!

Well its only 4 weeks now until the anniversary of my weight loss journey, and I am determined to reach goal by then, so my posts will probably focus more on weight than fitness over the next few weeks, then it will be full on fat loss (changing my body composition/building muscle).
BTW - I ran 8 kms this am, then turned around and ran back down the street to buy a morning drink (just because I can!). And then, as it was such a beautiful day and I wanted to head out again, I went off to the gym and rowed 1km, cycled 5 kms and did my weights - just because I can!!! What a beautiful life!

Sharing My Story

About a month ago I was asked by some staff at work if I would provide a brief presentation at our divisional planning day about my "inspirational "weight loss achievements. I work in a leadership position in a health service, and my weight loss has been fairly high profile given my position. Our planning day had a "healthy lifestyles" theme, so although I already had to present on more serious stuff earlier in the day, I agreed to "go public" and in 5 minutes share my story. As I prepared the presentation I became somewhat nervous. I knew that people really wanted to see before/after photos, but to be honest, knowing I was going to put up all my "fat" photos for 130 staff to see, many of whom had never seen me at my heaviest, was not an easy thing to do. However I remembered how inspirational I had found so many other peoples stories/blogs and thought, well even if it just inspired one person to lose weight, it would be worth it. So I did. Since then the rest of the organisation (we are only 1 division of 4) have also wanted to see it, so it is now hosted on our network for all staff to view at their leisure (eekk - more really bad nerves - be brave Lisa) The response has been phenomenal though. I won't go into all the responses I have had, but I have even had staff members ring me whom I barely know to congratulate me, and tell me how motivating they have found it.
So I thought that since its already done I might as well share it with you guys too. It is a large file so it will take a while to download - and you will need to have powerpoint to view it.
http://d.turboupload.com/d/1022837/Transformations.ppt.html

Also - I have uploade the Hadd document that I mentioned in an earlier post about low HR training
http://www.sendmefile.com/00467813

Ciao

Need I say more???

59.9!!!!!!

The New Training Schedule

I have made a discovery… I am very unfit aerobically. What you say – how can that be with all the exercise you do? But its true. Read on to be enlightened…

Now when I look at all the exercise I have done over the last 8 months since I joined the gym and ditched walking, I have NEVER exercised within my aerobic capacity – I have always pushed myself so hard that I am exercising at about the 90% level. But at the end of the fitness challenge that I was involved in (end of August), I was very disappointed to find that my fitness had only improved minimally. A friend who was on the winning team suggested that I really should have been on their team so that I could have been a part of the winning prize – assuming that I must have improved significantly, and was shocked when I told her my results “But you do so much more than the rest of us – that can’t be possible” At the time I thought that it might have been related to the fitness test being done on a bike, because I don’t do any bike riding. But looking back – the test that was done required me to keep my heart rate at a low level whilst the resistance to the bike increased, and I had trouble with this.

From some of the runners’ forums I have listened to people discuss the Hadd approach to low heart rate training – which involves running below your maximum aerobic threshold (usually talked about as 85% of max hr) to train yourself to run aerobically and utilizing body fat as the primary source of fuel, instead of glycogen. Apparently when you run anaerobically (over 85%) you use glycogen (the sugar/energy you currently have in your system) but once you have depleted this, runners hit “a wall” when their bodies try to switch to burning body fat, and they aren’t used to it/very good at it.

But it also talks about how if you always run anaerobically – you will build fast twitch fibres in the leg muscles, but these are no good for endurance runs – you need to build slow twitch fibres, and this ONLY occurs when you run aerobically.

So how much training have I done within my aerobic capacity? NONE
I have always pushed myself hard in an effort to be super fit – and I know it has made a difference (eg I now have a low resting HR level, I can achieve much higher levels of activity in classes, I can run and at a reasonable level etc) but I think I’ve really developed those fast twitch fibres, giving me lots of spring and “go gettum”, but I haven’t been improving my base aerobic fitness. I think I have pushed myself too hard too fast to meet my City/Bay running goals, and missed a few important steps along the way.

The Hadd method requires regular long runs, whilst keeping my heart rate below 138 bpm at all times. Eeek – 138 bpm – I didn’t think that was possible! And I was right. When I first headed out to try this, within 10 metres my HR was up to 155 and I had to stop and walk to get it to return to a lower level. And I continued to have to walk/run every 10 metres or so. Apparently, when you have good aerobic fitness – you can run at a reasonable pace at this level. REALLY? I have to say if that’s possible, then I’m all for it. Because when I stopped to walk there was no need to catch my breath and the run really required no effort. At that level of effort I could run for hours…..Did I say hours? Is this how the distance runners do it?
Because all of my running up until now has been very hard work (hence the high HR!), I often don’t look forward too it because its so much effort! If I can follow this technique (and the plan is that if you keep yourself within this HR threshold, after a minimum of 6 weeks the mitochondria and slow twitch muscles will begin to grow) and continually increase my pace without increasing my HR – this would be fantastic! I might actually enjoy running!

I think my difficulty running within an aerobic capacity shows how much I need to learn to do this! Out of interest, the first day I trialed it – I had to walk as much as I ran (very frustrating), but with practice I have changed my running technique to require far less thigh movement and far more calf/ankle movement which is more efficient and allows me to run more without my HR going up . I trialed this on the treadmill on Thursday – and basically I’ve had to drop my speed to about 7.5km/hr (from 10!). (and if you can call it speed because it doesn’t really feel like running – more like a shuffle). But on Saturday when I ran 6 kms – I ran most of the time, and averaged over 8kms/hr. Now I don’t think that’s from building the right muscle fibers (too soon) but I think I’ve learnt to be far more efficient – and that’s a good thing in itself. Its very frustrating (and embarrassing – running so slowly on the open road!) but ultimately, if it will provide me with some real gains, I think it will be worth it. I will keep you up to date with my progress, am entering every thing into the “cool runners running log”, and it keeps track of every little detail.

I haven’t done justice to Hadd’s methods – have left heaps out, and the article is well worth a read, particularly for those aspiring runners who read my blog (eg Trisca, Jessie, Girl Running) so I will try and attach it.

Here’s to all the slow twitch muscle fibres I’m going to develop over the next few months….WOOHOO!

I Did It!!!!!!

Yes, I did it - I ran the City Bay Fun Run and survived! It was a fantastic day, and I have to say I am so proud of myself. My time was 83 mins, but that's really secondary to everything else. The photo is of me after the race in the hotel room, with a view of the city.

Here's my race run down:
( I wasn't going to do one, but I figure I might appreciate the details later on, so skip it if the length is overwhelming!)
Prep - I had to deal with a lot of pre-race anxiety - but mainly in the days leading up to Sunday. I calmed myself with the knowledge that I knew I could make the distance (had run it 4 times in training) and lowered my time targets, focussing on completing the race as the main achievement. I also made sure I was very prepared, right down to packing a separate bag for all my running gear so that I could easily double check that I had everything and would be able to find it easily (we had to travel to Adelaide the day before as we live in the country).

On the day- got me and everyone else up early (5.30 am - my family loved me for that!) so that we could leave at 6.30am without feeling rushed. Arrived at the race at 7.30 - perfect timing for the 8.00 am race. Had about a 10 minute walk to the start line, so used this as my warmup.
Positioned myself at the 75 min mark - Andrew chose the 60 min one and the kids stood at 70 mins (did I mention that all 5 of us were running it? Of course I was the only one who had done any training - lol)

Had to wait a while for the race to start but it was a beautiful day (29 degrees), and I put my music on, and just kicked back and enjoyed the ambience - just focussed on knowing that I had done everything I possibly could, and I should now just enjoy the experience. And I did.

When we eventually took off, I didn't even notice running up hill for the first 100 metres, which a few months back had worried me. I quickly fell into a comfortable pace although I had lots of technical hitches! My heart rate monitor didn't start when I crossed the start line, and it took me about a minute I think to notice this. Bugger - never mind - I ignored this. Then my MP3 player bounced aound too much in my waist belt and kept changing stations so I couldn't hear anything (I had set it to radio because I decided I would enjoy hearing race updates as I went along). So I tried to fix this whilst running (difficult) and eventually achieved this, only for it to stop working completely 1 km later. Seemed to have turned itself off - so turned it back on, ok for a while - and then off again. It seemed to suggest it was on low battery- but I had put a new one in that morning - grrh. Around the 5 km mark I gave up on it completely.

Back to the 1 km mark - with the delayed start on my HR monitor I hit the 1 km mark still running - my game plan has always been to run for 5 mins/walk for 2 mins - which usually means I'm walking at teh first km and ready to start running again, but not having an accurate start time meant that I must have run for 6 mins (my running pace is about 10km/hr= 6 min km's). Still not to worry I felt reasonably good - I always find the first 1 - 2 kms hard until my legs really warm up . Stuck to my game plan from then on - and it seemed to work fairly well. My heart rate sat somewhere in teh 160's - 170's - but this is very normaly - and I concentrated on trying to get it back into training zone (ie under 155) during my walk breaks.

I was very grateful for having trained with a waist belt and carried a bottle of iced water, as it was very hot - much warmer than I had ever run in before, and I was glad to be able to take a drink whenever I wanted. -Poured it over my head a few times too!
Running along - it was hard though, and I did ask myself a few times - why was I doing this? I had been rading Hal Higdon's Marathon Running book the day before as I have been considering what my next goals might be, and came to the conclusion that I really don't want to push myself that hard - I really don't enjoy running that much! At the 5 kms mark thinking I still had 7 to go was scary enough - without thinking that I had 37 to go for the marathon!

At the 6 km mark - my 16 y.o. daughter ran up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. It was nice to see her - asked how she was going. She said she was doing terribly, but I have to admit I didn't believe her - after all, she was at the same place/time as me - so she was doing ok. I was walking at this stage, but soon after she arrived my two minutes were up, so I started running again. I fully expected her to run with me, and I had mixed feelings about this. My competitive nature wanted me to pull ahead and run faster, in the back of my mind I wanted to prove that I am fitter than my kids, but I also knew that this was silly, and I shouldn't try and take anything away from her. No, I needed to run my own race, as planned, and if she beat me - good for her. But to my surprise she didn't start running - and I didn't see her again for a couple of kms.

After the 6 km mark I knew it was count down time, and whilst feeling reasonable ok, let myself run a few extra minutes every now and then . Eg I would be running my 5 minutes, looking forward to walking again, but when teh 5 minute mark came around, would convince myself that I could run one more minute - I was coping ok wasn't I? Ran a 6 minute block and a 7 minute block this way - and then let myself walk for 3 minutes instead of 3. Say Kaelia again around the 8 km mark - but not close enough to talk. She was on my left, and I watched her run around the same speed as me (maybe a littel faster), but with far more leg lift, and then stop and walk after about 30 secs. She told me afterwards that this was how she tends to run, can't work out how to run slower, and then gets puffed out and has to stop/start all the time. I felt that in comparison my pace was slow, steady and sustainable.
Around the 9km I was feeling tired, and my game plan started to become a litttle unsteady. In retrospect this may have been as a result of me adding a few extra minutes of running - I'm not sure. But I started to plan for my run down Jetty Rd to the finish line, and I wanted to make sure that I finished strongly. So I gave myself an extra break - thinking I would then run the last 1.5 kms without stopping. But in trying to do this, it was too much and at the 11km mark I had to stop again, mainly to make sure that I would be ready for the last leg through the crowd. This did work though. I had picked up the pace with 2 kms to go, and once I turned down Jetty Rd I picked it up again, and thoroughly enjoyed a strong pace, passing many other runners. About 200 meters from the end, I heard a voice cheer me on, and I turned to see my husband on the sidelines, saying "keep going, you've done a great time". That was fantastic to hear, and I was so proud to show him what I had now achieved. One last corner turn, and about 100m to the finish line, I did what I had dreamt of, and sprinted to the finish line. To my delight the race announcer picked up on it, and called out "there you go ladies, how about a sprint to the finish line!" It was a fantastic feeling as I picked up the speed and passed so many - I don't think I even knew I could run that fast! I DID IT.

Post race, my HR was back to normal within a few minutes, I was elated and feeling fine. Kaelia came in about 3 minutes after me, and Tara (19) who had offered to run with my youngest, Tess, (10) came in at about another 20 mins later. Andrew had completed the race in about 66 mins despite no training (he's so naturally athletic). But the true test of my fitness was yet to come. Post race, all the family wanted to do was sit down - so they headed back to the hotel and crashed. Me, I just wanted to soak up the day -so I wandered about the festivities for a while, and then went shopping, walking up and down Jetty Rd for a few hours!

PS - the 48 hours that followed, I suffered from mild stiffness - no more that after any other workout - wasked 6 kms the next morningto stretch my legs, and back to running today - the rest of the family are still having difficulties walking!

Things I have learnt:/observations/achievements:

• Never in a million years would I have thought this possible. Three years ago I contemplated walking the race, and that it would take me 3 hours. I trained for many months, and walked it in 2:20. I couldn't walk for days afterwards. 2 years ago, I dropped 10 kgs and trained for 6 months and walked it in 1:57. I walked at 100% max HR for the full two hours. It took over an hour afterwards for my heart rate to return to normal (and I was lying down to recover). I had blisters and was reasonably sore for a few days. This year, another 30 kgs lighter, I ran it, trimmed another 35 mins off my time, stayed well under max HR and recovered almost instantly, with no blisters, no chaffing, no real stiffness. An absolute miracle.

• I am very proud of the fact that my whole family ran the race, that this is a good health focus for us all, and great to achieve together. The kids have always been active, but now I'm a part of it, and I hope they will pass on the same enthusiasm to their children.

• I had no idea that the majority of "runners" did not plan to run the entire race. I positioned myself to the side, as I didnt want to inconvenience everyone when I stopped every 5 mins to walk, however people were walking within the first 200m, and it seemed that I ran more than most, and faster than most when I was running. I overtook many runners, weaving in and out of the crowds, and continued to do so right to the end. There I was previously thinking how incredibly fit all these people were to be able to run it, but they weren't that fit after all! It was like thinking that I wasn't fit enought to go the gym!
• Training and pacing make a huge difference. Having trained so well, I didn't suffer from a slower second half of the race, like so many people. In the second half so many runners were walking, or running very slowly, but I was able to run a good steady pace right to the end.

• Researching running tips/training programmes also really helps. My husband runs purely on instinct and base fitness (remember he didn't do any running before the race, but plays sport regularly). His game plan was to go out as hard as he could, set the standard for himself, and then push himself to maintain it to the end. He ran the first 5 kms quite well, then had to walk for a while, then ran 2kms, then walked, then run /walk to the end. Yes he was faster than me (he's also a fair bit taller), but was disapppointed with a 66 min result. And to a certain degree I think he should be. Because I think he is quite capable of a sub 60 mins - if he had paced himself at the beginning - I think he could have run the whole thing and done it quicker.

• I think I could have run it faster. Yes it was hot, and that probably affected my time, and I had an injury two weeks prior, and that could have affected it. And my husband felt that if you have enough in you to sprint to the end, then you probably could have pushed yourself harder in the race. All true, but I guess the final time wasn't teh only important thing to me. Being my first real race, finishing was foremost in my mind, and finishing comfortably was also important. The joy of sprinting to the finish line, have done something I never thought I could do, was more important to me, than hobbling to the end with a time recorded a few minutes faster. Next year it may be different - we'll see.

• Despite my thinking about running whilst the race was on, I am still thinking of a marathon ,but I just want to learn to really enjoy running first. I've pushed myself really hard to get here, and I would benefit from taking a step back and building up my mileage without pressure.

• There were other achievements on the day. I loved the fact that I could wear real running gear with out embarassment. I wore real runners shorts (you know baggy with the undies sewn in), and a skimpy top to keep me cool. If had been heavier, I would have had to wear long pants to hide my legs/prevent chaffing, and a tshirt with sleeves to hide the rest of me. The result would have been much hotter than my counterparts, just adding to the weight disadvantage I already had. I loved the fact that I felt like a I looked athletic, "fit the part", so to speak, and was then comfortable wandering through the crowd afterwards, and shopping, still in my running gear. That would have NEVER happened a year ago. It doesn't matter that I am still "chunky", I don't think I look overweight, I fit into size 10 clothing and feel very "normal".

Well that's it from me. A long post I know, but I think I will appreciate having it all recorded when I look back on it. I started low HR running training this morning - but I think I 'll save that for another post!

Massive calorie burn on 10 km walk....

NOT!
Here's one of the down sides of being fitter.....
Walked 10 kms of hills with the family on sunday over approximately 2 hours, and the heart rate monitor told me I had burned guess how many calories....800 you think, 600 maybe, at least 400 surely- NOPE - a grand total of 175!
Why you ask - because my heart rate never nudged over 110 bpm, and most of the time was under 100. To help you make some sense of these figures if you are not used to HR measurements, my training zone for fitness needs to be between 116- 155, (its never at the lower end in classes) and when I run, it sits at between 160 - 170. So 100 bpm is doing absolutelyNOTHING for me.
But it did achieve something - because my legs were a little stiff that afternoon, so this hills challenged the let muscles, but not my heart.
Oh how life has changed!

Not much hope

I don't think there's much hope of me posting a weigh in on Monday in the fifties. I haven't seen last Mondays' weight (60.3) since then, it must have been a particularly "light" day. I'm still at 60 point something, but the 50's might have to be another week away. But I would REALLY like to be in teh 50's for the big race NEXT WEEKEND.

OMG- its next week!!!! and I'm already starting to feel edgy and nervous. I've been training for this event for the last 8 monnths and now its finally here - what if my hamstring isn't healed in time, what if I have one of those "bad" running days? What if my family all beat me? (They are all entering as runners, even my 10 year old, and none have done any training, how much of a goose will I feel?) So many nerves - I'm not sure how I'll get through the week.

I'm starting to have a sense of how athletes feel before a big event. I have been reading a blog written by someone who trained for a triatholon, then a1/2 ironman, andthen a full ironman. Reading her throughs (he he, I must have ESP), I can see the same mental anguish, fear, anticiptation and pain, just on a much smaller scale! Its started me thinking about what my goals should be after this.. The gym are going to hold a triatholon in the future - you can do the whole thing individually, or in a team and do one leg each. I was thinking of a team, and I'd take the running leg - but maybe after the race I should take up cycling and swimming - to add variety to my exercise. Can't do either of them for shit - but then I couldn't run either 8 months ago - now I reckon I could keep training for a 1/2 marathon - so...... WE'll see. At the moment the only definite goal I have is to be able to do all of the ridiculous bicep/tricep pushup combos in the new release of Combat on my toes, before the next release is out (about three months) Has anyone else tried these - they are hard work! And 1 handed pushups!

Injury update - I have spent the last week xtraining most days to try and keep my fitness up. Have warmed up on the treadmill, tried a slow run, stopped after 1 min feeling the hammy, then done combat, plus either the bike or the elliptical. I must have looked a sight doing combat earlier in teh week as I couldn't do any right sided kicks and knee lifts - but did them with great gusto on the left! By the way I also noticed one day with my HR monitor on when warming up walking 6kms/hr - which used to be my ultimate goal speed for walking - that I couldn't even get my HR near training zone - it sat at about 109 - ie walking does nothing for me anymore! I think thats good! Any way - felt fit and strong on Friday - fully functioning in combat - so went for a slow, short road run this morning to test the hammy. I could feel it straight away lower down, but not in the area I had injured - and it was definitely better part way through the run when it was warmer. But as soon as I finished I felt a twinge in the butt (the injured area) but nothign more. So I guess its healing, and I should stick with xtraining this week again - may be have a last run on Wed/thursday. My fitness felt really good though - so that was encouraging. Hopefully this will be enough to see me through to Sunday.
If you've made it this far, hopefully this means I haven't bored you to tears with this long post.
Cheers
Lisa

Fifties Here I Come!

Weigh In this morning - 60.3 - loss of 0.8 for the week - Yahhooo!!!!
Now if I play my cards right (well, eat well, exercise well) I should definitely make the 50's this week. Then I am soooo close to goal.

On the exercise front however, I have hit a snag. I have an injury - have pulled my right hamstring. It hurt after my 12km run last Monday, so I took a day off. It hurt again on my 5km run on Wednesday - so I took 3 days off! By Fri/Sat it felt fine, so I did 12kms again on Sunday - and it hurt the minute I started running! And it got worse as i went. In the end I had to skip some of the walking as teh muscle cramped up to much when I stopped running and I was hobbling - barely able to walk. And in the aftermath of the run, my hip flexor is the sorest - because when I couldn't push myself forwards with my "hammy" i had to pull my hip forwards with the flexors - which weren't used to it and are now stiff. This is bad news because its only two weeks till the race, and I've been so careful/fearful of an injury. The good news is I've done some reading, and the cause is often attributed to running downhill, particularly at speeds you're not used to (guilty - there are hills in my run, and I've loved soaring downhill) or running on banked surfaces (eg roadside) (guilty, and I'm not used to it - no roadsides on a treadmill), and that you can continue to run with the injury - just fix the causes. So no more road running for me until the race - I will just try and maintain my fitness with cross training and some runs on the treadmill. Oh and did I mention that I trimmed by time by 3 minutes to 73 mins? Even in pain! I know now that i can do this race!

"the latest pics"

The first photo is me being silly doing a plank (one of the exercises you often have to do in a gym class) and showing that I can do it one handed and wave at the same time.
Next is a typical photo of me in my gym gear, you could catch me in that 6 days a week! and when I'm not wearing that, I'm wearing casual sports gear as in the next photo . Lastly, a photo of my $10 3/4 length jeans from Temt, and my $10 bargain top from Jay Jays. You can't quite see but the top is a sheer fabric in that popular bodice style with pintucks. I could never have worn this 12 months ago, I would have looked very pregnant even if I could have found one that big! And the jeans are hipsters with a big belt buckle that looks good when its showing.

Update from yesterday's post - ran the 5 kms in 31mins - Woohoooo - very happy with that, especially when you consider that I run/walk intervals of 5 mins/2 mins
And a sneaky peak on the scales this morning - 60.9 - will I see the 50's this week????

Running and weight loss update

I think I always post about the same things - pretty boring hey! But I'm so focussed on my goal of running the City/Bay, and achieving goal weight by mid September, there's not much else to talk about! After that, I will have to set some new goals which might add variety...

I've struggled to lose weight the last couple of weeks, or should I say, I've struggled to remain disciplined. Not that I ever binge on anything too unhealthy, but there has been a lot of food lying around the place lately, tempting me to have tastes of it. This is my worst habit. If I don't see it, I don't think of it, and I don't eat it. And when I'm studying (which is boring and I'm easily distracted, AND I've been doing a lot of it lately) I'm hunting for something thinking I'm hungry. So I think for the first time on my journey, I have been going over my points a little each day, and this has scared me. I'm not at goal, and I don't want any slips now that cheat me of that victory. So I have pulled my head in, and am trying very hard, and somehow managed to score a small loss this week, bringing me to my LWE (lowest weight ever) of 61.1. I even saw 61.0 on the scales this morning, and fingers crossed I'm hoping to see 60 point something in the next couple of days. Wouldn't that be great! (then very close to being a 50's girl!) Hopefully this will help with motivation

And on the same day that the scales dropped to 61.1, I very nervously headed out for my first 12km road run, aaaannnnndddd - I blitzed it - 76 mins - my best ever time. Running on the road just seemed easier that the treadmill, and far more interesting. I was a little suspicious of my great times - so I hopped in the car afterwards and remeasured it - I don't think it actually is 12 kms (hard to tell as some areas are off road), but its more that 11kms -(shrug) I'm still really happy with that I'm aiming for 84 mins for the City Bay, and this now seems achievable.
This was really encouraging as I was starting to get quite depressed with the running and wondering why I had set this ridiculous goal. I have had a bad week with running - it had been just plain hard work. I did a combat class last Friday, and realised how much I had missed these classes, and how much more I enjoyed them than running.
But Mondays big run was a great success, and for the first time ever, I actually enjoyed the experience. So maybe I will persevere with it for a bit longer!
By the way, I did the run in the morning, and then rationalised that there was no reason why I couldn't do an hour of Combat in the afternoon too... so I did! Am I mad or not?????? (If nothing else I'm a little sore)
Ah well, inspired by Mondays run, I'm going to do a 5 km run tomorrow morning - and see how close I can get to the 30 min mark!

I'm gonna luv summer!

I'm gonna love summer - being able to wear cool dresses like this! In the past I could never have worn this - I would have looked sooo pregnant - but now its just slimming, cool and comfortable for me alllll summer!
I have had so much fun trying on all the new seasons stuff - have bought shorts and a denim skirt and some of those lovely peasant style blouses that are out and two of the beautiful dresses that are out (plus the one in the photo - its just a cheapy from Kmart). I haven't worn dresses in about 20 years, and I'm still not sure where I'm going to wear them - I guess I'll just have to be the best dressed shopper at the supermarket!

Bring on summer - I want to wear my stuff!